SHG Meme Attack

So, I was tagged by Starrhillgirl for this meme. This means I have to do it. I signed a contract long ago stating that I would indulge her whims to the best of my ability and I can’t really claim to be unable to fulfill this task. So, the deal:

I have to link to her here and say thanks. Thanks SHG!

I have to say 7 interesting things about myself.

I also have to nominate 7 other bloggers. I don’t actually know many people who blog, I mean, like for real. I actually don’t know many people who blog at all. Even in a computer only sense. Meaning I read blogs but rarely comment. So I don’t know the people whose blogs I read. Dig? So, um. I will just have to fling some of these at people who are strangers as far as they know.

Interesting facts: (these are not very interesting)

I am not a citizen of the US.

I don’t drive, as in, I have never had a license in my life.

I don’t like fruit except for apples, which I am picky about, pomegranates, which might as well be gold, and green papaya.

I hate the word “gifted”. For that matter, you can include “gifting”. I am pretty much only ok with the real word, gift.

At any given moment it is very likely that I am worried. I like to keep a low-grade anxiety running all the time.

I recently went skiing for the second time in my life. My greatest relief was not that I did pretty well, but that the redneck population had a strong showing on the mountain. I was terrified everyone would be rich “ski people” and I would be shamed off the slopes.

I just finished off half a tube of mini eggs trying to think of something else to say.

My 7:

Elsie

The Widows Cookbook

Fatbiscuit

Fast Grow the Weeds

Food in Jars

Jocelyn’s Stories

Urban Hennery

There you have it.

xo,

LB

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Confession

Total inertia, friends.

Things accomplished today:

2 cups coffee

Several e-mails

2 phone calls

1 IM

Things not accomplished:

everything else.

xo,

LB

Fail/Pass

So,

I didn’t take down Christmas. I have decided that instead of being embarrassed about this I will try to pass the decorations off as a legitimate treatment for Seasonal Defective Disorder (or whatever). Anyway, they are pretty, so there.

I will say in my defense, I got some other things done. I made dinner, like for real and in amounts enough for lunch, including a bonus pot of beans. I cooked them in leftover potato water. Is that weird? I’ll let ya know when I taste them, but it was just sitting there all potato-y and I couldn’t bring myself to pour it down the drain. hmmm.

This was actually two dinners for two plus lunch for one. yay.

I also completed my first “no knead” bread. I followed the very “Elsie” directions I got from Elsie and then looked at the “real” directions and figured the Elsie ones worked fine. I may try shaping the dough a bit next time to see if it makes a difference. I used 2 cups local flour and one cup bread flour the KP brought me back from a mill in Georgia. How could you not like bread that requires NO WORK!!

Fresh. Still in the dutch oven I baked it in.

Yum. We ate it with local raw butter. I made crostini with the store bought loaf that was stale and had to be booted from the bread box. They were also good and devoured in total tonight before dinner by a certain someone I know who was really hungry. So, I didn’t do any laundry but I did tidy a bit and get a few important meetings taken care of. It is the little things.

xo,

LB

The Peanut Festival. Oh Yeah

Let me start by saying that my sister, Fatbiscuit, thinks I’m cute.

She thinks I am cute because I like to attend the types of things she would only go to because she has a kid and the kid might want to go. Things like the County Fair and things like The Peanut Festival.

So, the fella and I headed down to Suffolk to see what we could see. We did have other reasons to go. We are weird but not really weird. We would not normally go that far for a Peanut fest, though we would likely talk about doing it. Anyhooters the Fella’s sister was going to be selling things so it was a good way to see his family, too. We had a dinner date on Saturday night we we headed out of town late and between driving and winding down it was 4am before we slept. We hauled our asses out of bed on Sunday and made it to the fest by early afternoon. I highly recomend having a vendor as a friend at this type of thing. We were able to sit and chat under a tent and take little trips out in to the fray. We ate some good (meaning gross) fair food, we ate a lot of peanuts. We took a ride on the Ferris wheel and we did a lot of people watching.

We saw people selling these

Despite the fact that they were really expensive, fraught with ethical concerns, and are very high maintenance, we were really tempted.

I didn’t wind up getting any peanuts to take home they were a little pricey. Here are some pictures of the festival.

xo,

LB

Market.

So here we are on Saturday again.

Today I went alone and boldly to the market. The KP and IC are heading out of town for a week so were in no need of a bunch pf produce. I will be battling through it alone. I don’t have to work today so I was able to browse. This is clearly not a good thing as I always wind up with extras. Extras cost money. However, I am choosing to enjoy it. I made the Farmer go with me to eye ball the new seafood vendor. He is apparently much more comfortable with being nosey than I am and peppered the guy with questions. Verdict: suspicious.

I had hoped to run into Starrhillgirl but was too slow getting out of the house. I did visit her favorite boys to buy cilantro, though. I have decided that I am cursed when it comes to cilantro and yet I persist. It always manages to rot within a few days around here so I have promised myself that I will make salsa immediately!! Yes, yes I will.

So, today I came home with a lot of stuff: Tomatoes, potatoes, weird peppers, wax beans, okra, eggplant, zucchini, squash, cucumber, apples and the extras, mint, cilantro, garlic and corn!

Hope you’re hungry.

On list the list of things to do is making that damn steak I bought for my fella. Fer Pete’s sake.

Critters: Now there is a possum that thinks it has a late night date with me for drinks on the porch. He wandered all the up the stairs and was making his way to me when I sent him packing. Though I have to say he didn’t look even a tiny bit concerned and left as casually as he arrived.

Had a lovely evening on the porch the other night with the KP, Starrhillgirl, the new friendand the KP’s brother who is getting married so we spent a lot of time trying to convince him of our various merits as members of the wedding party. I am lobbying for flower girl but will probably have to lock the IC in a closet to get my way. I am not above it.

Tonight S and I do some singing for a benefit show and also have to squeeze in a dash across the street to witness the fella opening for Kenny Rogers! My parents had a Kenny Rogers tape when I was little and I listened to that thing over and over. Hopefully I will catch some of his act, too.

xo,

LB

Another Day.

It is Saturday and so I went to market. I had the luxury of going a bit later this morning, though this means missing Starrhillgirl. I didn’t miss the other %75 of town, however, much to my chagrin. I stopped at the money machine on the way and went ahead with the usual plan:

Meet the KP and the IC at my farm’s stand.

Pick up our CSA box.

Divide it up.

Chat with farmer and his daughter.

Encourage him to curse.

Be pleasantly surprised to find that milling around seems to encourage the farmer to had over extras for free!

Since I am working the later shift today I got to wander around with the girls and take in the sights. I also spent more money so I can’t say it is win/win. We picked up some corn cause I haven’t had any this season and also got my eggs. I also couldn’t resist a head of lettuce from the egg people since I haven’t had one of my very own since May. I just used it to make my lunch and like a pillaging beast, I reached my hand right into it’s very middle for the most tender leaves. I also picked up a steak for my fella. I think I will have to rename Stank on this blog but haven’t come up with a new name yet. The steak buying required some talk with the meat guy. I don’t eat meat so……we’ll see what he thinks.

I lugged all my stuff home and don’t think I broke any eggs. The haul this week is good. Pots, squash, eggplant, corn, apples, peppers, toms, carrots, corn, lettuce, eggs, steak. I am heading out tonight to see Will Oldham play here in town and my friend S. will get to play with them. Should be a good night.

xo,

LB

County Fair

Stank and I hit the county fair the other night. Last year we went during the day but the night time is right time. All those lights! So pretty! First order of business was a giant scary sausage thing for Stank. It looked kinda gross but I don’t eat meat and he seemed very happy, so I reckon it was good. After getting our hands on some shifty looking meat (hee!) we headed in the direction of the critters, which are the best part of the county fair if yer asking me. We eyed all the baby critters, cows, goats, pigs. All the chickens and bunnies. I asked Stank to buy me a baby duck but said I could make do with a baby chick or a bunny. Nothing doin. I don’t know what his problem was. I thought me getting an animal and letting it live on his farm was a genius idea. Guess I was the only one. After petting the baby ducks and watching the baby pigs sleep in a pig pile, we headed to the big critter tents. We looked at all the giant cows and big fat pigs and admired all the ribbon winners and the little 4-H kids and petted the horses.

Then we washed our hands.

After taking in all the animals we headed to the rides. I prefer to watch. We did take a ride on the Ferris wheel which was great, and same as last year, came with a slightly scary ride operator. We watched all the teen boys winning big silly prizes for their girls. I noticed that the girls looked %50 proud of their gifts and %50 embarrassed to carry them around.

We capped the night with a funnel cake, which we ate while listening to the band, and a last look at the baby animals. It was a beautiful night. It cooled right down and there was a gorgeous breeze. So far, highlight of the Summer.

xo,

LB

Things That Go Bump.

The critter/s on my porch.

A rat? A cat? a Raccoon?

I am starting to wonder if my poor beets will wither away before I manage to make any cake. I have had a few nights out in row and am behind on the kitchen stuff. However, we have managed to schedule the cheese making for Monday. Some of us are overly interested in the wine we’ll be drinking while we work. I assure you i am much more serious than that. I am hoping we wind up with an edible morsel or two and don’t botch the whole thing. Got all the supplies and instructions from here. We will be using Starrhillgirl’s extra raw milk.

Stank and I went to see the new Batman movie last night. Is it just me or are movies getting more violent? It could be all my anxieties getting worse as I get older but movies seem a little harder around the edges to me. It was good, though. It also inspired me to drink two local beers to calm my nerves. So there! A touching local food moment inspired my hollywood!

xo,

LB

Dinner.

Stank made me dinner last night. Or rather, Stank said he would make me dinner because I was in a foul mood and didn’t want to cook but we couldn’t afford to go out. I actually wound up helping because it is always more fun once you get started. We had the local tofu fried up with squash, zucchini, onion and garlic scapes.  We had yummy potatoes that were red skinned but violet on the inside and deeeeelicious. Also, some cucumber and tomatoes chunks in oil and vinegar.

Things I got from my CSA: Potatoes, tomatoes, green pepper, yellow squash, onions, zucchini, peaches, cucumber, cabbage. Also, I bought eggs and basil.

Things I need to make: chocolate beet cake (lookin at you Starrhillgirl). The beets are giving me VERY threatening looks at this point. Also, cheese! I am curious to see what kind of mess we can make out of that.

I Have Been Friggin Meme’d (what the hell is a meme?)

By Starrhillgirl who IS the boss of me. I have to write an opening paragraph of the novel version of my life starting with last night.

She sits perched on the edge of a low slung leather couch. Around her, the other musicians and singers chat, waiting to begin the night. They have gathered for a benefit show and are clustered back stage. Some are eating, when it is free musicians always eat, others sip wine and bottled water. Over the dull roar of the well heeled crowd, you can just about hear the sweet sounds of the first performer. She barely stands a chance. The crowd is full of parents whose children attend the school that will benefit from the music tonight. They seem eager to squeeze the most out of their night. Quiet listening is not on their minds as they giggle and chatter through their first few drinks. The air is dark and cool backstage. The door to the alley is open and covered with a thick black curtain. At irregular intervals the warm air and bright light outside sneaks in at the bottom corner. She shifts her weight from one cowboy boot to the other getting more restless as her turn on stage draws near. As the other singers drink water and spray their throats, she makes her way to the door, briefly flooding the room with light she steps into the alley for a cigarette.

Now I get to tag someone so I tag Wistar and KP.

xo,

LB