This post is late in coming because I literally was driving every two days the last week and a half of March, and I was just EXHAUSTED and not in writing mode.
From March 20 to March 22, I got to stay with Kristen Michaelis, who is the author of Food Renegade blog, “Real Food Nutrition”, and the AMAZING new book “Beautiful Babies” which has a foreward from none other than Joel Salatin, himself!!
I got an autographed copy of “Beautiful Babies,” and it is seriously an amazing book! A MUST READ for moms and future moms, alike! Click here to buy!
Hangin’ with Kristen
I arrived at Kristen’s house just in time for a late lunch, and she took me to this really neat restaurant called El Monumento, where we had some really great, high-quality Mexican food and some delicious horchata (a sweet rice drink).
We sat on a patio that overlooked the river, and after we ate, we went down and walked the path along the river.
For sleeping, Kristen didn’t have a spare room, so I ended up sleeping on a self-inflating camping mat downstairs next to the sliding door. The weather in Georgetown was so warm and breezy while I was there, that I slept right next to the screen door, and it was almost like being outside—just lovely. Makes me want to go camping soon before it gets too hot!
The next morning, Kristen, her husband, and I woke up fairly early, dropped the kids off at a Bible study/church thing, and then went to breakfast at The Monument Cafe.
I ordered the Kristen Special. I.e. “Eggs Benedict, but without the muffin and on a bed of spinach. So it’s kinda like Eggs Florentine, but with ham. And with extra hollaindaise sauce, of course!” It was delicious. After breakfast, we walked through their labyrinth of herbs and various plants, and we also visited the Monument Market.
In the afternoon, I threw together a chicken curry for lunch.
This is Kristen’s daughter helping me in the kitchen. :)
When Kristen’s husband tried my chicken curry for the first time, he literally shouted, “WOW!” Like super loud! It really caught me off guard, but it was nice to hear. Haha!
Kristen and I met up with a couple of her friends—Amanda and Emily—for girls night out at Jack Allen’s Kitchen. We couldn’t decide what to try, and they had a special on appetizers, so we ordered a variety!
After we ate, we went back to Kristen’s house for some real food cocktails! We didn’t have a shaker, so we used a mason jar! (Because we are SO crunchy. Lol.)
The next day, we spent the morning relaxing and working online. Kristen made an egg, sausage, and potato medley for breakfast (which I then topped with hot sauce), and later in the afternoon—right before I left—we visited Dyer Dairy and picked up some raw milk!
Questionaire
Blog Name: Food Renegade
Blog Author: Kristen Michaelis (Facebook)
Location:
[googlemap id=”two” width=”570px” z=”10″ address=”Georgetown, TX, USA”]
How long have you been blogging?
About 4 years.
What topics do you write about?
I am a passionate advocate for Real Food—food that’s not industrially processed or refined, genetically-modified or laden with synthetic chemicals. My site educates others on the ancestral diets of healthy, successful, traditional cultures around the world, follows the latest news in food politics & sustainable agriculture, and bucks conventional nutritional wisdom.
Describe your family for us.
We’re homebodies! I’ve got three kids, ages 8, 6, and 2. My husband and I both work from home and homeschool the kiddos. It sometimes makes life a little bit crazy, but it’s worth it.
How did you find real food?
I watched the documentary “The Future of Food” when my oldest was just a few months old. It started my journey of questioning where my food came from, and since then it’s been a continual process of learning and making changes as we saw fit.
What hobbies do you enjoy?
I love to read, read, read. I enjoy being alone in quiet or abandoned places. I make it a point to go play in the rain as often as I can. I used to have more impressive hobbies — like learning Russian. Now that I’m a mom, an introvert, and surrounded by kids 24/7, my hobbies are far less intellectual or physically demanding. They’re more like respites.
If it was your last day on earth, what would you want to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Junk food totally counts!
Too many meals. I’d like my last meal to be a bowl of Tom Kha Gai, with an after dinner drink of a homemade sangria.
How/why did you start blogging?
I had been a marketing copywriter. One day I accepted a job for a breast cancer research group. Subsequent interviews revealed they were doing genetic testing to see if women were “pre-disposed” to cancer. If they were, they were recommending pre-emptive treatments like masectomy! I couldn’t write for them in good conscious and swore I would only write about subjects I was truly passionate about from there on out. I started Food Renegade the next week.
What’s the biggest challenge about running a blog?
The emails! I get hundreds of them a day. I do my best to filter them all into various folders, send responses that are appropriate and helpful. But I just don’t have the time to respond to them all as personally as I would like to.
What do you enjoy most about blogging?
The writing. I’ll always be a writer at heart.
