V is vivacious.

“Happiness is a matter of one's most ordinary and everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self.” – Iris Murdoc

Vivacious means to be lively in temper or conduct. I often behave vivaciously in conduct. One of the off-the-wall things I made while behaving lively is a food shrine. I was inspired by a bizarre book I read about dieting, which, of course, for the life of me I cannot recall the title nor the author. So soon as I do, I’ll post them here.

The shrine is a mac and cheese carton, and the base is a tin of sardines. I left the sardines in the tin for weight. I made this 8 years ago, give or take a year. So far, no leaks! Or ka-booms!

On top of the box are small seashells. The tower of fish were fussy cut from fabric. Each was layered with batting and backing and the edges finished with satin stitches.

The labels between the fish read “eat more fish.” The front of the flap is decorated with macaroni from the package, and above the flap is “just say no” followed by “to junk food” under the flap. The quote finishes on the wrong side of the flap with “and yes to fresh from the farm.”

The flap opens to show the food goddess that I photocopied from the book. The sun shape on the flap is painted glued-on macaroni.

The back of the box has these foodie quotes:

There is no such thing as a little garlic.

A forbidden meal is quickly eaten.

An apple a day keeps the doc away.

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

Avoid fruits and nuts. You are what you eat.

On the sides are these quotes:

No label needled when you cook from scratch.

The biggest seller is cookbooks and the second is diet books—how not to eat what you have just learned how to cook. – Andy Rooney

Being vivacious is zany!

To keep with the good-food theme, here’s a healthy recipe inspired by a breakfast I had at the Café Burlington in Burlington, Washington. Now what’s funny about this is, when I looked at their website when developing this post, their menu has changed very little since I was there in October 2002!

Veggie del Sol

eggs

~ ~ ~

roasted red peppers

Kalamata olives

onions

capers

sun-dried tomatoes

~ ~ ~

fresh tomatoes

fresh basil

Cotiji cheese

Using your years of cooking experience, make an omelet, keeping the egg to the next five ingredients in what seems like good proportions. If you’re new to cooking, just wing it! Top the omelet with the last three ingredients.