Summer is Here! (The Non-Sewing Post)

Hello, Summer!! My favorite season of the year. We've spent two years sewing together with the Summer Essentials Sew-Along. There's so much going on in the sewing world, so my co-hosts and I have been conspiring on how to make it a highly-doable and fun affair for busy sewists this season. We hope you'll join us; details on that tomorrow.

I try and keep things pretty focused on this blog. But since I'm trying to find some balance in my Must.Make.More.Stuff M.O., I thought I'd take a rare venture and share with you some images from the beginning of summer.

I'm a recovering coffee addict. I drink lots of tea. Here I am at a local cafe.

Something lovely for summer, but my arm's been giving my problems
so I had to put it down :(

I kept journals for YEARS. The ones from high school are particularly mortifying.
But I haven't been able to keep up. Enter: One Line a Day. Brilliant, Fun & Highly Doable. 

Otherwise known as T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
I picked up some second-hand printed cotton, rayon and wool here.  

My CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box. I love receiving this thing every two weeks,
it's an incredible gift; I never know what's inside.

Cutting up this monstrosity from the thrift store. The boy calls these my polygamist dresses,
as if I'm going to head off into the heartland and join a cult.
Nothing of the sort: We'll reimagine it with some 60s goodness. 

Big bike town. Parking in the cafe.

I try and juice every morning. I'm highly impressionable and had read Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet and loved the idea of flooding my body with alkaline yumminess every day. 

We ventured up to see friends an hour north. They're surrounded by
incredible gardens and orchards. Hiding cherries!

Making Puerto Rican chicken soup. 

The start of a wee container garden on my deck. I'm dubious about the weather (we usually go gray in July and Aug, to get warm again in Sept/Oct),
so they're starting off in small pots. I kept a container and in-ground garden for years (pre-sewing).

Some beauties for the office fire-escape.
Container tomatoes and zukes and basil for all. 

Hmm, a lot of my non-sewing activities deal with food: growing it, making it, eating it, solo & with others. I definitely live in a foodie part of the world, but I started eating this way when I planted my first garden in 2004 because my body just couldn't handle carne asada nachos and cheeseburgers everyday anymore. 

So indulge me one last foodie thing: Grain Salads! Such a revelation. They're easy to make, they keep well, and they keep me truckin' through long days, unlike leafy salads that leave me longing for donuts.

The best part: It's just a formula I adapt based on what I've got on hand. (Y'all know I dress this way, too: Dress + Cardigan + Scarf + Flats ;)

Here's a recent fave, adapted from the wonderful cookbook, Clean Food.

1 1/2 cups uncooked grain (wild rice, wheat berry, pearled barley, quinoa, whatever)

1 cup chopped sweet summer fruit (stone fruits work well—peaches, plums, apricots) OR veggies

1/2 cup dried fruit (currants, yellow raisins, cranberries) OR more veggies

1/4 cup nuts/seeds (sunflower seeds, pine nuts, pepitas, whatever)

Handful of chopped green onions (or cilantro, basil, dill, mint, parsley)

2 Tablespoons Sesame Seed Oil (or olive oil)

Juice of 1 lime (or lemon)

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: 1 cup of protein. I like beans: Lentils, garbanzos, white beans all work well. But it can easily be tofu, chicken, flaked tuna. Again, whatever you've got, throw it in!

Toss ingredients with cooked grain. Chill. Bring it with you to the office, to the park, to a potluck.

This week, I've been enjoying wild rice + peaches + yellow raisins + sunflower seeds + green onions and sesame/lime. I make a big batch and bring it with me to work. Yum-yum.

I make some juice, do some writing, bike to work (in me-mades!) and enjoy this salad on a rooftop garden in the city. Repeat. 

Oh, summer: I love you.

Tomorrow: Back to sewing!