Such a lovely morning.

I know, I know, when one begins harvesting lavender, one becomes just a little too Martha Stewart. But we couldn't help it! The color was so saturated and the scent so lovely...the purple petals of delight were just begging to be cut and dried. Final destination: dryer sachets.

fruits of our labor.

A peek at the first squash, growing not in the garden, but in a random pot with chard on the back patio. It's been quite the companion to the chard, shading it from the hot sun.

Upon Returning from the UK

I find myself terribly lax at getting back to work. I've been lost in the memories and in exchanging emails, hoping to continue in vacation mode until the weekend, though I know it's not possible. My work is calling my name.

I promise to share with you all the photos of the trip, but here is one to tide you over. I couldn't get over the colors of Scotland; they stole my heart and lifted it high.

Lack of Fun, Minus 1, Gardening Done.

I am busy, sadly too busy to head out to the rope swing anytime soon. This is a saddening prospect as I really enjoyed it when we went last summer (see above). Adam has been asking for about 2 weeks now and this whole oral exam thing is totally in the way of having any fun. Boo.

I returned from my brother’s graduation this past weekend to an empty house, as Linda is off gallivanting in the UK with her friends from college until next week. So while it has been productive it’s been rather lonely. Even Lucy is a little off with the minus one population. Let me put things into perspective, I’ve done the dishes every night so far, I am that bored and want to put off working in the evenings THAT much. But never the less I am making progress and hope to have my full rough draft done by mid next week, right in time for Linda to get back. (She was supposed to get back on Monday but now is extending her time in PA on the return for another day- arriving back here on Wednesday AM)

But enough talk about work and empty houses. Really. Let’s get on to more exciting things…the garden. I’d enclose a picture but that will have to wait until Lin returns with the camera. We’ve done a lot of planting and are hoping to have a successful year. As of now we are cultivating: yellow squash, peas, bush beans, red and white onions, peppers, some variety of heirloom tomatoes, lots of roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli raab (round two) and radishes (round two).Ooh and Okra. And my new personal favorite: Swiss chard. Move over zucchini, I am in love! Celery meets spinach in fun colors…it does not get any better than that.

Speaking of zuchinni, we have planted some this year. Last year we got a total of one fruit before a parasite killed the plant and I am reserving adding them to the crop count this year as Harmony (a master gardener in my building) told me that it’s highly likely they will return this year. Great.

I’ve recently discovered that I also love mustard greens, and am thinking I can possibly get a fall crop of those in, but I will have to research it, since I know nothing about it.

Speaking of new foods, a few weeks ago Linda and I went to a local resturaunt and I was served nopales. And they were great, only problem was that I had NO CLUE what they were. I talked to my favorite Mexican Kelly (ok so she’s the only Mexican I know…that still does not detract from the favoriteness) and it turns out they are CACTUS! The texture is amazing, like bell pepper meets mushroom. I want to grow some in pots on the patio. Like mustard greens, I know nothing about them and will have to research.

I’ve been on a Mexican food kick lately courtesy of Chipotle and the cheapness of flour tortillas that lend themselves so well to enveloping bean/lentil/rice/chicken/and pretty-much-anything-else leftovers. This with my newfound like of cacti calls for a mexian cooking lesson from Kelly, when is still to be determined but it will happen.

So will homemade yogurt and mozzarella. It’s just a matter of time.

Belated Birthday Shopping Extravaganza.

I like the word "extravaganza" a lot. A lot a lot. As in, I use "extravaganza" to describe things that might not quite be an extravaganza, at least not to the majority of people in the world who know the definition of the word "extravaganza." So while it might not seem like "elaborate and spectacular entertainment" to you, for me the belated birthday trip to A Southern Season this Sunday was just that for me, and for Steph too.

A little bit of back story here: Steph and I have been attempting to conquer the bread machine for quite some time now. Since we brought it back in our car at Thanksgiving, we traded off on trying to find the right balance of the basic ingredients to create the perfect light and rustic loaf for sandwiches. The thing of it is, we've only managed to make one such loaf, and the rest have been good for nothing but morning toast, when our mouths are at their least discriminating. We had heard from our friend Sarah that she had had similar problems baking and that she was going to use Martha Stewart's advise to purchase a kitchen scale to weigh baking ingredients instead of measuring them. Which seemed a little extreme to me, as I had always measured flour and had fine results. But we had to face it: our results had been much less than stellar, and often less than edible.

Then last week at the library I picked up a book called CakeLove, written by a D.C. lawyer turned baker. And what do you know, he swore by weighing ingredients as well. He ran several experiments, and more often that not, measuring flour by the cup resulted in using too much flour. As in THIRTY PERCENT more than when weighed, which seems like quite a difference. So Steph and I set out with my gift card to A Southern Season in search of a kitchen scale that could aid us in our breadmaking.

(A guilty admission: we had actually be in A Southern Season on Saturday as well, on the hunt for something with a lid to hold our compost. We're a little overun with fruit flies at the moment - think swarms. Ew. We found the perfect vessel, an intense blue canister, but it was a little overpriced AND it was fiesta ware. Neither Steph nor I could bare to spend the price on the label when there was the possibility that a chipped/dented version could be sitting by its lonesome at Holly Ross in PA. So we covered the bowl with the dish, and are hoping for the best.)

Back to Sunday. After breakfasting at home, weeding the garden, phone calls for mother's day, lunch, a walk for lucy, and work time for Steph and I, the southern food mecca was singing our names, and we heeded its call.

We passed up a frying pan, some $18 Italian semolina pasta, an obscenely large bottle of mustard, a wooden pizza peel, a flour sifter, some delicious $25 olive oil (you can actually taste the difference!) and some other gadgetry deemed inessential. What we did purchase was the fabled kitchen scale, some local North Carolina cotton honey, 2 bags of frivolous pasta (orecchiette and some fantastically large loops that reference sushi and look like extra fat rigatoni without the striping), and close to a pound of pancetta ends. Oh the possibilities...

Arriving home with our goodies, we made our very first grilled pizza (fast, delicious, and tasted of amazing foccacia) and worked long into the night.

Maybe if you take the day as a whole it will seem more extravaganza-like to you?

Linda is often prone to fantastic overstatements that, in her persoanl context are not overstatements. But in this case I can agree that it was a slight extravaganza- I'm excited to perfect grilled pizza and am envisioning an asparagus basil, lemon, string bean pasta to go with our new purchases.

weekend bliss.

I always look forward to the weekends. I did it in elementary school, longing for more time to read. I did it in high school, patiently waiting to become popular. I did it through most of college, where i had the self-implemented rule that I would not do school work on the weekends, as that was my time. I would work into the wee hours of the morning during the week, but saturdays and sundays were days for relaxing. And I do it now because I know that on Saturday Steph and I will wake up early and bike to the farmer's market against the cool morning breeze, meander along to Weaver Street to share a cup of coffee and croissants (I swear that WSM is the only bakery on this side of the atlantic that knows how to bake a proper croissant...) and then trek home with fresh produce bulging from our messenger bag. It's simply delightful.

I was brought to this train of thought because I thought that by now, I would have stopped looking forward to the weekends so much and be completely content every day of the week. Oh the daydreams of teenagerdom that manage to seem so completely feasible at age 13...

After the farmer's market on saturday, we stopped at the Townsend, Betram and Co for their annual sidewalk sale. Last year Steph got two Patagonia t-shirts for $30 (they're normally 35-45 each) and this year I found the most fantastic tan and berry suede sneakers, at 75% off! They were only $25. I think they are very British, though Steph was a little hesitant to agree. And I think they will be perfect for my upcoming trip to the UK, which I am beginning to be excited about, even though I'll have to check in with the group every morning AND deal with nightly bed checks. Yes, bed checks. Who would have thought in the year 2009 at age 24? I try not to think about the independence I'll be giving up.

Back to the weekend...we took Lucy for a walk and dropped off some flyers, ran into Dan (formerly known as Tony) and returned home with the plan of lunching and showering, both of which were put off for the photo shoot displayed in the previous post. Lunch was smoked turkey sandwiches on fresh foccacia (a new obsession of mine) with roasted red peppers and farm fresh lettuce and then we put in some enjoyable time sweeping floors and washing dishes. I know it sounds a little weird, but i LIKE sweeping the floor.

And we washed our comforter this weekend too! We have to take it to the laundromat because its so big, so its always a bit of a to do. Dinner was late, late, late, as in we ate roasted chicken with fresh radishes and foil-packeted potatoes at 10:30 pm. We actually ate our dessert first, a shared piece of TJs flourless chocolate cake topped with strawberries and chocolate shavings and a freshly mixed strawberry breeze of sorts, whipped up by my master drink mixer.

Are you still with me? Are you agreeing that our weekend was fab? On sunday we got up a little late, and enjoyed sweet biscuits with strawberries and the last of our turkey bacon for breakfast. For all of you who buy Oscar Meyer bacon, the regular is actually better for you than the turkey, as the fat and calorie content is the same, but there is more sodium in the turkey. I'm not sure about the brand we have...then we headed off to the library for the afternoon to be productive, me with freelance work and Steph with the introduction to her proposal. We worked until the library closed, (I checked out a book on the chemistry of cake baking!) and then returned home and worked some more. A dinner of the most delicious chicken fajitas with fresh steamed asparagus followed, and another little jaunt around Carrboro with Lucybird. More work, more fun for me (including sewing and stationary design for me!) and to bed at 2am...

Well, I thought it was just the most perfect weekend. And to think it was supposed to rain all weekend, and we didn't even get a single drop. Lovely.
Those little knit rosettes took a lot longer to sew by hand than I bargained for...

These Will Speak for Themselves.

Foodies For Sure

The website address we picked for this site was to ensure our parents that we are not wasting away down here, and in part to share what is going on in our life with you (or y’all or yous, depending on the state you are currently in) but especially to share what we truly love…other than each other…

Food.
(and being thrifty home-bodies)

We eat sumptuously compared to a lot of people our age and are completely aware of it. It is worth it: take what other graduate students pay for food and entertainment combined and we come in way under budget and over on fulfillment. As Linda can attest to, I’m most happy preparing her a meal with no recipes and a challenge to use up what’s about to go bad in the fridge.

(because if you know Linda, you know that wasting things is NOT an option- and you better reuse or recycle…or else…I’m still not sure what the “or else” entails, but I’m not inclined to push that line)

We do not go to the movies, we don’t have cable…instead- tonight we are spending 2 hours making dinner- beer can chicken with a side of roasted root vegetables and greens- chocolate cake with strawberries for dessert ( which we TOTALLY ate BEFORE dinner- it was just too good sitting on the counter all prepared) and a blended strawberry daquri concotion (also consumed way before dinner). Lunch was smoked turkey sandwiches on toasted foccacia with roasted red pepper and thinly sliced radishes (first item to come out of our garden this season !)

While the chicken remains simmer down into beautiful stock (see previous entry about love of soup), let me resume…

We’ve become enamored of produce. It’s full- blown spring here and the farmer’s market is amazing. Every Saturday we bike over and make at least two rounds, the first to scout (Who has the best price on collard greens?) and the second to purchase. This week we bought a bag of braising greens, two heads of lettuce, two very large green garlics, a quart of fresh strawberries (hence the daquri), two small heads of cauliflower (to be featured in an Indian dish with lentils later this week), a bunch of spring onions and some delightful multi-colored swiss chard. After the farmer’s market we often stop by the local co-op market, Weaver Street. While it offers local produce and organic foods, it does so on a budget that is way above ours….but if you are a member theirs, the food bar, baked goods and sale items are do-able- so we stop by for breakfast and map out our day sitting on the green, watching the dogs and kids play. About 98.5% of these children are wearing crocs…not that it matters, but I feel as though if I did not mention it, you would miss a big part of the whole of Saturday morning routine.

This Saturday the post market putting away turned from taking pictures of beautiful produce into a dialogue about how this time of the year is amazing, and slowly things we love and appreciate made their way onto the table and an hour later what you see above came together. Late spring and early summer bring the most beautiful colors, in flowers and food… The colors of the food and the greenery is still new after the stark rainy (or snowy) winter, and is almost intoxicating. We’ve recently changed over to drinking a good deal of iced tea and coffee (which are on there somewhere), we love wine all the time, but winter heavy reds are retreating- making room for light whites. You can see the pre-dinner chicken and our very first sad crop of radishes in there. It was delightful.

Back to meals. Also included in the pictures above are a few other meals I made recently- left over grilled chicken fajitas with braised green with broccoli raab, so I lied earlier, the broccoli was the first produce out of the garden…my apologies. As well as lemon pepper papadelle pasta mixed with greens, roasted red pepper, spring onions, green garlic and onions in a white wine and butter sauce. With fresh ground pecorino romano for me (thanks Mom and Dad!) While we had a lot of leftovers from this meal, we left the house without putting the pan in the fridge or stove and Lucy had a great big feast.

We should know better by now.

We worked in the garden a lot these past two weeks, sometimes by flashlight at night- but I will save garden details for another week.

So don’t worry. We eat well.
(and so does the damn dog)