Lazy Monday

Ralph Stover State Park:


















I like this one because I can tell he's smiling, even though I can't see his face.

Back to work...

CSA week #1

Apparently this happened around 2 am last night, two blocks from our apartment:



Sorry for the terrible photo; that's a blue Blazer that wrecked into a traffic light across the street and caught enough air to lodge on the porch of this house.
Here's the point of yard entry (notice how a portion of the fence is now missing):



And here's the traffic light across the street:



Word on the street is that the driver is now in jail and two passengers are in the hospital (but doing ok).

On to other news...today I picked up our first CSA share of the season:



Not pictured: a whole chicken and a half gallon of milk.
I thought we would get more veggies each week, but I guess the largest shares come in late summer and early fall. So far I've eaten most of those strawberries and some of the cheese, both of which were fantastic. We're sharing all this with my brother+SIL, so I will probably just roast the chicken and have them over for dinner sometime this week. I didn't get any photos of Greensgrow itself but I'm really impressed - hopefully next time. It took me 25 minutes each way, which is not ideal but not too bad either.
I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

Picnic Dinner

Roasted chicken+carrots



R. by the river at sunset



lemonade:iced tea (1:1)




No dragon boats, but quite a few scullers

Misc.

Posting from my lab bench today... which I don't usually do because 1) I'm too busy 2) I sit with my back to the door and/or 3) I feel guilty. But this week has been so s-l-o-w, I'm waiting for cells/parasites/etc to be ready for an assay I will probably do this weekend. So there is my rationalization.

There are a couple of things coming up in the next few weeks that I'm excited about:

1. Our first CSA pickup from Greensgrow Farms is this Saturday. I'm really curious to see what the farm is like and how big our share will be. R. and I will be away for the next few Saturdays (see below), so my SIL and I have been trying to set up some sort of pick-up schedule. I'm also wondering how long it will take for me to get there; the drive involves the Vine St. Expressway so I'm hoping there won't be much traffic on a Saturday morning.

2. We're going camping in the Catskills with the Lipcans from June 1st-3rd. As usual, large meals have been planned.

3. We're leaving for CA on June 8th. June 9th-10th will be spent in Pacifica celebrating birthdays and high school graduations, We'll be in Paso Robles from the 11th-13th with R.'s mom and dad, and it'll be just the two of us in SF from the 14th-16th. I'm really looking forward to it...

4. Dragon Boat practice for the Dragon Boat Festival has started up again. I went out last night to paddle for a steering clinic, and being on the water (even if it is the toxic Schulkill) in nice weather is wonderful.

Weekend debriefing

The Lipcans were here for the weekend, and as usual we ate very well:

On Friday we went to see Andrew Bird at The Theater of Living Arts; I think we all agreed it was a great show but would have been better at a smaller venue. Beforehand we had a wonderful dinner at Ansill - I will definitely keep this place on my list for a second visit.

On Saturday we planned a meal mostly from Lidia's Italian Table:

I had no idea Fava Beans were so well protected

The beans are actually inside those little pods.

garlic+olive oil for our appetizer



Poached mozzarella


I can't get enough of this gnocci, this time we tossed it with a mix of fresh veggies and lentils

Brunch on Sunday

Bird watching in Fairmount Park

saltysweet

I worked in the lab both Saturday and this morning, but I did find the time to make these salt lick bars from Bake and Shake:

Mine might not be very pretty, but they taste incredible. Let me walk you through the wonderful layers: on the bottom there is a flaky shortbread, followed by a salty caramel middle, topped with dark chocolate. Sprinkled with a bit of kosher salt. Anyone who loves salty/sweet should try these out, and I believe they cure PMS too.

The saucer is from Diana Fayt, and I bought a gorgous red-lined cup to match.

I also recently bought some new fabric from purl soho, although I'm not sure what it will become yet.

And I am still pursuing the perfect loaf of homemade bread:

This was not the perfect loaf, but it's getting there! Photo by R.

Favorites

I've been buying/giving a lot of gifts lately - April is a big birthday month for me (husband and two close friends), and all of my friends/family seem to be having babies! I love giving something handmade and I see tons of great things online. So I thought I'd share some of my recent favorites:

Ink+Wit
Restless Things
artgoodies
ashleyg
doodlebugtextiles

Uniform Studio - Beautiful handmade clothing and knits. And she is set for an Etsy update on May 20th!
Threadless - Original T-shirt prints. Everything sells out pretty quickly, it's good to be on the mailing list.
Amy Tavern - Handmade jewelry. I'm totally coveting this.
Diana Fayt - I just bought a cup and saucer similar to these, I can't wait to see how the color looks in person.

Enjoy!