Musings

I didn't realize I haven't posted here for nearly a year until I was updating the welcome letters on my icontact mailing lists. #sheepish

I've rebranded my online presence, again. This is the second time I have done so and I am contemplating if I will do a matching blogger address or just leave it here (since I never seem to blog anymore anyway). I originally rebranded after my maternity sabbatical--I had closed my office a few months prior to the sabbatical and my practice was heading in a different direction after the sabbatical. This latest rebranding came about with my family's relocation to another region of North Carolina--it seems more succinct to me and I'm kicking myself for not hitting upon its simple brilliance sooner.

The State Legislature requires EVERYTHING I do to have my name and license number on it so there's no point in doing a dba, in my opinion, because it's not simplifying anything--the rebranding is purely continuity of online presence, not a business name.

While I muse over what to do about the blog(s) you can follow my antics on facebook, twitter, and instagram. If you want to chime in your two-cents, feel free to comment below. Let me know what you would like to see here, and if it should continue here or if it should be migrated to a blog addy that matches the rest of my current online presence.


(BTW--there are a few self-care videos on the facebook page now. More will be created and uploaded at some future point.)

Farm-to-Fork Fundraising Dinner

The Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market is holding a Farm-to-Fork dinner to raise funds towards the support and growth of the market.  Local food from local farmers while enjoying local music and getting to know other folks living locally.  Sounds like a great date night to me!

Tickets can be purchased from Company Shops Market or at the farmers' market.  If you purchase them from the farmers' market this Saturday, 24 May 2014, the market manager (Jenny) will also give you a FREE gift certificate for time in my chair.  Limited supplies.

Market Season Commences

Saturday was opening day for the Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market,  but I wasn't there due to illness.   It was so kind of my kids to share that with me, don't you think?  ;)

I've been mulling over how to deal with market this year.  I always end up missing out on purchase opportunities due to time and funds not coinciding.  Also, I've been wanting to get back into a 10% mindset where at least 10% of my grocery budget is local grown.  So my plan is to go to market each week with $30 cash specifically for food purchases. (For the record, I do not spend $300 per week...though I bet my kids wish I did).

The goal is to remember to post here with what I've purchased and what I make with it.  Kind of similar to when we participated in a CSA the other fall.  Best laid plans...we'll see what comes of it. 

Do y'all want to join me in this?  Did you hit a farmers' market or stand this weekend?

Hello Technology!

I'm super excited!  My husband and I have been discussing tablets for my massage practice for about a month now.  Primarily for anatomy applications for the purpose of client education and for fine tuning bodywork skills.  I had gotten myself so cross-eyed trying to compare/contrast tablets and anatomy applications, and possibilities for electronic SOAP notes, that I decided to go in and touchy-feely.  In case you aren't on my Facebook page...I walked out with a Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0. 

So this morning I've been getting things set up.  It's specifically for business so no Kindle app and no Bad Piggies for the toddler.  I have Square, HootSuite, Twitter, iContact, Facebook Page Manager, Blogger, a trigger point app, an anatomy app, and the iHeart Radio app loaded.

Now to explore possibilities for session notes!

Foodie Fun

I don't rightly remember how I happened upon 300 Sandwiches (because I had the tab open for at least a week before I got around to skimming it), but I'm definitely going to have to pop in every once in a while to check things out.

Apparently, the blogger's beau had made some passing comment about how she was three hundred sandwiches away from a marriage proposal.  So she's blogging those three hundred sandwiches (she's almost two-thirds of the way there), and a few tidbits of their life to keep us on our toes.  I'm calling y'alls attention to it because they're creative sandwiches, not just turkey on wheat with mayo.  And they can definitely tie into local foods.  By now y'all ought to know how excited I get about anything being local; even if I have been overly quiet here.

So swing by and peruse.  Maybe you'll happen upon tomorrow's lunch while you're there.  ;)

Long Time No Chatter!

I didn't realize how quiet I've been on the blog here.  I haven't even posted my absences during the season!  Guess maybe I forgot that though the e-newsletter links to the archive page, it doesn't actually post to the blog itself.

So...there's three Saturday's left to the Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market (thanks to the City Manager for okaying an extension to the season so y'all can get fall/winter veggies).  Then I have one Saturday off before the Studio1 Snowflake Market starts up.  This Saturday I'm going to be participating in the Burlington Downtown Corp's Kickin' Off Christmas from 1p-7p.

In somewhat unrelated news, I'm still working my way through Gut and Psychology Syndrome.  My goal is to start us on some of the things that will be new to us before cutting out the things that we're going to be skipping for the next bit.  Y'all interested in following my family's journey through this for the next couple years?  Should I post about it here like I did about our CSA last fall?

Farmers' Market!

I have to admit that I'm nearly giddy with excitement for the Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market season to start in the morning.  I love being at market, and we have some new vendors joining us this year!

Remember that the market is in the municipal parking lot at Webb & Lexington (behind Company Shops Market).  We'll be there every Saturday, April through October, 8a-12p.  Opening day we'll be graced with Burlington's first ever food truck rodeo courtesy of the Central Carolina Food Truck Association.  The trucks will be open for business by 10a.

Want to know who's bringing what?  Check out the Market News.

Liberty Chiro Cancelled 3/7

Tonight's chair massages scheduled at Liberty Chiropractic Center are cancelled due to my fevered toddler.  The fever is good for his body to fight back with, but not so good for me to be sharing with my clientele.

My apologies for the inconvenience.
-JS

Radishes, Collards, and Beets, Oh My!

Confession:
I have at least three weeks of CSA shares in my fridge.  Well, on the stove at this distinct moment.  I'm feeling rather overwhelmed with radishes, collard greens, beets, and mesclun.  The other items I can easily utilize (kohlrabi, carrots, spinach, turnips), but these have me stumped.  The mesclun not so much, it's just that we don't eat salad frequently enough for the quantity we receive--and my children demolished my salad spinner so it's inconvenient to my lazy tendencies.

So I'm dejectedly browsing through food.com, eyes glazed over, trying to figure out how to utilize the bounty we're blessed to receive.

CSA Week 8

Hooray for kohlrabi!  I'm doing a happy jig in my kitchen because this week we received kohlrabi in our CSA share.  YUM!

We also received carrots (which will go in with the kohlrabi), mesclun (which keeps ending up in the compost because we don't get to it before it turns), swiss chard, and cilantro.

Not sure what we'll do with the cilantro yet, but we'll be enjoying kohlrabi and carrots, and swiss chard rigatoni.  Good thing I have one bell pepper left from a previous week!

And if we're on the ball we'll have a salad with the mesclun.  ;)

CSA Week 7

Another round of kale, pac choi, radishes, turnips, as well as broccoli and thyme.  I got smart and separated the radishes from their greens.  A couple of the kale ribs came with bugs (a different variation of squash bugs?) so I set it to soak in vinegar water to see if it helped loosen any of the unwanted, umm, protein so they could be washed away.  They were tenacious little buggers so the affected parts were tossed.

I made a radish green soup that I added some barley to on a whim.  None of us have tasted it yet...I'm thinking of adding more to it for a heartier soup/stew.

We revisited one of the pasta recipes from Week 4 for the kale.  I'm noticing a recurring theme of greens and pasta...yum!

The pac choi leaves were used in a fish packet recipe that we won't be making again.  I think I ended up improvising it too much.  The stems are slated for a pork fried rice recipe.

We found a pork chop recipe for the radishes...it was okay, but it won't be made again in our household.  The turnips, broccoli, and thyme are still in the crisper.

CSA Week 6

This week we had the opportunity to enjoy radishes, carrots, mesclun, swiss chard, and sweet potatoes.  Some beets were thrown in as well.  It was an interesting week and nothing was touched after it had been loaded into the fridge until over a week later.  Surprisingly, the mesclun was still hunky-dory (but it didn't last a second week of no use); the radishes, not so much.  The beet greens were unsalvageable as well.

I used the swiss chard in a rigatoni that received high marks from all.  I made it for lunch, and they asked for it for dinner as well!  The carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes are still in the crisper.

CSA Week 5

Turnips, baby carrots, a small head of lettuce, collards, bell peppers, and cilantro comprised this week's assortment.  At the time we hadn't utilized quite all of the greens from previous weeks (I post a couple weeks after the fact) so I asked if I could swap the collards for a butternut squash.  They kindly obliged!

The turnips, butternut squash, and carrots (along with the sweet potatoes and the rest of the kale from last week) were utilized in a glorious meal called Stamppot.  I used brautwurst rather than rookwurst.  It is beyond my understanding why my husband and my middle child do not like this meal.

And we actually had salad with the lettuce.  It took me too long to get to the computer so I don't remember what meal it was with.  The cilantro was used in a pork recipe in Week 7.

CSA Week 4

This week our share included sweet potatoes, arugula, kale, bell peppers, and parsley.

The bell pepper and part of the kale were used in a very yummy sausage linguine that I made with bratwurst (and thin spaghetti because it was what I had on hand). I skipped the parmesan due to the dairy issues of the nurseling.

The sweet potatoes and the rest of the kale were used in a stamppot recipe that I made Week 5.

The arugula was enjoyed in a yummy pasta dish that everybody devoured.   I used thin spaghetti instead of fettuccine, a can of italian diced tomatoes instead of the plum/grape tomatoes, I skipped the red pepper and the half-and-half.

The parsley is still in my crisper.

Delayed

I haven't been able to get onto the computer this week to blog, but I'm excited about some recent recipes that turned out very well.  My hope is to blog properly after we finish out the market season today.
Other delays worth commenting on?  The 2012 vendor application for the Burlington Christmas Market is not yet available so I have no information to pass on at this time.
Conversations about my limited presence in a local chiropractic office are occurring sporadically as our various schedules permit.

CSA Week 3

Do I have to admit the relief that washed over me this week for not having a large share?  They received okra.  I'm surprised at the intensity of my emotion.

Anyway, this week we received 1.5 pounds of tomatoes, half-pound of hot peppers, a bag of mesclun (a loose leaf lettuce), one pak choy, and one bunch of basil.

We tried the leaves of the pak choi as a side dish with apples and onions.  If I ever make it again I'll use stock/broth instead of water, and I'll only try it if I have tender young leaves to use in it.

The stalks of the pak choi where crisped in a bowl of ice water and then julienned into a crockpot recipe for Peppers & Steak.  I used kabob beef from T5 Farms that we didn't get around to kabobbing (I sliced it thin and seared it with some garlic salt).  This recipe also used up the rest of the bell peppers we had from the last couple weeks of CSA and the anaheims we received this week.  I also added a chopped vidalia and minced garlic that live in my fridge as standard pantry items.  After crocking on high for a couple of hours I pulled out the stuff and thickened the "sauce" that remained with a bit of cornstarch.  I haven't eaten it yet, but the kids have been using it a bit more fajita-like for lunch.

To me, working with the fresh pak choi stalks/stems it seemed like cabbage-smelling celery.  Does that make sense?

The basil was wasted in a failed experiment with an old family standby of Oven Chicken and Rice.  It was bad enough even Grandma commented on facebook about it not working out.  But hey, now we know, right?

The mesclun is still in the crisper.  Sigh.

-JS

CSA Week 2

This week's share included asian stirfry greens, romaine lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, cilantro, and bell peppers.  (The larger share also had turnips and butternut squash.  Yummy.)  Oh, and they gifted us with a dozen of their farm fresh eggs!

 We were going to use the greens in an impromptu stirfry for guests.  There were three, possibly four, varieties in the bag and I had removed the excess rib/stem from all of them and started the rinsing and washing process.  Then we couldn't find the lid to our salad spinner, my colander is still at my mother's (she's working on canning applesauce from apples we picked at a local farm), and we were out of time--along with not fleshing out this idea of stirfry with stirfry greens.  We ended up throwing together a hasty pot of chili (using the last of my canned beans) and the greens sat submerged in my salad spinner on the counter.  For two days (we won't discuss the chaos that was occurring).  So, the stirfry greens ended up in the compost--along with the water they were stinking it up in.

We had big plans for the cilantro...salsa, or fish tacos, or something.  But the same chaos that wasted the stirfry greens on the counter, created a similar fate for the cilantro in the fridge.  It would have fared better if we hadn't simply tossed the bunch on the shelf...but that's as far as it got.  Notice a theme this week??

The tomatoes and peppers were utilized in a Stuffed Pepper Soup that is going into our collection of yummy soup recipes.  We didn't make it quite per recipe, instead we did two cups cooked ground beef mix (we call it Meat Mix), two cans beef broth, four heirloom tomatoes (cubed/chopped), one cup long grain rice (uncooked), three red bell peppers (diced/chopped), two tablespoons brown sugar.  The kids made cornbread (with rice milk) to go with it for a hearty lunch.

The lettuce is still in the crisper, and the spinner lid still has not been found.  Ugh.

-JS

CSA Week 1

I jumped in with both feet and am participating in a local CSA this autumn.  We received our first CSA share September 22nd and it contained one pound bell peppers, one pound hot peppers, half-pound okra, 3/4 pound tomatoes, and a bag of basil.  I would argue that it was at least two pounds of okra.  LOL.

The tomatoes and part of the basil were utilized in Ontario Bean Soup.  I ended up making it late night so didn't have any, but DH enjoyed it and a co-worker of his said it smelled good when he took a second serving for lunch.  It will be made again.

The bell peppers are slated for some beef kabobs, if they don't head south before we get to grilling.

The okra was used in a Sausage and Chicken Jambalaya.  I'll be making the recipe again, without the okra.  I haven't found a dish yet that allows me to enjoy okra.  More proof that I'll never truly be Southern.

The rest of the basil was used in Peach Basil Chicken.  Rather than immediately serving over the chicken per the recipe instructions, I popped the chicken breasts back into the pan on top of the "slop" and let it stew for another twenty minutes or so as I was prepping some crockpot oatmeal for the next morning.  The flavor is FANTASTIC!!  This is going into regular meal rotation and I will continue the accidental practice of stewing it to help infuse the flavors further.  YUM!

The hot peppers consist of poblano, anaheim, jalapeno, serrano, and fish varieties.  I don't do spicy foods---it took me YEARS to be able to handle the red sauce Taco Bell puts on their burritos.  DH enjoys chile relleno occasionally so I prepared my mother-in-law's recipe with the poblano and anaheim peppers.  What to do with the others??

Happy Birthday to Me!

August is my birthday month!  To celebrate, I'm donating $1 from each chair massage at the Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market  (behind Company Shops Co-op) to local charities.  Help me reach my goal of $25 donated each week by encouraging your friends, family, and co-workers to pause for a spot of massage for themselves.

• 4 Aug: Flashes of Hope
• 11 Aug: Children's Museum of Alamance County
• 18 Aug: Sylvan Ruritans
• 25 Aug: Snow Camp Outdoor Drama

I plan to have a collection jar each week so if you feel like donating further to these non-profits you can do so easily.  Live Local. Eat Local. Buy Local. Give Local.

Media Monday: iContact Archive

I finally had a moment to sit and search for the info on how to make past e-newsletters available for review.  iContact has a fabulous blog post about it that lays out easy-to-follow instructions.  Once the archive URL was generated I created a new tab in my blog menu, but instead of creating a page I had it redirect to the archive URL.  Works beautifully, and it's self-updating.  No muss, no fuss--just the way I like my technology and media!