Long time no write! So, it's been a while and things have been beyond hectic and I'm so glad that it's settling out a bit and I'm really ready to get back to writing. Brent's 40th surprise party and trip were a total success and I'll get the post up about Belize soon but for now I'm ready to tell you about a great experience I had a while back at Beet's Cafe! I took a cooking class there that I had auctioned on while at the Umlauf Garden party which I posted about here (an awesome event by the way). I can't remember the exact name of the class but it was basically an intro class into raw cooking. I don't eat an exclusively raw diet but I do enjoy the food and how it makes me feel, so wanted to learn a few techniques.
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As far as I can remember, I've always enjoyed cooking for other people. I find something emotionally healing and peaceful in preparing a good meal for my family or friends. The progression for this started when I was young. Both my parents worked and though at the time I thought it was terrible, I took on the responsibility of many of our family meals. I did always love making an entire meal when everyone actually enjoyed it. Besides, if you cooked you didn't have to clean and that was the worst part!
So this week I made a fabulous Kale and butternut squash soup which incorporated many of my ingredients from my last Greenling delivery. I have been using the grocery delivery service for a couple of months now and have been repeatedly impressed with the quality of the products I have received. I also love that when you go shopping on their site that you can see what's local and what farms your produce, meats, and/or cheeses come from. The system is easy to use and keeps me from bringing home badly damaged leafy produce that's been crammed into my backpack on my scooter ride home.
This year for Christmas Brent and I drove first to Granbury and then to Dallas to spend time with our families. We spent Christmas Eve with my family which includes my mom, stepdad, sister, brother-in-law, and three wonderful, though all now-taller-than-me nephews.
My family has celebrated Christmas Eve in the same manner every since I can remember. We always started with a formal dinner with real silverware, which had to be polished the day before, and china. There were, of course, pre-planned dress up clothes some of which my mom had sewn with visions of little house on the prairie type memories (at least that's what it seems like to me). Then, as children, we were tortured and the family did the dishes together and put them all away. This was followed by a long process of picture taking where each person sat under the tree and were strategically covered in presents. Then, only when all had their pictures taken, were we allowed to tear into the ungodly amount of presents before us. Most of the time my lovely husband likes to pretend he has no kitchen skills but look at those beautifully poached eggs and toast! Simple and delicious. I called in sick today and something is beating me up.. whether it's allergies or a cold nobody will ever know but it has me down. Anyways, if that's what it takes to get a delicious breakfast made while I'm snuggled up on the couch then deal!
By evening I was getting a little restless and didn't feel like cooking. As we were trying to decide where to eat our friend called and invited us to Wahoo's. Brent really doesn't look forward to eating here so when I have a friend inviting me, I'm always in. I went to my friend Kim's house on Sunday night to enjoy one of my favorite movies, Heather's. Due to a schedule conflict we were unable to make it to the Alamo Drafthouse quote-along last week and couldn't bear to miss the movie so Kim threw a little watch party at her house. The fabulous hostess that she is she also prepared some movie themed concessions including: A surprisingly tasty "Drain-O" beverage from vodka and cherry limeade with a splash of food coloring; some "pate" that was actually some delicious hummus; as well as some bar-b-que cornnuts. If you have seen the movie, you understand, and if you haven't and want to throw a them party these are excellent ideas! It was a blast and I just love Winona Ryder from back in the day.
Happy Veteran's Day! First of all I would like to thank all Veteran's from the bottom of my heart. Particularly these days everyone knows someone who is in the military. I have personal friends who have been to Iraq several times and everyone I talk to has a friend, brother, sister, etc who has given up so much to fight for our country. All opinions on the war aside, our soldiers believe in the United States and do what it takes to get things done. All of our Veteran's, whether they have been to war or not have given of themselves for our great country. Thank you for your courage, bravery, and selflessness. My only wish is that we took better care of our warriors when they return from battle and my thoughts go out to you all.
The pictures are from the order I got today from my local produce and farmstead basket. It is all so beautiful!
Greenling has a great referral program and if you start ordering from them be sure to write and ask them about it! They made a coupon for me and new customers can use this code and get a 10% discount on their first order: LAULAN201. Also, here's a cool fact about Greenling: Each day their trucks carry up to 100 deliveries in each one and they use 86% less fuel than the customers from that day going to the grocery stores themselves! (Fact obtained from an email I received from Jessica Evans at Greenling.) That is some serious carbon footprint reduction. So, not only are you eating healthy, fresh, sustainable food but you further helping the environment... and it's so simple you feel like your doing something selfish, but really you aren't. I love it! I'm so anxious to get my second order from them today! I'll be sure to post what I get in my mystery local produce and farmstead box. We received our first Greenling grocery delivery this week. It was beautiful! I've really struggled with the cost effectiveness if this and think I've decided that this might be worth it for us. It isn't that much more expensive than the grocery store and I have the ability to choose local options if they are available! Besides, since we don't have a car we have to rent a one to go for bulk buying so I think this is actually going to work out to be a little cheaper. It's super simple and I loved that my first delivery came with a nice handwritten note thanking me for ordering; it was a really nice personal touch. My wonderful friend Nicole had a few ladies over for some pumpkin carving and dinner. I love Halloween! I haven't carved a pumpkin since college and I have to say I was pretty excited. Thankfully V had the foresight to think about a Pumpkin Ale and with the beautiful orange caps I could hardly wait to pop one open and get my pumpkin carving skills on! Nicole made a fabulous dinner, which I don't mean to offend by putting at the bottom of the blog, but I thought it would be more dramatic to start with 3 chics, 3 knives, and some serious pumpkin gouging. |