US meets UK

I sent this to a friend in Arizona that I haven’t seen in a long while. It’s a bit like a cliff notes version of my life.

Life update? Still looking for a new job. Turned 26 on Tuesday, kind of feel like I’m supposed to be a real adult. I held a baby and liked it-which was super weird. I’ve banned myself from touching them, because the last thing I want right now is a baby. I would however, love a pug puppy (or 2-6 year old dog). I don’t want to get a dog right now though, because Nick works from home and I know that the dog will end up loving him more than me. Which is just unacceptable. We now live in Capitol Hill in an adorable apt with a nice little side garden.

So, that’s the quick and dirty version of the last few months – what’s yours?

Fall low. Looooooow. Airline prices have been an annoying barrier this past year. First, it was hard to find an affordable flight for Nick to visit England in March, so he went alone and I stayed here.

Then we tried to find an affordable flight so he could go with me on a work trip to San Diego. We were super syked about the possibility of him attending with me, as he has always wanted to see California. Plus the Estancia is not too shabby….

Nope. All flights were super expensive.

Now the worst blow, Nick researched flights to England for the Christmas holiday and flights are about $1000. EACH.

We were both really, really looking forward to being there for Christmas. We’re several months out, so I’ll keep stalking travel deals. Last year we skyped, I made yorkshire puddings, and my sister made a pavlova – I even found christmas crackers! But it’s just not the same, and we’re both really missing his family at this point.

Anyone else dealing with far-away family travel for the holidays? Or am I thinking about this way, way too early?

ps. In case you see one from DCA/IAD/BWI to MAN let me know!

I received several Amazon gift certificates from Nick’s wonderful side of the family. The obvious answer *might* be to purchase 398769476 kindle books. However, I could get something a wee bit more exciting. Who am I kidding, kindle books ARE exciting!!!!

Though really, it’s between these two items:

The (formerly named) Happy Farmer compost system:

I actually put this on our wedding registry because it gets pretty great reviews around the ‘net, is suitable for indoor use, requires no layering or turning and makes compost tea – which is great for an apartment dweller like myself.

Alternatively, I’ve kind of been coveting a sewing machine after seeing this dress post on While Baby Was Sleeping (I’m not having a baby, I just followed her over from Jenna’s blog) and she’s really inspired me to want to sew!

Will this sewing machine be up to the job? I hope so! I’d mostly like to make pillows, dresses and tops. I think I *could* get into quilting, but that is a very big maybe…

So, what say ye? Do you have either of the items? Which would you purchase? Do you have a sewing machine- any recommendations?

Two of my very close and dear friends (dare I say… BEST friends) sent me these ecards from someecards.

Both cards were super dead on and led me to spit out my coffee. My one friend and I *may* have a bit of an inside Lady Gaga joke-and the fact she’s wearing a Union Jack flag dress? even better.

I love birthday week!

*oh, you thought birthday meant DAY? Well, you’re wrong. You get a whole week to celebrate!

A while back I wrote a post about attempting boeuf bourguignon, and I recently received this comment… Which is a bit confusing, and due to the excessive use of swear words I elected not to approve it. It’s the first non-spammy comment I’ve ever not approved, and I guess I’ll need to think about a comment policy. The only parts that are redacted are the swear words-the capitalization and spelling are all his/hers. I’m not sure what capitalizing only “REAT” emphasizes, but who am I to judge?

julia child was and is the gREATest and you hating on the movie just makes you an ugly f**k who hates people and wh0 hates the generation of love and who hates likeing an actually person. ssoooo go screw yourself and what you think you standfor bc it is nothing but bullshit b***h.  you obviously do not like yourself or anyone so go take a f***ing d**k and pleasure yourself for once… or maybe a vibrator!

p.s
the recipe she made is perfect s learn to f***ing cook you ugly horrid person.  plus learn to cook and not be a f***ing whore!
love ya babes

The funniest part being, that I didn’t insult Julia Child at all-I said I liked her! I just didn’t have 6 hours to make a stew and I was new to cooking beef.

Have you ever received a crazy comment?

Biscuit? I think Biscuit is adorable!

In the event Biscuit isn’t available, I think Sydney is pretty sweet.

Or Huxely?

*Biscuit, Sydney and Huxley  via MAPR

In case you’re concerned that Nick is unaware of my puppy pug obsession. He knows. Oh, he knows. Perhaps I should work on a more realistic list? I guess.

Anywho…

I’d like to meet Shiloh

We aren’t exactly in the right place for a dog, what if Nick goes to work for an agency instead of working at home? What do we do with the dog when we travel? We live in a smallish one bedroom apt-is that big enough? le sigh. No dog for now.

Even if it’s a great price and is completely adorable.

Just because it’s on a target block, with incentives to purchase and renovate…. and my dad is a contractor, and we have a great handy support system of people who could help us…. that’s no reason to buy…right? right?

F bombs. We have a 3 year plan, one that doesn’t include buying a house-but does include moving to another country. Of course, like any plan worth it’s salt, it’s liable to change at any moment. But still. I will not buy a house. I will not buy a house.

Are you a renter? Home owner? Do you have house lust?

I found a bag of chicken livers for sale at the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market this weekend. I jumped on the purchase with serious enthusiasm-Nick? Not so much. I had planned on asking my regular chicken guy at the McPherson sq FM, but these magically appeared. Another alternative would be to purchase from Polyface, but they mix the livers and hearts and as a beginner, I’d prefer them separate.

I had recently seen a recipe for blackened chicken livers and since I want to try “variety meats” and I love Cajun flavors-it seemed like a great idea.

To further my offal education (oh gosh… these puns are endless) I tried to search for a cookbook on Amazon. There seems to be a serious lack of offal cookbooks, and in general education regarding cooking with offal.

There are the Nose to Tail, and Beyond Nose to Tail books. The reviews seem to highlight that the recipes include ingredients that are difficult to find and perhaps not accessible for the beginning offal cook.

There is also the River Cottage MEAT book – which I already have. In fact, I love the River Cottage entire series of cookbooks*. Nick and I have the River Family Cookbook, the River Cottage Bread Book and while I was in England (and still a vegetarian) I loved watching their tv show. I highly recommend the RC Meat book to anyone who wants to explore meat production and consumption from a holistic standpoint. I reference the book often, and enjoy reading it on a weekend afternoon to relax. I think Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is pretty amazing-can he and I be friends? Would that be creepy of me to ask? Probably.

I’ll be cooking the livers this week, and I’ll be sure to let you know of my efforts. I hope I succeed, because if so, I have high hopes for the momentum of the nose to tail movement. Offal meats are currently less expensive, while still high in nutrients. Eating offal makes both financial and (according to my own guide) philosophical sense.

Have you cooked with offal before? Do you have any recommendations for me?

*We have the British versions of these books, and while I can’t be positive I’d wager the American versions are a bit different.

In light of all this “food talk” 

I thought I’d share this quote by Wendel Berry

We can not live harmlessly or strictly at our own expense; we depend upon other creatures and survive by their deaths. To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation. The point is, when we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament; when we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration…

From his book – The Gift of Good Land

(photos via me)

Nick and I live in Capitol Hill, but I actually don’t shop that often at Eastern Market. Shock! FOR SHAME! On weekends it’s crazy crowded, has too many craft vendors and not enough farmers. Eastern Market is not a producer only market, meaning I could go to the warehouse, pick up produce come to Eastern Market and sell it to you. I will encourage you though, to check out the guy who sells eggs in one of the first outdoor stalls on the left that you’ll see when you’re walking from Pennsylvania Ave to the market-he’s great.

This article does a great job of explaining why it’s important to ask questions at your local farmer’s market.

But the real point of this, was to do a bit of comparison shopping. A few items are very similarly priced to grocery store items and a few are not. In fact, I was surprised to see that sometimes the Farmer’s Market is less expensive!

For example, crazy tasty, juicy, fuzzy farmers market (FM) peaches are $2.50/lb, fuzzless rocks at grocery store (GS) are $2.49/lb unless on sale. FM Green Peppers are .75/each, or 3 for $2, GS Green Peppers are at minimum $1 each. FM Cantaloupe $5, GS Cantaloupe $5. FM Cherry tomatoes $4/box GS Cherry tomatoes $3.99/box. Whole Foods faceless farm possibly pastured chicken $9/lb for breasts, FM chicken breast from farmer who chatted with me about chicken husbandry for at least 5 min… $9/lb for breasts. FM Bi-color picked that day corn .50/per ear, GS white corn .25/per ear.

Then there are a few items that I just can’t find at the grocery store, like Rainbow Chard, Currants, and different varieties of my favorite fruits and vegetables (see peaches above).

My shopping trip included

Eight ears of corn

Three green peppers

Eight peaches

One bunch of rainbow chard

Four shallots

One patty pan squash

One punnet of purple potatoes

One Cantaloupe

One whole pastured chicken

For a total of $43

Food prices clearly differ all over, and I’d be interested in seeing what your farmer’s markets and grocery stores compared to as well!