Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Random shit + super farmshare killer menu [Recipes]

So, this should be a post about all the crap that's going down in the garden right now, because there's some crap out there to be sure. Some of it's good, some of it's bad, but it's out there and I should be telling you about it because that is my way.

I vent, you console - this is the way of the world on this blog.

But I haven't uploaded the photos I took last night just yet and this crap to which I refer requires photos.

I mean, what good would it be for me to be all, "My potato plants appear to have a cootie, so please tell me what it is by looking at this picture!" if I didn't have a picture? No good, that's what.

So, long story short - no garden stuff today.

Running-wise, there's not a lot to say other than I'm back to my regularly scheduled No Race On The Calendar But I'm Still Out There Putting In The Miles For Some Yet To Be Determined Event running routine and, after last week's Post-Race Break Week, I couldn't be happier to be getting up at 6am to run our fair streets if they were covered in pancakes.

Pancakes on plates and protected from street grime, of course. So that I could eat them instead of run. OK, so that example didn't really make sense, but what I'm trying to say is that last week's refrain from exercise in honor of my first completed duathlon and in an effort to fully recuperate was actually too long.

By Wednesday I felt like a loaf. By Sunday I was ON FIRE for my Monday Pilates class. By Monday night it was all I could do not to come home from work and go out for a run around the neighborhood just to wake up my lazy muscles busy atrophying with lack of use.

Tuesday morning's run wasn't so much a run as it was an ongoing confirmation of the fact that my quads were still fully functioning.

For the record, I do not need a full Post-Race Break Week after a duathlon of such short distance. After a half marathon? Yes. I need a week of recouping. I also need two days immediately following the race to awkwardly descend stairs numbering more than one so that Bubba can point and laugh at me like the insensitive child he really is. The fact that I make fun of him for doing that old man move of lowering himself into a seated position to put on his shoes notwithstanding.

I know, that's not nice. I do it anyway, but I know it's not nice. Don't worry, he tells me to fuck off every time.

We lead a very romantic life!

Beyond that though - not a lot going on in my running world. Two days a week of interval training, one day a week of a shortish long run (6+ miles), some faint thought about wrapping my next goal around an 8 minute mile pace, the potential for a jungle-y type run in July and noodling on whether I need new shoes yet.

Hey - Brooks People - you could make this post a lot more interesting if you'd send this tester some shoes to test out, already!

Just saying. It would help the readers. And I'm all about the readers, obvi.

And, hey!, speaking of you fuckers - I redid the blog layout. For you, of course.

Though, you probably have no idea because I'm pretty sure everyone reads blogs via readers at this point (Do you? Tell me! I want to know how many of you actually come over here. Because if you're all reading through readers then I'm going to run around naked. Not that those two activities are in any way related.)

Anyway, I'm trying out a new format that will release my words from the formerly narrow and restricted stripe down the middle of the page and allow them to roam free like the buffalo they are.

What?

Yeah, I don't know. Perhaps I shouldn't be so worried about the freedom of my words as the words themselves. Perhaps.

So, if you do come to this blog rather than piping me through your reader (which is fine by me - it's how I read your blogs, too, in case you were curious. Also, I'm naked when I do it, so suck on that.), all the links and archives and tutorials and monthly sewing projects and my profile and my beloved followers and some ads and the link to my contribution to craftzine and Creative Commons license are all at the bottom of the page below the super crucial and perfectly constructed blog posts that now stretch far and wide across the page.

Also, my header is ENORMOUS because I feel it's important for my face to take up half of the above-the-fold space.

Once again, really putting that marketing degree to work. Because I'm marketing SCUBA masks? Dunno.

Anyway - if you do see the new layout and you were familiar, somehow, with the old layout, I guess you can tell me your opinions on the changes. Not that I'll necessarily do anything about them, but I'm always curious to hear what people prefer and, more importantly, what makes you come back and read this blog rather than retching into the keyboard and moving to the mountains to avoid me.

Hey - fun thing - I've found a new way to get rid of enjoy a lot of farmshare produce in one meal. So I'll tell you that now and then tomorrow I'll do my best to upload the garden photos so you can all diagnose the potato problem and then tell me how awesomely huge my tomatoes are.

SHIT! I've said too much...

[Imagine a plate with a few spring rolls, two really cute finger bowls and a little pile of slaw. Because I'm making this for dinner tonight and haven't taken a picture. Good job.]
Fresh Veg Spring Rolls with Dipping Sauces & Asian Coleslaw
Serves 2

Ingredients
Spring rolls
1 serving of rice vermicelli
3 small carrots, julienned
3 green onions, julienned
Bunch of cilantro, rinsed
Bunch of mint leaves, rinsed
8 Lettuce leaves, rinsed

Dipping sauce
2 T fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T sugar
1/2 t garlic chili sauce
3 T hoisin sauce
1 t finely chopped peanuts

Coleslaw
1/2 head green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, julienned
2 green onions, julienned
A few sprigs of cilantro
1 lime, juiced
4 T soy sauce
2 T sesame oil
Salt/pepper to your taste

To make
Spring rolls
Prepare vermicelli according to package directions and don't forget to rinse with cold water and set aside to drain well.

Fill a large shallow bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for a second to soften. Lay it flat, add a lettuce leaf and then fill with a few strips each of carrots and onion, some vermicelli, a spring of cilantro and a few mint leaves leaving about 2 inches of open space on either side of your veg pile. Fold uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper. You don't have to tuck in the ends. That's a dirty, dirty rumor.

Do all this over and over until you run out of stuff. You'll have about 8 rolls. 

Dipping sauce
Mix everything except the peanuts and hoisin together in one bowl. Then mix the hoisin and peanuts in another bowl. DONE! 

And on a side-note, am I the only one that hates the phrase, "Dipping Sauce"? It reminds me of those putrid fast food commercials that show a giant nugget of faux chicken splashing into a small plastic receptacle of barfy looking sauce.

GAH! I just gagged.

Coleslaw
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Then throw in the cabbage, carrots, cilantro and onions. Toss it all together and set it aside. This actually tastes best when it's been allowed to sit around and get tossed every once in a while. Which does sound kinda nasty now that I'm reading that back to myself, but I'm leaving it because I like that kind of humor.

Serve the spring rolls alongside the coleslaw with the dipping sauces in separate bowls. Though I feel stupid telling you how to serve food because it's not like you're wild animals or Jessica Simpson. (Who, incidentally, I actually like, but I can't ignore her blatant stupidity what with the old Chicken of the Sea situation and all.)

Tomorrow we'll talk potato cooties. Begin looking forward to that.

15 comments:

  1. Can't wait for your potato cootie photos. Of such exciting events is my life made.

    Also, I DO read your blog as a . . . blog? Whatever. I don't even really know what "reader" is (should I admit that?), and I am now wondering if I have some funky setting on my computer that formats things funny. Because I have to use the arrow thing to move the screen over to read all of your words, which really, really bugs me. I like your words! I think they're funny! I want to read them all! But I do not want to have to move my screen over every sentence to do that.

    So is it me and my computer, or is this the way it will be from now on?

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  2. I am a click-through-er. Because if you put in the time to format your posts to look pretty (as I do on my blog) the least I can do is click one extra button.

    I like the wide, free-roaming word format. I've been thinking about freeing my words as well. Consider yourself my inspiration.

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  3. Hiya
    I mostly read blogs through a reader, unless I am going to leave a comment, then I click through. Why a reader? Because I like to imagine that I am an insanely organised person and my reader lets me know when any one of my blog friends leaves a note. But really it's because I know I'd forget who I read if I had to remember them all by myself. So there you have it. Also; my internet is dodgy adn no-likee too many photos. Ah Africa. Gotta love it!

    Oh, and you are one of the people who doesn't limit the post as seen by the reader to a certain number of characters. IE I can read your whole post in my reader without clicking through. Other people limit it and I have to click through to read the whole post.

    That about covers it! How are them jelly melons coming along?

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  4. Nude up, I use a reader (because I'm lazy).

    Because you asked, I liked the old layout better (also because I'm lazy).

    @Kristin, it sounds like you need to increase your screen resolution. That should fix your scrolling problem. If it doesn't then you're stuck with the scrolling until you upgrade either the monitor or the computer itself, depending on which one is causing the problem. (Which will more than likely be whichever one is older.)

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  5. I read it as a blog - I too do not even know what a "reader" is. Although, all I'd have to do is ask my super knowledgeable hubby to get a very long complicated answer that would just annoy me. I like the new format, and have no trouble with it fitting on the screen. I read because I like your words and pictures. And I have garden envy. So, there. Everything you needed to know! Oh, and in case you were wondering, I came over from Digs? blog, about a million years ago!

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  6. I read you because you're hilarious! And make me smile every time. Also, I think I can now officially call myself a runner (I've crossed into that same mental space that you talked about... when you're dying to run.) All the thanks goes to you for so much athletic inspiration!

    Normally, I read blogs as a feed. But since I haven't opened Google Reader in like 2 months, I only visit you and two other blogs. Seriously. (Though when I did read them in a feed, I would normally click over to your actual site when you posted. You can't leave ridiculously long comments through a feed reader.)

    Also, about getting tossed every once in a while... as I read that, I was trying to decide whether or not I would admit to finding that dirty (and funny). Glad I didn't have to.

    As for the layout, I like the stuff at the bottom as it does look very clean, but I am queen of messy and could never keep mine this tidy, so my opinion shouldn't really count. I can't even muster an opinion for my own, because I spend way too much time thinking about the pros and cons of the placement of everything, what to include, what to leave off, what makes it look cluttered, what is necessary info. Which is why I've made like zero progress on my "new" Wordpress site that I've been working on for over two years. Wow, just typing that made me cry. I am the worst procrastinator ever. Also, I love the "See me on Craft button". Did you make it yourself or download it from somewhere?

    OK, so I'm linking to my new blog, maybe that'll help with the procrastination, knowing that someone might actually look at it. Not all of the links work, as I'm working on the layout more than anything.
    http://wisdomofthemoon.com/blog/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, in all that I forgot to mention that I can't wait to try those recipes. I once did an Asian coleslaw and wrapped it up with teriyaki chicken in a tortilla. I was way tasty. But I've since lost the recipe. I will so be using yours.

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  8. Heh, "I was way tasty"... well, I probably was, but I was actually referring to the wraps.

    I think I'm done now.

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  9. Me again.
    Potato cooties. I seem to have potato vomit. It sat on the ground for a couple days - I really thought the cat threw up there - until I found another batch right in the potatoes. So I sprayed the first one with the hose - and it TURNED INTO A DARK MIST AND DRIFTED AWAY IN THE BREEZE! Ewww. So I picked out the goop in the potato patch and threw it in the trash. It may be some outer space spores for all I know. We're doomed.
    Jenny

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  10. I come read posts on your site when they pop up in Google Reader.

    Um. Did you change your font or color? Because if you didn't, then it was easier to read in a narrower column.

    But I don't remember your posts having small grey font, and it's eating my eyeballs trying to read it.

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  11. Kris - Uh oh. You have to scroll left and right to read all my words? That's not good. It may depend on which browser you're using to read the blog - specifically if you're using IE, as the formatting is handled differently from browser to browser.

    It may also depend on your display settings and/or abilities. The blog is set to 1000 pixels wide, but some displays are set to 800x600, which would mean you'd only get 800 pixels of viewable screen and have to scroll to get the other 200 pixels.

    Not to be a total dork, but you can adjust these settings by going to your desktop, right clicking and choosing Properties and then Settings and moving the Screen Resolution bar to the right to get a higher resolution.

    The reason I said "display abilities" is that some older monitors (not sure what you're set up on) don't have higher resolutions than 800x600.

    So, I may have to go back to the old settings so I don't piss off my newly scrolling readers. That's no good.

    Meanwhile, a reader is just a software tool that pulls all your blog subscriptions into one place so you can go to the reader and read all the blogs you follow in one place rather than having to bounce all around the internet to do so. I use Google Reader (obvi), but there are lots out there.

    And that's as big a dork as I'm willing to be today.

    Sorry you commented yet?

    Katie - Awesome! And the fact that I can be anyone's inspiration for anything other than swearing is excellent.

    cestlavietlb: Again - awesome. I'm glad my posts show in their entirety in your reader because those posts that only show a teaser line and make me click through? ANGER. So, the jelly melons look about the same. Though I'll post more on them later. *Sigh* Why do they hate me?

    Amy - So, what makes it easier to read the old layout? Do you have to scroll, too? I might have to go back to 800 pixel width so y'all aren't getting carpel tunnel scrolling around. OR WORSE - you leave me forever. *tear*

    Tammy - YAY! It works for someone! I like to hear that. And I like that you came over from Dig's blog. She's a gem. And in real life she's just as gorgeous and fun :)

    Wendy - We are runners together! How scary is that?! Or, we're awesome. Yes, that's it. Glad you like the new layout (right? Did I get that wrong?). I'm all about clean and tidy on the blog here. The craft button came from the craftzine blog. If you get something posted on there, you can snag the button and permalink it to your project they posted. Neato.

    I'll go check out your work in progress. Good for you, slacker. ;)

    And I hope you enjoy your tasty dinner. We had it last night and *smack* it was good.

    Anon - Potato vomit??? That's just nasty. I'm sorry your cootie is so grody.

    Galadriel - I didn't notice it until you said so, but the new template uses a new font color, which I agree is an eyeball eater - so I changed it back to its original super dark grey. Let me know if your eyeballs are still being chewed. :)

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  12. I'll never leave you, Finny. (I'm kinda stalker-y that way.)

    My screen res is ridiculously high, 1920x1200 or something similarly large. I like the old layout better because when I actually click through to find for a recipe or tutorial I like having the navigation in the sidebar, rather than the footer. This way I don't have to scroll all the way down before clicking. Like I said, uber lazy. (And yes, I could just hit End, except that it doesn't work, which is a long story involving an unsupervised three year old.) If I didn't use a reader though I'd really want the old layout back. Because, like someone already said, narrow columns are much easier on the eyes.

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  13. Also, from a completely geek point of view, having the navigation in the footer is inadvisable for two main reasons.

    1. The majority of users only look at the prime real estate (the part of the page that you can see without scrolling when it first loads) and make their decisions/assumptions based on what they see there. Those people will look for the navigation at the top of the page and then, if they don't find it there, at the sidebar(s). If both the header and sidebar are blank they will just assume that you don't have internal navigation and leave. It will occur to very few people to check the footer for the nav. (I think you must be at least partially aware of this, since you felt it necessary to reassure your readers that the nav was not gone, only relocated.)

    2. Having the nav in the footer doesn't make sense for accessibility purposes. (If you have any blind readers, which I know is unlikely, their computer reads the website to them out loud and it won't read the navigation options to them until the very last. Inconvenient for them and potentially confusing, for the same reasons as the first point.)

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  14. Oh, yeah, that's much nicer to the poor abused eyeballs.

    FWIW, I don't tend to assume everyone has these problems, but I find that narrower columns with more lines are somehow easier for my poor ADD brain. I don't know why, but speculate it has something to do with breaking more often. That's not to say I can't read wide columns, just that for some reason it's more difficult and I have to take more breaks to make it to the end.

    But the world isn't--and shouldn't be--structured around me :) I just find it interesting how little things can make a difference.

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  15. Well, as someone whio usually catches up with reading blogs at the end of the day, and who does NOT use a reader, I like the old format better. I like the narrower columns....and I'm assuming it's because I'm lazy, too, or old, or worse, BOTH. :(

    But I just love the blog and will still read the wide columns. Just thought id add my $0.02 here!

    ReplyDelete

[2013 update: You can't comment as an anonymous person anymore. Too many douchebags were leaving bullshit SPAM comments and my inbox was getting flooded, but if you're here to comment in a real way like a real person, go to it.]

Look at you commenting, that's fun.

So, here's the thing with commenting, unless you have an email address associated with your own profile, your comment will still post, but I won't have an email address with which to reply to you personally.

Sucks, right?

Anyway, to remedy this, I usually come back to my posts and post replies in the comment field with you.

But, if you ever want to email me directly to talk about pumpkins or shoes or what it's like to spend a good part of your day Swiffering - shoot me an email to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers.