We're just now getting the good strawberries and tomatoes in this area.

Opted for a shirmp parm sammich over pizza.

My tiny local old-skool NY pizzeria guy uses fresh shrimp he breads himself. Once my dinner was a little under-done, but that's a small price to pay for shrimp that isn't overcooked.

Rice Krispies:

Reason #4276 I love living here: We spent the majority of the day in Redmond at the Digipen Institute where the kids participated in a preview for a summer camp. At the end of the afternoon, it was decided, Nate's going to be doing Robotics and Abby's going to be doing Game Design and how freakin' cool is THAT? I love that she was one of maybe four girls in a group of thirty or so and she didn't even notice-- except to flirt with the boy sitting next to her.

Another boy admired her game background design.

Heaven help the game industry.

Freshly picked sweet corn is a miracle of yum.

We live for corn season. There's nothing like sweet corn on the cob with butter and salt. NOM.

Deb Grabien also introduced me to my favorite veg dish -- roasted asparagus and mushrooms, twenty minutes in a hot oven tossed with olive oil and sea salt. I could eat it every day.

My big downfall is that I really don't love carrots. They have to be cooked in way that masks the carrot flavor, or are paired with another veg. I like them raw only nominally more than cooked. Not a fan of yams or squash other than yellow summer, either.

We got lucky with the kids -- they like salad and green beans and broccoli and corn, which amazes me (the broccoli especially).

My meals pretty much revolve around veggies. Ok, my dinners. I don't do breakfast, and lunch is usually half a tortilla with hummus, some sandwich meat and cheese. And lots of fruit. Lots and lots of fruit. I like a good hunk of meat from time to time, but it's got to be that: good. I can easily go without in things like my (daily) salad habit, but I put in chicken for the protein factor.

Like Brenda, if I have crackers and cheese in the house, I will nibble at them unendingly. So I try to not have them. Except TJ's everything crackers are pure crack, I tell you. I usually allow a box every other trip or so.

In unsurprising news, I have a fridge full of spinach that I could literally eat plain straight out of the bag. And strawberries. And little banana bread from Moveable feast. And a couple empanadas: one bbq, one black bean.

After hauling myself to the FM for the above, I did my long swim, went out for a pedicure and to pick up something for the party, went to the party, came home, vacuumed and mopped the first floor and now I am daid. I need to replace the mop head, it self destructed just as I finished up. I still need to grocery shop, do the second floor, target (I need to reverse that order, hmm,) make another dress or shoe shopping attempt, swim and, if it is dry enough, do some yard work. Had a nice window of gorgeous weather to do it this morning, but I had other things that could only get done then. Sigh.

Oh my god, fresh sweet corn! It is yummy, and a memory in my mouth of childhood. Weirdly, it actually tasted pretty good raw!

Now I am longing to somehow move to the country, grow my own food, and never have to work for "the man" again.

Fresh sweet corn is good raw or grilled or steamed or boiled. Which is why we planted a row of corn on a whim this year. I think snails are eating it, but if any survives and produces ears of corn I can eat I will be SO HAPPY!

Pretty much any corn is good grilled. I haven't tried roasted, but now I want to.Roasting makes every vegetable better, afaic.

That said, I haven't eaten an actal vegetable in probably a couple of days - certainly haven't had any today. Partially because we are trying to empty out the fridge before we replace it, and partially my usual laziness wrt food prep.

Now I am longing to somehow move to the country, grow my own food, and never have to work for "the man" again.

Man, I always want to do that. I have not made the right choices in my life to get me there, sadly.

Man, I always want to do that. I have not made the right choices in my life to get me there, sadly.

I think I might not be able to butcher animals I raised. I remember a woman I worked with and her husband raised a pig for the first time, and she described reading from a book to her husband as he butchered the pig, and while a funny image, I am pretty sure this scene would end with me having a pet pig.

...it's interesting to me that while Brenda came at a change much like mine from a deliberate angle of thinking about food, I did it because I didn't want to think about food. I was stressed and busy (and this probably also started with the a/c wars, so wanting something cool,) so started living off those salad-in-a-bowl things I could get cheapish at Safeway. Then I decided it would be cheaper to get the individual ingredients, so I started doing that, changing dressings and veggies as was my whim. When I did actually cook, it was something I liked a lot and wasn't just filling a craving hole, if I was going to make the effort. And excepting mexican food (which I can't really make that well, except my fake posole and blackbean soup, so I don't bother) most of what I really like is pretty veg-based, low in fat.

After a long period of that, I really do notice when I eat something that I might like at the moment, but later really doesn't like me. Aversion therapy works like whoa (except with cheese. I still can't pass that up if offered.)

Which I am reminded of now because we had something like 9 different types of good potato salad/dish at the party, and whooboy, I'm no longer feeling the love. Plus cake, which I really should have passed on. Uhg.

Now I am longing to somehow move to the country, grow my own food, and never have to work for "the man" again.

I would love this if Garv was growing our food. And harvesting it. And cooking it.

Breakfast is one of my biggest downfalls in eating healthy. I have to eat in the morning or I get nauseous, which is partly my meds and partly habit (and smoking, I think). But I am NOT a morning person and I do have a sweet tooth, so if left to my own devices I grab whatever is quickest, which is usually something like a piece of coffee cake or a PopTart.