fresh orange /ginger juice is how we've been starting out our mornings. (after our coffee... can't quite shake that yet. must...have....our damn fine cup of coffee)
ok, i could have sworn today was thursday! i woke up thinking, ok great, i'll finally post "n8 tracks thursday" on... thursday. but no, it's friday, and i'm tempted to change it to n8 tracks friday....but i am stubborn, so next week i will try again to get it right.
jeez... this isn't rocket science!
in other news,
RIP george jones :/
nate put one of his tracks to start out the playlist, since he just passed away today.
if you haven't had a george jones moment, now might be a good time :)
could someone please tell me how a kitchen can go from this :
to this, in just a day or two? :/
probably 88% of the time, our kitchen is like figure a., but sometimes, we just don't want to clean our dishes, or put things away. then we just start avoiding the kitchen all together.
i know i know... "clean as you go."
ok. bye. i'm going to go clean the kitchen now, it's a figure b., kinda day.
since nate is sort of in charge of our music around the house, i figured it would be appropriate to ask him to make a weekly playlist.
nate + 8 tracks = n8 tracks ;)
he's the kind of person who finds new/old-new music all the time. reads music sites, takes chances on records, reads/listens/listens some more, then gets the good records for us. i get to listen to what he's already picked and put those songs into our rotation. well, isn't that nice?
so here is it, even tho it's not thursday anymore, an 8 track playlist for ya.
so i discovered i can easily make (much) better hummus at home, than store bought! i discovered this, b/c we were running very low on produce at home & didn't feel like going out for food.
this is a super short-cut & very easy version. ideal me, would want to cook my beans vs using canned, but i'm not ideal me yet, ha. [also, if you are using canned, try and find the company "EDEN," b/c the inside lining of their cans is BPA free. & BPA pretty much sucks.]
anyway, when you don't have time to cook beans, canned works great.
it's so easy. did i say that already? yeah, well...it's so easy.
hummus
1 can of chickpeas
2-4TBSP tahini*
1/2 lemon juiced
2 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp of water
1-3 cloves of garlic (up to you!)
pinch of salt
pinch of cumin
put chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice & garlic into a food processor. (a blender will definitely work too) blend, and add water as needed. while it is processing, slowly pour in the evoo (if you don't have a feed at the top of your machine to do this, it is totally fine to just add it all together, i just think this makes the hummus light and fluffy). after it's all blended & creamy, add the cumin & salt. i also sprinkled some sweet smokey paprika & dropped a few kalamata olives on top..yum!
we ate it all with those everything pretzels from trader joes & thickly sliced carrots. seriously, so good! make it today! you will never want to buy hummus again :) * i was out of tahini the last time i wanted to make hummus, but i had toasted sesame seeds ;) so i blended 1/2 cup of seeds with a little water & wa-la, tahini! so you can definitely use toasted (or raw) sesame seeds, and i actually liked the taste better with the toasted sesame seeds b/c the hummus had this toasty taste to it...
i want to try and make "hummus" using raw zucchini instead of beans next time. i think it would make it lighter and, according to some very light research, it looks like it would make it higher in protein & tons of other nutrients, using zucchini! also with summer around the corner, literally (lol jk) i will be craving more fresh veggies vs cooked heavier foods. i'll let ya know how it turns out!
if you're in san francisco, oakland, alameda or anywhere near there (sacramento!) come out to the alameda flea market. it's really one of the best flea markets, and we'll be there (which makes it even better, ha)
our inventory is growing with tons of great vintage clothing & we're expanding into home stuff.
i have to say, it's the best time of the year here. warm during the day, cool and windy at night. soaking it up, cuz we have some hot hot summer coming our way. well, i like to think of the good things that come with super hot weather, for example : local fruits, clovis farmers market, swimming, camping, iced everything... yeah it's not going to be so bad. (much better than snow, in my opinion)
i bought two edamame seedlings at whole foods. didn't know you can grow these here! we'll see if i can get them to actually grow. my tomato seeds sprouted & are almost ready for the outside too, i'm getting pretty good at this whole garden thing ;) (not!) (well, not yet!)
coop is his usual funny self. i was in the kitchen, and kept hearing a squeaky sound every few seconds. finally found coop getting comfy on the dryer door.
we're getting ready for the alameda flea market this sunday, woohoo! we have a ton of new cute things, it's gonna be a good one!
monday was april fools day, and also our wedding anniversary :)
we spent the day out and about fresno, doing things we like...
lunch at a vegetarian cafe, tea at a chinese herbal shop, & records & old cat pictures at an old jukebox shop.
one of my favorite parts of the day was when nate said he found a coffee shop via yelp, that served vegan dessert, & we went to check it out.
(lolz) a guy with a gas mask opened the door & let us know that it was definitely not a coffee shop.
all day i kept saying "wow we did it!" i guess meaning we made it to seven years ? ha, i don't know.
i was just thinking how it's pretty cool that we have our life and each other... how lucky we are, really.
i was born in ukraine, but my parents were nuts and decided it was a good idea to move, with four little kids, to a different country with a language they didn't speak! i always go back to that thought, what if my mom & dad weren't so crazy...how weird, i'd be living in ukraine (?) (actually, kinda sounds cool...ha ha) anyway, because of a few interesting turns of events i met nate in 2004, fell in love instantly, &, well, the rest is history :)
so, i guess the advice i can give to someone who is not as experienced in being married as i am (lol, kidding, i don't know anything) is, to not take yourself (& each other) too seriously, don't forget to have fun & laugh. that's all.
here's a random video clip i found from a couple years back, while we were in new york.
it's a really weird video, but we were clearing some space on our computer by deleting old pictures/videos, and couldn't delete this one!
i must have had the day off work or something & met nate for lunch at the park for his 30min break...
fresh orange /ginger juice is how we've been starting out our mornings. (after our coffee... can't quite shake that yet. must...have....our damn fine cup of coffee)
