Stolen Christmases

I feel like I've been robbed of Christmas the last 2 years. In 2008 I was a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding 5 days before Christmas. That wedding left me with practically no money for Christmas shopping. I easily spent over a 1/2 month salary on a dress, bachelorette party, bridal shower, and gift all right around the holidays. I finally took the paycheck I got right before christmas (and right after the wedding) and went shopping a day or so before Christmas - in a blinding New England snow storm. It was so bad that there was NOBODY on route 93. So, 2008 was the year of the wedding. No time or money to get in the mood. Especially since my cousin had to go to a boutique shop for her bridesmaid dresses, so that I had to parade around the store for my mother and my aunt in a ripped apart dress that needed extra fabric and $200 of alterations. Nope, I was in no mood in 2008.

2009 fared far worse. Most of you know that last year sucked big time. See, around this time last year, my life was thrown into a tizzy. I was in the final stages of throwing a baby shower for my sister in law, who was in and out of the hospital on bed rest with pre-eclampsia. In the span of 10 days, I tore my ACL on an airplane on the way to a business trip, my sister-in-law was admitted to the hospital and the shower was cancelled, my first nephew, Peter, was born 2 months early (healthy, for a premie), he & SIL got a severe infection, and Peter didn't survive.

Note: I feel a post on this entire experience coming on soon. I find myself "writing" it in my head when I lay awake in bed at night. I don' t know if I'll write it out. I don't know if I'll share it. But please know, my lack of insight and/or emotion at this point in THIS post in NO WAY minimalizes or negates that time in my life. This is just not the post for it.

I don't even remember the holiday season last year. Peter died 2 days before Thanksgiving. It was undeniably the worst day of my life. I was devestated and I was on crutches. I was on crutches most of the winter. I couldn't go shopping even if I wanted to.

My friend, Mo, asked me the other day, "did you come to our christmas party last year?" I sat there and thought, and thought...but I couldn't remember. At that moment, I realized I really couldn't remember anything between having a somber meal at home, and dessert in the hospital on thanksgiving, and probably the end of February. I had experienced a real and true emotional black out. Later that night, I did remember Mo's son, Ethan singing Jingle Bell Rock to me, in their kitchen, at the Christmas party. That's about it. I still can't remember if I did anything on new years eve. Everything just sucked last year.

It's not thanksgiving yet, but I'm in the mood to start Christmas shopping. I NEVER shop early. I think that these last 2 years of "stolen" Christmases, I'm longing for normalcy - whatever that is. The 12 month period since those dark days has almost passed. Ain't nothing stealing my Christmas this year. If anything, I hope that this Christmas is one of my family's best ever.

And I know that Jesus is the reason for the season. I would be remiss if I didn't give props to Jesus for getting me through all this crap, and I'm sorry He sounds like an afterthought. This post just isn't THAT heavy. . .

it's been a while

So here is a quick update on my CSA share. Mo is going to split a "winter share" with me, which will consist of 4 weeks of vegetables, with two of those weeks being "double" weeks. I'm hoping to see lots of storage vegetables like squash and potatoes. I'm dying for broccoli and to try romanesco.

If I ever thought back in the beginning that I wasn't getting that much stuff, I should be shot in the head. Sure, the beginning of the season starts out slow... you don't get corn in June. Boy have I been surprised (and inundated, and INTIMIDATED) by the amount of produce I've gotten over the last 10+ weeks. Will I do it again? Yes - especially since now I know how this works and have lived through having to throw stuff away because I was too lazy to try to preserve it...now I KNOW what I have to do.

Having said all that, I'm back to being excited about my share this week. New items this week: Pumpkin and Celery! The celery is a deep dark green and I'm dying to munch on it.

1 sugar pumpkin (seeds for mom, soup for me!)
1 green tomato (frying up for a sandwich!)
2 zucchini (zucchini pie)
1 poblano (polenta stuffed pepper)
2 bags green beans (blanch & freeze)
1 bag cranberry beans (not sure what to do with these yet)
1 head of boston lettuce (my favorite!)
1 bunch hakurei turnips (roasting these)
1 bunch celery (which is a deep emerald green!!!)

I could have gotten mint and bok choy but I traded those in for more zucchini and green beans, respectively. I also bought some mozzarella from maplebrook farm.

a deep dark secret

Thanks to national television and the impending reign of Prince Poppycock, I can finally admit that this conservative gal is a little bit kinky...LOL

Who is Prince Poppycock, you ask? Well, he's only the most well known drag queen/transvestite/gay guy on the planet!!! And boy is he FIERCE! He's currently in the running for a spot in the top 4 of America's Got Talent. You can find TONS of clips of him on YouTube.


I've always ascribed to the idea that every girl should have a gay guy friend. I've also realized, a long time ago, after watching Rocky Horror Picture Show that I had an affection for Dr. Frankenfurter...LOL. Now, being older I can honestly say that I would jump Poppycock's bones if given the opportunity.

After watching is performance last night - a homage to America - I nearly ran out of my house to buy a rainbow flag to hang under my American flag on my flag pole. What GUTS this guy has, to come on tv and be so transparent, real, vulnerable. He clearly took a risk last night which I hope will pay off. I'm not even sure if the majority of America realizes what happened there.

This swell of admiration I have for this man creates a bit of conviction and conflict within me when it comes to equality issues but, no matter what your personal beliefs on those issues, there is no denying Poppycock's passion, raw talent and genuine showmanship. The guy is a born performer and he deserves all the fortune coming his way.

Get us talking, laughing, and singing, fair Prince. Your Poppies all adore you. Brava!

When I die and they lay me to rest I'm gonna go to the place that's the best

Yeah, that's a fun lyric by Norman Greenbaum but... newsflash... I think I found the place that I want to be buried.

Apologies in advance for the morose nature of this blog but, I find some strange need to blog about it.

I'm not even at an age where I should be worrying where I'm going to bury my parents. However, luckily, my grandfather purchased a 4 person plot way back in the day down at Woodlawn in Everett and that is where my mother declared that she and my dad will be buried. Cool beans for my brothers and me...that's a few thousand dollars we don't have to worry about (LOL).

Today I went on a little joy ride through Andover. The weather was gorgeous, the windows were down, the sunroof was open. I drove past the IRS Taj Mahal construction (which promptly annoyed me) and then I passed the sign for "The Chapel at West Parish". I've driven by there a bunch of times and I like chapels and have always said to myself, "I should go check that out". Well, today was as good a day as any.

What I didn't realize was that the chapel is located in the West Parish Garden Cemetery. I also like cemeteries - particularly the older parts of cemeteries with their grandiose monuments and statues. So I got to driving all around this cemetery and a strange thought came over me out of nowhere:

"This is where I want to be buried. In that little grove called surrounded by rose bushes."

There are at least 2 ponds. There is a stone bridge. It smells heavenly (pardon the pun). It was peaceful and wooded and, let's face it, it's in Andover. A 2-person plot is probably be the ONLY property I'd ever afford to own in Andover (ha ha ha).

It's a rather strange realization when your morality hits you straight in the face and you feel like you're standing on your final resting place. Although my grandfather passed away when I was like, 19, I have always admired the fact that he pre-planned (and pre-paid) everything in advance for both himself and my grandmother.

How soon is too soon to think of this stuff? Anyway, let it be known that that's where I want to be - in a little grove surrounded by flowers.

1 1/2 pound tomato!

Seymour gave me a 1.5 lb tomato yesterday that I plan to use in some dishes I'm making for my BBQ this weekend. I have more vegetables than I know what to do with right now from my CSA and I'm glad that I'll have the opportunity to showcase a lot of it at the BBQ!

This week's share (week #12) included the following:

6 ears of corn
1 lb wax beans
1 zucchini
4 slicing tomatoes
2 roma tomatoes
1 pt of a variety of cherry tomatoes
5 aji dulce peppers
1 cubanelle pepper
1 bunch hakurei turnips
1 eggplant
2 small heads of red leaf lettuce
1 leek
and I picked up about 3-4 extra "past ripe" tomatoes

Recipes I'm experimenting with this weekend (click links for recipes). Thanks to www.food.com (formerly known as www.recipezaar.com) my favorite recipe website and Farmer Dave's recipe site

Gazpacho
Fresh Salsa
Summer Vegetable Succotash
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with Tzatziki & Pita Chips
Heirloom Tomato, Zucchini and Cheese Tart
Watermelon Lemonade

I'm also making potato and macaroni salads and I hope to throw some veggies in those too.

Crazy days at work (with layoffs and increased work load), Jeremy's off to school (and I'm his administrative assistant, apparently, at the moment until he knows what the hell is going on). Now a long weekend to look forward to. Enjoy!

sigh...

Well, my department let go 5 people last week so Wed-Fri has been a blur here in the office. Very sad. Very scary. Very shitty all around. So that's why I haven't updated in a few days.

I ate my first heirloom tomato during this period. It was wonderful. I have other tomatoes starting to ripen, which makes me happy. However, I did lose more tomatoes, and 3 peppers to the caterpillar/worms. With all the stress from work, this sent me over the edge and pesticided the crap out of those suckers. If you get any peppers or tomatoes from me, make sure you wash them - well. Screw those caterpillars.

I need to re-train my brain to get back to the "eat healthy! eat local!" bandwagon. The past few days I've been like, "I don't feel like cooking crap." And I haven't. And the result is me throwing away more than I should.

Brian & Christine had another kick-ass barbeque on saturday. It was just what I needed to clear my head from the 1/2 week of crappy work stuff. Then we had Brian's birthday dinner on sunday. My dad bought a 6" x 6" ice cream cake that made me laugh in hysterics. Surprisingly enough, it was plenty for the 9 of us who were there.

Saturday is the Banditos Misteriosos water gun battle and I've been assigned to the team from the future. Basically, you get told when/where to show up about 10 hours before the event. You wait for a signal, and all hell breaks loose in some public place. It's really funny to see people who aren't involved say, "WTF is going on???" and start taking pictures. I kinda want to dress up a little bit. They give you guidelines (past army = black, brown, grey; future army = primary colors). I think I'm going to do a half-assed interpretation of Leela from Futurama - that is, if I can find an appropriate purple wig. This may not be the best idea, being a female at a water gun fight, in a white tank top... I may have to layer up with a camisole or something. LOL. The Banditos are the same people who organized World Pillow Fight Day (fighting starts in this video at about 1:02). Again, this is just random crap that amuses me that I like to do, so I throw it out on meetup.com to see if anyone else wants to go because apparently I'm the only person I know with the time/energy/interest to do this crazy crap. LOL. You're only as old as you feel, right?

Quiche!

I promised Dawn I’d blog my quiche recipe, so here it is! (note: use any vegetable you want (pre-cooked)… I had beets on hand and I find that they add a real nice flavor of mellow sweetness to this quiche.

1 9in deep dish frozen pie shell (do not precook)
4 eggs
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 bunch beets (with tops)
½ medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 strips of crisp cooked bacon, crumbled (reserve bacon grease)
Grated parmesan cheese

1. Cut tops off of beets and wash both the beets and greens thoroughly. Chop the greens & stems into 1 inch pieces.

2. Add beets to a pot of unsalted water and bring to a boil. Cook for approximately 30 mins or until tender.

3. Cook bacon in large frying pan until crisp. Reserve about 1 tbs bacon grease.

4. Cook onion and garlic in bacon grease until translucent.

5. Add beet greens and sauté until wilted. Remove from heat.

6. Remove beets from boiling water and rinse under cold water (so you can handle) and peel and chop to a medium dice.

7. Add beets and crumbled bacon to frying pan and toss to incorporate with greens mixture.

8. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and cream until frothy.

9. Toss in one generous handful of parmesan cheese and whisk to incorporate.

10. Add vegetables to frozen pie crust and pour egg mixture on top of vegetables. Use a spoon or spatula to evenly distribute vegetables.

11. Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 40 minutes until uniformly golden on top.

I just ate a piece for lunch! Yum!

Zumba - Week 2

Had another great zumba class last night led by Joanne. Unfortunately, by the time class was over, I felt sick and continued to feel sick for about an hour. I don't know if it was that I wasn't properly hydrated, or if I was hot, or if I didn't have enough food in me before class started (I had a granola bar and a handful of combo pretzels). Or was my heart rate too high that I didn't bring it down during a long enough cool down? Could it be TOM? I don't know. All I know is that I felt a little light headed and nauseous and I could feel my pulse throughout my body for like an hour. I drank more water when I got home, laid down for 20 minutes and then ate my stuffed pepper and felt a little better. Maybe it's time to invest in a heart rate monitor.

I didn't sleep well at all last night. I tossed and turned and was just achy all over (that's definately TOM). I called in and came into the office 2 hours late so I could take some alleve and lay there for a little while. I'm feeling better now (drugs are good!).

We had a fantastic thunder storm last night that drenched my garden and Jinks' window perch. When I got up this morning and checked on the garden, that ripening pink brandywine tomato greeted me. It's almost ready to pick!

I'm looking forward to taking Carrie tomorrow night to celebrate her birthday. She deserves a nice birthday dinner and some mommy time.

Garden Update - Nitrogen deficiency

I went out to the garden in the morning and found a big green tomato on the ground 1/2 eaten. Friggin varmints better stay out of my garden!!!!

So not only was Seymour (my 9 ft brandywine tomato plant) continuing to turn yellow, Audrey (the 8 ft brandywine plant) started showing signs of it too. The other 2 tomato plants (both Celebrity hybrids) seemed to be doing just fine.

I ran out to Mahoney's and bought more liquid copper fungicide and I also bought some "organic" insecticide oil from Bonide. At the check out, a soil test kit mocked me, "Go ahead and just keep throwing random crap in your garden. You're no better than your daaaaaad." "STFU test kit," I said, and decided to buy that too.

I knew I had to do the fungicide because I had already started that treatment weeks ago at my uncle's urging. So I went out and sprayed the crap out of them. 1/2 the bottle is now gone. I also dug up some soil from underneath Seymour to do the soil test.

What I found was that the nitrogen in the soil was practically non-existent. The tube hardly changed color. I have a medium/high phosphorus level and a medium/high potash level. Nitrogen encourages green leafy growth so I decided that I needed to get something to boost the nitrogen in the soil. I figure, if these plants are 2x bigger than normal, they need more food.

So back to Mahoney's I went. I took the insecticide back to return it and opted to buy Espoma brand Dried Blood which will add only nitrogen to the soil (unlike complete fertilizers which add nitrogen, phosphorus and potash). Now that my tomatoes are blood suckers, I've decided to name the Celebrity plants Edward and Bella (Sorry Jo... LOL). I could have gone with Louis and LeStat but I like the idea of them being a couple.

I added 1/2 cup each to Seymour and Audrey and 1/4 cup each to Edward & Bella (who are showing NO signs of wilt or anything...knock on wood).

I chopped of more than 1/2 a stalk from Seymour which was totally dead, with the exception of one tomato (so I cut off the stalk above the tomato) and I noticed that this tomato is RIPENING! YAY!

CSA Week 8

Here's a list of what I got this week and what I plan to do with it all over the weekend to eat for next week

Week 8 Share:
3 beefsteak tomatoes
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 bag green beans
2 bell peppers
3 jalepeno peppers
1 cubanelle pepper
2 tiny heads of red leaf lettuce
1 bunch of beets (with tops)
1/2 pint of husk cherry tomatoes (aka ground cherries)


Still left over from before:
1 bunch hakurei turnips
1 lb carrots
1 bell pepper
1 jalepeno pepper
1 cubanelle pepper
2 onions

Stuff I got from family/friends:
Zucchini
Roma tomatoes
beefsteak tomatoes

Thankfully, my parents are going away for the weekend so I am free to make a huge mess in the kitchen.

I'm going to make a veggie salsa using most of the tomatoes, onions, 1 jalepeno, the cubanelle and maybe some shredded carrot? zucchini? I enjoy canning and making jams and stuff. However, I'm not very good at getting my jam to the gel stage. I have peach "jam" which is probably still syrup that I made last fall that I haven't even touched. I may just clean out those jars and use them for salsa (instead of buying all new jars). If you're nice to me, maybe I'll give you some.

I still haven't made the quinoa stuffed peppers, so they're on the docket for cooking this weekend (especially since I now have more than one pepper)

I had read this week that Mary over at Cooking for the Week had made a beet quiche using the greens and chopped cooked beets. I bought 2 frozen pie shells, and I might do the same thing. I figure that's something else that's easily frozen and reheated during the week.

I just found this recipe for zucchini gratin using chevre (which I bought at the farm stand when I picked up my CSA share). This sounds yummy and I can prepare it and freeze it before cooking for later use.

I'll probably do some regular side dishes with the green beans and carrots and might do a root vegetable bake with the turnips & carrots (and add some potatoes and other stuff).

So that's my plan for this weekend (aside from pesticiding seymour and audrey...which I HATE to do but... i gotta save them somehow).

Bailar! Bailar! Bailar!

Thanks to Ellen (and 2 claritin tablets), I dragged myself to Planet Dance & Fitness in Lowell to check out their Zumba class.

We got there 15 minutes early because I wasn't sure if we had to fill out liability waivers or anything and because we were planning to pay the $10 drop-in fee. There was a woman there who was registering her kids for fall dance lessons and she took FOREVER. I was a little worried because there were only 2 other people there for the class but, by the time this lady got done, there was a line nearly out the door waiting to sign in for class.

Ellen and I got a FREE class because we were new to the studio! Score! Joanne, the studio owner and Zumba instructor was VERY nice and welcoming. Before each dance she showed the class the steps we'd be doing and gave alternatives for those who aren't as flexible/coordinated/or injured. This was a VERY nice touch given the fact that I hadn't even told her I have a knee injury (and the fact that I told the girl at the other place that I did, and she didn't give me any sort of guidance).

There were about 20 people in the class and it was HOT in there. I was next to the thermostat and it read 79 degrees. But it was all good. It makes you think you're working even harder...LOL. In this studio, they shut off the overhead lights and turned on a big disco ball and colored spinning lights. It was pretty cool!

Now for the class itself:

I loved Joanne's choreography. She did a combination of latin/bollywood/hip hop/crump. I even got to dance battle against Ellen. She's also very verbal!! She gave verbal cues, lots of sassy encouragement and just plain fun.

The differences between the other class and this one are immense. The most important being that I felt good about myself there. I had a clear view of myself in the mirror but I was so caught up with the dancing that I hardly saw myself. When I did sneak a glimpse I did feel a little like "damn you look terrible" but, for the most part, I didn't care. The music is better here. The crowd is better here (there are all ages and sizes). I felt super comfortable the moment I walked in the door.

Let me state it plainly for you. If you love dancing, you'll love Zumba. If you don't love it the first time you go, you're probably in the wrong class. The Zumba website lists 1000s of classes all over the place so find a few near you and check them out before making a commitment. I would 100% recommend Planet Dance if you're in the Merrimack valley area. It's right off of Route 495.

I can't wait for Monday. I'm going back!

Back on the Wagon

I'm heading to a new Zumba class tonight with my friend Ellen at Planet Dance & Fitness in Chelmsford. I'm hoping that it is more entertaining/engaging than the other class I was taking. Planet Dance has class on Monday & Wednesday nights (which works in my schedule PERFECTLY) and it's close to me, Ellen and Carissa so we can all go together. I might not have planned to go tonight if it weren't for Ellen. Friends are awesome wing-people for exercise! Supposedly Planet Dance has "club" lighting and disco balls. That sounds more "entertaining" and less "jazzercise" right? We shall see. Oooh I just found that they offer yoga too on sunday mornings (which would fit in before church in Lowell...)

I had some honey nut cheerios for breakfast this morning. I made some tri-color tomato salad (olive oil, garlic & salt) for lunch (and ate some tomato this morning with a piece of hand-made mozzarella from Fiore di Nonno of Somerville). So, back to lunch... I have the tomato salad (with cherokee purple, sun gold, and green zebra tomatoes from Stillman's Farm of New Braintree), and stuffed grape leaves from Samira's Homemade of Belmont.

I have to pick up my CSA share today to see what fun stuff I can do with it. I saw that someone had posted on Farmer Dave's facebook page that they got "husk cherry tomatoes". These have piqued my interest. I hope I get some. Anyways, I still have a bunch of stuff left over from last week so I'm going to try to get through that stuff first. Starting with dinner tonight (after Zumba...when I'm going to be exhausted... oh well).

Tonight's Dinner:

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, courtesy of Beth W. over at Our Days in the City.

1 part quinoa
2 parts water
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
corn from 2 ears of corn, fresh
2-3 cloves minced garlic
cumin, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste
bunch spinach, chopped
bell pepper (i may also stuff a big cubanelle that I have as well)
small onion, or 1/2 of large/medium onion
white wine
feta cheese


1. Cook quinoa in ratio of 1 part quinoa and 2 parts water or low sodium broth

2. Saute jalapeno & green onions until just wilted

3. Add corn, spinach, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper and heat the mixture until the spinach began to wilt.

4. Slice bell peppers open, remove seeds and membranes and boil in 1 inch of water until they get tender.

5. Drain the quinoa and add to the sauteed mixture and mix well.

6. After mixture is cooled mixed in feta cheese.

7. While mixture is cooling, saute some sliced onions in a little oil and some white wine.

8. Put the onions in the bottom of a square baking dish, place the peppers on top and fill them with the quinoa mixture.

9. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes

Baked Kale Chips, courtesy of Deb at Smitten Kitchen

1 bunch (about 6 ounces) kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet (I needed two because mine are tiny; I also lined mine with parchment for easy clean-up but there’s no reason that you must). Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.

Quick post to give an update

Garden:

Seymour isn't doing very well. I think I might have a whitefly infestation. I'm hoping that's all it is. I need to get some neem oil or something to take care of that because I'm about to lose a whole stalk and I don't want it to spread. I named the other heirloom plant Audrey because, well, because it just makes sense. They're both somewhere that's green...

General eating/food stuff:

I have not touched anything besides lettuce from last week's CSA share. Ever since I went up to the cabin, i've been off the wagon. I had french fries today (and I want to kick my own ass). I have a new share coming in tomorrow AND I went to the Lexington Farmer's Market today so I really HAVE to make an effort to cook all this stuff.

We're about to be up to our eyeballs with zucchini. My uncle is pawning it off. I'm getting it in my share. Honestly, I don't even know what I have in my fridge right now. What I do know is that I need to go through it tonight because A) if anything is rotten, that's just gross and I need to suck it up and not "feel bad" for letting it go to waste (and resolve to do better this week), B) my mother keeps bitching about over crowding the fridge, C) I need to know what I have so I can plan to cook/prepare/freeze stuff this weekend.

Some recipes I've found that I'd like to try (I'll link them in future posts when I actually make this stuff):

Zucchini Au Gratin
Zucchini & Ricotta Galette
Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Summer Succotash with Bacon & Garlic Croutons
Russian Potato Salad with Dill & Purslane
Green Curry Vegetables with Tofu
Thai Chicken Curry

A weekend away (long recap)

I took off Thursday night to head to my family's cabin in Alton Bay, NH. Aside from places that I would need boatloads of money to go to, there really is no other place I'd rather be in the summer time.

Jenn was supposed to go with me, but had a conflict with work so I decided to go anyway since I took Friday off. Christine was going to meet me Friday afternoon and spend the night.

I got to the Alton town line at about 9:20 where I finally got a cell signal to call the chinese restaurant for my dinner. Mini pupu platter and a small white rice. By the time I got to the Bay at 9:30, it was already waiting for me. So up the mountain I went.

Downside to going up there alone #1: You have to carry everything yourself. We're on a hill, and the cabin is on stilts so there are lots of stairs. I dragged up as much as I could (in the dark), opened up and went back down for trip #2. I also had to go UNDER the cabin to turn the water on (that my parents decided for some unknown reason to shut off when they left the day before...knowing I'd be there the next day).

My parents also closed every window in the place. It's like fort knox up there. And it was hotter than hell (especially after running up and down the stairs and crawling around turning on water trying to avoid creepy crawlies (in the dark). I was so friggin hot that I ran around and opened every window in the place and then stripped out of my work clothes into my shorts and tank pjs right there in the middle of the living room. Sorry to anyone who may have seen that horror show.

I settled in to eat my pu pu platter and it was NOT THAT GOOD!!! Grrrr... this was supposed to be my treat. How much does it SUCK to crave something, and then get it and have it SUCK? I ate 1 chicken wing, the eggroll (which was decent) and the 2 crab rangoons. And a little rice. I guess I did ok.

Then, I went to bed at around 1:30. I love the quietness of the country at night. I could hear the loons on the lake. Smell the fresh air. Then, I hear a car pull up nearby and a car door close. I didn't hear anything else after that. Poof. I was thoroughly spooked. I had expected to hear a dwelling door close, but I heard nothing. So, instead of going to look out the window, I stayed in bed with the sheet over my head and prayed that Jason wasn't going to come up the side of the hill and sneak in and kill me.

Friday I hung around most of the day reading. I took a ride to Moore Farm in Alton at the suggestion of my parents. It was a cute little shop. They sold breads and jams/jellies and teas and little gift shop sort of items right out of the house. I felt weird just walking around so I bought a loaf of wheat bread that seemed very fresh and soft. From there, I went to Fiddlehead Farms Market which is my new favorite place. They have some specialty local and imported stuff from The Butler's Pantry, The Meat House, Seaport Fish, and Finnico's Bakery. It has a nice variety of groceries, wines and deli meats from boars head. So I bought some chicken and beef kabobs from The Meat House to have for dinner with Christine.

Christine arrived and we had dinner (kabobs, salad, wax beans and corn). All veggies were from Farmer Dave's. Awesome! After toasting marshmallows, we hung out and watched "What Would You Do" and 20/20 medical mysteries. It was a nice night, but short lived since Christine had to work a special event on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning I headed out to Franklin to go to the cemetery to visit Peter's grave. It was the first time I've been there since the funeral in December. It was nice to go and be there for a little while. After that, I embarked on a fools mission to find the Sanbornton Farmer's Market.

I apparently threw out my directions so I decided I'd try to go on my memory of looking at the map 2 days ago. I drove down this road for a while and all of a sudden - TA DA! - "Welcome to Sanbornton". "Hell yeah!" I exclaimed in my car. I have supersonic GPS capability in my own head.

I drove through Sanbornton figuring I'd cross the Historical Society building (where the market is held) at one point. And pass it, I did. With a sign that says "Farmer's Market: Friday 3-6". For some strange reason, I thought this market was Saturday 8-noon. I friggin missed it! Oh well, it was still before noon and I was travelling in my bathing suit so I could go directly to the beach on my way back. And that's what I did. And proceeded to morph into a lobster.

I floated on my float in the pond for THREE HOURS. I was thoroughly entertained (and a tad bit intimidated) by the onslaught of 10 twenty-somethings who were obnoxious, loud, and hung over. They surrounded my chair on the tiny beach (I'm telling you, this beach is about 20' x 10'). I acted stupidly, as the president would say, and decided to stay in the water rather than parade my fat ass around all these people to get to my chair, and then sit amongst them. And I paid the price. Rock lobster! aaaahhhhh aaaaaahhhh aaaaahhhh aaaaaaahhhh!!!

By the time dinner rolled around that night, I was bored as hell so I went down the bay for the free saturday night concert. That was pretty decent. I liked watching the kids dance around. There was a special needs boy who was so cute. The band leader gave him a harmonica. It was sweet. By the time that was over, there was nothing open to get something to eat and I worried about not being able to sleep with the sunburn. So I decided to drive to CVS in Laconia to get something for it. There, I found "CVS Redness Relief Continuous Spray". It really works! I also bought a bag of beef jerky because I hadn't eaten anything besides left over salad and a granola bar. Then I drove to Weirs Beach. The marquis on the drive in said "FIREWORKS 10PM". I was like YAY!! It was 9:55. And I waited. And waited. And waited. 10:10 and no fireworks.

DAMN YOU Weirs Drive-In Theater for not posting the word "Friday" on your fireworks sign! I was all excited and got a huge let down.

Sunday was uneventful. It rained much of the morning so I cleaned up and packed and sat on the screen porch reading my book for a while. I locked up fort knox and went to the dump with my grocery bag of recyclables and bag of trash and then went to the bay to swim for 1/2 hour while it was still dreary (and no chance of extended burn). The big lake was cold! I don't know if it was really cold or it just felt so because of the sunburn. After that, I got a fish & chips boat from Pop's and only ate 1/2 of it. The fish was fantastic. I wasn't took impressed with the fries though. I ate 1/2 the fries and 1/2 the fish. I hit the road back home with a mandatory stop at Frekey's Dairy Freeze in Chichester. Frekey's is an ice cream stand on the side of Rt. 28 in the driveway of this family's house. I stop here on the way home every time I go to Alton. I need to remember that I should only get the baby cone ($1.00) because a small is too much ice cream for me!

I came home to 8 hot peppers waiting for picking. Dad did a great job keeping the garden watered and weeded. :-) I plan to pickle them, I think, if my mom doesn't cook them and freeze them first.

I bought some pickling spices while I was at Walmart in Gilford. I have to pickle my cucumbers this week before they go bad. I'll have to save some new ones for the Girouard mustard pickles recipe in the future (don't have that recipe yet).

Under the Gun - Cooking at all hours

Since I'm heading up to NH tonight, I felt really pressured to do something with my left over veggies from last week and to prepare some of the veggies that from this week that wilt quickly.

This is how I spent my evening last night:

Dinner: rotisserie chicken breast from MB and tender crisp broccolini I got from the Carlisle Farmer's Market last weekend, with a dash of lawry's seasoned salt, lemon juice and a tad of Kate's Homemade Butter. That broccolini was YUMMILICIOUS. I *think* it may have been from Foxbarn Farm in Carlisle.

Zucchini Lasagna (I prepared this and froze it raw. Haven't cooked it yet)

1 lb whole milk ricotta
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
black pepper (to taste)
seasoned salt (to taste)
garlic powder (to taste)
1 huge zucchini (from my Uncle Joe)
1 medium zucchini (from Farmer Dave's)
2 jars Pastene Chateau Marinara Sauce (This is the ONLY jarred sauce brand I ever use and ONLY when I don't have time to make my own)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (for topping)

In a medium sized bowl, mix first 6 ingredients until well incorporated.

Using a mandolin slicer, slice zucchini length-wise into 1/4 inch slices.

Coat lasagna pan with a thin layer of sauce and then layer zucchini slices as you would lasagna.

Add dollops of cheese mixture on top of zucchini and top with more sauce. Repeat layering with zucchini, cheese, sauce until all zucchini and cheese is used (save some sauce for the top). Top layer should be zucchini.

Lightly press down zucchini to level the casserole. Top with more sauce and sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top.

Bake at 350 for approximately 40 minutes or until cheese is set.


Lemon Basil Zucchini (cooked this, placed in freezer bags and froze for later use)

2 medium zucchinis (I used one green from Farmer Dave's and one orange that I got from the Carlisle farmer's market last week. Could also use summer squash or kousa)
Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 hot banana peppers (from my garden!)
sea salt (to taste)
approx 5 basil leaves, torn (from Farmer Dave's)
juice of 1/4 lemon

Since I had the mandolin slicer out, I sliced the zucchini into 1/4 inch rounds.

In skillet, cook garlic and peppers in oil until slightly translucent (do not burn the garlic!).

Remove garlic and peppers and set aside.

Add zucchini and salt to skillet and cook until tender, stirring occasionally.

When zucchini is almost done, return garlic and peppers to the skillet and add basil and lemon juice, tossing lightly.

This seems like it would be good on a grilled flatbread pizza or a nice accompaniment to seafood.


Sauteed Swiss Chard (cooked this, placed in freezer bags and froze for later use)

1 bunch Swiss Chard (roughly chopped), including stems (sliced thin)
2 onion tops (or scallions, I used the tops off my CSA onions - the portion closest to the onion)
olive oil
Tastefully Simple Garlic & Dill seasoning

In skillet, sautee onion tops in garlic until wilted.

Add stems and cook until tender.

Add leaves and seasoning and cook on low stirring frequently until leaves wilt.

CSA Week 5

Ok, so I really slacked this past week with my vegetables. I still have loads of zucchini and cucumbers (that I'm waiting for the Girouard recipe for mustard pickles from Karen). I'm planning to make the zucchini lasagna and freeze it (as soon as I make a gravy for it... ugh!) and probably battering and frying any other zucchini I have left over for use later in a zucchini parmesean.

This is what I got this week in my CSA share from Farmer Dave's:

Salad cucumber (1)
pickling cucumbers (2)
CORN!!!!! (3) (and I bought one additional ear)
kousa squash (2)
hakurei turnips (2 bunches)
purslane (1 bunch)
green leaf lettuce (1)
basil (1 bunch)
onions w/tops (2)
swiss chard (1 bunch)
green bell pepper (1)
cubanelle pepper (1)

additional purchases: 1 ear of corn (as stated above), 3 nectarines, 3 plums & 2 mini whoopie pies from The Pie Guy.

Yeah, I wanted to de-emphasize the whoopie pies (bad Melissa).

Since I'm heading up to Eatin' Gleaton Woods this weekend, I think I'll be bringing a lot of this stuff with me. You see, our family cabin is nicknamed Eatin' Woods because we tend to bring a boat load of food (including ho ho's, chips, donuts, etc.) and eat the entire time we're there. The goal is to eat it all so we don't have to lug it back home.

I'm planning (with the exception of Thursday night, when I drive up there) to eat like I normally would at home. That means taking advantage of my veggies and avoiding processed food. I'll have to be really adamant about this because I'll be having a "treat" on Thursday on my way up the mountain: take out from JP China in Alton Bay. I have a feeling I shouldn't do it because Chinese is one of those things that I'm finding throws my cravings into a tizzy...but... I want it. At least I want it today. I could stop at Hannaford on the way and get a rotisserie chicken, but then I'd be tempted to eat the whole chicken. And what would I have with the rotisserie chicken? I don't know. We'll see what tomorrow night brings.

In the meantime, I need to plan out what I'm bringing for food and pack my stuff!!! Luckily, the parent's are on their way home from the cabin and left me some stuff (milk, juice, vodka (!!!), and FARM FRESH EGGS!). This means less stuff for me to carry up the steep stairs.

I am SOOO looking forward to getting away for a few days. I plan to swim, swim, and swim.

OH!! Check out the nifty little buttons down here. You can share my blog with your friends with just a click of the mouse! (please share!!!)

tomato forecast

If my calculations are correct, I should be picking celebrity tomatoes in 2 weeks! All the information I've read state that celebrity hybrids can be harvested approximately 70 days after transplanting.

Looks like the brandywine heirloom tomatoes take a bit longer to mature (90-100 days). I'm frantically pruning the brandywine plants' suckers (new shoots that come out between a leaf stem and the main stalk). This supposedly helps the plant focus more on fruit production and growth rather than leaf production. Brandywine tomatoes can grow up to 1 pound and I would LOVE to have a 1 pounder my first year! There are new suckers every day. I must be doing something right to warrant this kind of growth. (And my mother made fun of me for putting all that crap in the holes when I planted... God knows what would have happened had I actually gotten fish heads!)

I've pronounced dead the bush goliath plant in the topsy turvy planter. When I went home last night, it was quite obviously dead. I'm 99% sure that the topsy turvy killed it. I mean, it could be over fertilized since it's in a container... but... i'm not going to stress over it anymore. Dead is dead.

In any event, the garden is LOVING this hot weather. There are tons of hot peppers and the sweet peppers are starting to grow out of their blossoms. I've read a lot about banana peppers and most gardeners agree that picking should wait until the peppers start to turn orange. My family has always been early pickers (when they are bright green starting to yellow). I'm going to try to wait a while and see if they do actually change color (at least the hot ones).

yadda yadda

Guess what? I'm now down SIX pounds. Thank you, fresh vegetables, that I'm spending so much money on, for making me eat so much more of you so I'm not wasting my money. And thank you, concept of Zumba, for getting my butt off the couch once a week (even if I don't like my soon-to-be-ex-instructor).

Hey! Remember Seymour, my humongous brandywine tomato plant? Well, he is now about 1/4 inch TALLER than the PVC pipe that i staked in LAST WEEK. I don't know WTF to do with this plant! I do know that I'm going to have to buy a step ladder to harvest. 90% of the tomatoes on this plant are at eye level and higher.

Oh, and the other tomato plants are now as tall as their original (6 foot) posts (including my regular ol' celebrity tomatoes). Looks like I'm going back to Home Depot for more PVC pipe. The hot peppers are now as tall as their 4 foot stakes. My brother laughs at me, but yes, I am tying my pepper plants so they don't sag with the weight of their peppers on them (And so my fat butt can fit through the row).

My uncle is amazed at the height of these plants. He's been growing tomatoes and peppers (and a host of other things) for over 30 years. He has over 100 tomato plants growing right now. I hope and pray that they don't get blight. Looking to my grandpa's horseshoe (which hung in his garden for years, and is now hanging in mine) for good luck. I'm almost out of fungicide so I'm going to have to buy more.

Oh, and the topsy turvy plant is on its last leg. I think I'm going to take it down in the next few days. I think there is way too much stress on the plant. The planter holds WAY too much water and I feel terrible for killing this tomato plant in a slow agonizing way. Maybe I'll try putting it in the ground to see if it comes back to the land of the living. I don't have high hopes for it though. :-(

Zumba - Day Two

It was friggin HOT in class last night. We had to use the upstairs studio because the dance studio is holding summer workshop classes this week. (side note: oh how I miss tap dancing! Just hearing the drills going on brought back so many fond memories... Thank you to the Eleanor Rubino Academy of Performing Arts. Sorry I didn't stick with it and stay (relatively) skinny). I do know the owner of this studio trained with Eleanor as well so, when the time comes that there is a little princess in my life, this is the studio where she's going to train.

So, the instructor "forgot" to turn on the A/C before class (remember, heat rises!) and we were all sweating like hogs by the second song.

Anyway, I'm about ready to search for another class. The girl is nice enough but, like I said in a previous post, she is B-O-R-I-N-G. Her class is not the "dance party" that Zumba is advertised to be. Not only that, but she keeps forgetting her own routines. I mean, not seriously forgetting, but starting to do some move and then stopping and doing something else so that we're all freaking confused. And because she doesn't TALK we have to figure it out monkey see-monkey do style. That's pretty hard when you're jumping around like you're on crack and she all of a sudden changes wtf she's doing.

At least there were 6 of us in class this week. However, they all know each other - including the instructor. So, not only do I feel like the fat old lady in the back, I feel like an outsider. This isn't going to fly much longer with me.

I have one more class paid in advance. I'm in the process of finding other classes to try after next week.

a new lunch idea

I'm posting this here just so I don't loose it... courtesy of Live Earth Farm of Freedom, CA. I passed on purchasing some chevre from the farm stand this weekend but I think I may have to loosen the purse strings a little for this treat.

Arugula, Goat Cheese and Roasted Walnut Sandwich

Mary says, "Here’s what I did after seeing Randy’s arugula salad recipe in the newsletter a few weeks ago: I mixed the toasted walnuts and some dried sweetened cranberries into (maybe 1/2 cup?) goat cheese from Summer Meadows Farm (along with a little salt, and a little olive oil if the cheese is too crumbly to hold together – if so, then I put a little less olive oil in the dressing). Then I toss good handful (small salad’s worth) of arugula with a little of Randy’s dressing, pile the dressed greens on two pieces of bread (something with nuts and seeds, prefer.) and top one piece with the goat cheese. Put the two halves together and yum! This only leaves out the pear, which was a delicious accompaniment."

(Here’s his dressing recipe for reference)
Balsamic Vinaigrette ingredients
1 tbsp. cranberry mustard (couldn’t find it a my Trader Joe’s, but my local grocer had several diff. brands)
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
3/4 C extra virgin olive oil