summer to-do

I stumbled across this brilliant list of "100 Things To Do With Your Summer Vacation" at Foodie Underground. It is so spot-on. I'm stealing my favorites from them and making it into my late summer resolution list.

#1. Make your own potato chips. 

I plan on using Alana Chernila's recipe from her book The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making. I tried making beet chips last night, but they turned out more like soggy beet discs. Not great.

#3-6. Pick your own berries. Overdose on berries while out picking them. Come home and realize you actually didn’t have room for 20 pounds of berries in a freezer. Make up three new recipes for said berry and then go out and buy a chest freezer to house the rest. 

Well, pretty much covered this one during strawberry season, but I intend to repeat it throughout the summer. Need to get to a blueberry patch, stat.

#7. Learn to sing a drinking song in a another language. Host a party and require all guests to learn it. 

Obviously. We sometimes make up the words to a German song that the old fellas in liederhosen sing at the Biergarten, but it would be nice to actually learn it. 

#11. Pair a dinner menu with a playlist.

Yes, of course.

#12. Go vegan for a week.
Wouldn't actually be that hard at all. I sometimes unwittingly go vegan for entire days which, when I realize it, I usually remedy with a quesadilla. 

#13. Take your lunch to work in a mason jar.
I already take my smoothies, juices and soups in a mason jar, but I've been meaning to try these salads-in-a-jar too.

#17. Go a week without taking a photo of a single meal.
Not possible. (Great article in that link, though.)

#21. Infuse. Anything.
Beyond the obvious and delicious booze, I'm planning infused vinegars and other such delicacies for the season.

#24. Bake something and send it to a far away friend. Priority Mail of course, you don’t want things to go stale.
I used to do this more and then we both worried that all of the baking was making us chubby, but really... who cares? It's nice to get cookies in the mail.

#25. Master a summer cocktail and bring it to every dinner party you go to.
We are working on this currently. It will involve fresh herbs. And probably gin. Chris surprised me with an anniversary drink that involved muddled thyme, blueberries and lemon with a splash of vodka and tonic. It was good. Really good.

#29. Follow up every food remark you make with, “trust me, I’m a food blogger” just to see what happens.
This slays me.

#31. Beer margarita? Yes, please.
Yup, in the Vitamix.

#34. Join a co-op.
About freaking time, right?

#36 & #37. Start your own kombucha. Invite your friends over and gross them out with said kombucha.
Already in progress, but I need to find a new SCOBY and get brewing again. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my old SCOBY a few months ago... it got... funky looking. More funky than usual.

#38. Attend an underground supper club.
Host an underground supper club? Re-read The Art of Eating In again and get inspired.

#39. See how many different liquids you can make ice cubes out of.
Game on.

#40. Learn how to can.
Or, just do it more.

#41. Learn how to pickle.
Or, learn how to like pickles more. I just made a few jars of garlicky dill pickles and a jar of bread and butter pickles, so we shall see.

#43. Keep a food journal, and instead of taking pictures of your food, write about it.
Good practice.

#45. Find something to muddle other than mint.
See #25 above; there will be so many muddled herbs in our summer cocktails.

#50. Make your own yogurt.
Fortunately for me, I just scored a $3 old-school yogurt maker from the Habitat ReStore. I gave it a try last week and it works like a charm. More on this later.

#52. Find a Le Creuset at an estate sale.
Pretty pretty please.

#53. Keep simple syrup on hand in your kitchen at all times.
Necessary. All sorts of syrups. Possibly for our summer cocktail.

#62. Plan a road trip based around regional specialties.
Upon reflection, I believe most of our road trips and vacations in general are planned around food and regional specialties.

#63. Make your own ice cream.
Yes. Sister, I will be borrowing your ice cream maker.

#66. Learn some key food phrases in French.
I'm not so good with French, but I'm great at speaking nonsense in a Pepe Le Pew accent.

#68. Brew your own cold brew coffee.
Just brewed my first batch a few weekends ago and I'm hooked. It's so smooth & delicious!

#69. Go foraging.
Can someone guide me on a foraging tour so I don't accidentally poison myself like poor Christopher McCandless.

#75. Learn how to make fresh cheese.
I've made ricotta and mozzarella; now onto the hard cheeses? Maybe?

#76. Film the intro to your new food television series.
I could be a YouTube sensation.

#79. Read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and if you’ve already done that, read Food Politics.
Better yet, let's keep on rocking the From Scratch Club book club. Our next book will be announced shortly!

#81. Mix up a few jam drinks.
This could be significant for #25. I'm getting out the gin and strawberry jam now...

#82. Draw your most recent meal.
I will make Chris do this for me.

#84. Paint one of your kitchen walls with chalkboard paint so you can write on it and feel like you’re in a restaurant.
Maybe not an entire wall, but I'd love to get some chalkboard paint up in here.

#85. Buy cheap wine and make your own labels for it. Your friends will never know the difference.
Hilarious. I am doing this all the time.

#86. Perfect your own sangria recipe.
Done. I'm changing this goal to: Drink sangria often.

#90. Stop buying Nutella and make it yourself.
This is long overdue.


#91. Host a party where all ingredients come from within a 100 miles radius.
Been meaning to do this for ages. 

#92. Plant an edible flower garden.
Intrigued.


What do you have left on your summer to-do list? Any good ones I should add to mine? Let me know!

fresh from the farm, weeks v, vi & vii

Catching up on our CSA bounty!

Week V (6/27) was overwhelming. Look at those leafy greens! Look at all of those godforsaken leafy greens! It was a nonstop salad party over here, with several mornings of fresh green juice each week and we still barely got through them. Oh, the troubled life we lead. The pickling cucumbers got pickled into three garlicky dill jars full. Which I'm hoping I will like, because I'm still working on the pickle thing.

Week VI (7/4). No produce box to show you because we rode our bikes to the CSA pickup and loaded our backpacks full of fresh veggies. When I saw another head of arrowhead cabbage staring up at me, plus a head of Chinese cabbage, I knew it was time to give some away. So I gave one away to a co-worker and set about the cabbage wrangling. We made a really nice slaw with it. (Doesn't that sentence sound sad?) But really, it was a nice slaw. Shredded cabbage, diced mango, diced serrano pepper dressed with Vegenaise and a few shakes of red wine vinegar. The beets? Why we made beet & brown rice burgers! They are really so delicious, I hope you'll try them soon. A remaining head of cabbage was chopped up and cooked up Indian-style, with lots of curry spices and some sauteed onion and served over brown rice.

Week VII (7/11). Ah, the color returns to our produce! Tomatoes! Delicious! Of course, we ate most of these up raw but also put a few slices on sandwiches, including tempeh BLTs and pesto, mozzarella & tomato sandwiches. The swiss chard has been sauteed up with quinoa, baked into a quiche and added to pasta salad with some of the squash. The zucchini was lightly breaded and toasted in the toaster oven, as a last-ditch hope of not heating up the kitchen too much on these 90 degree days. Eating cucumbers were eaten, pickling cucumbers were made into one pint of bread and butter pickles. The beets are sliced and awaiting their final destiny as oven-baked beet chips.

And those are the vegetables of the last few months. I will try to stay a bit more timely with these posts so they actually match the harvest. If you haven't already, check out the latest From Scratch Club podcast. It's all about sustainably and ethically raising animals... for food. A mighty fine topic for someone who rarely eats any meat at all to host! But that's a testament to how important it is to explore all of the sides of the issue, whether you eat meat or not. Take a listen.

festival international de jazz de montréal

Last Friday evening we packed our bags, grabbed burritos for the road and drove up to Canada to stay with Chris' grama for the night before continuing on to Montreal for the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. Woot! It was a nice break from routine and one I likely wouldn't have taken without some nudging from Chris. Thanks, dude. It was so worth it.

We got to Montreal early and wandered around before the first few shows started. Good Lord were they good. With my SPF30 on and a few cold beers, we putzed around in the sunshine soaking up the jazz, swing and blues.

Of course, we got some poutine. I know the gravy wasn't vegetarian, but I really didn't care. I had to have those fries with the gravy and cheese curds on top.

Now I know most of you aren't going to watch these videos, but you really should. We were so impressed with the great shows that we happened to catch during our day there. The festival lasts something like two weeks, so we weren't sure what the odds were of catching lots of great shows when we were only there for 12 hours. But it was awesome. We saw great blues, swing and jazz bands all day long and into the evening. Because I love you very much, I've hunted down videos of most of the ones we saw for your viewing and listening enjoyment.

The Record Company- Los Angeles

Super cool, bluesy band that packed the house twice a day at the Heineken Lounge. That guy's voice, it's something.

Mike Essoudry's Mash Potato Mashers- Ottawa

Fun little marching jazz band that rocked it street-performance style. Check out the guy in the soccer shorts. He's got some moves, eh? I was particularly pleased not to get sunburned during this performance, as it felt like my skin was literally being baked right there in the plaza.

  Parc X Trio- Montreal

Great jazz trio. We caught them towards the end of our day there, after we had filled up on dinner and were soaking up the last few hours before heading back over the border.

  Francois Jalbert Quartet- Montreal

Who's that Bieber frontman? I kid. They guys were great too and there is nothing better than watching a group have fun performing. Makes me smile. That bassist's faces also make me smile.

We saw a great swing group- Early Jazz Band- featuring a kick-ass female trumpet player. For those of you that don't know, I use to throw around the trumpet in jazz band and wind ensemble. True story. Ask me about the awkward "Most Musical" photo from my high school yearbook. This chick  recently inspired me to play a few notes now that we have a basement and don't share our building with seven other apartments. I squeaked out a few scales last week but generally... I now suck. Anyway, they were great but I can't find any videos from the Jazz Fest.

Enjoy the music. We scrambled back to the U.S. around midnight and stayed the night with Chris' parents in Plattsburgh. Good to get away for a little bit and unwind.

the move, or "you'll get through it"

Welcome home. Taken right after we moved. Fortunately, we've cleaned up a bit since.

Good grief. As you know, we moved apartments a month ago. We are just around the corner and a few blocks away from our old place, but even so, what a pain! Our move coincided with the absolute busiest schedules for both of us. I cannot sugarcoat it. Every morning I woke up and wondered how I was going to make it through the day without losing my mind. The deadlines and the stress- it seemed like each part of my life was crashing into the others. I wouldn't recommend this sort of timing to anyone, but I'd also like to send a reminder out to the universe that You Can Get Through It. We are so very fortunate. This whole move? So trivial, in the scheme of things one could be worried about. It was a voluntary move! We weren't forced to find new shelter. We upgraded into a much bigger apartment in a neighborhood we chose and love. We have each other, our jobs, our friends and family, and of course our housing mobility and the privileges that allow us to live the way we do. Sometimes, though, when everything you own is packed into boxes and you get home late and wake up early and you don't know how you will fit it all into a day... well, sometimes it is hard to remember how good you have it. Now that we are moved, and the rest of our lives are also beginning to settle, I almost can't remember what the stress and fuss was about. We got through it, as people get through things much more stressful than this all the time.

Did I mention that I moved offices at work? On the SAME DAY as the apartment move?

The lesson in this is twofold: 1) It's ok to feel overwhelmed. It's really ok to know that things could be worse, but to still have a hard day. Don't beat yourself up and feel guilty about it. It's important to realize how good you have it and to keep your eye on the big picture but, in the end, everyone has tough days and weeks. Even good changes can be stressful. It's ok. 2) You will get through it. Whatever you are facing, be it a short move across the neighborhood or a longer one across the country-- or something much much harder, you will get through it.

Aww, look at those two. 

For me, the move and the surrounding situation was the impetus I needed to simplify my schedule. To know that I can't do it all. Our new home isn't unpacked and it certainly isn't decorated in any Pinterest-worthy ways. It will take awhile before we are really settled in. But after a solid day of work outside the home, after a dinner is made from our fresh vegetables, after books are read and hugs are given, the status of our wall hangings or feng shui doesn't concern me quite so much. We all have to take things one day at a time, biting off only as much as we can chew and whittling down our to-do lists as much as possible. Meals won't always be perfect and homes won't always be decorated or even presentable, but you can make the best of it and take time-outs when you can.

Which is why I allowed myself to be swept up across the border two weekends ago to the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal for sunshine, cold beer & great jazz...

favorite patriots

I hope you all had a lovely Independence Day. We kicked it around our apartment, finally sorting through a room full of boxes that we had been ignoring for the past month. Then we grabbed dinner at City Beer Hall and then sat on our back deck with pints of ice cream to watch the fireworks, up close and super loud.

I also had the chance to spend some time with a few of my favorite patriots, Mr. Jefferson and the Adamses.  They're the best.