I’m Chelsea.
I married a caveman, but that’s not where it all started.
It started with a Skinny (vegan) Bitch
In my teenage years I worked at a boutique that sold luxury women's clothing. My paychecks all went directly into my wardrobe, but I had a lot of fun and enjoyed making women feel beautiful each day. One evening, the boutique hosted a charitable event complete with drinks and a beautiful charcuterie spread for guests. As I reached to sneak a piece of salami, my colleague said 'enjoy that piece of decaying animal flesh' (she actually said that).
I looked at her with incredulity and asked if she was a vegetarian or something? This would have been hard to believe— we lived in Bakersfield, CA where being a vegetarian was about as common as being a liberal. She was actually vegan and I was stunned. I asked why (?!) and she told me to read Skinny Bitch.
I brushed this aside and crushed salami and cheese the rest of the night.
A few weeks later…
A professor challenged my college nutrition class to be vegetarians for a week. I've always been competitive so I opted to try it for a month. That month I was struck by a few things:
1. I loved how this streamlined menus! I’ve always been indecisive over trivial things and this encouraged me to try new foods.
2. Your taste buds change incredibly fast… within two weeks I was craving vegetables I used to hate. I noticed that I wanted saltier or fattier foods— showing how my body was naturally looking to replace what I typically got from meat.
3. You can buy a ton of vegetables at the grocery store for very little $. A vegetarian diet on a college budget was clutch.
At the end of the month, it was Easter Sunday and we were BBQing burgers. I fixed a burger, my first venture back into meat.
Took a bite.
Couldn't swallow it.
It tasted so wrong. I actually couldn't swallow it. I had always intended to return to eating meats but this was unexpected.
Over the next year I finally read Skinny Bitch and experimented with my diet — learning more about nutritionally dense foods, organic versus conventional farming methods, how to grocery shop, and how to cook in a plant-based style. I ended up happy as a clam as a pescatarian.
Enter the caveman era.
In 2012 I met my husband Ross. He was working at a locally “famous” BBQ joint. When we first started dating he actually didn't have any hair on his forearms because he spent so much time over a BBQ it all just singed off. Sound gross? Maybe you should try cutting meat out of your diet…
People have hobbies. They play basketball, they go hiking, they garden. Ross BBQs. You might think this sounds harmless but it can become quite ridiculous before you know it. To BBQ you need raw meat, seasonings, a BBQ or three, maybe some pellets, wood, endless beers to enjoy whilst BBQing, the list goes on…
If you think I'm being dramatic (I am), here are a few real-life ridiculous examples:
At one point there were four different BBQs in our backyard.
Ross has organized ordering pallets of BBQ pellets, inventoried and dealt them like a dealer. Pallets, like you need a forklift to unload.
His alarm wakes me up at 3AM a couple times a year because he has to put the brisket on.
I'm no longer surprised to hear that he just bought 26lb of pork at Costco with no plan, and literally nobody else in the house to share the pork with besides our dog.
Ross loves to BBQ and I love vegetables.
We both love to eat and really love to drink and this blog is meant to inspire you to cook something and drink something. If we can find that rhythm, you can too.
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