28 F

No, it's not a band, or a new TV show. It was the temperature outside this morning. Brrrrrrrrr.


(OK, so yes, I am a California wimp, but come on - that is a good 10 degrees colder than it usually ever gets here. Yesterday we had snow. SNOW, people!!!)

Simmering

As the sky simmers up a winter storm (snow in the valley predicted!), I simmered up some goodies today in the kitchen.

Everyone in the pot for some homemade vegetable broth.


Next week this will get transformed into garlic soup.

Experimenting with winter squash, apples, and potatoes.

(The onion didn't make it into this dish.)

Really not sure about this, but I may as well experiment!

Of course, you can never go wrong with roasting a butternut squash.

I think my favorite bread and butter stuffing will go well with the butternut.

Wilting some greens for a yummy cream-cheese dip.

Can't wait to try this!

Gorgeous mandarins


Mandarin orange cake with brown sugar glaze

I feel so blessed with good food, all of it fresh from the farm.

Weekend Cooking

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really looking forward to doing some cooking this weekend.

Shocked? Me too.

I blame it on my CSA box, which has yet again delivered a bounty of beautiful veggies, ready to be chopped, peeled, roasted, boiled, simmered, and sauteed. I have bok choy that I want to make into soup for next week's lunches. I have older veggies that need to be boiled into vegetable broth, then used as the base for other soup. I have winter squash to roast with apples and onions. I have a bag of luscious greens to simmer up with some ham hocks. I have spinich to saute and mix in with pasta.

And I have random vegetables like watermelon radish and tat soi, and some delectable treats, like mandarin oranges. TH, the regular cook in our house, better watch out.

Realization*

* the kind that hits at 4:00 am, when you're awake after you got up to pee, and before you fall back asleep.

Know what I realized? I'm not really interested in whipping-my-butt-into-shape anymore. I'm happy with my run/walk technique of finishing 5K races. I like going for a brief mile or two, then coming back home. I'm tired of "whipping-my-butt" and pressuring myself to reach some outwardly created goal of running 3.1 miles in one stretch, when I've already reached the most important, inwardly created ones, which are to: participate in fun runs again, feel more balanced, invest in my own health, and be stronger.

Needless to say, this was a fairly obvious, yet elusive realization. Have you been struck lately by anything you want to change?

Soupy goodness

Using up ingredients from the farm box for soups. First, some butternut squash:

Next, some leeks and potatoes:

Ready-made lunches for next week!