With all the amazing delicious rich food I’ve made and eaten over the holidays I’ve been looking to eat more simply. Beyond the health benefits, sometimes just tasting the basic fresh flavors of your food is a treasure. A few days ago I received my first local box of the year and was happy to see a great variety of delicious winter veggies including turnips.

The simple turnip. Next to the potato it’s one of the most basic root vegetables. The Romans enjoyed a good turnip and it remains a staple in the diets of many cultures today. You can cook a turnip just about any way; add it to most dishes, manipulate it to your hearts desire, and it works, deliciously. I usually add turnips to soups and stews. Occasionally I roast them with a variety of other veggies and herbs. This time I boiled them. Yep, that’s right I took on the complicated task of boiling a turnip in water. Challenging stuff, I know. It gets better, when they were fork soft I simply rough chopped them, sprinkled salt and pepper and drizzled a bit of good olive oil on top.

And guess, what? Freaking delicious! The best turnip I’ve ever had. I made a meal out of these simple superb roots. I enjoyed them so much that it fueled my simple food kick even more. Lots of raw or simply cooked veggies and fruits. Fresh baked bread warm from the oven. A bowl of fluffy rice. It’s happy food, and who doesn’t want to eat food that makes you happy?

Today is my 15 year anniversary with the amazing city of Austin, Texas. The past fifteen years have been quite a ride. I came here as an awkward, angry, depressed teenager, desperately trying to survive high school in a new school and town. The first few years here were tough, no lie. But throughout my transition from child to adult, Austin played an important positive role in the formation of who I am today. I am more open-minded, accepting, less pretentious, and frankly, cooler than I would have been had I lived in any other city. Not to mention my musical acumen and appreciation is much larger practically by osmosis. I have so many amazing memories here, too numerous to list.

Austin, you’ve been good to me and I thank you. I’ve been fortunate enough over the past few years to give back to the community and plan on continuing to do so. Keeping what’s great about this city alive is important to me. I’m looking forward to our next fifteen, Austin. Cheers!

We’ve kicked off our week of holiday cheer here at my office, and a coworker and I decided to starts things with a homemade holiday breakfast. Since we’re making it all at the office where we do not have a stove or standard oven, we had to improvise a bit. She and I made 3 different types of pancakes (original, blueberry, and gingerbread), maple sausage, nested eggs, over-easy eggs, toast, and all the fixings with only 2 electric griddles and a toaster oven. We fed over 40 people and made it all in less than an hour! I was pretty impressed with us and everything was darn tasty. Plus, I got to wear my fun apron at the office!

I challenge my foodie friends to make your coworkers an office-made breakfast over the next few weeks and help spread the holiday cheer. I guarantee you’ll make someone’s day and start yours off right, too. Happy Holidays! :o)