battle of the csa boxes, week 5

This was our third box from Inland Empire, and it was the best quality so far.
We got:
*a bag of baby rainbow chard
*a bag of mustard greens
*3 bunches of baby celery, tough dry, and yellowing
*a bunch of spring onions
*a bunch of small white onions with tops
*4 loquats--I had never had these before, they were okay but I don't love them
*huge hydroponic purple basil
*hydroponic cilantro
*a head of hydroponic lettuce (looks like red romaine)
*a bunch of garlic scapes
*3 haas avocados (not ripe yet, but they look good)
*1 artichoke (yum)
*1 bunch of baby carrots
*2 huge grapefruits
*3 salad cucumbers, one shriveled
*5 small new potatoes
*a bunch of collards (yellowing and tough but were fine chopped up in the food processor and cooked into food)
*a pint of strawberries, delicious

you think you really know me

Actually, this post is not about me at all, but Larry's uncle Gary. He's a musician with a bit of a cult status, and a documentary has been made about him. You can read more about it here.

great food vacation roundup

First of all, Guerilla Cafe. Seriously, where else can you get an amazing organic espresso with condensed milk (it comes in a bowl) and a pastured, organic poached egg on a croissant? It's a nice little hangout spot with amazing food that is mostly organic. Love it.

Something I had to try before I try to go wheat free for a few months is Bakesale Betty's fried chicken sandwich in Oakland. It was everything it's cracked up to be, fantastic. They sell out every day. They also had some good looking strawberry shortcake but I decided to pass it by, the sandwich was super filling.

The perennial favorite Sol Food is also not to be missed, Arwyn discovered it when she lived in San Rafael. The menu is simple, with few choices, all fantastic. My hands down favorite is the pollo al horno. And the salad is organic greens with a super tangy and amazingly delicious dressing. I dream about it sometimes.

Last for now is Fairfax Scoop. There's a reason there is always a line. Organic ice cream made on the premises, need I say more?

weekend in northern california

Last Thursday (April 24) Nina and I hopped on a flight up to the bay area to visit my sister; she is set up in a really nice space that is above her employer's 4 car garage/storage area. It's a beautiful, secluded, quiet spot with lots of outside living area as well.

We were at Elephant Pharmacy in Berkeley* one day and I decided to buy Nina some face crayons, she was totally into it.

On Saturday Arwyn had some friends over for brunch and it turned into an all day thing, it was a nice lazy day with lots of laughter and good food.

Here's Nina's sasquatch (also known as sassy) face. By the end of the day Nina decided that her tanktop was actually a loin cloth; she put her legs through the arm holes and let the body hang down. It actually looked comfy, I just may try that on the next hot day.

Blurry but sweet snuggle pic (I should get a new camera, don't you think?).

*Don't think for a minute that I kept hoping I was going to see Michael Pollan around town. And also don't think that I might have done something embarrassing like throw my panties at him. I'm not a groupie or anything.

there's a pox on our house

Only the chicken kind. I'm glad Nina is getting it young, I had it when I was 19 and was so sick. She started out with two spots that looked like scratched bug bites on Wednesday afternoon and then woke up with a full-blown case on Thursday morning.

She's been taking it pretty well, not acting sick or bothered except at bed time when she's not disctracted, then she's been pretty miserable (I finally gave her a chewable benadryl last night and she was able to sleep from 11:30 to 6:30). Thursday afternoon I decided to take her outside and get some sun (I've later found out that's the exact wrong thing to do, but I didn't know at the time). The below isn't best pic of her pox but I posted it here because she is super scared of bugs and would have been flipped out that there was one on her back, but she didn't notice it.

I decided to let her use our big camera; she's totally a pro now.

This is my favorite of the pics she took.