Our House in the Middle of Our Street

Found them like this one night after bedtime. A-dorable. Join in the fun.

This is the second week of our 20 week CSA harvest, and these first two weeks have been abundant. That's an understatement. We share a Veggie Lover Box and 50% of it is more than enough for our family for one week. It's amazing to think that some families could eat all that's in there in one week! This week we received: mizuna, spring onions, purple onions, turnips, radishes, strawberries, swiss chard, butter lettuce, kohlrabi, cilantro, mint, chives, kale, and a spring lettuce mix. Anyway, I spent most of the afternoon cooking away the greens so that I could save them for dishes later in the week, and also for freezing (spinach). I recently found these directions helpful for a quick cook, called a blanch, but find that I'm just as happy to saute, cool, and bag. It's funny, I never considered myself a cook, I rarely follow a recipe *unless it's gluten-free* and just toss things together as I'm inspired by (or out of) a certain ingredient! I remember that...

This week I have sewing on the brain. A big portion of my sewing time is spent washing, drying, ironing, and cutting. The actual machine use is really only about 20% of the actual time it takes to make something. I recently decided to cut out a bunch of patterns and projects all at once and then iron, that of which took me 3 hours total! Once I get around to finding the day and time to put all the pieces together with the machine I imagine I could get all 15 projects done in one day. As for now, they're atop the computer desk in my studio (re: office that is the size of a pin head), waiting patiently. I love all these 'sewing' ideas, color palettes, and the final result. Oh yeah, and I totally need an armoire-studio. Stat. photocredits

Un gelato. In Soulemama's words: A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

photocredit Stefan and I rarely watch movies all the way through in one night. Generally we try to only spend 30 minutes watching TV a night. Sometimes we don't at all, and one night a week we spend 60 minutes watching House . It's very rare a film can keep our attention gripped long enough that we don't feel we're 'wasting our time' watching it for its entirety. Waste Land was one of those gems that we gave a whole 90 minutes to. The movie Waste Land is a fantastic documentary about Brazillian artist Vik Muniz, who goes to the largest dump in the world, Jardim Garmacho and not only develops relationships with the people who work there, "pickers" (of recyclable materials), but also to recreate famous portraits through using only the materials found in the dump, photographing them, and then investing in the lives of those who work there with the profits. Sort of a hefty plot, I suppose, but really a tear-jerker movie and an awesome 'true life'...

Today is the first pick-up of the 2011 Community CROPS CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and our second year of splitting a Veggie Lovers' box with another family. The family who we're sharing it with this year and ours went to a potluck out at the farm last night and enjoyed food, a farm tour, meeting the chickens, and just generally digging around in the dirt outside, and smelling/seeing the fresh growing goodies we'll get in weeks to come. I've written quite a bit on CSAs and I am one happy person to be picking it up this week! I need a little fresh veggie inspiration in the kitchen! Just one more thing to bring Spring officially to our neck of the woods. Enjoy the pics. 1. photocredit 2. photocredit 3. photocredit 4. photocredit 5. photocredit 6. photocredit

Just checkin' in with your daily stink-face. Bring it.