small things...

What November brings.

November is going to be a BUSY month.  This is a good thing, but not necessarily the norm for me, so I’m trying to do a little planning, thinking, visioning so that I enjoy it all.

Here is a bit of what I have on the agenda:

• Weekend visit with my Iowa cousin
• a 2-day counseling conference
• A trip to Maine
• a few special people’s birthdays
• book club partytime fun stuff

The real kicker to all of this is that beginning tomorrow I am ALSO participating in this:

 

November is National Novel Writing Month and the challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel over the course of the month.  That’s roughly 1,667 words per day, or about 6.5 pages per day. 

That is a ton of writing for me and certainly never something I’ve ever attempted and not with all of these other things going on.   But I’m going to try it.  Ever since I went to the writing workshop this summer I’ve been stymied in my writing.  I’m learning that I have a lot of insecurities when it comes to writing, which is ridonkulous, and I need to shake them off.  So what better way then to force the words out a thousand plus at a time.  It’s okay if it’s crap, I may find a few jewels along the way.  The important thing is that I get the words out, that I sit my butt down in the chair and write. 

A writer writes.

pen to paper,

Erin

ps – anyone else attempting this?  want to be buddies?

Dinner at the farm, AGAIN. thank goodness

I only made it out to my favorite farm one time this season for a farm dinner.  But I’m glad I made it out at all!  It was a rainy day and did not seem promising for night out at what was sure to become a very muddy farm, but moments after my bestie Leah picked me up the skies cleared and the sun came out.  It was going to be a lovely dinner alright.

We showed up right on time for appetizers (I wanted to write h’ors doerves here, but clearly I do not know how to spell in french).  I didn’t get any pics of the food because it was twilight and I refuse to use the flash on my camera.  But let me tell you about it…

There were pork belly tacos and bacon wrapped figs…there was also some kind of duck confit on bread which sounded amazing, but I kept missing. And there was a mushroom soup, which was rich…too rich for my blood, but Leah seemed to love it. 

I am trying not to drink these days (wha?!) because it just doesn’t make me feel good.  And my doctor has suggested I lay off the bread and other wheat-filled items to give my system a reboot.  I am slowly working on this.  And I’ll write more about it later…I’m just mentioning this to explain why I had the lemonade, virgin-style.

And then it was dinner time

The tables were a bit wide so we didn’t get to chat with our neighbors as much as we wanted to, but the ones we did meet were awesome and just as excited as we were to be there.

This is the only photo of food that I took…the sweet potato gnocchi

But let me tell you about the rest (taken from their website…)

• Sherry vinaigrette splashed Spinach salad with Howling Hound's Farm eggs, bacon and shaved red onion
• Port wine braised Beef Short Ribs in a reduction of the natural braising juice
• Apple cider marinated and roasted Howling Hound's Chicken with smoked apple butter finished poultry glace
• Roasted root vegetables and heirloom potatoes on a bed of farmstead braised greens
• Sweet Potato gnocchi with apple vinegar and walnut oil dressed spinach
• Cinderalla pumpkin bread pudding with brandy spiced creme anglaise and whipped caramel crackle creme

oh.my.yum.  that pumpkin bread pudding was THE BEST. I want to eat it again.  The chef came out at the end of the night to talk about how much he enjoyed cooking our meal and working for Heritage Prairie Farm.  He told us how recently the produce had been harvested (all within that day, the greens within the hour of our eating them).  He also told us that he’d used about 8 sticks of butter to make this meal.  It’s about BALANCE people.

There is a sense of peace and belonging I feel whenever I’m out at this farm.  I need to explore that a little bit.. And keep my eye open for job openings. :)

see last year’s harvest dinner blog post here.

Portrait of a CSA

This fall I signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share for the last 8 weeks of the season.  It’s been a great challenge trying to work all these veggies into my weekly eats.  I thought I’d share a bit of what I’ve been getting each week:

Don’t be jealous.

Cultivate

Yesterday I headed down to Lincoln Park to check out the Cultivate Festival (a beer/food/music/farmer festival hosted by Chipotle).  Just my kind of festival.

I ended up going alone b/c (just like the last time I went to a beer festival) I didn’t ask anybody to join me until way too late.  It was a great day – chilly, but sunny and perfect for sipping a beer in the park with your pals.  Next time I gotta bring my pals!

Here’s a bit of what I saw

Hi, I want this table. maybe you will make it for me?

The Rural Alberta Advantage – what’s up Canadians?

Tiny Greens was in the house

 

Thanks, gelato, you were delicious.

And that, friends, was a good day.  next time let’s go together, okay?