lately i’ve been

Lately I’ve been gardening like it’s my job. I mean, it isn’t. Obviously. Fortunately, since I’m not all that good at it yet.

Still, the adventure of growing plants from seed is going surprisingly well- here’s a shot of my overcrowded deck, taken Sunday.

I thought I’d recount a bit of my journey, to encourage those of you who’ve wanted to start a garden but have doubted your abilities. Believe me when I say that if I can do it, anyone can do it.

After planting my seeds, my first sprouts were greeted with joy. You’ll recall that they began their lives indoors, with consistent warmth cultivating their growth at a crucial and delicate phase of their lives.

Tomatoes and basil grew reliably (with the heirloom romas being particularly hardy). 

I worried about the heirloom zucchini because it took forever to sprout and I was afraid I wouldn’t get anything. Well, I needn’t have worried, as it turned out it was just taking its time below the surface, ultimately rising in an impressively large sprout.

The dill were the absolute cutest, reaching for the sun.

Once we had reliable sun and warmth outdoors, and the plants were hardy enough to be relocated, they got potted on the deck.

You produce an amazing quantity of seedlings when you grow from seed. Keep that in mind, particularly if you’re doing a potted garden. (I am by necessity, since deer freely wander our yard, entirely unafraid of us, eating absolutely whatever they want).

Here are just some of the pots required to contain just what the tomato seeds successfully produced:

Transplanted a few of the little basil guys, but had to keep most of them in the pot til I had space for them. So precious!

I’d bought a pepper plant at the farmer’s market, then suddenly panicked. Don’t plants need to cross pollinate? Isn’t that necessary for plant sex? (The fact that I call it “plant sex” is a good indicator of how much I know about cross pollination, obviously).

So my thoughtful boyfriend bought me an additional pepper plant and an additional squash plant, so my lonely plants could have necessary companionship.

They came in the neatest containers, where you rip off the plastic rim around the top and then everything else is biodegradable, so you can plant it directly in the pot.

The pepper department looked good (and its leaves bore a striking resemblance to basil, which I thought was interesting)

He also got a boyfriend for my lonely squash.

And so some more time passed, with me visiting my plants each day to top them off with water if needed (tricky, knowing what’s not too much and not too little- a Goldilocks esque quandry). It’s so nice visiting them, talking to them, cheering them on in their progress. I was explaining this to my mom, who agreed that it was so amazing watching things grow and then said, “It’s just like being pregnant!” And then I changed the subject, eurgh. Plants are quite enough responsibility for me for the foreseeable future.     

And now? Now all my plants are doing swimmingly!

The tomatoes are big and beautiful (and I need to stake them sooner rather than later)

 

The squash are glossy and abundant.

And the peppers are filling me with delight! I am growing them for the first time so am particularly enchanted by their growth progression.

You see, they have little baby bulbs!

And the first has begun to transform into a sweet little pepper flower! So excited.

 

In the herb department, we have thriving basil and wintered-over sage. The sage I raided to make succulent bison meatballs just the other day.

Very excited for the harvest! Will continue to update, mostly for my own scrapbook-like memories!

Lately I’ve been eating this for breakfast a lot.

   

It’s a (subtly) healthified version of an absolutely delicious Steve creation. I combine:

- yogurt (1/2 a cup or so; Steve uses full-fat vanilla yogurt, I use lowfat or nonfat plain yogurt plus a little milk, plus a little vanilla, plus stevia)
- a whole buncha whole flaxseeds (crunch!)
- sliced banana
- frozen blueberries (which I don’t bother to thaw; I use the Trader Joe’s frozen organic wild Maine blueberries which are tiny and packed with flavor)
- peanut butter
- oats

Steve also adds honey.

 

Guys, this is DELICIOUS. And difficult to photograph, obviously.

Lately I’ve been trying to be a runner.

My primary motivation for this is that I got shoes that are THE CUTEST. I know nothing about running shoes, so I went to DSW and looked for shoes that cost
-$85 or less (my dad was kind enough to get me these. We’ve been playing racquetball twice a week and my old shoes- which I’d gotten in high school, were understandably junky)
-Well padded with good support (I didn’t like the minimalist shoes at all. I also tend to do a lot of arc trainer at the gym, and that machine necessitates well-padded toes)
- Didn’t make my knee hurt when I ran up and down the aisle at DSW

So I ended up with these cute Nike Airs.

Lately (ish) I’ve been eating a lot of hardboiled eggs. After Greek Easter, we had a tonnnn of them. For reasons best understood by her, my sister’s godmother, who hosted Easter this year, asked us to bring three dozen Easter eggs… then already had that amount made herself.

Anyway, Jacques Pepin has a great recipe for hardboiled egg and tomato gratin and I made it a coupla times, with my own spin

The gratin must contain tomatoes and hardboiled eggs. Beyond that, one can add
- cubed stale bread
-onions, slow-cooked until soft
-cheese
-fresh herbs

Duh-lish.

 

Lately I’ve been taking organic chemistry. Pray for me.

Thank goodness I have Sheila helping me study.

Lately I’ve been making a TON of fruit compote. I finally, finally found rhubarb at the farmer’s market (I completely missed rhubarb season last year, SAD) and made a truly delicious strawberry-rhubarb compote. It involved agave nectar and a little powdered ginger.

It was magnificent on whole-wheat pancakes with a ton of chopped almonds.

 

Fruit compote is great to use up fruit that’s still good but perhaps a little squishier than you’d like it. My most recent rendition contained nice farmer’s market apples that were a little too wrinkly to eat raw mixed with a few soft cherries and strawberries from otherwise nice containers of them.

Lately I’ve been interrogating orthopedic surgeons because my poor baby sister is getting knee surgery tomorrow. I hope everything goes well!

Lately I’ve been apartment hunting in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area and I think I at last have success! I’ll share more once I’ve dotted i’s and crossed t’s, since apartment hunting is a volatile business, as I’ve learned the hard way.

Lately I’ve been eating not the best, mostly because I’ve had such bizarre sleeping habits. Sleeping ridiculously late, setting alarms and being unable to get up when I need to. Not cool. Staying up late, feeling really buzzed, eating junk food, then waking up with no appetite and skipping breakfast. Not cool! I want to get back into a healthier routine. I know I do better when I wake up at a reasonable hour; I’m happier and more productive in the morning. I like being a morning exerciser. Etc. I need a way to make this schedule happen in an organic way. I think these not so fun habits may be connected to a slightly lowered mood, which probably has something to do with imminent life changes, a course that demands skills that are far from inherent for me, and fears about getting the job I need in NC. And another thing, my next point…

Lately I’ve been watching the new episodes of Arrested Development on Netflix and boy are they awful.

blank slate

I’ve really been enjoying the whole New Years atmosphere. To clarify, I don’t really believe in New Years Resolutions- life is a journey, dontcha know, and it seems like so many people treat their New Years Resolution as an opportunity to obsess, deprive themselves of things they enjoy, suffer a setback, and give up. On a personal note, I get really annoyed when the gym is crowded.

However, my resolution has been going SWIMMINGLY- I have flossed literally every day in 2013. And, after the nonstop holiday indulgence spree (which frankly left me feeling kind of stressed and unhappy for the last few weeks of December) there is something nice about people treating the new year like it’s a tabula rasa, like, as Steve put it, “2013 is the year ANYTHING can happen!” My response to him, of course, was that that is always true. But why not appreciate this new year, blank slate.

I’ve been cooking some new stuff, which has been fun.

We had a bunch of old, not-particularly appealing looking pears (you’ll see this being a common theme in this post) so I thought I’d make some baked oatmeal using the pears.

I more or less followed this baked pear oatmeal recipe, making a few additions and substitutions (added golden raisins, used just pepitas and pecans for the nuts).

You layer chopped up pear on the bottom of a greased dish (I used 2 and 3/4 small pears, which may have been a slightly higher quantity than the recipe called for; it was a little vague on size)

Then combine oats, nuts, seeds, seasonings (I halved the sugar because I added sweet golden raisins, and it was still plenty sweet).

 

Layer atop the pears (it really looks like granola, doesn’t it?)

Combine the liquid ingredients (somehow it had never occurred to me that baked oatmeal would contain eggs but it held the texture together really nicely)

Dumped atop the other ingredients

And baked til golden. A good experiment. I could see why the top would have been good with coconut oil- a little crunchier and fattier- but I just didn’t have any! It was still nice and chewy and flavorful.

 

Now, my main mission was to use up leftovers from our Christmas party to ensure that food didn’t go to waste in my house. Since I hate wasting food. And since no one else in my house pays a great deal of attention to using up ingredients that way (or, at least, using them up in time. Since my past job I took the coursework and test to be a Certified Food Safety Manager I just have this new often-uncomfortable awareness).

Anyway, there were some major operations going on.

I threw leftover turkey, two cans of white beans, a big vat of chicken stock, two containers of green chiles, some cumin, and some roasted onion, garlic, and jalapeno in a pot to make green chili.

 

The leftover turkey bones were then used to make stock (just boil ‘em til it looks like stock. This can also be done in a Crockpot).

And my favorite was using both leftover ham AND leftover phyllo dough to make quiche!

I was looking up quiche recipes at my favorite cooking websites, and was quite intrigued to find this "Real Man Quiche" recipe from Eating Well, which used phyllo dough to make a quiche crust.

My mom always, smartly, buys extra phyllo when making baklava in case of emergencies. I had already used some to make turkey pot pie after the party- sort of along the lines of this Cooking Light chicken pot pie recipe. So this was an opportunity to use it up and also be lazy rather than making crust.

Used extra ham in the filling, so it was a leftovers one-two punch. Tasty, too! For the filling I sauteed some onion, lotsa mushrooms, and lotsa spinach with the ham. Plus eggs and milk and Parmesan atop.

Carolina and other good things

I would have entitled this post “Going to Carolina”, but to know me, to truly know me, is to know of my devout and eternal hatred of James Taylor. Truth.

Anyway, I used to go to summer camp at Duke- to be specific, summer WRITING camp, because I was a huge nerd. Though, all my teachers there were so encouraging, and it does make me wistful how little of it I do now. I guess this blog counts? Er…

Anyway, Duke is so gorgeous.

I’ll get to our main purpose for being in NC at the end of this post, but an added bonus to the trip is that my mom made a visit to someone she’s worked with who works at Duke, and we got a fabulous tour.

The gardens are stunnnnning.

  

Also took a peek at the academia side with a look at the Global Health department. But by far, by far the best part of that trip was:

 

LEMURS I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Everything about Duke Lemur Center is amazing. The fact that not only is it a wonderful sanctuary for animals, it’s also where first-class research is taking place. When we were there, a graduate student was just finishing something that involved lemurs typing things on computers. I love our smart fellow primates.

They meditate and think deep thoughts…

… they keep an eye on their guests.

Apparently the cute innocent looking ones (these are brown lemurs) can be the most vicious.

   

MEGA inspiring, and I think excellent fodder for a children’s book: the (poorly photographed, sorry) lemur on the left is the mother of those triplets there with her. She was born with a disabled left arm (they think it may have been because her mother was on antibiotics before they knew she was pregnant). Initially it seemed to get in her way- rather than being able to leap from branch to branch,  she would climb one tree, climb down, climb up the next tree, climb down- but slowly, she seemed to get sick of that. One day, she just started jumping. Not only did she do great, the keepers at the center said that she jumped further and riskier jumps than any of the other lemurs would dare. Plus, she’s been a very successful mother, and is parent to more lemurs at the center than anyone else. SO inspiring.

 

As you can see, the lemurs have large and spacious enclosures on the inside…

 

But they can also go out whenever they want! (Can’t you picture that one saying, “C’mon guys!”?)

 

(Sidebar: the lemurs in that picture are also known as “dancing lemurs”. Their bodies are designed to spring from tree to tree, and they move like they’ve got pogo sticks in their feet. It’s so extraordinary, especially when they come over to investigate you, which they do a lot because they’re so INTELLIGENT and CURIOUS and AWESOME!)

    

So when I say outside, I mean outside. People who come to visit the lemurs literally have nothing between them and the animals. To me, it’s fantastic- here’s a chance for school groups and other visitors to come in and see how the animals behave.

Best of all, the animals get to go out into the Duke forest and do what lemurs do!

Funny story: There was a ditch separating the building and the surrounding forest. Initially the lemurs were suspicious and refused to go through the ditch. So the facility built a bridge. Then the beams would get too hot sitting in the sun. So they built a roof.

Which allows for hilarious tail pictures like this.

Also, don’t you wish your neck could do that?

Hilarious ring-tailed lemur story: two adolescent males were getting shunned by the rest of the lemur troupe (because, like sensible societies, the lemurs are female-dominated). One Saturday night (of course) they managed to hop the fence and escape the center. Everyone was distraught: there were predators like foxes in the woods who could get them, they could get hit by a car. Monday morning there was a sighting of them (someone was commuting to work and saw lemurs cross the road; could you imagine?!), but every time someone called, by the time the staff got there, the lemurs were gone.

But, at a Christian school a few miles away, the children had been on a field trip to the lemur center, so a child looked out the window and said “There’s a lemur on the playground!” The teacher hadn’t been on the field trip, so she needed some convincing, but after she saw the lemurs, the kids explained that they knew the staff at the center would play drums and music when they would feed the lemurs, and the lemurs would come. So the students made a path of food leading into the school’s library, and banged drums. The lemurs came in and the students were able to shut them in the library. When the staff from the center arrived, the students were taking their Spanish lesson with the lemurs.

Isn’t that a great story? It goes to show you, when you teach people to care about their fellow creatures and understand them, they’ll help look out for them.

 

That evening, my mom and I strolled to downtown Durham, where we enjoyed a meal al fresco. True story: MEG RYAN AND JOHN MELLANCAMP WALKED BY. Why?! Why on Earth would they be in Durham?! It was very exciting.

 

Chips and salsa: housed.

Delicious bucket o’ grease mushroom spinach quesadilla-ish thing: housed.

AWESOME: meeting up with my friend at summer camp at Francesca’s, the cafe where we’d enjoy gelato on summer nights all those years ago. SO great to see her, SO great to travel back in time and think about what crazy teenagers we were. A poem we wrote about our painfully attractive, painfully gay teacher comes to mind. Mon dieu.

 

Gelato was great on that hot summer night!

The next morning, we went back to another old haunt: The Mad Hatter, another great cafe.

 

Duh-licous latte.

APPALLINGLY huge, albeit beautiful and delicious plate of oatmeal. I mean really. It just results in an offensive amount of food being wasted, unless one is a linebacker.

 

Okay okay okay so here we go: on that last day in North Carolina, we reveal my true reason to be there: a visit to UNC. To be more specific, a visit to UNC Chapel Hill, to the department that runs the combined R.D./MPH program. To be more specific, the program I loved from afar and then adored in person, the program that I hope to lead me to my future awesome career, the program to which I will be applying next fall, the program for which I will be moving to North Carolina next summer.

I hope I hope I hope! There are some ifs in that equation (getting in? Passing organic chemistry by the time I apply? Finding something to do in NC for a year while I earn in-state status? Bringing this wonderful boy I love so much along?) but. The program is everything I’m passionate about in one building. I’ve built the past few months really trying to lay the foundation for the kind of adult life I want to have, and I feel SO good about this being the next step.

And yes, I quit my job! School, here I come.