CSA 2016 | Week 3

Recap of last week:
what's left: some radishes, green onions, garlic scapes, and LOTS of lettuce...
good things: I ate so much fried rice it was wonderful. I should eat rice more often
lessons learned: sometimes the best laid plans are derailed by being too lazy to go to the grocery store.

Here's what came in my box this week.

Broccoli - slaw all the way, because it didn't happen last week. (unless one of the other tasty smitten kitchen recipes tempts me instead)

Cilantro - this shrimp with chimichuri looks amazing for the long weekend. I want it now.

Napa cabbage - this is going in to a small batch of kimchi. I'll probably stick the kohlrabi in there, too.

Turnips - I remember these turnip burgers being good. I think it's time to try them again

Swiss chard - I'm craving vegetables, and these springs rolls look great, with some lettuce, sugar snap peas, and garlic scapes instead of ramps.

Zucchini - I only got a couple this week, so I'll leave the pickles and anything that calls for a couple pounds for later. Instead, I'm thinking these zucchini fritters (waffled!), or else these zucchini quinoa burgers if I'm feeling more ambitious.

I'm super excited about these plans, especially since I'm hoping they'll help use up some of the leftover veggies from last week. But then again, I'm super hungry right now and we all know hungry brains make crazy decisions.

CSA 2016 | Week 2

Recap of last week:
what's left: some lettuce and beet greens. also a couple roasted beets and radish top pesto.
good things: those strawberry rhubarb crisp bars made a wonderful breakfast with some yogurt.
lessons learned: if I want to bring lunch to work, I need to pack it the night before.

Here's what came in my box this week.

Strawberries - this streusel cake looks lovely and easy. these shortcakes look even easier.

Bok choy - one head is going in to fried rice, and the other is going in to these veggie dumplings, but with the green onions instead of ramps.

Lettuce, red romaine - more salads, of course, like this one with avocado and chickpeas. I'll shove some more in spring rolls (I made a quick batch last week with some roasted beets and sauteed beet greens, and it was surprisingly good).

Broccoli - this pesto is an oldie but goodie. Maybe I'll try this slaw this week instead.

Radishes, English breakfast - my mom does this thing where she salts sliced radishes for ten minutes, rinses them, and tosses them some soy sauce dressing thing. I'm sure I'll also finish off the rest of my fancy butter with some of these as well.

Cilantro - it's a small bunch, so I'll be eating it all chopped and lightly dressed with some soy sauce and sesame oil. I used to eat this on weekends with porridge; my mom usually made a bowl for herself and my brother and I would end up stealing it from her and eating it all.

Garlic scapes - I'm hearing that they're great grilled. Would a grill pan suffice? I guess we'll try it out.

Pea shoots - this one's easy - all pea shoots need are a quick sauté with garlic and salt, and white rice to eat it with.

It's looking like a week of my parents' recipes, and things I ate while growing up. It'll be a nice throwback.
I'm off to the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago tomorrow, and hoping to come home with some wooden bowls. Wish me (and my wallet) luck.

CSA 2016 | Week 1

I decided to invest in a CSA once again this year, even though I ended up wasting a good amount of veggies last year (trying to get through pounds and pounds of carrots in the fall was painful). This year, I chose a smaller, more regular share, so hopefully that'll help. I'm also trying harder to plan out meals, so I figured I'd document that here.

Ridgeland Harvest delivers to my work on Thursday afternoons, and I imagine I'll use Saturday's farmers market to supplement the rest of what I need.

Here's what came in my box this week.

Lettuce - no specific plans; this'll just go in various salads. If I ever do get sick of salads, I want to try this recipe for shalotta.

Radishes - a couple will definitely be eaten plain with a slathering of fancy salted butter. The rest will end up in salads and wherever else I can shove them. Maybe I'll make the salad part of this recipe.

Beets - the greens will get wilted down and eaten with eggs, in stir frys, etc. Not sure about the beets, other than salads - maybe I'll quick-pickle them.

Strawberries - a good number are already in my belly. Another cup or so made it in to these strawberry rhubarb crisp bars (the rest of the rhubarb is going in this lemonade). The rest is going in to this genius sorbet (with a whole lemon, pith and all!).

Fennel - the fronds are going in to these double fennel dumplings, although I'm going to need to find a different meat (beef? turkey?) since I'm trying to stop eating pork. No idea about the fennel bulb.

Shallots - I'm thinking this lemon-caper dressing, for all of those salads I've got in my future.

Until I put this list together, I wasn't aware of how much salad I was planning on eating. Definitely not a bad thing, though - the weather is hot enough that I don't want to turn on the oven or stove too often. Happy eating!

so, it's been a while

It's been 1001 days (plus, like, two weeks) since I wrote up my list of 101 things to do. Turns out, I did kinda okay (although not so much in the Learn category). In 1001 days, I completed 32 things. Give me three more months and I'll cross off a couple more (#11, #92, #101). Here are some notes:

#10. Yellowstone and Grant Teton National Parks!
#20. This first gif was of a sandwich. Pretty sure it was this sandwich in particular. No idea where the gif is saved.
#24. I've been to 3 NHL hockey games now! One preseason game in Chicago vs the Stars, one game over winter break in Anaheim vs the Flyers, and one game in Dallas(!!) vs the Blues. Plus a bajillion more Madison Capitols games.
#43. Along with a Blackhawks jersey, I now own a Stars jersey, because I've moved on from that trainwreck of a bandwagon.
#47. My newest kitty is named Scarlet! Adopted the day before Valentine's Day, 2016. She's super shy, so no photos yet. (How many more cats do I need to count as a crazy cat lady?)
#58. Totally worth it. And miles better than the other holiday swap I joined (Target dollar bin stationary? uh, not when I sent you handcrafted goods.)
#59. The starter is now dead. May or may not pick it back up again, although probably not until the weather is cooler.
#60. Didn't make a wedding cake, but I did cut and serve a homemade cake at a friend's wedding.
#72. I had a very loose definition of "run" when I crossed this off...
#92. I'll be done with these loans by September.
#101. $25 x 32 = $800

link love + happy valentine's day

how to draw hearts with circles-a geometric "love" story - fiber lab

Happy Valentine's Day! This video by Justina Yang from Fiber Lab is definitely a must-watch, since it's so awesome. The three-part video shows different ways to create a heart from a simple circle - the first two that incorporate math are my favorite, and made me smile. She also created this impressive video story of a paper croissant, which completely blew my mind. Like, kaboom.  I don't know if I actually want her job (ew paper cuts and sore fingers), but maybe it'd be cool for a week.
Anyways, hope you have an especially lovely time this weekend with your loved ones, or just taking some time to pamper yourself. As for me, it'll be me and my cat having our own little party (read: having tuna and going to bed early).

articles:
- "lung in a box" keeps organs breathing before transplants

food:
- cheeto-crusted jalapeno poppers
- vegetarian banh mi

fun finds:
- this victorian home
- this soho loft
- this dinner party set-up
- the adorable swiffer ad couple
- jauntful: shareable, printable city guides that you create
- nine true facts that sound completely fake

link love + happy friday

via tumblr

Happy February! I've been away for a little (long?) while, and so much has happened. I'm now in Madison, freezing my butt off, but enjoying cuddling with my cat in my new digs and working at my new job. (Seriously, this company is the absolute coolest.) I'm also doing my best to send some of this cold and snow towards California to help with the drought situation, so we'll see. In the meantime, enjoy these links, and have a lovely weekend as the Olympics start! GO USA!

(olympic) articles:
- putin's olympic fever dream
- just how bad is the scene in sochi?
- even more bad: anonymous in sochi: being gay at the olympics parts one & two
- and a quick primer on US and Canada's women's hockey

diy:
- mandarin votives
- these paper lovebirds

food:
- balsamic vegetable noodle soup
- sweet tea-brined hot chicken wings (what??!)
- how to make a healthy portable breakfast

fun finds:
- this gorgeous israeli hotel
- also this hotel in greece
- "cut food"
- building new york's bridges
- how to google more efficiently
- cats taking selfies

i got a job! and i'm moving!

dream loft?

During the job hunt, it felt like this day would never, ever come, but thankfully, it finally has. I got a job! So I'm moving! At the end of the month! To Madison, Wisconsin! Too many exclamation points?

This whole polar vortex thing has me a little worried about moving to the midwest, because even without this abnormal weather, it's ridiculously cold in Madison. But now I'll be within driving distance of Chicago and the Blackhawks, even if I won't have a car. And I'm definitely looking forward to setting up a new life for me and Ruby. Maybe even work on this "date a hockey player" goal of mine. I'll settle for finding a hockey-watching buddy, though.

Now I'm trying to find an apartment in two-ish weeks, which is a little difficult when I'm currently 2,000 miles away. But to help keep things organized, I typed up this Apartment-Hunting Checklist, using info from this really helpful post (their link no longer works, so I made my own version), and adding a couple items of my own.

My top 3 priorities (not including a cat-friendly space, because that's obvious) are kitchen, laundry, and access to a bus route. Pretty normal stuff, I think. Fingers crossed that I'll fall in love with an apartment.

Let me know if you've got your own tips and tricks for finding an apartment, or if you've got more things to add to the checklist!