Block Party

With 3 kids, a part time job, and an endless to-do list of things I never do, I've taken on the neighborhood block party. Thankfully, we have a committee of 5 as of now and more volunteers coming, I'm sure. We had a meeting at my place last night to discuss the general plans and it went well. I'm so glad we're doing it...there are a ton of young families on our street and surrounding and it would be cool to actually get to know some of the neighbors better.

Plus, it gave me an excuse to run last minute to Trader Joes again - Maple Leaf cookies and Shortbread cookies with Apricot or Raspberry jam. Yum. While I was there I sampled a nitrate-free beef hot dog (delish!) and Salt & Pepper potato chips (also yum). I finally bought the brownie mix that L was recommending and NO WONDER it's so good - it calls for a STICK of melted butter. I'll report how they are...I'm sure they won't last long in the house now.

Progress on the CSA: Baby Chard or Spinach?

I sauteed what I thought was baby swiss chard in some olive oil and garlic. I don't think I've had chard before so I'm not sure if that is what I ate. B/c of the red ribbing on some of the leaves and the general appearance of the leaves (they looked more like arugula or some weird salad mix) I didn't think it was spinach. However, it really tasted like spinach. I guess it doesn't matter what it was...I like most leafy greens and garlic adds to anything.

New Trader Joes Finds

1. Chocolate Ice Cream - simple yet SO rich and delicious. and cheap.
2. Naan bread - we've had the whole wheat and the garlic naan and both are delicious. kids loved it too.
3. Mini mint ice cream chocolate cookie sandwiches - see what happens when you give out free samples?
4. Flowers, flowers, flowers - at 3.99 or 4.99 a bunch that last 2+ weeks, how can I not?
5. Olive oil. Can you say 7.50 for a quart of EVOO? Can you say 5.50 for a quart of regular olive oil?
6. Prewashed cut up broccoli

That's it for now, but I'm trying the brownie mix next!

Progress on the CSA Bag - Collard Greens

I've not cooked, nor even tasted, Collard Greens before. The CSA has forced them on me though so I gave it a whirl. I'm thrilled to report that they are delicious. Thank you, Martha Stewart, for this easy braised Collard Greens recipe with Bacon and Onions. I figured if I didn't like them I could at least eat the bacon. They were great though!

We've made a nice dent in our abundance of lettuce. The radishes are almost gone - used for salads. The rhubarb went into jam. Strawberries were eaten as is. The only item I haven't done anything with yet are the baby chard leaves. I'm thinking I'll saute them with garlic and oil probably tomorrow to go with some brats I grabbed at Trader Joes. Yum.

Animals Tangled in the Hair

I must be the only person who hasn't heard that bats can be attracted to humans hair and can get tangled up in it. A couple of people told me stories so of course I had a nightmare last night about chipmunks burrowing in my hair and me having to shave it. Today I'm sporting a classic 70's Diana Ross hairdo thanks to the New England humidity and all this crappy rain so maybe buzzing it all off wouldn't be such a bad thing...

29 Jars of Jam on the Wall...

Shelagh and I went Strawberry picking last weekend up at the farm where we get our CSA. We picked a case of beautiful, ripe, sweet fruit which we planned to make into jam. Good thing, too, b/c all the rain we've gotten up here has pretty much wiped out the strawberry crop that remains after last weekends strawberry festivals at most of the U-Pick farms around here. By yesterday, they were starting to rot already so it was a day of jam-making for us.

The 29 jars broke down into Strawberry, Strawberry-Rhubarb, Mixed Berry, and Strawberry-Cherry. My finger nails are permanently stained from pitting cherries using a paring knife. My cherry pitter sucks and this was the fastest way. What a pain in the ass. They all came out good, although still too sweet I think. The classic jam recipes call for 5-6 cups of fruit to 7 cups of sugar. Yes, 7 cups of sugar! I actually did 6 cups of sugar last year and it was too sweet, so this year I went down to 3-4 cups of sugar and even that is too much. I'm thinking 2 cups is plenty for next time.

Rory mashing and Shelagh sorting and eating!

Holy F-ing Bat

There Joe and I were...relaxing on the couch watching a mellow movie about Hitler. When, all of a sudden, Lickey the cat went on high alert and something swooshed through the room. Just when we thought maybe we were wrong (don't you always) - BAM - here it came again. An F-ing BAT!! Seriously!! A freakin' bat was flying around our living room. Although neither of us are fond of rodents, let alone flying rodents, we armed, we attacked, and - yes - we prevailed.

We armed...with dry swiffer, extra wide rake, and shower curtain in hand we planned our next move.

We attacked...we confirmed that our front and back doors were propped open and that all other doors in the house - including our children's bedroom doors - were closed. We noodled over how the hell a bat got into our house (me swearing I was calling rodent control first thing Monday AM NO MATTER WHAT b/c WHAT THE F - we must be infested! What if there is a whole nest or babies or something????). The cat went upstairs to guard the bathroom door needlessly. We have the biggest WUSS cat on the planet.

Joe made several attempts to lunge for it going up the steps, but that wiley bastard out manuevered us. He was circling our upstairs. The plan was put in place. I put on my hoodie and pulled the string tight (b/c as with the single plastic bag that gets put on the eggs that serves virtually no purpose and has no chance in preventing any eggs from breaking, I was sure that my J Crew Navy hoodie would prevent any bat bites from permeating my skin).

We prevailed...I slowly ascended the steps to the landing between the first and second floor. I waved the rake around to lure the creature towards me. I hit the deck. Holy shit, bats are scary. I got back up and he came for me. I whacked him once and hit him slightly. He came at me again...I whacked him harder but this time down the steps. Joe threw the shower curtain on him and whacked him repeatedly out the door confirming he flew away (as opposed to him dying on our deck and his limp body scaring the shit out of us and the kids in the morning).

We figure he had to have gotten in via the fireplace. It took a big bowl of chocolate Trader Joes ice cream to calm us down and a tense ending to the Hitler movie (Valkyrie, if you are wondering. And, yes, we liked it) to divert our attentions sufficiently.

Yes, this is a true story. I categorize this event under Crazy People (us), Funnies (b/c I was laughing at Joe lunging to and fro), I appreciate (b/c the kids slept through the whole thing and I didn't piss my pants), and Resolution (b/c I swear I will close that fireplace as soon as the frost clears each year).

By the way, the cat just secured her own future. She was on the way out with all the throwing up and crapping on the floor she's been doing lately. Now at least we'd have a slight warning that something is askew in the house, even if she doesn't do anything about it.