A long overdue introduction...

We have some new members of our furry brood. Allow me to introduce Tizzy and Bizzy. They are gerbils and they are awesome pets for the little guy.

This is Tizzy. He was the first gerbil to join us.

Tizzy is in the back and Bizzy is up front.

E was set on a Siberian Hamster, but they are pricey and do not live very long. H and I actually did some small animal recon and in speaking with the woman at the pet store, we learned that gerbils sleep at night and are basically fairly happy to live with little fellows and all their quirks.

We got Tizzy first. E had wanted to name his hamster Lizzie but the gerbil was a boy, so we had to get creative. We brought Tizzy home on a Thursday evening. On the way home Tizzy nearly ate his way out of the transport box. I felt him nibbling at my lap as we pulled in the driveway.

After we got him settled, I began to feel really guilty leaving his brother behind. Gerbils prefer to live with a partner or a buddy.

We set up a gerbil habitat in our aquarium. Some fluff and the tunnel E picked out, a water bottle and a food bowl. The old hamster wheel rounded out the package.

While Tizzy seemed happy enough, on Saturday morning, because we might have finally lost our minds, we took a trip back to the pet store to pick up Tizzy's bro. We took along a plastic carrying case, so that there would be no lap nibbling on the return trip.

After some sniffing and some strange dancing, the gerbil brothers were cozy and happy to be cohabiting again. They spend most of their days destroying paper and chewing on boxes. They like fluffy fluff and spend alot of time redecorating their home, daily.

One afternoon I went into E's room, where the gerbils reside, and they had wedged enough fluff and a partially destroyed box, to keep the wheel from moving and were climbing on top of the wheel and taking turns jumping or diving into a pile of fluffed fluff.

Neither gerbil is too excited to be held for too long. They aren't cuddlers, but they will let E handle them long enough to put them in the ball or to visit. We have had a few nips, but it isn't horrible.

They really are fun to visit and keep E company. He is thrilled.

What do you do with all those veggies -- Week 2

Ok seedlings, here we go...

Vegetables
Allium, Tokyo Long Scallions   (1 bunch)	1
Beets, Merlin   (1 bunch)	1
Carrots, Sweet Baby Jane   (1 bunch)	1
Lettuce, Bergam's Green   (1 head)	1
Lettuce, Cherokee   (1 head)	1
Peas, Shell   (1 lb)	1
Radishes, Scarlet Globe White Tip   (1 bunch)	1
Turnips, Hakurei   (1 bunch)	1
Fruits
Apricots   (1 lb)	2
Cherries, Balaton   (1 lb)	1
Herbs
Herbs, Winter Savory   (1 bunch)	1

I also picked up some gooseberries and some black raspberries at the market. L loves her berries and I am excited to back with the gooseberries. When I got home, I had to fight H back. He spied the beets and had the greens off and those beauties in a pot before I had my shoes off. I took care of the radishes and the turnips and stowed everything else.

H just cooked the beets, saved the juice and sliced them. He is on the road Friday thru Sunday and was excited to have fresh veggies for travel. He loves beets.

He happily busted into the cherries as well and I suspect he ate quiet a few just standing at the sink.

Wednesday night we ate left overs and had a salad. (I can't remember if it was left over salad or a salad I made with some of my haul.)

On Thursday I made fresh juice using oranges (from Green Bean). I threw in a few of the baby carrots from Wayward seed. I cannot even begin to tell you how much better a fresh, right from the ground, never processed baby carrot tastes.

On Thursday evening we had some salad and some shrimp on the BBQ. After L's dance lesson, we had a second dessert of black raspberries.

Friday I had left over veggie juice and some egg salad. We went out to lunch and were invited to dinner at a friends. I wanted to bake something, but there was no time for the gooseberries strawberry pie I had been plotting.

Just as I was going to default to brownies, Wayward Seed tweeting a link to this recipe for a Hungarian Sour Cherry Cake. As I read through the recipe, I decided I could make it gluten free with no problems. So I subbed brown rice bread crumbs for the breadcrumbs and I used 1 cup of Nameste All Purpose Gluten Free Flour. I think one of the reasons this worked and worked well is the beaten egg whites. Beating the egg whites gives the cake some rise, which is always the hard part of gluten free baking. I decided to experiment, because I love sour cherries and I wanted to be able to eat the cake too. Everyone loved it. (Honestly how can they not! Those cherries were awesome!)

Now things got a little crazy over the weekend. The landside started with too much Sangria on Friday night and a busy schedule for the weekend for me.  I used a good bit of Napa cabbage as a garnish under my spicy peanut satay chicken, which I made for the Picnic with the Pops. The kids ate carrots for dinner that night and on Sunday no cooking happened in my kitchen. I did make a veggie smoothie that morning using oranges, carrots and  beets with the reserved beet juice and lemonade. It was pretty tasty.

Monday was better. I had a veggie smoothie very similar to Sunday's and we ate the peas at lunch. Those peas were so tasty and Truffles has noshed on pea shells for a few days. He is very happy too...

Monday night I was out but H made pizza and the kids enjoyed carrots and radishes as a veggie.

Tuesday was a busy day too, so I am entering market day with a good bit of lettuce left, which Truffles may get  a good hunk of and I will freeze the greens for soup later. I have nibbled a few apricots and I think they will be turned into jam later this week or maybe a cake. The left over scallions will likewise be frozen.

I will call this week a mixed bag. Nothing was wasted, but I could have done better. My goal is to better. That said, buying a CSA is not something people who don't cook should do. You have to be home and able to dedicate some time to food prep every single day or I have to say, a CSA isn't for you.

And in my defense. I had planned a strawberry gooseberry tart for breakfast today, but someone ate the strawberries, so my baking efforts were totally thwarted last night...

Music Monday: Idina Menzel

So this is a new to me artist. Seriously, my BFF asked if I wanted to go to Picnic with the Pops (btw the new venue -- Columbus Commons is amazing!)  and I said sure. I had no idea who Idina was, ok, I thought she was a dude.

Once I realized who was actually singing-- then I vaguely knew who she was.

Yes, yes it is true, I live under a rock. I do not watch Glee and Broadway Musicals are not my go to musical genre. (Have they done Modest Mouse... yeah I didn't think so.)

So to prevent anyone from not knowing who this wonderful performer and singer are-- I am featuring Idina Menzel... Enjoy.

What do you do with those veggies...

Everyone asks me this, when I tell them about my CSA with Wayward Seed. So I am going to try a new blog series-- my wayward seedlings!

So in week one this is what I got---

Vegetables
Allium, Tokyo Long Scallions   (1 bunch)	1
Beets, Chioggia   (1 bunch)	1
Cabbage, Napa   (1 head)	1
Greens, Broccoli Raab   (1 bag)	1
Lettuce   (1 head)	2
Peas, Sugar Snap   (1 lb)	1
Radishes, Pink Beauty   (1 bunch)	1
Turnips, Hakurei   (1 bunch)	1
Fruits
Strawberries   (1 quart)	5
Herbs
Herbs, Oregano   (1 bag)	1

When I got home I cut the greens off my root veggies like a good farmer's wife! Seriously, the roots will keep in the crisper in a target bag for weeks, if you remove the greens right away.

I was already making some soup, so I chopped the beet greens and the radish greens and mixed them into the soup. I had planned to use some leftover kale, but used my fresh Ohio organic greens instead. The turnip greens I wrapped in paper towel and put in a ziploc. I thinly sliced half the radishes and half the turnips and we ate them for dinner. After dinner, I gave one quart of berries to a friend and picked through the remaining four, discarding any rotten or smooshie berries. I prepped two quarts for the freezer and froze them in ziploc bags. H ate 1/4 of a quart of berries as he watched me prepping. The remaining berries are in containers in the refrigerator. They won't see Saturday, with all the berry lovers in this house. I bought L some black raspberries and we ate most of them for dinner on Wednesday night. The remainder, I split with L for breakfast on Thursday morning. I dumped my portion of the berries into the VitaMix and added in the following: 1c. of apple cider, 5 baby carrots, 1 small Chioggia beet, 1 small orange peeled, and 1 c of ice. It was so good. So beautiful to look at too! I ate two radishes and a turnip for lunch on Thursday. So delish. E really wanted pancakes. So I made gluten free pancakes and served them with some of the awesome strawberries. Really, these are some of the best strawberries ever. The kids devoured the pancakes and since I am drastically limiting any and all grain, I had two silver dollar pancakes and a huge pile of berries. I also had a boiled egg. I started to feel guilty about the lack of veggies, until I remembered my smoothie from breakfast and decided I was probably ok for the day. I shelled the peas as I cleaned up the kitchen from dinner and Truffles gets the pea shells and I will cook the peas for dinner Friday night. Friday was a busy day. I was glad I had prepped the peas ahead. After a busy day of errands and lunch out and a trip to the water park, I was hungry. The kids nibbled left over pizza, peas and yummy Ohio strawberries! I made myself a stir fry. I cut up very thinly an organic carrot. I grated some ginger (about 3 tsp.) and chopped half an onion. Heated up the large skillet and stir fried the carrot wheels and onion for about 5 minutes. I then added some chopped Tokyo Long Scallions and a hand full of the uncooked peas, stirred madly for about a minute and then I added the chopped radish greens and some of the firm red lettuce I got in this week's share. I stirred until the greens were mostly wilted and then I poured over the skillet my sauce. The sauce is some soy sauce (the gluten free kind), some fruits of the forest jam, the grated ginger, and some sweet chili sauce. Cook another minute and serve. I fried and egg and put it on top, but that is optional. You could serve this with rice, to soak up the extra sauce or some bread. Being nearly grain free-- I just ate it with my egg. So easy and so fresh. Saturday was a long day away and I made a shake using one of the beets, but nothing else from our share got consumed. And Sunday was a lazy day. I drank the remainder of my veggie fruit shake and nibbled on fresh lettuce and berries. We met friends out for dinner, so no veggies from the share prepped for dinner. Monday H was home, so it was work on those veggies time. I made a wonderful salad with the romaine -- which the kids loved just plain! For our salad, I used some of my chive vinegar (which I made from chive flowers from my yarden), oil, fresh ground pepper and some left over goat cheese. Chopped some radish and turnips and apricots and tossed it all together. We enjoyed the salad and crispy baked chicken wings. Monday night was a post pool free for all. I had some of the left over soup, which had the lovely greens in it. Monday afternoon before the pool, I made a small gluten cookie crust, using what pretend to be gluten free vanilla graham crackers. I crushed them in a baggie using my rolling pin and mixed them with about 5 TBS of butter (organic) and baked it at 350 for about 10 minutes. I used my small tart shell pan, which I think is 8 inches. Tuesday we hit the fruit and veggies again. The strawberries I carefully picked through and put in a container are still holding their own. I removed the tops and sliced them lengthwise, until I had about 2 cups of berries. Setting them aside, I whipped the tiny bit of whipping cream I had left with 2 tsp of powdered sugar. I stirred in the 1/3 cup of sour cream and about 2 more tsps of powdered sugar. I grated in the zest of 1/2 of a lemon. Stirred gently to combine and then spread this over my tart shell. I spread the berries over the cream very carefully and then I drizzled over the berries a tbs of mixed berry jam that I had mixed with the juice of half a lemon. (You can heat it gently in the microwave to make it easier to drizzle.) The kids loved the tart.  As a veggie with our lunch we knocked out the romaine and the radishes and turnips. This time I used some basil flower vinegar, oil, fresh cracked pepper and some feta crumbs.  The kids feasted on the super crispy tiny inside leaves from the lettuce. E, my non veggie lover, announced that that was his kind of lettuce. For dinner, I fixed the broccoli raab, by sauteing it gently and finishing it off with a bit of lemon juice, the remaining scallions and butter. So fresh and so tasty. I have to say while I really like broccoli raab-- I am in the minority. So by Tuesday evening, I am left with one beet, half a head of lettuce,  maybe a pint of strawberries and the napa cabbage. Oh and the oregano. I am going to dry it. My family doesn't love fresh oregano, so drying it for the winter makes sense. Had we not been totally consumed with dance on Saturday and exhausted on Sunday, I think we would have knocked it all out. It is also is hard when H isn't home, he can be counted on to help me work through those greens. While I am not sure I will be able to keep up this long list of what we are eating from our CSA weekly, I am going to try. I think it is important for everyone to see, that it can be done, it looks beautiful on the plate and it is so good for you and the community.  I think you will also notice-- that I hardly work from a cookbook. I am often a fly by the seat of my pants cook... so please remember, if I give you a quantity or an amount-- more or less to suit is probably ok.

The Library-- my first love

I love the library. I have had a love affair with the library since the first time I ever went to the library with my mother. I used to dream of being locked in the library overnight. All those books. I wanted desperately to get a job working at the library in high school, but it never happened. I did do some work study in college, shelving books in the science library. Not the same, really not the same.

For the last three years, I have volunteered in the school library. I like it. It is basically easy and I am helping the library run smoothly. It maximizes the library budget to have parent volunteers in place of a full time library aide. (I often do the anti-social thing and listen to a book on audible while shelving the books!)

In general I go once a month and can fill in from time to time. Next school year, I will volunteer twice a month. I am not going to do the lunch room. The lunch room grosses me out.

This year as a thank you card, the librarian sent us a note which included the library stats. I thought they were pretty impressive.

35, 121 books circulated and shelved! 

900 holds placed and filled

303 new books added to the collection

550 kids read to every week

49 books highlighted weekly.

50 volunteers.... that means on average each volunteer shelves.... 702 books in a school year!

This summer the kids and I are going to the library weekly and focused on reading this summer. I don't love our local library. It is very small and the collection is tiny compared to the number of patrons checking out. There is another library, a bit further away, that we sometimes go to and it is better!

I think our library system is pretty neat. They do a great job with what they have and I love the focus on community and providing the resources the community needs.

My goal this summer is to read 7 books. I have read one and have another one almost finished. How about you? Are you reading this summer?