coming full circle

So my CSA adventure started off rather well, with almost all of the veggies used up by the time yesterday's box rolled around. Cooking becomes an adventure in "where can I hide the vegetable?" when your crisper drawer is overflowing. This week I have quite the lovely assortment of delectable organic produce:

cucumbers
red onions
celery
carrots
zucchini
russet potatoes
spinach
broccoli
Texas Honeygold grapefruit
kiwi
braeburn apples

So, my eyes wander over the list, and what do I think? Minestrone! That's the only way to get rid of zucchini without masking it in gallons of soy sauce or baking it into a bread. So far, the onions and spinach (along with some ham I had, and some farmer's market eggs) have produced a VERY tasty omelette. I keep forgetting to write what I'm doing in my food journal, which is sad. But I'm going to try to update a few things from last week in it (including mushroom & broccoli fettuchini alfredo, braised lamb with vegetables, and potato & sunchoke gratin). Turns out cooking can be fun!

leap day means an extra chance

So far, February has mostly been a wash. Yes, I actually did get some stuff done (taxes & CSA), but overall I'm feeling frustrated by this month...

• Flossing is not working for some reason. I want to do it every night, and I'd made it over a week before simply forgetting and going to bed after only brushing. Ever since then, I haven't made it more than 2 days in a row, although it's definitely over 3 days a week since I started, I'm not meeting the goal, or really feeling compelled to.
• The snow has crapped out. Suddenly I don't have powder to board on, and I'm going to struggle to get those last 3 trips to the mountains in. Last Monday, Vinh and I rented skis to make the iced-over day more interesting. It worked, but it's not the same. I'm so happy that I have skill at boarding that I want to continue to develop. Now I just have to think of it as spring season... Even though it's still February. Damn Global Warming.
• I need to post pictures of my snowboard gear that I need to sell... Plus now I need to sell my old raincoat since I got a new one. Maybe this weekend I'll get around to it...
• In the career front, I've been actively reading and thinking about a career in science writing. There's a program at UC Santa Cruz that is highly reputable, but I'm struggling with whether getting a science writing certificate rather than a journalism MA would be worth it if at some point I want to move away from science altogether. I suppose once you've established a record and a career in journalism, any kind of writing will open up whether I have a fancy degree or not. Now if I would just CALL the admissions people and see if I have a chance in hell at getting in...
  
• I also realized that I HAVE been trying new restaurants in seattle... Starting with January 1st. Jade Gardens with Vinh (1-1-08) and also O'Asian with my parents (2-9-08). Both dim sum places. Jade Gardens wins for food, O'Asian for atmosphere.

So that's the list of what I'm acctually accomplishing. Maybe more of a story-based entry to come.

taking it to the tax man

Not a particularly exciting tax return, like always, but a finished return! This is the first year that I've managed to file before April... and I think before April 14th. I've never gotten money back, and this year is no different. I'd forgotten to switch my status at PSBC from exempt to non-exempt last January, so I'd earned over $8000 without paying any taxes at all. Luckily, I caught it after I switched to FHCRC, and had them withhold a little more. Not quite enough it turns out, but since I owe less than $500, I'm not upset about it. That's what I get for making money now. I'm definitely not going to be saving money this month, but I'm not going to be pinching pennies, AND I'm not going to be freaking out come April. Check off #39!

The other day I fell off the flossing wagon though. I slept-walked through brushing my teeth and just wandered straight off to bed rather than flossing. It really does take 21 days to form a habit... The 9 days I had couldn't quite cut it. Then I just got lazy last night and blew it again. No more of that!

In other news, I'm signed up to get a CSA box from Full Circle Farm this week (#26 in progress!) and will get to have fun with parsnips, bok choy, and cremini mushrooms. Should be interesting at least...

at the end of a long, dark tunnel

Evidently, there is more going on in my life than I want to admit to myself. Yesterday, about an hour after arriving at work my vision tunneled, my right hand tingled, and my hairline felt like it would split open. Luckily (if you can call it that), this time I knew what was going on. A migraine. This time I was not alone in a foreign country, 9 hours off of the time zone of everyone I cared about, and separated from everyone around me by a language barrier (although, "migraine" is the same word in both English and French, and carries the same sympathetic weight no matter where you say it). Instead, this time I simply left work, took the bus home, and huddled under the covers of my bed with a heavy dose of Advil and caffeine until 6pm, when the pain finally subsided. Happily, I'm well rested now.

What surprises me about this episode is how rarely I get migraines. I can only specifically recall 3 instances that were distinctly migraines: after high school graduation, in Paris, and yesterday. The previous two I had attributed to the denouemont of a climax of stress. Only problem with this theory: what the heck have I been stressed about? I suppose if you really look at it, I've been stressed out ever since I graduated from UW. Finding a job, learning a new job, buying a car, christmas, getting the car tabs and ensuing processes... I've really never stepped off of a roller-coaster since last December. So no wonder really.

The question is how the heck I'm going to manage to deal with my stress, since the sources aren't actually going to go away. I still have to deal with working, having and affording my car, and day-to-day life. This summer I'm hoping to make a dent. Hopefully a few backpacking trips will ease the pain of the daily grind. Snowboarding is making a big dent in the Real World growing pains, while adding in the stress. Maybe I really need to find a source of relaxation that I'm not trying yet... like doing a short yoga practice on a more daily basis, or at least meditating. Where I'm going to find time for that, I'm not sure seeing as how I've failed to find the time to merely clean up my room for ages.

At the very least, I think Saturday is going to be for me. A little cleaning, a little coffee shopping, a little farmer's market and tasty cooking. Definitely wine.

Yes, that will make the migraines stay away. Perhaps migraines aren't that bad... they give me a chance to remember, every year and a half or more, that I'm pushing myself too hard and not taking advantage of what I do actually have going for me.