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    January 27

    Tucson Trip

    This weekend we had a fun-packed trip to TUcson.  We actually started off on Sat with driving to "my" farm - one of the farm sites for the CSA I belong to.  They had a "farm day" and we figured we would stop by before heading to Tucson.  It was a little anticlimactic - drove in off a tiny dirt road just off the freeway, and it turned out to be about 10 acres in the middle of the city (guess that's an urban farm for you!).  The pictures are funny b/c you can see the freeway just off the edge of the farm.  Anyway, there wasn't too much there, they had some yummy food (see the pictures, the red carrots were my fav) and we got to walk around in "our" field to see the greens growing.  I can see now why we get so many greens - they are pretty low maintenance and this is a low maintenance farm op.  No hand holding of plants here! 
     
    We headed to Tucson after seeing our farm, hung out with Granny and Grandpa Allan on Saturday and Brie really enjoyed the attention.  JOsh and I snuck off to watch "Juno" Sat night and enjoyed ourselves.  Then this morning (Sun) we planned to do a zoo day and picnic with Julie and her family and my friend Katy, who is in town from the Czech Rep.  Wouldn't you know it, it was raining!  It stopped long enough for us to get some time in at the zoo (Brie got to feed the giraffes - cool!  Got that on video) and then we all headed to Julie's for lunch.  It was a bit crazy with 3 little ones under 1 and James (4) and Brie (2) all running around.  Seems like we don't get much adult convo with all the kids around.  We promised Julie and Brian an adults' night out next time we're in town.  With kids around all we talk about is kids - I couldn't tell you what Katy is up to right now for the life of me.  I know about her kid's pooping, tho!  :)  Anyway, we got some pics of the kids all together but I'll have to get those from Julie.
    January 07

    Brie's Ear Piercing...

    After a long time negotiating with Josh to let me get Brie's ears pierced, he finally agreed.  He wasn't even sure why he didn't want to do it, thought she should wait until she could decide.  I thought it was high time to get them pierced.  So, we went to the mall today and did it - she was funny about it.  It seemed like when she saw the gloves and alcohol swabs she decided it was going to be terrible.  She cried and freaked out a bit before the actual piercing, then when they actually did it and afterwards she was fine.  Strange.  Anyway, she was very good about it and really loves looking at her pretty "diamonds"... pictures posted.
    January 05

    Hearty Winter Soup

    I was excited to get our veggie allocation this week, after a little hiatus over the holidays.  We were inundated with tons of great stuff... JOsh forgot that he was supposed to pick up our share, so when I got off work @ 7:45 I had to rush over to pick it up.  I made it just in time - the guy who takes the leftovers to donate to a local food bank was hovering in the wings.  So, I got a little more than my share, I believe (he kept handing me things, I was like "what is this? and this one?" - it's hard to tell what's what sometimes).  Anyway, we got tons of really yummy carrots, 2 heads of romaine lettuce, 4 baby bok choi heads, chrysanthemum, 2 spaghetti squash, a whole bunch of turnips, and 2 bags of spinach.  I think that's it.  Anyway, now I need to cook!  I was extra excited about the chrysanthemum, which sounds silly, but last time we had it, I made the following soup and it was great.  Not just the first time, but also the defrosted batch I had frozen.  I altered the recipe a bit based on what I had (didn't find star anise and don't like ginger, so I added cilantro and used grilled peppers instead of jalepenos).  I also just dumped everything in one pot all together to cook, as I'm all about simplicity.  Anyway, try it however you like, it was yummy and quite filling.
     

    roast chicken noodle soup with chrysanthemum

    3 whole star anise
    3 cups water
    1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, sliced into thin rounds
    6 cups low-salt chicken broth
    2 tablespoons soy sauce
    2 teaspoons sugar

    3 tablespoons vegetable oil
    3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

    2 bunches chrysanthemum, bottoms trimmed, upper stems and leaves cut into 2-inch strips (about 5 cups)
    1 14-ounce package thin fresh or dried Chinese egg noodles

    2 1/2 cups 1/2-inch cubes skinned and boned freshly roasted or purchased roast chicken (about 2/3 pound)
    1/4 large onion, sliced paper-thin
    3 red Thai bird chiles or 1 large red jalapeño chile, sliced into thin rounds

    Preparation

    Stir star anise in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until slightly darker, wrinkled-looking, and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Add 3 cups water and ginger; simmer 15 minutes. Add broth, soy sauce, and sugar; simmer 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

    Stir oil and garlic in small skillet over low heat until garlic is crisp and golden, about 8 minutes. Set garlic oil aside.

    Blanch chrysanthemum in large pot of boiling salted water until just wilted, about 5 seconds. Using strainer, transfer greens to colander. Rinse with cold water and drain. Return water in pot to boil. Add noodles and cook until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Drain; transfer to large bowl. Let stand 2 minutes. Mix in 1 tablespoon garlic oil. Using kitchen shears, cut noodles crosswise in several places.

    Heat chicken in microwave in 10-second intervals at low setting until warmed through. Divide noodles among 4 soup bowls; top each with 1/4 of chrysanthemum, chicken, and onion. Ladle 2 cups broth mixture into each bowl. Drizzle with some garlic oil. Serve, passing red chiles separately.

    Go Green - Oprah Style

    I was reading my friend Julie's blog today and she had a link to Oprah's site... who had a show on Friday, I guess, about going green.  There are some great tips - you can her Going Green suggestions here.  I already joined the service called Green Dimes, which promises to cut down on junk mail.  I don't know about you, but I hate junk mail with a passion - I am always calling catalogues to get taken off lists, but it just keeps coming.  I noticed that especially after you buy a home or two, there's no getting away from it.  We'll see if this makes a difference.  They also plant trees on your behalf, so that's a nice counter to the number of trees the crap in our mailbox uses up!  Now if only I can figure a way out of the supermarket circulars that the postwoman insists on putting in our box each day!!!
    January 02

    Lacking Motivation

    I"ve gotten so used to this CSA thing now, having fresh veggies every week, that it's hard when I don't have it!  I split my share this session with someone else, so I would just get the share every other week - once a week was a bit much for our small family.  But then with the holidays mixed in there, I have had three weeks with no share (we also went on vacation) - I don't know what to do with myself!  I feel like without getting that stuff as motivation, I am lacking in cooking fresh food.  We've been mostly eating stuff I made and froze before... today was the first shopping I've done in a while.  We get a share tomorrow, though, so I can get back into it.  My tomato plants also froze (:() right before we came back from our cruise, so I have tons of green tomatoes that I've been cooking up.  If you're ever motivated to cook green tomatoes, they are actually quite easy - I just sliced them about 1/2" thick, dipped in milk and then in flour with a bit of seasoning salt mixed in.  Then I cooked them on med heat in butter for about 10 minutes each side, yummy.  You can bread them also, but it seemed like I didn't want all that breading - they tasted great just like this.  Now I have to finish the rest of them now that my brother and mom are gone - Josh won't eat tomatoes... :)