CSA 27

My record is broken. :-/ Even the times I have slacked in posting, I was still great about getting that photo taken to post later... but not this week!

This is mainly due to the fact that we forgot about our box until much later than we usually get it.

I had a half day Wednesday and Blake was able to get off early too. So, the two of us were able to get on the computer and start playing early afternoon, earlier than we usually even get home, and before the box is dropped off at the house in Irvine that we pick them up from.

We got into an amazing group in the game, a group we had been hoping for days to be a part of. So we changed our plans from going out to staying in, ordering Chinese food for delivery so that we could be a part of this group. All is well... and the box that we usually get on our way home from work is totally forgotten!

I am talking later about Thanksgiving and what we need from our box for the recipes that we are making when I stop mid-sentence and realize that we didn't get our box! So, Blake left the computer for a half an hour to go pick it up, and then run back to the group.

Later that night before bed, the vegetables got put away, but I didn't even think about my camera at that point. Oh well.

We got two different kinds of winter squash, which is exciting, both Acorn and Spaghetti squash.

We got more feijoas, and we already had a bunch, so I am throwing them into a few recipes this week.

Otherwise, it was more of the usual: lettuce, carrots, celery etc. Nothing too much to note.

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Thanksgiving went great! I am always so thankful to have it at our house so that all the families blend together, and every year I am excited to see that there really aren't cliques, but everyone seems comfortable with everyone else. Blake's grandfather is getting married again, and he brought his fiance to Thanksgiving. Funny thing is that my grandmother's name and his fiance's name is the same, so that was a bonding point for the two of them. Also, his fiance knew a lot of people from my grandmother's church, so they talked about that, and at the end of the night they exchanged phone numbers so they could get together later! Isn't that great?

The turkey (main event) turned out well, even if it was ready a little too early and Blake had to be dragged away from showing his bike to his dad to carve it.

We had lots of leftovers, and have been eating them for many meals... and aren't actually tired of them yet!

We also served buffalo meatballs and they were a hit! Not only were they popular with the group, I also liked them enough for them to make the list for what I got seconds of. (Which was not much, because I was pretty full!) They were also one of the first things I ate for leftovers.

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One other piece of news is that we are attempting to dry some of our habeneros so we can make a powder of them to use for later. So, Blake got a needle, and some fishing line and made a string of them. We'll see how they turn out!



And just for fun... some random tweaks of the picture:

Superpost! 2CSA, Bison, and thoughts about favorite colors

First, I want to say that I am feeling lazy today, and do not feel like editing down my photos, so they will be huge... but hopefully you enjoy them anyways:



Above is the CSA from November 3rd.


Very exciting week with an eggplant and butternut squash as highlights. Sad thing is that I thought the butternut squash was acorn squash and chose a recipe accordingly... but it was still great! We made stuffed acorn squash... which was much harder with the small space of the butternut lol. The eggplant went into a great Indian food recipe.

Considering that tomorrow will be two weeks from this box... I don't remember what else I made that week. :-D


Above is the box from last Wednesday. Because many days this week were out with family, the majority of the vegetables went into one of two recipes: Beef with acorn squash and potatoes except we used bison instead or my stir fry recipe. I called it a stir fry extravaganza, and we used the eggplant, green beans, celery, carrots, lettuce and green onions in it. We also cleaned the fridge out a bit and added some of our bell pepper into it as well. It tasted great!

Speaking of bison....

We got our bison on Saturday. It came in three boxes, and we got it directly from the person who runs the ranch in Montana (who was very nice btw). They were very frozen, and packed beautifully!



Each one was wrapped in a smaller more portion size chunk with what kind of meat it was nicely stamped on it. We sorted them by cuts. (Yes... on the garage floor... they're wrapped :D) This is what we got:

1. Hamburger (38)
2. Chuck Roast (2)
3. Sirloin tip roast (1)
4. rib steak (6)
5. sirloin steak (4)
6. short rib (2)
7. cubed stead (2)
8. eye of round steak (1)
9. top round stead (6)
10. flank steak (1)
11. tenderloin (1)
12. t-bone (3)

Unlike we originally planned, we only feel willing to part with some of our hamburger supply (not for a profit, but for what we paid per pound, or an exchange... like one of Blake's co-workers is trading bison burger meat for avocados). The rest of the cuts we don't feel like we have enough that we want to let it go. But we are really excited about our meals, and the slow cooked bison from yesterday tasted great! (Even if Blake found the bullet in his meal today! :-D Don't worry... he didn't eat it:-p)

It all fits in our freezer with room to spare (for frozen fresh fish perhaps?):


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On a totally completely random topic, I was thinking about favorite colors a week or two ago, and how kids (like my students) frequently ask what my favorite color is. I typically say yellow and blue, because that is what I themed my whole wedding around, and I do really enjoy those bright summery colors.


However... When it comes down to it, what makes a favorite color anyways... isn't it the color that when you have a lot of different choices of what color you want something in... you choose the one that's your favorite color? So Blake and I got new phones recently (Droid incredible for a really good deal on Newegg) and I had to choose a cover. I browsed ebay for a while looking for what cover I wanted... and I decided on a pink one.

Then I thought about it more... and my last two phones, I chose a pink one. Tons of options.... I keep choosing pink!

AND last time I chose workout shoes... I chose pink too. So I am wondering if the next time that a student asks me... should I change from my standard yellow and blue to pink?


And one last photo... because it was on my camera... look at how cute Roxie is!

Hair

I used to like my hair long... you can do a lot with long hair, although since my hair is so thick, it is a lot to deal with. Then I met Blake... and he likes short hair. (I found out when I randomly decided to cut it short our first year dating and discovered he REALLY liked it).

Now, I keep it on the shorter side, partly for him, partly because once it gets past my shoulders, it doesn't look as good without more effort... and I am not an effort kind of person when it comes to hair/makeup.

So... I am getting it cut next week. As I have been thinking about what to do with this style... I decided to dedicate a whole blog to it, and a slideshow on my past hairstyles ending with two pictures that I intend to show when I go to get my hair cut to demonstrate what I am thinking about.

note: I meant to crop these so it was just me and you could really see the varying lengths I experimented with... but it got late... so they are mostly unedited.