Several years ago a Life Flight Helicopter lifted away from the cold, empty, hospital parking lot before dawn with my husband as its star passenger. To this day, a helicopter in the air above makes me cringe. A drive to a larger hospital some 50 miles away with our youngest son as navigator, and our oldest son driving at speeds we had warned him to never even think about, got us to the hospital where my husband was already receiving needed treatment. Our journey down the path to a changed life-style had begun.
Always loving to cook for my family I knew this health scare wouldn’t stop my cooking and kitchen adventures. It would improve it and bring new purpose to cooking, developing recipes, and digging up interesting nutrition and health tidbits.
And so it began! We love to eat and did not want this to change. Why couldn’t we eat delicious, sometimes elegant, sometimes everyday meals that were low fat, or even no fat? Growing up on meat and potatoes, thick rich gravies, deep-fried fish, and dense, rich desserts had set what we knew as the ‘norm’ for our palate. This was about to change! Not only did we have to change what we ate and how it was prepared, but we had to change our thinking about food and how we enjoyed it. This would be something different for the entire family. Healthy for one; healthy for all. We could and would do it. Eating responsible portions, more nutritious ingredients, and much less fat would in-fact become what I think of as ‘edible life insurance’. Edible life insurance would help ensure our health and longevity. We would truly eat to live, and live to eat! By no means an expert in food, diet, or nutrition, having no formal training in any of these areas, I have learned so much about eating healthy. Through a great deal of trial and error I have taught myself a healthier style of cooking. Many disasters; many successes. Looking back we are often shocked at how we used to eat. We now eat more wisely, more informed. We are healthier as a result. We still splurge from time to time but do so infrequently and always carefully monitor portion size.
Why fairviewfoodie? The very first thing I noticed when our growing family drove in the driveway to our new home, which I had never seen before, (another story) was the barn. Not the house, not the lush green plants, or towering walnut trees. It was the barn. Scrolled across the main barn door, in faded white letters was Fairview Farm. Several years later when our once babies were exploring they found a date, 1918, stamped in the floor of the barn covered with bits of old hay and baling twine. Just a short time later we learned our once large, productive farm was named for a town about 8 miles away. The town was originally called ‘Fairview’ which changed many years ago. Each time we had any work done to save the old barn we made sure the name Fairview Farm always remained. I remember walking out beyond the barn almost 28 years ago and remarking to our daughter, who must have been 6 or 7, that the sky across the field was beyond gorgeous. She sweetly said with little hands clasped behind her back like her dad, her grandfather, and countless other paternal relatives had a habit of doing, “Hmm, it’s a fair view.” She squinted up at me and her grin was priceless. This place is where we made our stand. Fairview Farm has allowed me to develop and follow my love of all things food. A foodie is me. A foodie is a soul who loves food, an amateur who loves to eat, to create with food, to learn and investigate all things food. A foodie enjoys the experience of taste and loves sharing food. That’s me. When I, the foodie, look out my kitchen windows I see Fairview Farm. This place, after loving and caring for it and raising three amazing children here has helped inspire, grow, and create Fairview Foodie. It was meant to be.
My hope is you will enjoy this site and my interest in ‘everything food’, try something new, learn something you didn’t know, enjoy a story seeded into so many parts of these entries. But most of all, my hope is you too will eat to live, and live to eat.
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