New Year’s Resolutions: Am I really taking a bacation?

So yesterday I kind of hinted at something. Or maybe admission of not having bacon in my refrigerator is more than a hint. The hubs and I are going healthy. Ish. Nothing drastic, people, don’t worry. No one is sick or dying or pregnant. We just want to challenge ourselves to put higher-nutrition content into our bodies, and maybe detox a little from the onslaught of rich and delicious feasting we took part in over the holidays. The sauces, the desserts, the roasts — it was seventh heaven, minus Jessica Biel. Her bod, by the way. My goodness. To provide a little … Read More

My running story

Hi friends. This Sunday, having completed one of the longest (if not the fastest) runs in my short career as a wannabe jogger, I thought I’d take a break from food for a moment to talk about something that is so closely associated with food, sad as it may be: fitness. More specifically, I know there are thousands of foodies out there (granted, they probably don’t read The Pig & Quill!) who swear just as much by their fitness regimen as they do their vast culinary prowess — and the thing is, I am not one of them. Or at least … Read More

On winning contests and fresh veggies

There are people that win things and people that don’t. I’m in the latter group. I suppose it could have something to do with the fact that I don’t enter many contests, but even in situations where one only has to be present to win (baby showers, bridal showers, other showers), I still walk away a loser. Or at the very least, empty handed. To date, things that I have won in my life include: Tour of the Historic CA Governor’s Mansion Hoover Wind Tunnel upright vacuum cleaner 1 year subscription to W Magazine Now for the disclaimers: The tour … Read More

In the Pigpen No.1: Bacos, badonkadonks & bomb-diggity bread

Happy Friday, world! Lots in the hopper here at the P&Q and no real rhyme or reason (yet) as to how I will manage the queue. Fellow bloggers, please tell me: how do you do it? Enter my attempted solution, the Pigpen: a mini-roundup of the promised miscellany that’s been bouncing around in the ol’ cabesa but hasn’t quite achieved solo-post status. We’ll see how far we get with this… 1) My random nostalgic love of: Bacos. Why is it that foodies almost always have a nostalgic obsession with packaged foodstuffs that attempt to closely approximate meat? For my husband, it’s … Read More

Going no-sugar-added: take that, eyeabetes!

A few weeks ago, my middle school friend Miriam, aka Amazon Genki Girl, and I were at home for her dad’s (crazy adorable, super fun) third wedding when she broke the following news to me: Mir: “Em, did I tell you? I have eyeabetes.” Me: “Oh no! DubTeeEff is eyeabetes?” Mir: “It’s when the optometrist says I have the eyes of a diabetic because I’ve been literally eating, like, a whole bag of Dove chocolates in one sitting. Every day.” Oh. Yeah, apparently that’ll do it. So now my eyeabetic friend Miriam is on a slightly modifEYED (oh, snap!) diet that … Read More