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

8 rice wrappers  

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

4 t fish 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.