It's Going to be a Day

It was a pretty sunrise this morning. I found myself thinking of a song Dan Fogelberg wrote when he was just 17 called, "To the Morning"

Watching the sun

Watching it come

Watching it come up

Over the rooftops

Cloudy and warm

Maybe a storm

You can never quite tell

From the morning

And it's going to be a day

There is really no way to say

No to the morning

Yes it's going to be a day

There is really nothing left to say

But come on morning

Mike and I were fans, and if you ask me, the man died way too young. We loved his music.

This morning I posted that sunrise image on Facebook and one of my friends asked me why I was up so early. My response: "I have a cat." It's not completely the cat's fault, but when I wake up early and start stirring, Smitty wants just one thing...out. There's no use fighting it. And judging by his dirty feet, he was out digging for gophers this morning.

My kitty helpers joined me in the sewing room yesterday afternoon.

Hey Gracie! Look down there!

Ha! Made you look!

Dang you, Smitty! I fall for that joke every time.

So what were we doing in the sewing room? Well...I'm happy to say that I finished blocks 19 and 20 for Lisa's "Live, Love, Teach" retirement quilt. Here's Cindy's block submission:

Here it is rendered into fabric. I gave it a water background because it's a squid, right? And I gave him some hot fix nailheads for eyeballs.

That one went pretty fast, and so I turned my attention to MeiXing's block submission:

It would have been difficult to replicate all the detail in MeiXing's block, but it put me in mind of a piece of scrap fabric I had, and so I went digging through my multi-colored fabric bin and found a piece just big enough. Then, I did reverse applique to create this block.

I used one strand each of four different colors of floss to embroider the words, and then I added a couple of buttons to pick up at least some of the detail in the original. I'll probably regret sewing those buttons on before the quilting is done. I can always remove and resew them if I need to, but I needs me my instant gratification, don't you know.

Speaking of instant gratification, I used the Carrot Top and Garlic Scape Pesto from a few nights ago and spread it on some baguette for last night's dinner. This was seriously yummy. I should say that I made the recipe as written, and it was a little too salty for my taste. I know why. It's because I can only find pistachios that have been roasted and salted unless I want to shell them myself...which I do not. So if you want to give this a try, I'd say not to add any extra salt until you've tasted it. If I'd been thinking, I would have done that. Clearly, I was not thinking at the time.

Also, we had this Rustic Tuscan-Style Sausage, White Bean, and Kale Soup. I used my home-made vegetable broth in this, and it used up the bunch of kale from last week's CSA share. This was very good as well. I'll make it again. It makes a LOT of soup, and so I only made half the recipe. We still have leftovers.

I still have food for dinner tonight, and so I don't need to go to the grocery store until tomorrow. That gives me all day to plan my attack on this week's share, which consists of this:

I was happy to see another serving of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots because I'm going to make those roasted vegetables from the other night again. On the "scary" list are the fava beans and the kohlrabi...both foods new to my palate. Here's the thing about fava beans. There are almost no foods I absolutely won't eat. However, if you were to ask me what those foods are, I would not hesitate for a split second to respond with lima beans. I cannot abide lima beans.

Here's my story, and I'm sticking to it. When I was six years old, a playmate offered me some raw beans that she called "lion beans". I just now googled lion beans to see if such a thing exists, and I came up empty. They were a brown kidney-shaped bean, and we ate them raw. They tasted good. Within an hour I was violently ill. I'm suspicious they may have been castor beans, but I really have no idea, and I never will. For what it's worth, I think that's when lima beans and I parted ways...for life. (Our brains are very good at remembering lessons that involve spending time worshipping at the feet of the porcelain god.)

So where Fava Beans are concerned, I'm convinced that they are just hiding lima beans inside their green pods.

See what I mean?

And then there's the kohlrabi. I've spoken to many people who love kohlrabi. I don't have anything against it in the way I do the fava/lima beans, but they sort of remind me of the Corgi (and I hope I don't insult anybody's beloved pet...mea culpa if your best friend is a Corgi). Feast your eyes:

So what is up with this dog? Is it a basset hound? Is it a dachshund? Is it a collie? It looks as if someone took parts of a bunch of different dogs and put them together without the instruction book.

Which brings me to the kohlrabi. Again, feast your eyes:

What the heck is that anyway? Is it a cabbage? Is it broccoli? Is it a green beet? Is it something you should use in some game like golf or baseball? Honestly. What was Mother Nature thinking when she created kohlrabi? Well. I have nothing against kohlrabi, as I said, but I have never tasted it and I have absolutely no idea how to prepare it.

And with that, I'll just say that this is the both the joy and the bane of the CSA share.

Today I'm spending time figuring out how to prepare the mystery vegetables and planning the week's menu in an attempt to use this week's share of veggies. Wish me luck. Oh yes, and I'll probably do some sewing too.