good eatin'

Thank you for all the book suggestions, folks! I just sat down and created a huge checkout list from my library. My local library can be accessed online. I can reserve books and have them "sent" to a drive-thru window where I pick them up and checkout. It's pretty much what keeps my reading life alive b/c any time spent at the library is usually spent downstairs in the children's department. Now if I could just find a grocery store with a drive thru window....

Strawberries aren't quite in season here, but were are just on the cusp. So I'm getting ready because I'm pretty much a strawberry fanatic. My grandmother told me that you should only wash the serving of strawberries you are going to eat because they spoil more quickly after you've washed them. So armed with that wisdom, I now only wash a handful at a time. This ritual had me thinking how much I wish I had a tiny collander to wash my one serving of berries. So I emailed my genius potter friend, Melissa and described what I was looking for and offered a swap for her design and potting services.

She sent me this beauty in the mail last week and it is just perfect. Perfectly sized for a large handful of berries--enough this morning for my cereal, a few in my mouth right away and some extras for my berry-lovin' babe, Elizabeth who was tugging on my leg and grunting for more. Melissa, I love it. And if you want one of your own, she says she'll be making more later this month. So go favorite her etsy shop and keep watch. And Melissa, your swallow mobile is in the works.... :) **edited to add: she's making more next week!**

And on the topic of food, I made this snack for the girls today which is straight from the latest issue of EDF's after school snack section. Oh.My.Man. as my children would say. It is so good--cinnamon swirl bread, toasted. Plain cream cheese. Apple slices. Oh geez. Try it.

Yesterday, I called my mom on the phone. The woman makes the best salads in the world. So as I was making out my grocery list this week, I called to ask what key ingredients I needed to make a mom-esque salad...She really doesn't know exactly what makes them so good. They're these clean out the refrigerator, never the same twice kinds of salads. But her guesses were the cheese--feta. The olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper. Those were the base of almost every salad. So today, I made one for lunch--using the same base and adding some leftover grilled salmon, and some black beans. It was really, really good and filled me up for the rest of the day. (It's 4:30 right now.) Now if only I'd made some crackers to go with it.

I'm still doing my weekly meal planning and I'm not sure I'll be able to turn back. It is so helpful. (Although this week, I was a few days behind on my big shop and had to leave a "Dear John" letter on the fridge for Dan about his breakfast that wouldn't be there for him.) But unfortunately my grocery bill keeps creeping higher and higher. Gone are the days of the $79 shopping trip. These grocery prices are making me want to add an extra acre to my garden. I saw a gallon of organic milk for seven dollars!