Strawberry Perfection

mmmm. Tasty. What is it?

Remember the strawberries? I froze a lot of them. They're in there, still frozen. I put them in a blender with some plain yogurt (made with my new yogurt machine, more on that in a future post). That's it. Tasty, simple, and perfect for hot summer weather.

Bits of Blue

This is a salad. A salad with lettuce. I made, I ate it, AND I LIKED IT. I am very anti-lettuce, so this is a big step. There's a tomato in there, and some dilly cheddar cheese curds, chopped basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. I'd like to say that there was a particular ingredient that was key to the success of this salad, but I think it was the freshness that was key. The lettuce was crisp, the tomato was firm, and the cheese was cheese. The basil definitely added the necessary kick. All these things came from the farmer's market yesterday. The sweltering weather may also have played a role. Hot food is not appealing right now.


Related to the hot weather, I've finished my housedress. It's made out of a sheet with lots of stiffness to keep it as far away from my body as possible. T-shirts are too limp and too heavy for this weather. Other pics and small details can be found at Wardrobe Refashion and Burdastyle.


Also from the farmer's market, I have eggs from my CSA share. I've been waiting a week and a half to get eggs so I can try the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the New York Times. It was recommended by Orangette, so I have to try it. I've got cookie dough curing in my fridge right now. Tomorrow is going to be fantastic.

Last, but not least, I now have a set of links to my favorite places on the internet. Orangette and Tea & Cookies are food blogs, most of the rest are crafty or sewing places. I'm quite fond of whipup.net. There's always some new nifty project or crafting tip there.

P.S. As I'm writing this post, I'm also eating Orange Soda Float ice cream out of the container because I hear that's allowed once you've become a grown up and you live alone.

Small Miracles

Miracle #1: The airline found my luggage.

On the return trip from South Africa, I personally took my luggage from the baggage carousel through Customs, as per instructions. Then I relinquished it to the agent at the baggage check counter. It wasn't at my final destination, however, I was assured that it would be on the next flight out. The same assurance I received for two days, at which point someone asked for identifying characteristics of my luggage, such as its contents... not good. It arrived at the airport baggage office the morning I left for somewhere else, but I did retrieve it on my way back, so now I can share these fabrics with you. I got them at a shop in Cape Town, South Africa, and while they aren't the best quality (they are at least partly polyester), they have nifty patterns. I'm especially fond of the blue and yellow one. I think there's a skirt and a quilt in these fabrics. We'll see.

Miracle #2: Mulberries.


When I returned home, I discovered there are a multitude of mulberry trees on my walk to and from work, and they're on public or commercial land, where no one will mind if I snag some. mmmm. tasty. Took the edge off my lack of luggage. Curiously, there are nearby trees that look identical, but their berries aren't taking color as well. Mostly they're white (or greenish white) with a few taking on a pinkish tinge. Anyone know what's up with that? Just so you know, I'm not eating those, since I can't conclusively identify them. I think I heard somewhere that white berries are more likely to be poisonous... I'm not going to find out the hard way.

Local Food Update
There are some things that I can't get locally, like rice and bread flour, but I was trying to stay away from things that traveled to me in a refrigerated truck from Whoknowswhere and stick to bulk dry goods. But, I bought a non-local, refrigerated item the other day. It's goat cheese. From Wisconsin.

The trouble with local is that you get a lot of vegetables (especially as a member of a CSA). Perhaps they're vegetables of which you are not particularly fond. Vegetables called lettuce. And if it's spring (or early summer) there's a lot of lettuce. I decided that if I was going to eat lettuce, I wanted to eat it with strawberries, goat cheese, and balsamic vinegar. No photo, because it turned out un-photogenic. Maybe I would have been better off with the feta (it's more solid), but I couldn't find out where that was from (thus, it had no obvious merits over the goat cheese), and learning to cook involves experimentation and failure (or less than perfect success) some of the time. It's in The Directions.