the deliberate life

October Daily 4

(A few silent minutes in the morning with my oatmeal and coffee.)

(All my special teeny moments involve food. Crap.)

(Also, I'm a teensy behind.)

October Daily 3

(A steaming bowl of Pho, the perfect cure for the common cold)

A Simple Salad

Growing up I was the pickiest eater. The only vegetable I'd eat was corn. I wouldn't touch anything with garlic or minced onion in it. There were times that out of desperation my parents would try to "force" me to eat a different vegetable like lima beans, not letting me leave the table until I finished them. I quickly got smart and found I could swallow them whole and wash them down with some juice. Probably not safe, but I got to leave the table, and I actually got the vegetables into my system.

    Fast forward 20 years and I think it's safe to say that I love more vegetables than I hate. Signing up for a CSA box has really helped with that by forcing us to plan our meals around the produce we receive. Subscribing to a CSA has really changed my eating habits. Until now we've been picking up the box at the farmers marker and picking up everything else we may need (meat, grains, etc.) at Trader Joe's. Beginning this week, we've decided to buy just about everything at the farmers market while we are picking up our box. To us, it's not only about eating healthy, it's also about supporting our local farmers.

    When we got home from the market on Saturday we whipped up this tasty (and simple!) salad. Ripped organic spinach, fresh goat cheese, prosciutto and poached cage-free eggs. That's it. Frankly, you can put a poached or fried egg on top of a pile of dirt and I'd eat it, but this salad is so delicious and just the right amount of food for a light summer lunch.

    Stay tuned for my next post when I share another salad. Salad? I know! Mom and Dad are so proud.

All by Hand

The Bread Bible has consumed much of our weekend. After much talk, but not quite so much follow through, we've embarked on a new, very important to us, food journey. We've begun to take great strides to support our local farmers and growers, and to cut out all processed foods from our diet. Because of our love of cooking, and our passion for food, it was a very logical step for us to take. The biggest issue, however, will be bread. At the recommendation of our good friends, Rich and Shannon, we borrowed this book from the library, and tagged just about every page. As I type, we have our first loaf of white bread rising, and a batch of butter biscuits cooling.

    It's a lot of work, but gosh, it feels good. It feels like art to me. Taking a few ingredients, combining them together in a certain way, and turning all the bits into something. Much like knitting a few stitches, or making a few strokes with a paintbrush is therapeutic, there is something in the act of mixing, kneading, and shaping that touches the soul. There's no better feeling than taking bits and pieces of almost nothing and turning into something. 

    I'm very proud of our homemade life.

Judging a Book by Its Cover

... or a wine.

Sometimes it works, and this time it did. 

The Find of the Year

Excuse me for being so excited, but ...

Look at what we just picked up from Target on clearance for half-price! I've wanted one of these for so many years, but they have always been too pricey for me. Just a couple weeks ago Kevin and I were reminding each other to check Craigslist and Tuesday morning regularly in hopes we would find one. But today, during our routine Sunday trip to Target, I looked down and there she was. Someone bought it online and returned it to the store and we scored!

Let the baking and bread-making begin.

The Secret Ingredient

I'm not a big fan of sweet breakfast food. You're more likely to see me enjoying a fried egg than a donut (though I'll totally eat the donut at another point in the day), and you won't see me near pancakes or waffles. French toast, however, is a different story.

Growing up my mom typically made chorizo and eggs or omelets for breakfast. On special occasions (or maybe we were just running low on eggs) she would make French toast. Instead of syrup she topped the toast with powdered sugar. And instead of cutting the bread, she simply folded the slices in half and declared them to be "French toast tacos"!

I could fill pages upon pages with my memories of my family's cooking. Meals shared together at my parents' dining room table allowed us to bond as a family. Our happiest times and some of our most difficult times occurred during mealtime. Gosh, I'd love to tell you all the stories.

This weekend I reread A Homemade Life, one of my very favorite books and was overjoyed that we had some near-stale French bread for me to use to make the French toast recipe found in there. I didn't use white bread like my mom did, and I didn't fold them in half and declare them tacos, but I made sure to add her secret ingredient: love.

Noodle Please

As usual, life is passing by faster than I'd like it to. I can't believe how quickly the months are coming and going. Perhaps it's because the dreaded 2-8 is very quickly approaching. I'm plugging away at my "30 Things to do Before I'm 30" list and it's so inspiring.

For once, I'm in crafty overload but because everything is for Christmas, I can't share it! What are the odds? Really, now.

So what can I share with you?

Soup! Because really, how great is soup? I'm convinced any sort of Asian noodle soup is a quick fix to any problem? Sad? Lonely? Sick? Feeling chubby? Have some noodles.

Trust me.

Lucky in Food

It's no secret that I love food. So many of my memories have food in them. From my mom treating us to snacks of graham crackers and chocolate frosting to my dad and uncle "fighting" over who is better at the grill, food has played an important role in my life.

When you're younger, you don't realize how much food brings people together. It's not until you're oder that you realize how many of your happiest moments involve a group of loved ones crowded around a tasty dish. Lucky for me, Kevin shares this same love of food. I suppose it was inevitable ... we both come from Italian families with fathers who have an extreme passion for good food.

Each night after work, we take turns preparing dinner while the other helps. I'm in charge of the comfort foods, he gets anything new and experimental, and the pizza. Boy, can he make a pizza. Each weekend, we  refrain from going to movies or going out and doing what other people our age do (what is that, exactly?) so we can seek out our local holes-in-the-wall restaurants, trying and sharing dish after dish, from Indian to Thai to anything else we may fancy.

Kevin just may be the most perfect dining companion. He always shares his food, even when it's something "fancy" like shrimp that restaurants usually skimp on. Carefully and deliberately, he always puts together the "perfect bite" for me, with all the dish's elements perfectly portioned and layered.

And in this moment I know just how lucky I am.

How to make a cupcake even cuter ...

Step 1: Make it tiny!

Kevin surprised me today with this wee little red velvet cupcake (my fave!). Someone at his work brought them in and he was kind enough to grab an extra one for me. Little simple things like this absolutely make my day.

Today was a really good day, in fact. I'm extremely busy with work, but I love it and that makes all the difference. It was also the first day for sign ups for Elise's online workshop. It's my first time taking one and I'm super excited. I'm a big fan of Elise's work and style (it reminds me of my own, or what I would want my own to be), and I love that for the workshop she is using supplies that most people already have on hand. Plus, my very best friend from high school and college will be taking it too, so it will be fun to reconnect even more over the experience. I'm such a lone crafter that I really get a thrill out of sharing the experience with others.

Speaking of Elise, I took her idea for "A Card a Day," and began today. The premise is simple: decorate a playing card a day. The playing cards fit nicely in a baseball card album, so at the end you will have a great book to flip through. It takes little to no effort, but it really made me feel good that I created something today. In honor of beginning this challenge, I used Jenny's favorite word: begin.

Begin ... such a simple word, but it packs a big punch. Sort of like how I hope I live my life.