busy.

dessert at our anti-derby picnic in the park today. yes, that's REALLY good vegan chocolate cake baked up by my friend Carrie!


local asparagus, roasted simply with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked pepper. We enjoyed this with a homemade lentil soup!


we found this beauty today .. hydroponic. at the farmer's market. i almost hate to use it up! it's so darned pretty!

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Hello, everyone.

The next two weeks (and consequent months!) will be very busy for me, so I'll be here when I can.

We are moving next Sunday! And before then, I have to pull off a kindergartener-hosted dinner party for 9 parents, with baking/chopping/etc. happening during morning and afternoon sessions of school all this week. As my boss said somewhat dubiously, that's ambitious! But I can do it. I know I can.

here is the menu they are working on:


These busy times are times when I try and set simple goals for myself during the craziness. The goals for the coming months are:

simple meals with mostly local ingredients when i'm home (which will be approximately never until late july/early august, oh well)

finish the baby sweater I'm knitting, despite the wonky sleeves (I think I finally figured out where I went just a little wrong)

plant basil in our new garden (pics to come!) - mainly for pesto to put by for the entire winter. last year's store landed me in april before i finished it all! And i'm so happy i'll be back in time to jar/bag up blackberries, blueberries, tomatoes, strawberries, zucchini, etc.

get the new house settled in enough for a small dinner party

read 9 or so chapters of a required textbook for school this summer (ugh)

adam and i have reached a frugal-minded compromise on going out to eat. i wanted once a month, he wanted once a week. so every other week we will go out (him), every other week takeout (me). and decrease it from there. it's our worst habit. we don't have other bad ones. well, he's a sucker for what i call "frou frou" coffee drinks. and i'm a sucker for yard sales. i bought a lovely warm blanket today for $3. gave it a good wash and dry and it was ready to go! i love having extra blankets around. very practical! he bought a $3.85 espresso drink. not so practical. but at least we don't do either of those every day.

friday night homemade pizza nights are back. we love them. last night's was mushroom, spinach, and onion and the crust was stuffed with veggie bacon. we also have wine and try always to get a bottle under $15. sorry this is sideways ... forgot to edit before adding it here.


i leave for portland OR in just 11 days! Hard to believe that school is over in less than two weeks. i have all my bus/hotel/hostel/train tickets booked and ready to go. just have to pack! hoping to go super light - just my north face pack and green vintage american tourister carry on. I am going to keep track of everything I spend so my school loan money, which I have earmarked for travel, will cover me ... erm, if the darned check ever comes!

we are going to use this last week to enjoy the rest of our time in the house i've lived in seven months. cooking, reading, etc. i sure will miss it but we have a great opportunity awaiting us!

we are also trying to save up for that farmland ... and getting good leads on it all the time!

have a great week and happy mother's day to you moms out there.

love and light,

karen