sneak peek

oh hi. it's me. i'm still around. just a little preoccupied...work, studying for a registration exam, losing power for the majority is a day, out-of-town wedding, sewing a dress for a charity fashion show...you know, the usual :) so until i can write a real post, here is a low quality shot of the dresser in its current state. don't judge (even though we all know that's what i would do).

guests & projects

so my mom and sister just left. which makes me very sad. after the wedding in houston last weekend, they came out to see the house, visit, and work on projects at the house. my sister is pregnant, so we didn't do anything too crazy : ) i miss them already!

my mom is a landscape designer. which means she drew up plans for our gardens! i have big dreams of a bountiful kitchen garden and robust cutting garden, and she helped me figure out what to put where. our front yard will be a wonderful oasis of lush flowers that bloom throughout the year against an evergreen backdrop. and she recommended we add a bit of physical structure to help provide focus and framework to the cottage garden look i'm after. she also suggested a kitchen garden in the front! shhh - don't tell phil. he's not too sure about edibles in the front, but her plan will be beautiful, if i can execute it correctly : ) she confirmed our suspicions about the tree in the tiny "backyard," too... it's dying. we'll have to figure out if the city or utility company will help cover the cost of removing it. but then we'll have another parking space! she suggested a structure on the back patio to provide shade and privacy, and then a vertical garden for more edibles. and an evergreen rosemary as a green wall between us and the next-door neighbor. smart lady!

we cooked at the house for most of our meals. sarah is pregnant, which means restricted diet - and cravings. and my mom follows a FODMAP diet. which is very restrictive. no garlic and onions! that makes it difficult to eat at restaurants without special ordering like crazy. plus, i had dairy delivery on tuesday and farm share on wednesday, so we had plenty of options for cooking fresh, seasonal food.

my favorite meal was a roasted chicken. i ordered a whole roasting chicken from south mountain, so it was delivered to the house on tuesday. it was already cleaned (hooray!!), with a bag of innards in the cavity. i followed the recipe from my favorite martha book, with butter and rosemary under the skin.

we used some olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted the livers in the same pan. we put potatoes and a couple of garlic cloves around it. my mom can't eat the garlic, but still likes the flavor, so we left it in big pieces so we could pick it out after. i also chopped chives all over it. it roasted at 450 for about an hour... 

and came out gorgeous and crispy! the potatoes weren't as crispy as i like them, but they still tasted good. we ate it with steamed green beans from the farm share, because that is something sarah craves. weird. but healthy! she is trying to eat as many different foods as possible to expose baby's palette to lots of healthy foods. the best part of roasting a chicken is having leftover roasted chicken : )

like for nachos at lunch the next day. mmmmmmmmm. we finished a few projects... cleaning up and organizing the back room into a study and work room, putting together the dining room, making blackout roman shades for the den's french doors, and putting the final coat of poly on the dresser. those posts are coming, but i'm up to my eyeballs studying for an architectural registration exam, so i'll have to write them on procrastination breaks. 

i have loved spending an entire week with my mom and sister : ) and next time i see them, i'll have a new nephew! 

g.t.t.

if you took texas history in seventh grade, you probably get my reference. gone to texas. this weekend is my cousin's wedding in houston. and he's marrying a gorgeous indian girl and they are having a multi-day indian wedding :) it's so exciting! they are both so sweet and excited to be married. and i'm just happy to spend time with my family. and eat samosas. tonight we had henna done - mehndi - and it is beautiful! my nana even had a little on her hand. don't worry, she's not upset in this photo... one of priya's aunts is telling a funny story and nana is cracking up. not only is her family gorgeous, but they are extremely kind. looking forward to a fantastic weekend!! congrats, brent & priya!

friday

i am on deadline. which means
1. i need to go on a cleanse, i have been eating so poorly. oh, did you know i'm a stress eater? it's pretty bad. stressful meeting? hot chocolate or m&ms. no sleep? popeye's chicken. angry? cheese and bread. and wine. and olives. and probably m&ms.
2. i miss my garden
3. i neglect most of my other obligations. the only reason i can keep up with this is because of the blogger app on my phone, which means i can write on the bus.
...and this is not a bad one! in fact, i don't think i'll be in the office all weekend. i've only had to cab (well, uber) home once so far. i'm getting soft in my old age.

the milkman always rings twice

in my quest for reasonably-priced, high-quality food, i lean toward local and small. i've watched food, inc. and i've read just about all of michael pollan's books. my interest (phil may call it my obsession) with healthy, fresh food started in high school, when i read a couple of books by dr. andrew weil. the first one i read was this one, eating well for optimum health. heavily influenced by my mom's health issues and my grandmother's reliance on medicine, i decided i do not want to take medicine unless absolutely necessary. bodies are intricate, complex systems and EVERYTHING is related. and i think food is one of the strongest tools you have to help you stay strong and healthy, not to mention help you age gracefully and maintain or improve your quality of life. one of my favorite podcasts, by the compassionate cook, says "if you don't have time to be sick, make time to be healthy." that really resonates with me!

so with all my amateur food and health research, i try to eat real, whole foods, produced responsibly without harmful chemicals. i am also a supporter of seed saving and try to not buy genetically modified foods, if i can. so all of that together leads me to buy our food from smaller, local farms - i can ask more questions and there tends to be a different type of transparency in the production. i also like being able to put faces with where my food originates... as strange as this may sound, i am more likely to use up all my produce from farm share than from the grocery store. i feel a responsibility to thoroughly enjoy the food when i think about all the work that has gone into its production. 

anyway... all that to say, we had our first milk delivery! haha. is it obvious yet that i am passionate about food? : ) i have been wanting to do the delivery service for a couple of years now, but couldn't in our rosslyn apartment.  we got a metal box for our porch and a driver who comes every tuesday. i make my order online by sunday night and it is charged to my credit card. they have one time or recurring orders (in case you forget to order!), which i love. this first order i just got a half gallon of skim milk and turkey bacon. the milk is good, cheaper than whole foods and tastes the same or better. we haven't eaten the bacon yet, although i was surprised: it came looking like canadian bacon. not what i expected. but it will make yummy breakfast sandwiches this weekend, all the same : ) next week, i'm ordering eggs and chicken, too. i'll keep you posted!

hooray!

two big things have happened: my first glover park tomato ripened. and we finally got a new trash can!! our trash can was missing a lid on moving day, so i borrowed the one from next door - no one lives there. but the caretakers didn't care for that and switched them back :( so i ordered a repair from the city and they finally brought a new one! who would have thought this would make me so happy? pathetic. but maybe it will solve the recent influx of crickets. my most hated enemy - seriously the bug i am most grossed out by, ever since i had one jump on my foot in the bathroom in kindergarten. what can i say, i can hold a grudge.

good weekend

i love low-key weekends :) and this one was wonderful. i'm about to go into crunch time on deadlines, so hanging out with friends and working on personal projects is at the top of my list. friday dinner was venison backstrap, shot by a friend and then grilled and enjoyed among friends, with wine and veggies and great conversation.

saturday brought more work on the dresser, pool time, and an italian feast al fresco with girlfriends. the ultimate in relaxation :) sunday was more work on the dresser (almost done - just need hardware), and then a lazy rainy afternoon... movies, cooking, juicing, hanging out with my love :)

ready for the work to come this week... hopefully!