What happened to the week!?

Laura is out of town, and we're planning to go out of town and somehow this week got away from us!

In related news (to the week just getting away from us), I got a new lens.  Ohman, I love it!

-Meghan

Bottom's up!

I was supposed to work on the playhouse this weekend.

I didn't.

I was supposed to work on a felt checkerboard, too.

I didn't.

Know those piles of laundry?  Sitting next to/under the bed?

Not folded.

I did, however indulge and relaxed and loved every minute of time with my family.  (insert ridiculous virtual hugs here to everyone).

And, my drink of choice was this:

 plus  (that's rum, y'all)

Um, yum.  Summery and delicious and the crickets are chirping.  You will have to wait for later for the playhouse.  My insincere apologies.

Also, since I was out of town last weekend and forgot to take out a banana (see about us to read about my history with produce) we have fruit flies.  This works wonders at getting rid of them.  Leave a half inch in the glass on the counter and wiiizaaam.  Buh-bye flies.  Enjoy your drink.

-Meghan

Sensory Market

I finally put my finger on why I love the market.  It isn't just the food, though that is pretty incredible.  It's the sensory stimulation.  We went a few hours later today (10am) and it was packed and they had sold out of some of our favorite things.  So I decided to let Henry wander and touch things and I would look for patterns and colors and light.

Looking behind the booths and down on the ground and up at the canopies was actually a lot of fun.

If you are getting a bit burnt out waiting for the tomatoes to come in, I really suggest trying to see and smell and touch everything else you have been seeing for the past few weeks.

-Meghan

Gardening, just because

I am nearing the point when gardening becomes dull.  When the routine of watering every morning (and sometimes evening) is a chore, not an exciting event anymore.

It's that stretch between initial work and the big payoff.  Things are green and growing like crazy but the most exciting summer vegetables aren't here yet.  It's getting close though.

I am doing an online class, or really, inspiration group (cheeeeesy) called Picture Summer with Tracey Clark.  As silly as it sounds, it has helped me in the garden.  Going outside with intention to capture something small or taking a step back, a deep breath and capturing something grander has motivated me to get back out there and get some of those weeds.  Because, you know, they are totally ruining the shot!

Here was my garden plan as of June 1st.  Not much has changed except that all of my lettuce is dead and gone now.  And for some reason my sunflowers just fell over and bit it.  Oh, and that trip out of town last weekend almost did it in for the mint, but I think my mojitos are bringing it back.  Nothing like a good drink to motivate the watering in the morning.

(And wish Laura and her husband a Happy Anniversary today!)

-Meghan

Roots

Felt-O-Rama is on a one week hiatus...  Come back next week for a great felt project!  

I learned something interesting a few months ago from one of my co-workers.  She also has only a balcony (I like to refer to it as my half a yard) to garden on, but she has a great green thumb.

One day as we were discussing our gardens she told me that if you cut a piece of a plant off and put it in water it will soon start to grow new roots.

I thought this was pretty cool, and I wanted to try it.

A few weeks ago I was checking on my bean plants which are planted in a container on my balcony.  One of them seemed slumped over from a particularly windy night.  I tried to pull the plant back into an upright position.  The plant snapped right off near the bottom of the stalk.  I really did not think that I had pulled it that hard!

So I remembered what my co-worker had told me, and I decided to give it a try.  I put the bean plant in a glass of water.  After a few days the plant started to slump over a little bit.  I was getting worried that this was not going to work.  However, a few days after that the plant had little roots growing out from the bottom, and the rest of the plant had perked back up!

I left it about a week more so that the roots could grow a little bit longer...

And then I replanted it in the container that it had originally come from.

- Laura

Homemade Bread

I have been anxiously awaiting this package in the mail for a few weeks.

It is a 4 quart polycarbonate food storage bucket with a plastic lid that is not totally air tight.   When the box arrived I opened it, took out the container, and washed it up.

Meghan recently sent me this book about making homemade bread in just 5 minutes a day! 

There are many different recipes in the book, but they are all variations of the basic recipe.  These are the only supplies that you need for the basic recipe.

The recipes are so fast because they make many loaves at once, and the dough stores in your fridge until you are ready to bake it.  It is also very easy to mix and store all in the same container.

After mixing the dough you leave it out to rise for two hours, and then put it in the fridge for up to two weeks!  Here is the dough just mixed. 
 

After one hour.

After two hours. 

When you want a loaf of bread, you simply take out the dough, shape it, and let it rise for 40 minutes. 

And of course bake it and eat it!

Mmmmmmm, warm homemade bread. 

- Laura

Market Day: Old Oakland Market

Many thanks to a flickr user and reader "hm" for sharing her amazing photographs of a market she made it to during her lunch break.  This is exciting for me as I have always admired hm's photography and been curious about California produce when I am dealing with root vegetables.

Here are some fun shots she is sharing with us!

East-West Gourmet guys who wanted a picture taken:

Again, many thanks to hm_adl for sharing these awesome photographs with us!  I love the colors and the diversity at the market.  You can find out more about this particular market here.

-Meghan