.pity party.

my friends are starting seeds for their gardens . . . being in the PNW means that we have a longer growing season than when i used to live in RI . . . but . . . my house only grows mold (this means no window hydroponics - not that there are any windows that have sun hitting them anyway) and my yard only grown mushrooms and mold (no sun hitting the ground there either) and all the community garden have 3 year waitlists.



uuuuugggghhhhhh......


feeling sad today.

here's a few shots of the former glory of my gardens from the past:

getting started with our first cold frame.  built by the man-friend.

heirloom lettuce.

lavender, rhubarb, peas, chamomile, basil, lettuce, raspberries.

my raspberry bush always produced early and then had a flush in late summer/early autumn.

carrots!

the bees loved our echinasea.

peppers!

tomatoes and basil. best combo on earth.

the miracle of pollination.

the most delicious arugula i've grown to date.

chamomile and tomatoes = good companion planting.

the rhubarb got so big!  but i don't mind because it shaded my lettuce from the hot new england summer sun.

oh i miss it so much.

.pizza.

i made pizza.

you can too.

it goes like this:

one package of trader joe's pizza dough (in the fridge section by the hummus). i used the herbed one. nom nom noms. (i've tried to make my own pizza dough and have not succeeded . . . yet).

roll it out on your baking stone and top it with:

organic fig spread (not too much or it will be too sweet)
goat's milk brie (from happy goats)
caramelized organic onions (i use a tiny bit of sugar, olive oil and red wine vinegar over a low heat)
sauteed organic kale (chopped in tiny pieces) seasoned with garlic
sliced organic pears

bake it at 400 degrees until the crust is as cooked through as you like it to be.

chow down.

.rainy afternoon.

i love rain.

i love it.

i do.


it's raining here today. pouring really. i've got ani difranco on the ipod, soup in the crock pot, my xtratufs drying by the door and rain pounding on the windows. le sigh.

gonna run across the street for some beeeerrrrr later. and make some of trader joe's AMAZING corn bread from a box to go with my soup (yes, corn bread from a box. i am on my way to being a radical homemaker and i make corn bread from a box. i understand the irony). perfect.

----------

.THE SOUP.

i'm a vegetarian for many reasons and super in to nutrition and health and the environment and loving people. there. i said it.

i'm sure you guessed that by now anyway. so, if you are interested, here's what i put in my soup:

vegan bouillon cube (WITH SALT)
earth balance "butter" (the soy-free kind since i have a soy allergy. i get this instead of butter for now until i can start getting good butter straight from a farm)
an ENTIRE huge onion
organic yellow potatoes
green and red lentils
organic red chard - chopped up real small
organic, full-fat coconut milk
organic, canned tomatoes with green chilies (canned tomatoes offer more cancer-fighting lycopene than raw. and they taste better and are more sustainable than raw tomatoes during the winter)
organic bulgar wheat
the few tablespoons that were left of my bulk chickpeas. i didn't soak them first, so it could have been a mistake. they may never get soft....
TONS of my favorite curry powder from limbo (in pdx)
chopped up fresh ginger root
minced garlic (like a whole head)
cumin, turmeric (SO GOOD FOR YOU!), fresh ground pepper corns and a good amount of sea salt (the best kind of salt there is. celtic sea salt. stay away from that silly, processed table salt).
water to cover to the top

it's all sitting happily in my crockpot now while i am about to clean my house . . . i might add some beer to the soup . . .

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in other news, the KILLAH BEES are getting ready for their first game of the season! we are playing the hellions of troy in schenectady, new york!!!! looking forward to taking some time off of work and going on a mini road trip. let's see if we can keep up this undefeated thing and carry it over to 2011!!!!

WOOT!!!

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DOUBLE WOOT - the seeds i ordered came in the mail today!!! TIME TO START THE 2011 GARDEN!!!

.how i spent my valentine's day.

so for valentine's day, we ate dinner at our favorite restaurant (julians) and then came home for an evening of chocolate, flowers, wine and THE FINAL DISC OF LOST SEASON 6 which CONTAINS SPECIAL FEATURES AND NEVERBEFORESEEN FOOTAGE!!!

how did my man know exactly what i would love?

dinner was a 6 course, fixed-price meal (like last time) and the food was great . . . but not nearly as good as last time :) the atmosphere at julian's was great - table cloths, candles, live music. we had a really great time talking and catching up too. it's been a while since we've had some one-on-one time. life gets busy.

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in other news:

it was PRD's river rat home team mascot "The Cheese's" birthday this weekend. we sent her a singing telegram in the form of a lobster with a hip hop routine. tonight we are having a cheese themed party. bring it on, lactose intolerance!

went hiking yesterday in the snow with dogs and good friends. it's been "warm" the last two days (i.e. in the 50s rather than below 30).

had a "chinese new year - year of the rabbit" potluck with friends. bunnies were the theme.

i ordered my seeds for the 2011 garden!! i can't believe it's already time!

all of these things deserve their own posts with photos.

let's see how well i do.

.february.

just listening to the latest insound digital mixtape while cutting out paper bunnies. immonna sew these bunnies together to make a banner for our living room for tomorrow's year of the rabbit chinese new year potluck.

don't act like you aren't jealous.

.30 day journal challenge day 9, 10, 11, and 12.

sorry i don't post these every day . . . some days are just too busy for me to get around to posting them! but don't worry! i am doing them.

i am also spending time with my new roommates, rollerskating, working in my garden, playing with my dog, and loving the summer weather (even though it' SO HOT, i can't complain cause it's usually FREEZING cold here . . . like 9 months a year . . . i'm cold).

so, here's the latest pages and their prompts:

Journal Prompt 9: Choose another person who is vert significant in your life right now. It can definitely be the same person that we wrote about on day 3, but I chose to do someone different. Anyway, this prompt is going to be all about those wonderful adjectives, and typography. Describe your special person with as many words as you can fit. For each word, try to use a different font or writing style. This is a great way to practice fun typography!

I created a picture of my man-friend based on a photo i took of him a few weeks ago. i used different fonts to create the different textures in the image (the beard, the plaid in the shirt, over the pocket and in the quote) . . . i really like how it turned out!

Journal Prompt 10: This prompt is all about collections. I am such a collector. I have too many collections but I love them all. I am definitely the type who moves on though to new collection depending on my mood and the seasons in my life. What do you collect? If anything. Do you collect buttons, clothes, shoes, friends, parking tickets, whatever!! Illustrate your collections. This will be fun to look back on someday and see how your collections have grown or have moved on :)

I didn't really have anything i collected in earnest, so i just walked around my house looking for themes in my life . . . so, i have a lot of: buttons (From various bands, events, etc), vinyl (obvi), feathers (mostly for crafting), sunglasses (can't say no to the perfect pair!), books (tons and tons!), coffee mugs (when i travel, i usually get one in the city that i go to), things with owls on them, vintage bathing suits (love those pointy cone bras in them! ha ha!), and vintage boots.

Journal Prompt 11: Hello friends. Today is another one of my favorite pages. And speaking of favorites, this is a page all about your faves!!

We are going to list your favorites in each of these four categories:

* TV shows: Glee, LOST, arrested development, the office and SNL (though i don't have TV so i have to watch reruns online or at a friend's house)

* Music david bazan (from pedro the lion), jenny lewis (and rilo kiley), great lake swimmers, over the rhine, red house painters (aka sun kill moon)

* Food local food, strawberries, curry, ice cream, lemonade

* Splurges vinyle, vintage, craft supplies, books at garage sales . . .

Journal Prompt 12: Journal 12 is all about trends. Whether you consider yourself "trendy" or not, I bet there are a few trends that you find yourself gravitating to. If not, you can create a page of trends that you think are lame too, it's up to you :)

for this one, i picked out all the ironic "hipster" trends that i follow . . . weather or not they are "good" (like my fabric grocery bags) or just plain silly (like leggings!) . . . i've made them painfully obvious. let's celebrate the ways that we are just like everyone else!!!

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in other news:
been eating well even though summer usually means less of an income for the man-friend and i . . . we've gotten our first two weeks of our CSA shares and that, plus great weather making our garden produce like crazy!, has kept our tummies full.

been taking some lovely summertime photos - like the construction on the interstate they've been doing . . . here's a mural that was on the overpass for I-95 . . . and the construction vehicles that are about to tear it down! ch-ch-ch-changes . . . it's sad to see a piece of art go . . . i wish they'd just let them stay and be free-standing walls . . . or incorporate them into the new architecture that goes up in the area . . .

.strawberries.

i thought it was a little early in the season, but last week i called some of the local farms and found out that strawberry picking season had indeed begun!

the man-friend and i have made a concious decision this year to try to eat more locally and be more involved in the process of where our food comes from. this involves growing our own food at the community garden, picking our own food at local farms, joining a CSA and helping out when we can at the farm our CSA is through (scratch farm.


so, we grabbed the sunscreen, some hats, and big pots/bowls, stopped for breakfast at our favorite restaurant and then headed out to jaswell's farm where our roommate, miss L, and her man-friend met us for some pickin'!












so far we've had strawberry french toast, strawberry rhubarb pie, made two batches of freezer jam, frozen bags and bags of berries for use in smoothies, etc later, eaten to our hearts content, gave half a pot away, and STILL have about half a pot left! and our CSA says we'll be getting berries in our first share this monday!!!

mmmmmm, good thing strawberries are SO GOOD or i'd be sick of them! :)

.dinnertime.

having our own garden has been a blast! we got a good, early start on it this year and it is already going strong. we've even started harvesting some leeks, herbs and greens and adding them to our meals.

here's a yummy frittata recipe that we adapted and completely altered from "1000 vegetarian meals" cookbook:

step one: go to the garden and pick your fresh ingredients.

step two: wash your fresh ingredients
step three: begin to boil some sliced potato, while also sauteing up some leeks, garlic, shallot and onion
step four: have the man-friend chop up broccoli while you chop up the rest of the greens and herbs from the garden (bok choi, turnip greens, kale, chard, cilantro). add all these things to the skillet
step five: have the man-friend beat about 5 eggs while you add spices to the veggies (turmeric, garam masala, garlic powder, ginger, coriander, cumin, salt, pepper, chili powder, etc). mix the veggies in to the egg. drain the potatoes now that they are soft and add them to the egg mix too.
step six: scrape the bottom of the skillet clean and add a little oil. pour mixture into skillet and let it cook until the egg begins to look more like an omlette and less like straight-up liquid.
step seven: grate some cheese over to the top of the frittata (we used swiss!) and then put it under the broiler until cheese is bubbly and egg is cooked through (be sure to use a skillet that can go in the oven or you will melt the handle!! we heart our cast iron skillet).
step eight: let it cool, slice it up and enjoy!!

.tj loves: the journey.

.gaiam.
.learning to love you more.
.married to the sea.
.oregon beer s.n.o.b.
.postsecret.
.tweak today.