Farmers' Market Sundays in Denver

I'm doing my best to not think about the craptitude that is the situation with Mr. T's immigration, so I'm drowning myself in food, Farmers' Markets, work, cooking, food. Are you catching the theme here?

(In short, Mr. T's UK visa was approved last month, and they asked him to bring his passport in, so he did, and then they said they didn't have it, and then they said "oops, we sent that in error" and now it's weeks later and we still don't have his UK passport or visa. Even though the giant, ridiculous technical outage with the U.S. Department of State supposedly only applies to those who interviewed or applied on or after June 9, 2015 and we applied last year and Mr. T's interview was on May 15, 2015 and ... well ... just another brick in this big, oppressive, miserable wall.)

So we started Sunday out at the Farmers' Market down on Old South Pearl Street, where I always pick up a $10 bag of vegetables from Miller Farms and Asher hangs out and listens to the local tunes while rearranging the chairs.

Today's vegetable take-away:

• Red peppers
• Green beans
• Mushrooms
• White and purple potatoes
• Onions
• Broccoli 
• Spaghetti Squash

Then we ran a few errands (fish and fruit at the grocery store) and went to a birthday party, and by the time we got home around 5 p.m., Ash was pooped and I was poised to prep for the week. 

I steamed the broccoli and green beans, made a Corn and Peach salad, baked some salmon, sautéed mushrooms, and ... what else? Sundays are powerful in my house. It's a make or break for the rest of the week. I also spent motzei Shabbat (that's Saturday night) meal planning for the week. We've got fish dishes, pad thai peanut noodles, tofu sandwiches, buffalo tempeh, Chia Power Donuts from Oh She Glows, you name it. It's going to be a good, healthy, foodful week (I hope). 

How do you stay on track for the week to not fall utterly and desperately behind? Here's a bonus video review of two box-of-the-month club subscriptions (Bluum Baby and Citrus Lane): 

One Coach Seat

And this is how I started my day. Glowing. Elated. In the world of Tyra Banks, I've got my smize on. Why so happy?


GAH! McKayla! Get off my back! Yes, my flight to Israel to become an Israeli and to fulfill the mitzvah of possessing the land of Israel is booked! I cannot explain how I feel about all of this, how smooth and quick it's moved. As my boss said, sometimes HaShem clears the leaves from the ground and the path is clear and you have no choice but to follow it. Life. Is. Happening! And soon!

When I got the email from Nefesh b'Nefesh, I rolled around in bed giggling to myself as I said Modah Ani, then crawled out of bed and took on the day, starting at the Farmers Market. If you want to start a day off right, start it at the market surrounded by fresh, local produce. It will put a bounce in your step and hope in your stomach.

And then I went to work, where I realized that there are way too many cups on my desk and the place is just a mess this week.

And, of course, I once again stayed late enough that the cleaning guy came in to empty the trash, at which point I realized I really should go home. But about an hour and a half before I went home, I made this video!


And then, my poor car, I took it home.

And now? I'm ready for Shabbos. Just a few days to go ...

Farmers Market + A Recipe!

I know some of you appreciate my food-related posts more than others, but I can't help sharing some of the photos I took at the Cherry Creek Farmers Market this morning as well as a recipe for Mexican Pilaf.

A coworker decided that we should hit up the Farmers Market before work today. It was a stupendous idea, although once I got to work it was really hard to focus. It still is. Hence why I'm here on Blogger, taking a break from some poster-design and website updates. I love Farmers Markets, and lucky for me, the shuk at Machane Yehuda is like the most awesome Farmers Market EVER!

I bought some okra -- my first time! Have a recipe for okra that you dig? Let me know.

And now ... for the lunch ...

And here's the recipe for Mexican Pilaf from "Crazy, Sexy, Diet" -- a book I highly recommend! This recipe packs a hidden punch that you get at the end of each bite. It's crazy filling, too.

Ingredients
3 cups wild rice, sprouted or cooked
3 tbsp green onions, diced
1 1/2 cup tomato, diced
1/2 cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp fresh oregano, minced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked 1-3 hours
1 1/2 tbsp miso (Chad suggested white miso)
1 tbsp garlic minced
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
salt if desired

Directions (Crazy Easy, for reals)
Place rice in mixing bowl and hand toss with the green onions, 1 cup tomatoes, cilantro and oregano. Set aside.

In high speed blender (or hand held one) blend sun-dried tomatoes, remaining tomatoes, miso, garlic, chili powder, cumin, lemon juice, and olive oil until smooth. (Note: I used my mini-chopper. It worked pretty darn well.)

Toss tomato paste with rice and mix well.

Sundays are Fundays

I woke up this morning after only clocking about five hours of sleep (but a really good five hours) to go to the Old South Pearl Street Farmers Market in Denver. I walked away with some delicious tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers, as well as a delicious gluten-free lemon bar from my favorite joint Watercourse/City O City. I was tantalized by homemade truffels and gluten-free candied nuts, and that's the tough world we live in. The nice thing is, according to Colorado law, you can now make and sell goods straight from your home. It has me wondering -- should I parlay myself into the world of kosher, gluten-free baking and selling? 

So, here's a photo narrative of the past few hours. 

Well, first thing's first, I checked my mail from yesterday and awesome of awesome ... my official U.S. Trademark Certificate came in! I'm official! That means if someone decides to squat on a bunch of websites using my trademark, I can get them easy peasy!

Big dog (or is it a bear?) meets little dog. I think they like each other.

I don't think I've ever heard of "Grass Fed Cows" -- usually it's Grass-Fed Beef. But seriously, it's a cow, not beef, when it's being fed, right?

I swoon for the poet, and this guy is amazing. I mean, Poet for Hire? Coolest hipster European thing on the planet, no doubt. So I told him I'd give him $3 to write me a poem about penguins.

Mere moments later, he produced this, and although he only had $1 change, I let him keep the $4. I mean, he made a reference to Morgan Freeman. That's worth $1, right? Find him online: Untouched Poetry.

A Farmers Market is no farmers market without some food trucks, especially in Colorado. If there's one thing we love (wow, I said we, it's official), it's the ability to get food from the window of some super-sized (sometimes poorly) painted truck. Today's offerings included OG Burger (lo kasher!) and Quiero Arepas (gluten-free option, but not kosher). I think I've been inspired to make my own arepas!

At what age do you tell your dog to leave his teddy at home? 

Grass Fed Cows present the Peyton Manning. Yes, folks, Colorado is STOKED for the Manning. 

There are a lot of dogs out here. In fact, I even saw the dog that I intend to get some day -- an Airedale Terrior. Assuming I can verify that it's (whoa, I almost wrote gluten-free, but I promise I don't eat dogs) hypoallergenic. But these two dogs? Well, they looked more like bears. Cute, cuddly, rip-your-face-off bears.

And now? Well, now I'm parked at Stella's -- it's my happy place, where I sit on a patio filled with dogs and people under canopies of trees and soak in a bit of tangential sunshine. Coffee, books, my computer, bliss. I hope y'all are having a great Sunday!

SMILES!