A Few (Green) Figs From Thistles

digging through the past

2010-08-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

So it has been a crazy summer.
My father died in July, a little over a week after my 29th birthday. In the process of going through the house and clearing it out I have been seeing pictures and mementoes and things which I associate so strongly with my childhood. My childhood which I thought I had forgotten.
It is so strange to be revisiting the past and remembering the child and person I was-and seeing how very different I am today.
I also had my ten year anniversary at my job this year...
All of this is making me re-evaluate my life and it is time to make some changes.

I want to recapture some of my ambition and dreams I had when I was younger.

I want to find a career I actually have a passion for (or at the very least, one that I can do without hating to get up every morning)

I want to be more active in my own life, rather than passively letting it happen and then stricking out in panic or anger when it goes somewhere I don't want to.

Knitting up the winter

2010-04-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Brief, very brief, post as I am trying to avoid a carpal tunnel flare up, but here is what I have been up to recently.
In February I finished a sweater for myself

Then I have knit some boot socks for a dear friend for next winter

and I have been spinning up a storm.
That is my world, these days. The Shepard's Harvest wool festival in two weeks. I am excited.

Wool!

2009-10-23T03:33:00.001-07:00

Here is What I have been busy with recently. 2 Fleeces from Misty Meadow Icelandics. The grey is Elizabeth and the white is Ina. Local fleece (20 minutes away)! I haven't really felt like blogging recently. Cooking from CSA shares has become very routine, after 2 years, and while still fun and interesting it is just one part of an increasingly busy life. Between work and family and making x-mas presents, blogging falls by the wayside in favo of three word facebook updates. We'll see if this blog will continue or not.

Food

2009-08-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

Tortilla tonight, the Spanish omelet, using the potatoes and onions from harmony valley and Larry Shultz eggs. This will be accompanied by Harmony Valley salad greens with completely non-local, Trader Joe's raisins and almonds and a dressing made from ingredients that are about as non-local as one can get. Oh well. Dinner last night was local cabbage (from my sister's garden) braised with Italian Sausages made in the Wedge deli, Harmony Valley garlic and onion, and Italian Wine.
Yummers, and very good the next day for lunch too!
Tomorrow is cream of celery soup with Harmony Valley celery and onions, cedar Summit milk, and non-local chicken broth from Trader Joe's. This will be accompanied by bread from the Wedge bakery, pastureland butter, and cherry tomatoes from my sister.

The food of Summer

2009-08-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying the CSA vegetables very much this year, but are used to the routine of writing menu's, and planning to use them all from from the experience of last year. One of the fun things, though, is finding new things to do with them!
Our favorite new discovery this year is a bean and potato salad that was included in one of the weekly newsletters from Harmony Valley. It is simplicity itself, and we tweaked it a little bit to provide my new favorite lunch bag delight!
It is simply this:
Boiled potatoes sliced thinly
Blanched beans in 2 inch lengths
dill
chives
red wine vinegar
Dijon mustard
olive
salt and pepper
kalamata olives
tuna

Simply combine the potatoes and beans with a dressing made of the herbs, spices, mustard olive oil and vinegar and chill.
Pack in lunch containers with a handful of olives and half a can of tuna.
Sort of an almost Nicoise.

Revisiting old favorites is also wonderful and words cannot describe the joy of proper cucumber salad again:
Mix paper thing cucumber slices and
chopped onion with the following dressing:

2T vinegar
4T water
2t sugar
1t salt

combine and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or more
serve with freshly ground pepper.

back to basics

2009-07-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a while...my apologies to anyone who reads this.
We have been having a busy summer, and this, the second year of the CSA, is so routine by now it is not such an exciting thing to blog about. Everything has been lovely this year, and delicious. The only thing we are having a hard time using is the Fennel. We will be trying a recipe from the 'Cooking For Two 2009' issue of America's Test Kitchen's Cooks Illustrated-Chicken with Fennel and Tomatoes. I am actually looking forward to it, it seems very light and yet delicious.
The fruit share of the CSA has also been fantastic!

CSA redux, Health and Thrift

2009-05-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

We began our usual routine of CSA pickups last Thursday and a welcome beginning it was! I missed the fun of getting a surprise each week the newsletter hit my inbox, and the discipline of making a menu around what we have rather than what we want.
Last week we got:
parsnips
Ramps
Spinach
Rhubarb
Black heart radish
sunchokes
Burdock
Sorrel
Chives
Red Twigged dogwood withes (For beauty...they make a magnificent modern statement in a white crock)

We have eaten the ramps and spinach in a wonderful savory pie which was our favorite recipe find from the Harmony Valley Farm website...but we have made our own after making it several times.
Last night we had chicken simmered with saffron and sunchokes....nice enough, but a little bland. Tomorrow night we eat a sorrel vichyssoise and Wednesday we have a quinoa and radish salad with salmon.
The parsnips and burdock will have to wait until next week for inspiration or desperation to strike.
I have begun to make a gallon of milk in to yogurt every two weeks and that seems to be just enough for Z and I to share.
Our CSA routine was made easier since we broke down and bought a used car-a hard decision to make but my father is not in great health and it is necessary for us to be more mobile than we can be relying totally on public transportation. The purchase of the used Subaru Legacy Outback, even with the fantastic deal my mother gave us, has required a return to the most rigid thrift and I am so thankful the CSA started when it did!

Spring like weather

2009-03-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

The sun and warm temperatures are so welcome after the sudden Arctic blast we had. I had a lovely walk to brunch with a friend. I am really looking forward to the farmer's markets opening up again and to the CSA starting up. I have to wait another month and changes till then, though, and that is hard. I have noticed that when we cook and eat whatever we want (those four or five months that it is too hard to get local food to really make it worthwhile, for us at least) that we eat pretty crappily. Junk food and frozen meals from trader joe's which we love, but which are not the healthiest. It is very easy to get spoiled from our standard diet of local, fresh and mostly organic foods. Somehow salads and vegetables, no matter if they are organic or not never taste as good as those we get in the summer from the CSA and from local farms. I have never really tasted the difference before, but I do now and can't wait for freshness!

Goulash = delish

2009-03-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

I made a traditional Hungarian Goulash the Saturday from Sauveur Magazine. It was fantastico and I must say I was proud to introduce Z to this hitherto unknown (for him) delight. Once again the Le Crueset saves the day and is re-affirmed as my favorite kitchen toy

February Fail!

2009-02-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

Is it spring yet? We had a fantastic thaw which melted all the snow and teased us with two days in the 40's but then we went back to the teens and low 20's-Fail! This always seems like an unending and malicious time of the year, when spring is in sight, but still far away and winter has lost it's charm.
3 months or so until the CSA begins again, and I miss the fun of planning a menu around the box, it is somewhat boring to plan a menu of whatever one wants, though we had a lot of fun at first cooking all sorts of Indian dishes and highly spiced foods...a welcome respite from roasted or braised vegetables with fairly bland spicing.

2009 a new beginning

2009-01-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Kim Chee is RIP. Christmas eve day we pulled back the covering plastic and leaves and were confronted with a stench that defied reality. I could not bring my self to taste it, though it looked perfectly good and with a sad heart I threw it out. So much for not wasting food!!
I have been spinning most of my free hours since the new year, as part of my holiday present from my mother was a shopping spree at the wool store. Z has been fully supportive of my spinning mania. I think I am going to resurrect my inkle loom and even try my rigid heddle loom again with some of the results.
There are a few resolution type things this year in our household
We are trying to eat less meat this year.
We are trying to eat less prepackaged foods.
We are trying to eat less refined sugar.

We really enjoyed the CSA this year (Harmony Valley Farm) and have signed up for next year. It has been very fun and challanging to plan meals around what is in season and available around floods and freak weather. I am looking forward to things I had never had before like Ramps, and ridiculously fresh greens. It was a joy to work with such fresh and tasty ingredients. I hope this year to become better at making different things, rather than making a weekly stir fry with everything. I am so glad to be starting a third year together with my Partner, Z, and to be healthy and employed.
Best wishes for the new year

The Happy Time Sunshine Fun Factory

2008-12-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

It has been a really Shite year for many people I know and love, but for me it has been a pretty damn good one. This worries me. Is there some weird correlation? When I was bottom of the barrel crying on the floor sad during college were my loved ones having the best time? I can't seem to make the equation work, but some part of my mind worries that the Universe is starting to cock the "Mess with me" gun, and soon I will be on the receiving end of a big load of crap.
I am well, and Z is well, but several people I care about deeply are on the edge of some nasty times, I believe, and I think that Z and I may catch some of the splashes of Shite flying off of their crises.
I am not really looking forward to the new year.
This attitude could also be connected to the fact that I am not finished with just under half of my holiday presents and am starting to feel the pressure.
Baked more cookies.
Knit more on presents.
Did no work on super-secret gift for Z(not going to happen this year).
Baked Bread.
Roasted a Chicken on a bed of Squash, turnips, parsnips, carrots and potatoes from the CSA. Delicious.
I am also filled with foreboding about the Kim Chee. How can I tell if it is working?

2008-12-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

Sorry Sorry Sorry. I have been baking and knitting and not much else since October....in the last three weeks I have baked about 15 dozen cookies....knit two pair of socks(one pair is a Norwegian colorwork knee high pair that is beautiful but time consuming), three hats, frogged the hats, re knit the hats, frogged them again and re knit them again...worked on Z's sweater, worked on gloves for an Aunt, worked at my job and last night, made Kim Chee with some of my CSA Veggies....it is Fermenting away on top of the refrigerator, being the warmest place in our chilly flat. I have never made, or eaten, Kim Chee, but Z loves it and out CSA newsletter had a recipe, and it seemed like a fitting way to celebrate out last box of veggies for the year....no more till May.
Today will consist of cleaning (yeah right), knitting, cursing the knitting, knitting some more, laundry and baking, and perhaps some working on a super secret present for Z which shall not be mentioned here. I will do this while watching the snow come down (4 inches and counting)
and watching the Dalai Lama lectures on the 4 Noble Truths (I love the Netflix).

Busy Busy

2008-10-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

Oy, do I feel like an adult.
Work has been really busy, and between working on Holiday presents ( Well, Christmas, since despite not being christian nor most of my family really.....I count myself a secular Christmas celebrator since many of my favorite memories are around Christmas traditions) and trying ti keep the home fires burning I have been completely overwhelmed.
Poor Z. I am sure I have been extra crabby and very difficult to be around.
Fall is truly here with frost warnings and falling leaves. I am pulling out my sweaters and thinking about starting the weekly loaf of bread baking again.
The CSA has been wonderful--more and more lovely things every week.
This week:
Bok Choi
Carrots
Onions
Garlic
Broccoli
Romanesco
Cheddar Cauliflower (this is a mind blower....cauliflower the color of a nicely aged yellow cheddar!)
spinach
lettuce
tomatoes
raspberries
the first winter squash.
I am going to host Thanksgiving this year, and am going to do my best to have it local (with a few exceptions--like the wine and the dessert a friend is bringing).
I have the opportunity to get bulk amounts of tomatoes from the CSA and can them, but I am leery of the extra work. I should, though, as I have not canned anything this year--no pickles, no jelly, no nothing!
Grrr.
Oh well....slowly settling into eating local, job getting more intense and the realities of a long term relationship. I should cut myself some slack.

CSA, miracles, and snow?

2008-09-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

Mission. Figs.
Enough said, though of course I will say more. I was introduced to these miracles last night. They were included in our Fruit share and were perfectly ripe, and are a revelation.
My first fig I thought was too subtle, being used to dried figs. The second was pretty damn good, and by the third I was a convert.
How I envy Z who grew up in a climate were Figs grew in the neighbors yard and the neighborhood children would have fig wars and then eat the broken missles. ( I also envy the fresh citrus and avocado outside the back door he reminices about every time we buy an avocado)
Never mind. I had snow forts and snow men and snow days and snow....and fall...and hotdish.
Oy.

Fall, Colds, and Cheesy Potatoes

2008-09-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

Is it Fall Yet?
I have been asking that all year. Autumn is my favorite season of the year: the temperatures are exactly my comfort zone, the air seems heady like champagne with the smell of wind, dying leaves, harvest and homework.
I am still getting used to is NOT meaning the start of a new school year for me...though it has been three years since it has. What it means these days is planning Holiday presents (I make most of mine), Holiday baking (some of my recipes need to ripen for a month or more), and more importantly--Colds.
Z and I were down with colds this weekend. I wish I could say we used handkerchiefs and dosed ourselves with herbal teas and meditated the illness away with no waste chemicals.
We did not.
Z probably went through three boxes of paper handkerchiefs himself, and I went through half of another. We bought over the counter remedies in all sorts of shrink wrap, bubble pack, gloriously effective wastefulness.
We choose our battles.
To comfort chilly bodies and cranky moods I made a casserole from Our Farm of diced potatoes, ham, green peppers and a cheddar cheesy white sauce.
I must say, trying to use up our CSA I have now made cheese sauce several times from scratch, and get quite a kick out of making it with local butter, flour, milk, AND cheddar cheese. Yum!

Long, Lazy Summer

2008-09-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

Here's hoping that I return to posting and get over the summer slow I seem to have been suffering.
The only real excitement in our lives is the CSA and trying to organize our house.
on the CSA front. We have a fabulous diversity of things every week which has inspired much culinary creativity.
This week the box held
Petit Green Beans
Salad Mix
Cipollini onions
Eggplant
Peppers
Hong Vit Radish Greens
Watermelon (2 small)
Zuchinni
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Tomatillo Salsa pack (Tomatillos, Jalapeno, Shallot, Cilantro)
Green top beets
4 ears of sweet corn
rasberries

For the Fruit Share:
Muscat Grapes
Gala Apples
Dapple Dandy Pluots
Yellow Peaches
White nectarines
Tommy Atkins Mango
Black Plums

So all in all quite a bounty. I love end of summer crops-cucumber salad and stir frys with zuchinni and fresh green beans!
Salsa and broiled tomatoes and caprese salad and ratatouille.

thursday we had the greens with white beans, and italian sausages, the past two nights we ate our weekly stir fry, tonight is salmon cucumber and sweet corn.

Still Here

2008-07-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

Apologies.
I am still here. We are still getting and enjoying out wonderful CSA shares.
It is effing hot.
Work is effing busy (though maddening).
I am spinning huge amounts of wool.
I am a year older this month

Sheer Laziness

2008-06-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not posting about last week's CSA share and the fruit share too!
We got:
a pineapple
probably 2 pounds of grapes
5 navel oranges
about a pound of cherries
5 apricots
7 peaches
7 pluots

for the CSA share
3 pints of strawberries
garlic scapes
2 kohlrabi
red komatsuna
more green onions
a napa cabbage
2 lettuces

We have been eating a lot of fruit salad, sliced fruit, fruit in general. Far more than we normally would as we usually do not buy fruit. It has been such a treat!
We have a few peaches and pluots left, and all the grapes and oranges....they last a bit longer and will be our desserts and snacks next week.
Our vegetable share is going as usual for dinners. We usually make a chicken stir fry with the greens, and that lasts a couple of nights, and we have eaten the kohlrabi raw (Z had never had one and really liked it!)
Looking forward to the first peas of the season.

Hail, Rain, Floods....and CSA Share?

2008-06-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

I so respect My CSA Farm. They have had Hail, crazy Rain, and repeat of the once a century floods which happened only 10 months ago (Not 10 decades).
And yet...We picked up our share yesterday. Business as usual. There were some things which were projected for the share which had to be forgone, as they were drowned, but we got our share:
Asparagus
Pea Tendrils
Salad Mix
Spinach
baby white Turnips
Green Garlic
Radishes
Bok Choi
Thank You Harmony Valley Farm!
When I watched the news reports last Sunday and saw the pictures of the flooding, I was very upset. A goodly portion of our food budget goes to the farm, and more so, even though we have not met them in person, their blog, e-mails and weekly newsletters have truly given us a sense of connection to our food and the people who grow it. I was upset for them just as much as I was upset for myself. The whole point of a CSA is to share the risk with the farmers, and this was putting principle into practice with a vengeance.
We'll see how the rest of the summer goes.
In other news I really miss my bike! A flat tire and a desperate need for a tune up are preventing me from riding.

New foods and No pictures

2008-06-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

My apologies, but no pictures as of yet.
We have been wrapped up in work (and the terrible weather-almost two weeks of terrible storms, high winds and hail warnings) to try and get everything documented. We have had all we could do to make sure the CSA veggies gets used, but it has been. Two of the more recent interesting veggies are Hon Tsai Tai ( an Asian green of the mustard family) which i must say does not really taste like much when cooked, and Pea Tendrils which are deliciously pea flavored and quite fun.
Up next is using the burdock root i have the refrigerator, have not decided what would be best with that!
The box this week held:
Salad mix (Lovely full of forellenschuss lettuce, my favorite, and some edible blossoms.) which we ate that night in a Salade Nicoise
Spinach
Rhubarb (which i have frozen for future use)
Broccoli
Asparagus
Radishes
Green Garlic
Hon Tsai Tai
Pea Tendrils
Burdock
we are still not getting through a whole week, solely on CSA veggies, but this weeks additional produce purchases were limited to organic Kale, Apples, Carrots, Celery and Onions.
We used the Pea Tendrils, Broccili, Hon Tsai Tai, and some Asparagus and Green Garlic in a chicken stir fry, and plan to use the Spinach for eggs florentine, the asparagus to go with Salmon and the radishes as snack with salt.
I am getting very excited for the fruit shares, which begin on the 19th!

Vacation Productivity, and Organization

2008-05-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the lull! We were on vacation. Miraculously we both had time off of work--at the same time! I know!
We did not do much, a few dinners out (Red Stag) a visit to Stillwater, and old milling town on the Mississippi ( Old by American, especially Midwestern standards) and Ikea and then mostly crazy busy work around the flat.
Our office had never gotten unpacked, and yes we did move in August. Unforgivable but that is what happens when two pack rats slash design whores move in together.
We have since purged many things, but more importantly bought bookshelves from Ikea-5 Billy's in Brown/Black now wrap the back wall of our living room.
I know we are in this for the long hall, because we merged our books, now in an insanely organized and alphabetized system which only makes sense to me. But it is order, and they are off the floor.
While we are at it we bought Z a new desk , a nice big ell with commodious hutch, and moved a new desk in for me as well.
I had previously tried the Cyril desk from Ikea, and while I am a sucker for anything which fold up, it was neither sturdy enough nor big enough for me, and has found a good home with a dear friend.
I now have a massively huge oak arts and crafts desk. 5 foot by 3.
My step mom, J, had this desk in the basement stored in a magical nook which holds all her acquisitions and seems to be bigger inside than outside.
It was in several ( large) pieces viz; each set of side drawers, the center drawer, the top, and the center trim. It is missing one drawer. I fell in love with it, and eventually J. agreed to give it to me.
After an afternoon of lemon oil and constant polishing the grain had emerged from probably about a hundred years of grime.
It is well worn and battered, but I love it and it is my new favorite thing. I am thinking i will replace the drawer with a wicker basket. I will try to get pictures posted.
We also bought two red iron pagoda etageres from pier one which look almost exactly like those we saw and lusted after at crate and barrel but only cost half the price( and which were on clearance and since we wanted a pair and they only had one in the box and one display version we got the pair for less than the cost of one) So in the end we paid for a pair at pier one about a third of the cost of one at Crate and Barrel. I love bargains.
Nothing too green in the conspicuous consumption, but the desk is recycled.
CSA pickup tonight. I am loving the challenge of planning menus!

CSA share and a meal out

2008-05-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

The CSA share this week was nice, we had a good variety, with the first asparagus of the season! I made myself proud by cooking a spinach and ramp pie thing Thursday even down to a homemade crust. Delicious! Last night we went to the Red Stag Supper Club which is the first LEED certified restaurant in Minnesota and emphasises local ingredients. The restaurant is open plan and kitschy without being overboard and very nice, not too loud, but enough background noise that one will not be overheard easily. We sat at the bar, as the place was apparently full, at least all the non-reserved tables were full. With the first beer we had their flatbread preparation of the day which was duck sausage, cheese curds, roasted garlic and cherry tomatoes on a grilled naan type thing. It was amazingly good, and the cheese curds nearly precipitated a war.
Z then had the Friday night fish fry with the perch as while he likes fish he does not like his fish to taste 'Fishy'. It came with a couple of massive paper thin crisps, a wonderfully light slaw and an atomizer of vinegar which nearly walked out with us. He said the Tartar was good, but had too much onion.
I had the brick pressed chicken with fingerling potatoes and sunchokes and Brussels sprouts. It was really good, the chicken was moist and tastes like chicken and not....like vague white meat. I suspect that was because it was from Larry Shultz, whose chickens I buy at the wedge. They are tender and flavorful.
It was a wonderful night out and a great start to our 'Staycation' in which we are going to be tourists in our own town.

CSA Cooking

2008-05-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

We have been using, and enjoying, our share of vegetables very much. Last night we had spinach with ramps, a recipe included with a handout on Ramps at the pick up site, and very good it was too. Today for lunch I mixed grated parsnip with carrots onion, chive and egg and made parsnip pancakes or latkes, Z ate them with enjoyment too which is a triumph for me as he does not like parsnip. This afternoon we hosted the mothers for a mother's day coffee, and served a rhubarb crisp and this evening we had a spinach and sorrel salad topped with roasted chicken breast.
Pretty good use of the share so far. All we have left are the sun chokes, which we are saving until we get the next share, some of the spinach, which will be lovely for salad tomorrow evening, some of the chives which are always good and the horseradish, which should last some time.
It is impossible to express the satisfaction I felt at lunch when something I threw together from half remembered recipes and ideas turned out tasty. It is so fun to experiment.

First CSA Pickup

2008-05-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hooray, the day is finally here and we picked up our first CSA share yesterday afternoon.
It consisted of:
Ramps
A Parsnip
Sunchokes
Chives
Sorrel
Spinach
Horseradish Whips
a lb of rhubarb
A bundle of pussy willows
I am very excited. Pretty good for the first week of May, at least for this area!
We ate some of the Ramps last night sauteed with some potatoes and i have plans for all the rest.
One night with will have Spaghetti with Ramps
another we will have spinach and sorrel salads with roasted chicken
another we will have parsnip/potato latkes
and we are saving the sunchokes for next week, to go with (hopefully) some more and make a gratin with them.
The Rhubarb is going into a crisp tonight or tomorrow which i will serve to the mothers on Sunday.

Is it Spring Yet?

2008-05-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

No news, no crazy Green Living examples, no excitement, just rain rain rain, low temperatures and a flare up of carpal tunnel and arthritis.
The combination prevented me from using the computer much. I am excited. 5 days until our first CSA pick up. We are doing our normal errands on Sunday, but that will be the last time we go to the Costco or chain stores for food until the CSA season is over, or at least the last time we hope.
We are going to try to limit ourselves to local food while eating at home which since we eat almost all meals at home will be quite a challenge.
There will be a few exceptions again; olive oil, coffee, alcohol, spices and fruit.

Mad as Heck!

2008-04-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Please go and read This Post.

Are you done, are you angry, are you sick to your stomach and a little sad?
Good. So am I. I cannot believe, and I admit I can be pretty naive, I cannot believe that we live in such a world and such a time, that we are turning food, basic raw materials food, not the processed junk which i could understand, into a commodity. I should have known this, I live in the Midwest where corn and soy are the joint rulers of the agricultural realm, and futures contracts allow the massive industrial farms, but it never really registered-to my great shame.
Please take some of the actions that Greenpa suggests! Make your voice heard!

Spring Weather,a CSA and the (almost)100 mile diet

2008-04-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

Spring looks like it has finally sprung, and while the weather might not be the greatest, at times, i would infinitly prefer rain to snow! We just need a few more warm days for some trees and grasses to green ever so slightly and for there to be a shockingly Lime colored halo to the world.
We joined a CSA- Harmony Valley Farm . Is is more than 100 miles away but less than 200. It is 174 miles away from the pick up site we will be using in Minneapolis. I am very excited and have chattered to all and sundry for days about nothing except the CSA and the vegetables they are growing and what i am going to cook and more and more.
Poor dears who have to listen to me!
We signed up for the full (30 Week) share which starts in May and goes until December. In addition, we signed up for the summer and winter fruit shares which while not locally grown are organic and sold through a farmers organization.
It is expensive, but when you look at what we pay each month for groceries anyhow, and then compare it to what we should be getting, the weather gods being favorable of course, then we should actually be spending less on produce.
The best part is that they are an established farm and should not disappear a month into it like the CSA we joined last year did.
We really like the CSA concept which not only emphasises local foods, but creates a connection between the consumer and the farmer. It is only in the past 50 years or so that people have been so completely cut off from what they eat, and I think it is important to remember that we only eat thanks to some one else's hard work.
It will be challanging to construct menus around seasonal food, as we are pretty much used to creating a menu and then obtaining the ingredients, rather than the reverse. I am looking forward to the challange, which is not completlely unfamiliar to me as i ate about 75 percent locally last March, April, May and June. I intend to try and up that percentage starting in May. Perhaps I can get it up to 100 percent as MN produces flour and sugar and beans in addition to vegetables and meat etc. The only non-local things i am hoping to consume would be the fruit in the fruit shares (Fruit is such a treat!), Coffee, Olive oil, spices and alchohol. It should not be too hard I hope

Book Lust and Design

2008-03-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have fallen in love with a small publisher in London. Persephone Books is my new favorite thing. Their books are uniform and easy on the eyes on the outside and wild and fun on the endpapers! Z does not like the chaos of my bookshelves with all the different colors and shapes, and I am not planning on wrapping them all in Kraft Paper any time soon, which is the solution he keeps suggesting. Has anyone done this? Is it worth it, or is Persephone Books the solution?
In addition to the pure design aspect, the books are re-issues of all sorts of delicious, overlooked, hard to get nuggets of pure atmospheric joy. In the words of a reviewer (who slips my mind) they are hot water bottle books-the kind you want to cuddle up with on a cold day. I am in love, and if anyone reading this wants to give me a present Contact Me for a list of the books I want( I just happen to have 12 favorites among their offerings, and they just happen to have a year long book a month plan:) I promise I will be be your best friend, Forever!

Snow! Spring! and Ham!

2008-03-22T16:34:00.001-07:00

Snow! Lots of it, probably close to 7 inches on the ground where we live. How typical for spring in Minnesota.
Tomorrow we go to visit my father in a rental car. Z is very excited because it is Easter, and while we do not celebrate Easter (or other christian holidays really) easter at my fathers means a spiral cut ham and that is worth celebrating!
While clearing out the landing strip we gathered together all the magazines we get and the grand total is 40 and counting. That is horrible and very much not green. We signed up for a few from a subsciption transfer meeting board type site, and then all of a sudden we each had individual subscriptions to jet and ebony and latina and shape and vibe vixen and golf digest and a skiing magazine and any number of other magazines for which we are not the intended audience.
On the plus side we are finding homes for some of the subscriptions among friends and family and recycle all the magazines we do get.
Another point on the green scale in our favor is our knives. The major excitement for today was taking our knives to be sharpened. We, well Z really but since moving in together we, have a really nice set of Wustof knives, a basic set with all but the Santoku knives and they have been a revelation to me after ten years of cheap K-mart knives which came with my first set of cooking pots.
Our tomato knife had at one point been sharpened wrong, or damaged somehow and lost the serration. The sharpening store was able to grind a new edge and replace the serration on the tomato knife and restore all our other knives to extreme sharpness and also give us a lesson on how to properly sharpen the knives using the steel and how often (before every use).
These knives are already nearly 15 years old and are now better than when new, and will no doubt last a life time, a testament to the importance of making sure you buy quality materials and take care of them properly.

I don't want to work today...I just wanna be free

2008-03-07T05:47:00.001-08:00

Drab...yawn...hypozeuxis....
iTunes is sometimes such a bore. In one sense its green because you can buy music which does not cause a lot of waste because you are not buying the CD and its case. So that part is cool. What is not cool, is that the quality is not as great as a CD but that can easily be overheard if you are not a music snob. The other thing that sucks is that you can't buy a lot of music that is hot. Ay Apple!!!
Anywho, here is what is being listened to perhaps too much...

C'est La Vie by Martin Solveig
Electric Feel by MGMT
Il Avait Les Mots by Sheryfa Luna
No Stress by Laurent Wolf
Jacques A Dit by Christophe Willem
A&E by Goldfrapp
Delirious by David Guetta feat. Tara McDonald
Dangerous by M Pokora feat. Timbaland
Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis
DVNO by Justice

Dinner and Compromises

2008-03-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

We compromise in life....we make a lot of compromises. We use CFL bulbs, and don't have a car and keep the thermostat to 65 and use travel cups for the Caribou Coffee amongst other reducing carbon footprint actions. We also shop at Costco and Target and Walgreen's and many other places which are not local, small, employee owned, or in any way shape or form. "Progressive" according to the Eco-than-thou rules of the environmental movement.
Our compromises let us live a fairly convenient and a fairly cost-conscious life without making too many drastic inroads into our ideals....which brings me to dinner.
We are having Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon, and broccoli. We try to have salmon at least once a week or so, as it is one of the only omega3 fishes Z likes. It is also bloody expensive, and most reasonably bought frozen at Costco, where a month's supply will be less than $25. Same with the Broccoli. Frozen is much easier and just as healthy as fresh, and a bulk bag of frozen organic broccoli from Costco is very economical and very convenient. The biggest requirement we have is that the salmon is wild caught and from the pacific (which it is, and thus not contributing to the nightmare of fish farming or coming from failing fisheries) and that the broccoli is organic(which it is, and though it is still shipped, Gods know how many thousands of miles at least our health will not be impacted)
My point is that we make compromises and still are able to make a difference. I am sure that our carbon footprint, or whatever the trendiest measure of environmental awareness happens to be au courrant is smaller than average. It is a start, and for now it is enough for us. In the summer we eat mostly local foods, but we are not so fanatical. Compromise--it is what lets us have a normal, sane, and smooth life while hopefully impacting the earth a very positive and respectable way.

Consumerism and sleeping bliss

2008-03-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

We bought a new bed! We bought the Lowry Bed and nightstands from Room and Board.

We love the walnut and the clean lines. More to the point, we love the memory foam mattress! The wonder of the memory foam. I have a sneaking suspicion that we could have paid less for the mattress than buying the Room and Board mattress line, but it is nice. Also, the mattress is made in Minnesota so it seems cool that we are supporting the local economy.

Ever since sleeping on this bed, I have not awoken with a backache which traditional beds have seemed to cause. It is magnificent and comfortable and sleeping on it feels like heaven.

The bed also feels so huge. We had been using a full bed, and a queen seems so much bigger. It feels shockingly large. Z likes the space to spread out, and that he is not crowded and feeling like he will fall off in the middle of the night whilst dreaming of being chased by aliens or attacking some mugger by using super powers. Anywho, I like that when I toss and turn I am not waking him up, since the memory foam does not transmit all of my wiggling through the mattress. Indeed, the mattress seems to be a gift from the sleeping gods or a gift to ourselves. In any case, it is a treasured gift and will be for a long time to come. Speaking of many years...the old mattress, 20 years old and saggy, though clean and still good, was taken by a nice couple after we posted it on Craigslist. A little waste avoided, and money saved from the cost of having it hauled away.

Our new Love

2008-02-25T15:16:00.001-08:00

Our new love is a beautiful, slightly heavy lady with a penchant for wearing red. A Le Crueset 8 quart pot. It is magnificent, and I need never fear burglars, as one slam with the pot and they would be unconscious.
We used it to make the New York Times No Knead bread Recipe which everyone has been raving about. The bread was ungodly good, so good that I am baking another loaf tonight, as the loaf from Saturday is gone already. I can see that our flour bill and bread consumptions is going to go up--way up. The crust is delicate and every so flaky and crusty. The bread is soft and chewy and just begs to be ripped apart and slathered in butter or oil or jam or the last bit of sauce from your plate. It is difficult to say no.

We also used the pot to make Chicken Paprika last night from the good old 'Joy Of Cooking'. How Bland! How Plain! How lacking in any interest. The overwhelming flavor was of sweet cooked onions and the richness of sour cream. It needed garlic thyme and a bay leaf, I feel, and should we try it again that is just what it will get.
Thanks, Rolpol and Sunny, for the kind wishes, and letting me know someone is still out there:)

Transportation

2008-02-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

My partner and I choose not to own a car. This is a rare, and fairly controversial decision in the midwest, even in the urban midwest. I have never had a car (Or a license), but my partner likes driving, he worked with the Auto Industry for almost ten years, he's from L A. After living in Europe for two years, he returned to the states and decided he did not need a car and sold it. A brave decision in my opinion!
I have had it easy when it comes to car free living. For 7 years I lived in Minneapolis, a mile and a half from work, about three blocks from the grocery store, near 6 or 7 bus lines and surrounded by friends and bars with in a stumble-home radius. It was a great place to live, but after graduating, beginning a career and settling down in a relationship I was over the wild party life and craziness. When the decision to co-habit was finalized I joined my partner in a first ring suburb which definitely made things a bit more challenging.
Work here is 4.5 miles away, the nearest grocery store is a 20 minute walk away and we have one bus line nearby. It is not unbearable--the bus is half a block away and goes straight downtown where we work. There are several stores along the bus route which are easy to get to. We belong to Hour Car and use that for errands every other week or so. Every couple of months we rent a car for the weekend for larger errands and to visit my elderly father. It works. It takes a lot of planning and forethought, but it works. In the summer we use our bicycles to go to farmers markets or the library and the bus works, it just takes a transfer these days where I used to be able to go almost anywhere in one trip.
Bottom line is that life without a car is possible, even in flyover land, even in a suburb(albeit a first ring suburb). We save money by not owning a car and by not having stores immediately available. If we forget to get something we cannot jump in the car and head to the store. Impulse buying is very much curtailed. Our life is already filled with too many things in our opinion anyway so not having this outlet to go consume is actually a good thing.

We know and understand that not owning a car is not possible for everyone. Especially with the way our cities our planned and created. We do think that if you try, you might be surprised at what you can do without. As Plato said, "In order to seek one's own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life."

A New Focus

2008-02-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new life, a new blog. Welcome to any readers who in some fluke of the universe end up here. What is in store for you? My random collected spewing on Green Living, Design, Cooking, Crafts, and Life-Hacking in general.