Hello! Whew well I am finally catching you guys up on Monday! YAY! We are getting there! Yesterday morning, I woke up with an awful headache! I ended up sleeping until 10 am. Adam come home with a wheat bagel and an iced coffee for me around 10:30 and I felt so much better after a few hours of sleep and a little caffeine.

After breakfast I got showered and ready to head to EVOO to meet some of my favorite bloggers and Gary Hirshberg! For those of you who don’t know, Gary Hirshburh is the C.E.Yo of Stoneyfield Farms.

When I arrived I saw that we had our own private room, how cute!

Of course, I checked out the menu right away!

There were tons of options! I chatted with a few bloggers while waiting for Gary to arrive.

Meghan, Elina and Jennifer.

Meeting Gary in person was so awesome! He is super down to earth.

Talking with him was so educational, I learned so much from listening to him and asking him questions. Gary’s passion for what he does was so inspirational!

I found out that Stonyfield  is as old as me!!!!!! It was founded in 1983 (that makes us both 27 years old)! When Stoneyfield was founded they only had 7 cows and it was actually started as an organic farming school. They hadn’t actually intended to sell yogurt. However, Gary’s business partner,  Samuel Kaymen, made such amazing yogurt that they decided to sell it as a way to pay for the expenses of running the school.

We talked a lot about how farming used to be. Up until 1935, all food was organic. Nothing was grown using pesticides, hormones or antibiotics.  In the 1930′s , chemical companies of all sorts realized that their chemicals could be used to “help farmers” be more profitable. This is how we got into the giant mess we are in today.  These chemicals have caused a lot of issues because of their effect on our food sources and environment. He reminded us that George Washington, Mozart and Jesus Christ ate all organic.

Growing up, all of Gary’s  food came from farms close to home . At one time there were over 400 dairy farmers in NH, there are only 87 -present day.   He also shared some pretty interesting and somewhat alarming stats with us:

• When a baby is born in the US, he/she has close to 300 toxins in their tissue. About 1/3 of that is a direct result of the mother’s diet.
• Cows on “conventional” farms live 4-6 years. Cows on organic farms tend to live for 12-20 years.
• Stonyfield donates 10% of its profits to environmental causes.
• The President’s Council on Cancer reported that 41% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer and 21% will die from it. Eating an organic diet can significantly reduce those alarming numbers.
• The USA’s food supply is only 3.7% organic.
• Stonyfield has aided in the  prevention 425,000 drug treatments for animals and 185,000 lbs of insecticides and herbicides.
• 1 in 3 children born after the year 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes
• Peak Organic Beer is actually owned by Gary’s nephew! How cool is that?!

I learned so much from Gary in the few hours I spent with him I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I was for this experience! He made me think twice about my food choices. He also stressed that buying one organic product makes a difference and we don’t need to have an “all or nothing” attitude. He stressed how powerful we are as bloggers and encouraged us to spread the word. He commented that our passion is clearly in writing and that he hopes that one day it will become our real jobs! I hope that is a reality someday!

Ok, ok, I know you are asking, “So what did you eat?!”

I started off with the asparagus soup!

It came with some small toasts on the side that were so delicious topped with the soup. The soup was actually made Stoneyfield yogurt!!

For my main course I got the tofu. It a lightly fried organic tofu with a honey mustard sauce, fresh veggies and organic brown rice. It was served in a Chinese box.

Leaning tower of tofu ?

Dessert:

Stonyfield Organic Yogurt Tart with Balsamic- Basil Glazed Strawberries.

All of the food was light, fresh tasting and absolutely phenomenal!

The chef, Peter McCarthy, came out an spoke to us about EVOO that has just been open a few months. They are making a huge effort to by local and mostly organic. I really commend them for this.

We left with a goodie bag that included some yogurt, coupons and a signed copy of Gary’s book – which I am sooooooo excited to read!

After my meeting, I walked home from EVOO (about 3 miles) and soaked up all my new knowledge. Since yesterday was Adam’s Birthday (Happy Birthday, Love!) we took a family walk around town.

We walked about 4 miles, Oscar was SO EXHAUSTED by the end of it!!!

During our walk to stopped at Emack & Bolio’s for some celebratory birthday froyo. We just go an Emack & Bolio’s in our neighborhood and I am super excited about it. Look at all the treats they have!

Adam and I got soft serve froyo. I got chocolate banana. HOLY YUM!

Oscar loves Emack & Bolio’s because they have the doggie Sundae!

For the walk home, Adam and I got iced teas! I got black tea and he got green tea. It was so refreshing on a warm day!

We stopped at Paolo’s on the way home and grabbed a pizza to split. Can you guess which half is mine?

The rest of my evening was spent working at my part-time job and on my WEDDING INVITES that should go out soon!!!! Maybe tomorrow YAY!

SUBWAY GIVEAWAY WINNERS:

The three winners are:

Kate:

I would grab one of the western brekkie sandwiches minus the ham they look so yummy!

Holly:

I’d totally try the egg white on english muffin!

Ashley M:

I would def. try their new breakfast items. I have have been wanting to check them out for awhile, but haven’t had a chance yet. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Yay! All three of you can just shoot me an e-mail with your address to foodfitnessfashion@gmail.com and we will get those cards right to you!!!!

Well, I will be back to fill you in on Tuesday! Woo Hoo almost caught up!