Lyn

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 18

Oct 052012

Today was a rainy, but very green pick up. We haven’t seen this much green since the spring.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive this week:

1 lb. city chicken (cubed Berkshire pork)
1 head broccoli
1 bunch turnips
1 spaghetti squash
A handful Croatian peppers
1 bunch beets
1 bunch mustard greens
1 head cabbage
1 bunch kale
1 head cauliflower
1 lb. bulk Italian Sausage
Approx. 1 lb. onions
8 oz. piece smoked cheddar cheese

We actually had our choice of the city chicken or a pork tenderloin. We haven’t had tenderloin in ages and I had never had city chicken. I ended up buying one as an extra. The Italian sausage I cooked up to go with some pasta for dinner tonight.

Turnips are hard for me, but I’ve been perusing some new recipes. Cabbage is always welcome in our house. I’ll probably make unstuffed cabbage this week.

Local broccoli is one of my favorites. It will probably be part of tomorrow’s dinner. I’ll use the peppers in quiche or chili this week.

I’m going to prep the greens by sautéing all of them in the morning. That way they will be easy to add to quiche, eggs or other dishes throughout the week.

I’ll probably include the onion when I sauté.

The smoked cheddar will go into quiche or perhaps some butternut squash burritos that I was just reading about. We ate most of the cauliflower at dinner tonight. The left over will be part of lunch tomorrow.

I love winter squash, but spaghetti squash is not my favorite. I must research a new way to prepare it. We are still finishing up our last two.

I missed apples this week. Hopefully, Stephen will be taking the kids picking tomorrow and we can make some applesauce this week. Last year, we canned many quarts and still didn’t have enough to get through the winter months.

Sally’s First Swim Lesson

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Oct 042012

Nick has been taking swim lessons for a while now. There was a several week break in the summer, but today was the first day of a new session. Sally is also finally old enough. Well she is almost old enough, but since her birthday is next month, we thought we would try it. Both kids were super excited today. Sally packed her swim bag this morning 8 full hours before we needed it.

Sally loves her “swim bag” and made sure to hold on to it and the elevator. Nick forgot his goggles and borrowed the yellow ones from Sally. His lesson was first, so Sally spent some time in Kid Kare before her lesson. That worked great since then I didn’t have to watch her on the pool deck during Nick’s lesson.

Nick’s lesson was mostly a review of past skills. He did well and still loves the water. Sally couldn’t nap today since she was so wound up. I was just hoping she would actually like the lesson since she was so keyed up.

She couldn’t be happier. I’m glad she was so comfortable in the water without me.

There were 5 kids and 2 instructors in her class. The instructors trade off and work one on one and in groups with the kids. She was really relaxed.

She even liked it on her back.

These dumbbells are used to help them float while they move their hands to swim.

I think our first lesson was a huge success. I just hope that next week comes with an afternoon nap first.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 18

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Oct 022012

Our CSA pick up was smooth today.

Here’s what we received:

Red Russian kale, romaine lettuce

Garlic, bell peppers

Apples, butternut squash

I feel like the share is a bit light this week. The lettuce will go into salads. We’ll use some peppers for snacking. I’ll chop the garlic and use it with the kale. The apples will be for snacking and oatmeal. I’m going to use some squash for soup and roast the rest as cubes. (I have two of them in our kitchen right now).

I’ve been extra busy the last couple of weeks. I’m anxious to get back to cooking more.

Zak, Smoke and Beer at Blossom

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Oct 012012

Saturday night, I took my mom to see The Zak Brown Band. It’s ok if you’ve never heard of them. They are a country band and they are great.

I hadn’t been to a concert (other than the orchestra) for some time. Mom has a friend who works there. She asked what we were allowed to bring. The reply was something like blankets, low chairs, single bottle of factory sealed water, food in a clear Ziploc bag.

When I ordered the tickets, I paid extra for paved parking. Between my knee issues and the weather, I didn’t want to park in the grass lots. When the tickets came, the parking passes had “It is in your best interest to arrive by 5PM”. I thought that 5PM was awfully early for an 8PM show, but then I realized that the show started at 7PM.

I had to leave my docent class early to be able to be there close to 5PM. I made my way down to Akron, ate a quick sandwich and mom and I headed to Blossom.

When we arrived, we had no problem parking. As soon as we parked, I was wishing for my camera. The tailgating that was going on in the parking lot was AMAZING. There was food, beer, chairs, etc. everywhere.

We made our way toward the gate. Our bag was searched and we headed to the ticket collection area. We had our tickets scanned and entered the grounds.

There were lots of booth set up with various groups and radio stations. I took note that WGAR was going to have a Zak Brown Band takeover from the end of the concert until midnight.

We headed to the grass (the pavilion was sold out before we had decided to go to the concert). The next thing we knew, there was a gate at the top of the hill. We had to stand in line until they opened up the grass. It was so surprising. It’s 5:20PM and we are standing in line. We ended up there until just after 6PM. Remember that the concert starts at 7PM.

We found a good spot on the grass and waited for the show to start. Meanwhile, there are plenty of people selling beer ($10), water ($5) and other beverages. Lots of people around us were drinking multiple beers. Many people had also rented chairs for $10. They would receive $5 back from returning it at the end of the night.

At 7PM sharp, the first opening act started. They were ok, but not great enough where I remembered their name. I was amazed at all of the people smoking around us. I’m not sure if it was allowed or not, but I’m not sure how you’d police it. Next time, I’ll bring some allergy medicine.

After a few songs and a short break, the next act came on. They reminded us of Lyntrd Skynrd. They didn’t remind me of anything country. They played a few songs. Then, there was a long break before the main event.

The crew spent a lot of time putting up a screen and centering/focusing some video equipment. Soon enough, it displayed the city and date and a count down.

The band arrived and the show was AWESOME. I’m so glad that my mom and I were enjoying the show. It’s fun to watch her smile.

At some point during the show, a beer was flung toward us. We didn’t see where it came from, but the can hit my mom on her shoulder. It was full and sprayed all over a bunch of us. She was ok, but who throws a $10 beer. It was just one crazy part of the evening.

The other thing was that everyone had chairs (some rented) and blankets, but once The Zak Brown Band started, no one sat down the entire concert. The chairs and blankets became place holders that people weaved through during the evening as they traveled up and down the hill.

The show ended with Chicken Fried which is the song that put the band on the map. It was great.

We headed to our car and headed back to mom’s. We enjoyed the Zak Brown songs on the radio until exactly midnight. Syndicated programming took over in the middle of a song.

After dropping off mom, I made it back home just before 1AM. All in all, it was a successful night.

McCormick World of Flavors

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Sep 292012

FitBloggin’ was held at the Hyatt near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. McCormick had just opened a new store right across from the hotel. Since they were such a generous sponsor, I had to go check it out.

I never realized that Thai Kitchen was a McCormick brand.

Being in Maryland, there’s no shortage of Old Bay Seasoning.

The store was part items to buy and part displays and interactive. These cases were like a mini museum display.

There was an interactive where you could find our your flavor preferences based on choosing foods that you liked.

This vides showed how we get vanilla. It was like watching a “How It’s Made”.

Besides the spices, there were also displays of some cooking tools.

Finally, now store at Inner Harbor is complete without souvenirs.

I didn’t need anything, but I had a 20% off coupon and left with some extracts.

It was a fun store and I’m sure it will be super busy around the holidays.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 17

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Sep 282012

We picked up our bag in Mayfield today. Tonight’s the Homecoming Football Game, so the hours are shortened and they are expecting full parking lots for the game. We got there early and quickly picked up our bag.

What a pretty bag!

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

1 piece Mayfield Road Creamery “Bloomfield,” a brie style cheese
1 lb. raw honey
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch carrots with tops
1 bunch radishes
1 bag mixed greens, can be used for braising or salad greens
1 head speckled romaine lettuce (it will have brown spots…that is how it should be)
1/2 dz. ears sweet corn
1 quarter peck gala apples
1 butternut squash (2 if they are small…but that’s doubtful based on what I’ve seen)
1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes
2.5 lbs. Roma tomatoes
2 zucchini/squash
Approx. 1 lb. onions
1 head broccoli
A handful Croatian sweet peppers

We received everything exactly as listed. I’ll probably just use the Swiss chard in a quiche. We haven’t had it in a while and I plan to be home on Sunday, so it’s a good day to make it. I’ll probably use some other veggies in it as well. The kids are excited to see the carrots, so they’ll make an easy side dish for lunch one day this week. I usually just cook them and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on them.

I have plenty of eggs and think some zucchini muffins are in order. The corn is going to need cooked today, so I’ll be adding it to tonight’s dinner.

I haven’t decided on a specific use for the Brie, but I’m sure it will disappear. We use honey as our regular sweetener. This will mostly go into tea and muffins.

I’m going to make some sauce this week and use the onion, peppers and tomatoes. We also picked tomatoes from our garden, so we have plenty.

We’ve been eating the apples as they come. I’m going to try to source some additional ones for sauce this week. Winter squash is my favorite. I’ll probably make soup with this butternut squash.

The speckled lettuce and radishes will go into salads. The broccoli is part of tonight’s dinner.

I’m determined to tackle braising greens this winter. We’ll see these often and I never can get away from the bitterness. I am going to conquer them. I’m open to ideas.

Hopefully, our schedule will start to calm down this week and I’ll be able to cook a bit more in the kitchen soon. Lately, our meals have been thrown together based on what’s handy. It works, but I miss some of the more complex dishes.

You’ll need an extra suitcase….

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Sep 272012

Last year, I attended FitBloggin’. When I was researching about the conference, there was chatter about whether you really needed to bring an extra suitcase. The answer is YES.

FitBloggin’ wouldn’t be possible without our awesome sponsors. It’s not really possible to photograph it all, but I tried.

When we first arrived, were were given a traditional SWAG bag. It’s basically a bag full of products from our sponsors. This year, the bag was a nice Reebok duffle. We had a choice of resistance band or yoga mat. I chose the yoga mat. Also included in our bag were Pop Chips, biPro protein powder, McCormick spices, Attune cereal, Nature Made vitamin C and fish oil, a I Love Beef apron, bars and more. The next stop was the Reebok table where I picked up my shirt and shoes. Yes, they are bright pink and I am going to wear them!

At lunch one day, we arrived to find this Be Epic bag with bottle and shirt hanging on our chairs.

Saturday night’s mixer was sponsored by Unilever. With two young children and a love for cooking, I can never have too many wooden spoons or measuring cups.

Our Ignite Fitness Keynote was sponsored by Polar. I spoke during the keynote and loved having the chance. I’ll post more about it later after the video is available for sharing.

There were many more sponsors and I thank them all. All of the generosity makes FitBloggin’ affordable and available to many bloggers.

I didn’t really need an extra suitcase, only because I left a bag and a box at my sister’s house. She’ll bring it back to Ohio at Thanksgiving.

McCormick Visit

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Sep 262012

McCormick was one of the FitBloggin’ sponsors this year. In addition to being in attendance at the expo and our conference, they hosted bloggers at their testing center on Thursday. We had two (not full) buses leave the hotel just after noon. I loved that the center was on Pepper Road.

We were treated like celebrities. Photographing began before we even were off the bus. Having worked for Camp Invention before, I loved the Create It sign that hung outside the room where out lunch buffet was set up.

We had lots of dishes to choose from. The squash ribbon salad was particularly photogenic. The turmeric roasted cauliflower was also quite beautiful.

I even remembered to take a photo of my plate.

The complete menu was on the cards at our tables. All of the recipes can be found online. There is over 1000 recipes available on their site.

After lunch and some general information speeches, we split up into groups. My group went to a applesauce testing first. We were tasting cinnamon applesauce. We learned about flavor profiles and the spice wheel. We also talked about wellness associated with cinnamon. It turns out we were trying two different cinnamons.

We answered several questions and completed our questionnaires electronically.

Next we headed to learn about tastes. We completed experiments with salted potato chips, strong cinnamon gum and strawberry flavoring. It was interesting. I kept thinking about Camp Invention and what an awesome curriculum these experiments would make. There are 5 basic tastes which everyone is familiar with, but there are also others that are starting to be recognized like fat, metallic, heat and Kokumi (mouthfeel/thickness). I always describe myself as a texture eater. Of course, I definitely agree with the last one.

After a dessert break (mini shot desserts), we headed to a talk about flavoring vegetables. Since the basket looked like an in-season CSA box, except for the asparagus, I was very interested in their talk.

They talked through some preparation and seasoning ideas for various fall seasonal items.

We followed up with two more cooking demos. Both demonstrated items from the lunch menu.

The experience at McCormick was amazing. I had a great time. As we left, were were given a wonderful goodie bag.

Since we are in two CSAs and cook at home often, I was particularly happy with this outing. I’m always looking for new ways to cook our CSA bounty. Thanks to McCormick for hosting the FitBloggin’ bloggers.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 17

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Sep 252012

The customer service booth was gone today when we arrived at Whole Foods. I guess that aren’t quite done with the remodel. Our sign out sheet for the CSA was easy to find, so the pick up was smooth.

Here’s what we received today:

Eggplant, green beans

Leaf lettuce, tomato

Bell peppers, PIE PUMPKIN!!!

Apples, basil

I’m going to roast the eggplant as a side dish. I’ll do it when I cook the pie pumpkin. We ate the green beans for dinner tonight. I’ll be using the bell peppers in fajitas tomorrow night. Some of the basil will go into salad dressing and the rest I’m going to puree with olive oil and freeze.

The lettuce will make great salads. We were almost out. I picked tomatoes at the garden today and this one will get combined with those for the freezer.

Between the apples and pie pumpkin – I’m in heaven this week.

FitBloggin’ Photos

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Sep 242012

If I have to pick just one reason to go to FitBloggin’, it’s the fabulous people that you meet. Some people are already friends, some people you only know from on-line and many others you meet throughout the conference.

Here’s a quick glimpse of some of just a few of my favorite people photos from the weekend.