My mom has been a vegetarian since before I was born.  My father isn't a vegetarian, but he loves to grow and cook vegetables. I had a good mix of both worlds in my diet growing up and I am very thankful for this because I enjoy cooking vegetarian and meat meals. 

Although my fall garden greens were taken under siege by cabbage worms earlier this season, they managed to survive and are now flourishing. I helped them win the battle with a dusting of baking soda here and there to ward off the evil green creepy crawlies.

I became very intrigued with the process of brining meats after watching a demonstration video from Alton Brown's show, Good Eats. Alton is one of my all time favorite chefs because he is so straight forward. He always gives the 411 on food science and busts a lot of cooking myths along the way. My fiancé took me to see one of Alton's live shows a few years ago, and it was great... if you are a foodie, I recommend going to a show if he comes your way! He is quite the comedian too.