Health Care

I'm listening to President Obama speak about Health Care and, I'm not going to lie, I'm a little confused.

One statement, however, did strike a chord in my heart. The example is a person with diabetes and the theme is prevention.

Pretty much, instead of this man or woman paying for their foot to be amputated, they will improve their diet through education and "counseling".

I was immediately warm to this because I believe in long term goals and the bigger picture. I am a firm believer that "quick" and "easy" solutions are not always be the best (obviously it depends on the circumstance).

Anyway, I have much more research to do on the subject. For now, however, it's just a little food for thought!

Ice Cream Trucks!

I never grew up with these. Now, however, they are all over Queens!!

Joe and I walked to Bowne Park today and heard the infamous 'Pop Goes The Weasel'. His ears perked up and my did as well. While he was sniffing out the exact location of the truck, I saw a couple walk past with vanilla wafer cones.

'I never liked soft serve', I thought.

But today was different. I was craving the sweet, cold, meltable, lickable, treat! We walked fast to the vendor, ordered, and found ourselves ooh-ing and ahh-ing over how, for different reasons, we never really had ice cream from Mr. Softee. His mom would say 'no' because they had ice cream at the house. And me... well... I grew up in the "country".

See, there are some advantages to this adult thing!

Dinner De-Stressed

I have a problem where I think of food constantly.

I couldn't decide what to do for dinner last night so... I made a sandwich. And it was beyond satisfying.

Toasted Italian Wheat Bread
Olive Oil
Sliced Avocado
Sliced Cherry Tomatoes
Quinoa & Pineapple
Lettuce (from my garden)
Balsamic
S&P

I still want chickens & roosters!

If Hope Sandrow can have them, I want them too!

Eliot and his friend, the pig...

I have to share this photo because it is too precious and it speaks volumes.

This is my darling nephew, Eliot. He is 2 years old and loves plants, avocados, sweet potatoes, ducks, turtles, snakes, farms, music, and the moon.

I believe children like him are the key to a sustainable and respectable future.

True, he is a very fortunate little boy. He lives in the country with both parents who are extremely loving, nurturing, and creative. However, it does not take much for an adult (stranger or not) to set a positive example for a child.

Just something to think about next time you are around little ones!!!

Salad

Nothing like a nice salad to end a long day...

Lettuce Greens from the garden
Grilled romaine
Grilled pineapple
Oil/Balsamic
Pepper

Perhaps the only 2 things that would have made this better are a grilled portobella and eating dinner with Joe.

Good night!

Outside... catching some sun!!!

It is beautiful out and my first day off!

We'll be making crab tonight and kicking back with beer. Very exciting!

While our breakfast was pretty usual for a Sunday - it was still fantastic. I swear my thyme is the best!!

Speak to you all soon!!!

#7

I don't really know what the #7 has to do with this posting, but I wrote a lovely journal entry about it this morning on my way in to work.

Anyway, tonight I battled with "do I go out to dinner because I'm too tired to cook?" or "do I go home and cook a fabulous dinner and drink fun wine even if I am too tired to cook?" Well, the latter won and I am neither disappointed nor frustrated.

Here's the dish...

corn (leftover grilled corn from the 4th)
red onion
scapes
garlic
tomato
red pepper
herbs from my garden (thyme, basil & parsley)
butternut squash raviolis

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

The colors were fun, the taste was fun and the whole dish is making me excited for my next dinner party!!

Oh, and aside from the raviolis, there were 7 ingredients (sans salt & pepper) in my sauce. I guess we can now call this the #7 Sauce...

Happy dining!

4th of July: Picnic, Plays & Peace

I often wonder why I've chosen the life I lead. What am I really getting out of the hustle and bustle of Manhattan? Sure, there is beauty wherever you go and the grass is always greener on the other side, but I truly love the country.

This past weekend we went up to Westchester to visit my girlfriend, Rebecca, and her boyfriend, Johnny. To say that we had a blast would be an understatement. In addition to picnicing at Boscobel before the Shakespeare play, aside from grilling yummy veggies, making potato salad, bean salad, pancakes from scratch, farmers scrambled eggs, Sunday potatoes, etc, etc, we happened upon fireworks, friends, stories, and scrabble for the ladies and uno for the men.

The three days were romantic, liesurely and relaxing, to say the least. And the food... mmmmmmmmmmmm...

Worms!!!!

I had a difficult time getting up this morning but knew I had to bring my veggie scraps out to my little compost corner.

Not only had I neglected to rotate the heap in a few weeks (woops!) but the garage door was open revealing a shovel - I had not excuse not to. Little did I know, however, that with the push and flip of my tool I would unveil tons of plump, juicy earth worms!!! While they were less than happy to be uprooted from their feast, they quickly dove back in and continued munching!

A wonderful surprise for a not-easy-to-wake-up morning.

Oh yes, and my strawberries are FINALLY blossoming their flowers. A bit late, but I'll take what I can get!