The Total Joy of Organic Farro

I have absolutely no idea why I was channel surfing and ended up on the Food Network during Giada's segment on preparing a dish with Italian Organic Farro. It was truly a case of Divine Intervention. I had recently started the "Rice Diet," which is a program started ages ago out of Duke University in Durham, NC. The Rice Diet is really a low fat, low sodium diet, and started off as a program for people with kidney disease.

I knew about the Rice Diet, because while I as a student at UCLA, the head football coach had spent a summer in Durham at "The Rice House," on the diet, and had come back having lost sooooo much weight. And this was in the late 60s!

I am from California, but due to circumstances, beyond my control---nothing associated with criminal issues or incarceration---I have been in Missouri for much of the year during 2006, 2007 and now, 2008. A study just came out saying that the Southern States..like Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama were the states with the most overweight people. Can we add the Southwest part of Missouri into that mix? They have some really fine foods here!! Coming from Los Angeles...Beverly Hills adjacent to be specific, healthy living and foods were always part of the lifestyle equation. Here in Mount Vernon, that equation includes the totally delicious Big Baldy's BBQ and Mazzio's Lunch Buffet during weekdays, and now on Tuesday nights!! And if I need to go to Lowe's in Monett, a stop must be made to Lai Lai's Chinese Buffet and why not a double dip cone at Braum's? Or if we need to go into "the big city"..... either Joplin or Springfield, then we must go to Ryan's, Golden Corral or Captain D's. Oh, yeah....then there was the case of the Wal-Mart cinnamon rolls at a price perfoming 44 cents each.

Did I mention somewhere along the way, food had become my new best friend?