
With the end of the school year, I imagined July would bring ample leisure time--days filled with musing over which dish to bring to a barbeque and afternoons of gazing at clouds from a bed of perfect green grass. Instead, as I realize retrospectively every year, the pace of life quickens as the days get longer; a frenzy of projects and parties pulse through the hours as a languid sun procrastinates on its time-keeping duties. For me, life has aggressively filled my young summer schedule with some exciting developments:
• a new nephew! -and a fun medicine making project (ask me about it, I'll send you pics!)
• a move! -with my sweetie to a fabulous 1914 duplex which is, by chance, across the street from my kindergarten playground
• a massage business! -as promised on my About page, I've earned a massage therapy license in the state of Oregon (#19748, in case you're curious) and I'll soon be offering professional shiatsu massages. More on this coming soon!
What I really wanted to tell you today, though, is that I've been busy, and I've had to employ some of my favorite tricks for salvaging neglected summer vegetables. I thought maybe we could share tips. Sound good?
Here are a couple of mine (pictured above).
Liven the Greens
Wilty summer greens can be brought back to life by cutting off an inch or two of the stems under cold running water, and then placing them in a glass of water, like a bouquet of flowers. They'll liven up within a day, but use them soon after that or they will start to turn yellow or wilt again. If you have space to spare in the fridge, storing them in a glass of water will give them days of extra life.
Quick Pickled Onions
I just discovered this super easy way to avoid moldy onions, which are perhaps one of the saddest and most common kitchen tragedies that I see. Before the onion starts to go bad, slice it and submerge it in leftover sweet pickle juice--liquid from pickled beets in this case. This is a whole new way to do onions! So delicious! I enjoyed these ones on a couple sandwiches and a jaunty little dinner salad.
Holler if you have any super simple summer produce salvaging tips. I'd love to hear them!
• a new nephew! -and a fun medicine making project (ask me about it, I'll send you pics!)
• a move! -with my sweetie to a fabulous 1914 duplex which is, by chance, across the street from my kindergarten playground
• a massage business! -as promised on my About page, I've earned a massage therapy license in the state of Oregon (#19748, in case you're curious) and I'll soon be offering professional shiatsu massages. More on this coming soon!
What I really wanted to tell you today, though, is that I've been busy, and I've had to employ some of my favorite tricks for salvaging neglected summer vegetables. I thought maybe we could share tips. Sound good?
Here are a couple of mine (pictured above).
Liven the Greens
Wilty summer greens can be brought back to life by cutting off an inch or two of the stems under cold running water, and then placing them in a glass of water, like a bouquet of flowers. They'll liven up within a day, but use them soon after that or they will start to turn yellow or wilt again. If you have space to spare in the fridge, storing them in a glass of water will give them days of extra life.
Quick Pickled Onions
I just discovered this super easy way to avoid moldy onions, which are perhaps one of the saddest and most common kitchen tragedies that I see. Before the onion starts to go bad, slice it and submerge it in leftover sweet pickle juice--liquid from pickled beets in this case. This is a whole new way to do onions! So delicious! I enjoyed these ones on a couple sandwiches and a jaunty little dinner salad.
Holler if you have any super simple summer produce salvaging tips. I'd love to hear them!