I have been meaning to write about our CSA program all summer. I wish I could say the delay was because I've been too busy finding creative ways to prepare the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Alas, I've fallen behind there, too - there are now two batches of green beans languishing in the fridge drawer. This week's Crenshaw melon was fabulous, though, but that didn't need anything except a knife!
Our CSA is an offshoot of our local farmers' market. We get a selection of the produce that's available (along with the occasional jar of honey or pear butter) and the growers get guaranteed buyers. All of it is fresh and tasty. Much of it is organically grown. All of it is from local family farms. Much of it is stuff we would buy anyway on a trip to Safeway - corn on the cob, peppers, lettuce, carrots, peaches - but much fresher. Some of it is stuff we don't buy regularly - okra, daikon radish - or couldn't, like the pluots (a plum/apricot cross) and the white peaches that aren't stocked in supermarkets.
Yes, it's more expensive. Yes, it's more of an effort. But I believe it's worth it. The 8/24/06 issue of The Nation has lots of good reasons why, including this piece with contributions from multiple writers outlining the problems with how food is produced and consumed now in the US (and increasingly in other parts of the world) and some possible solutions.
August 24, 2006
CSA
August 17, 2006
Taking the plunge
Back in May, following a writiers' conference I helped to organize, I was invited to be part of a new writers' group being formed by some people I know. Over the course of the summer I had really kind of forgotten about it, until today. This afternoon I went to the first planning meeting for next year's conference, and I thought "hmmm, I never heard from anyone about the group - wonder what's happening with that." Then I came home to find an email message - the group's first meeting is in three weeks. What exactly did I think I was going to be writing about? And where was I coming up with the time to write? And why did I think I wanted to write, anyway? Isn't reading much easier?
But I said I would, so I'll give it a try...
August 11, 2006
My First Meme
Time for a meme. Since all of about seven people know this blog exists, and I'm sure they've all given up on it since there has been nothing posted in months, I'll just pick my own since the odds of being tagged are pretty much non-existent. So here's one I've seen around and found entertaining:
Four jobs I've had:
Ice cream scooper: my first non-babysitting job in high school, at a well-known California ice cream parlor. This one was on the main route from the beach to the highway. All the people in swimsuits and bare feet who couldn't come in and be served at a table would line up for cones. As the new kid, I had to scoop cones instead of waiting tables where the tips were better. Even when the line went out the door and around the building, none of the table servers would help out. I quit after three days.
Burgers and fries: Wendy's. My junior year of high school, after the ice cream debacle. I lasted almost a year (and met my first real boyfriend).
Switchboard operator: This was my work-study job as a freshman at Northwest Explorers' college. The entire college - departments, faculty, administration, residence halls - connected to the outside world through a 240-extension PBX. My shift was Saturday mornings (plus lunch relief for the women who staffed it 8-5 on weekdays). The worst (aside from accidentally disconnecting calls to the president's office) were the parents who would call repeatedly right after the switchboard opened at 8:00 AM on Saturday and demand to know why no one was answering the phone on their son/daughter's hall (well, there was this party last night, and ....)
Temping: I had two gigs through a temp agency that lasted more than a day or two. One was doing data entry at an aluminum smelter. I spent a month with the overhead crane operators computerizing the parts lists for the cranes. It was like learning another language. The other was taking notes at corporate negotiations led by some high-powered management consultants. I learned that the corporate world was not for me.
Four movies I've seen more than once:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Almost Famous
Sense and Sensibility
North by Northwest
Four places I've lived:
Three are in California: San Francisco Bay Area (Palo Alto/Mountain View vicinity, as a child and as an adult), Santa Cruz county, and Santa Barbara.
The northwest town I live in now (the longest of them all by far)
Four TV shows I've seen more than one episode of:
Star Trek (all incarnations)
NYPD Blue
House Hunters (HGTV)
The West Wing
Four places I've been on vacation:
Acadia National Park
Victoria, BC
Squam Lake, New Hampshire
Asheville, North Carolina
Four blogs I visit daily:
I don't think there are any I visit every day, but four of the places I look often for something new include Confessions of a Community College Dean, Vegan Lunchbox, Writing as jo(e), and Half Changed World.
Four favorite foods:
Sourdough bread from the Bay Area
My mom's pecan pie
Butternut squash lasagna
Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch
Four places I'd rather be:
Yosemite
The north coast redwoods
Point Lobos
Any beach on the west coast of the US
(see a trend here?)
The four CDs I listened to most recently:
Being MP3 and iPod-less, this is easy:
Dixie Chicks-Taking the Long Way
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Anthology: Through the Years
Dave Matthews Band - Under the Table and Dreaming
An Dochas - Dragonfly
The last four vehicles I've owned:
2002 Honda Odyssey (current)
1991 Ford Aerostar
1988 Mazda B2200 pickup
1975 Opel 1900
Things in my life that come in fours:
Four dogs I've owned as an adult: Maggie, Molly, Cooper, and now Buddy
My family of origin (mom, dad, me, and my younger brother)
My current family (me, spouse, and two children)
My current age (44)
August 10, 2006
unexpected kindesses
I've been out of town for work for a couple of days. Meetings over, I tried out a little wine bar recommended by a guy in a tasting room I visited earlier (this area has garnered quite a reputation for wine, so I decided to make the most of the opportunity). I haven't been out by myself in an unfamiliar place in quite a while so I felt a bit awkward walking in, especially since I couldn't spot a vacant seat. I ordered a glass of wine at the bar, and fell into conversation with the couple sitting closest to me (I happened to pick the same wine that she was drinking). They were retired, and visiting from the east coast, but the woman grew up in this state, and we chatted about different places we've lived or traveled to. They finished their drinks and we wished each other well. I took a seat they had vacated, and figured that was the end of a pleasant encounter with strangers.
Fast forward about 90 minutes. I cross paths with the same couple again, in a different restaurant - they are in a booth toward the back and we see each other as I return from the restroom. We laugh, say hello, make a joke about who's following whom, and I sit down at my own table and enjoy my food and the live music (and a glass of fabulous syrah). When the server brings my crème brûlée, she says "I thought you would want to know - the couple sitting back there paid for your wine."
How do you handle this sort of thing? I thanked them as they passed my table on their way out, but I don't even know their first names. What's odd is that it's the second time this has happened to me in the last six months - on the first occasion, I was with my son in a restaurant (hearing a colleague and his son play jazz guitar) and when it came time for the check, the man at the next table had paid for our dinner. In this case we were passing acquaintances but I didn't know them well at all, and I wasn't sure if his wife or kids knew he had paid and didn't want to get into a awkward conversation then and there. We did send a thank-you card to his office, but our paths haven't crossed since then. A very nice thing for someone to do for us, and I am appreciative, but at the same time a little bewildered (why?). Or am I just not the type that thinks of spontaneous gestures, let alone acts on them? Anyway, I will try to take this in the spirit of "Pay it Forward" and do this for someone else someday...
August 09, 2006
blog? what blog?!?
Did I start a blog? This one looks familiar.
I will now publish the lamest of lame posts and promise to do better (or at least try more often)...
