.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! :)

.beets me.

i found this recipe for a DIY lipgloss made from beet juice, olive oil and powdered sugar! yum!

i think i'll send the man-friend to the farmer's market for some beets while i am at work on saturday so i can try it . . .

.smooth.

remember how i said i was going to make a kefir smoothie? well. i did and it was delicious. so yummy, that i had to share!!!

kefir is a delicious fermented, cultured dairy product. it is sort of like yogurt in a sense because it has live cultures and is super good for your immune system. but it is more of a beverage than yogurt (more liquid of a consistency). read this for more awesome info about kefir, what it is, what it does, and why you should love it.

here's how i made my smothie. a sort of DIY tutorial, if you will.

i started with a blender/juicer and added chopped up organic mango, organic banana and some organic frozen berries.
then i added some flax seed meal {about a TBSP}
flax seed is a great source of fiber and healthy fatty acids. adding a small amount to smoothies is a great way to add fiber to your diet. i also use ground flax seed meal as a substitute for eggs when i am baking for my vegan friends {heat 2-3 TBSP of water with 1 TBSP of flax until it takes on an egg-like consistency. this = one egg}. read this article for more about the awesomeness of flax.
anyway, after adding the flax, i added some local honey {local honey is GREAT for reducing seasonal allergies read this short article for more info on the benefits of local honey} , poured in the kefir and blended it up! it was pretty purple with bits of delicious mango floating in it! the banana and frozen berries gave it a great texture. the honey made it sweet like dessert, but really it was a great big helping of good-for-you fruit and cultured dairy!
remember to compost your fruit and vegetable scraps! {and pay no attention to the dog-hair balled up on my kitchen floor. i sweep EVERY DAY! malamutes are just fur-factories}.

there you have it! my nutritional overdose of information. that smothie was delicious. and served in an alaskan amber pint glass {procured fair and square from the summer i lived in juneau, ak}. my favorite beer, mmmmmm.

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spent the morning working in the massage studio and then ran errands in the FALLING SNOW after all my clients left. hit up the bank, post office, grocery store and . . . urban outfitters and details {a local socks/tights/legwarmers shop . . . they had a winter sale! legwarmers for $6!!!}. urban outfitters is weakness of mine. i got m ward's album "hold time" on vinyl for $4.99!!! yummy. i also picked up some arnica gel and homeopathic tablets . . . roller derby practice made me a little sore last night . . . remind me to tell you about "blood and thunder" sometime. so fun!

.friday fancies.

pretty proud of my outfit today. got this new skirt on clearance for $5 yesterday. yessss.... i only buy things resale or on clearance. i just can't afford to be buying things shiny and brand new and full-price. but anyway, i knew it was a good choice when i was fixin' the hair and the man-friend walks in and says "hey cute girl!" so full of win.

hudson, however, is NOT impressed:
we got him that stuffed duck for christmas and he's already broken the squeaker. now he uses the duck as a pillow. so cute! i LOVE that he doesn't rip the stuffing out of his toys. he is actually really gentle with them. carries them around and grooms them. sort of like they are his babies. he's so special. we love him!

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in other news, i am being punished for making the most kick-ass dinner last night! the man-friend is SO FULL that he is making me WAIT for our friday breakfast outing until he is hungry. it's been . . . 13 hours since we ate dinner? and he's still not hungry?

it WAS a good dinner. i bought some rustic, sourdough olive bread from the local bakery. i sliced it open and topped it with grilled tempeh, swiss cheese (from non-hormone treated cows) and popped it in the oven to get all melty and toasty (both of those adjectives are REAL WORDS dispite what the man-friend might say) . . . when it was finished we topped it with fermented, raw cabbage (kimchi, or saur kraut) - at least an inch thick- and some organic thousand island dressing. put the top on that sandwich and you've got a vegetarian reuben to DIE FOR. pair that with a side salad of baby spinach, pecans and bleu cheese . . . you've got a delicious, nutritious meal . . . and apparently a meal that will cause some people to not be hungry 13 hours later.

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as long as we are talking about fermented foods, here is a great article about the benefits and history of fermented foods. in short, fermented vegetables (in the meal above this includes the tempeh, the kimchi, the cheese, the sourdough bread and possibly the relish in the dressing) are beneficial because of the awesome healthy yeasts, bacterias, flora and fauna that they can add to the delicate ecosystems in our digestive tracts. this helps the food we eat to be more easily digested and it helps our immune systems to ward off any unwelcome visitors.

as i continue to educate myself on the topic i will be able to provide better information. for now, read the article i linked to above and read up on the topic for yourself. i'd love to hear what you have to say!

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so, i hear the man-friend coming up the stairs . . . maybe that means he is FINALLY hungry and we can go to our favorite breakfast restaurant. check it out: julian's.

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oh, one last thing, for those of you who LOVE the fleet foxes, check this out.

.it's the little things #1.

ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first installment of "it's the little things." these posts will contain small lists of little things that make me happy.

yessssssssss!!!!!

#1) compost makes me happy! i LOOOOVE fresh fruits and veggies and greens and herbs (esp from the farmer's market and from my OWN GARDEN). and I HATE throwing away the beautiful nutritious left-overs (peels, cores, ends, etc) after i've chopped up the goodies and put them in my belly. it makes me so happy to take those brightly colored odds and ends and put them in my cute ceramic compost bucket (with a charcoal odor filter) to later take to the garden so they can return nutrients to the soil for next year's gardening expedition.

#2) this guy makes me happy! my bearded man-friend. he makes me coffee in the mornings, and often ends up being the one who has to take the smelly compost outside. :) he walks our pup every morning without complaining (even though it was MY IDEA to get a dog). he loves me through the ups and downs of life and the ups and downs of ME. he's been constantly by my side even when it was the hardest choice for almost 9 years. what adventures we've had! what adventures are yet to come!

#3) farm fresh eggs make me happy!! these are from zephyr farm in cranston, ri. the eggs are always so colorful and lovely - i almost don't want to eat them. but when i DO i find how much more amazing they taste than store-bought eggs. plus, how awesome is it to know that the chickens these eggs came from are NEVER CAGED and live in pastures! so great. also awesome? the fact that this farm is SO CLOSE by that i can go visit any time to meet those darn wonderful gals (the chickens that is) myself!

#4) hudson makes me happy! he's our 5 3/4 yr old (6 in march!) alaskan malamute. it's been amazing for the man-friend and i to learn to take care of a living mammal together . . . totally a challenge and there are definitely days that are harder than others. imagine living with a 3 yr old who weighs 80 pounds and has teeth and claws and sheds cotton ball sized clumps of fur all over your house? i say a 3 yr old, because malamutes are known to have very stubborn temperments. but they are also SO FUN and LOVING and SMART. hudson has definitely taught us a thing or two about love and sacrifice and consistency . . . and so much more. he definitely changed our lives for the better when we adopted him back in sept 2007.

#5) rice milk lattes make me happy!! since i am allergic to soy milk and i can't really digest regular milk too well (makes me all clogged up, ew!), rice milk lattes are where it's at for me. sadly, NO ONE in the state of Rhode Island believes in offering rice milk as an option in their coffee houses . . . so i am stuck drinking americanos until the man-friend can fix our espresso machine. while we were home in OREGON for the holidays, i had 3 GLORIOUS WEEKS full of delicious, steamy, rice milk lattes (like the one pictured above, purchased and consumed in the sellwood area of portland, oregon). sigh.


there you have it. the first installment of "it's the little things!"

what are some little things that make you happy!??!

.JAMMIES!!.

if you haven't seen this SNL digital short, go watch it now.

mmmm... today is my day off. love it.

i went to bed LATE last night (see time of post from last night and add half an hour) because i was so jazzed from roller derby practice. since this past weekend was a holiday weekend, work was crazy (well, it's been better in the past - i blame the economy and the fact that the students aren't back yet. this weekend should be better!) . . . it was like working 3 weekend days in a row at the restaurant instead of just 2. so, needless to say, i was beat. without any guilt at all, i slept in until 10:15 and then lay in bed until 11.

pure. luxury.

AND i declared today to be JAMMIE DAY. i will NOT get dressed until right before it is time to go to derby practice tonight. wonderful!

nonetheless, i have been pretty productive with the few hours of daytime i had left after sleeping most of them away. i've brewed more tea for our homemade kombucha, baked a batch of granola, did the dishes, swept the kitchen, played a few rounds of mario kart on the wii, and tried to catch up on all the emails that i am behind on . . . now i just have to prep for my day at the massage clinic tomorrow (i have a full day! yay!), sweep/vacuum upstairs, make stuffed squash for dinner and put together a package for my sister and her BABY (due next month! ah!). maybe i'll clean up all my dirty clothes if i get around to it.

man, i sound really domestic.

in other news, i am totally toying with registering for this local food forum next month. it falls on one of my days off and will be over in time to get to roller derby that night . . . and it's FREE!! i just wish i could find someone to go with me . . . i love supporting all things local as best as i can . . . esp local farmers!

hmm, is there something i can blog about that does NOT sound so domestic? :) my little feminist heart is beating hard (i really actually don't mind being domestic, it's my choice. i can be both domestic and a feminist, feel free to ask me about it if you have questions).

{photo taken at the portland farmers market by ME!}