Hello!

welcome to my new blog :)

i want to move away from "attempting vegetarianism" because that blog was a means of sharing my attempt at a kick start to a healthy living challenge.. and i did it! i kicked my own butt and came out the other side a much more conscious person who values their life so much more. but as i move on now and experience the ups and downs (mostly ups.. yay!), i want a more personal place to share my stories, recipes, crafty projects and anything else that strikes me as interesting or share worthy in the moment.

so, first story!

this morning i woke bright and early to head down to the big farmers market downtown with my sister and her kids. parking was hell but.. that's what you get for hitting snooze and being late. but i digress. it was alot of fun and it was a pretty gorgeous morning (i'm talkin 7 am here people.. for produce. that is a real testament that i've changed!).. here was one of the many views of our lovely downtown business district..

 

there are about 6 side streets that branch off of the main street which is full of vendors. it takes about an hour just to see them all!

i ended up getting lots of goodies.. zucchini, eggplant, green onions, apple cider, apples, and broccoli.. all fresh from local farmers and for really cheap, what's not to love?! fast forward to tonight when i get home from work. i find my zucchini shredded all over the kitchen floor.. and i immediately knew the culprit..

  <<bad boy.

milo. don't let his cute face fool you.. he is guilty of everything that goes on in my apartment 99.9999999% of the time. as soon as he saw me go into a fit of rage, he disappeared lol.. but i found him. oh yes i did. i'm from the school of hard knocks, so you know i brought him over to the damage and scolded him. he really is the naughtiest cat to ever exist in the entire world.

anyways, i decided to go ahead and try a quick first time recipe i found online for fried eggplant. i made up my dredging bowls.. one of flour with s&p, one of eggs with paprika, and one of breadcrumbs, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. i used some canola oil i heated in a skillet and fried them for a couple minutes on each side. i also decided to bread up a handful of fresh mushroom slices i had on hand just to see what they'd taste like homemade. the eggplant was pretty good (i topped with a little bit of the fresh hot sauce stuff my coworker makes for me).. the mushrooms rocked! i've never been a big eggplant person because, well, i've barely eaten it. but i'm always down for trying stuff and it was good.. but i sure do love me some mushrooms :) i'll definitely be making those more often as a nice little homemade indulgence.

have a good night!