themed

Frequent themes of my life lately.

Confusion.

A fruit.

A mango from Guatemala?

Or a papaya from Mexico?

Confusion: the job hunt. An afternoon trip with the boyfriend to Busboys and Poets (lovely!), laptops in tow. Applyapplyapplyapply. Chatting with a time zone 12 hours away via Skype on Tuesday (!) Wish me luck.

Blurry but evocative photo of the cool vibes at B+P…

Admiring cute signs…

Cappuccino made with almond milk purely for novelty value.

The waitress warned me it would foam insufficiently, but then it arrived with a thoroughly impressive coating!

 

Steve got a pomegranate lemonade.

Another common theme of my life, tested and over and over found to be true: juice is too sweet.

Also: I fear liquid calories.

Gandhi menu!

What is not too sweet? Fair trade chocolate! Randomly given out for free!

Guys, what is it about evolution or something that makes us UNABLE TO DECLINE FREE FOOD? Things I would never pay money for, would beg people not to include in the family shopping cart, I eat with gusto if it’s free.

I mean I am not talking about this though. This is chocolate. Obviously it was great.

Theme bringing great fun to my life: Baker’s Guild!

With our little chilluns, we do “guilds”: clubs in which they can explore something they like in a little more detail and hopefully rack up some skills along the way. Past options have included soccer, art, songwriting. I am leading BAKING!

And, little third through fifth graders made HOMEMADE BREAD! Yeast, kneading, the whole shebang. I was horribly nervous when I went in, but as the reassuring writer of this exceedingly helpful post pointed out, bread is forgiving.

They made beautiful rolls!

  

Another theme: I am totally loving on the jam lately.

 

Artichokes: I just cannot quit artichokes. They are in season, they are kind of sort of affordable ish, they are beautiful, they are delicious, and I love them. I want to eat them every single day.

Same meal: halal, organic chicken from Lebanese Butcher. Special deal on legs/thighs: 99 cents a pound, which is pretty dang good for organic. And they marinated it for you in various intriguing things like garlic and tomato paste and olive oil and I asked if there was harissa and they said “No but something like it”.

Broiled instead of grilled cause it was too stinkin’ hot.

Another unfortunate theme in my life: I don’t cook things that much. Other people take fresh corn and boil it for 15 minutes. I steam it for 3 and call it a day. Cooking things less often does good things for nutrition and chew, both things I support.

However, it becomes a problem with chicken. Fortunately, my mother intervened.

Purple potato salad! Been eating tons of these lately, too. Does anyone know: if the general rule is the more colorful a vegetable is, the healthier it is, does that mean purple potatoes are better than regular? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

I kind of just assumed that this salad contained mayo and sour cream and then my mom said “No! Greek yogurt and chives from the deck!” and then I ate TONS of it! Which is silly of me, as I should just eat everything in moderation until my body feels full but whatever. That’s how I am.

Speaking of deck herbs (another theme in my life lately- it is just absurdly satisfying to go out and pick part of one’s dinner. Wish I didn’t suck at keeping things alive), tossed some oregano (since the basil’s not around yet) with some beautiful farmer’s market tomatoes, oil and balsamic, and salt and pepper. My FAVORITE SUMMER SALAD IS HERE IN 2011!

  

And then my mama made rice salad and oh how I adore my mama’s rice salad. It’s a delightful use of leftovers and the general guidelines are just take cooked rice, throw on a vinaigrette, and throw in as colorful an assortment of vegetables as possible, something accomplished exceedingly well this particular evening with peas, red onion, and olives.

Smashing dinner. Ate more than this. But then, that’s a common theme too.