One month later...

and not much has been going on. We're going to Chicago this weekend so I'll surely have some good pictures next week.

I could post about beautiful CSA veggies but they would just be my depressing reminders of wastefulness. Poor veggies! I am thinking of not joining next year - it's just too much.

CSA Weeks 2, 3 & 4

I wasn't able to post anything about weeks 2 & 3 but you can read about the deliveries and some good book revies at The Atomic Librarian Book Review Blog.

Week 4

broccoli
red potatoes
patty pan squash
cucumbers
flat italian beans
yellow tomato
green pepper
beets
pecans

What have I been doing with all of this produce? We've been just snacking on a lot of things - especially the cukes and pickles. The yellow tomato and basil, from the other week, was made into a caprice salad and I used the pecans to make a Pecan Bundt that was devoured in 3 days.

Zucchini, Sausage, and Feta Casserole


Pork Coconut Curry

librarians @ Ingenuity

From the CPL Fine Arts Blog....

Look for the Roving Reference Librarians working the crowds next weekend at the Ingenuity Festival from 12-6 on Saturday and Sunday. We'll be easy to spot with tablet PCs and bright blue t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Ask a Librarian." The Cleveland Public Library table will be in the CSU College of Urban Affairs building as part of the Family Pavilion. More info on Ingenuity here: http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/map

CSA week 1

Due to the hot/dry weather the Covered Bridge Gardens CSA started 2 weeks early! A little newsletter called The Nibbler will accompany our produce each week - it has farm news and recipes in it. And starting next week we will be getting everything in cloth bags.

So what did we get?

Red Butter Head Lettuce
Green Onions
Beets
Shelling Peas
Snow Peas
Pecandoarosa Pecans (from their trees in Arizona)

Bourdain meets Pekar

Anthony Bourdain meets Harvey Pekar
Uploaded by TravelChannelTV

Scallops, Scampi-Style

Since I have been working a lot of evenings, I have also been putting together a lot of late night dinners (that require a very small amount of time, effort and imagination). That being said, I have been totally bored with our food options. Most nights we eat veggie burgers, bowls of pasta, tuna/turkey sandwiches, cereal or something grilled. I don't remember the last time I even used a recipe. Last Friday I had the day off and was totally excited because I had time to go shopping and cook a real dinner which we ate at the dining room table! I even purchased 2 new white dishes for the occasion (food photography tip #1 from AT: The Kitchen).

This recipe is from Good Housekeeping. It claims to be "Healthy in a Hurry" - taking 15 min of prep and 8 min to cook. It took more like 30 min to prep but it still was very simple. I was surprised how nice the squash shavings cooked up in the pan and the lemon juice finished it off perfectly.

Scallops, Scampi-Style
serves 4

1 c. whole wheat couscous
1 1/4 lbs. sea scallops (12)
1 lemon
1 clove garlic, crushed with press
4 zucchini or yellow summer squash (8 oz each), or 2 of each
1 Tbs. olive oil

1. Prepare couscous as label directs.
2. Meanwhile, pull off and discard tough crescent-shaped muscle, if any, from each scallop; rinse to remove sand from crevices. Pat scallops dry.
3. From lemon, grate 1 tsp peel and squeeze 2 Tbs juice.
4. In bowl, toss scallops with garlic, 1/2 tsp peel, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
5. With vegetable peeler, slice each squash lengthwise into ribbons until you reach core with seeds; discard core. Set ribbons aside.
6. In nonstick 12-inch skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add scallops and cook 5-6 minutes, until browned and just opaque throughout, turning over once; transfer scallops to plate. Add squash to same skillet. Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook 2 minutes, stirring once. Uncover and cook 1 minute or until tender-crisp. Remove squash from heat; stir in lemon juice and remaining peel.
7. Spoon vegetable mixture onto 4 plates; top with scallops. Serve with couscous.

bravo

My friends Erin & Matt have been especially good friends lately. Why? They have a huge cable tv!!! More importantly they have invited us over the past week to watch the Cavs games and the season premier of Top Chef on it! Hopefully this will be a weekly invitation ;) My favorites are Micah and CJ.

Very much looking forward to tomorrow. I don't have to work so in the afternoon I'm seeing Oceans Thirteen with my Friend T and then we're heading to Lolita. All the food people have been raving about their happy hour specials. That Kobe burger has been calling my name for a while now.

This morning on my way home from kickboxing (roundhouses are difficult!) I stopped at Chuppa's Market Place on Pearl Rd. It's a small market that has a pretty nice selection of produce (some organic), Michael's baked goods, cheese and a deli counter. I bought a bag of cherries - these are the most beautiful, juiciest cherries ever. Really they are! A perfect deep red, no blemishes, firm and not all sticky due to a few leaky/bad ones in the bag.

Brooklyn Centre Garden Party

I just talked to Gloria Ferris and reserved my tickets to the Brooklyn Centre Garden Party—“Magic, Mystery, and Millionaires.” That glass of lemonade sounds really refreshing.

Info from her website....

What do a librarian, a magician and a Broadway playwright have in common? They all lived in Cleveland and they’re all featured in this year’s Brooklyn Centre Garden Party—“Magic, Mystery, and Millionaires.” Come and see famous characters in Cleveland’s past portrayed by costumed narrators. Stroll through the grounds and see who’s who in our history. Enjoy musical entertainment in the Victorian Chapel, and relax in the shade with a glass of lemonade. Find out about Ohio’s native plants, make a mask with local artists, hear the latest about the Ohio and Erie Canal project, visit with our friends from the Zoo, and see what makes Riverside Cemetery one of Cleveland’s must-see places.

Ticket prices are as follows: Advance, $5 senior, $8 adult, $20 family of four; Day of Tour, $7 senior, $10 adult, $25 family of four. Call 216-351-0254 to reserve your tickets or for more information.

Olde Good Things

Over Memorial Day weekend we met up with one set of my in-laws in Scranton, Pa. No, not to visit Dunder Mifflin, but to go to an architectural salvage yard called Olde Good Things. This is the warehouse...they also have stores in NY, LA and Chicago. The amount of stuff there was overwhelming - rooms of furniture, doors, windows, hardware and sinks. Outside there were yards full of bathtubs, iron fencing and anchors. It was absolutely filthy and so much fun. Prices were not marked on anything so you had to find an employee and ask how much things were - which they seemed to make up on the spot and did not negotiate. I took many pictures...if you're interested in seeing them all click here.

Fresh Stop

from the Art House website...














Support local farmers and local arts at Art House this summer!
Dates: June - October, 2nd & 4th Thursday
Time: 3-7 p.m. Price: FREE Art Workshops
$20- Regular Share Bag (Family & Couples)
$10 Half Share Bag (Single)
($10 for Low Income Regular Share Bag & $5 for Low Income Half Bag)
From June to October, Art House will partner with Councilman Brian Cummins' office and Fresh Stop farmer's market to provide the community with locally grown produce and FREE art workshops twice a month. Please call the Councilman's Office at 216-459-8400 to purchase your Share Bag today!

My five favorites

I am tagging myself on a meme from Hot Coffee Girl.

My Five Favorite Places to Eat Locally - the Cleveland Version...

Nate's Deli (1923 W. 25th St.) We usually go to Nate's at least once a week. Their rolled pita sandwiches are great and they have THE BEST hummus I've ever eaten. What' s nice is if you take someone there who's afraid to eat anything "new". They can order a good deli sandwich and all are happy!

Siam Cafe (3951 St. Clair Ave.) Open till midnight daily. Order the pad thai, vegetable curry, scallops, spring rolls, I could go on and on.

Superior Pho (3030 Superior Ave.) Great weekend lunch spot! The soup comes with a whole plate of stuff that you can add to you liking. Vietnamese sandwiches, cabbage salad and summer rolls are also hard to pass up.

Lolita (900 Literary Rd.) - I went there for my birthday and the meat slicer made me swoon. I must say it was very difficult to make a dinner choice - everything looked good!

Tastebuds (1400 East 30th St.) - Another great lunch spot. My favorites are the roasted, toasted and grilled salad or the hot chicken sandwiches. It's always super busy and really loud - I find it to be a very fun environment to break up my work day.

A few places I would like to try...

Parallax (2179 W. 11th St.)
Lola (2058 E. 4th St.)
Korea House (3700 Superior Ave.)
Chez Francois (Vermillion)
Bubba Q's (Avon)

A post about food

My friend and I are going to split a family share from the Covered Bridge Gardens CSA this summer. Another option, set up by the Lakewood Earth and Food Community (LEAF), is City Fresh. I had a hard time choosing which one to join and now I'm thinking I should have gone with City Fresh. Mainly because they're going to have a "fresh stop" at Art House, which is only minutes from my house. Oh, well. We're still highly anticipating our fresh veggies.

Tri-C is offering Community Cooking Classes this summer. So far I've signed up for the Regional Country Side Dishes. The menu is: Mussels with fennel; Coq au Vin; Mousse au chocolate crème brulee. To balance this I'm also taking a kick-boxing class!

A new Retro Recipe Challenge has been announced. It's called From Retro with Love. Directions: Whip up dish a with international flare, using a recipe first published before 1985. Anyone have a suggestion? Entries are due Sunday, June 3 at 11:59pm

weekends

Last weekend was spent in Charleston, SC where we attended a beautiful wedding, visited with friends, sat by the pool and enjoyed the sun for a few days.

What am I going to try to do this weekend?

Friday - Twilight Hike in the “Natural Flats” or help someone work on their nursery.

Saturday - art show at Bela Dubby and then the Art Extravaganza!

Sunday - the LAST school open house at my (and my mom's!) gradeschool - they're closing at the end of this year.

the good

I always remember college as being fun. Yes, I worked a lot and missed my boyfriend but generally I thought it was a great time in my life. After reading an old journal that I kept as an undergrad (unfortunately, I believe it's the only journal I ever kept) I realized that's where I vented a lot of my frustrations. Apparently, I either forgot how hard it was or I was a drama queen with a pen. I know that writing helped me at the time but I was disappointed that I didn't document the positive things that were going on in my life.

The quote below is taken from one of my favorite blogs, Greek Tragedy. It's part of an entry where Stephanie writes about what she would say to her younger self today. I thought it was good advice and wanted to pass it on...

"Try to write about something other than the opposite sex or the fights you have with friends. I wish I knew, when I was younger, to write about the good in my friendships and family, to document the loving moments. Write about your relationship with your cousins, with your grandfather, with your parents. "

kitty food

I would love to eat this cat food on my next flight!

Hungry

Chicago (a little late)

I met up with my friend Tricia in Chicago a few weeks ago - she is currently in Florida but moving to Chicago this summer! We had a really great weekend that included lots of fun stuff - massages, French food (escargot & rabbit), sangria, more drinks, a bit of history & some groovy pictures of Cloud Gate. One toddler was so mesmerized by his reflection in the bean that he ran his head right into it. Poor little guy!

As for my Megabus trip - it was pretty good for $40. We arrived in Chicago an hour late but were only 15 minutes late getting back to Cleveland. I had 2 seats to myself both ways and managed to avoid the bus restroom. The heat wasn't working on the way to Chicago so my feet were freezing. I think it really would have been terrible if you had to share a seat with a stranger for 7 + hours.

Monster by Mail

I just ordered a "hungry" mail monster.

one month later....

My new niece, Addison Mary, was born Feb 23rd!

The Cleveland International Film Fest started - so far I've seen 4 movies. A Map for Saturday was really great - it's playing two more times this weekend.

St. Patrick's Day was fun. We went to a movie in the morning, the parade, Otto Moser's, Lincoln Park Pub and then came home for a nap. Later we went to dinner (for Mexican!) with some other friends.

I just got back late last night from Chicago. Will write more about my trip tomorrow.

Holly Golightly is playing at the Beachland tonight. I'm heading there straight after work. Tomorrow You Am I will be there - you can read about the Australian band's connection to Cleveland at the Beachland's website.

Quickly fading from the kitchen