(no subject)
This year of grad school has been extremely up and down. This weekend has been more up than down, though. Most of I have spent not thinking about school, and enjoying Austin City Limits music festival. It has been awesome. I have heard a lot of amazing bands, both old favorites and now some new favorites. I was almost going to sell my tickets because I have been so stressed out, but this was the perfect stress reliever! Nothing like three days outside in beautiful weather listening to tons of great bands!
My favorites so far:
Slightly Stoopid (sound kind of like Sublime)
Eli Young Band (country/rock sound)
The Swell Season (these are the people from the movie Once, which you should see if you haven't)
Manu Chao (kind of Latin music that is GREAT to dance to)
Jose Gonzalez
Drive-By Truckers (sort of country/rock)
Erykah Badu (she has an AMAZING, soulful voice)
The Nachito Herrera All-Stars (a really fun Cuban Salsa band, not one person wasn't dancing at this one!)
Mason Jennings
Iron & Wine (I was most excited about seeing them, but we ended up being too far away to hear them well, which was upsetting...Still love them, even though we had to strain to hear)
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Beck
We'll see what I'll hear today...Definitely the Foo Fighters, but I'm not sure what else.
Other stuff that is making me happy: I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture), so yesterday, for the first time, I went to the farm to pick up my first batch of vegetables. My friend Shasta and I are splitting the box. I was glad we were together, because we got extremely lost and ended up in this sketchy trailer park. But we ended up finding the farm and got sweet peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, cucumber, okra, elephant garlic, and summer squash.
It is kind of awesome being given a random box of ingredients, but you have to be creative and think, "What on an earth can I make with this stuff?" So, following the footsteps of my awesome cousin, Allie, I will tell you what I made today (though minus her pretty pictures):
1. Ratatouille: I found a recipe in American Family Testing Kitchen that called for roasting the vegetables, which looked pretty easy. However, when I pre-heated the oven, black smoke started billowing out. I turned the oven off, and opened all the doors and windows in the apartment, and frantically waved all the smoke out. Then I called my mom, and she diagnosed the problem as having a dirty oven. My oven is, sadly, not self-cleaning, so I'll have to tackle that problem another day. Anyway, I found another recipe on Epicurious.com, which worked out great, though I didn't really follow it to the letter. Basically, I sauteed onion and the elephant garlic in olive oil. Then I added the eggplant which I had already cubed (about 3/4th an inch) and had sitting in some olive oil, salt, and pepper, with the rest of the vegetables that I thought I would be roasting. Then I added the summer squash and sweet pepper. Finally I added a can of diced tomatoes. Right before I took it off the stove top, I added some thyme, basil, and corriander and a tablespoon and half of balsamic vinegar. Amazing.
2. Cucumber salad: This was kind of inspired by a similar dish I had pretty much every day I was in Israel. However, I jazzed it up quite a bit. I chopped cucumber, tomato, sweet pepper, and an orange and threw them in a bowl. Then I made a dressing of equal parts olive oil, honey, and lemon juice. I topped it with some dried parsley, though fresh parsley would have been better. I ate the salad with pita, hummus, and some sun dried tomatoes.
I'm planning on making a mango salsa with the hot peppers. I need to figure out what to do with the okra, as I'm not sure I've even had okra before...
It is a cool feeling to know where your food comes from. How often do we eat something and know the actual farm and farmers who worked to bring you the food? The food also tastes so much more flavorful. Not bland like the crap I get at the supermarket. Ok, well, I guess I better get some work done before I head back to ACL!
My favorites so far:
Slightly Stoopid (sound kind of like Sublime)
Eli Young Band (country/rock sound)
The Swell Season (these are the people from the movie Once, which you should see if you haven't)
Manu Chao (kind of Latin music that is GREAT to dance to)
Jose Gonzalez
Drive-By Truckers (sort of country/rock)
Erykah Badu (she has an AMAZING, soulful voice)
The Nachito Herrera All-Stars (a really fun Cuban Salsa band, not one person wasn't dancing at this one!)
Mason Jennings
Iron & Wine (I was most excited about seeing them, but we ended up being too far away to hear them well, which was upsetting...Still love them, even though we had to strain to hear)
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Beck
We'll see what I'll hear today...Definitely the Foo Fighters, but I'm not sure what else.
Other stuff that is making me happy: I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture), so yesterday, for the first time, I went to the farm to pick up my first batch of vegetables. My friend Shasta and I are splitting the box. I was glad we were together, because we got extremely lost and ended up in this sketchy trailer park. But we ended up finding the farm and got sweet peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, cucumber, okra, elephant garlic, and summer squash.
It is kind of awesome being given a random box of ingredients, but you have to be creative and think, "What on an earth can I make with this stuff?" So, following the footsteps of my awesome cousin, Allie, I will tell you what I made today (though minus her pretty pictures):
1. Ratatouille: I found a recipe in American Family Testing Kitchen that called for roasting the vegetables, which looked pretty easy. However, when I pre-heated the oven, black smoke started billowing out. I turned the oven off, and opened all the doors and windows in the apartment, and frantically waved all the smoke out. Then I called my mom, and she diagnosed the problem as having a dirty oven. My oven is, sadly, not self-cleaning, so I'll have to tackle that problem another day. Anyway, I found another recipe on Epicurious.com, which worked out great, though I didn't really follow it to the letter. Basically, I sauteed onion and the elephant garlic in olive oil. Then I added the eggplant which I had already cubed (about 3/4th an inch) and had sitting in some olive oil, salt, and pepper, with the rest of the vegetables that I thought I would be roasting. Then I added the summer squash and sweet pepper. Finally I added a can of diced tomatoes. Right before I took it off the stove top, I added some thyme, basil, and corriander and a tablespoon and half of balsamic vinegar. Amazing.
2. Cucumber salad: This was kind of inspired by a similar dish I had pretty much every day I was in Israel. However, I jazzed it up quite a bit. I chopped cucumber, tomato, sweet pepper, and an orange and threw them in a bowl. Then I made a dressing of equal parts olive oil, honey, and lemon juice. I topped it with some dried parsley, though fresh parsley would have been better. I ate the salad with pita, hummus, and some sun dried tomatoes.
I'm planning on making a mango salsa with the hot peppers. I need to figure out what to do with the okra, as I'm not sure I've even had okra before...
It is a cool feeling to know where your food comes from. How often do we eat something and know the actual farm and farmers who worked to bring you the food? The food also tastes so much more flavorful. Not bland like the crap I get at the supermarket. Ok, well, I guess I better get some work done before I head back to ACL!