ps i love the farmer's market!

Gloria, Jarrod, and I went to the Iowa City Farmer's Market this morning. It was Gloria and my second time and Jarrod's first and I am just in love with the Farmer's Market. Farmer's Markets make me so happy that Jared (not the same person as Jarrod but their names are pronounced the same—not confusing at all) said to me two weeks ago, "Is this your first time at a Farmer's Market?" No. It was not. I just love them so much they make me happy and I can't stop smiling, that's all.

Today at the market I bought some green beans and apples for dinner tomorrow (I'm hosting our dinner group and making pork chops baked in apples with green beans and rice on the side—so excited!), some beeswax for bookbinding, apricot goats cheese, fresh mozzarella, dried apple chips, and, perhaps most importantly, some cockscomb flowers (see pictures).  I saw them at the market and instantly fell in love. These pictures don't really do them justice. They are fluffy and coral-y and red-magenta-y and amazing. Jarrod went out into the yard and cut the greens and other flowers and helped me arrange them and do they or do they not look amazing?! MUCH better than the pure hosta arrangements I'd tried earlier.

I bought 3 stems of cockscomb and they were so thick that only 2 fit in my milk glass vase, so I pulled out this little square vase I had left over from an arrangement my mom sent me for my birthday a few years ago and it was puh-fect! I just trimmed the stem way down, wrapped the inside with leaves and filled it with water. Now I have a big arrangement for the dining room table (and dinner tomorrow) and a tiny one for my breakfast table to enjoy every day. Flowers make everything happier.

So do Farmer's Markets.

PPS Jarrod and I made Lemon Soufflé Pancakes with homemade blueberry sauce after we couldn't find the ward football pancake breakfast and it was AMAZING!

Fun fact: it is possible to whip egg whites with just a whisk, but it does take a long time and a lot of arm power: it helps if you have more than one person and one of you is named Jarrod. Here are the recipes for your culinary enjoyment (thanks Aunt Taunya!):

Lemon Soufflé Pancakes  

Combine following ingredients and set aside:
1 Cup Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
¼  tsp Salt
2 teaspoons of lemon rind

Mix following ingredients and fold into dry ingredients:
¾ C milk
3 Tbs melted butter
1 egg yolk

Whip until peaks form and fold into combined mixture above:
3 egg whites

Adding Blueberries is also AMAZING or just serve with the Blue Berry Sauce!

Blueberry Sauce
 2Tbs. Butter
1/4 C. sugar
1 pint blueberries

Melt butter, mix in sugar then stir in blueberries.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring.  The sauce is ready when the juice has thickened some but the blueberries still retain their shape.

tender mercies

Today is the second to last day of the month. So of course I haven't done my visiting teaching. And my companion Summer is harder to track down than a vegetarian at a hoe down, so I decided I would go on my own. Instead of baking cookies and writing a note that says, "Sorry we missed you, enjoy these cookies" I felt inspired instead to put together an elaborate cornacopia of produce and deliciousness that I acquired today at two of my favorite food suppliers: the food co-op and the Farmer's Market. (Anyone who knows me even a little knows that I love these two things very very much. And if you didn't, you do now.) So, if you'll kindly look below you will see my twin creations. I think they turned out pretty well. And yes, those are cereal boxes that they are in. Or rather, one cereal box cut in half and lined with grocery bags. I was pretty proud of myself indeed... Also included was a note slipped under the ribbon around the bread that said, "Sorry we missed you, enjoy this food" (well, not really, but kind of).

As I was on my way over to deliver said goodies, I was walking across the parking lot and I heard my name yelled from above. I look up saw that it was Celeste Cummings. Celeste used to live in Campus Plaza, but has since moved on to bigger and better things. And by that I mean she moved down the street which, by the way, puts her in a different ward and stake. Oh Provo. But there she was on the third floor of Campus Plaza yelling my name. So I said hi back and we chatted a bit from a far, then I went and dropped off my food to my girls on the south side of the building. On my way back home I decide to swing around to the north side of the building instead of just walking down the south side stairs so that I could actually talk to Celeste from a distance of less than 100 feet. Sadly, as I rounded the corner I saw her already walking away with John Taylor and another friend in tow. 

Normally, seeing that I was too late to catch her, I would have just let it go, but for some reason I hurried after them. I caught up with them at Celeste's car and she came over and gave me a hug and invited me to dinner. What? I was worried that I was intruding on a pre-planned dinner party (which I have learned in the past is never a good idea, even when invited) but when she said that it was all spur of the moment I said, "Sure!" and got in the car. My plan of saying yes was again put into action. 

So we went to Celeste's house. And made delicious tinfoil dinners which included potatoes, carrots, peas, onions, garlic, and BACON! They were so good. We grilled chicken on the side. While we waited for them to cook we played the card games Blink! and Zeus on the Loose. I liked them both a lot. And not just because I won. Celeste, John Taylor and Celeste's friend Carrie are fabulous people. They really are. They are the kind of people that you just love to be around because they are cheerful and encouraging and just nice. And that's just how they are. They aren't pretending. Celeste was always sure to include me in any conversation, explaining about people or events if I didn't know what they were talking about. I love people like that so much because I think that is just so considerate and I like feeling included.

After dinner there was talk of going to Celeste's ward activity to watch a movie in the park. At this point I almost excused myself because the movie was one I'd never heard of before (Paul's Neighbor, or something to that effect) and I was afraid it was going to be lame, but I reminded myself that I really had nothing else to do (and besides, I was having a great time) so I went. The movie ended up being Madagascar 2 (which was surprisingly good) and again, with Celeste, Carrie and John Taylor it was 10 times better. 

All in all it ended up being a great night. A fabulous night! One for the history books. Or rather, blog annuls...

Moral of the story? Always do your visiting teaching, even if you feel lame going by yourself with only food and no message. Okay, maybe that's not a great moral. What about: when people you don't really know invite you into their cars and into their homes, you should always go. That's much better.

i am a hippie but so is jen

Today Jen and I went to the Farmer's Market! I thought it didn't start up again until June, so I was extra excited when Jen texted me last night and asked if I wanted to go this morning. It is one of my favorite things about the summer. Today I bought a loaf of sourdough bread from Flour Girls and Dough Boys, amazing goat milk yoghurt from Drake Family Farms, and the best granola in the whole world from Bryan's wife Katie. What? Yes. The granola that I have loved since I first tasted it last summer but was then wrenched away from my taste buds when they disappeared from the Farmer's Market mid-summer was made by none other than my fabulous co-worker Bryan's wife. And probably him too. Who knows. I love them even more now than I did before. If that is possible.

Also tonight Megan and I went for a bike ride to rent Lost from Hollywood Video. We haven't ridden our bikes together since last summer and it is one of my favorite things in the whole world. Megan made me buy a bike last year so that we could bike together and I am so glad that she did. I rode Chaela's bike that she left here until June and I am in love with it. It is a real beach cruiser, not like my fake beach cruiser that has mountain bike tires, hand brakes and gears, and it is my favorite. If I knew that I would be living someplace flat, like it is here in Utah, I would buy it from her no questions asked. As it is I will most likely end up someplace mountainous where gears are a must. But we'll see how long I can resist its siren call.

Speaking of biking, Jen and I have been talking a lot about saving the environment recently (because that's what we do) and today we were saying how just doing little things like changing your light bulbs to energy-saving ones or only running your dishwasher when it's full don't really make that big of a difference in the big picture. You can't just change one thing and then continue to live your life the way you always have: you need to make a big change. One example Jen gave was walking or riding your bike everywhere within a 2 mile radius instead of driving. That'd be a pretty big change, at least for most people. I try to do my best at not driving when I don't have to, but when the whole journey to work every morning traverses 9th East and is uphill the whole way I am hesitant to make that kind of commitment. But I try to justify my driving by carpooling which is also good for the environment, right? And I do recycle, bring my own grocery bags whenever I go shopping anywhere (not just for groceries), try to walk most places, and use tupperware instead of zip lock bags whenever possible. I try not to buy food that comes with lots of extra packaging. A lot of my clothes come from thrift stores, I don't shower everyday (though that's more out of laziness than environmental reasons...) and I support local organizations like the Food Co-op and the Farmer's Market that promote local produce/products. That's a lot more than I used to do.

However, I do want to do other things too, like start my own vegetable garden, use homemade cleaning products, and start a compost heap. But some things are just hard when you're a college student and you don't really have a home of your own. Perhaps one day I'll move into a hippie commune where everyone is crazy about being green and I will realize why everyone thought I was weird. But maybe I won't. And maybe I'll love it and maybe I will have found my niche in society. Maybe.