A package, salsa, and a fabulous new book to read!

Happy Monday evening to you!

I had a good day, except for battling back to school traffic on my way into work this morning. I pass by a high school on my way and I noticed so many cars on the road in that area.

I started off my morning with some of the Seattle’s Best level 5 coffee, which reminded me of Starbucks. Some people don’t like that taste, but I prefer a dark, bold blend of beans.

I also had plain non-fat Chobani with fresh strawberries, hemp seeds, and the last of the Trader Joe’s Vanilla Almond granola.

Lunch was a ham sandwich topped with spinach and a roma tomato from our garden. I also had a string cheese, a red pepper from our garden, and some cucumber slices. I enjoyed the pomegranate Chobani as a 4 p.m. snack right before I left work.

My drink was a Cascal soda. I have to be honest–I didn’t love the crisp white flavor. I am hoping I enjoy the other ones more.

When I got home from work, I received our Kodak Gallery medium hardcover photo book in the mail!

Craig and I were both really impressed with the quality of it. I am so happy I was able to receive it as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program with Kodak. We’ll have these memories of our honeymoon to share with others and remind us of the unbelievable trip we experienced in Europe.

The back is a picture of us pouting on our last day of our trip, in Frankfurt.

We made salsa for dinner. We have so many different types of tomatoes and hot peppers to use up.

Our favorite tortilla chips are these from Sam’s Club.

It was beautiful out, so we dined outside next to our container garden.

I went to the gym and started reading Farm City while biking. I love the book so far! It is definitely well written.

The Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee is hosting a book club discussion on the book, so I want to read it and attend the event.

The author lives in Oakland, CA and talks about her experience farming in the backyard of her apartment. I lived right on the border of Oakland and Berkeley and the neighborhood she lives in sounds pretty close to the one I lived in in Berkeley.

Some of the quotes I can relate to so far are:

“This place, this ghetto of Oakland, California, brings out the best and the worst in us.”

(Well for me, it brought out the worst in me to be completely honest. I did feel challenged and like I was always learning something while living in the area. But, most of the time, I felt pretty depressed living in that area).

She talks about living in the Oakland hills with a pack of straight-edge vegan anarchists and says the following: “At first I thought it was cute that anarchists had rules. No alcohol. No dairy products. No meat. Then the paradox started to chafe.”

(Kind of reminded me of the apartment I lived in in Berkeley with 5 or 6 housemates at a time. This Midwestern girl did not like it when my one housemate and classmate told me that drinking cow’s milk was evil and I should start drinking soy. I did try soy out, but it seemed to upset my stomach and now I much prefer almond milk to soy.)

I can’t wait to read more of this book and go to the discussion in September.

Time to sign off of this addictive new computer and go read!

Beautiful Saturday for a B-day Cookout

Good afternoon! It’s a beautiful, sunny Saturday here in Southeastern Wisconsin. Probably nothing like the weather they are experiencing on the East Coast right now.

After clocking out of work at 12:05 a.m. and not getting to sleep until about 1 a.m., I slept in this morning, meditated, and went for a long walk with Craig. My legs were really sore from walking about 5 miles at work last night, but I think the walk actually helped a lot.

I really wanted to make it to the Eat Local Resource Fair at the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, but walking around at a fair and being so tired after work last night didn’t sound like it would mix too well. Plus, I didn’t want to feel so rushed today.

So instead, I painted my nails this morning.

Eek, my nails/cuticles look like they need a proper manicure. Hmm…maybe on my b-day on Wednesday?

Got excited to check out the package I received yesterday.

I won some Cascal fermented soda from Jessica at Healthy Living in America’s Dairyland. Never tried it before, but I will definitely let you all know how it is or you can head over to Jessica’s site to check out her opinion.

The sodas came in this adorable lunch bag!

Lots of yummy flavors to try out!

Then we went to Barnes and Noble to get my nephew a gift card. I’m glad he is getting into reading and I want to encourage it with this gift card. I definitely was very into reading at his age (going into 2nd grade) and now I am a lifelong reader. It also helped my spelling skills!

And to the grocery store to pick up some good deals.

I picked up two Protein Plus PowerBars that ended up being totally free with coupons I found in Women’s Health magazine.

I used a $1.50 off coupon for some Seattle’s Best coffee.

And I used one of my free Chobani coupons the company sent after I had a bad experience with a raspberry flavored yogurt a couple of weeks ago. Great customer service on Chobani’s part–I was impressed. Now I get to have one of my favorite flavors, pomegranate, for lunch this week.

I’m quickly writing this post while watching America’s Test Kitchen. It’s an episode focused on chicken, which is sort of grossing me out. I still like learning things from the show though, even when it is very meat based cooking featured most of the time.

We’re off to a cookout for my nephew’s 8th b-day party this afternoon! Can’t wait to sit outside and enjoy a hamburger. I think this flexitarian is actually going to have a burger and hope it doesn’t affect my stomach. I have been craving meat all week.

Hope your weekend has been relaxing and fun so far!