Yes! We have no bananas.

We like bananas. Mayumi ADORES bananas. We have been known to go through over 12 bananas a week, and that is if ration them.

Bananas are a healthy portable snack ideal for toddlers--but they also come with a price. Our banana consumption alone doubtless contributes at least half of the GDP of a Central American country, but are these Banana Republics better off? Probably not. At anyrate, no one grows bananas around here, so it is off the list this month.

What is on the list? Check it out:

It isn't QUITE ideal apple season yet, but one particular variety are popping up at that markets--a tart variety, good for baking. I used them to make baked apples (ala mode--homemade icecream with SMC milk and half-and-half) and sweet apple bread (baking now--pictures forthcoming).

Speaking of dairy, Nate made some yoghurt the other day. He used to make it all the time during his mission in India. We used SMC milk and yoghurt to make MORE yoghurt. This SMC yoghurt is DELICIOUS and quite runny (think 'drinkable' yoghurt. I guess that particular bacteria is just runny...because that is what it made: more runny yoghurt. No complaints there; we all (especially Mayumi) love it. The finished product is here to the right.

Remember the mustard disaster? Well, who needs mustard anyway, when you can make 'Glo's Goddess Dressing.' My mother made up this receipe based on the famous Annie's Goddess Dressing she loves to buy but wanted to make herself. I eliminated the olive oil to make it thick. It is DELICIOUS, and the recipe follows:

1/2 C. canola oil (I normally use olive oil when I make it for salads)

1/2 C. tahini (sesame seed butter)

1 t. minced onion

2 T. apple cider vinegar

1T. soy sauce

1 t. lemon juice

1 T. Garlic

1 T. sesame seeds

1 T parsley flakes

DELICIOUS! See the photo (the parsley in the foregroun is from our garden):

Speaking of disasters--end blossom rot! We have it! Or, to be more precise our tomatoes have it. Look at these pitiful vegetables! As you can see, our garden look awesome. The basil is growing well, the pumpkins are getting bigger...it looks like we can't complain. But the tomatoes--every single last one even the still green ones--all have have end blossom rot. I haven't the faintest idea WHAT that is but when I described the problem to someone they nodded sagely and diagnosed it. Sigh. Our tomatoes last year were so beautiful (still enjoying the dried tomatoes). Thankfully the professional farmers seem to know what they are doing, because I can't have a sandwich without a tomato.

Speaking of tomatoes--we put some of our sundried tomatos on top of our pizza last night! So here we have totally local pizza: whole wheat crust, homegrown and canned sun-dried tomatoes, local mozzerella and ricotta, tomatoes from the Farmers' Market and homemade pesto with homegrown basil. YUM! And for dessert-baked apples and homemade icecream.

Speaking of herbs, we used some of our garden grown parsely for a wicked awesome soup the other day. Local zucchini, potatoes, corn, bell peppers and SMC half and half, along with some whole wheat rolls that Nate says were my best to date. This chowder is a Rachel Ray recipe.

I like it: Independence Day

This is Mayumi's new favorite expression. She says "I like it," followed by a dramatic pause, and then states the thing she likes. One of my favorites--"I like it: samak truck" ('samak' is 'fish' in Arabic and the 'fish truck' was the travelling aquarium we visited). I also enjoyed 'I like it: Daddy singing' (meaning 'daddy's song' which is the BYU Fight Song).

Mayumi really enjoyed the Independence Day celebrations. My mother challenged us to do something patriotic every day the week prior to the holiday, and we gave it our best shot. The most obvious of these patriotic acts was to buy and mount a flag on the front of our house.

We had two gatherings--one on the Saturday before with our wonderful neighbors the Mathews family and other friends Shawn and Janna, and then one more event (just dinner, really) on the 4th itself. With the Mathews--we BBQed and set off fireworks. Mayumi LOVED it.

Nate had the following Monday off from work--so we soldiered out in the blistering heat to Clemyjontri Park--and rode the carousel.

Unrelated, but still nice--I randomly chose to plant Zinias in front of our house. They are gangly, awkward, but very beautiful.

Today I made mustard...

...and it was TERRIBLE. Turns out mustard seed one buys in India three years ago 1) may or may not even BE mustard seed, 2) was bad to begin with, or 3) has expired. I am not sure which of the above reasons explains why each of the three mustard recipes I tried (faithfully, I assure you!) were so foul that Nate didn't even try to pretend to like them.

This photo features all three vile concoctions and the ingredients therein. Why was I making mustard? Well, naturally, we ran OUT of it and this month I am not allowing myself to go buy a replacement. If it isn't made locally, it is not going in my refrigerator this month.

Here is one of the meals I made this week:

You can see some of that cheese, the picture of which was in my last post, on top of Nate's homemade spaghetti. The sauce, featured below, is also homemade, with blended up tomatoes from the market and herbs from our garden. Not having any tomato paste, the sauce was EXTREMELY runny. But it tasted GREAT with the ground meat from the local farm. I used up the last of our garlic for this sauce, and worried we'd have to go through the rest of the month without that delicious....root (is it a root?). I had heard a friend of mine was growing it and I contacted her. Yes, she is growing it, but no, it isn't ready yet. But check out this next photo--what do you see in the middle of that pile of glorious vegetables I acquired only yesterday?

GARLIC!!!! YAY! Our very own local Farmers' Market had some, and I snatched it up.

Like last week, Thursday is usually sandwich day. THIS time we are eating smoked ham, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches (note: NO mustard). We DO have a new spread, however, that works in a different situation: pear butter. Yes, I made pear butter from our leftover peaches last week.

Our sandwich bread is homemade! Yay! My friend Nicolina, who used to work at Great Harvest, had me over this last week to coach me in my bread making (sounds domestic, eh?). Not only did we make whole wheat, but we tempted our taste buds with a cheddar garlic bread. INSANELY yummy, and I pretty much ate one whole loaf the moment I pulled it from the oven. Next week we'll make a sweet bread, so stay tuned.

That whole wheat? Freshly ground at our house (thanks Glojo for the wheat grinder!).

Nate makes delicious whole wheat pancakes, which this time contained SMC milk and little chunks of peach. Topped with a local honey.

I still make my own baby food, but this month the green beans are totally local. Thanks to my food processor, it isn't as arduous of a task as it sounds.

Emiko is naturally the major consumer of babyfood around our house these days, but we still make Mayumi eat the green beans. How? We mix it with apple sauce and call it "Greenple." Nate gets the credit for the name. Mayumi loves it. I, for one, love to hear her asking for greenple.

Another random meal--roasted potatoes, corn, steamed squash.

Okay, so people have been asking me how I am liking this project. The answer: I am enjoying it. It IS almost twice as expensive as buying regular 'cheap' food on sale. But it is so FUN to shop the Farmers' Markets, and they really do provide enough for one to eat from them exclusively. Of course I have had to make more food from scratch than I usually do. While I have always enjoyed cooking, I enjoy it less and less now that I have kids. Nothing makes hours slaving in the kitchen less worth it then one's 2-year old throwing what you've made on the floor, while you and your husband shovel down your food in silence because you can't possibly hold a conversation over the toddler wails and whines.

Do I sound bitter? Trying not to be. But I was kept awake for 2 hours last night but the younger one who is sleep training.

Ah, the joys of parenthood.

Project Fresh: Days Two-Four

A few lines about and photos of our first few days buying/eating only locally grown/made foods. Here we have 100% whole wheat homemade pasta with pesto, feature basil from our own garden.
This project (and these blog entries) will really get interesting later in the month when we have to start creating alternative ways to make some of our favorite foods like pesto (our supply of Parmesan, olive oil, and garlic won't last all month--but we LOVE using our basil in pasta dishes). Until then, however, it isn't hard to make regular dishes using locally-grown veggies and fruit. Pictured below is my breakfast--scrambled eggs (SMC) with ham (Farmers' Market), whole wheat bread (Farmers' Market) with apple butter (made by me last fall with apples from the Farmers' Market), and peaches (Farmers' Market).



Pictured here is the loaf from which that slice of toast came, as well as three locally-produced cheeses--Muenster, Colby (SMC), and Mozzarella (Farmers' Market).

This is just one of the bins of my refrigerator, stuffed to the gills with vegetables. This week's menu will be sandwiches (Monday), homemade pasta, sauce, and squash (Tuesday), tacos (Wednesday), and roast potatoes, risotto, green beans and corn (Thursday). Check back in Thursday night to see some pictures and to hear how it all went!

Project Fresh: Day One

Sandwiches are my favorite--the easiest dinner possible. Yet--Nate and I have been growing increasingly uncomfortable with deli meat. It just looks so...so...unnatural. We'd love to have just vegetables, but it is extremely time consuming to create a truly filling and delicious veggie sandwich.

Our sandwiches on Day One featured Honey Baked Ham, tomatoes, and lettuce from our local Farmers' Market.

Pictured here are the peaches (Farmers' Market) and milk (South Mountain Creamery) we used for smoothies. Note the glass bottles from SMC. Cool, eh?

Mimi and Audrey come to visit

Mayumi and Emiko's Mimi (Nate's mother) and Auntie Audrey came to visit and take care of Mayumi during my week in New York. We had a wonderful time and Mayumi still hasn't stopped talking about it.

Audrey was the best Auntie ever. While she is here she spends hours playing with and holding them. When she is away, she sends Yumi and Emi postcards. We love you Auntie Audrey!

Mimi is a champ for spending a week of nonstop fun with an emotional toddler. THANK YOU Rosalie!

Project Fresh

Thanks to Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defence of Food, Nate and I have really tried hard to eat more 'responsibly.' I won't even attempt to summarize Pollan's argument (get the book!) but basically the idea is this: 'cheap' food actually has many hidden costs: health care (cheap food causes heart disease, diabetes, some cancers) and petroleum (shipping the food across great distances) to name just two. Pollan urges us to know where our food comes from and pay a responsible amount for it (a larger percentage of our income than we currently are). He definitely advocates farmers' markets.

I frequented the farmers' markets in our area last year but only picked up random things to supplement our primarily grocery-store-based diet. My goal for this summer was to only purchase foods grown locally for ONE WHOLE MONTH. Nate and I have decided that July--starting tomorrow--is that month.

Now I need to say here that we will have to be reasonable about this. There are just some foods that we really 'can't' go without that aren't grown locally. I still have a lot of research to do, so I may find out otherwise, but we assume that grains are not grown/sold locally. And olive oil! We can't live without olive oil. There are a few reasons we've decided to name a few exceptions to our goal.

So we've decided that 1) we will continue to eat 'taboo' foods we already had on hand in the cupboard or the freezer throughout the summer, 2) prepared foods acquired out of the home (e.g. restaurants, friends' houses) are permissible, 3) when we have dinner parties (which we do often) that we'll use supermarket foods so we don't break the bank (local foods can get pricey!!) and 3) items we just MUST have (e.g. grains (old fashioned oats for cereal) and olive oil) may be purchased from the supermarket. But we'll give up sugar when we run out, nuts (other than what we can get locally--and Virginia does have peanuts!!), etc., and ONLY eat dairy, fruits, and veggies that we can get locally.

I've told a few people what we intend to do and one or two asked if I'd keep a log of it. So--to the best of my ability, I'll keep that record here. I am not an avid blogger and I do not enjoy time in front of the computer. But I'll do my best.

Wish us luck! And Mr. Pollan--if you google yourself and have found my blog--we love you!

Happy Birthday Dylan Gard Stansfield!

Happy Birthday Dylan, born 12 June 2010 at 5:13pm, 6lbs13oz (I think!).

Here is Baby Dylan and proud parents Lindsay (my sister) and Danny.

Way to go Lindsay!!!

Anniversaries

Happy Second and Six Month Birthdays, Mayumi and Emiko!!!

Here is a short clip taken at Mayumi's Second Birthday Bash. Thank you to all who came and especially to Mayumi's Grandma Mimi and Aunti Audrey who brought raw tortillas all the way from El Pasa, TX for us to cook on the spot and serve with our sweet pulled pork tacos.

Yesterday (one day early if you follow the Americn Pediatric Association recommendations) was a big day for Emiko; not ONLY did she get her first taste of rice cereal, but we weaned her from the Kiddapotomas (swaddling blanket) AND started sleep training (she used to be a great nighttime sleeper but has gotten in the habit of waking every four hours). The cereal was a success, she didn't seem to miss the Kiddapotomas at all, and she only cried for 35 minutes in the middle of the night before falling back to sleep--making it a 7 hr stretch total without a feeding.

WE LOVE YOU GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gardening time again!

I never thought this stawberry patch of ours could survive three feet up snow.

But it did!



Delicious!

Flood '10

As if last year's sump pump flood wasn't enough....

Our kitchen was in shambles for a while...

Nate fixed it...all of it. Drywall, everything.

Belatedly...Mother's Day

A little late...Mother's Day! This is the beautiful spice rack Nate found for me. You can see the bouquet of roses in the background as well.

Tiny Dancer

I just can't WAIT until Mayumi is old enough for a dance class. I picked up these tap shoes at a thrift shop and I can already see her twirling and tapping, pink leotard and hair in buns.

Mayumi is such a funny little girl. She is obsessed with towels and drying things off. Here, you can see her wiping off her slide after a rain.