Whip It

Has anyone seen the movie Whip It? If not, I am here to say that it is surprisingly very good. Not perfect, but good. I took it home from work on a whim and Aaron and I were both kind of blown away by the sweet, simple, feminist, anti-norm message. Even more so because it's Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. She did a lovely job. It's a good movie for teen girls, I think.

It's all about roller derby. It actually inspired us to find a roller derby "bout" and go to it over the weekend. It was kind of weird and fun in an underground Pittsburgh tough girl kind of way. Reason #986 Why I Love Aaron: it was his first ever live sporting event. That kid is just too adorable for words.

Lots going on

There is a lot going on here. I feel like I am in a race to preserve food. I roasted a ton of eggplant yesterday, made eggplant parm the other day (awesome), processed a bushel of apples today (meaning washed, cut and juiced them, hopefully for cider), made stuffed peppers for the freezer, made lots of gazpacho in the last few weeks, froze a bunch of fruits and veggies, made two quiches for the freezer, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. And now I'm convincing myself I should try making mead and the rest of the eggplant is demanding to be made into baba ganoush. Whew. It's awesome, but it's a lot of work. I am glad that I have a little break before school starts again.

Seriously, I need someone to come over and can stuff with me. I am too afraid to do it by myself. It just seems like a job you do with someone else. I am wondering if I can food process cherry tomatoes and can them. Do you think? I'd add them to soup and stuff. I have about a million and more keep coming.

Blueberry Picking 2010

Meg of my heart

Meghan came to visit at the time I needed her most of all, which was very convenient and soul-mending. We grilled, we played pool in the weirdest old-school pool hall known to man, we had a car towed, we went to the Andy Warhol museum, but most importantly, we did some serious hanging out. I miss you, Meghan. I wish we lived closer. Thank you so much for coming here and cheering me up.

I love Summer

Though I am typically a winter person, yesterday pretty much confirmed the great things about summer. I picked 24 cherry tomatoes and two bell peppers from the garden. We bought fresh corn from local farmers on the side of the road. We went to the farmer's market and bought a ton of stuff, simply because it was so cheap and so fresh. $1 for a pint of basil (even though we're growing our own...I couldn't pass it up: an extra batch of pesto to have in winter). $2 for a ton of eggplant, promptly made into a caponata and placed in the freezer. 3/$1 cucumbers that are so sweet and snappy. 2/$1 (huge) zucchini that will be stuffed and frozen shortly. 2 pints of fresh, local peaches also came home with us not long ago.

Also, we have been picking apples from our trees like crazy. We'd like to try making cider this time around. The problem is that our trees are too tall. I can't get to most of the apples, even with a ladder and a picker. Now I know that dwarf trees might be the way to go, next time around.

Links

Here are a couple of cool links sure to suck you in before you know it.

1) Hippy Kitchens. Long hair, bellbottoms, crazy wallpaper. Need I say more?

2) Picture Book Report. Really cool images of the best scenes from your favorite books.

Birthday Gift Craft

Aaron made me this pretty leaf box for my birthday. I just love it. I even cleaned so that I could put it on display. That's really saying something.

Anniversary Gift

Remember last year, when Aaron made me the most beautiful wood/paper lantern for our first anniversary? So lovely. I use it everyday and it makes me smile. If you can believe it, I think he actually topped himself this year! He made me something that I have wanted for a long time. I am kind of still in shock over how incredible it is. Aaron made me a hope chest.


I know, right?! It's phenomenal! I can't believe he made this. It was a labor of love, for sure. He'd spend a few hours working on it every day, over several months. The best part is that he managed to keep it a secret.





The second anniversary is "cotton." I love that he took the theme and came up with something so creative. I am washing all of my favorite linens to put into my new chest.

Peas

We're harvesting peas like crazy over here. They're so pretty. I think we would have had more, but our trellis fell down and I never bothered fixing it. We built a very elaborate trellis with bamboo and duct tape and after the first big rain the duct tape decided to give (note to self: duct tape isn't the answer to all of life's problems). I've been a little preoccupied with school. But these lovelies were plump and begging to be picked when I found them.



In other garden news, I'm trying beans for the first time and they are in full bloom. Any tips? I can't remember if they are bush beans or not. Not sure what to do.

stressed much?

School is hard. That is all.

Bring Home Ec Back?

Interesting post on The Kitchn. Should home ec have a comeback in public schools? I say yes! I had really rudimentary home ec in middle school. I remember making an omelet, but that's about it.

I'm not really confident that kids these days (I can't believe those three words just came together in my mind...oh dear) know how to do anything close to cooking a healthy meal. They know how to microwave. They know how to order a combo meal.

I think it is crucial for every kid to learn how to make basic meals and exercise creativity while using their hands (baking, sewing, folkcraft, etc). I think it's also important to find out how your food reaches your table, how to make choices about what you should eat, how to grow plants, how to budget.

I was lucky enough to have a large set of grandparents. I would spend at least one day each week, usually, learning how to make something with a grandparent, whether it was a simple soup, a rag rug, an experiment on the sewing machine, biscotti, a casserole, etc. I was around food. A lot. My mom didn't cook, which was also a catalyst for learning. I was making omelets way before middle school home ec.

My grandma was a teacher and for a while she used the old home ec room. One of my fondest memories was using that hour between when classes were over and she could leave to dig through the debris of the fabric closets in her class and fashioning outfits for my stuffed animals. Remember that? I'll never forget it.

2 years

Tomorrow will be our second anniversary. What a beautiful day it was.