Yay · Me!

Hmm, what to make this week with the CSA veggies? I'll get some combination of:
Flowers (won't be cooking those)
Okra (we'll just fry these for SAM, that's his favorite)
Mustards/Turnip Greens
Zucchini/Squash
Basil
Kale
Collards
Rosemary
Mint
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Onion
Garlic
Purslane

I have some frozen beef liver that really ought to be used... I wonder if there's something I can do with it that doesn't involve frying it - that's the usual way to cook liver, I guess, but it's kind of boring. I suppose I could fry it along with the okra though. I just like soups and casseroles better than non-mixed foods. Hmm. Guess I'll wait and see what we get, then improvise at the grocery store.

( June pictures. )

Today would have been week 20 if I were still pregnant. :( I'm doing okay. I think I'm still having some cognitive dissonance - this isn't something that fits with the life story I thought I had. I always knew it didn't make sense, but whenever I looked at my life it was quite clear how good I had things. Nothing really horrible ever happened to me or my immediate family. I wanted it to stay that way, but I was always a bit worried that I hadn't had my fair share of suffering yet. *shrug* Guess that's how it goes.

Physically I'm doing very well, except for weight. I gained 14 pounds in the 14 weeks of the pregnancy, and I managed to lose four by the middle of last week, but this week I think I've gained about 7 back. :P I thought I did better than usual at the event - most events I stuff myself nonstop. We'll see, it might be just water retention. I know it would be good anyway for me to drop all the weight at once, but it's still frustrating to see my little Wii Fit graph going up instead of down.

It's been six weeks, I can go give blood now. Maybe tomorrow, the weekend seems busy. They have been trying desperately to get people to donate, they say there's an emergency need for blood.

Got another CSA pickup this week. We got green garlic, green onions, a bigger bunch of radishes, a bunch of parsley and one of cilantro, and some broccoli rabe. We made a great big bowl of guacamole yesterday - I put too much lemon in but it was still not bad. Then for dinner we went out to our garden and picked a salad. It was a very healthy day. I'm thinking about making creamed spinach for dinner and throwing in the parsley and radish greens and maybe even the broccoli rabe, who knows. The biggest benefit from the CSA so far is getting me to cook, and to cook imaginative things. The cheese and vegetable soup from two weeks ago was excellent, even though it bore little resemblance to the recipe by the time I was done. I need to think of more stuff that's freezable, though, the fridge is full.

Hmm, by February photos it appears I meant February, March, and part of April. :) That ought to mean I'm caught up on pictures, but no. I'll get to April once I finish uploading some other stuff.

On Tuesday I had my first CSA pickup! I was very excited. They didn't think they were going to get to start until next week, but we had some very sunny days and things grew, so they went ahead and gave us a few things. We got half a pound of pea greens, a bunch of wild mint, a tiny bundle of radishes, one green garlic, and a small bunch of parsley. I'm going to make vegetable soup tonight, I have a new recipe to try.

In weight news, I hit 150! Yay! That was my secondary goal. I wasn't sure how doable it was. Now, if I could lose four more pounds, that would bring me to 30 pounds lost, which would be nice, but I think I'll be lucky if I can just hold steady with the holidays coming up. We'll see.

My ankle was a lot less stiff yesterday, so I finally got outside and finished up my gardening. I planted 10 plants - I still need to mulch a lot of stuff, but at least everything is in the ground. I also harvested all the dill that had grown up wild in the bed from the seeds of the one I planted, and dried it. I kept a little fresh in water on the windowsill for the rest of the week, but after that it will be gone. I harvested my basil too. Just in time. Everything froze last night - even some of my cold-weather greens weren't looking too happy this morning. I may need to use all the pac choi before we leave. Not sure if the broccoli rabe is going to make it either, or the lettuce. But the rest of it looked okay. I picked all the tomatoes a while back. It is sad to compare the way they taste when they ripen in a bag with the way they taste fresh off the plant. Eating non-local food, I think we forget what we're missing (if we ever had the chance to find out in the first place).

Speaking of local food, I joined a CSA, which I'm very excited about. We went on a farm tour on Saturday, and it looked really good. Everything is organically grown, and the farmer is trying to become more and more earth-friendly, learning new methods to reduce his water usage and such. SAM got to feed the chickens and throw acorns to the pigs, and he tried to feed the dill he picked to the cows, but they were a bit too skittish. The sheep also refused to make friends with him. :) But it was a fun time, there were several other kids there. I think we were the only ones who were warm, too. There was an icy wind blowing, but I'd planned ahead, borrowed hoshiadam's longjohns, and dressed SAM in his woolens. So he was quite happy. My ankle was not pleased with the uneven ground, but the rest of me was mollified by the completely delicious pumpkin bread and muffins they served us. :) Unfortunately I don't think we'll get any of that with the CSA. Now I can't wait for spring! I'll have to take a careful look at their planting schedule, and plot out my own garden so we don't overlap.

More baby bragging now! I was reading SAM his new magazine, and there was a page where he was supposed to build some ramps with blocks to see the difference between a low one or a high one. But he just looked at the picture (which didn't show the results) and said, "If you put a car down a high ramp, it goes fast. If you put it down a low ramp, it goes slow." :) I don't recall talking with him about that sort of thing before - sometimes I just have to ask him, "How did you know that?" Anyway, it was neat. :)

The last kitten is going to new home this afternoon. It's just someone off Craigslist, but he seems okay as far as I've been able to determine. Poor kitten is all snuggled up with his mama right now... :( But he should be happy, it sounds like the people have been preparing to get a cat and getting everything ready. And Mama Kitty didn't ever seemed to notice when the other two kittens left. *shrug* It may be good for him to escape, with the way his big brother is eating his head right now and making him cry...

Must start getting things together soon - we're driving to Texas for Thanksgiving.

(So, I tried to post this, and LJ was down. So this was yesterday. Shortly after writing, I was afflicted with a most horrid stomach bug and spent a less-than-pleasant afternoon. :P But I seemed to get better by suppertime. Now I'm just feeling weak and pitiful, but hopefully I'll be able to get some stuff done. I lost four pounds yesterday, which does bring me to the 30-pounds lost mark, but I don't think that counts. :) SAM seemed to have something going on with his belly too, but thank goodness, no throwing up, and he took himself to the potty each time. I don't think I could have handled accidents yesterday afternoon.)