Although this blog will be sometimes about fish and always about food, it is most definitely not about food for fish. The name of the blog comes from my partner’s mom’s affectionate name for her son: Rybka, which is a Russian term of endearment that literally means “little fish.”
What does that have to do with this blog? Well, Mr. Little Fish, with whom I live, is the primary audience/taste-tester/unfortunate soul who has endured all my cooking growing stages. When we started dating, I was probably in the awkward teenage years of cooking: things were clumsy and didn’t always work the way they were supposed to, I was insecure and uncertain about myself in the kitchen, and I wanted desperately for all the food I was making to just look better. I did eventually start to get more comfortable in the kitchen, but things didn’t really progress until I decided to lose weight.
Last year (2013), I lost 30 pounds (for a total of 50 pounds since I started law school!), bringing me from overweight to squarely into what is considered “normal” for my height. Part of my weight loss was attributed to a diet I did that severely restricted the foods I could eat, and it turns out that that was exactly what I needed to nurture my cooking creativity. In hindsight, and as someone who deals extremely well under pressure, I am not surprised this happened. But during this time, my cooking soared, both in frequency and in quality. I didn’t go out to eat for 3 months, and even then, I can count the number of times I’ve been out to eat in the last half year on one hand (OK maybe two. Travel will do that.).
Which brings me to today. Now that I am officially in Big Girl World, i.e. an adult with a full-time job, I revel in meal-planning and making sure I bring something home-made to work every day. I stick to a mostly Paleo diet (great intro: http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/paleo-101/), in that I follow the general principles, but I would not call myself a true Paleo. I love peanut butter far too much for that. And bread. I am, however, a firm believer in balanced eating, which for me translates to eating mostly Paleo during the week, with meals that are veggie heavy with lean proteins, and relaxing a bit more on the weekends. I don’t go crazy, but I allow myself to eat what I want without worrying about being “bad.” Everything in moderation. Weight-wise, this typically means that I am at my lowest around Wednesdays and Thursdays, and I creep up a pound or two by Sundays. I tend to stay within a 5 pound range, but if I push the outer edge of that (see: Christmas season), I don’t sweat it. I’ll get back on track soon enough.
All of which is to say that over the last half year, I have gained a lot of food knowledge. I am by no means a nutrition expert nor have I ever formally studied anything, but I am an excellent researcher and reader. For people who know me, this means that I often inundate them with information I’ve found or are telling them about things I made or are suggesting recipes they should try or kitchen tools they should invest in. Perfect blog material, in other words.
So, here I am. For now, I am mostly going to be using this website to keep track of recipes I’ve tried and liked, with the modifications that I now freely make. If you benefit from my need for organization and my experimenting, then all the better. Welcome to Fish Food!
Fish Food 