As I’m adjusting to new budgets, a busier school schedule approaching deadlines, and the holidays, I’ve gone and done it: I’m shopping Fresh Direct for a month. More specifically I’m ordering eggs, chicken, some fruits and veggies, and nuts once a week. I plan to augment this purchase with my yoga market, Greenmarkets, and specialty shops like Murray’s. I couldn’t manage a CSA this winter. I realized December is not the time to be waiting on a shipment including, among the unknowns, eight pounds of red swiss chard.

I am getting reacquainted with Julia Child. I am enjoying her so much, I’ve been leaving one of her episodes from The French Chef on in the background while I’m at home. It’s not all about her voice. My new obsession has been in learning how Julia makes an omelette. While I haven’t perfected it yet, and have been consuming a great deal of BUHturr trying, I am enamored of this technique.

Who else has a favorite Julia Child technique?

I have been reading through the various speculations on who will be appointed Obama’s “King of Corn.” I signed a petition today for Michael Pollan. This kind of public statement speaks volumes regardless of the practicality of nominating an intellectual warrior for a physical post. Journalists play just as strong a role in our politics as do those in office, and Michael Pollan has stepped up to that challenge many times. Whether Pollan is the best suited, we need someone better equipped, more knowledgeable, and capable of turning our food system around. It all started with Earl Butz under Nixon. The hope is there will be change under Obama. We need someone in office who can balance the interests of politics and business with quality, health, and the sustainability of our planet’s resources.

Cookstr, a food site that samples recipes from cookbook superstars and celebrity chefs, recently launched in beta. The site hopes to give users a sample of recipes online and entice them to buy the books. Already signed up are chefs from Jamie Oliver (“The Naked Chef”) to Fergus Henderson (Nose to Tail) to Mario Batali (Chez Panisse) to Madhur Jaffrey (famous for Westernized Indian). It’s mostly a Western crowd, but that’s to be expected.

Mitch Hedberg is seriously funny shit. He’s known for his abrupt transitions, rhythmic one-liners, rose-colored glasses, and witty observations about mundane things. I enjoy him because he was the unofficial food lover’s comedian. The man loved eating, and had a comic brain to reflect on the inconveniences of being stoned and trying to procure food.

The McDonald’s Talk Live Journal, which has been around since 2004, is as funny as I expected it to be, but unfortunately not as funny as I wanted it to be. It does, however, give lovely little tidbits like awful customers, the woes of being a teenager in one of the state’s bottom 5, laziness divulged, and frustrations over ordering syntax.