i have been guilty of wanting a bloody mary at inappropriate times.
7am before work....3pm before a test.
2am after i am already 3 sheets.

but its been nearly a year since one has found its way to me and on this fine birthday i decided i have had enough of the run around.
so i am patiently waiting for vodka to infuse. and everything you see is everything in there soo its pretty easy to replicate. letting it sit for 4 days, now that is going to kill me.

i have always loved veggies, there are numerous "all about me" posters from elementary school would list my favorite food as spinach. 

that is, except one.

beets. 

man, did i hate beets.

now in my house, the only beets ever consumed were in cans. and the only time i ever had one was because my father made me eat one before i could spend the night at a friends house. 

and that rancid mushy blood tasting bite has haunted me since.

until last year. i went though this crazy anemic phase where i craved nothing but beet juice and raw tuna. 

together.

and since i hate the texture of raw meat this not a fun time.

so i decided to take the plunge and buy beets. 

have i ever been wrong about a vegetable. dear god beets are delicious

and in the summer its all about cold beets with goat cheese and a little balsamic for a dinner salad. i have made this salad at least 4 times in the past 2 weeks and if things go to plan. i will also be making it tonight as well.

failure in execution

pork tastrophy.

so in an effort to help the boyfriend gain some confidence in cooking we hatched a plan to make pulled pork tacos.

now i am am a slow cooked pork master. i have done it many many times for christmas tamales.
each time i would hoist the shoulder out of the crock pot it would splash on the counter into heaps of shredded pork before i even had a chance to set it down. (not bad for a non meat eater!)

So I helped him set up and get the piggy started at about 7pm knowing it would be done at 1am
(and again this was during another food related chaos)
at 1am its not done, the connective tissue is still in tact.
at 2am its not done.
3am its not done. jason decideds to turn it off and go to bed.

7am i go and remove the shoulder. the meat is done but not shredding. so i hack it a part and throw it in to a pan with liquid to simmer it in to submission.
yes picture this. me, crazy haired. uncaffinated wildly pulling apart 4 pounds of greasy meat.
but in the end it was some decent meat

no recipe for the failed meat project BUT the best salsa ever.

1 huge can of tomatillos 
3/4 of an onion
an entire bunch of cilantro
salt.

whirl together in a food processor until finely minced. then put on everything. salads, eggs, tofu. at least this is pretty hard to screw up.

a quick note

so 4th of july jason and i were lucky enough to be invited to go down to the waterfront and watch the fireworks from my mother's friend dana.

(considering we had been camping the past 3 days, had gotten home and had gone to work before this. i'd say we are lookin pretty good.)
it was such a blast, the food spread was amazing and the view...well look at it. we are on the water surrounded by boats, the blues festival  is right behind us. did i mention we were lucky?

so my mother was asking us about a deli near our house when jason piped in saying "we dont really buy prepared food, we just cook alot"
how could i not be gushing over that? that's exactly it. we do cook a lot. its the best part of my day. its the reason we don't need a TV. making dinner is our entertainment and i love being with someone who shares that philosophy.