CSA Report - My First Disappointment

It's been a very busy week, so this report will be short. Suffice it to say that I was disappointed for the first time in my CSA experience. It turns out that half-shares didn't get pumpkins. I was so looking forward to carving my pumpkin straight from the farm, and now I'll have to buy one at the market instead. It's not really a big deal, just a little disappointing. That's the risk I take investing in a farm though. The good news is, I got an eggplant and those full-shares didn't.

This week's share:

• 1 lbs green tomatoes
• 1 eggplant
  
• 1 head bak choy
  
• 0.5 lb chard
• 0.75 lb Russian kale
• 3 cayenne peppers, 4 Thai peppers, 1 Chinese lantern pepper
  
• 0.5 oz. cilantro
• 1/2 pint red raspberries (u-pick, which I passed on again this week because I was in a hurry)

Things are slowing down a bit, but I've still got enough with the staples I picked up at the farmer's market (onions, potatoes, a few peppers) for some green tomato salsa, roasted eggplant, and a good Asian stir-fry. I'll probably try something new with the kale (maybe a crock pot dish). I'm still working my way through the butternut and Delicata squash, too. I'm certainly not wanting for food, even if I have to get creative with it.

The Omnivore's 100 - Adventurous Eating is the Name of the Game

I've been stumbling on this meme all over the internet, so it's high time I get in on the game and share my eating prowess (or not). The list below includes 100 foods that Andrew at Very Good Taste thinks every omnivore should try at least once. Have questions about the 100? Check out Hundred Reasons, a helpful FAQ of sorts. I've added some links to the items I wasn't sure about, just in case you're wondering about things like nettle tea and phaal, too.

Here are the rules and, as usual, feel free to join in on the fun:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten. (NOTE: Red items are food's I've tried but won't try again.)
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos Rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht (authentic in Ukraine, and not as bland as you might think)
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (No smoking for me.)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (I'm pretty adventurous with food, but not that adventurous.)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala (I loooove this!)
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (But not in a really long time.)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis (If I didn't know what this is, I might have, but now? No way.)
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (Anything with the word "intestine" in the description is not for me.)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (If a deer hit by a truck and then hauled home counts...)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (Fried spam sandwiches with Cheez Whiz...ah, childhood memories)
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I'll pretty much try anything once, so there aren't many items crossed out for me. But I thought I would have had more bolded foods than I did. I'm really looking forward to seeking out some of these foods, like lobster thermidor and prickly pear. As I do, I'll be updating the list to keep track of my omnivore adventures.

How does your list look? Are you an adventurous eater or would you cross out more than you'd bold?

A Commitment for Breast Cancer Awareness

If you haven't already heard, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One of my new favorite blogs, Elastic Waist, is hosting a Breast Cancer Awareness Challenge. Since studies show that exercise can decrease your risk of developing breast cancer, Weetabix at Elastic Waist suggests we all work to get in 3o minutes of exercise every day for six weeks. The challenge started on Wednesday, but there's still plenty of time to join in.

Go ahead. Stop by Elastic Waist to check out the challenge, email Weetabix (weetabix at elasticwaist dot com) if you're interested in "officially" joining and start getting your workout on. It's only 30 minutes a day, and there aren't any rules that disqualify you for doing crunches and squats in front of television at the end of the day because you haven't managed to squeeze in a trip to the gym today. Just saying...

A New Gig and a Great Site

Blissfully Domestic, a magazine covering a variety of topics of interest to women, relaunched recently bringing a new design and lots of new content to the website. With the creation of several channels, you'll find posts on topics ranging from green living to homeschooling to blogging and everything in between.

And you'll never guess who's writing for the new Healthy Living channel, Healthy Bliss...

OK, it's me. As if I don't have enough to do, right? I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to write about a topic I love for a great website. There are some other wonderful contributors that have joined the team, too. I highly recommend that you check out Blissfully Domestic soon. You can read my first article about exercise motivation (and spread some comment lovin') while you're there.

She's a (Radio) Star

It's official. You can hear me read my essay "Flying with a Ghost" from the anthology New Lines from the Old Line State on 88.1FM WYPR's The Signal, airing on Friday, October 10th at 12PM and 7PM. I'll be closing out the show, so if you can't spare a full hour for The Signal, tune in for the last ten minutes to hear "Flying with a Ghost." (I highly recommend you check out the full show when you have some time, though!)

If you're not in the Baltimore area, you can listen to the live stream online. Hope you'll come back here and let me know what you thought after it's over. And if you don't get the chance to listen live, I'll post the permanent link to my segment once it goes up.

CSA Report - Oh Boy, It's Bok Choy

There's not much to say about this week's share, except that I can see a great stir fry coming up in the next few days. I'm still working my way through last week's share and I'm glad I didn't make it to the farmers' market over the weekend because I know I would be drowning in veggies again.

This week's share:

• 0.5 lbs green beans
  
• 1.25 lbs tomatoes
  
• 1.5 lbs green tomatoes
• 1 head bak choy
  
• 0.5 lb chard
• 3 cayenne peppers, 4 Thai peppers, 4 Chinese lantern peppers and 1 Habanero pepper
  
• 0.75 oz. parsley
• 1 pint red raspberries (which I passed on this week because I was in a hurry)

What are you eating this week?

Letter to My Body Part Deux

Back in April I was prompted by a post I'd read on BlogHer to write a letter to my body. In the letter, I begged forgiveness and made some commitments, but until a few days ago, I'd completely forgotten about it. The good news is that, for the most part, things with me and my body have been going rather well.

What got me thinking about my letter was an email I received from Capessa, a great new site for women, notifying me that they are sponsoring a Letter to My Body Contest with the blessing of BlogHer and support of True Body Confessions. All you have to do to enter the contest is post a 250-word letter to your body in the comments of the contest post by October 15. The winner will receive a $500 shopping spree from Zappos.com courtesy of Not Your Daughter's Jeans. Who wouldn't love to spoil their body with a little bit of Zappos love? I know I would, so I've decided to write another letter to my body (or rather, from my body to me).

Hello, Beautiful. It was so good to see you smiling this morning in the mirror. I can sense you're feeling more comfortable in our skin and I'm so proud of you.

I want to say thank you for feeding me so well lately. No, I probably didn't need those chicken fingers and French fries last night. And yes, that stomach ache was my way of reminding you that I prefer those vegetables, whole grains and lean meats we've been eating so much of. But for the most part, you've been treating me really well, and I'm grateful.

I love the exercise we've been doing--all of it. I wouldn't even mind it if we did a bit more over the next couple of weeks. The running is invigorating, that new stair machine at the gym was cool, and the yoga makes me feel lean and confident. Thanks for stretching, strengthening and challenging me. Can we try that step aerobics class next?

By the way, I heard you struggling with whether or not to weigh yourself this morning. I say forget about that scale and stop worrying about those numbers--I don't really care about them. Just keep feeding me those good foods and sweating it out a few times a week and we'll be just fine. Besides, didn't you see us this morning in that full-length mirror? We're hot, girl!

Thanks for tuning in to my signals and listening to what I'm trying to tell you. Communication is the key to a great relationship and I think we're finally speaking the same language.

All my love,
Your Body

You've only got a few more days, so get writing. Your body wants to hear from you. And when you're done writing your love letter to the most important person in your life, go enter the contest to try your hand at winning that Zappos shopping spree!

CSA Report - Oh, the Greens

There were a lot of hot peppers in my share this week. I've been holding on to the jalapeno, Thai and cayenne peppers from the last few weeks because I'm really not sure what to do with them and haven't taken the time to do the research. I guess I better get going before they're not good to me anymore.

With the cooler weather, things are starting to slow down in the distribution shed. The tomato pickings are getting slim and the greens are coming back full-force. Think kale, chard and lettuce in abundance again. I'm glad to have plenty of eggplant (I saved last weeks' CSA share and got an extra at the farmers' market) to make ratatouille and maybe give baba ganoush a try, too. I'm going to try to get creative with some of the other vegetables and make some pasta dishes. This cooler weather is really bringing on the cravings for carbs and richer foods.

This week's share:

• 1.5 lbs green beans
  
• 2.5 lbs tomatoes
  
• 1 sweet green pepper
• 1 small eggplant
• 1 head lettuce
  
• 0.5 lbs delicata squash (1 small)
  
• 0.5 lb chard
• 0.75 lb kale
  
• 2 cayenne peppers, 5 Thai peppers, 1 Chinese lantern (habanero) pepper
  
• 0.5 oz. parsley
• 0.5 oz. cilantro
  
• 1 pint red raspberries

If you can find delicata squash anywhere, I highly recommend it. The flesh is just sweet enough that all I added was a bit of salt and pepper and a dab of butter before mashing and eating it. I'm looking forward to having another one this week. As for the tomatoes, green pepper and cilantro, I think some salsa is in order. For some reason, salads are making my stomach turn, so I'll have to find something creative to do with the lettuce. And, as usual, the kale and chard will probably be sauteed and tossed into a fritatta or pasta dish.

Things I've Learned from Washington and Wall Street

Every where I go, it's "economic crisis" this and "banking meltdown" that, not to mention all the talk of campaigning and non-campaigning. There's so much going on right now politically and economically that I can't help but glean a few take-away lessons.

Lesson #1: Apparently, only two streets in America matter right now--Main Street and Wall Street. If you live on another street, you're out of luck.

Lesson #2: When you take time off from work, whether it be from campaigning or your regular-old day job, you should actually take time off. Don't say you're going to do it and then have people running around doing your work (or campaigning) for you--even if that means you're technically doing what you said you were going to do.

Lesson #3: Being in debt is never a good thing. Running your household (whether it's a White House or a green one) on a deficit is bad practice. It will only get you into trouble.

Lesson #4: You can go around telling people that you get along with your neighbors all you want, but when the rubber meets the road, you have to actually be able to work together if you want to get anything done.

Lesson #5: Standards are different for men, women and people of color. This may sound like a no-brainer, but naive old me thought we'd gotten past a lot of this stuff. Apparently not.

Lesson #6: Crying sexism or racism is like crying wolf. Sadly, the more we cry the less people listen or take us seriously.

Lesson #7: If you're going to play in the stock market, you better know what you're doing.

What lessons have you learned from what's going on in Washington and on Wall Street?

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Stacks Recipe

The good thing about having all of these vegetables around is that I keep coming up with new recipes and meals. They may not always be original, but they're new to me. Last week I made roasted eggplant slices and then couldn't decide what to do with them. I had a tomato that I needed to use and some feta cheese, so I stacked crumbled feta, basil leaves and a thick slice of tomato on top of each eggplant slice and drizzled the stack with balsamic vinegar. How's that for deliciously creative? I'd share a picture, but I ate them so quickly that I didn't think to get out the camera until they were all gone.

If you want to give them a try, they're super simple to make. I roasted the eggplant one night while making dinner and then had the stacks the following night.

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Stacks
Makes 2 Servings

1 medium eggplant, sliced in 1/2" thick rounds (about 8 slices)
1/4 cup olive oil
non-stick cooking spray
2 medium tomatoes, sliced in 1/2" thick rounds (about 8 slices)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
8 large basil leaves
sea salt, ground pepper
1 - 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

Sprinkle the eggplant slices lightly with sea salt and place in a strainer over a large bowl or raised-side baking sheet. Set aside for 30 minutes to remove excess liquid and bitterness. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pat the eggplant slices dry and then lightly coat both sides of each slice with olive oil using a brush or oil spritzer. Use more or less oil as necessary to get an even coating. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and spread the eggplant slices out in a single layer. Sprinkle with ground pepper. Bake for 35-45 minutes until slices are browned and caramelized. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the baking sheet.

To serve, place four slices of eggplant on each plate and top each with about a tablespoon of crumbled feta, a basil leaf, one slice of tomato, and a 1/2 tsp or so of balsamic vinegar.

How do you like your eggplant?

CSA Report - Itty Bitty Apples and Winter Squash

It's fall now, and my shares are starting to morph a bit. Because of the cool weather things that would normally be gone are still hanging around, like raspberries, green beans and sweet peppers. The tomatoes are having a hard time ripening, so we're still getting them but they're hanging out in my windowsill. The lettuce is back with the cooler weather, just in time for salad cravings, and there's kale to come in the next week or two.

I'm excited to see some great butternut squash and it sounds like we'll be getting some varieties of winter squash unknown to me, too (like this week's Delicata). Apparently this is a light-bearing year for the apple trees on the farm, which means there won't be many. Luckily, there were several in a "free choice" bin and I took a couple handfuls of the itty-bitty, not-so-pretty looking things to try them out. (Free choice items are usual things that are either at the beginning or end of their harvest and are not plentiful or pretty enough to give out as part of the weekly share. They often include things like huge zucchini, overripe tomatoes, or bruised apples.)

This week's share:

• 1.5 lbs green beans
  
• 3.5 lbs tomatoes (about a dozen small; includes additional half-share)
• 0.5 lbs okra (includes additional half-share)
  
• 1 sweet green pepper
• 1 small eggplant
  
• 2 small butternut squash (includes additional half-share)
• 1.5 lbs delicata squash (2 small)
  
• 1 lb chard (includes additional half-share)
  
• 1 cayenne pepper, 1 Thai pepper
• About 10 tiny apples
  
• Basil
• 1 pint red raspberries

This week's share has two unfamiliar items in it: okra and delicata squash. I've heard of and seen okra before; I've just never eaten it. As for the delicata, I'd never even heard of it, so I looked it up to see what I could find out and here's what I learned from Conscious Choice:

The delicata squash is actually an heirloom variety, a fairly recent reentry into the culinary world...It fell into obscurity for about seventy-five years, possibly because of its thinner, more tender skin, which isn’t suited to transportation over thousands of miles and storage over months. Like other heirloom varieties, it is valued for its taste, not its transportability.

[It has] beautiful ivory skin striped with dark green...The moist, creamy flesh tastes and smells like a delicious blend of corn, butternut squash, and sweet potato. These squash have a small cavity, so although they may appear on the stingy side, they yield a generous amount of pulp. Perhaps another reason for the delicata’s resurgence in popularity is that when it is cut in half lengthwise it makes two perfect single portions.

Sounds good, doesn't it? If you've got a great recipe for okra or delicata squash I'd love to hear about it. I've found a few ideas through web searches, but I prefer first hand accounts to a random recipe found online. (Note: I know that fried okra is probably the standard answer for okra, but I'm looking for dishes that are a bit healthier than that. Although I am willing to give fried okra a try if you think it's the best way to eat it, I'd like to have a few options.)

New Lines from the Old Line State Has Arrived

I got my box full of books last week, and they look so pretty stacked neatly inside. As nice as they look on the outside, what you can find inside is even better. "With seven essays, fourteen poems, and fifteen short stories in genres ranging from mystery to fantasy to literary fiction, New Lines from the Old Line State has something for everyone." And of course, my very own essay is in there, too.

New Lines from the Old Line State: An Anthology of Maryland Writers, includes work from 29 Maryland writers and is available now at Amazon, through the Maryland Writers' Association, and at several bookstores in the Baltimore area. If you want to take a look at it, but you can't find it at your local bookstore, please ask for it. Most bookstores will be happy to order a copy or two, and the more interest people show, the more available it will become.

For a taste of what you'll find in New Lines, you can hear Eric Goodman reading his story, "Cicadas," on Baltimore's The Signal. The Signal will be featuring a few more New Lines contributors, and I'll be appearing later this fall reading my essay, "Flying with a Ghost." (I'll keep you posted on the date and time.)

If you're in the Baltimore area, you can also check out New Lines from the Old Line State at the Baltimore Book Festival. The Maryland Writers' Association will have a table there, where you can meet local writers, pick up your own copy of New Lines and have it autographed by a few of the anthology contributors, or hear some of the pieces read at the official New Lines release and first public reading. Hope to see some of you there!

Jogging My Memory

A couple of years ago I took up jogging. I challenged myself to complete the Couch to 5K program and was well on my way to running (OK, jogging slowly, but jogging nonetheless) for 30 minutes straight. A cruise, a cold that didn't want to go away and some creaky knee joints derailed my efforts and before I knew it I'd given up on the idea of becoming A Jogger.

Face it, I told myself, you weren't meant to run. Remember when you were on the soccer team in junior high and you could barely make it around the field once? Don't you remember how hard it was for you to walk/run a mile for those Presidential Fitness Tests they made you do in gym class? You're just not a runner. Why even try?

I convinced myself that running wasn't my thing and happily went back to walking, yoga and elliptical-ing. But for some reason, I just couldn't get the idea of me jogging with ease on the treadmill or running gracefully along a wooded path out of my head. Another voice was reminding me of how much I liked that feeling of being able to run. The accomplishment of making it just a little longer before having to walk, the excitement of knowing that my body was able to do something I had convinced myself it couldn't do, made me want to keep trying.And so I'm jogging again. Slowly, in spurts, with rest days in between for my knees which are already protesting slightly.

I can't seem to find a link for it, but I saw a report on CNN a week or so ago that said the best way to start running is very gradually, as in very short intervals of jogging (about 30 seconds) and walking (about 1 minute). Apparently too many people jump in full tilt and end up injured, exhausted or burnt out because they worked too hard, too fast. The shorter intervals give the lungs and joints time to adjust to the change in movement, intensity and impact. I've seen evidence of this myself. I started my own jogging routine three weeks ago with intervals of 2 minutes jogging and 3 minutes walking, and that seemed to be going well. When I tried a Self program to increase my endurance and speed after just two weeks of my 2 to 3 intervals, my knees started creaking and clicking like crazy. Maybe that guy on CNN was right. I'm going back to my 2:3 jogging to walking ratio and I'll stay there until I'm good and ready to move on. My goal is still a 30 minute jog, but there's no hurry. After all, it's taken me 32 years to get this far, what's a few more months?

CSA Report - Watermelon, Baby!

Apparently, there's a lull in the bean and tomato crops, so I have a bit of a reprieve from all the bean and tomato dishes. The chard, however, still forces itself on me. I'm craving a frittata, though, so the chard will come in handy this week. I was hoping for more eggplant to make ratatouille, but alas there was none, so I'll have to make roasted eggplant slices with the one from last week. Not that I'm disappointed by that. I love me some roasted eggplant.

And the watermelons have arrived!

This week's share:

• 1 lbs green beans
  
• 1.5 lbs tomatoes (2 medium)
• 2 small yellow squash (includes additional half-share)
  
• 1 sweet green pepper
• 1 butternut squash
  
• 0.5 lbs chard
• 1 jalapeno, 1 cayenne pepper, 2 Thai peppers
  
• Basil
• 1 pint red raspberries
• 1 watermelon
  

Anyone know what to do with Thai peppers?

Easy Vegetable Lasagna Recipe

After watching a co-worker eat some traditional lasagna, all cheesy and delicious, I started craving the stuff. I knew I had a few lasagna noodles in the cupboard, along with some jarred sauce, shredded mozzarella and plenty of vegetables, so that night I stopped at the grocery store to get some ricotta and cottage cheese and headed home to make lasagna and feed my craving. This vegetarian lasagna was delicious with a slice of Italian bread and a salad made of baby greens and tomato slices topped with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Easy Vegetable Lasagna
Makes 12 servings

1 TBSP olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion chopped
1 small yellow squash, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
1 bunch spinach or chard, leaves removed and torn
1 jar marinara sauce (32 oz), divided
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)
1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
9 no-boil lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until aromatic. Add the zucchini, squash, onion and peppers and saute. Once these vegetables are tender, add the spinach or chard leaves and cook until wilted. Mix three cups of the sauce (about 3/4 of the jar) into the vegetables and cook until heated through. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, cottage cheese and egg and stir until smooth, creamy and well-combined. Set aside.

In a 9x13 baking dish, spread a small amount of the remaining jarred sauce to coat the bottom of the dish. Lay three noodles across the pan. Add half the vegetable and sauce mixture, adding about 1/3 of the remaining jarred sauce. Layer half the cheese mixture on top of the vegetables and sauce. Repeat the noodle, vegetable and sauce, and cheese layers once. Top with the remaining three noodles. Cover the noodles with the remaining jarred sauce and sprinkle the top with the mozzarella cheese.

Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes, until sauce is bubbly, noodles are tender and cheese is melted.

What are your favorite lasagna ingredients?

Should I Be Worried About the Economy? and Other Questions I Keep Asking Myself

I'm feeling anxious today and, while this might be related to hormonal fluctuations, it's very likely due to all the questions that keep running through my head. I was awake much of the night, tossing and turning, and every time I woke up there were more questions forming a pile on the pillow beside my head.

A few examples:

• Is the economy really as bad as the "analysts" keep saying it is?
  
• Are we going to experience a depression to rival the Great Depression, as one of those analysts implied will occur if things don't improve drastically, and soon?
• What should I do with my money?
  
• Is it safe to spend some of my savings on more windows and a door?
• Can I afford to buy a dining table?
• What color should I paint my dining room?
• When am I going to find time to refinish the kitchen cabinets?
• And paint the dining room?
  
• Should I paint the kitchen before or after I paint the dining room?
• How can I worry about paint when men are at war, people are starving and a hurricane just destroyed homes and lives?
• Can we fix the mess we've made of our country?
• Don't people care about one another anymore?
• Should I move back to my hometown?
• Will I ever move anywhere again?
• Should I get another cat or is one cat more than enough?
  
• Am I a good cat-mommy?
  
• Should I have blanched all those green beans I've been freezing?
  
• Will they be ruined when I try to eat them in January?

It's like my mind is a black hole of questions big and small, with answers that seem to melt into the darkness and disappear. Each question leads to another question, which inevitably leads to three or five or ten more. Today I'm trying to hold on to the things I do know, in hopes that they'll shed light on those things that I can't figure out quite yet.

• My friends and family love me, no matter what.
• I care about people.
• I love love.
• I have a home and a job that pays the bills.
• My cat meets me at the door everyday and purrs when she's near me.
• Paint isn't permanent.
• Life is precious and I can choose to be present for it all.

That's a bit of what's been on my mind lately. What's on your mind these days?

Ditching the Disposables Challenge: Upping the Ante

Two weeks ago I signed up for a little challenge over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess. All I had to do was pick a disposable that I wanted to ditch and replace it with something reusable. Crunchy is hard-core and she's given up disposable menstrual products. I'm not so brave and went with something a little less radical. Since I've been lazily using paper plates, reasoning that I won't have to wash so many dishes, I decided to ditch my paper plate habit for two months. How much washing could I really be saving, anyway? I'm estimating maybe 11 plates a week at the most, and that's if I eat dinner at home every night and three meals at home on the weekends.

I've managed to go two weeks without using a single paper plate, at home or at work. In fact, it's been pretty easy, and now I'm beginning to think I was a little lazy with my choice for the challenge. My first thought when I heard about the challenge was to give up paper towels. I dismissed that thought quickly, because...well, I use a lot of paper towels and napkins, at home and at work. I couldn't imagine NOT using them. At work they're the only option for drying my hands in the bathroom, and honestly, if there were other options I'm not sure I'd use them for sanitary reasons. But they're not really necessary when I eat lunch or wipe up a mess on the counter. They're just more convenient. I could probably switch to cloth towels or napkins. My only excuse is that I'm a messy person and I'd be doing a lot more laundry (not to mention having to buy more towels and cloth napkins).

Of course, just like the paper plates, I think once I make that switch I'll realize its not as bad as I thought it would be. So I'm pushing myself a bit more this week and I'm committing to getting rid of the paper towels and napkins everywhere but the bathroom at work. And maybe one day I'll be brave enough to try getting rid of toilet paper like some of the other challenge participants.

CSA Report - Rasberries Are Here!

Several weeks ago, the u-pick blackberries started ripening at my CSA farm. Each week that they were available, I diligently trudged to the patch at the back of the farm plot and searched for a handful of ripe blackberries. I didn't have much luck, but I did learn that if you want to find the good stuff, you have to get down on the ground and look under the bush. The ripe ones are always hiding under the leaves. The blackberries are gone, so when I saw the announcement on the chalk-board this week that the raspberries were ripe and we were welcome to help ourselves to a pint apiece, I was ready for some heavy searching yet again. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were raspberries aplenty and, while it didn't hurt to look under the bushes, there really wasn't any need to. Ripe berries were front and center and ready to take their place in my container. I can't wait to have them on my yogurt in the morning.

What I brought home this week:

• 4.5 lbs green beans (includes additional full-share)
• 3.5 lbs tomatoes (1 medium, 3 large plum, abt. 20 large cherry-type)
• 1 small yellow squash (0.5 lb)
  
• 2 small cucumbers (0.5 lb)
• 1 small eggplant
  
• 1 sweet green pepper
• 0.75 lbs chard
• 0.5 oz. Parsley
• Basil and oregano
• 1 pint red raspberries
  

I should have had another jalapeno and cayenne pepper, too, but I forgot to grab them.

I'm currently making more soup, most of which will likely take up what little space is left in my freezer. The room I have for "putting up" produce is probably about doubled since last year, and I'm grateful for that. Still, I'm shopping around for a small chest freezer, because I'd like to have room for what's still to come: apples, broccoli, sweet potatoes, winter squash, carrots and more zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and beans. Plus I'd like to be able to freeze some more non-CSA stuff, like corn, cauliflower, peppers and peaches.

Thanks to everyone for the recipe suggestions. Keep them coming if you have them. I'm enjoying the recommendations and looking forward to using them in the future.

Locker Room Debate - Open Letter to Mom's of Small Boys Follow-up

A couple of weeks ago, I sent out an open letter to mom's of small boys. Today, you can find a follow-up post on the locker room debate at Great Walls of Baltimore. I've described the situation in more detail and I'm looking for some advice from the mothers of the world. So if you're a mom (or if you're not but you have an opinion on the subject of boys in the ladies' locker room), head on over and join the conversation. I'd love to know what you think and/or what you'd do in the same situation.

And while you're there, please do look around, read a few posts and leave MommyK some comments while she's off at the beach enjoying herself. I'm sure she'd appreciate it.

CSA Report - It Just Keeps Coming

Another week, another share. The produce just keeps coming and I'm starting to run out of places to put it all. My freezer, while bigger than the one I had last year, is still bursting at the seams with corn, green beans, peas, tomatoes, zucchini and the usual convenience foods (i.e., veggie burgers and frozen fish). Thankfully I'm not depending on frozen meals for my lunches these days because I don't have any idea where I'd put them. But if the harvests keep coming I'm still going to have to figure out how to store some of this stuff. (I'm not up for the work of canning this year, but am seriously considering it for next year.)

Anyone have a small chest freezer you want to get rid of?

The haul this week:

• 2.5 lbs green beans (includes additional half-share)
• 4 lbs tomatoes (2 medium, 1 large plum, 25 large cherry-type)
• 1 small yellow squash (0.5 lb)
  
• 1 large zucchini (1.25 lb)
  
• 1 cucumber (0.35 lb)
  
• 1 jalapeno and 1 cayenne pepper
• 0.5 lbs chard
• 0.2 oz. Parsley
• Basil and oregano
  

I'm hoping to freeze those green beans. I dried all the cherry-type tomatoes and have been working my way through the others with basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Not sure what I'll do with the jalapeno and chili peppers, and I'm getting so sick of chard I probably won't take any next week. (I'd freeze it but there's so little room.) I'm thinking about using the yellow squash and zucchini to try some of Louise's ideas. Being creative isn't exactly easy when you're tight on time, but I'm trying to branch out and experiment a bit more. Bring on the suggestions if you have them.

The Baby Train - When Will I Get My Ticket?

Cross-posted on Damsels in Success.

I was at the gym last week and after my workout I went to the locker room to change and shower as usual. In the 30 minutes I was there, three different pregnant women came and went. On my way home that same day, I stopped at the grocery store and saw a pregnant woman in every aisle I traveled down. Is it just me, or are there pregnant women everywhere right now?

OK, so I’m almost positive that pregnant women aren’t turning up with more frequency these days. It does seem that way, though. You see, I’m 32 and I have yet to have a child of my own. My biological clock is ticking faster and louder than ever—so loud that some days I’m certain my boyfriend can hear it, too. But getting on the baby train just isn’t in the cards right this moment and it just chugs on by while I wave and force a smile for friends, acquaintances and complete strangers who’ve climbed aboard.

Of course, the truth of the matter is that if I really wanted to I could buy my ticket for that train anytime; I can have a baby whenever I choose (so long as my body is willing and able). But the reality of the situation is that I want to be married (or at least in a fully committed co-habiting relationship), financially stable and well on my way to a successful writing career before I get on that train. I struggle regularly, going back and forth between my desire to get pregnant immediately no matter what situation I’m in, and the reality of the responsibilities and challenges that motherhood will bring—especially if I’m on my own. Thankfully, my career is moving along well, and things with my boyfriend are serious and seem to be headed toward marriage in the near future. This quells at least some of the anxiety I feel as that baby train passes me by. One day soon, I reassure myself, you’ll be on that train. But what if that wasn’t the case? What if there was no sign of a stable relationship in my future? Or what if, God forbid, I was unable to have children? How would I handle my desire then?

I fear I wouldn’t do well. I’ve wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember and every dream I have for myself includes children as a part of it. Even now, when I know there’s hope for children in my near future, I still find myself glossy-eyed and drenched in envy when I spend time with friends who have children. I see pregnant women and I fanaticize about what my body might look like at five, seven, and nine months. Even pregnant animals on the Discovery Channel fill me with jealousy.

I try to hide my envy, at least around my friends, but I’m certain it peaks through my happy-to-be-childless front sometimes. To quiet the jealousy beast, I remind myself that motherhood isn’t all baby powder and butterfly kisses, and I hold onto the hope that I’ll be a mother one day soon. In the meantime, I try to enjoy my childless life as much as possible and use my time to invest in me, my relationships and my career. After all, as my friends with children often tell me, I’ll wish for these days of freedom when I finally do have kids.

Now where did I put that train schedule?

What to Do With that Huge Zucchini

Last week found me the proud owner of a gigantic zucchini. I'm not talking about a large zucchini, I'm talking about a zucchini the size of a bowling pin. Huge. Since I knew I wouldn't want to eat it all, I decided to shred it up and use it for zucchini bread. In an attempt to be semi-healthy, I sent out a plea for reduced-fat and/or reduced-sugar zucchini bread recipes. I didn't get any (but I'm looking forward to trying some of that chocolate zucchini bread in the future). I did, however, receive a very timely email from Eat Better America with a recipe for "Healthified" Zucchini Bread.

I made a few adjustments to the healthified recipe based on the ingredients I had and the comments made by others who'd tried the recipe and got two loaves of delicious zucchini bread. The original version had walnuts and used twice the sugar. I also substituted 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice for 2 of the 3 tsp cinnamon the recipe called for because I was unexpectedly out of cinnamon. The result was this recipe:

Use-That-Zucchini Bread

2 1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup fat free egg substitute
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup Splenda Sugar Blend)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
non-stick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottoms only of two loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the zucchini, applesauce and liquid ingredients with sugar until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Divide mixture evenly between the two loaf pans. Bake 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean. Cool in the pans for about 15 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

It wasn't chocolate zucchini bread, but it was extremely good. Next time I think I might add the walnuts, but if I didn't know it was reduced-fat and reduced sugar, I don't think I would have guessed it. If you try it, let me know what you think.

CSA Report - Vegetable Daze

The tomatoes have arrived in full force and I'm glad, but I'm going to be away this weekend and I'm afraid they'll all go bad. (That was some poor, unintentional poetry, right there.) I don't think I'll have time to peal, seed, chop and freeze them tonight, either. So it looks like I might be carrying them with me. I think everything else will keep until I get back on Monday and can cook/freeze it all. This is what's filling my refrigerator today:

• 2.5 lbs green beans (includes additional half-share)
• 1 lb chard (includes additional half-share)
• 3 large tomatoes, 3 large plum tomatoes and a handful of a type that are the same shape as regular tomatoes but much smaller (4.5 lb)
  
• 1 small head garlic
  
• 1 extra-large zucchini (free choice item)
• 1 small yellow squash (.5 lb)
• 1 small cucumber (.5 lb)
• 1 Jalapeño pepper
  
• 2 small green peppers
• 1 small head lettuce
  
• abt. 4 large stems basil
• 2 sprigs oregano
• 1 sprig sage

I'm thinking some salsa might be in my future, if I can keep those tomatoes through the weekend. The basil will make good pesto, although I still have some in the freezer from last season. That extra-large zucchini won't be good for much other than zucchini bread, so, woe-is-me, I guess I'll have to bake some. If anyone knows a good zucchini bread recipe, I'd be happy to hear it, especially if it's reduced-fat or reduced-sugar.

Open Letter to Mothers of Small Boys

Dear Mothers of Small Boys,

When bringing your young male children to the gym, it is in the best interest of everyone involved that you drop them off at the child care room BEFORE taking your things to your locker. Doing so will avoid awkward moments like your son asking questions about naked body parts and other gym-goers fiddling with their gym bags in an attempt to postpone their changing routine or attempting to cover up as quickly as possible. Really, what are you thinking?

Little Johnny does not belong in the ladies' locker room. There are bras and panties and naked boobies all over the place--even at noon. What? He has to use the bathroom? There's a bathroom in the child care center. Let him go there. Sure, naked bodies are completely natural, but you're exposing Little Johnny to the naked bodies of strangers, and you're causing your fellow exercisers extreme discomfort. I mean, would you change in front of a preschooler that didn't come from your own loins?

Thank you for your consideration of these matters. I'm certain you'll think twice before bringing Johnny in again.

Best,
Concerned Locker Room Frequenter

OLS Week 12 - A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

My refrigerator is overflowing with produce and I needed a local meal for the week, so I decided I’d make some soup. I figured I could make a big pot and freeze some for later, and it would use up plenty of the stuff I got from the CSA this week.

It turned out pretty good, very chunky and flavorful. It probably could have used a little more garlic and maybe some salt because I used sodium-free broth, but I’ll leave that up to you. The recipe I came up with is below. I used a single large zucchini, about a dozen green beans, a couple handfuls of large cherry tomatoes, a small bunch of scallions and blue potatoes from the CSA and some white onion from the farmers’ market, but you could obviously use whatever vegetables you have on hand and adjust the amounts to your liking. In fact, I was going to add some chard and frozen peas in the last few minutes, but forgot. Corn also would have been a nice addition.

Chunky Garden Vegetable Soup

4 cups broth
1 large zucchini, diced
5 scallions, white and green parts chopped
1 cup chopped tomatoes
8-10 baby potatoes, diced
1 cup cut green beans
½ large white onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
Chopped fresh basil, oregano and sage
Salt and pepper to taste

In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients and cook on high for about 2 hours or until vegetables are tender.

This...

Became this.

For my OLS meal this week, I ate the Chunky Garden Vegetable Soup for lunch with bread from the Atwater’s stand at the market. Simple, easy and tasty. (Non-local ingredients: salt, pepper, broth)

Preparing for the Pre-release Party

I've been reading my essay, "Flying with a Ghost", over and over again trying to get it down to eight minutes. My voice is starting to get weak, and my cat thinks I'm crazy. I'm practicing making eye contact with my audience, which right now consists of the television, a couple of plants and said cat. I've placed pauses in all the right places for laughter, emphasis, or to take deep breaths to calm my nerves. I've created voices for the "characters" that speak throughout the essay. I've done all I can to make sure I'm ready for the big party tomorrow.

At 3PM I'll be joining a large group of fellow writers and their family and friends for the New Lines from the Old Line State pre-release party. Eight of us will be reading. We'll mingle, sign each other's advance copies and enjoy the excitement of seeing our work in print, bound together in a paperback book that smells like ink and glue. I may not be getting paid for this essay, but I have to admit that getting my work published in an actual book, getting the opportunity to promote the book and read my work at local events, is payment enough. What better way to get my name and face out there? What better way to learn how to read an essay without shaking like a leaf? I'm hoping that this publication is just one more step toward a bound collection all of my very own.

I have this dream that the book will magically find its way into the hands of an amazing agent who is looking for someone new to represent. She flips casually through the book and comes to the last piece and for whatever reason the title catches her eye. Since she has nothing to do for the next ten minutes, she begins to read. Fifteen minutes later, she has checked out my website and sent me an email asking to see more of my work. A week after that, we sit in a coffee shop downtown and she offers to represent me. Within months, I have a book deal from Simon & Schuster and am rabidly writing my collection of essays.

For now, I'm in really good company with a great group of poets, non-fiction and fiction writers from the Old Line State. If you'd like to check any of them out (or if you're an agent looking for some new clients) you can pre-order the anthology at Amazon or Target. We'll also be reading at the Baltimore Book Festival for the official book release on Sunday, September 28th from 5:15 - 7PM. If you're in the area, come on out and show us some love!

Images of Me

This meme has been floating around the internet for a long time and I finally got around to giving it a try. It was fun, and I'd love to play around with the Mosaic Maker some more using my own images. As for the meme, these are the questions and my answers:

What is your first name? Ami

What is your favourite food? Sushi

What high school did you attend? SHCS

What is your favorite color? Red

Who is your celebrity crush? Adam Sandler

Favourite drink? Diet Dr. Pepper

Dream vacation? Australia

Favourite dessert? Angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream

What do you want to be when you grow up? Novelist

What do you love most in life? Love

One word to describe you? Nerd

Your Flikr name? smtwngrl

I did a Flikr's search for each of my answers, chose a picture from the first page of results and plugged them into the mosaic maker. This is what it produced:


1. Sea Power Glass Wall Wave, 2. Flickr Loves Sushi. Mmm., 3. P1030745, 4. Gizmo, 5. Adam Sandler and Nomar Garciaparra at the G2 Lounge, a hot spot at the Super Bowl XLII, 6. Diet Dr. Pepper girls, 7. Moonlight of Gold, 8. angel food cake from heaven, 9. Red Dawn Light, 10. llibreria - bookstore - Amsterdam - HDR, 11. Comics Addicted Chapter Two - Viciado em Quadrinhos Capítulo Dois, 12. Down on the farm

CSA Report - The Green Beans Have Arrived

I know that you were paying very close attention to my CSA report last week and you're thinking, "But there were green beans in last week's share. Is she losing her memory or what?" And since I know you're uber-concerned about this, I'll tell you that I do remember that 1.5 lbs of green beans from last week. I remember because I just finally got around to cooking them and making green bean and feta salad out of them tonight. After picking up six (yes, S.I.X.) lbs of green beans this week. What in the world will a single gal do with 6 lbs. of green beans, you ask? Why freeze them, of course. Admit it, you'll be jealous in January when I'm eating green beans from my CSA and you're buying Green Giant beans in a can.

Anyway, on to the report:

• 6 lbs green beans (includes additional half-share)
• 2 lbs chard (includes additional full-share)
• 2 medium tomatoes and about 10 large grape-type tomatoes (2.25 lb)
  
• 1 small and 1 large head garlic (includes additional full-share)
• 2 small zucchini (1.5 lb)
• 1 small yellow squash (.5 lb)
• 1 medium cucumber (1 lb)
• abt. 4 large stems basil
• 2 sprigs oregano
• 1 sprig sage
• 2 sprigs mint

If anyone has any suggestions for using sage, I'd love to have them. I dried some of it to save for stuffings and the like in the fall, but I don't know what to do with fresh sage.

I'm looking forward to making a sauce or maybe a soup with my zucchini, squash, tomatoes, basil, and oregano, but if you can think of other recipes or dishes that I can use these foods in, I'm definitely looking for ways to change things up. I tend to get into a rut and make the same dishes over and over again, but I can't afford to get sick of these veggies. There are a lot more of them where these came from.

I Fought the Gym and the Gym Won

Which I suppose means that I won, in the end, but we'll get to that.

I'm an inherently lazy person. Yes, I've just admitted that to the entire blogosphere and all of mankind. But it's true. I have to fight my natural tendency toward lethargy if I want to get anything done. Even the things that I love doing, like writing and decorating my house. Growing up, I was the kid who would rather lay around reading a book than be out riding my bike or running around playing with the other kids. Any activity had to have a clear and very high benefit to cost ratio. Walk a few blocks to get ice cream? Definitely. Run around tagging each other and rolling in the grass laughing about who caught whom? No thanks, I'll pass.

Because I can see this history clearly, it's not surprising to me that I battle my own will almost every time I decide to go to the gym. I go through phases where the gym is fun and exciting and the expected benefits (more energy, weight loss, firmer muscles, time to read my magazines or watch some cable television) easily outweigh the costs (90 - 120 precious minutes of my already packed days, buckets of sweat, getting up earlier or getting home later). More often than not, though, on days when I plan to go to the gym, I'm weighing the pros and cons from the moment I wake up until the moment I start up that treadmill or lift the first weight. It's me against the machine. Literally.

Take yesterday as an example:

I packed my gym bag in the morning and put it in my car, ready for a lunchtime or after work workout. At 10:45, my workout reminder popped up and I immediately dismissed it. I'll go after work, I thought. I'm too busy right now and I'm in a groove. In actuality, I was checking my email or some other nonsense, but my brain didn't care. It just needed an excuse.

At 3:30, when it was time to shut down and go home, er, to the gym, I got caught up in a conversation. By 3:45 I had convinced myself that it was now too late to go to the gym and I might as well go home and take a walk in the park. When I mentioned to a co-worker that this was my plan, she said, "I always say that, but then I never do it." I grudgingly agreed and said, out loud so that she could hold me to it, that I'd be going to the gym after all.

Walking to my car, I went over all the errands and task that needed to be done immediately. We're talking trips to the grocery store for things I didn't really need and household chores that I didn't get around to this weekend. Clearly emergency tasks that could. not. wait. As I approached the gym parking lot, I scrambled for more excuses, finally resorting to the "I just don't FEEL like it" tactic. I made it into a parking spot and turned off the car, but I was still bargaining with myself. It's so nice out. I really could take a walk when I get home. Right after I feed the cat, take out the trash, cook dinner, read my email... You see where that was going.

I pulled my gym bag out of the back seat and walked into the gym, handing over my membership card to the desk attendant. You'd think by this point I'd be resigned to the fact that I was going to get on a treadmill, but no. By the time I'd reached the locker room I had mentally inventoried my gym bag hoping I had forgotten some essential piece of gym wear. Alas, I had not.

While I changed, still fighting the pull of the cardio machines, I promised myself that I could do a short workout: just 20 minutes including a 5 minute warm-up and a 5 minute cool-down. That wouldn't be so bad.

As always, the minute I started up the treadmill and plugged in my headphones to watch Sandra Lee make some Semi-Homemade chocolate treats (oh, the irony that my favorite thing to watch while working out is the Food Network) I was fine. No more mental fights. I was happy to be there, sweating and breathing hard, and drooling over trail mix and scones.

All that fighting, and for what? I really, truly, enjoy my time at the gym once I'm there. It's getting there that seems to be the issue. And some days I'm not nearly so successful at fighting the anti-gym sentiment. I'm glad I did yesterday, though, because tonight I have way too many errands to run.

What? The gym can't win every time.

I've Had a Relapse

It's been a while since I've been on a binge. No, not a food binge (although I'm proud to say I haven't had one of those in a while either). I'm talking about an all-out book buying binge. Yes, I did it again.

It always starts so innocently. I get an email coupon for a deal I can't resist--this time When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris for $12.99--and I go to Barnes & Noble for this one item. But I come out with so much more. I grabbed the Sedaris book, and should have just left with the one. I had another coupon for an additional 15% off a single item, though, and how could I let that go to waste? I started looking around the clearance section and found The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson. It looked interesting, and I've heard really good things about her other books. It was only $4.98 and I figured it would look good sitting on my TBR shelf next to gods in Alabama and Between, Georgia, waiting to be read. (It just occurred to me that I purchased gods in Alabama for $5.98 during my last book spree. More than a year ago. And I still. Haven't. Read it. Ugh!)

Did I stop there? Take my deals and run with them? No. Of course not. I wandered around, looking for anything that seemed a must-have or that had been hanging out on my wish list for a while. That's when I spotted the Buy-2-Get-1-Free table. Piles of trade paperbacks just begging to be purchased. And there was Mercy by Jodi Picoult! I've been meaning to read more of her older novels so I picked it up and looked for a second and third to go with it. Oh! Songs of the Humpback Whale, too! Now I was really searching; the next one would be free, after all. They had My Sister's Keeper and Second Glance, but I've already read those. No more Jodi Picoult on the table, and nothing else was piquing my attention, so I laid down my two choices and started to walk away.

As I turned to head to the register, I noticed She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. While I've read it before, it was about eight years ago and I've been meaning to read it again. I quickly picked it up, stacking it on top of the two Picoults and the two books already in my arms, and mentally calculating the deal I was getting. Three paperbacks for $30 and two hardcovers for $17, minus my 10% member discount and an additional 15% off one of the paperbacks. A gift card that I've been holding onto for several months came in handy, and I managed to get out of there having spend only $20. At least this binge didn't put a huge hole in my budget.

Now I'm going to have to cut back on blog reading (and maybe posting), email checking, and television watching and start reading more books. If only I didn't have to go to work.

CSA Report & the Pseudo-Foodie Experiments Pt. 3

First the CSA Stuff

Here come the veggies! Things are really picking up at the CSA and I'm starting to thing farmers' market trips will have to be limited. I'm going to have to control myself and stick to fruits and small amounts of a few special veggies (like tomatillos and corn) that I won't be getting from my CSA. This week I came home with:

• 2 large tomatoes & 2 large Roma tomatoes (2.25 lb)
  
• 1 lb green beans
• 2 small cucumbers (1 lb, I think)
  
• 1 head garlic
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 lb Swiss chard (includes additional 1/2 share)
• 1 small bunch scallions
• 1 medium zucchini (1.5 lb)
• 1 pint blackberriees
  
• 2 sprigs sage, 2 sprigs basil, 2 sprigs oregano

I also ran into another member who told me that I should plan to start getting overwhelmed by vegetables. She said they get a full share and last season her family of three had a really hard time eating everything. I guess I should start seriously preparing myself for some freezing and drying of vegetables in the near future. I've been putzing around with it a bit, drying my tomatoes, freezing some beans here and corn there, but it looks like I better start organizing the freezer for the onslaught to come.

And Then My Foodie Adventures

And speaking of tomatillos...(What? I mentioned them back there.) My most recent pseudo-foodie task was to turn those funny looking tomatillos that I got at the farmers' market into salsa verde. I'm a huge salsa fan and when I saw Tiffany's recipe for Salsa Verde Chicken, I knew I wanted to give this stuff a try. Since I was short on time, I looked for a recipe that I didn't have to cook and ended up basing my own recipe on a couple I found while searching my two favorite recipe sites: Allrecipes and Cooking Light. I'm sure there are many different versions of this salsa, but here's what I came up with:

Fresh and Simple Salsa Verde

8-9 tomatillos, papery skins removed, quartered
1/2 medium red onion, cut into thick wedges
1/2 cup cilantro leaves packed
1 4 oz. can chopped green chilies, undrained

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well chopped and mixed.

One word: Delicious.

OLS Week 11 & The Pseudo-Foodie Experiments Pt. 2

My One Local Summer meal for Week 11 was inspired by a tomato sauce recipe in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I made an all-local pasta sauce of tomatoes, sautéed garlic, zucchini, and red peppers, basil and hot Italian sausage and served it over couscous. (Not the best picture, but take my word that it was really good.)

For a side dish (and as part of my pseudo-foodie experiments) I ate sliced heirloom tomatoes, sprinkled with purple basil from my garden and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I got two quarts of the tomatoes at the farmers' market on Sunday, each quart a mixture of interesting colors, shapes and sizes. I know none of their names, but they tasted oh-so-good. These pictures capture just a few of the varieties pre- and post-preparation. So far, some have been sweet, some tangy, some sweet and tangy. It's like a grab-bag of flavors (or a box of chocolates)--I never know what I'm going to get.

(Non-local ingredients: couscous, olive oil, vinegar)

OLS Week 10 & The Pseudo-Foodie Experiments Pt. 1

Before I get into all my foodie adventures, I managed to get my One Local Summer meal for Week 10 in just under the cut-off: a homemade pumpkin-zucchini muffin from Cat's Paw Organic Farm. I ate it for breakfast Sunday morning. I look forward to Cat's Paw muffins every Sunday. They're my weekend treat. I've tried every low-sugar, low-fat muffin they have--Lemon Blueberry, Nantucket, Morning Glory, Banana Honey Bran, to name a few--and each one has been better than the last. I only allow myself to buy one per visit because I know I'd be eating the huge muffins for breakfast every day if I didn't. And every week I resist buying her cookbook because I know I'd be tempted to make her delicious treats more often than necessary (or healthy).

My trip to the farmers' market this week also produced a lot of great finds: peaches, apricots and apples, tomatillos, miscellaneous heirloom tomatoes, plum tomatoes, white corn, yellow beans, an onion, two cucumbers, red bell peppers and a couple longer-type peppers in red and yellow. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have gotten cilantro, too.

With all that great food I had to figure out how to use and/or preserve it, so I've been playing foodie. Here's the first of my food experiments:

Making Jam

When I got home tonight, I found the apricots I bought to make freezer jam had ripened much faster than I expected. It looked like I'd have to make up the jam tonight before they got too soft and mushy. Thankfully, the process was super easy. I used the Ball Freezer Jam mix (you can get it in the canning aisle of your favorite store). To make the jam, just crush enough fruit to make 3 1/2 to 4 cups (depending on the type of fruit), mix the packet with 1 1/2 cups sugar (or Splenda), and then add the fruit to the sugar mixture and stir for three minutes. Easy-peasy. It made five 8-oz. containers (also purchased in the canning aisle). Four went straight in the freezer and one is in the refrigerator. I was going to do up my peaches, too, but I wanted to see how the apricot jam turned out first, because it doesn't seem to be as thick as I'd have liked. It's more like a sauce than a jam.

When I do the peaches, I might try using less fruit per pectin packet. I also used the Splenda baking blend and reduced the amount by 1/3, using just a 1/2 cup of the baking blend (1/2 cup of the baking blend = 1 cup sugar). It tasted plenty sweet and I can't imagine this reduction had anything to do with the thinness of the jam, but I might be wrong. I may also try the full sugar amount next time just to be sure.

"Sun"-drying Tomatoes

While at the farmers' market, I got a half-peck of plum tomatoes (about 25) for $3.50 (who says eating locally is more expensive?). I had planned to dry tomatoes last year when I attempted to grow them myself, but never got around to doing it partly because my plants were ruined by birds (and my inability to grow things) and partly because I didn't know what to do with them. I didn't want to dry them outside in the sun (too many opportunities for pests and stuff, yuck) and I didn't want to preserve them in oil (too much added fat for my tastes). So I did some more research and figured out I could dry tomatoes in my food dehydrator and then freeze them. At this time, I'm drying more than two dozen plum tomatoes. A few of them are finished, but the majority of them are going on their 12th hour of drying. I can't wait to use these tomatoes in sauces and dressings.

And that, my friends, was my first foray into the world of a foodie. Stay tuned for future chapters as I take on tomatillos and heirloom tomatoes.

Call Me a Copy-Cat

I'd like to say that Erin has once again inspired a change of style, but I'm starting to fear I've become the haircut copy-cat. Either way, I'm in love with another new 'do. (Please excuse the makeup-less appearance. And I had a really hard time getting a good face-on self portrait with the available lighting, so you don't get one. Trust me, though, it looks good.)

In other news this weekend:

• I won $20 for Sephora and $10 for Target during the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival. Wahoo! Now, what to buy?
• I saw Hancock last week with My Love. I know it got really bad reviews, but I actually enjoyed it.
• I got the final word that Mexico in January is really on. I'm going to Mexico, people. Sun, sand and (gulp) beach. Must. Commence. Weight loss. NOW.
• My skin is breaking out like crazy. At 32 I expect the occasional hormonal pimple, but my chin is starting to look like it did in my teens. Unacceptable. I'm afraid it may have something to do with my recent increased intake of carbohydrates.
• I realized last week that I haven't eaten meat in weeks. How does that happen? It wasn't purposeful, but I think the plethora of veggies these days has usurped the presence of meat. I don't mind. My only concern is that I might not be getting enough protein. I see more fish and beans in my future.
• My new favorite place is Panera. Did you know they have free wi-fi? And free refills on soda, coffee and tea? It's my new favorite place to go and write when I'm too distracted at home. (Or when I feel the need to be around other living, breathing human beings while I get some work done.) I also love their soup/salad combos. Yummy. This is NOT good for my budget.
  
• It was an incredibly beautiful day today. The sun was shining and there was a nice breeze, not a single cloud in the sky. I actually took advantage of it and walked in the park this morning. It was 68 degrees at 9:30AM with practically no humidity. I'm not complaining, but that's a bit unseasonably cool for August 9th.

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend, too.

Another Week at the CSA

I know I've said similar things before, but it really is nice to be bringing home fresh fruit and veggies that are grown where I can actually watch them mature before they're picked. This week's pickup included:

• 0.65 lb. Swiss chard
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 head garlic
• 1 small bunch scallions
• 0.9 lb. red potatoes
• 0.9 lb. tomatoes (1 large)
  
• 0.85 lb. zucchini (1 large)
• 2 small beets (1 donated by an anonymous beet-hater)
  
• 2 sprigs basil, 1 sprig sage, 2 sprigs oregano
• a little more than a pint of blackberries

I got to pick my own blackberries again, and on my way to the patch I passed flowering zucchini plants (it was all I could do not to pick some of the blossoms for stuffing, frying, or stuffing and frying), ripening tomatoes, a raspberry patch, and various as-yet unidentifiable plants that haven't started producing their fruits. So much is still to come: cucumbers, peppers, beans, more berries, sweet potatoes, and yes, more kale. Each week I wait with bated breath to find out what I'll be taking home. And even when the haul is a little smaller than I expected, it's still exciting to put my bag of produce in my car and slowly drive past the fields where it all grew.

All Over the Blogsphere

It seems I just can't help myself when the request for guest posts goes out. I can't stop volunteering. Last week there was my guest post for Confident Writing and this week I'm a guest blogger over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess. If you're interested in my journey toward local eating (as if you don't get enough of that here), feel free to head on over. A little comment love wouldn't hurt, either.

The Return of Fiction

I've been reading a lot of non-fiction lately. First there were books on writing book proposals and on improving my freelance income, some of which I've finished, some I've set aside because I'm too busy actually working to read them. (I suppose that means I'm applying what I'm learning.) Then there was The Omnivore's Dilemma, which I finished this weekend after three months. I really enjoyed this book and I learned a lot of eye-opening (or eye re-opening in some cases) things about our American food culture, but non-fiction, however good, is just not the same as a good novel or story.

Non-fiction or fiction, I haven't touched a single book in my TBR Pile since April. I've been craving fiction, and the only way I've been able to feed that craving of late has been through some books on CD. I listened to Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman during my trip to visit my family. (Have you read this yet? I highly recommend it.) Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin came after that. And this week I've been listening to Swapping Lives by Jane Green in my car on the way to and from work. But I haven't had time to pick up a good novel or read some short stories, hold them in my hand and turn the pages of my imagination, without feeling guilty. It seemed there was always something else I should be doing. But last night, after an hour and a half working on a new essay, and thanks to Verizon failing me yet again so that I couldn't spend time reading blogs or my email, I picked a book off my shelves and spent an hour reading short stories from Ursula Hegi's collection, Hotel of the Saints.

Like an addict craving her fix, just the sight of the book cover, the feel of the pages between my fingers, made me giddy with anticipation. The smell of the paper and ink brought a smile to my face and I cozied up with the words. Ah...I've missed this, I thought as I immersed myself in the first story. Fiction--it's my vice.

OLS Week 9 - Tomatoes Galore

I'm a little late getting this up, but I did actually eat a local meal this week, despite my inability to motivate myself to get creative in the kitchen. Last summer at this time I was coming up with new and exciting (although not always tasty) dishes that used up the plethora of vegetables I was bringing home from the markets. This year, I'm struggling to come up with anything appetizing that doesn't take more than an hour to make from refrigerator to table.

This week, I discovered the tomato sandwich. OK, I rediscovered it. I remembered eating BLTs with my family on hot summer evenings and I absolutely loved them. While I'm not a big bacon eater these days, just the thought of fresh-from-the-garden lettuce and tomatoes on soft bread with a little mayo and some salt and pepper makes my mouth water. I didn't have any bread on hand, so I pulled out the bread machine and whipped up a loaf of whole wheat bread.*

For lunch on Wednesday (and for a few other meals this week), I ate fresh tomato and lettuce sandwiches on homemade bread. The tomatoes came from a local farm stand, the lettuce from my CSA and the bread from my kitchen. For a side dish, I included some tomato wedges tossed with basil and a little salt and pepper. Easy. Local. Tasty. Perfect. (Non-local ingredients were mayo, salt and pepper.) In fact, I'm drooling right now thinking about them and might just have to start up the bread machine again.

I'm hoping I can make week 10 a bit more creative, but I'm not making any promises. There are plenty of tomatoes to be eaten, after all.

*Note about the bread: Most of the ingredients for the bread weren't local, but because they came out of my pantry and I made it in my house, I'm counting the bread local for this week.

And the Winner is...

The official winner of the Writing: My Life book giveaway is commenter #22, Dani'! Congratulations to Dani'; I'll be sending out Animal, Vegetable, Miracle as soon as I get her mailing address.*

Thanks to everyone who visited and entered my giveaway. I hope you all found something you'll be interested in coming back regularly for. I always love "meeting" new readers.

Congratulations, again, to Dani'! I hope you enjoy Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and find it to be as inspiring as I did.

*Note: If Dani' does not respond to my email by 8AM on Tuesday, I will pick a new winner.