about
FOOD
i grew up with the standard american diet: processed snack foods, over-sweetened candy, syrupy sodas and more salty food stuffs than you could shake a stick at. you better believe i wouldn’t touch a vegetable unless it was deep fried or covered in ranch dressing; maybe both. over the years, this lifestyle left me overweight, depressed, lethargic and completely clueless to boot. as i aged and gained more autonomy over what i ate, i would see-saw between binging without remorse and hopelessly searching for a solution to this demanding addiction. i looked to fad diets, eating disorders and beating myself up at the gym, but i never saw results or gained relief from my food obsession.
after plenty observation i found that eating lighter, vegetarian meals with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables made me feel better than i ever had. i became a vegetarian and was quite intrigued with the creative abilities of vegan chefs. within the 3 years i was a vegetarian i was vegan for about a year, during which time i started this blog. i started sweet beet & green bean as an ongoing experimental collection of all my vegan recipes. even when i was eating vegetarian i still enjoyed mostly vegan meals. but as i began to distance myself from overly-processed vegan foods such as tofu, soy cheeses, and fake meats, i found it harder and harder to find vegan substitutes that were truly whole foods – and i began contemplating that perhaps the real thing is always better anyhow.
during my several years as a student of chinese medicine school, eating this light veggie fare, i found myself growing weak and my digestion worse than ever. i was gaining weight, getting puffy, constantly craving sweets and getting ill quite frequently. my professors, as well as thousands of years of human experience, were constant reminders that my diet was the source of this deficiency. without rich, nourishing and blood-building foods like good-quality meat and eggs, our bodies can’t thrive the way they have adapted to.
i had already observed years before that the processed foods i had been eating – full of preservatives, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics – were causing heat in my body. so i moved in the opposite direction to a very clean, cooling, vegetable-based diet. but after years of this food my organs were getting cold, weak and deficient. not even herbs or acupuncture would help. my body was asking for warm, tonic foods, for which there is no substitute. this being said, i have also found that these rich foods must be enjoyed in proper moderation or they can still wreak havoc on the body. so i still eat a lot of veggies.
i am reminded anew each day that all life is created in balance, including the mechanics of our bodies. to enjoy a long, healthy and happy life we must strive to cultivate this balance through our actions. i try not to exclude anything particular food from my diet, but focus mainly on nutrient-rich, natural, organic, whole foods, low in salt and sugar – that includes meat, small amounts of dairy, and lots of lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
i cannot guarantee that the recipes herein will belong to any particular diet or philosophy, just whatever happens to cross my plate on my life-long food experience.
PHOTOGRAPHY
i originally started this blog with my friend, cameron. he is well versed in setting up sites and had dabbled in photography, so he wanted to set up a spot for me to showcase the tasty food i was always sharing. it began by him coming over to my tiny studio apartment every weekend, sitting in my kitchen and periodically taking snapshots while i cooked up a storm. over the years both of our schedules have changed quite a lot, and he spends most of his time now playing music (check out his stuff!) so eventually the long cooking sessions just didn’t make sense. he ended up teaching me just enough to operate his camera, which worked much better with my schedule, and an exciting endeavor for me since i had been wanting the freedom to just pick up the camera and grab a picture of anything i wanted to share.
i shoot with a Nikon D50. while cameron did equip me with a standard lens, i prefer to shoot mainly with a micro lens (Nikon’s AF Micro-NIKKOR 60mm) because i think the close-up photos it delivers truly express the sense of intimacy i feel with the food i cook.
EVERYTHING ELSE
i also enjoy hiking and playing with my adorable dog, angie. on the weekend i help farmers sell organic produce at my neighborhood farmers’ market. however, i spend most of my time in chinese medical school and apprenticing with an acupuncturist. so please forgive me if i ever go MIA, just working on balancing it all.
