EATING LOCAL...

Picture taken from Tomato Mountain Farm Facebook Page

So over the past year or so I've been reading all sort of books and websites and watching documentaries about where our food comes from.  All of this has led me to really think about what we are eating and it's prompted me to kind of revise what kinds of food we buy and where we get our food from... as well as baning certain 'fast food' for a more slow food approach.  Like I said, it's not the easiest method of getting food on your table but at least you know a little bit about your food... and we are hoping to get to know those who are growing it.  What a concept!

Mr. D and I have joined a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.  We've chosen Tomato Mountain Farm and have had one delivery.  And I am so excited about it! The picture above is courtesy Tomato Mountain Farm's Facebook page... and gives you a good idea of what was delivered.  Although, it doesn't come close to the amount of spinach we got!  Our delivery came very late at night so my plans on taking all these great pictures was crushed due to it being almost midnight.  But this is one reason I really liked them... they deliver right to our door!  A lot of CSA's have a weekly pick up site, which is also great but having them deliver really works nicely for us.

This batch included, Spinach, Bok Choi, Hakurei Turnips, Head Lettuce, Red Russian Kale.  We were a little overwhelmed with a few of the items but have put all of them to good use.  Success!  Right now, because the weather is still cool, there are a lot of cold weather veggies and greens.  Which is find by me... that's the point! Tonight we sauteed turnips, kale, onions and some spices to have as a side dish with pulled pork (which was not local by any means... baby steps!).  It was delish!  Turnips... delicious?  Yep, they sure are!

As the bounty grows and changes I'll be sharing pics along with any great recipes we come across in quest to eat great food!

XOXO

Craziness

The past few weeks have been so crazy!  I don't really have any good excuse for it but the cats wake us up early (at some point this is where we will include going to the gym), Mr. D eventually feeds them while i'm getting ready, we go to work (work has been nice and busy... YAY!)... the going to work could include me taking day trips to St. Louis which makes for a very long day and this part of the day always involves a long drive for the husband, work our butts off, I get home, feed the cats and clean up, Mr. D calls and says he's coming home so I start to get dinner ready, wash dishes, we eat, clean up (again!), sit and talk and play with kittens and then it's time for bed.  There is so little time for anything else.  So pile on other things like plan a vacation... with plenty of drama cause we can't do anything the 'traditional' way (we are going to Sonoma in 20 days... let the count down begin!  But had some issues with the person we were going to rent from... I think we are finally all settled now.) and look for a new condo (i'm obsessive and when I get an idea in my head that's all I focus on until it is done) and there is so little little time to do anything else!

I'm living for the weekends!  Which start on Friday evening, but the tired sets on real fast so really Saturday is our day to enjoy... but it goes by so quickly too!  So the plan for this weekend is... NOTHING.

Cause I'm going Crazy...

I hope you had a nice week and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mama's out there!  And Happy Birthday (or belated Birthday) to all of my May birthday friends and family.  I have all the cards addressed but no stamps... uggh!  I'm terrible.  I just stare at the calendar in disbelief at how may lives there are to celebrate in May.

XOXO

MOVE YOUR BODY

Here's this weeks song... complements of Mr. D who found it.  And well, I love it!  I think lots of people give Beyonce a hard time because shes a 'diva' but I have to say... the woman can sing!  She has joined Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign and this video is a piece of her contribution.   I'm digging it!  It's fun and full of energy and catchy... which is the important part.

Here is a link to the original which is also fun to watch, old school dancing... too funny!

It's already Thursday... I can't believe how quickly this week has flown by.  I'm looking forward to the weekend.  We will be trying a couple new restaurants and other than that I think we will be pretty lazy.  Maybe I'll get my act together and I'll make something yummy!

XOXO

EATING OUR WAY THROUGH CHI-TOWN

My mother has been scolding me on my lack of posting so here's what we've been up to!!

We had a nice weekend full of visitors, yummy food and good ol' fashion sight seeing.  I have a feeling the Chicago skyline is something I will never tire of.  We did lots of walking... showing off our neighborhood.  Friday night consisted of wine tasting at Bin Wine Cafe paired with small plates and desert at iCream... this great little ice cream shop where they make the ice cream before your eyes, with the help of a little liquid nitrogen.

Saturday was filled with a trip to the Green City Market (I talked about it last weekend but when we tried to go we found out that in the winter and early spring months it's only open every other weekend).  It was a good opportunity to show off Lincoln Park so we hopped in the car for the market.  Everyone warned me that it wasn't very big and it will be much better in the summer... I was pleasantly surprised!  There were quite a few booths and I think Mr. D and I have found the CSA that we'd like to go with.  They deliver right to your door, which is really great for us!  After the market we took a little drive by the lake and because it was so nice there were quite a few people out and about.  We had lunch at Cipollina Deli... which was our first time there (I love getting to explore a new city!).  And then it was off to downtown!  The plan was take the El downtown and to explore a little more (which = more walking!).  We took a tour of my office, walked around Millennium Park and down the crazy packed streets of Michigan Ave.  I'd love to say that we walked all the way back home but by that time we were pooped!  Cabbed it back to the house and let me just say that I took a very long nap (apologies to our visitors)!

That evening it was off to another new restaurant named Sono Wood Fired.  (Mr. D found this list of all the hot spots in town right now so we've got reservations booked through June... Sono was one of them.)  Again, lots of food... we got apps and salads, pizzas and drinks.  It was great, I totally recommend it! 

Sunday was pretty low key... we knew a lot would be closed so we decided to have a late breakfast and see were the rest of the day took us.  Brunch at Toast (hello mango pancakes... I could eat those every day!).   A walk around the neighborhood, a stroll past our local church and then a drive around Wrigleyville... on a game day!  Pretty much the last thing we did was eat more food (as if we didn't eat enough this weekend?).  We'd heard good things about Nick's Pit Stop so we tried their sandwiches... and they were just ok.  I think we will be back for a whole chicken another time...

It was a fun weekend and the weather cooperated for the most part.  We hope the parents had a good time... but I'm convinced that Mom D's favorite part was meeting her grand kittens!  She was ready to pack Grizzy Poo in her suit case... I made sure to check that all luggage was free of fur balls before we left the condo.

Hope all of you had a nice weekend!

XOXO

SWEETIES

Lions and Grizzies and Loonies, OH MY!

REWARDS

These cats get us up so early... it's kind of annoying on the weekends.  We are feeding them twice a day so they know when it's time to eat... well they kind of know when its time.  They let us know when when they are hungry and it's usually about 45 minutes before meal time.  On the weekends we just want to sleep in a little bit but it just doesn't seem to be happening.

Today Mr. D gets up to feed them, I'm also awake (it's tough to sleep with kittens meowing as loud as they can and climbing on youf head and chasing each other around the room like psychopaths) and at this point neither of us were going back to sleep (it's like 6:45, on a Saturday!).  So you know what... we went to the gym!  I was super proud of us and actually really surprised.  Now we can check that off the list for today.  After the gym we get home and of course I'm hungry.  But I'm still so proud of us so I think... I should reward myself.  With pancakes!

And that's how I negate my entire work out.  Blueberry buttermilk pancakes.

Sweets will be the end of me...

Here's the recipe I used.  I didn't make any substitutions,  but I didn't have exactly fresh ingredients... old eggs (which from what I've been reading about baking aged eggs can be a good thing) and really old buttermilk... that still smelled like buttermilk!  Lol!  So I used it and they were delish!  The perfect combination of sweet and sour, they were super fluffy (don't over mix!).  And the blueberries add a nice pop of juicy fruit goodness.  I often just jump into cooking with out thinking about it so we didn't have any syrup.  Mr. D likes naked pancakes, I settled on a little agave nectar.  Add a little fake bacon and second helping and bye bye workout!  

Unhealthy tip... use butter to grease your skillet... makes perfectly brown cakes.

Hope you all have had a great Saturday morning!

XOXO

I NEED A DOLLAR

TGIF everyone!  I'm exhausted after a long week of work but i'm looking forward to some of our weekend activities.  We plan on going to the Gardens, checking out the Green City Market and trying a new fancy restaurant.  

I must say that I've really enjoyed getting back to work.  It's nice to be in such an active city, there are people everywhere and I feel stupid saying it but it's really invigorating!  

In the spirit of payday, here is a song that I find to be catchy.  I like this guys voice and the song is simple and just good.  I'm pretty sure Mr. D and I originally saw him on Conan... 

I was listing to the song on this post and I got a little sad... well a lot sad.  I think that's one of the reasons I really like music... it can bring out a lot of emotion at times (happy and sad).  I miss our big guy.  

XOXO

KITTY CITY!

Their cuteness is tough to deny. 

Their orneriness is not!  Looney got in there herself... she's so bad!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

And I couldn't be happier!  There are a few things that I've noticed that makes me really think that I can look forward to warmer weather (good riddance winter!) .

1. Pretty flowers poking out of the ground and green buds on the trees.
2. Ladies wearing dresses, with out tights!
3. And the sun... it's out and it's out all day long!  (If that makes any sense...)

Don't you just love spring?  I'd say for the past 5 years spent in St. Louis we've really not had a spring... maybe a week and then it was HOT!  

I've heard that Chicagoans live for the summers so I'm really looking forward to that experience... hopefully all the summertime activities will provide for some good blogging!  This weekend we will be taking a little trip to the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  I was given two tickets for this weekend so I hope the nice weather continues so we can enjoy it!  

XOXO 

AN END OF AN ERA

I have decided to publicly admit that my 'no fast food' pact screeched to a halt last Thursday.  It was my choice to eat it but it was really for the best... you don't want a really loud grumbling coming from your tummy during a client meeting.

15 months and 7 days.  I'm very proud of that number!

And I blame the client (as well as me being human and needing to eat lunch)... why couldn't they have ordered from a local sandwich shop?

Mr. D is still going strong.  And I'm back on the no fast food wagon!

XOXO