Mar 27 2008
A Very Merry Unbirthday to You
I have the good fortune to have my birthday in the very exact middle of the work-week, so I went to see my family this weekend.
But, business first. Michael and I have subscribed to a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, but subscribing to a CSA is a turn-of-phrase that basically means we get a box of produce from a local farm weekly. This farm delivers to eleven locations, one of them happens to be five minutes from our home, luckily. Lots of local farms do this, but often require that you drive to their farms to get produce – this one has a large enough demand to be able to deliver to different locations – a few of them are smaller farms that support their venture.
If you’ve read my rants, you know that in terms of eating anything – I prefer to eat locally. As a sort of vegetarian, I could care less if people eat meat they butcher themselves, hunt themselves, raise themselves – or get from a local source that does the same. To my point of view – this behavior is more natural and eco-friendly than subsisting on morningstar farms veggie proteins – or even produce imported from South America in the winter. I’m not stepping on any high-horse here – I paid four dollars this weekend for a vegetarian smore from Sweet and Sara (I loved it, although the graham cracker was off. Michael hated it). I have Boca burgers in my freezer for a night I’m lazy.
It takes a lot of nerve and skill as a chef to cook with local ingredients. Especially since, dependent on the weather, you don’t know what you’ll get or the quality of what you’ll get. It’s a challenge, but when you can support your neighbors, get gorgeous organic produce, and eat more naturally – I think it’s a win/win/win. I’m excited, but then, I won’t be cooking.
Anyway, we sent our check to the farm Saturday, then headed to My Organic Market for a Sweet and Sara smore, hemp milk, kudzu root, and some weird corn snack Michael liked and I didn’t. We went to Roy’s Place with my family for lunch and I hit the mother load with books, comic books, clothes and some super sweet binoculars, bird watching books and some oil pastels that I haven’t played with yet mostly because I’m intimidated by their perfection. My older sister also framed a wonderful cross stitch, which we hung immediately in our entry way and gifted us some lovely tomato and basil plants which look great.
Anyway, yesterday was my real birthday and it was pretty depressing. I read, I slept, I cuddled with my cat, I ate leftover pizza. A good friend called me in the afternoon which was awesome and then Michael came home and set up a Hello Kitty pinata for me. Before I could play with it, he made me open one of my presents, an Ukiyo-E book I wanted. Ukiyo-E are woodblock prints from the Edo period of Japan. I wrote a bad paper on them once, but I had a good thesis. Here is my picture while reflecting on an image depicting the sexual attitudes in Japan during that time:
The pinata was a pull-string, and it fell on my back when I finally pulled the right string. It is not the best idea to hang a pinata from a knob on a vent in your apartment. It was loaded with candy and hello kitty goodies. I have amassed an enormous selection of hello kitty stickers, of which my pen pals will reap the benefits. The loot pile:
All in all, so far it’s been a sweet birthday week. Saturday I’m going to the MD Department of Agriculture Open House, and I’ll be sure to take a camera and hopefully update with plenty of petting zoo pictures.