Nancy

I am a 35 year old home schooled cook.  My education started early by watching and helping my mother and grandmothers in their resepective kitchens.  All three were and are talented women who used the best ingredients they could get their hands on.  My two grandmothers were young women before the Great Depression started and instilled in me a love cooking and the process of obtaining and turning raw materials into wonderful meals.  These women also exposed me to my ethnic background through recipes and food and was able to experience through taste my Russian/Jewish, Polish, and German/Catholic roots.
I have memories of doing a lot of baking with my mother.  She always baked fresh cookies and insisted upon making cupcakes and frosting from scratch for bake sales and birthdays.  With three kids, she also was able to involve all of us in the process of making a multitude of holiday cookies.  My mom started her professional career as a recipe tester at General Foods in White Plains, NY.  I remember hearing stories about her testing Jello and other food articles that passed through the test kitchen at General Foods.  I started experimenting with food and recipes when I still needed a stool to reach the kitchen counter.  I am grateful that my mother involved me in making and planning meals for the rest of my family.
I started my life out as an omnivore and have slowly througout the years phased myself from that to a lacto/ovo/pesca vegetarian to a 5/7  vegan (meaning that I practice a vegan diet for 5 days of the week and for the remaining 2 I sometimes have fish/meat/dairy)  which I have been practicing for the last couple of months.  I also had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Institute for Integrative Nutrition/Columbia University in NYC two years ago where I graduated as a Holistic Nutrition Practitioner.  Since then I have honed my skills as a Natural Foods Cook/Chef by constantly cooking/experimenting with food. 
I am also a cookbook junkie and seem to have a new one everytime I leave the bookstore.  I have tried to curb this habit by borrowing cookbooks from the library but the library doesn’t particularly like it when their books are returned with olive oil stains.  I love to travel, visit markets, and beg people for recipes when I’ve had a good one.
In addition to my love of food and cooking, I also love to exercise. One of my biggest achievements is that I have lost 40 lbs over the past 4 years and that I have maintained that loss.  If I can do it, anyone can do it!   I love to run, practice yoga/pilates/lift weights, and am looking forward to adding kettlebells to my exercise routine.  I run about 5-9 miles a day and run races as well.  I recently completed my first half marathon.  I prefer to run outside but in the winter months I venture in to the treadmill in the gym.  I am not a techno music fan but I love it when I am running!