A New Life

So I finally read/finished reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone....yes...the Clueless girl. And the crazy thing is, she makes a really convincing argument for veganism. So. I'm giving it a shot--and I'm being easy on myself. AND, I'm certainly not imposing my new lifestyle on anyone: if you cook me meat for dinner, I will eat it--I promise. I'm not in it to guilt-trip or judge that's for sure.

So, I've been eating vegan for a week and a half now and this is what I've discovered:

1. I feel more balanced throughout the day. Meaning: I don't have hunger or energy spikes and plummets.
2. I don't crave carbs because I get to eat whatever whole grains I want--and they're really, really satisfying. Which means I don't crave sweets and desserts either!
3. I'm less moody. YES I'm less moody-- are you doubting me??!!
4. Not to sound all uppity or anything...but my shit don't stink.
5. I've lost 5 lbs, but you can't tell outwardly...if you catch my drift. I'm just simply carrin' less. It sort of feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders (if my shoulders were in my intestines).

It has been a relatively smooth transition into veganism. I was already a pescatarian (vegetarian that eats fish), so I'm not really doing anything drastically different. And, the farm boxes are playing a huge roll in all this. If it weren't for the crazy amounts of fresh, organic veggies I have around the house, I think this would be a lot more difficult.

Speaking of difficulties, what I've had to give up that I really, really, really, really, reallyreallyreally love is cheese. And, I'm sorry, but vegan cheese is the cussing most disgusting thing ever. These are the things I'm working on cutting out of my diet all together, and so far, have been successful:

1. cheese
2. milk
3. eggs (which makes me sad because I really wanted to get some chickens)
4. white flour
5. white sugar
6. caffeine (not as hard as I thought it would be. decaf is a good decoy.)

I'm not cutting these things out for the usual reason that people become vegan: animal rights and social justice issues. (Though I'm always for that stuff of course.) I actually think it is healthier to live without them and to replace those items with whole grains and fresh produce--which (as many people don't realize) have more protein and nutrients in them than the first three items combined. Did that just blow your mind? Because it should have.

What I'm adding into my diet, and loooooooove:

1. quinoa
2. millet
3. beans
4. almond milk (oh my gosh I love almonds and I love their milk. why did I not do this one sooner?)
5. kale and other dense, dark leafy greens full of iron

So that's about it. I'll be posting some of the things I've made with my CSA box contents soon. I've loved everything so far. This week, try to consume a little less dairy and a little more whole grain and leafy green food and see how you feel.

Peace.

I've Let Myself Go...

I know I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything. It's been crazy since school started up again. Non-stop. I have no time to smell the roses...or water them...or any of the other plants for that matter. I'm a terrible mother... thank goodness tomatoes only like to be watered every 4-5 days and my barrel of flowers are pretty drought resistant too. In fact, they seem to be the only happy ones around here...


See? Happy flowers. Pretty flowers.


Everything else in my "Urban Garden" looks like this...

(former happy strawberries)

And this...

(former happy fern)

Or this...

(former happy thyme)

Even Winston and Woodrow look pissed off at me...

(former happy fish)

I promise to be better. To water every day like I'm supposed to. To make more creative dishes with my farm box contents (I picked up my second CSA box last week and have only sauteed the shit out of all the veggies...nothing fun or creative). And to GO TO HAPPY THIS WEEK! I need a new drink.

Frankly My Dear...

I discovered a hidden treasure in Hillcrest on Sunday: Terra. No... not the plantation from Gone with the Wind, though the food served at Terra is all locally grown on plantationy farms. The following statement is at the top of their menus:

"A lot of TLC (Tasty Loving Care) goes into your meal. We buy all sustainable seafood and all natural, hormone and antibiotic free meat and chicken. We buy from the following local San Diego family farms: Stehly Organics, Blue Heron Farms, Suzie's Farm, Sage Mountain, Cunningham Organics, Crows Pass and Tierra Miguel. If you should have any food allergies or concerns, or just want to ask about our food, please ask your server."

My girlfriends and I run by this restaurant on a regular basis and have been curious for a while about the food, but suspicious that it never seemed to be busy. In fact, San Diego Home/Garden Magazine calls it, "San Diego's Best Kept Secret." That's rather unfortunate, if you ask me, so let's not keep it a secret anymore, how about that? But, upon entering the establishment, we realized there are probably a couple reasons Terra isn't slammed with business the way they should be. Those reasons are: Decor and Location.

1. We decided the interior design, while comfortable and well lit, reminded us of a cross between an early 90's hotel restaurant and an upscale Denny's. The window treatments and chair upholstery does not match the organic nature of the place. If you want my humble decorating opinion (and if you don't too bad), the place needs pictures of local farms, fresh cut foliage from said farms on the tables, earth-toned upholstery and more natural, organic-looking window treatments.

2. Hillcrest is the perfect place for a restaurant of this nature; however, it's located in the back of the Ralph's/Trader Joe's parking lot... if you're going to go out for a nice-ish dinner, who wants to drive through a grocery store parking lot to get there? It doesn't feel organic. It feels strip-mally.

But if you can get over the decor and the location, then you're in for a treat. This is a restaurant worth going out of your way for.

Observe my selection...

The Summer Vegetable Plate:

with mushroom risotto

The veggies (according to the waiter) change daily based on what is harvested that day or week. My plate happened to have colorful carrots, radishes, oyster mushrooms, spinach and various summer squashes. It was rich, creamy, and slightly sweet.

The other two dishes we ordered were...

Grilled Atlantic Salmon: with barbeque cream sauce, applewood smoked bacon, mushroom gnocchi and collard greens.

This was the best of the three meals. Light, but full of rich flavors. The gnocchi was perfectly cooked and the collard greens were vibrant and refreshing (...rather than wilty and bitter like I usually experience).

Meyeer Farm all-natural Hanger Steak: with mushroom-leek risotto, smoked onion marmalade and summer veggies.

This is a pretty sweet dish-- so I wouldn't recommend it if you like savory or salty meat entree. It was still delicious though.

I was impressed with the creativity of the dishes and inspired to try them with my own Suzie's Farm veggies. The Bonuses: I felt like I did something good by supporting a local restaurant that in turn supports local farmers. Furthermore, I ate fresh, flavorful food that was really good, and I enjoyed a nice dinner with a couple friends.

Now if we could only convince Terra to redecorate....

Terra Bar and Restaurant

1270 Cleveland Ave (between Richmond and Vermont St)

San Diego, CA 92103

619.293.7088

Farm Box, Here We Go

The beautiful mess above is what I picked up from the OB farmer's market on Wednesday:

That's right. What. the. cuss.
It's so much food!

I immediately panicked at the thought of how much food I might be potentially wasting. Then I stopped cussing my pants and turned on the oven. I decided to start with the kale.

It's a flat leaf variety and good for making kale chips out of...at least that's what my teacher friend Patti does. She makes it sound easy enough, So why not? thought I. I washed and dried the leaves, massaged them with olive oil, dusted them with Himalayan Pink Salt Crystals (from Trader Joe's of course), laid them on the baking sheet and popped them in the oven. This was the first batch going into the oven:

This was it coming out of the oven:
Cuss.
Turns out you need to watch them like a hawk or they'll burn to a bloody crisp. (And believe me, bloody crisp is not tasty.)

Second batch turned out a bit better and much more tasty, except I think I ate too many of the burned ones because I started to feel sick at this point. They were crispier than they look in this pic.

While the first batch of kale was burning in the oven, I was staring at the little, yellow watermelon, the massive tangle of basil, two stalks of fennel and a box of yellow tomatoes on the counter. I decided, why not? and combined them all into a "melon fennel salad." I added a little fresh ginger and white balsamic vinegar and... it was OK. The basil added some freshness, the melon was seriously delicious, and the ginger and white balsamic vinegar were a surprisingly good combo. However, I realized that I don't like fennel. It tastes like black licorice--if you've never had it--and it just made me want to take Yager shots. Plus, what do you do with all the stalky ferny stuff at the top of fennel? There has to be a use for it, right? (do you know?) Please share a good fennel recipe if you have one-- preferably one that involves cooking it somehow.

So, Day One Assessment of My Cooking Abilities and Farm Box Contents are hereby rated as "Pathetic but Promising"

The next day, I tackled the ridiculous amount of green and wax beans, bell peppers and eggplants. After cutting into, what I thought was just an elongated red bell pepper, and taking a nice big slice to chew on, I slowly and painfully began to realize that I was not chewing a bell pepper, but one of either the padron peppers or Hungarian hot wax peppers...I'm leaning toward the Hungarian variety. This stuff doesn't come with labels or stickers on it...so novices like me have to be careful. Granted, I'm a weakling when it comes to spicy, but I also took a big honkin' bite.
Carefulness: Noted.
Tomorrow: Buy more milk. (Chugged it all to stop the burning.)

After the tears, I chopped the real bell peppers and the garden beans and a small, white eggplant. I decided that I wanted to cook them, of course, but I also wanted to taste them in their most natural form. I'd been planning all day to use Soyaki (my fav!) to saute them, but I changed my mind at the last second, put my faith in the freshness of Suzie, and used just a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil, sea salt, pepper and sesame seeds. I sauteed until they were softish and some were browned on one side, then put this mishmash over some black and pinto beans I'd made in the crock pot a couple days ago.

Fresh veggies really are more delicious and flavorful than the genetically modified or shipped-from-across-the-world versions. (Except the eggplant. That tasted like cuss.) Go figure.

Day Two Assessment of Farm Box Contents and My Cooking Abilities: Rated as "Proficient but still Pathetic"

List of all contents in Farm Box #1:
Radish Bunch
Eggplant (apple green 4-3, Italian 1-2, Thai 2-4 or Rosa Bianca 3-4)
Head of Lettuce
Yellow Cherry Tomato Basket
Armenian Cucumbers
Fennel
Tejas, Nardello, Corno di Toros, Double Up, and Red Antohi Peppers (Sweet)
Kale
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Melon
Basil Bunch
Green or Yellow Wax Beans
Summer Squash
Padron Peppers
Micro Arugula

The Mule

Vodka, Ginger Beer, Lime, Angostura Bitters

Drink this only if you...
A.) LOVE ginger. It's uber-gingery. Kinda burns.
B.) Like to drink drinks that don't taste like alcohol but get you cussed up if you have more than one.
C.) Are obsessed, like me, with the old west and wish you could always drink drinks out of tin cans.




The Mule is at:
Starlite
3175 India Street, 92103
619.358.9766

Incoming

Lots of incomings going on right now. School starts on Tuesday (I'm a high school teacher) so I'll get a whole new load of incoming freshman and soon to be outgoing seniors... (more than I've ever had before because of budget cuts. 200 students... but that's a post for a different blog.)

Second incoming is that of MONEY. Fiiiiiiiinally. After two months (technically considered one month even though it's 59 consecutive days) the first pay check at the end of summer break feels like a million bucks. This sudden influx of cash flow again means I can check off the number one thing on my To Do List. Which leads us to...

The final incoming: my Suzie's Farm Box! It's official. I signed up and paid for a two trial boxes--I pick up my first one at the Ocean Beach Farmer's Market on Wednesday. I know, I know... CSA programs and co-ops are nothing new, but they are for me and I'm so excited to be on this particular bandwagon.

Since I'm in such a good mood about this, here is my newest Cute Garden Thing to celebrate.



I was so sad when I chipped (beyond hope of repair) my favoritest mug as I was unloading the dishwasher. I set it on the kitchen counter and stared at it for a few days because I couldn't bring myself to toss it. Me and that mug go way back. Like a whole school year... lots of good memories drinking my morning brew at the podium while trying to ignore spastic teenagers.

As I was staring at my mug-friend I realized it'd make a cute little starter cup for herbs... so, I switched from coffee to chamomile. Just remember, that unless you are talented enough to drill a hole through the ceramic or porcelain bottom of a mug, lack of drainage will eventually kill the sproutings...so once they get about an inch high, transplant into the ground, garden box or proper pot.

Cooking Class

Sea Rocket Bistro (my new favorite place to get a unique farm to table meal) is hosting a cooking class in a couple weeks. Guest Chef Jenn Felmley will teach students how to use local ingredients (from Suzie's Farm [where I will be getting my farm boxes from starting next Wednesday!]) in unique and fun recipes. I'm thinking about doing it... this class is like the beautiful clashing of two beautiful worlds. It'll be a beautiful mess.
Check out the flyer on the Sea Rocket Bistro's website.

Garden Problem...

Someone's little asshole cat keeps barfing on my patio. How do I discourage this activity?