food and treasures...

Yesterday I took a road trip with my mum and one of our friends.  We were headed to a small town about a half hour from home to peruse their antique and collectibles place.  

Before we headed out of town, we stopped in at my favorite Farmers Market to see my sweet flower friend.  She had promised to bring a couple of her french pumpkins in for me to pick up.  I get at least one from her every year.  They are just so pretty!

The picture really doesn't do the pumpkin justice as the color is off badly. It is that lovely green/grey color, and I love it!  I'll use it for decoration for a bit and then cook it up.  They are very tasty.  I also picked up a couple dozen eggs and two sweet potatoes.  As we were leaving my flower friend motioned me back to ask if I liked peppers.  Yes, of course!  She sent me off with a bag of peppers (those in this picture) for free!  So kind!
 
After getting my goodies, we headed off to explore.  The antique shop is housed in an old textile mill and is quite large.  We probably walked around there for almost two hours.  I find in places like that I have to go slowly and take my time as the energy of the place seems to drain me completely.  If I try to go through too quickly or spend too long in such a place, I become quite disoriented and dizzy.  

I brought home a few things that I just couldn't leave without.  A glass canister with Fleur-d-lies.  A circular table top candle stand (I can't think of the right word) that I will paint and decorate.  And a framed picture that I just could not leave behind.  From the moment I saw it just after entering I heard it calling my name.  I walked the entire shop and went to checkout before I went back to ask about price for it.  It was quite reasonable and the very kind lady even offered me a small discount.  I could not say no.

 

I've already picked out exactly where I want to hang the picture and will do that this afternoon.  I could look at it all day if I let myself.  There is just something about it that calls to me.

The moon last night was covered in hazy clouds.  We've had rain today and it has been cloudy and the temperature has been dropping. 

 I was so exhausted from our trip yesterday that I ended up going to bed before 8pm.  I felt much better this morning and spent it in the kitchen.  I had to do something with all those peppers, so I washed, seeded and chopped and now have three bags in the freezer.  Each bag has about what I use when I make chili.  

As I was chopping peppers, I realized that I was out of prepped salad.  At RTR, a salad was served with each lunch and dinner.  When I came home it occurred to me how much I'd enjoyed having salad at each meal and how much less of the other foods I'd eaten.  Fixing a small salad just is such a pain that I won't do it for each meal.  But...I remembered the ziplock.  We always had salad left and it went into a ziplock and was brought out again to use later if we wanted.  

Instead of using a ziplock bag I'm using a big 2.5 quart storage container.  I mix up my lettuces (romaine, spring mix and baby spinach), toss in some chopped peppers, onions, broccoli and tomatoes.  When I want a salad, I just pull it out, pop some into a small bowl or plate, add a little shredded cheese and dressing and voila!  Easy healthy eating!  :-)

While fixing up the salad, I found I had mushrooms that needed something done with as well as a lot of broccoli left from last weeks farmers market.  I sauteed the mushrooms with brandy (for use in spaghetti or to top a baked potato) and steamed the broccoli.  And all the tomatoes I had left from the tomato pie I made earlier, were chopped and put into the freezer for chili or soup additions.  

It feels so good to clean up my refrigerator and not let all that food go to waste.  That is a big issue for me.  I can't do the run to the grocer every day for just what I need for a day or two.  And since I'm only feeding me, it takes a while to get through the fresh stuff.  So, I've made a promise to myself to be much more conscious of what I do with what I buy and to not let anything go to waste. 

I think I've rambled on enough for today.  Hope you're having a lovely day.  I'm going to go hang that picture now.

Have you been playing in your kitchen lately?  What are you making?

blessings
~*~