10 day recap

19 May - Birthday for Dave! Himalayan lunch to celebrate.

20 May - Birthday for Tim! And congrats on the new Belmont house and soul connection.

21 May - Skipping Supper Club. But, Susan uncovers history and the group celebrates it's 8th year next month, and we are all so thankful.

22 May - Birthday for Keith! Vote for Keith!

23 May - Garrett's lab results come back all normal. Maya with the gang - talk of sea turtles and other shit.

24 May - Ragged Mtn hike and Bodos with Dave. Paul jumps off stage at Satellite.

25 May - No memory of Day Two of much needed long weekend.

26 May - Perfect weather. Perfect pool side reading: Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl.

27 May - The Local and Chandler's with Christie. Midnight wake up in the hot, humid spring air.

28 May - RC and I decide we need to help Herb. Mom stays another night in the hospital.

Other notables from this week:
3rd Anniversary for Paul and Devon.
1st Anniversary for Amanda and Joe - and congrats on 1st house!
New Belmont home for Maria!

Bottle cap quote:
Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist, but the ability to start over.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mushroom & Pea Risotto

Only a few months ago, I was a complete risotto virgin. Now, I've made it about a half dozen times, and I'm starting to notice a little pattern. Start with finely chopped onions or shallots, saute in butter and oil until very soft. Add short grained rice making sure to get the rice nice and hot and fully coated with the oil. Then, add flavor with dry white wine, letting it simmer until it evaporates. Next, add warmed broth a cup and a half at a time, letting the broth be fully absorbed before you add the next cup, until all of the broth is gone. Turn off the heat, stir in Parmesan cheese. That's the backbone of risotto as far as I can tell.

Today, mid-grocery shopping, I decided that I'd try a mushroom and pea risotto, so I brought home three portobello mushroom caps and a bag of frozen peas. I googled a recipe and found this, which led me to this, both of which gave me the clues I needed to make a risotto with ingredients I'd never used before. First, add the mushrooms early on - after heating up the rice, and before adding the first cup of broth. Second clue: cook the peas separately using part of the heated broth, and add at the very end, just a few minutes before turning off the heat.

Now, apparently, there is a lot more to risotto than I ever imagined, but for now, my inexperienced efforts have always resulted in the rice being perfectly cooked and the overall flavor being nicely balanced. I've found that adding something green (like parsley or peas) adds a nice visual freshness. And, while I've tried several different store-bought broths, I think my favorite so far is Swanson's Organic Vegetable. Overall, I'm finding that risotto is the perfect comfort food for me: creamy, warm, and I can eat it with a spoon from a bowl. Yum.

French Toast

Hm, an old favorite, but this time even better. I used a recipe from my favorite tv chef, Alton Brown. The ingredients are simple, but there are two tricks that make this a step up from your Mom's basic French toast (or at least these were two things that I needed to have Alton explain to me before I understood the subtle art of french toast). First, you should use slightly stale bread, and give the bread plenty of time to soak up the custard mixture. The second trick is putting the toast in the oven for about 5 minutes after browning it in the pan. It solves the problem of having uncooked egg on the insides and the bread puffs up quite nicely while in the oven.

But the best part of this breakfast is that it had a significant amount of local ingredients. The bread, eggs, strawberries and maple syrup all came from my Horse & Buggy shares. And, it was very tasty.

Down by the river to pray

This is Helen Horal, Mariana Bell, Robin Wynn and Joia Wood at their performance at Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville on April 26, 2008, which I attended and described in this post.

Horse & Buggy Pick Up

Today's pickup included:

2/3 pound spinach or collards (I took a little of each)
2/3 pound kale
1 head bibb lettuce
1 head field lettuce
1 bag sprouts
1 pint strawberries
1 loaf Seven Grain bread
6 eggs

Any one have any ideas for sprouts?

Garrett loves the new fridge too!

 

Inspired to be Green-er

So, after hanging with Betty herself (well, sort of - really I hung with Teri Kent, the brains behind this cool idea) on Saturday night, I have scoured the Better World Betty blog and am finding it totally inspiring. (Susan - you must check it out!) It's all about going "green" - and it has given me lots of ideas, and reminded me that I need to carry through with some the ideas I've been mulling over for weeks.

My favorite part of the blog is that it simply encourages you to do what you can. Small steps count, and if we all just do a little it can add up to alot. She also encourages you to not compare yourself to others - to take your own path, so to speak, which is a philosophy I really like. Having said that, I spent some time today assessing where I am in terms of thinking in "green" ways and have put together a little list of actions I already take, and actions I plan to move towards in the near future. Betty inspired me, I hope I can inspire you!

Action in progress:
Pledging to stop accepting plastic bags at grocery stores. Opt out of bags when unnecessary. Bring reusable bags to the grocery and more retail stores.

Rarely using ziplock bags, and instead reusing storage containers.

Walking to work at least 1 day a week. (Since pledging to do this about a month ago, I've been averaging more like 3 days per week.) And, choosing a lifestyle where I only drive about 12,000 miles per year.

Starting up recycling at my office.

Recycling and reusing at home.

Pledging to never buy wrapping paper again, as of Christmas 2007.

Learning to re-gift, and to buy used whenever possible.

Turning my thermostat up/down by 2+ degrees. Adding/removing layers of clothes instead up turning up the heat or a/c.

Buying an EnergyStar refrigerator.

Using Compact Florescent Lights in about 50%+ of my light fixtures at home.

Buying locally from Horse & Buggy Produce.

Eating meat-less about 80% of the time.

Unplugging appliances when not in use, especially the coffee maker, toaster, and tv/dvd.

Hanging some clothes on the line to dry, and using the automatic setting on the dryer.

Installing a water saving shower head.

Cutting old sheets into reusable rags.

Action in the works:
Begin composting again (I'm about 20% of the way there, as of last week).

Use more environmentally friendly cat litter.

Use my gas lawnmower less frequently (say every 10 days, instead of every 7, maybe?).

Limiting my trips to Whole Foods.

Sealing up windows/doors in my home.

Close storm windows in Winter.

Please share your ideas, I'd love to be inspired again.

Sunday - paper purging

Working with words of late: Scrabulous with Jen, and Freerice.com - donate grains of rice for every correct answer!

Trees on Fire groove at the Treehuggers Ball.

Sleeping waaaaaaay in this morning.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my life, especially Momma, Beth, Cindi and Susan. (This is the first mother's day in my life where it actually occurred to me that I'm not a mother. Hm.)

Better World Betty and the Home Energy Yardsick says that my home scores 0 out of 10 and that 0% of houses in my area use more energy than mine. Gosh - I had a feeling it was bad, but I didn't think it would be that bad. As a renter, how much do I do to improve that?

Need to work on solving my composting conundrum.

House work

New refrigerator is purchased. It's bad enough that it's a big chunk of change, what's worse is that you are given color options. Delivery scheduled for tomorrow.

Dinner with Jen and the Viceroy of Vicodin (correction: make that "The Sultan of Cymbalta"), always a pleasure. And, the best cornbread ever, they say!

Screen on front storm door is replaced! I'm a handy-woman. And, the boys are confused about why they can no longer escape.

Iris are blooming.

The wine is warm, but the air is cool and I'm still happy.

First Season

Congratulations to Christie on her acceptance to Cambridge School of Culinary Arts!

Work life update: Christie tells me that I don't complain about my job anymore; Herb tells me that yesterday's class in Lynchburg was the thirty-first I've taught; course participants tell me that I'm accomplishing the only goal I'd set for myself, which is making people feel comfortable in my classroom.

I do believe in synchronicity. Several months ago, Lara brings a mini-fridge to store in my basement. Last week, the Federal Government deposits a windfall into my savings account. Today, my refrigerator dies. Food temporarily goes into Lara's mini-fridge; windfall buys new fridge tomorrow. Net result: break even. ::Sigh:: I had been planning to resist the temptation to spend that windfall, though, just to spite the Feds.

I've enjoyed the first season. Yes, yes.