I threw everything out that doesn't make sense

The more I cook, the more I am able to realize what it is I need to stock my kitchen. While Rachael Ray published a cookbook which included a tear-out list of how to stock a pantry, I contend that it's best to find your method of cooking and base your grocery runs around that. After all, I've had a jar of artichoke hearts sitting on the shelf through two moves now.

So what to I make sure is always stocked?:
*Canned black beans
*Rice (preferably two kinds, Louisiana popcorn rice and basamati rice)
*Vegetable and chicken stock
*Canned tomatoes (fire roasted, diced, crushed and whole)
*Tomato paste
*Coconut milk
*Multiple types of pasta
*Peanut butter and honey roasted peanut butter--freshly ground
*Pineapple
*Chili peppers in adobo sauce
*Tofu
*Eggs
*Whole milk
*Mushrooms
*Garlic
*Onion
*Parmesan cheese
*Soy sauce
*Curry paste

And then everything else is more or less varied upon the season. Clearly I have a well-stocked spice cabinet, oils, flour, sugar, butter. This week I have bell peppers, pears, cherry tomatoes and creole tomatoes, and shitake mushrooms. I'm thinking red beans with chipotle, fresh tomato sauce with mushrooms and peppers, and probably making a dessert with pears. Oh, and I have patty sausage from the meat man, so maybe throwing that into black bean soup.

I do feel uninspired, cooking-wise, these days, so I'm going to go read a bit of Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food.

PS--I have twenty-four books on my shelf that I have yet to read. I am not allowed to buy books until this is down to ten or less.

By the smell of summer after she rains

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Now playing: Sherwood - Home
via FoxyTunes Like my friend Lauren, I'm branching out, learning and trying new things. I'm not doing this to celebrate my 25th year (although I think that's a great idea and that anyone with a bit of a quarter century crisis should try doing one new thing per day). Instead, I'm doing it because I'm tired of just yapping on and on about being green and making a difference--I'd be some kind of hypocrite if I preached it and didn't practice it.

So yesterday I bypassed the dryer and put my clothes out on the line. With the temp at 81 degrees, it seems that this would be easy, but I had to contend with the lack of a basket, the lack of clothespins, a lawn covered with attack plants and vicious mosquitoes. Still, I draped the line with an assortment of colors and sat back in the armchair, thinking that the clothes dancing over my jungle looked about as close to Central America as I can get.

Another new step is that I've joined a CSA. For 18 weeks (except in August, when it will likely be every other week) I'll receive a nice big box of produce --seasonal, fresh, and being grown just 74 miles from my neighborhood. The challenge of joining a CSA is just like that of deciding to eat as locally as possible: you have to be flexible in your cooking. Using the goodies of your CSA requires a change of mindset, just as moving toward locavorism does. Instead of pulling out the cookbook to find an appealing recipe and then jotting down the necessary ingredients, you start with the ingredients and then find recipes to accommodate them. Or you simply improvise and create the recipes as you go along. That's not so easy for me as a fairly new cook, so this veggie box will challenge me in many ways.

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Now playing: Copeland - I'm A Sucker For A Kind Word
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No I can't handle three nights

Hey little green girl...how about NOT wasting your veggies this week, ok?

I'm realizing that there's more to my new local-buying life than just buying the goodies at the Saturday Farmer's Market. This past week, I didn't really glance at my calendar or take into account what I would be doing, and I bought a bunch of stuff and then did not use it. OOOPS.

So before I drag myself out of bed tomorrow morning for a buying frenzy, I'm going to take a glance at my week to decide what I need to have on hand and when I can cook. Turns out that if I want to go to the gym, I best be cooking a lot of meals this weekend, because otherwise I'm going to come home starving and not want to take the time to prepare my meals.

Currently I have:
2 lbs tomatoes
2 bunches carrots
2 onions
1 bunch broccoli
1/2 dozen eggs
Pint of milk

I plan to make a stir fry tonight. But I need to make food for five or six meals next week. The simplest things for me are stir fries, soups and pastas. I'd like to try my hand at some homemade tomato sauce. I'd also like to make carrot salad. I should probably bake something to rid myself of the dairy products at the bottom.

What I'd like to make this week:
Bran muffins
Salsa
Tomato sauce
Hard boiled eggs
Soup (but what kind)
Curry

Sigh...I really don't want to do all this...all I really want to do is climb into bed and watch The West Wing and wish that my place magically cleaned itself.
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Now playing: The Refreshments - Down Together
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A Head Full of Fuzz and a Puzzle

Contemplating recipes and writing...

I started Anne Lamont's Bird by Bird last night and I can barely put it down. Seriously...I wish I'd brought it with me to work so I could sneak peaks under the table, especially now that Dad has apparently gone to work and ceased our string of emails. It seems every time I pick up a book on writing I become inspired to write--the trouble is that then I get bogged down because it's not as wonderful as the writing I've just read. Especially after Reading Like a Writer. That one, which makes extensive use of quotations from literary classics, made it more or less impossible to sit and write a chick-lit book. But the second chapter of BbB tells me that my first draft is meant to be shitty. Yes, shitty! That's exactly what she says. I just need to get it all out and then find what is good buried in the mess. It's like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I'm ready to write again.

Recipes...I have the veggies to make a ratatouille. End of the season creole tomatoes (apparently a hot seller at the market), zucchini and eggplant. We'll see if this girl that has to force herself to eat veggies without carbs will enjoy the recipe...and if I can keep up the energy long enough to make it. Also am going to try a simple chicken tikka masala after having some whole foods prepared stuff and realizing I could probably make it for cheaper. I love Indian food and would love to cook it authentically but...well, someday.

So I'm still sick with the cold of death but am now attempting preventative measures so I stop becoming sick altogether. Have my echinacea, have my vitamins, have nice fresh fruits and juice. Trying not to push myself and convince myself I'm well even when I'm still recovering. I want to be healthy and get out of this permanent sickness rut. It's really not pleasant.

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Now playing: Nightmare Of You - My Name is Trouble
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