today

feeling inspired by 3191 Q:

drinking a dirty chai.

bought some beautiful, well-loved books including:


really looking forward to reading this one. his first book was incredible.

took a walk. the camas is starting to bloom.

reflecting on some great conversations with the guy who wrote this.

listening to old mixes gifted by friends.

took pictures of (mostly) bare oak trees against a blue sky.

also, this video. thanks, erik.

good day.

b

realization

i had a small but good realization today: i am content with my work schedule, for the first time in a long while. this morning i did my little bit of work for trade at the bookstore, and realized that i was happy not to be working there anymore. since i was so unhappy leaving, i think this is a healthy shift. also today, i spent several hours in union block, as i am apt to do on days when i work on the slow food blog, and i realized that i am also glad that i'm not working there anymore. i'm glad to be working somewhere that isn't a place i hang out in normally. i'm glad to be working out of town, closer to the countryside that i miss living in. i'm glad to be working in the food field again. i'm glad to be reading gardening books and learning to make planting schedules, and making long lists of new agriculture books i want to read. i'm glad to be inspired to cook again. i'm glad that it's spring (sort of) and that i have summer to look forward to. i'm glad that i don't struggle to wake up every single morning anymore. i'm glad that erik and i are living here for a while still, in this beautiful valley, and that we're going on bike rides together.

so many things to be glad for.

only one thing i wish i was doing more of: writing. something not on one of my blogs, but in an honest to goodness notebook, something of poetry form.

b


ps> i kind of want to start a new, visual project. maybe something like this: http://littlepostcards.blogspot.com/

routine

i've always known that i like routine. i usually eat at the same times every day, and maintaining a regular bedtime definitely helps me feel less crazy. i liked my college schedule a lot because i always knew what i was supposed to be doing with the various chunks of my day. even better than college was how, when i was living at home, daily chores were the basis of everyone's schedule: the animals shaped it with their morning feeding, lunchtime feeding, night time feeding... it breaks the day up into manageable three or four hour pieces, gives it all a sense of rhythm.


without these outside structures, and with a slightly-crazy, always-changing work schedule, i've been struggling lately to reestablish a routine. some weekends i'm gone all day, others for just a few hours in the middle. sometimes i don't work at all during the week, and have to find creative ways to fill my time and stay productive. without a real, pressing reason to get up in the morning, it's easy to stay in bed too long. without an obvious conclusion to the day, it's all too easy to eat dinner at 9:30 at night (have you noticed yourself doing this since the time change? i sure have been...). it all circles back around to that discipline thing i've talked about before, and my general lack thereof.

one morning routine that i have been practicing lately is this: wake up pretty early (around 5:30 lately--the birds are really loud!). the alarm goes off at 6:30 and i listen to erik trundle through his morning routine. then i get up, early-ish still (usually no later than eight). i don't bother taking a shower unless i'm heading to work, bundle up (it's been pretty chilly recently), and put the kettle on. grind up my coffee and fill the french press. let it steep while i make oatmeal or pour some granola over my yogurt. then i sit down at the kitchen table and read. i've been resisting turning on the radio or listening to music: i just sip and sit there with my book and my pencil. it's really therapeutic.

i like spending my mornings this way. it is really nice not to feel rushed in the morning, and this way i even get some quiet time before heading to work. it's nice to start the day with someone else's thoughts, not my own: i've learned that writing early in the morning is too taxing for me. i need a little time to warm up and get my juices flowing. early afternoon seems the best time to tackle that. i'm thinking that come summertime and mornings that don't make me shiver, i might change to green tea in the mornings, rather than coffee.

hooray for routines, and saner-feeling days.

b

pretty things

bob marley playing in the sunshine.
apple-patterned notebooks.
w.s. merwin.
collections at 3191.
delicate silver jewelry from elephantine.
rainbow-colored recycled leather journals from kate's paperie.
footed mug from back creek pottery.
people opening doors for each other at the cafe.
bicycles.
scottish shortbread.
getting a few photos printed.


in the past two weeks or so i have rearranged a good portion of my apartment, planted seeds for the garden, invested in herb plants for my balcony, started a new writing notebook, and rescued some branches from the park to decorate the living room. today, i'm going to take the first steps to have a few of my photos printed so that i can work on framing them and finding them a venue. why not, right?

the other day i wrote a really long, totally incoherent and rambling journal entry about struggling to justify my enjoyment of pretty things and making them, because (1) they are things, (2) some of them are dubious in origin, and (3) shouldn't i be simplifying and de-cluttering, rather than collecting more things?

i know that i am prone to clinging to things... objects that i bring home because they are pretty (weeds from the ditch, unusually shaped jars, yet another colorful mug); old items of clothing or paper that i don't really use, but have some memory associated with them; piles of magazines that i keep on hand for "inspiration," but don't do much more with. i have so many little collections hanging around. erik regularly reminds me that every time he clears a space around the house, i tend to fill it with something. this is distressing for his clutter-hating soul, and i feel guilty when my stuff starts sprawling all over the place, leaving him (and myself) very little clear space in which to breathe.

i think that i hang on to these little bits of prettiness because i am as equally prone to losing sight of them, as i am prone to bring them into my cluttered house. i don't know if this is a reasonable justification or not, but i'm going to stick with it for a bit. i do a lot of reading and thinking about issues that are scary and overwhelming--global warming, poverty, insecurity of food systems, my own little future. so i surround myself with pretty little things that remind me why i should keep caring. these are bits of the world that are worth keeping around: daffodils and pretty paper to send notes on, cake pans to bake things and thermoses to keep things warm, thoughts and photos that can point out what i find beautiful in the world, books to share with friends.

some things are worth hanging on to, but the recent post on 3191 encouraged me not to cling to my collections too much. it's probably time to take down the thistles and other dried weeds i had in my winter window, and embrace flowers and tins cans planted with lettuce for the spring. i don't need to save every piece of paper i ever wrote anything on, ever. i can shrink my dishes collections to just the ones i use regularly. i can get rid of those extra pairs of shoes and shirts that don't quite fit anymore. not only is it simplifying, it is making room for newer and better things that reflect how i feel right now, rather than three months ago. healthier, yes?

and anything that makes more room for sunshine and inspiration is good.

b


ps> here are a few of the pictures i'm having printed. what do you think?


"edges"


"decay"


"angled"


"outlook"


"opal"

recipes and a project to share

i'd like to say that i've been cooking more than normal lately, but that wouldn't be entirely true. i have, however, been stockpiling recipes.

one theme in those recipes is olive oil. since starting work at red ridge, i often find myself with a couple of bottles of olive oil sitting in the kitchen begging to be made into something delicious. i love olive oil in all its traditional places--salads, pasta, drizzled on veggies or soups--but i am very, very intrigued by olive oil in less obvious applications. lately, i've been experimenting with olive oil in sweet and baked things... and it is awesome.
so far my favorite tasty treat is definitely olive oil granola. it's literally that simple: swap out boring old canola for some green, grassy olive oil, and your granola instantly gets a flavor boost. the recipe i've been using also adds about twice the salt as normal granola, which makes it into a sweet and savory treat that is really hard to stop eating.

another success was a blood orange olive oil cake (both the granola and cake were from melissa clark's in the kitchen with a good appetite). this was a dense, moist pound-cake like loaf. strewn with orange supremes (mine were just regular oranges, not the bloody kind), fresh orange juice, AND(!) orange zest. yummers. it didn't last long.

yesterday i tested out another olive oil dessert--olive oil banana bread. now, i'm not a big fan of bananas... but banana bread, that's pretty tasty. (not as good as zucchini bread, but we're months away from summery squash like that--i can't wait to make that with olive oil!). if you have any bananas in your house that are passing their fresh-eating expiration date, i highly recommend popping them into the freezer, going out and buying some good olive oil and a few lemons, and making this tasty bread. you can find the recipe here.
also, i didn't have any lemons on hand, so i made it with orange zest, and it turned out just fine. think about halving the chocolate so you can enjoy more savory-sweet bready crumbs.


the other theme in my recipe hounding lately has been salad. SALAD! it's spring and i want salad! i can't wait until the snap peas are here! in the meantime (and until i have some uber-fresh lettuce of my own), i'm hoping to experiment with homemade salad dressings. about a month ago i made a delicious winter salad that involved italian sausage, garlic, and radicchio. delish. now, i'm thinking about trying creamy dijon dressing over some hot-from-the-oven roasted potatoes. and i already have a few fresh, herby vinaigrette recipes saved for when the baby lettuces come my way.

you can read about my recent salad dressing realization, and find recipes for a few, at my other project: the yamhill county slow food blog. getting involved with slow food has been really fun so far, and i'm looking forward to summery weather when we'll have more flexibility in the kinds of events we can put on. in the meantime, i'm really enjoying writing posts and sharing recipes through the site. give it a look and let me know what you think! and if you like it... pass it on to other folks! i'm trying to get it some more traffic, and every click counts. if you're feeling brave, you could even leave a comment. :)

b