God, I love the weekends. And farmers markets. And talking for a half-hour about raw milk and pasture-raised turkeys. And cooking and pureeing and freezing pumpkin. And eating soup that I made and know exactly what went into. Suffice to say, I had a great weekend.
25. Learn to cook 52 new recipes and organize them in one place (52/52) -- accomplished
Woop woop! I went down to Central Market Thursday and Saturday and bought out the whole place, essentially. So Friday night I made apple-pear sauce, which I might have overcooked but it's still out-of-this-world delicious. I chopped 14 pears and I think 12 apples, so I have lots left over to freeze.
Then last night I made the potato-zucchini soup that we had at Healthy World Cafe for the Harvest Fair. We didn't follow the recipe too closely for the event, so I tried to mirror our changes instead of following it directly. One change we made was to swap out the chicken broth for water, to keep it vegan. When I did this at home, I wasn't sure how much to use and was more than a little nervous that my soup just looked like vegetables in hot water (Read: I called my mom in a panic and woke her up from a couch nap at 8:30 p.m.). But it turned out delicious, and I'm really excited about the sodium I was able to eliminate by using water.
Today I peeled, cubed and boiled a 7-pound neck pumpkin to puree and freeze for recipes that called for canned pumpkin. And I was left with just less than a half-cup of pumpkin seeds, which I tossed with a little butter and Worchestershire sauce and salt and then toasted. I am eating them now and they remind me of popcorn. Also known as out-of-this-world delicious.
Tomorrow I plan on using some leftover carrots and zucchini from the soup for a muffin recipe. So I'm counting it as one of the 52 and declaring myself accomplished! I'm not much of a weeknight cook, but I really enjoy these kind of weekends.
32. Attend at least one sports event a season (9/12) -- in progress
I went up to Harrisburg with Travis again yesterday to watch the Cougars play. It was kind of a sad game -- mercy rule went into effect as the second half began -- but it was also their homecoming weekend, and watching the band perform was really fun. Like really fun. Like I might've paid more attention to them than the game.
56. Exercise 2-3 times a week (62/143) -- in progress
Chugging along, although I'm a bit frustrated. Our instructor tore something in her knee, so she had surgery Wednesday. For the past few weeks and our class Friday, she's been half-leading, half-sitting and calling out the steps or exercises. She's the only salaried instructor, so I know they don't want to pay for subs all the time, but it gets frustrating sometimes to not feel like we have a real leader as we're working our booties off.
72. Attend at least 10 free community events (9/10) -- in progress
I didn't think about the fact that the films I've been seeing at York College count for this. I saw "The Future of Farming" and "Fresh" in September, and then last Wednesday I went to a lecture by a journalist who wrote a book on the ethical and environmental implications of a globalized and consumer-driven society. She focused on clothes and specifically denim, and it was interesting, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the two films because I didn't feel as if she offered a viable solution. I left feeling kind of confused and defeated. But the two farming and food-related films were awesome -- a brochure at the first event was how I found Healthy World Cafe.
That's all folks.
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