The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Last Bounty

Since PT and I broke up and I can’t afford to keep getting the produce boxes from Newleaf by myself, this is the last box. Just to torture me further this had to be the best box yet:

Blueberries, oranges, apples, broccoli, zucchini, and bananas are some of my favorite things in life. I have no idea what those green pointy things are on the right there. Ideas? Help? Please! And more kale and a head of lettuce, I think. Sigh. I’ll miss it. And Pudge Rodriguez will miss it, too.

So, I can cook, right? I throw things together and it normally turns out.

Omelet? Kinda?

... Maybe?

Not the case with omelets. I love omelets and make them pretty often. 9 times out of 10 they look like this. My problem is that I want to put too many things in them and then they fall apart because there isn’t enough egg. This ‘omelet’ had broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, and corn in it, with some cheddar sprinkled on top. It’s just too much stuff for 3 eggs.

Despite how it looked, though, it was really good. I had completely forgotten I had eggs. That is the one complaint I will make about the produce box; I felt like I never knew what I had in my fridge. I opened my crisper drawer last night and had to do a clean sweep (never got to the cilantro from a few weeks back – that was ugly). When you forget you have entire pineapple in your fridge, you have lost control. Three produce boxes a month, instead of four, would have set me up for life. If I cared enough about money to actually make it.

Sock #1 Done

So Pretty!

Something I do care about making? Socks. I finished one of these cute socks yesterday. It was kind of bitter sweet, actually. When I started it PT and I were still kinda together. It was my comfort sock, my no brainer pattern I was sadly knitting in the quiet.

Does that happen to you? You remember what you were doing or going through when you were knitting a project much much later when you pull that project out? I’ve always done that. I have a piece of pottery I made in high school the week George Harrison died, and I remember that when I see it. I have a shawl I was working on when I moved to college that I remember working on in the room I grew up in that doesn’t exist anymore.

Two-Texture Mittens

So, I started these last night. I’ve had these mittens in my head for a while; I am almost done with the outline for my pattern/recipe book and these are in there. I just need a pattern for them! I always forget how much time you have on your hands after a break up. Time to be ultra productive. Half a two-texture-mitten-in-one-night productive.

I left out the thumb, changing from knitting in the round on the double pointed needles to back and forth for the size of my thumb. I’m going to go back and pick those stitches up later with the cream yarn. I know, I know. Genius!

… and I’ll probably have it done tonight.

Bounty, and Pudge

Pudge Rodriguez was all up in my grill yesterday. Here she is sniffing some kale, which is quickly becoming her favorite green, and that is saying a lot since this cat can’t get enough vegetables. Or bread. Or cheese. Or anything spilled on the table. Or anywhere.

The Newleaf bounty included lettuce, kale, half a pineapple (though I haven’t even cut into the last one), three tomatoes, an apple, a mango, more blueberries, mushrooms, and an onion knob.

Zucchini and Kale Pasta

Zucchini of my Heart

I made zucchini and kale pasta with tomatoes, onion, and garlic sauce, with parm on top for dinner. I think I’m officially done buying pasta sauce! It is easy to saute up some onions, garlic, diced tomatoes and a little tomato paste while the pasta is cooking. Just season it (crushed red pepper flakes, fennel, fresh ground pepper, a tiny pinch of salt), and you are good to go. The zucchini is perfect right now, which is kind of a shame because…

I’m fleeing to Detroit for the Sox Tigers double header tomorrow! That is right, second double header of the season and it couldn’t be happening at a better time. I haven’t been to Comerica Park since it opened. And where better to mini-vaca then the saddest city in the world?

I’m going to go to game two naked so Curtis Granderson will take me home with him. Game one naked? Very unpleasant sunburn AND I wouldn’t get to see game two. That is called planning! And I’ll get to go stay with Mama and Papa Granderson on the south side whenever I want. Win. Win.

Be back Saturday. I’ll miss you.

Newleaf Natural Grocery delivered the second produce box yesterday and it was full of fun things!

Pudge is Happy

Greens, blueberries, a pineapple, cilantro, apricots, garlic, baby carrots, and, again, bananas! I was happy to see this babies.

Pudge Rodriguez was happy to see the greens. The cat loves greens. And bread. And liquid of any kind. And the blueberries she attacked after I quick put the greens away. She just basically loves people food. Whenever I’m in the kitchen she is in there with me, sniffing out what I’m making, trying to steal nibbles of whatever I’ve got out. She is growing into her name, and I’m not talking about the catcher. (FAT! SHE IS GOING TO BE FAT!)

Banananana

I promptly made myself a big bowl of blueberry and banana oats with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a handfull of Scooters, with a slice of crunchy peanut butter and banana toast.

1/3ish cup of milk, 1/2 cup oats, half a banana, a sprinkle of blueberries, cinnamon and Scooters. These blueberries are out of control and I can’t wait to make some pancakes! Muffins? Just stick my face right in the carton? There are many possibilities.

PT's Pasta Dinner

My Lunch

PT must have also been very excited about the produce box; I found this picture of his dinner from last night on the camera. Looks like chard and lots of olives and onions. I cooked up this swiss, cucumber, mustard, and lettuce sandwich on homemade bread. It was lovely. I love having so much produce around. I feel like I never need to go grocery shopping! I need to figure out what to do with all those greens, though. Lettuce wraps? No one can eat all that in salad form.

Stupid Bag

I also finished this stupid bag. I hate it. The side seams are stupid. Why would you crochet this closed? I have half a mind to pull it out and knit the whole thing again in the round but I don’t care enough. It’s a biking bag, after all. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I just get irritated when I see how lumpy the seams are.

My pin looks good on it, though! This is the first thing I’ve put that pin on that I’ve actually knitted. I have one on all my purses and bags and jackets etc etc, but I feel good that I’m finally using it for it’s purpose.

… though I don’t really want people to know I knit that since it looks like shit. Shit. I really need to hire someone to do this marketing thing for me. I seriously suck at it.

I like food.

I haven’t always had the greatest relationship with the stuff, though. When I was younger I was not a healthy eater by any means. I grew up in a pretty typical meat and potatoes environment until I was in 5th grade and decided to be a vegetarian to piss my dad off. I’ve been pretty good about not eating red meat ever since. I’ve had the occasional What-Does-It-All-Mean? moments; namely when I moved to Chicago and thought summer sausage would be a good idea. It wasn’t. It really, really wasn’t.

But I wasn’t a healthy vegetarian. My first year of college I spent in Adrian, Michigan eating cookies and coffee for dinner, and Frosted Flakes for lunch. I was 50 pounds heavier than I am now and wouldn’t have been able to run around the block.

Two years ago I figured it out, though. I started working out, cooking for myself, and eating real food. I try to fuel instead of consume. I try to eat mindfully. I love my body and try to take care of it as much as I can.

Produce Box

Enter Newleaf Natural Grocery! This is the first produce box PT and I ordered from them and I couldn’t be more excited. Look at that bounty of organic produce! Delivered right to my door!

What is fun about this is some of that stuff I don’t even know what to do with, so it has forced us to look at recipes we would never have tried, like what PT whipped up last night.

Kale Spaghetti! Who Knew?

Kale spaghetti with onions, tomatoes, and garlic, sprinkled with parmesan. It was great! And I’ve certainly never had kale in spaghetti before. It was hearty and kinda beet-y. It was fun, and I would have never bought it myself.

The part of the box I’m really excited about? Those bananas! I haven’t had a banana in almost a year when I stopped eating them because of the banana coups and wasted fuel for shipping (blah blah). My last banana was on August 5th! And PT hates bananas so they are both mine. I’m going to eat them with peanut butter! I’m going to eat them in my oat bowl!

I just wish they would rippen up so I can stop carrying them around with me in a baby bjorn.