Tomorrow is the Akron Marathon. My husband Stephen will be running the half marathon. He’s in training to run a full marathon in November. I suspect he’ll do great at 13.1 miles. Good luck!
My good friend Lisa, is also running. She’s going to run her first FULL MARATHON! That’s 26.2 miles. She’s trained and done all of her homework. She’s going to ROCK the race! You’ll do great Lisa.
I’ll be thinking of you both as well as the other runners!
Aloha!
The dishes! We have 4 people living in our house. We don’t have a dishwasher and we don’t have a good place to add one. When you are preserving – using canners, strainers, food mills, crock pots etc., you dirty lots of dishes. I actually don’t hate the dishes that much, but I really hate the drying! I usually spread them out as much as possible so they can dry naturally while I do other things. After I overflowed our drying rack, I spread out a bath sized towel on our kitchen table for the rest. I was sure glad when everything was dry and put away. I won’t be doing dishes this week in Hawaii and I’m happy about it!
On Labor Day, my friend Sherry shared her kitchen and canning talents by helping me can 100 pounds worth of tomatoes into sauce. I had purchased the tomatoes from Ridgeview Farm. I had 40 pounds of tomatoes already juiced when I arrived at 8AM and quickly got to work on juicing the other 60 pounds.
Soon enough, we had sauce simmering on the stove and in the oven.
When we ran out of room inside, we added the turkey fryer outside. This huge pot on a burner worked great!
After a few hours of work, it was time to fill the jars and use the pressure canner. I really enjoyed learning how to use the pressure canner since I usually do water bath canning.
By 5PM, we had canned almost 9 gallons worth of tomato sauce. Some of it is seasoned with herbs and some is plain. I plan to use some for ketchup and BBQ sauce throughout the year, in addition to pasta sauce.
My pantry is fairly stocked with tomato sauce now. Next year, I plan to branch out to canning diced tomatoes in addition to sauce.
Hi, there! My role here at Life Lyn Style is usually limited to the background, but with Lyn enjoying herself in a tropical paradise, it is up to me (her loving husband) to share what we found in our Geauga Family Farms CSA today. The harvest season is upon us, with the bountiful crop we found in the box today.
First off, here is the group shot. I’ll bet we could measure how big the week’s harvest is by how high we have to hold the camera to take this picture. The camera was pretty close to the ceiling today.
“I’m ready for my closeup,” cried the kale, and I was happy to oblige.
Red Russian kale, bok choy
Garlic, sweet potatoes
Apples (mixed varieties), carrots
Parsley (mix of flat leaf and curly), green beans
Red leaf lettuce, onions
Bell peppers, little peppers (I don’t know yet if they are hot)
Eggplant, yellow squash
Tomatoes
Using this up with Lyn away is going to be a challenge. My cooking skills have rusted a bit in recent years, with the grill more my specialty than the stove is. The parsley says “tabouli”, which could use some tomato and onion as well. The kale and bok choy I will saute, with some balsamic vinegar for the kale and some sesame oil for the bok choy. We will surely have some delicious salads as well.
Thanks for visiting! Lyn will be back tomorrow.
I’m spending this week on vacation in Hawaii. I’m fortunate to have the support of my family to make this trip possible. I plan to see as many sights as possible while spending time relaxing. I will be spending quite a bit of time by myself. I will enjoy the solitude in the midst of the hustle and bustle that Honolulu offers.
I have plans to see Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, Bishop museum, Chinatown, North Shore and more.
I also plan to spend time exercising and hiking. Lot of walking will be in order as well.
I haven’t been eating well lately. The no sugar/flour plan works well for a while, but it’s not sustainable within my lifestyle. The probably is that I can do anything for 3 or 4 weeks. I haven’t learned the skills necessary to practice moderation. This week, I plan to focus on moderation, local eats and fresh! I plan to try the Hawaiian shave ice that is so popular at Matsumoto. I plan to not have a candy bar or other treats that I could have anytime I choose.
I know that I feel the best when I am eating well. Eating well for me that means limiting sugar and fat and eating fresh fruit and vegetables along with whole grains. It’s not that hard on paper, but in life it’s so tough. I’m in need of a retreat of sorts, and I think this is just what the doctor ordered.
My father in law arrived from Delaware today. He’s in Ohio for the week to take care of the kids while I’m in Hawaii. Nick and Sally are super excited!
I wrote a few pages of notes. I stocked. I cooked. I cleaned. I got sick. Now, I’m scheduled to board a plane in 12 hours. Aloha!
Earlier in the week, I thought I was having trouble with allergies. Then, I had a sore throat, but it wasn’t too bad. Yesterday, I felt yucky. By the end of the day, I didn’t have a voice.
Today, I went to the doctor. I had to cancel our anniversary date plans.
The good news is that I don’t have strep throat. The bad news is that I still can’t talk. I managed to get a nice long nap today and I felt a ton better when I woke up. Now, I just feel warm out. It’s not the best way to start a vacation.
I’m hoping for a great night of sleep (thanks to Nyquil) tonight and an easy day tomorrow with a nap!
5 years ago today, Stephen and I were married. Here’s a few photos from September 16th, 2006.
I love this photo because we weren’t paying attention to anyone around.
The wedding party:
my sister carol, my sister holly, me, Stephen, his brother Nate, his brother Derek and my brother Frank
Stephen’s family:
Nate, his wife Jen, Stephen’s dad, me, Stephen, Stephen’s mom, our niece Maggie, Derek
My family:
Frank, my dad, me, Stephen, my mom, our nephew Lance, Holly and Carol
Dan and Lily:
Lily was due in October of 2006, she decided to come in August. She was still in the hospital when we got married and Dan stayed in Maryland with her. I wanted to include them in our wedding album, so Lily and Dan got dressed up for photos at the hospital.
Stephen and I with my grandpa and grandma.
We had a great wedding day! Happy Anniversary Stephen! I love you.
Today, we once again headed to Beachwood High School to pick up our Fresh Fork CSA share.
Here’s what we were expecting to receive this week:
Small CSA:
Here’s a group shot of share:
We were down to 1 egg in our fridge, so we were glad to see these. We went plum picking this week and the plum-apple sauce turned out great, so I am making another batch.
We were gifted a bunch of peppers this week, so I am chopping and freezing away.
The chicken sausage went straight to the freezer. Trevor included several ideas for the turnip greens in the newsletter. Basically, I’ll make them like my Swiss chard and they should be tasty. I’ll probably have them for lunch tomorrow since they are taking up room in the fridge.
The broccoli looks delicious. Nick and Sally and I will enjoy it with dinner tomorrow. We got Heirloom tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes. I got a couple of extra since mine were bad last week. I’m going to clean/chop and freeze them with some other tomatoes for a later sauce.
My kids couldn’t get enough carrots last week, so they eat these at lunch for a couple of days. I’m not sure they will even last through 2 meals.
Since I am on vacation next week and the week after, I spent a few of my credit dollars today. I put them on my account and it will be a wash over time. I picked up yogurt ($5), corn chips (2 @ $3.50) and a Camembert cheese ($8). So, I “spent” $20.
I bought yogurt at the grocery store earlier this week since we were out. I screwed up and bought vanilla. Yuck, it’s full of sugar and I can’t use it for cooking. I really like my newly found whole wheat dough recipe and it calls for yogurt. I like to keep the ingredients on hand. I was super excited to see the corn chips back. The truck hasn’t had them for sale lately. They are the best corn chips I’ve ever had. One bag was opened in the car. I bought 2 bags so there would still be some with Stephen gets back from his trip.
Today and tomorrow I am preserving food and packing for my trip. I’m trying to avoid too much last minute craziness on Sunday.
This afternoon, we met up with friends at the Akron Zoo. It was our 2nd afternoon outing of the week. It worked out well since Nick and Sally both took naps first, and then we headed to Akron around 2:30PM. My parents live in Akron, so we made plans to visit them after we finished at the zoo.
Nick and Sally love animals and ran from exhibit to exhibit. It was a perfect day and time to visit. It wasn’t hot out, it wasn’t crowded and everyone was in a good mood.
This carousel lion was a hit. NIck and Sally climbed right up.
We were only at the zoo around an hour and that worked well. We dined with my parents and enjoyed some time with them this evening. My mom gave the kids baths and that was nice for me since Stephen’s out of town until Friday. He’s enjoying a couple of days off before I leave for Hawaii.