Starved Rock October 2011

Going where I've never gone before...



Seriously, I haven't used a porta potty in 20 years. Bill has never laughed so hard.

Walking Back in Time

B and I went on vacation to visit his family in Michigan. At one point we walked out on a pier to see a lighthouse. Apparently, that walk took us back to our childhood selves.

I am the oldest of 3 girls and our mother's motto was safety first. She didn't want anything horrible to happen to us, and we really took to heart when she told us all the bad things that could happen if we weren't careful. To this day I have not been bitten by a rabid squirrel; thanks mom. So, I approached the pier Jon G style, marching dead center, clutching my purse, looking down to avoid tripping on cracks in the concrete, and making mental notes on how to operate the life preserver poles.

B, as the oldest of 4 boys, was raised by a mother who was clearly outnumbered. When they were younger they would try to climb the whole length of rocks without touching the pier. Oh hell no. I tried to explain to him how he would slip and fall and crack his head open. His lifeless body would float out to sea, as he would be unable to catch the life preserver I would throw. He was content to just stand on them and get his picture taken. My palms were sweating the whole time.

He then spent the next few yards trying to convince me to get my pic on the rocks. I finally agreed; I get all wild and crazy on vacation. I was very fortunate not to die. You never know when the Earth will tilt and the laws of physics will no longer apply.

I hate that dog so much...

I made her a birthday cake. Actually, as with most things that turn out really well, Mandi did all the work.

Rain Delayed

So what do you do to pass time during a rain delay? Why take silly pics of course. This rainy night at the ball park clued me in to the fact that I only want to go out in public with a giant umbrella from now on. It is like you are in your own little world, or you have a force field up or something. Anything that separates me from the general public I'm a fan of. I needed it Friday night when we were at the movies and the jerk behind me kept kicking my seat. He then put his bare foot on my arm rest! I jumped up and whipped around to hiss at him. It would have been so much more satisfying to shove an umbrella up his ass. Seriously, were you born in a barn? Keep your friggin shoes on and out of my personal space.

CSA pick up 2

No pictures this week, I forgot before I started prepping everything for storage/eating. So what was in the bag this week? Lettuce, lettuce, and more lettuce. Literally three types. Also radishes (this time the fancy French breakfast kind that you can't get in stores), green onions, green garlic, tarragon, white turnips, and...strawberries! They were so little and cute we ended up just eating them plain before, during, and after dinner. The green onions were immediately turned into a Spicy Sesame Noodle dish, which I loved but others were not so keen on cold noodles (I'm growing Thai basil on my balcony).

Last week I was pretty successful in using up everything. Some of the green garlic and onions were tossed and ashamedly a bit of asparagus was. It got left at Mandi's house and I kept forgetting to retrieve it and they aren't veggie fans. The real hit was with a Rhubarb and Raspberry Crostata. I loved the crust; I want to try to to use it with other filling combos. I just roasted last week's radishes. I hope to give this week's a more unusual treatment.

So far, so good. I'm anxious to get out of lettuce season and on to the more substantial items, but eating seasonally is part of the game.

Eating Good in the Neighborhood

In an effort to be more like my hippie Madison friends, I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture). I signed up for a half share of veggies through the Good Earth Food Alliance. Every other Tuesday for the next 20 weeks I'll go pick up a box of locally grown vegetables, herbs and occasionally fruit. My first pick up was yesterday and I'm overloaded. The haul included green onions, scallions (rare to see true scallions in the store), chives, rhubarb, asparagus, Napa cabbage, salad greens, radishes, and broccoli rabe. We grilled up the asparagus last night and tonight I downed the broccoli rabe. Can't say I loved the broccoli rabe, but that is the nature of the CSA. You just have to roll with what you get and embrace eating seasonally and being adventurous. I'm quite excited about it. Tomorrow night will be a Thai shrimp soup to use up the green onions and cabbage and there will probably be a raspberry rhubarb tart this weekend. Hopefully I can keep up this level of enthusiasm all summer :)

True Confession

Sometimes I like to bury my face in the white fur on her chest. That is so gross, but she is so damn soft and lovable. Who am I?