Sheepishly back to blogging - but bearing food!

Um, hey guys.  How's it going?  Remember me?

I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking - What in the world is keeping me so busy that I can't even blog ONCE a WEEK.  Or even once a month?

Well, guys, mostly I've been working on keeping my sanity.  This last semester at the Monterey Institute has been fulfilling, yet busy.  Not that I'm looking for sympathy, mind you.  Just looking to explain how work, job hunting, capstone/thesis, Russian courses and seminar classes have been keeping me a little busy.  Nestled among those things I've been finding random spare bits of time to enjoy myself, as is necessary when you live in one of the most beautiful places on earth (in my humble opinion).

I've been running a lot, hanging with friends a lot, climbing and hiking outdoors, and eating lovely breakfasts in the sunshine.  It's a blessed life we lead on the Central Coast.

But what I've found myself doing and adoring much more this semester has been cooking and baking from scratch at least once or twice a week, sometimes more often.  As my culinarily-blessed cousins and Aunt Nikki can attest, cooking and baking from scratch takes time, perseverance and planning.  My time in our cute little kitchen = hours in which to zone out after wretchedly stressful days of school and planning for life after school.

In part, this culinary spell comes to me because I'm the proud 1/3 owner of a weekly CSA box.  What's a CSA box, you ask?  It's a box of heaven (in my humble opinion).  CSA = Community Supported Agriculture, a way for common folk like me to support the wealth of small produce farmers in Monterey County and get a heaping load of the freshest seasonal fruit and veggies every week.  We live just miles from what's often referred to as "the salad bowl of America", the Salinas Valley.  The produce farmed here makes its way to dinner tables across America.  Take a close look at the veggie tag on your onions, broccoli, artichokes, strawberries or lettuce - there's a good chance that it comes from Monterey County.  CSA is a way for small farmers to ensure weekly income and a way for food lovers like me to ensure fresh seasonal goodies.  Every Thursday we get a box full of "what's fresh and left over" - stuff that's too ripe to send to Iowa but too good not to be eaten.

I know this sounds dramatic - but the CSA box has changed my life.  I'm cooking and eating things that have previously been way outside my cooking comfort zone.  Like golden beets and yellow carrots and leafy fennel and tiny turnips and greens of all kinds and squash varieties I'd never heard of and amazing sweet pomegranates.  It's fantastic and adventurous and a complete blissful escape from grad school reality.

Proudly I present a kitchen accomplishment from a few weeks ago, rainbow chard and leek quiche with homemade wheat crust.  My roomie and I both gave it thumbs way up, though next time I'd add a hint of sharp cheese, like my mom's favorite Cabot cheddar.  The recipe is from one of my new obsessions, SmittenKitchen.com.    It's a must for foodies.

Now, again, I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking - What's next?  Are you going to leave me hanging post-less for months again?  But I swear,  I'm going to try to be back on the blogging horse.  In the next few weeks look for the random short post as I travel to Seattle, brag about my new nephew Lincoln Edward (!!!), um...graduate, and spend time in Iowa for the holidays.  I'm sure I'll have plenty to chat about.

As always, lots of luv.