I look for you in winter...

Autumn nearing winter... nothing has been checked off my lists, but beauty, creativity, and love are all at hand.  Good weeks.  Cool air.  Readying. 

Feist, The Moore, Seattle

Music reaches places other things can't (John Goldingay).  Some shows draw you in, intimately.  So much more than an album, or a tour and top hits.  A wholeness, an eperience pairing the heard with the seen.  Feist is good for that... embracing the artistry of the sum. 

A return to the south, family traditions, familiarites.

Hand and foot may not be all together creative (though we were all wearing cross stitched "foot" holders made by great aunts and grandmothers connecting us to our creative, sassy, card loving predecessors), but the time spent with precious people is affective... infective.  Living on the other side of the country from the people that make up so much of who I am can slowly weaken.  Even small amounts of time with them is so strengthening. 

Early, quiet mornings.

Cold mornings are preparing my heart for this darker season.  Waiting.  Preparation.  Anticipation.  Hopefulness.  Celebrating with and and sorrowing with.  However faint the whisper seems, we can await the putting right of things.  We started by getting our (little baby) tree from a local non profit that strives for compassion and community.  Grateful for the season.

It was just like Christmas.

 
Low - Just Like Christmas
Mindy Smith - I know the Reason
Sleeping at Last - What Child is This
Sufjan - Star of Wonder
Feist - Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming

all things will unwind...

Here's to restful weekends made of almond meal blueberry/banana muffins, creativity put to action, long walks and some of the best music in one of the most beautiful settings. 

I woke up Saturday morning, whipped up a variation on the recipe I posted last week, made some tea, and kicked my home-body self out of the house.  My first meeting of the Seattle Modern Quilting Guild and I am ever so thankful.  A start on a project I've been thinking about for a while and time spent with other creative women was much appreciated.

 

Starting on my list - what I had down as a cross front pillow is actually called a plus quilt.  Some day I'll talk like a real quilter.  Maybe.  Anna Maria Horner fabrics... squares laid out and ready to become more.  Stacks and squares lovely in their own right, becoming something altogether different as the whole. 

Local quilting group = score one for Seattle.

Score two comes in the form of a 3.25 mile walk from our house, to dinner, to beautiful St. Mark's cathedral for My Brightest Diamond, and home again.  I'm head over heels for the way we can walk to our dinner and walk to our shows.  Fifteen minutes to walk home gives you space and time to unwind, to digest, in a way that a 5 minute (or less) drive can't.  Time to mull over the melodies, bold composition... that voice.

Shara was delightful.  The setting, dreamy. 

 

Our leaves have turned, our valley is awash in colors we hadn't seen her wear until now.  As Shara serenaded - all things will unwind.  These trees will soon shed the leaves hanging on tightly and bare the hope of winter's rest and another spring to come.  In the mean time - creation.

Almond Meal Honey Blueberry Muffins

The ever-growing list of recipes I've marked (pinned) wasn't exactly on my list, but I can check one off and keep it in the stack of things to become regulars.  I fashioned these Almond Honey Blueberry muffins after a recipe for Chamomile Honey Almond Meal Muffins.  They're grain free and gluten free, helthy, and pretty delicious. Definitely follow that link through to the Roost blog though, she has lovely style and some really exciting gluten free/grain free recipes that I can't wait to make.

Almond Meal Honey Blueberry Muffins

(Baked at 350 for around 30 minutes, served with a bit of cream cheese)

• 2 cups finely ground almond flour (I used bob's red mill while I wait to find a coffee grinder to mill my own...)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 TPSP Chia Seeds (could leave these out)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• Blueberries (I basically took a spoon and dumped some blueberries on the top of each muffin cup and pushed them down into the top of the batter) 

Here's a peek at the small crewel project that I started a while back in a class.  Really nice to have something other than crochet to pick up, spend a bit of time with , and set down.  Once I finish this kit I may try to get a bunch of crewel yarn and try out some free form...

May not have gotten much else crafty done this weekend, but we planted a TON of bulbs for spring (surely planting in hopes of a later bloom still counts as creating), moved the washer/dryer, and enjoyed a great walk over Capitol Hill just in time for a lovely sunset and lovely dinner.  Here's to things in-progress!

Autumnal Lists

We've been having this late bout of charming weather... crisp days with clear skies. Walking around our city this time of year is, well, hard to describe. A short walk on Capitol Hill to grab some lunch... deep breaths, wandering eyes, yellowing leaves, turning ivy. This city can affect and infect.

There is this impressive ivy that grows here, with big leaves like an oak tree. It covers portions of the highway walls, turning my drive over Mercer Island into a place that sparks imagination instead of traffic frustrations. Each new variety of tree that haven't existed in any of my past homes has it's own special beauty in the way it's leaves turn and fall. Graceful.


People mostly correlate beginnings of things with spring, but autumn is deeper for me. Brand new but reminiscent, beginnings in the endings and hope in the promises. I'm urging some of this autumnal spirit in my day to day will help to inspire some new projects. Until then, I'm making a few lists to help get me going. Hopefully month by month I'll be able to see these things I'm imagining and planning in my mind turn into something tangible.

Big Crafty Projects

Cog and Wheel Quilt

Whit's Knits: Striped Cotton Cowl

Small Crafty Projects

Finish the crewel project I started in a class a few months ago

Chunky Circle Scarf

Mug Rug for my desk

Hexagon Pillow Front

Cross Front Pillow

Wardrobe Projects

Anna Maria Horner Socialte Dress

DIY Blouse Copy

Amy Butler’s Liverpool Dress

simplicity 2892

Other challenges I’m undertaking and hoping to adopt full time:

I’ve always been sensitive to scents, face products, lotions, laundry detergents, etc and lately it’s made me consider a little more seriously all the chemicals in the products I’m using on my body. If I'm concerned with the types of things I ingest - I should also be concerning myself with these.

Going Shampoo-free.

October 23^rd I left the shampoo where it sat and washed my hair with baking soda dissolved in water, wondering all the while if it would be enough to zap all the coconut oil I’d put in my hair overnight. Sure enough – hair not oily, nor dry, no smell. Need to pick up the apple cider vinegar for “conditioner”. Maybe I should try to calculate the difference for what I would have spent on shampoo/conditioner if this goes well…

Adopting the Oil Cleansing Method.

Switching out face wash and all those types for a mixture of sunflower oil and castor oil. Face massage in the evening, with a little steam, wipe and go. First use Friday October 21st. So far so good...

With reason to make and to share

There was a time that writing was a large part of my interaction with my experiences, a way to digest. Yet here I am, with this aversion to maintaining this record of sorts. So I will consider it less blog and more record. Less hope to be read and more hope to be held accountable. I've all these ideas and tend to get distracted from finishing many of them. I've books unread, recipes unmade, and projects on the shelf. I'll try this again... to record the things I'm creating, dreaming, cooking, enjoying, and journeying.

Lets review.

My husband and I undertook this blog to share with our family near and far. He's since taken his thoughts to another page and I'm left having last updated 22 months ago. Such shame! We've since made the decision to move cross-country from Chicago to Seattle, made the three day drive with all our worldly belongings, traipsed from house to house before buying a lovely home and beginning to make our life here. We arrived in Washington last autumn and are now spending our first autumn settled into our new home. So much time was spent in transition that it seems I've forgotten I can actually take my spare time and make real those things i'm dreaming up. So here I am! With reason to make and to share.

This is not goodbye...

Hello to any who may read this.

I will continue commenting on this blog whenever I seem to have anything to say that might be appropriate, but I am also starting a blog separate of this to reflect on things of more of a theological nature to keep this consistent with its main theme.

For those that are interested, it is found at: learningbyunlearning.blogspot.com.

J.D.

Book Review: Tithing by Douglas LeBlanc

I recently joined a program at booksneeze.com, which is run by Thomas Nelson Publishers, that allows you to receive and review books before they are officially released in the hopes of getting out the word of certain books. This is my first foray in this venture, and it is a book on quite the interesting topic: tithing.

Certainly tithing is one of those disciplines that is not given much attention or is given too much attention/focus. I was extremely curious to hear someone elaborate on this idea more and provide a legitimate biblical foundation for it as opposed to a rough gleaning of surface-level reading of Scripture and using that to mandate the general 10% that is suggested/"required." Unfortunately(initially), this is not what LeBlanc intended in writing this book, and he spells that out very clearly in his introduction. Instead, he sought out different folks that he had encountered throughout his life who seemed to emulate the true spirit of what tithing and generosity defined for him. Initially, it seemed as if he was almost skirting the issue and passing the responsibility, but from these stories of people from fairly similar perspectives we are essentially given an implicit definition of what tithing is through their common threads.

My main critique of his work is that in showing these different stories, he seems to indicate that because these people were faithful(beyond standards of normal giving) they were likewise blessed in ways beyond the standard by God. I can only imagine someone who has been a faithful tither their entire life reading this and wondering when their supposed payback would be. Our intent in giving to God and his body should not be done in the hopes of gaining "interest" in these investments, but is a part of a life lived in covenant with the most faithful God.

With that said, however, it is also crucial to speak to the positive on this book because overall it was a positive experience. There are familiar names in this book(Frederica Mathewes-Green, Ron and Arbutus Sider, and Randy Alcorn) and also names of people that might otherwise go unnoticed generally(at least in this Earth's current state). Most stories seek to dispel the notion that tithing is done in legalism(seen to be the general excuse for those who refuse to tithe), but rather something that is natural and done without thinking. Two major ideas in this book that are imperative in this whole conversation are that the idea of using our resources goes beyond money and the idea of claim and ownership that is common to our western understanding of money.

LeBlanc spends large amounts of time with each person interviewed trying to get a better understanding of what tithing all our resources looks like. He is clear that we are responsible to share not only our money with our community, but also are gifts, time, and energy. In doing this, he is reshaping the way we think of doing with "our time" and "our money" and rather what we are doing with what God has given us and is truly the owner and originator of. Through these remarkable stories, we find these people that have done much in the way of initiating God's kingdom he has entrusted to us rather than simply waiting for Him to do it upon His return. For a book on tithing, there is an equal share of space given to the other work these people have done as they have committed to the faithful life and ALL aspects that go with it.

Overall, I give this book three out of five stars. If you enjoy and learn more from stories, this is probably the book for you. It is short(152 pages) and very readable. I was really seeking for a book that was going to do some solid exegesis on the different texts to see the import of the main verses used in conjunction with tithing amongst their context.

New Projects Coming...

A lovely new years holiday and a good start to another year of creating... I made my own Anna Maria version of The Wasp Bag. I wrestled with this bag a bit, and it took me longer than I liked - but that was partially due to a little less than enough fabric and wanting it my way ANYWAYS... so I did some piecing to use as much of this half yard of fabric (which was a lovely christmas present) as I could. Hooray!


So what comes next on my list? I've some other brand new Anna Maria cotton voile I was given for Christmas I can't wait to use - they're intended for some delves farther into clothing - a dress (using a new colette pattern - Chantilly!), a blouse, we'll see what else. I hope to start making more clothing, and to learn to construct it in a more solid way.


Which brings me to mentioning a giveaway over at Progressive Pioneer... Magpie Patterns is offering a $50 gift certificate to be used towards books, patterns, anything in their shop! If you link over, check out the last picture on the right - That's another Colette pattern I've been eyeing :) Magpie is a great shop too - I have several of the books that they stock and see several I'd like to have. Not to mention that I can't wait until it's time to start stocking up those great Oliver + S patterns... no, not an announcement, just pure excitement for our hopeful future.

Hooray for a whole new year to be filled with life!

True Savor

[Risotto with Roasted Butternut Squach - recipe here, on Patent and the Pantry]

Searching for seasonal recipes to fill our local quota is almost half the fun for this encounter with CSA. I have 99 feeds in my bloglines (excessive, maybe) - crafty, creative people I admire and glean inspiration from. At least a third of these relate to some form of cookery. I LOVE to cook - I love to admire other's cooking and stow away recipes for an adventerous rainy day. I even considered culinary school for about a day, before I saw what kind of student loans I'd be racking up. At the time I also saw my gluten intollerance (celiac?) as a limiting factor - how would I get through culinary school if I couldn't taste and eat most of the things I'd be whipping up? My oh my, how wrong I was. These days I see it as a challenge, a beautiful adventure, with ups and downs (both in the form of my breads lately - some rise, some fall flat into a doughy mess reminicent of playdough). But I digress...

Our most recent recipe success came in the form of a creamy, autumnal, Risotto. As we had a lovely butternut squash sitting on the table, from Erehwon, practically begging to be a part of this creative process - the above recipe seemed fitting. Talk about comfort food. Taking the risotto off the heat to stir in butter and parmesan - and suddenly, smelling Italy. I'd eaten my share of Risotto for three weeks in the summer of 2008, and it was lovely to know I'd done something right - it had the right aroma, if nothing else. Delightful - will certainly be a family favorite - I beg you to try it.

Here is our final Wellhausen delivery of the season - the farm was able to squeeze one more week out of the crops and gave us the biggest spaghetti squash to date, a huge bag of potatoes, several yummy apples, some radishes, a bag of arugula salad, and some farmer's cheese we ordered from a local dairy and sent via Wellhausen.



Remember the apples we had such big plans for? They've now been a tart, applesauce, an afternoon snack, and spiced apple jam! Home made gluten free bread, hot out of the oven, spread of apple jam - heavenly desert.


I am so thankful for these days. Taking the earthy's bounty, worked with the hands of our neighbor, entrusted to our care, and in turn forming it into the very nourishment to our bodies and our spirits. How satisfying to simply make good food, and to enjoy it together in our home. This is not the typical American perspective - taking the time to make and savor our food. Annie Dillard describes in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a blind patient's description of lemonaid as square, because it pricked their tounge, the way a cube had pricked their finger. When is the last time we really felt lemonaide prick our tounge? It seems many of us have taken to eating and drinking too quickly to even taste our foods. Upon the idea of making pickles last week, I sat amongst several who were shocked and almost bothered - all of the sudden we're taught to think this use of time would be a waste? Backwards, these days. This terrible construct of time has ruined us - time is now an asset, and we are to make the most of it. Perhaps we should take the advisement of good uncle Henry - "He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise." Henry David Thoreau

-E

Baked Millet & Turkey Spaghetti Squash

Baked Spaghetti Squash
Loosely based off Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squash in Martha Stewart Living (October 2009)
Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squash as on The Bitten Word

• 2 small spaghetti squashes halved and seeded - Erehwon Farms
  
• 2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lb. ground lean turkey or turkey breast
  
• ground cinnamon
• ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp. course salt
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup millet
  
• 2 cups chicken broth
  
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped - from our porch
  
• 2 tbsp. toasted pine nuts

1. Preheat oven to 400. Place squashes, cut sides down in a 9×13 inch casserole dish. Bake until tender, 35 to 40 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat. Add turkey, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until browned and cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer turkey to a bowl or plate using a slotted spoon, keeping as much of the cooking liquid in the pot as possible.

3. Add onion, and cook until slightly translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add remaining teaspoon salt and the millet, and stir to combine. Add broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Fluff with fork, and add reserved turkey, parsley and pine nuts.

4. Scrape out baked squashes, forming 1/4 inch thick bowls, and fold flesh into millet mixture. Divide among squash halves, and return to the oven. Bake until warmed through and tops are browned. 12 to 14 minutes.

On a Sunday

As we noted before, we took the CSA bull by the horns right out of the gate and that has certainly kept us very busy as we sought and are seeking to create with the goodness we have been granted. We practice FIFO with our produce, which is embarrassing Accounting speak for first in, first out. While in accounting this counts for how you value inventory in your system, for us it is ensuring we are faithful in consuming and creating rather than adding to the waste.

[Wellhausen Farms]

We are improving our edibilities; that is, our ability to create edible(and delicious) food out of vegetables that we normally would have simply walked passed and ignored. Before you consult your dictionary on "edibilities," rest easy in knowing that it is simply the product of this crazy brain. Look for it in the 2020 Webster's, however(Goal #1:check).

The most noteworthy pick-up in my book from this week was our farm fresh eggs from free range chicken. This was something we were excited about picking up for a while, but we had no idea just how good they would be. All eggs are most definitely not created equal. God must have spent a little more time on them(obligatory N'Sync reference:check). Our customary Saturday breakfast is a scramble, which usually consists of onions, peppers, turkey bacon or sausage, country potatoes, and eggs. It is exciting to start traditions in our family of two that we will hopefully continue as we hope to eventually have children, grandchildren and so on. There's nothing like starting out a weekend with breakfast in pajamas. It sets a tone for the time away from work to be more restful and relaxing. We have found that when we start our Saturday doing things(whether they be errands, chores, etc.) it changes the way the weekend flows.

[4 dozen eggs from Wellhausen Farms]

This weekend, however, we were intentionally waiting out for Sunday morning so we would be able to create our usual scramble with our new eggs. When we went to pick them up, actually from the brother of the man that owns the farm, he let us know that we were in for a treat. We quickly scurried back home with scramble on the brain. Even as we were making it, we could tell a difference simply in the way it looked. The white was so much more substantial and the yoke a brighter orange.

[breakfast scramble - Wellhausen eggs]

As we finished up and begin to eat, we both gave each other the unmistakable look of utter enjoyment. It was so much more creamy and fluffy than any egg we'd ever had in our life. Unbelievably hearty and so fulfilling...we were truly shocked by how different they were. I am finding that as we take on this whole experiment and begin a new way of looking at food, that there are areas to wrestle with.

I have found this to be rather analogous to the life of following Christ. N.T. Wright spends much time talking about what the gospel means and doesn't and this regards the present world. The present world is not simply meant to get by and not care for because it doesn't matter. Rather, it matters so much, is God's creation and is the location of the kingdom He will bring. The gospel is a message of hope, that evil does not have the last word. In light of this, there is the challenge of "how then shall you live." How will you live in light of this understanding? How does this actually become a message of good news, and how do we translate that to the world? Certainly this is not something to be answered in a space this small, but is something that I hope to spend my whole life seeking to understand and pursue.

In this same way, as we discover these "new" methods of acquiring food, we are forced to consider what this means. While this is not the most expensive way to eat, it is also not the most inexpensive. It is a choice. A choice to eat more healthily, to support local farmers(and help ensure they do not become extinct on a smaller scale), and to root ourselves more to the land around us with the gifts it provides. Additionally, I could never have imagined I would ever spend so much on eggs(because being cheap is definitely in my nature), but I'm beginning to realize that my money is not simply an exchange simply for the tangible good. I can either use it to support a large aggressive money-making endeavor which simply uses and demeans chickens, or I can be a part of something that enables farms to continue, gives dignity to chickens, and actually produces a higher quality item. While described in this way, it may seem obvious, but its not. There are many subjects in life that deserve unsettling of the soul.

Is there anything you are wrestling with because based on what you know it begs the question, "How then shall I live?"*

-J.D.

P.S. Please enjoy some other pictures from this weekend as well.

*I realize that in asking people, it may assume I'm expecting many people to read and respond. I'm perfectly fine with that not happening, as it is something I need to continually have in front of me

[Apple Tart - Erehwon apples]

[roasted pumpkin seeds - Wellhausen]

Trees Like Lungs

[First Pickup from Erehwon Farms - stew greens, green onions, stew veggies, spaghetti squash,

winter squash, radish, fennel, collard greens(?), fingerling potatoes, apples, garlic, baby pumpkins]

A restful weekend - full of this and that. We are taught to be industrious, to make the most of our time, never slow down, sleep is for the weak. Our imperfect, human bodies are not made to go that fast for that long... it's dishonoring to treat our bodies as machines. This season of my life and of the year has me in thought of how to reconnect my (our) life to the truly natural internal clock that was in mind at our very creation. Sabbath. What does that even mean anymore? When I was young it meant we HAD to take a nap on Sunday afternoons, but that didn't translate into anything. It didn't resonate with young little mind.

[first go at making applesauce - apples from both Wellhausen & Erehwon]

Now what can it and what does it mean in my specific life? I still try and fit entirely too much in, easily distracted by the next project on my wish list. Though, now, I'm coming to understand that Sabbath doesn't mean inactivity - it means taking part in creation, in a way that is restful and restoring to our own bodies. Intentional time that I have set to embrace the things that draw me closer to the heart of God.

[home made mashed potatoes - Wellhausen & Erehwon]

This weekend was restful & restoring. An extra hour yes - but it felt like twelve. Saturday morning gifted a gentle drive, my best friend at my side; explosions in the sky and trees, leafless, reaching into that very firmament like the lungs that they are. Bronchi and bronchioles stretching, bidding adieu to their luster and seeking restful days and nights, regrouping and regaining the strength for another year. Perhaps the time was not so intentional, but it was restoring.

[red meat radish for stew - Erehwon - how beautiful - does anyone
know if this is different than a watermelon radish? Sunday]

And what to be said for my list of activities? Purchase foodmill, pickup CSA delivery, make applesauce, crochet plant hangers, separate pumpkin seeds... I had quite the list by 3:30pm. But it was reposing. To take part in embracing this earth, in the creative process, is completely fufilling, and fills me up.

[Erehwon Farms - Grandma Beth's stew recipe - beets, radish, turnip, potatoes,
carrots, Jerusalem artichoke with stew meat, stew greens were added later - Sunday]

Saturday:
Apple Sauce - Erehwon & Wellhausen
Mashed Potatoes - Erehwon & Wellhausen

xo,
Evie

PS... Earlier in the week I needed an immediate satisfaction sewing project and made this lovely new pillow for our couch using a fat quarter of some incredibly silky, cotton, quilting weight fabric I picked up on Bainbridge island while shopping with my sister-in-law this August on vacation... The lighting doesn't do it justice, but the silly thing makes me grin.

I've seen a million onions...

and I've cooked them all!

We are at the beginning of quite an (CS)Adventure, and I think it's very fair to say we're still in the romantic stage. Optimism is the only thing we see in our future regarding this, and I can't help but wonder at what point we'll have our bubble burst. Feel free to start your betting now so you don't miss it!

Although our current situation might find us with a bushel half full, I truly believe this is important to document this time for when we are up to our ears in tatsoi and other insane things we've never heard of. We have never been as mid-west as we will be in the next 7 weeks, and that is a prospect worth writing about, contemplating, and taking us into the time of advent.

It is no wonder that the intrinsic value of the life cycle of food allows for many helpful analogies to life. We are all products of the Creator and while our relationship is symbiotic, we are able to connect on the level in much the same way as we are to others. That I am taking on this endeavor with my wife then, who I connect with in a way unlike any other human, is incredible.

Together in this time, we will learn to get a better idea of what it means to live more sustainably. While this is quite the buzz word these days, I don't want to give up on it yet. There is a reason behind it and I think it involves more than buying "green." In taking on this, we are becoming connected to the gifts of the area not the limitations of it. I think this will cause us to shift what we eat in different seasons and learn that simply because we are suburban Americans that does not give us the right to demand whatever we want whenever we want it. This will be a difficult process for us two banana fans(just had one today in fact), but bringing ourselves closer to production will shape the way we approach food. In order to eat my banana today, the only thing that is perfectly clear is that it was delivered on a truck and put out on display by a Meijer employee.

Through the CSA, we have already interacted with those that work on the farm and we are learning what projects they do throughout the year and what produce they were able to harvest that week. As we look into doing this again next year, we will be paying an amount up front which will enable the farm to take on another year of uncertainties.

Through all this, however, we are moving a step closer, but we are still not fully engaging with everything that goes into the daily life of a farmer. We are very aware of this and are excited for the lessons this will teach us as we one day get a house that has room for us to do some gardening ourselves. There is much wisdom to be gleaned from those that have gone before us and I eagerly await this whole time. We will be posting along the way(though not always this long!) of the different items we get and how we enjoy them. We will share what we have learned in this process and I'm sure many of the sentiments shared here will gradually shift over time as well. Even if this is only for us, I believe fleshing out these ideas will be a beneficial process for the two of us as we continue to learn about and from one another.

Just to give an idea of the first project with CSA food, we have a curry I put together! Many thanks to Justin Donner for teaching me the ways of the candy bar curry magic. It has served me well and it did once again.

Items used from the CSA in this dish:
Potatoes
Huge Onion

Unfortunately Evie could not have this because the curry sauce had wheat in it, but I think she's ok with it. I wear the curry pants in the family. She wears the mushroom ones.

-J.D.

The Beginning

Today marks the start of our delve into eating locally. We've signed up for a 7 week fall CSA, plus two weeks of an ending summer CSA. Bear with me here - on the off chance that CSA is unfamiliar - it stands for community supported agriculture - which is a "share" of a farm - we'll get weekly deliveries of goodies throughout the season. On average we'll receive what would fit into one and one half paper grocery bags.

We count on quite an adventure - vegetables we've not even eaten, and some we've not heard of and are planning on using the blog to journal our way through the adventure so we have something to look back on. We plan on basing our meals out of our weekly delivery for the next 8 weeks (plus some winter meals that we can prepare now and freeze, or veggies that store well over the winter months). So watch out for delivery updates, recipes, and consensus on the new veggies!

Several reasons for our decision to go CSA:

• Learn to eat seasonally and locally
• Embrace and support our local community & economy - our money goes directly to the farm, not to the 15 middle men (distributors, trucking companies, advertisers, lobbyists etc)
• Take a shared risk - we'll share in bounty as well as share in loss
  
• Eat healthy and creatively
• Reduce exposure to chemicals and preservatives
• Learn about where our food comes from and what it takes to produce it
• FRESH - do you know how long food takes to get from farm to grocery? its not exactly quick business! our produce (etc) will be harvested only days before it finds its way to our kitchen.
  

The plan:

• Today : pickup from Wellhausen Farms
• Saturday : pickup from Erehwon Farms
• Sunday : pickup last bag from Wellhausen Farms
• Tuesday: pickup from Erehwon Farms (continue weekly)

What was in today's share from Wellhausen you ask? This week's delivery was light because of the early frost. We expect next week (our last week with Wellhausen for the season) to be a little bigger.

• 1 gigantic spaghetti squash! Hooray!
• A bag of assorted potatoes
• Several apples
• 1 large onion
• 1 pumpkin
  

Hope you enjoy our adventure with us!
XO
Evie

I might have a grilled cheese...

Gluten Free baking poses a challenge - gluten is what gives elacticity, leavening, flakiness, and a great fluffy chew. When things don't work - they REALLY don't work. Last week I attempted a loaf of bread from a mix and it just really . didn't . work.

Now, I'm not a chef, or even a truly great cook - but I'm a good cook, and I know how to follow directions. It can be discouraging with cooking gluten free. My husband reminds me that everything is trial and error and lessons learned. Being practical, having an expensive mix (as gluten free mixes often are) turn out inedible is just plain sad.

So I turned to what I do know - cooking from scratch seems to work better. It just requires having a lot of different ingredients on hand. Thats where amazon came in handy. I ordered several flours I've used previously, and a couple new, in packages containing 4 of each at a discount.

Thursday night, armed with the ingredients and a recipe from glutenfreegirl.com, I made a (very) successful loaf of gluten free bread!

everyone loves a good before and after

Our apartment is lovely, and just the right amount of space for us at the moment, but living organized in a small space is tough. Our kitchen was seriously lacking in storage and we'd been on the Craig's List hunt for weeks when we found this amazing vintage drawer cabinet. It's a little smaller than we originally wanted, but has tons of character and will be useful in the future.

(I lined the drawers by decoupage with patterned amy butler paper)

(during the registry process I thought a popcorn machine was an unsightly, unused, space wasting machine - but we use it a few times a week! yummy!)

collecting

(via myspinningwheels)

So, who would be willing to send old dress shirts my way? Any men's shirt that is headed for the trash can - please send it to me so I can reuse it! I have future plans for a men's shirting quilt.

taking time to breathe

Finally... we have nights and weekends to relax. Room to breathe. No 150 person menu planning, no favors. Time to enjoy each other, to enjoy our friends, our family, and even ourselves.

I love post wedding life. I love being married and settling in to the days, slowly making our home ours. Everyone said that I wouldn't know what to do with my time after the wedding planning had finally come to an end - but I seem to be filling it just fine. So fine, actually, that I'm already juggling projects.

Here are a few peeks of what I've been up to for the past two months...



I have several before and after projects under way - watch out for my new kitchen cabinet in a few days and our new patio furniture next week!

adventures of the gluten free sort...

Recently I've noticed that I am far more sensitive to gluten. When I was first diagnosed with a wheat intolerance I found that little amounts (the breading on a chicken nugget, the crust on a cheesecake, etc) didn't seem to bother me. I cut out things like bread and pasta, but clung to everything else. In the back of my mind I've wondered if this was ok... the disease that killed my father has been known to begin with undiagnosed celiac disease. My grandmother was also intolerant of wheat. Did I need to cut it out completely? That would be far too difficult... I counted myself lucky that I didn't have to read every label and worry about where and how things were manufactured.

I've been reading a book called Gluten Free Girl. I've learned more about gluten free living, celiac disease and wheat intolerance in the past couple months than I did in the last 8 years. So many of the symptoms that Shauna, the author, experienced are eerily familiar to me. Armed with new knowledge of how gluten attacks someone with my kind of intolerance and old knowledge of isolating foods to find out what is negatively affecting you, I was ready when I started feeling poorly the last couple months. After a week of stomach ache and headache, I cut out the only things I could think of that had been changed in my regular diet. When I reintroduced those things in the following weeks I found the symptoms returning.

Trying to eat completely gluten free is like learning of my intolerance all over again, but this time I have an amazing support system (you know, that boy I'll be marrying in 97 days?) urging me to try new things and cheering me on as I begin to make things from scratch using ingredients I'm only just learning to understand.

The last week has brought:

Chicken Pot Pie with a Gluten Free Crust & gluten free flours to thicken the gravy
Chicken Noodle Soup with rice noodles
Onion, Swiss & Turkey Bacon Quiche with that same Gluten Free Crust
More of the Banana Bread I've mentioned before
Impromptu Apple Pie for two (yes, the very same pie crust)

A peek at the quiche (which luckily passed the test from my fiance the quiche lover!)

New Organization

in two forms...

1. I am now gainfully employed! Wednesday and Thursday of last week I interviewed with a small privately owned company which make, refurbish, and repair MRIs and CT Scans. I start my job as "junior accountant" this coming wednesday. Yippee! This means I have one week to truly relax (sitting at home spending 5 hours on career builder wasn't exactly relaxing...). I have one week to work on wedding and home projects before things get busy. What shall I start with??? Oh yes, addressing envelopes. Then perhaps I can recover the living-room table/ottoman (I can justify spending the $15 for the fabric now that I have a job!).

2. We're now the proud owners of a new (to us) ikea expedit shelf! We've been watching out for this shelf/entertainment unit for our living room. With one small modification (which required me to hand saw a shelf until I couldn't feel my arms) it is a perfect fit. Ample storage for records, books, and whatever else needed its own place. I love to organize... its true... and this shelf has made me a very happy girl!



Ok, on to enjoying my week!