Slow Times on the Blog

As you've probably noticed, we've been a little slow around here on the blog. There are a number of reasons for that.

First off, Peef has had his head buried in accounting homework for the past 6 weeks. After spending hours and hours buried in homework, he FINALLY finished the course off yesterday! So, give him a big round of applause for that one. I, for one, am not really sure how he made it through. I would have been toast after the first week.

We've also been trying to keep up with tasks around the house (like scraping & painting the garage, and getting someone over here to give us an estimate on the garage roofing job). I'm not sure if we'll be able to paint the garage this weekend or not, since there seems to be a threat of rain showers. But, we're hoping to at least get some of the yard chores finished -- like mowing and weeding. Our vegetable gardens are doing great, but they've gotten completely overrun with weeds with all the rain we've been having!

And, of course, we've been cooking.
This week, our CSA brought us a great deal of bounty, including:

• broccoli
• golden beets
• broccoli greens (these are new to us, so we're excited to try them)
• eight ball zucchini squash
• lettuce
• spinach
• asparagus

We're particularly excited about the greens, since we eat so many of them around our house. But, I'm also looking forward to the first zucchini of the season. We haven't had zucchini since last summer (we try not to buy it out of season), so it's going to be a real treat.

CSA Season Has Arrived!

We are exceedingly pleased to announce that we did decide on a CSA to join for 2008. And today was our second pick-up. Yes, our second... since Paul stole the camera and escaped to Los Angeles, we couldn't get pictures of our first "harvest". Plus, the excitement was diminished a bit since he was out of town. So, today was the first pick-up that we could enjoy together.

And what a feast! This week's share includes:

Lettuce (Flashy Trout's Back and Italienischer)

Asparagus

Rhubarb

Spinach

Arugula

Garlic Chives

Sorrel

Small red radishes

Red Kale

The farm we chose this year is called LotFotL (an acronym for: Living off the Fat of the Land). And you can read more about them online.

It must be spring!

Spring has got to be close at hand, cuz we're getting antsy.

I've got my seed catalogs in hand. And, although I haven't committed to exactly what's going to take up space in our two little raised beds, I'm eager to begin getting my hands dirty. Paul is also dusting off his "honorary farmer" clothes in preparation for the work that lies ahead. He pointed out to me that we can "almost see dirt" underneath all that snow. So, summer is due anytime now.

Secondly, we've started to think about a CSA membership. We belonged to TIPI last year (we split a share with our friends Steph & Nate). This year, we're not only contemplating switching farms, but we're also thinking about whether or not we can tackle a share on our own.

It's always a tough decision. After all, we LOVE spending time at the farmer's markets in town. And we love having our own (albeit small) urban vegetable garden. And a full share (meant to feed two voracious veg-heads, or an average family of 4) might just give us enough food so that we wouldn't have much need for those backyard tomatoes or an extra trip to the market. THEN AGAIN, we also love the idea of storing up extra veggies for the long Wisconsin winter. And a full share would give us a chance to do a bit more of that. So, we're going to give the idea a fair shot.
Right now, here's a sampling of the farms in the running:

• Jen Ehr Farm (Sun Prairie, WI) http://www.wisconsingrown.com/
• Pinehold Gardens (Oak Creek, WI) -- OK, I just found out this morning that they're "full up" for 2008... guess that's one less we have to consider.
• Rare Earth Farm http://www.rareearthfarm.com/
• Springdale Farm (Plymouth, WI) http://userfs.cec.wustl.edu/~sb2/SpringdaleFarm
• Afterglow Farm (Port Washington, WI) -- we're in love with the owners of this farm, and wish that their drop off sites were just a WEE bit closer! We may bite anyhow.
• LotFotL Community Farm (East Troy, WI) www.myspace.com/lotfotl-- These guys would be an interesting bet, as they're really new to the CSA game.

Creative Ways with Bok Choy...

So, it's nearing the end of the work day for me. (Well, actually, my work day has ALREADY officially ended, but I am biding time before I leave work to go and pick up Peef --yes, we are still getting by with one car.) And so, I have begun to contemplate dinner.

The PLAN for dinner was to make stir-fry with the lovely bok choy we received from our CSA this week. As well as a lovely eggplant we harvested on Tuesday from our garden.

But, alas.
Stir-fry does NOT tantalize my intellectual taste-buds. Bok choy doesn't sound remotely appealing. Neither does eggplant.

So, I've consulted with Peef over email. He agrees. Stir-fry is a completely inappropriate dinner for this lovely evening. So, we discussed matters and have decided to make our famous fish tacos instead.

But, what of the lovely fresh-and-local bok choy? you might ask.
Well, we are going to make "bok-slaw" with it for the tacos (the equally fresh and delicious eggplant will have to keep and be used elsewise).

I'll report back to let you know if that turns out to be a GOOD thing.

Sustainable Thinking

As most of you know, Peef and I are pretty devoted to the idea of eating locally and supporting the philosophies of slow food. We haven't gotten to the point where I feel that we really do enough; but, we've made progress. We belong to a CSA, we make weekly trips to the farmer's market, we belong to a local co-op. Despite our lack of acreage, we even cultivate a small yard of vegetables and herbs during Wisconsin's short summers. Sometimes we pay just a little bit more for food that we know is ultra-fresh and flavorful. We also spend time nurturing our families and friends with food that we prepared with them in mind.

But, despite those things, it occurred to me that we probably haven't taken the time to really lay out the details of why we do what we do. So, I took the time this week to get down to business. And here are some of the reasons why we've chosen to support local agriculture. Some of the answers are familiar (trite, even). Others maybe not quite so much. You can decide for yourself.

1. Local food just tastes better. No lies... that warm sun-kissed tomato I just picked from the backyard will ALWAYS win when compared to the pale, under-ripe variety I can find at the grocery store.
   
2. Nutrition. Pure and simple. Some would argue that the jury is still out on whether organic is more nutritious than conventional produce. But, I have a hard time believing that food produced on factory farms and transported sometimes thousands of miles before it gets to market can beat out locally-grown produce. Well-balanced soils produce strong, healthy plants that become truly nourishing food. So, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is.


3. Doing what feels right keeps us healthier. Totally getting a kick out of eating luscious, local strawberries (or apples, or soybeans, or chard) means that, in the end, we eat more fruits and vegetables. How can that be a bad thing?


4. Buying local supports the local economy. I mean -- why not? We live here.


5. Buying local conserves fuel. Australian apples? I don't care HOW organic they are! Give me freshness from my own backyard as often as possible.


6. It's fun to buy from someone you know. Don't you have more fun when you buy your veggies at the farmer's market? For me, nothing beats meeting the farmer that grew my veg. And talking with him about how much he enjoys his work.


7. So really -- the final reason really is that buying local FEELS good. And right.

Back in Business!

We are the proud owners of a newly INSTALLED (this is an important detail) Wishwasher! I am SO excited to wash my first load of wishes, I can hardly stand it.

To be fair, it's not that I didn't enjoy a bit of dishwashing over the past week. I've always found the process of washing dishes to be somewhat meditative. Warm/hot water is involved. It requires repetitive activity. And it can be done while having a nice conversation or listening to music (two things that make just about any activity better).

No, it's not that I can't appreciate the manual labor aspect. But I can appreciate a number of things about having a dishwasher.

1. One big perk about a dishwasher is that, when used correctly, it can actually save on water usage. Our new dishwasher has a lovely food grinder, so we'll save time and water by NOT rinsing our dishes too!
2. I can genuinely appreciate being able to "put away" my dirty dishes in a place where people don't have to look at them.
3. Being a gal with fairly scant counterspace, I value being able to use the space that was previously inhabited by dirty dishes.
4. I can use all that time that I would normally spend washing dishes doing other activities.

So -- that's the big news for today. Now that the dishwasher business is out of the way -- what is on tap for Peef and Lo this weekend?

Well, tonight our friends Rebeccca & Michelle are coming over to our house for dinner. We'll be enjoying some of the fabulous Copper River King Salmon that Paul brought back from his trip to Seattle earlier this summer. I'll probably make mashed potatoes and creamed spinach to go alongside (hey, it's Friday!). R&M are bringing beer and vanilla icecream, as we're planning to try out some beer floats for dessert. Sound gross? Don't be too quick to judge!! I'll plan on posting a review over on the BURP! side of things after we've tested them.

I'm not sure what's on the docket for Saturday, although we'll most certainly be visiting a local farmer's market or two to see what's looking particularly delectable in the veggie department. Our CSA box this week contains some pretty interesting items -- about four ears sweet corn, 3 lb new potatoes, Swiss chard, broccoli, green leaf lettuce, kohlrabi, celery, Walla Walla onion, green bell pepper, cucumber. But we always like to supplement with whatever is new and fresh. I must admit, I'm very excited that corn is back in season. It's one of my favorite things about summer!

Mmm. The thought of all that farm fresh goodness is making me drool. Must be time for lunch!

Better Late Than...

OK. So, we haven't started off being terribly good bloggers.
After all, we let a major holiday fly right past without even passing comment (happy very late 4th of July, everyone!).

Rest assured, we're working on getting better. Eventually, we'll be posting like crazy. And hopefully, someday, we'll even start getting people to COMMENT on what we write (hint, hint).

We hope you'll be content to know that we had a very nice holiday. We celebrated with the prerequisite grilled foods, and even set off a few (legal) fireworks to mark the day. Our meager time off of work was not nearly enough... and, even after the weekend, we were left with a sort of disappointed feeling in the backs of our throats.

HOWEVER, all of that aside, a few notable things have occurred in the past few days that I feel we should share.

1. We purchased a new dishwasher. Some of you might know that our old "wishwasher" has been on the fritz. And so, after long last, we put our pennies together and bought a brand new one. Which was supposed to be installed today.
2. We went to an art fair where I was able to indulge my addiction to ceramic bowls... yes, I have a problem. But, I only spent $26. On THREE bowls. And they're positively fantastic.
3. We had a phenomenal "CSA dinner" with our friends Steph and Nate on Saturday evening. Yes, it's true. Read about that on our BURP! blog.

Now -- back to the topic of the dishwasher, which I think warrants more space. You know how you work yourself UP TO something? And then, when it happens, it never quite lives up to all the hype?

Yeah, that's kind of how it happened with the dishwasher. We were SO excited to find a pretty great dishwasher. ON SALE. And we got even more excited when we found out that they could schedule us for a delivery and installation right away on Monday (yes, that is today). We could hardly contain ourselves. And so we didn't. We did a happy dance, right there in the department store parking lot. We even went home and cooked up a lovely celebration dinner of grilled pizza (fresh mozzarella, homemade pesto, and tomatoes... YUM!).

So, you can imagine what a state we were in by the time Monday arrived. We were excited. We could hardly sleep. We practically LEAPT out of bed at 5am to work out (OK -- so maybe that's a stretch; but you see what we mean).

I spent my entire morning at work dreaming about the loads of filthy dishes I could clean with that NEW, quiet machine (can you imagine? sheer bliss.). Peef went home on his lunch break to facilitate the delivery and installation process. The worker bees arrived (on schedule) with our dishwasher. They removed our old dishwasher. They surveyed our work on the pipes and water supply lines under the kitchen sink and complimented us our extraordinary plumbing skills (yes, they really did). They prepped everything to move the new dishwasher into place! And. And. And we should have known that everything was going too well.

Thanks to our lovely (new-ish) Durastone flooring, the darned tall-tub wouldn't fit under the sink. We will have to cut away about 2 inches of the new flooring in order to finagle the new wishwasher underneath. Big deal? Nah. We can handle that. However, the installation could not happen today.

We're now the proud new owners of a big cavern in the kitchen. And our pretty, shiny wishwasher is sitting out in the dirty, old garage... where it cannot possibly wash our very dirty dishes.

The UP side (and there always IS an up side) of all of this is that we are THIS close to a new dishwasher. And our time WILL come. We just have to exercise a bit of patience.

Bathroom Remodel: Take One

For those of you interested in our progress in fixing up the nasty bathroom (see entry from June 22), I'm pleased to say that we finally met with our mortgage company. The great news is that we have a bit of equity, despite having lived in our home for only a few years. The even better news is that now we can actually move forward with our plans for a bathroom rennovation.

SO, we met with a prospective contractor last night to discuss some of our options. Overall, it looks like we'll be able to do quite a bit with the money we have at our disposal. Beyond the obvious cosmetic changes, we'll definitely be ditching the cheap, leaky, plastic "neo-angle" shower we have going on (and likely replacing it with a custom tiled shower). And we'll probably be adding a bit more storage space. It's actually quite exciting to think that we'll be able to transform the room that's been haunting Lo's dreams for a long time now into something with which we'll both be really happy. I have a feeling it will transform our entire attitude toward the house in general. Not to mention the fact that it will add quite a bit of value.

In other news, we're officially closing in on our plans for the 4th of July and subsequent weekend. Despite our initial plans to hang out and take it easy for a number of days, it looks like we're going to be busy little bees. It's getting to the point where we've actually turned DOWN our third offer for a get-together (which makes us very sad!). Amid the many activities on the roster, we'll be replacing the shocks on our car (whee!) and shopping for a new dishwasher to replace our old, leaky one. Not all that mentionable.

That said, not all of our plans are humdrum. For instance, we have a variety of plans with friends and family. For instance, on Saturday, we actually have a "CSA dinner" planned with our friends Steph & Nate (during which we cook with foods we got in our Community Supported Agriculture box). The joy of such a dinner is that it invokes our spontaneous planning abilities, as we often don't know what will be in our CSA box until the day before it arrives. Such a dinner requires quick wit, collaboration, and a keen sense of adventure. This week, we could see vegetables as exciting as broccoli, kohlrabi, and lettuce... I wonder if anything will make the menu over at BURP! ?