Starting the New Year with Yums

Happy 2013 everybody! I'm leaving behind 2012 and entering the new year with a bit of trepidation, since it will be a year of much work and many changes and decisions to be made for our family. Also, this weekend The Little Man (TLM) will be officially entering the so-called "terrible twos," which he is already showing some signs of, in terms of voicing his opinions more loudly and decisively. However, in keeping with what I've been learning about staying positive, I am also seeing the challenges up ahead as an opportunity for many new adventures and achievements. Also, TLM has always been remarkably well-tempered and continues to be so the majority of the time, so I'm holding out hope that his twos will be more terrific than terrible. Most importantly, it's good to remember that in 2013 God will lead and provide, as always.

I've done my share of New Year's Resolutions, but this year I'm calling them Plans for 2013 Improvement (it seems more solid and promising). One thing we have always been mindful of in our home is healthy nutrition. We try our best to purchase food that is ethically grown and free of harmful substances. I am a Seventh-Day Adventist, and health and wellness are a big part of my church's ministry. I am grateful that this has given me a life-long background in health awareness. Lately we turned our attention to not only eating healthy things, but also going down to our preferred weights--two things that don't always happen together. Turns out if you eat too much of healthy food, you still gain weight! Anyway, I decided I was ready to be rid of my accumulated college/grad school/baby pounds once and for all, so I stopped beating around the bush and went all in. I have been on Jenny Craig since September, and I'm happy to say it is actually working really well. It involves picking up meals, but it also includes adding your own vegetables, fruits and dairy products.

Since one of my 2013 plans is to "Do It Now," or stop putting off doing things I want/need to do, I signed up for Groupon (which I had meant to do for a while) and happily found a deal for a CSA in my area (something else I had been investigating for months for never actually did). CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and involves paying a subscription fee to get a box of delicious fresh foods delivered to your door (or a pick-up location nearby) from a local organic farm. This fulfills both our plans to eat a larger variety of fresh produce and to support local agriculture, especially since we've gone to visit some of those local farms with TLM. If you haven't done so, I highly recommend looking up farms in your area to see if they have visitor days. Some have animals to look at and hiking trails, which are great activities for littles.

But anyway, I just finished signing up, and we'll be getting our first box next week. They even include some recipes for the items they give us. I'm so excited!
Here's what we'll be getting - any suggestions?

	12	cnt		Satsuma Mandarin Orange
	3	cnt		Gala Apple
	3	cnt		Navel Orange
	2	cnt		Meyer Lemon
	1.5	lb		King Richard Leeks
	1	cnt		Butternut Squash, winter
	1	bu		Red Beets
	1	bu		Nantes Carrot
	1	bu		Bunched Broccoli
	1	bu		Assorted Kale
	1	cnt		Bulb Fennel

New Music: Laura Marling

At this very moment I'm sitting enthralled in front of my Amazon cloud player, absolutely loving the sound of a song by emerging British singer Laura Marling. Turns out Amazon.com has a promotion in which you can download "Sophia," one of the songs from her album A Creature I Don't Know, for FREE during the month of December. I did so, am delighted, and will now press the button to purchase the rest of the album. Hurray for new tunes! I first heard about her on CBS Sunday Morning, one of my favorite news magazine shows. I've loved their features for years - it's been a Sunday morning tradition in my parents' household since I was very young. I still get a warm, pleasant feeling of well-being from the associations of hearing Charles Osgood's opening lines, which I used to hear sleepily from my room along with the sounds of the kitchen as my mom prepared delicious Colombian Sunday favorites like arepas, huevos pericos (eggs scrambled with onion and tomato), or caldo de papas (a delicious broth with potato, egg, cilantro and scallions) - comfort food extraordinaire!

Anyway, back to Laura Marling - she has an amazing sultry, deep voice that totally took me by surprise after seeing a photo of her delicate 21-year-old self. This is where people say she's soulful beyond her years, or an old soul, or something like that - but I like to think that people can really be soulful at any age. Her voice, however, does have a bit of the older woman about it. Let's just say they had me at "sounds like a blend of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen" or something along those lines. I highly recommend at least downloading the free song to see if you're into it.

Speaking of Brits, Marlings and CBS Sunday Morning, a few months ago they did a feature on indie actress/filmmaker Brit Marling (no kidding!) and what looks like a great sci-fi film called Another Earth. It won awards at Sundance, I believe, and I'm very anxious to see it. I missed it in theaters for mommy reasons, but I just put it on my Blockbuster Online queue. More on that when it arrives. Yay!

Update: Now listening to full album. Hear banjos and a subtle air of bluegrass in the mix. Still delighted.

Culinary Exploits

My friend B. and I collaborated the other day on a delicious recipe for a salmon salad from a new book she's been trying out. We made some adjustments to fit ingredients we had on hand and came up with a delightful dish that will now unravel right before your eyes! As a warning, I'm fairly sure I left out a few details, so if you try to make it you'll have to fill in the blanks.

Small potatoes sprinkled with olive oil and herbes de provence, then oven-roasted.

Salmon sprinkled with salt and pepper, then covered with seasoning made of shallots, dill, parsley, lemon zest and olive oil, then baked in the oven at what 250 (I originally wrote 425 degrees, but that's wrong) for 25 minutes.

Some soft-boiled eggs--one of my favorite ingredients!

Dijon vinaigrette made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, lemon and some fresh basil from my herb garden.

French beans replaced beets in the original recipe as a complement to the potatoes.

The aftermath...

Add some greens, drizzle on the dressing, and tada!



Bon appetit!