Too Much of a Good Thing

Running around all week trying to get ready to go out of town has kept me pretty busy. I have three loose ends left, however, and don't need to be on the road for another four days so I think I'll make it. I'm harvesting basil tomorrow with plans to make about half a gallon of pesto that I can freeze and then use throughout the rest of the year. After that the garden is going to be on its own for a couple weeks, but, considering how productive it's been so far with very little attention, I think everything will be fine. In fact, keeping up with the garden has been one of my more difficult jobs over the last ten or fifteen days.

 This is what I have left after giving half the last weeks' harvest to the food bank. Note: the jars on the right are crowder peas and speckled lima beans--both of which have been really good so far. I think I'm having some folks over for diner tomorrow and I hope they show up with a real appetite for vegetarian gumbo, because I need to make about six gallons of it to use up all this produce.


Unfortunately, a couple of work-related things will have to wait on the vine a little longer (see what I did there). But I think they'll keep.

The odometer on my bike says I've ridden just over 700 miles in the last two months. That's not exactly bragging millage, but it does say that I'm getting back in the saddle. I hope to keep it up through the winter (indoor trainer miles count too) and see if I'm ready for the grown-up group rides again by spring here's hoping.

More when I get back.

The Best Laid Plans

It occurred to me last night that if I want to run a marathon this December I'll have to start running with an eye toward that in the next month or so (readers my remember that I ran a half marathon last December (1:52:57)). Well, I've been thinking about running the full marathon version this year. Of course I don't want to stink up the place too much and would only be interested if I thought I could get into shape to run a 4:00 or better. The catch is that there's really no way to gauge whether I might expect that sort of run without doing a month or so of marathon-prep-type, which, since I've been riding my bike more, isn't as appealing as it might be.

I pondered this a bit over a New Orleans breakfast of champions, but I probably won't really know what I want to do until after I get back from traveling in a few weeks (details to follow) and all my regular semester duties start up again.

Easy as Pie

I think the especially wet spring pushed the blackberry bushes near our apartment ahead of their ordinary schedule and so the season is almost finished. Distracted as I've been with other things, I just yesterday got the chance to go pick a bunch. There weren't enough for a whole blackberry pie so I had to augment with frozen blueberries and frozen raspberries. The results: Superstar Berry Medley Pie.

I'm going to check the usual spots for more blackberries in the hopes that I can get at least one more pie before they're totally gone.

Bridge Run

The last couple weeks have been busy--lots of back-and-forth travel and other calendar-filling activities, so I haven't actually been working out as much as I would like. However I did manage to get in one of my favorite runs while running errands out of town the other day. It's a simple out-and-back over a bridge in a town I have to visit sever times a year. The round-trip clocks out at almost exactly six miles and the view from the highest point of the span is great.

When I got back home there were crowder peas, okra, tomatoes and herbs that needed picking. I don't know about you, but I can't look at all those things together without seeing gumbo.

I think the real trick is the roux. I used equal parts butter and white flour then added about half a cup of pureed tomatoes from the garden. Add chopped onions and okra along with your herbs and spices and around four cups of water. Simmer until the okra softens and then add the crowder peas and chopped facon (fake bacon). Serve over rice and you've got a pretty good dinner. According to the recipe analyzer at Calorie Count a serving has about 375 calories, 15g of fat, 51g of carbs, and 12g of protein.