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By kilax, July 11, 2011 5:00 am

Whoa! Check out these awesome strawberries from our garden!

Ha, I am totally KIDDING! We did not plant strawberries this year. These strawberries are actually from Stade’s Farm – a local farm where you can pick your own produce (and participate in other various events). Steven and I headed out to the farm on Friday with his dad and brother, to pick fresh strawberries to make a pie. It was the last day they were allowing people to pick their own strawberries, but we still found a bunch of good ones.

I saw surprised by how miniature the strawberries were compared to the ones you get in the store. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was.

And they were so sweet and good – perfect for the pie!

I really enjoyed picking them, despite being out in the blazing sun!

And we only used half of what we picked for the pie – time to figure out something else to do with them! Shouldn’t be too hard!

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By kilax, June 21, 2011 5:58 pm

We visited our garden this weekend on Saturday just to take a peek:

And on Sunday to put up the fence and water the garden (yeah, it didn’t rain at all this weekend, but it POURED on Monday).

Some of our tomato plants are looking a bit sad:

Let’s hope it’s okay if the leaves look like that.  Here’s where I am placing all of my optimism:

Yep – the green beans. The cucumbers are also starting to pop up (I planted another kind on 6/12, so we have two kinds now):

And the sugar snap peas:

Notice how clumpy our soil is? It’s kind of like clay. It’s not very fine, and it’s somewhat difficult to work with (excuses, excuses). It would be so cool if we had a garden in our yard, and could have someone bring in nice soil and fertilizer. And if watering it meant turning on the hose, not carrying kitty litter buckets full of water back and forth from the water basin (which was mostly empty on Sunday, by the way) to the garden.

It’ll be worth it. When all of those delicious green beans start showing up, it’ll be worth it. Oh yeah, and the other stuff too.

Steven worked on the fence on Sunday while I tried to get water for our crops. It seems that we threw away half of our fence last year and don’t recall:

Oops. We better get out there and finish the fence up before real produce pops up!

Other garden project posts from this year:

The Garden Project: It’s Back
The Garden Project: Getting Our Act Together

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By kilax, June 6, 2011 12:38 pm

I’ve never had my lunch stolen at work* but people use my salad dressing without asking all. the. time. Honestly! Just ask me! I will share! But I get annoyed when I buy a brand new container of salad dressing, and the second time I use it, more than a third of it is gone. That happened to me last week – I used it once, even measured out two tablespoons** – then went to use it the second day and a lot more of it was gone.

So… I started marking where the salad dressing is at when I am done using it.

Yes, I am crazy. But when I went to use my dressing today it was at the same level where I left it! Yay!

And really, I don’t care if people want to use it. I will share! Just please, ask! It says my name on it… I am usually at my desk… why don’t you ask me? And you should know, sometimes, when it spills over the top I lick it off the bottle, so maybe you don’t want to use it? Just warning you…

(Really, this isn’t a big deal to me. I actually think it’s kind of funny. But, we do have a camera in our lunch room because people steal each other’s food. Isn’t that ridiculous?)

*Seriously, who would want my salad and leftovers?
**Because I am trying to be good and track my food and ugh BORING.

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By kilax, June 6, 2011 5:57 am

We finally got our act together (really, just had the time) to buy tomato plants on Sunday and plant them, along with our other seeds, in our garden.

We have a 20’x20′ plot in the local community garden. This year, we decided to plant 16 tomato plants, two rows of green beans, two half rows of cucumbers, and two half rows of sugar snap peas.

Steven does all of the planning and planting – he is better with precision and detail than me.

And I am the raw power. RAWR!

Here is everything planted – the tomatoes, green beans behind them, cucumbers to the back left and sugar snap peas to the back right.

The red line is not there, I just added it so you can see the boundaries of the garden.

We are getting things in pretty late this year. Last year we had our seeds in in the second week of May, and our tomato plants in maybe 3-4 weeks later. We will just have a late crop this year!

I want to keep better track of my time spent in the garden this year, so I will note that it took us about 30 minutes to select and buy plants, and about three hours to do the work in the garden. And then there are all of the hours I spent dreading it all week…

Seriously, does anyone out there like to do yard work?

It is fine once we get out there and get in the groove, I just have no idea what I am doing.

Other garden posts from this year:

The Garden Project: It’s Back

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By kilax, May 25, 2011 4:32 pm

Alternatively titled “The Garden Project: I am a lazy smack.”

I am sure you have all been dying to know if Steven and I will give the garden another go this year (see last year’s garden posts here). Well, unfortunately, Steven remembers that we gardened and wants to do it again, despite me remembering what a pain in the a$$ it was Hells yes we are! This year, we are going to be smart about it though. Starting with having my dad till it for us:

Muah ha ha. Actually, I heard Steven tilled at least half of the garden, and then my dad finished it. Where was I? Pretending to exercise At the Petathlon with my mom and sister of course!

Okay, so seriously, the plan this year is a bit different. Last year was our first go and we planted a lot of different things. Some were successful, some weren’t. This year, we are going to plant the things we really liked, and one experimental crop. The cucumbers grew like rapid fire, and we liked them, so they are getting planted again. The green beans were a huge disappointment (so few grew) but dammit! I will not give up! We are planting a sh*t ton more and I hope I have more green beans than I know what to do with. Because I love me some fresh green beans. Tomatoes are an obvious – homegrown ones taste approximately 345893128 times better than the ones in the store, so they are getting planted (well, bought in plant form then planted). And the experimental crop will be sugar snap peas (is that right Steven?).

Doing the garden was so rewarding last year, but damn, I feel so so so so lazy right now. Like, really lazy. I don’t want to do anything. I am barely exercising. I am tired, and all I think about is sleep. All day long. Even when I get enough sleep on the weekends, I take naps (ahh). I sleep on the train to work; I sleep on the train ride home. Sleep sleep sleep is all that’s on my mind.

Time to SNAP out of that! Let’s get these little seeds planted* and see what happens this year!

Who else is planting crops this year?

What are you too lazy to do right now?

Here is my list:

1. Work in the garden
2. Clean our house
3. Care about my diet
4. Figure out that dental bill thing from a few months ago…
5. Work on the model airplane with Steven
6. Be any sort of interesting wife at all
7. Put up with other people’s sh*t
8. Finish a book within a month
9. Write posts for my blog
10. Go shopping for groceries

Apparently, I am not too lazy to:

1. Write long emails to my friends
2. Skype with friends Gina and Steve (they’re in NYC)
3. Sign up for races I shouldn’t be running
4. Buy a Soy Chai Latte at Starbucks
5. Get an EKG
6. Watch lots of movies
7. Nag Steven about all sorts of things (travel to KC and NYC, taking Data to the vet, do this, do that, blah blah blah)
8. Buy stuff on amazon.com

Items that are questionable (sometimes lazy, sometimes not):

1. Strength training
2. Working on the running club’s 5K website
3. Reading blogs
4. Exercising in general
5. Running

*Maybe Friday or Monday?

Comments (20)

By kilax, April 26, 2011 4:31 pm

Guess what I get to try when I get home (in case the title didn’t give it away)?

Yum. Homemade bagels.

Our bagel quest has not been very successful. Seriously, DON’T get a bagel if you go to NYC. You will be scarred for life (alright, try them, but get some to bring home and put in your freezer). Or you will have to make friends with someone in NYC who will send them to you.

Nearly everyone I tell about our bagel quest asks me “Why doesn’t Steven just make some?” Jeez, what is he, my personal chef/baker? Muah ha ha, I guess so.

Steven was a bit hesitant to start experimenting with bagels, because it took him a long time to perfect his bread recipe, and it was a lot of work. But, the work has begun. We will be eating a lot of bagels in the future until he makes them perfect. And that is fine with me. I have about a gazillion races coming up and could use the carbs.

The annoying thing is, I have to wait until I get home at 8:00 PM to eat a bagel. I have my strengh class tonight. I almost want to skip class just to go home and try one. Maybe toasted? With peanut butter?

And speaking of my strength class, I am not sure if I will sign up for May. I am feeling pretty “meh” about having another weeknight committment. Speedwork starts on May 17th, and will be once a week until sometime in September. I have running club 5K meetings every other week (local friends – mark your calendars for a 5K on August 6th!). And I like to go to the free summer concerts at Independence Grove on Tuesdays in the summer. Last night I went home and didn’ t have to do anything and it felt so nice to just veg out and be a lazy smackaroo.

How many nights a week do you have things scheduled to do outside of the home?

For awhile, it seemed like we had something going on almost every night. Fun things… but I get so drained!

Comments (17)

By kilax, April 1, 2011 11:11 pm

Doesn’t this look like something from a gourmet cooking magazine?

My mom wanted to make sure that I had dessert to eat tonight at my brother’s rehearsal dinner, so she made me a Peanut Butter Chocolate Vegan Cheesecake. All that it had it in (that she remembered) was peanut butter, chocolate, oatmeal and tofu. She said she forgot to put the agave nectar in, but it tasted amazing! Very rich – I like rich desserts!

The funny thing is, a few weeks ago I was telling Steven that I was too nervous to try making a vegan “cheesecake” out of tofu, and my mom just dove in and tackled it – not that it is particularly hard – I just wondered how it would turn out. Well duh, tofu takes on the taste of what you mix it with, so tofu + chocolate = awesome.

I’m so lucky that all of the people who cook in my family are conscientious about my vegan lifestyle and try to make things that don’t have animal products in them (my grandma even bought vegan whipped cream to make me a treat for the holidays). I sure am lucky! And thankful!

Thanks, mom!

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By kilax, March 31, 2011 9:44 am

1. I did not want to get up to meet the Grayslake Running Club (GRC) this morning. I was just exhausted. So I got out of bed to sign in to the GRC website and take my name off of today’s run, and realized, since I was up, I might as well go! Plus, I don’t have anyone’s phone number, and what are the chances they would look online before they left to meet at 5:30? I ended up running 9 miles with them and 6 on my own. Has meeting friends to run ever been the only thing that got you out the door to do it?
2. I saw a fox this morning during my run! He crossed my path then stopped to look at me, then kept running. I snapped a picture with my phone. You can really see him, right? (no)



3. This has been my highest running mileage month ever – 145 miles!!!
4. This morning, as I was driving to meet the GRC to run, I was thinking about how much I love my Infiniti FX35 (2005 model). I’ve had it for almost two years now. I love the performance, the way it sounds and looks, but especially the little details. I love being able to control the stereo from the steering wheel. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the proximity key – I never have to get a key out to get in to my car or start it! When I have a car at work, I always forget you have to have the key out to start the car. I highly recommend Infiniti. What is your favorite car brand? Please don’t say GM.
5. Speaking of my car, I backed it in to something on March 1 and effed it up. I was so embarrassed and disappointed in myself. I can’t really say much about it now, because insurance is still getting worked out, but I can say that Steven was amazing it getting it taken care of for me, and right away. It’s all better now! Phew. (P.S. Good thing we got a tax return this year and had some extra cash!)



Oops.



All better!

6. I asked for a new three-tube bird feeder for Christmas because squirrels destroyed mine last year. My dad’s mom gave me this nice new one. Check it out though! These squirrels are relentless! I don’t mind if they eat the food – just please don’t eat the feeder!



7. When I first heard Jennifer Lopez’s new song “On the Floor,” I didn’t like it. But then it got stuck in my head and I had to buy it on iTunes. YOU know what is stuck in my head now? “Black and Yellow.” No way in hell I am downloading THAT! What song has been stuck in your head lately?
8. I wanted to see Burlesque when it came out in the fall, but it didn’t meet our “see in the theater” criteria. I finally came from Netflix last night though! I loved it. It was a nice, fun, cheesy, mindless movie with dancing and singing (and lots of scantily clad women). I love fun movies. And I love Christina Aguilera!



9. My brother is getting married this weekend (photo of him and his fiancee below)! Yay! Are any of your siblings married? My older brother is, but I wasn’t able to go to their wedding, because I was living in Rome.



10. And this last tidbit is kind of long! In fact, this whole thing got kind of long. Oops. I thought it would be short. Anyway.

Do you guys know what this is? Does it look like something a vegan would eat?

It’s seitan (vital wheat gluten). Steven’s actually made it before. Last weekend, he was experimenting with the texture of it, trying to make it less “sponge-y” and more stringy.

You can buy vital wheat gluten and work with that, but Steven started from scratch, with a bag of flour and water, then worked with the dough for about an hour.

Hey, Kim, do you see what is in he top right corner of the photo?

Then he spent an hour soaking it. After that, he split it up into different pieces, and experimented with cooking it different ways for a few more hours (and he also made a pizza during all of this).

On Sunday, Steven cut the seitan in to strips, coated it in flour, and fried it. Nom.

Here are two of the pieces, that he prepared differently. You can kind of see the one on the right is more stringy/meaty, and the one of the left is sponge-y – still some experimenting left to do!

Steven makes me feel kind of lazy. Ha ha. He is amazing. He will tackle any project with confidence. I would be scared away from trying something like this, but he sure isn’t!

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By kilax, March 15, 2011 4:46 am

What’s that in my hand?!

It’s my first Green Monster!

Ha. I have to laugh. I have read about these smoothies for so long on the blogosphere and have never had one. But Jen corrected that for me and Steven on Saturday night! She made one with hemp milk, Sun Warrior protein powder, frozen bananas, spinach, avocado and ice (did I forget anything?).

And – it was DELICIOUS!

Jen and her husband told me and Steven that these are not the best smoothies they’ve ever made, but I was very impressed. Darn, does this mean I have to invest in a Vitamix now?

Just kidding. We are kind of anti “specific-use kitchen appliance” in our house. And we don’t have the room. But I could see myself making these things from time to time if I did have a blender.

Do you ever make smoothies? What do you like to put in them?

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By kilax, March 12, 2011 1:36 pm

I was wrong.

A few people told me the Malt-O-Meal site said the Maple & Brown Sugar flavor was available in my area. One of the places listed was Target. I was doubtful, because our Target always has Original and Chocolate. But, we checked it out. Lo and behold, they do have Maple & Brown Sugar. Now they just don’t have the other flavors. Whatever… I guess if they carry this one now then I don’t care! Man, Target makes me crazy!