meansoybean

Busy, busy, busy. That’s all I have to say about the last two weeks. In terms of organic baskets, we saw mesclun, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, yellow and patty pan squash, yellow and green beans, kale and (pointy) green cabbage.

The beans went into a fried rice, the yellow squash topped some white pizzas, the cucumber was tossed into a tahini salad, the kale was a last minute addition into a thai curry, the cabbage was made into slaw and also tom yum soup. Needless to say, it’s been good eatin’ round here.

Actually, I’ve been very good with the basket this year and haven’t wasted or thrown anything rotted out. Now that I have a backyard composter, all the trimmings go there instead of the garbage — I was amazed at how little garbage this house produces now, what with recycling whatever else we can. For the longest time during the apartment-renting days, I would find myself saying “I wish I had a backyard so I can have a composter!”. How many people actually wish for something like that?

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So.. who’s been keeping me so busy? Meet Upgrayedd (“the double d is for a double dose of pimping”).

Funny enough, I was supposed to adopt a little girl cat, and was told by the couple who fostered the mom that Upgrayedd was a girl. I brought him home and thought his rear looked funny for a female and spent the next few days before the vet visit questioning myself. The vet confirmed that he was indeed a boy.

He’s a bit of a handful, but his cuteness makes up for it. He’s very sweet and he’ll fall asleep in your arms, something my other cats won’t do. He absolutely hated being in quarantine and started to climb the windowed doors, all the while howling and howling. It’s hard to believe, but this little 3-pound body can be LOUD.

Here’s a retro-looking photo of the hot house tomatoes I got today. This growing season is actually the first in years where I’ve gotten so many. Previously, I would get only a couple of really nice looking ones, the rest would be mostly green. I plan on saving the seeds from the best of this batch in the hopes of growing my own next year.

Other goodies from the basket today were chard, yellow and green zucchinis, patty pan squash, fresh red onions, beets and a nice bunch of carrots.

That is all.

So if you didn’t know, I’m MacGyver. Seriously. I will try and kludge a problem with something readily at hand. It’s a talent, it’s a gift, it’s a calling.

Hehehhe… just kidding.

Here is my latest; a tape dispenser that lost its stick-thing.

I immediately scoured my surroundings for something suitable. I found a truant IKEA pencil — a perfect fit for the dispenser’s slot — and promptly shortened it with an exact-o knife.

Needless to say, I was pretty proud of this small accomplishment; I made an item that would have otherwise ended up trashed useful again. Take that, garbage pile!

Here we have a fair-sized chinese cabbage head, much unlike the giants you see at the grocery store. Not sure what I’ll do with it, but it’ll probably end up with some glass noodles. Other basket items included frizzy lettuce, hot house tomatoes, snow peas, young onions, patty pan squash, zucchini and basil.

Tonight I made an ad-hoc pesto with the basil. En lieu of pine nuts I used raw cashews and I added some re-hydrated sun-dried tomatoes. All it really is is blending a bunch of things in the food processor to make a yummy goo for pasta, and not rocket science :)