Monday, January 29, 2007

Behind the Apron


Sometimes, amid the food pictures and descriptions I'll briefly talk about my day or life. I thought this would be fun to do, and have really enjoyed reading all the other posts. (click on the picture for more information!)

Obviously, my name is Melissa. I'm 21, turning 22 next month. I moved quite a bit when I was younger, and ended up spending about 10 years in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where I graduated from high school. My parents decided to move to Sudbury, ON to be closer to their families, and I followed them. I went to the University of Ottawa for my first year, as I was offered a 3500$/year scholarship in their new biomedical program. After that, I transferred to Laurentian University, still in the biomedical field, but decided to do a concurrent B.Ed. Right now, I'm in my last semester of undergrad (finally!) and next year will complete my teaching degree. I want to teach high school science.

As for the whole vegan thing...I gave up red meat when I was 12 after my Pawpaw sent us moose meat. I thought it was gross and realised what a waste of a beautiful animal...then I finally made the connection to cows. It took me a while to give up the rest though. I started reading books on the topic and eventually became vegetarian in grade 11. I was mostly vegan in grade 12 and first year, but I still ate milk chocolate occasionally and was far from eating a healthy diet.

During first year, my aunt brought me to a bookstore on my birthday and suggested I pick out a vegan cookbook. I found Sarah Kramer's Garden of Vegan, bought it and loved it. I started cooking more and I finally gave up milk chocolate and soy cheese with casein. Its been quite the journey since, and it took me a bit longer to start buying vegan products, but I like to think of myself as a full fledged vegan warrior now (although its impossible for one to be 100% vegan in this world).

My boyfriend, Billy, and I have been together for over 4 years. We met in Winnipeg, and stayed together after I moved. He eventually moved to Sudbury. We live together in an apartment, work in the same restaurant and have a cat named Logan.

Well, I didn't expect to write that much, but there you have it!



I take too many food pics and not enough people pics, so I didn't have the greatest selection, haha.

4 comments:

bazu said...

I know exactly what you mean- 90% of my pictures are food pictures and the other 10% are cat pictures!

It was fun seeing your pictures and reading your story, thank you for sharing! This behind the apron thing is very fun.

Anonymous said...

Hi Melissa,

I admire you for your choices and your hard work you have put into living a healthy lifestyle! You look very fit and I was wondering if you have a specific exercise routine you follow?

Thanks for sharing!

Dori said...

You two make a cute couple. I enjoyed reading your going veg story. SCORE on the calzones - - - yeah!

Melissa said...

Thanks bazu and dori!

Anon...I'm sorry but your comment made me laugh! I actually feel very unfit right now. But in the summer (which is when the first picture was taken) I worked out on an elliptical trainer and did weights fairly regularly...and of course regular summer stuff (walking, swimming) This year, due to several reasons, I've put on weight. I'm trying to get it off by (as you said) living a healthy lifestyle and exercising.