i love specialty foods, in case you haven’t yet discovered that about me…
and i happen to LOVE salt – in all its varieties.
so when a friend brought me this adorable jar of salt back from her trip to france, i was totally excited!!
when i said to her, “ohhh i’m so excited to blog about this fancy french salt…” she was like, “wellllll – it’s just salt. the only thing fancy about it is that i carried it all the way back home in my backpack… just for you.”
i fancy that, i say. Continue reading
oh my goodness was this a lovely meal. the whole day was lovely yesterday : there was such amazing energy in the air! that supermoon energy was flowing all around me and through me, it was awesome!!!! did any of you get a chance to see the super moon? it was too cloudy here, so i will have to camp out next year 🙂 but i definitely still felt the energy this weekend!!!!
i took a little trip to a farmers market a little north of me in search of some kirby cucumbers to make pickles with. no luck in that department, unfortunately… however i did discover some amazing things while there! and with most of the ingredients i purchased yesterday, i made this incredible pasta dish!
farmers market pasta.
most everything in this dish was purchased fresh from the market yesterday…
– garlic chive pasta from pappardelle’s {amazing!! family-owned company and they have over 100 kinds of pasta!}
– organic heirloom tomatoes
– garlic scapes
– volcanic garlic {i can’t wait to blog about this!}
– fresh chives from my friend’s yard
– basil dressing, cream cheese, tomato paste, and a little parmesan {not from the market, but perfect to have in the fridge for this dish :)) Continue reading
do you know how to pick out a good watermelon?! … one that’s guaranteed to be ripe, juicy, and flavourful?!
well, for one thing – to guarantee the flavour and ripeness, it’s important to begin with quality.
i always opt for organic food {especially produce} when i can… organic produce is grown with more care, handled with more care, and therefore just plain tastes better… in my humble {and generally RIGHT} opinion 🙂
this sticker tells us that not only is this watermelon organic, but it’s fair trade. which {happily} means the farmers that grew this watermelon are paid a FAIR WAGE for their product and services. this is extremely important to me also because i’m a collective thinker – i am grateful for that farmer who took time to grow this beautiful fruit for me to enjoy. and i want him/her to get paid what they are worth for doing that service. fair trade kind of cuts out the middle man, if you will. you can read more about fair trade products here. Continue reading
nom nom, don’t you just love cherries?!
they are so fabulous for so many reasons!! …
good for your heart… {among other things like gout and blood clots}
loaded with antioxidants… Continue reading
that’s a mouthful, and a really long title for a blog…but that is essentially what is in this dish, and to leave out any part just seamed wrong. those are all amazing and wonderful things and when you put them all together you get this incredible dish :
super healthy, keeps well in the fridge, easy to make, delicious… cute. 🙂
i mean, seriously though – it’s cute… sure – it’s pasta, but it’s cute. 😛
i’ve mentioned this pasta before – i love it for a bunch of reasons, including the fact that it is non-gmo, organic, and gluten-free. Continue reading
in case you’re wondering : sui generis
have you ever seen or even better, eaten one of these beauties?! this is the lovely cherimoya {pronounced “cher-uh-moi-uh”}…
i love how she is shaped like a heart… and yes, i totally think this particular fruit is a “she” – i don’t always feel that way, but i did about the cherimoya… what a unique and interesting and wonderful treat this was! and she was definitely a lady!
when one first brings a cherimoya home, it’s a totally different colour than in this foto… that is to say, if it hasn’t ripened yet. this particular fruit in the above foto is fully ripe. typically when you buy them from the store, they are more on the green side… it takes 2 or 3 days to have it ripen up at home… it almost becomes like an avocado when ready to eat.
beauty comes in all colours, shapes, and sizes…
they aren’t exactly cheap, weighing in at easily $5-$6 for one fruit… but my goodness, is it worth it! Continue reading
the temps were absolutely perfect last week – 70-80 degrees during the day and cool nights that require only a light sweater, but flip flops are comfortable. the smell of the grill lingers in the air, the frangrance from the various blooms waft from every angle, the sun is warm, the air is warm, the days are long… and that means i take lots of little walks.
here’s a few shake-it app inspired fotos i snapped last week while wandering around my ‘hood…
devouring the best pastrami sammy EVER – from masterpiece delicatessen in the highlands… my new favourite spot!!
my neighbourhood kind of reminds me of new york…
enjoying my first latte in about a year… {half caff, only – definitely iced!} Continue reading
a little secret about me : i have battled with insomnia for about half my life.
i’ve gone back and forth in my head — “claiming it” by owning it and being honest {as i’ve done here}, invoking the law of attraction by saying “i sleep great!” – both seem to have the same effect… i’ve tried melatonin, valerian root and other random herbs, about 5 different kinds of mattresses, yoga, prayer, meditation, sleepy tea, alcohol, and a variety of other remedies to help in my battle. i even tried some feng shui to encourage the right energy during bedtime… i tried one or two prescription drugs but absolutely hated the side-effects and the dopey feeling the next day… one of them even gave me wacky lucid dreams, almost nightmares… i once tried to “donate my body to science” by participating in an insomnia-related study, but i didn’t qualify because i hadn’t tried enough prescription drugs… over-the-counter remedies help in the short-term, but that stuff is so bad for your liver and i also worried about dependency… i have to board up my windows and sleep with a mask usually, and that is in part due to my late work hours… i know i’m reasonably young but i’m not getting any younger and i’m at that age where this kind of crap is super important to me now. i don’t need to get 8-10 hours every night, but what i do need is to STAY asleep during the night.
enter the title of this blog… Continue reading
why are artichokes so amazing?!?!?!?!!!!!!
and beautiful?!?!?!?!!!!!!
i bought a handful of these little purple ones the other day… Continue reading
prior to sauteing up a healthy batch of beautiful rainbow chard {i make mine with a little EVOO and diced shallots}, i like to sit back and admire the colours and patterns this wonderful vegetable creates…
puts a whole new meaning to “eat the rainbow” eh?!
i threw a lot of random stuff in this one…. {choosing organic where possible}
– 1 small clementine, peeled
– 1/2 pear, stems and seeds included
– 2 pitted dates
– a few banana slices
– handful of romain lettuce
– orange juice
– almond milk
– some raw protein powder
you just never know what colour to expect… but the taste is always amazing!
i’m a huge fan of using dates for sweetening. usually all you need is one or two per 12 oz. serving. they are inexpensive and the vitamix can handle it! just make sure to buy pitted dates! the lettuce flavour was a little stronger in this compared to good ol’ spinach, but i had run out so i had to replace *something* green… 😉
have a great weekend!
sooooo – my stats have suddenly started dropping lately. i don’t really want to focus on it too much, but i find it odd that out of nowhere, i’m getting less and less “likes” when for a good while there i was getting more and more and people were finding and following my blog… i just find it odd… any insight you all may have is appreciated.
meanwhile, i’m going to keep writing amazing blogs. i love doing it for me, but i also do this as i hope to inspire others to try new foods and recipes and to create their own! food is fun.
this blog is about another specialty cheese that i discovered at whole foods market a couple weeks ago called balsamic bellavitano. it is one of the most delicious cheeses i’ve ever had – and i’ve tried a lot of cheeses! this is a reserve cheese with a little nuttiness and hints of fruit in the flavour. i love how they wrap it in special paper…
… just makes it so fun to open up 🙂 Continue reading
it’s artichoke season!!!
and thank goodness for that!!!! i wrote a blog or two about them last spring… i just love these beautiful babies. although they do take an awful lot of work to prepare for such a little amount of actual flesh… it’s SO worth it – the scrumptiousness waiting inside doesn’t quite compare to any other…
it got me thinking about how artichokes are kind of like us, like humans…
i know you may be chuckling thinking how the heck can i be like a green pokey vegetable?! well… the way i see it –
an artichoke looks like a flower.
just like us 🙂 Continue reading
hey – how was your weekend?
i feel like mine was full of epiphanies. i feel like i turned over a new leaf. maybe it’s because i really feel like spring has ACTUALLY finally sprung here in colorado. we had snow to kick off the month of may, and last week was our “spring” full of rain – now we are in the 80s. so typical.
i feel like new life is here and with it, new ways of looking at it. i’ll dive into that more later… for now, let’s talk about baby leeks – AKA “ramps”…
when i see ramps showing up in the produce section, i know spring is here! Continue reading
happy mother’s day, judi!
i miss you more than there are words for. i celebrate who you were as my mother every day. on your anniversary this year, i was strong – no tears… i even went to work – i smiled and thought of your smile all day. but this week has been rough. i couldn’t figure out why my emotions have been so high… sometimes it just hits me, yanno?! i miss you more than ever, it seems. i’m a “big girl” now, and all i want is my mommy. i want to ask your advice, introduce you to people i meet, have lunch with you, buy you sweaters and scarves, make you smoothies, paint your fingernails, and brush your hair for you. i also miss giving you back-scratches. i know i always complained about doing that for you, but i would do it as my full time job now if i could – and nothing seemed to make me fall asleep like a back-scratch from you… i miss the littlest things. i don’t wallow in sadness when i miss you… i mean, it hurts – they lie when it says it gets easier with time… it actually gets harder, one just finds ways to cope. but i do find that some moments are extraordinarily harder than others…
i always say your death was “bittersweet” because i just can’t find another word to help me accept that it happened. even 20 years later – i don’t know who i’d be if it didn’t happen, and i don’t know how happy or healthy you would’ve been if it didn’t… so all i can really do is be extra grateful that YOU were my mother in this lifetime. that for 13 glorious years, you were the one tucking me in at night and making silly “bear” faces in the car on roadtrips to visit family. all i can do each year on mother’s day is remember the wonderful things you did for me as my mother.
i’ll close with a few of the reasons and memories i have that made you the best mom ever : Continue reading
i’m going to bet not many of you have seen these little guys. in all my 9 years of being around specialty produce, this was a first for me. i like to look over the produce section this time of year and see “what’s new.” that’s how i discovered kohlrabi…
once upon a time not long ago – for like four months, i was a pretty strict vegan. i just wanted to try it out… see how i felt. i will do it again, for sure – but for the most part, i just eat what my body tells me to and sometimes that includes organic, humane animal products.
when i was eating vegan i wondered how to get my omegas in my diet because i noticed when i took fish oil it gave me heartburn and i didn’t like the way it tasted. i haven’t gone back to fish oil since discovering flax oil. now – it’s not anything new to me, i’ve always known about flax… i just didn’t supplement with it until recently when it was suggested to me that i take it versus the fish oil.
omegas are good for our hair, skin, nails, heart, blood, and brain… among many other things. they help us stay “lubricated” and give our skin a lovely glow. i take flax oil by the capsule daily, but i love being able to buy the whole seeds in bulk such as this…. Continue reading
a co-worker suggested i try this recipe when i said, “what should i do with the delicious english peas i bought today?”
it’s a pretty basic recipe – with a special ingredient of cinnamon… which i must admit, i don’t really ever use in my cooking – unless a recipe specifically calls for it. i don’t keep in the pantry or anything… although, i am really wanting an organic spice rack – should anyone be wondering what to randomly gift me 🙂
what i love about this recipe is the simplicity – and i was surprised at how nicely the cinnamon complimented the overall dish. the key is always adding a little at a time… the rice also brought the dish together – i used simple jasmine rice for this dish. i like the texture and flavour.
ingredients :
– organic authentic san marzano tomatoes {canned}
– fresh garlic
– olive oil
– ground cinnamon
– basmati or jasmine rice Continue reading
this one is SUPER yum and i just love the colour!!! another great post-workout drink!
– frozen mangos {about 1/4 cup}
– frozen pineapple {about 1/4 cup}
– frozen bananas {about 1/4 cup}
– coconut milk {about 1 cup}
– splash of orange juice
– handful of fresh spinach
– a couple pitted dates
– sprinkle in some golden flax seeds
i’ve somehow almost got it down to a magical science now- that whatever i put in my vitamix makes *just enough* for this glass jar i drink out of {which i believe is about 12 ounces}:
isn’t that colour awesome?!?!
nothing says “spring” quite like fresh eggs.
i feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have eggs “gifted” to me from time to time…
one of my co-workers has chickens… and she shares her eggs with some of us when she has a bounty…
she’s given them to me several times now… Continue reading
food & foto 