Wow.

I’m 30 years old now.

When you’re younger, you think about turning 30 and what it’s going to be like. You assume everything’s going to be different, more glamorous, and easier. And although I’m not feeling particularly different or more glamorous, I am feeling good. And that’s what counts right?

The day started out well. Jabari made me a nice breakfast: a piece of texas toast with eggs, cheese, and salsa on top. I ate my meal at the coffee table, and of course Izzie paced the floor beneath me looking for crumbs. As I spooned a bite into my mouth a little bit of the salsa fell off and landed on top of Izzie’s snout. The funny thing is she kept sniffing the floor, knowing it fell somewhere there–she could smell it!–but she couldn’t find it. And when she looked up at me, this is what I saw:

This made me giggle with laughter.

Yesterday evening, we went out to watch a movie of my choosing. I wanted something funny since the last couple movies we watched were action-oriented. And what did I choose? The Other Guys with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I hadn’t read any reviews beforehand. I hadn’t even heard about it actually–I just saw it was playing and who was in it.

It was pretty funny if you’re into the Will Ferrell/Adam McKay humor. Although I laughed throughout the movie, it became even funnier afterwards as Jabari and I talked about it and rehashed funny lines.

The movie was followed by a late night dinner at Kenny’s Burger Joint in Frisco. We love Kenny’s and we rarely ever make it there for a meal, but when we do, it’s a special treat. This time around we got to try the cheese puffs. Oh my goodness. They’re these bite sized little balls of spicy, cheesy heaven. Crispy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside. Not a bad way to step into the next decade of my life, I’ll tell you that.

Home on a Plate, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

The last few weeks have been mentally draining. Not in a bad way, but in a good way. I love the new office and the new colleagues. And having a Mediterranean place, a pizza place, a sushi place, and now an English pub all within walking distance of the office makes lunchtime a cinch (usually). But because of all the changes taking place, it’s taken a toll on other parts of my life, the creative parts in which I make things (both in the kitchen and at my crafting desk).

Working in Addison now has really made it way too easy to order take out. Today I decided I’ve been eating out way too often and needed to make a home cooked meal.

But then as I rifled through my mental recipe box, I couldn’t think of one dish I absolutely wanted that didn’t take a lot of steps or a lot of ingredients. Except for one: chicken adobo.

Chicken adobo is a very traditional Filipino dish that my mom used to ALWAYS make in a variety of ways, but the most traditional, most classic way I know is using chicken thighs. And the good thing is it only requires a few ingredients that I usually keep on hand anyway: chicken thighs, soy sauce, white vinegar, garlic, black pepper (or black peppercorns), and bay leaf. And even though it’s not a beautiful, fancy dish, it’s a dish that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s something I always make when I just want to cook but I don’t want to think about what I’m cooking because it’s one of the few recipes I know by heart.

My mom’s chicken adobo is usually more flavorful than mine–flavor that reaches straight down into the bone mostly because she marinates her chicken ahead of time in soy sauce and garlic. I rarely get a chance to do this because I’m usually making it the day I crave it.

This time however I added an extra step to the process that my mom’s never done before: after thoroughly cooking the chicken, I placed it in a shallow pan under the broiler for about 10 minutes. This crisped up some of the skin and browned it even more which meant TONS of flavor. I will probably have to mention this to my mom since she might want to try it as well. Below is the recipe which I’ve tried to put together on paper to the best of my ability.

Chicken Adobo

6-8 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on
1/2 C low sodium soy sauce
2-3 Tbs white vinegar
1/2 C water
6 garlic cloves (adjustable if you like/love garlic)
Sprinkling of black pepper or black peppercorns
1-2 bay leaves

Brown the chicken skin-side down first in a large saute pan. Add soy sauce, water, vinegar, garlic, pepper, bay leaf. Cover with a lid and cook on medium high heat, turning chicken every few minutes, for about 30 minutes (turning the chicken frequently while cooking will allow the soy sauce to absorb on both sides).

Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the sauce is reduced, remove the chicken and place in a shallow baking pan. Put the chicken under the broiler for about 10 minutes or until the skin deepens in color and crisps. After browning, return chicken to saute pan and serve with rice.

Our Last Staff Meeting in the Old Office, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

10.It’s close proximity to Babe’s Chicken.
9.The horrendous upstairs bathroom vs. the surprisingly nicer downstairs bathroom.
8.The turtles that sometimes like to cross the street on Capital Parkway.
7.The downstairs tile floors that are ALWAYS slippery on rainy days, regardless of what kind of shoes you’re wearing.
6.The Bat Cave entrance.
5.The undesired tenants (roaches).
4.The air conditioning or lack thereof.
3.The phantom smells that appear from nowhere (pop corn, cigarette smoke, CK1).
2.The questionable motels nearby and the random vehicles that park in the empty office building lots.
1.Walking into the office the first time and thinking, “This might be a nice place to work.”

Ok, so last week was my first trip to the farmer’s market in Addison. It was a bit of a learning experience for me, so here are a couple things to note:

• Buy with purpose. I think last time I bought way too much stuff for 2 people to consume in a week. Walk around the market once or twice before committing to a purchase. Get an idea of what’s available and what kind of meals you can make in a week using a few ingredients available at the market.
• If you buy too much, make sure you have a preservation plan–and definitely preserve early (like within a day or two). Search around online for long-term storage or canning ideas (Pickyourown.org is a good start).
• Don’t be afraid to ask for a sample. Most farmers will let you try a bite or two of their produce before buying.
• I got to chat with a few of the vendors there and they LOVE it when you provide exact change (or at least smaller bills). One of the vendors said his first customer that morning gave him a $50 and pretty much cleaned him out of all his change. So, please, if you go to the market, bring lots of smaller bills ($1s, $5s, $10s) and try to pay your vendor in exact change.

This week was a bit less overwhelming. Most of the same vendors were there from the previous week so I already knew where I wanted to go to try more items. I did make one additional stop at the Round Rock honey booth to try some of their honey (which was fantastic). I ended up walking away with a 16 oz. bottle.

I did get to chat with one of the booth owners who recognized me from the previous weekend. We talked a little bit about this farmer’s market compared to some of the other farmer’s markets her company attends. She had a lot of good things to say about the Coppell Farmer’s Market, which I’ve actually been meaning to visit, but haven’t gotten around to it. The surprising thing though is how much higher the booth fees were for the Addison farmer’s market compared to Coppell. And with Coppell, there was a LOT more promoting going on. She said there weren’t as many vendors at Coppell, but there were WAY more people and overall it was just a much better formula (low booth fees, tons of promotion, tons of people).

At this point I may or may not go to next week’s market. If I do, I think I might give Coppell a try. As far as my produce selection this week, I thought I did pretty well. The green tomatoes however were a challenge. Once I got my fried green tomato fix earlier this week, I realized I had no idea what else to do with the remaining 3 tomatoes. I did come across this recipe for Green Tomato Rice, which sounds really good, and since I happen to have most of the ingredients on hand, I might have to try making that tomorrow or Thursday.

Note: This is based on my trip from last weekend. I’m planning on perusing the market tomorrow to see what I can find.

When it comes down to it, I’m still on a budget. I’ll admit, I didn’t think of keeping track of this as I was out there shopping, so my numbers aren’t exact, but they’re close. I’ve also decided to save whatever cash I have for another visit. Here’s a breakdown of what I spent today.

I did make a $40 trip to Sprouts after the farmer’s market to pick up some other things such as meat and dairy. At this point, I’m debating whether or not I want to include Sprouts as part of my locavore transition. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Sprouts and what they do for the neighborhood, but I know nothing about their company so until I get to know what they’re all about, I’ll leave them off for now. I DO know that not everything in their store is locally produced so if I have the option of going local, I’d rather do that first.

I did include my local neighborhood market (specifically Rosemeade Market) simply because I’ve met the owner and I know he’s passionate about what he does and the items he carries in his store, so I can support that.

Change Might Be Slow, But It’s Still Progress

So here’s the other part of my post, and it’s the part that I really have struggled with the most. Being a locavore is not cheap.

I hate to admit it, but if you look at the numbers, the numbers don’t lie. When you’re used to buying produce from the grocery store for $1 per pound on sale, it might be a shock to spend somewhere around $4 for 2 lbs. of grapes.

I think it’s important for everyone to be aware of what they put into their bodies. It’s important to know not just what it’s made of, but who made it and why they made it and how its production affected the environment. Ultimately, however, it’s still a personal decision.

Ok, so how do I justify spending $68 on a bunch of fruits and veggies?

After doing tons of research on the idea of becoming a locavore (and I mean TONS), the Food Inc. documentary finally tipped the scale for me. And granted it’s not the only source of information out there documenting the abhorrent practices of corporate food conglomerates, but it’s the one that really drove it home. I could no longer consciously give my money to those companies knowing that some of them were treating their workers AND (indirectly) their customers that way. Knowing the affect that my cost-cutting measures were basically encouraging corporations to provide the cheapest product in mass quantities without thinking of the consequences on our health and environment and it makes it easier for me to put $4 into the hands of a local grower because it’s $4 LESS in the hands of a greedy, heartless corporation.

THAT’S how I can justify the added expense.

Does it mean I’ll be getting less in return? Not necessarily. The thing about purchasing cheap produce is you get what you pay for. Don’t get me wrong, there’s cheap produce at the grocery store that tastes great, but think of where it came from, how it was handled, and how it was produced. Because the impact might not be in the final product, but elsewhere.

On top of that, we’ve been unfortunately led to believe that an abundance of food is a good thing so the portions on a restaurant plate may not be the actual RECOMMENDED portions. So if I have to rethink my portions a little, then that’s ok. I think I can live with that.

So What Does All of This Mean?

First, I’ll begin by telling you what this DOESN’T mean:

• I’m going to throw out all of my food and consumables (right down to my toilet paper) and replace it all with locally produced, organic, foods.
• I’m going to stick to the locavore principles 100% of the time and force everyone around me to do so.
• I’m going to pack up, move to a sustainable commune, and live like a hippy.

Instead, heres what it DOES mean:

• I’m going to slowly replace foods over time with foods that are sustaining, locally grown, and organic in a practical way.
• I’m going to be more conscious about what I eat and where I shop when possible. Knowledge is power.
• I’m going to continue doing these things for as long as I’m able, which means if I’m NOT able, I’m not going to feel guilty about it. Doesn’t make sense to cry over spilled milk.

The point of all of this is to make small improvements every week or two over time. There’s this book that I’m reading called Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh from Zappos and in it, the CFO encouraged everyone to make a 1% change (improvement) every day and even came up with a math formula for people to understand the impact. He wrote, “If you start out with $100 at the beginning of the year and you were able to increase what you have by 1% every single day, at the end of the year, you would have $3,778.34 = $100 * (1 + 1%) ^ 365.”

The gist of the story is if you make a small change every day for an entire year, you’ll end up with 37.78x what you had in the beginning. Talk about improvements

But anyway, keep in mind, this is all kind of new to me so I’m literally thinking out loud as I write this. Now that I’ve actually experienced a farmer’s market and understand what I’m in for, I think I’m up for the challenge.

Things to Note for My Next Post

• I bought quite a bit of produce last week. I’m going to have to do some research on how to preserve some of this so that we can consume it over the next couple weeks.
• For this weekend’s trip, I’m probably not going to buy a lot at the market, just some fresh veggies and things that I didn’t get last weekend. Also I’m going to keep better track of what I buy, how much, and from what farm (or at least I’m going to try to keep track of that last note).
• A couple times this week, I didn’t eat local/organic. I might think about documenting how I feel about that.

For the last several years, I’ve had an debate going on in my head between eating local, organic foods vs. eating cheaply. Food plays a huge part in my life, which is evident in my waistline. It’s always been a point of social contact from when my mom showed me how to scramble my first egg, to birthday parties, to marathon family gatherings lasting through the night in which my mom would cook dinner not once, but twice. Even to this day, my mom makes dinner for us every Saturday simply because it brings us together from all corners of the surrounding areas.

However, growing up, food was never, ever linked to politics or social activism. We never really cared where the food came from as long as it was cheap and plentiful. And if it was a very special occasion, then we would get it from somewhere like McDonald’s, Burger King, or (if it was REALLY special) Chili’s. Hard to believe that fast food had been considered a “treat.”

Fast forward to today, I finally watched a documentary that I’ve been meaning to since it first came out called Food Inc. (and actually after my dad watched it and recommended it, I thought, “Ok, I can’t NOT watch this documentary now that my dad has watched it.”) I’ve been holding off on it primarily because I just knew deep down inside that it would shake me to my very core and force me to rethink not just my eating habits, but the way I live my life. And I was right. It opened my eyes. Suddenly the bountiful aisles of “fresh” produce at Wal-Mart and Kroger looked so… disgusting and unappetizing to me. And suddenly I was in a dilemma. How could I shop at these big box chains after knowing what I know now? How could I support these large corporations that where squeezing the life out of their farmers and abusing their workers?

But anyway, here’s my point: I can say all kinds of bad things to these companies, scolding them for their unfair practices. But ultimately, actions speak louder than words. And if I can hit them where it hurts (their pocketbooks) by making a conscious decision to put my money in the hands of local growers and farmers, while encouraging others to do the same, then I can sleep better at night.

If you want to learn more about being a locavore, I highly recommend doing some research on your own. Here are a couple links for you to get started:

• Locavores.com – All about the locavore movement. You may also want to read some of the guidelines here, which help you understand what your options are. For example, if you can’t eat locally grown or organic, support a family farm instead. For example, if you had to choose between Kraft or Cabot cheese, go with Cabot even though it’s in Vermont. The point is to keep the food processing decisions out of major corporate conglomerate hands.
• Eatlocalchallenge.com

(There are surely more, but these were the most helpful to me). I’m not an expert in this, but I figure I could just chronicle my exploration of the lifestyle. In fact, I’ve got a couple other posts queued up after this one. In the meantime, have you considered eating primarily local or organic food?

Life as an unmarried person is a little weird especially when it comes to filling out life insurance forms. Leave it to my mom to make it all better.

Me: Hey mom, I’m filling out my life insurance forms and I was going to make you my primary beneficiary. I just need your date of birth.
Mom: Ok. [insert here]
Me: Ok. That’s it! Thanks. And don’t get any ideas. [laughing] It’s only a $15,000 policy.
Mom: That’s not a lot of money. I’d rather have you instead of $15,000.
Me: Aww, that’s sweet!

Ok so to continue the series of inspiration blog posts, here’s a new set of links for inspiration.

Offering unique furnishings and items from around the world.

Wisteria.com is an online (and showroom) retailer that I discovered several months ago out at lunch one day. It turns out their warehouse is right down the street from my office and one of my favorite lunch places was giving away their coupons. I checked out their website once I got back to my desk and fell in love with their store, which offers a unique mix of antique-style furniture and home accessories. Think Pier 1 but a little more unique. This site can be useful if just want some beautiful things to look at, or even if you just want somewhere you can gather color inspiration.

Everyday Fun Digital Kit from Jen Martakis Designs

Jen Martakis has a new digital kit in the Two Peas store called Everyday Fun. The bright colors and whimsical patterns are a wonderful source of inspiration for a few summer layouts. I’m in the middle of working on a layout with this kit so stay tuned!

By grantandlaurensmom at Design House Digitals gallery.

I saw so many great layouts when researching this post that it was difficult to settle on one, but I found it anyway. I chose this layout from grantandlaurensmom at Design House Digitals because I love how she was able to maximize the size of such a large photo by stretching it across the entire page while creating some interest with the layers. This is definitely an idea I’ll keep in mind since I’ve got a large family as well.

Day Trip, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

Ok, I PROMISE I’m still alive (seriously this time). It’s been a little exhausting these last… well, this whole year quite frankly.

There are a lot of exciting things going on at work. First, we merged with this great company Splash Media in Addison. The merger took all of us by surprise when our boss announced it, but with a little faith and a lot of hard work, it all came to fruition on July 1st.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual. And although we’ve only had a couple new projects come in recently, we’ve been up to our foreheads in existing work. With the merger and the new product launch, we’re all a little freaked out at the approaching tidal wave, but we’re hanging in there.

As a result, I’ve been coming home from work these last few weeks and just vegetating. I haven’t even looked at my craft desk in a while, nor have I even taken any photos, but I do have a few layouts that I finished last month that deserve some attention so I’ll be posting those gradually over the next few days.

Me: I think I’m going to limit myself to only one frivolous purchase and that’s going to be the Magic Mouse for my laptop.
Jabari: Wow, this must be some mouse if it’s considered a frivolous purchase.
Me: Well, for me, yes. My dad has one and it’s sexxxxxxxy!
Jabari: [Pause] You should’ve really thought that sentence through before you said it.
Me: Yeah, I know. It wasn’t until it was out of my mouth that I realized maybe that wasn’t the right wording.