Chard, a relative of the beet plant, is ridiculously easy to grow here so we grow a lot of it. Kale is just as easy to grow but kale is cheap to buy by the pound at the store. Chard, on the other hand, is expensive. I have no idea why. I actually prefer chard over kale. I love the slightly sweet and earthy taste. It’s great raw and cooked. Keri and I mostly use it in our green smoothies but also as a substitute for spinach when making lasagna or Easter pie. Since we ate out for lunch today we decided to have smoothies for a light yet filling dinner. Pic and recipe below:
Green Smoothie with chard.
Green Smoothie
Ingredients:
5 to 6 leaves of chard
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
2 cups unsweetened almond coconut milk
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsbp hemp protein
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend at highest setting until smooth. Serve immediately. Makes two large servings.
Keri and I have a new routine. For the past month we have been getting up before the crack of dawn at 5:30ish. Up and dressed and out the door before 6. Keri heads off to yoga class and I go for my run. We do this Monday through Friday and then rest on the weekends. My workout is usually done by 6:30 which gives me time to prepare coffee and breakfast for when Keri returns at 7:30. We break our daily 14 hour fast then. The newest addition to our daily routine is intermittent fasting. This was Keri’s idea but I’ve decided to do it as well to keep meal planning simple. From 7:30 a.m to 5:30 p.m. we eat our regular meals as usual. From 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. we’ll only drink water or tea. There’s actually not much reduction in the amount of food we eat. We’re entering our 4th week and I’m down 9 pounds already. Not bad. Of course, we’re not super strict about all this. There have been a couple days where we’ve slept in or have eaten a bit later in the day. These exceptions are usually for things outside of our control like the weather.
Route for October 5th, 2015
Today’s run was a good one. 10:22 minute mile. I’ve been running about 2 miles per day on average with at least one longer run during the week. My current goal is one 5K per week. I’m trying to get my 5k time under 30 minutes. I’m getting close. My last one was 10 days ago and I completed it in 30:59. I’ve plotted out a route that is mostly uphill so I have to work harder to beat that time. I figure it will make running a flat course 5K even easier. My sights are on running the Newman YMCA 5K Turkey Run again this year. My time last year was 34 minutes exactly. Their course is actually a bit shorter than a full 5k so I think my time would have been around 37-38 minutes for the correct distance. If I can get my time under 30 then I’ve definitely made a huge improvement in the last year.
Fall is here so Keri and I are getting ready for the colder temps ahead. That means digging up our pepper plants down at the garden to overwinter them inside the apartment. We didn’t dig them up today but rather went down to see what we had and to get our mini-greenhouse out of storage. We’ll be using that in our back (front) stairwell during the colder months.
The growing season isn’t quite over yet. I still have tomato on the vine, tons of chard, tomatillos, and peppers, and even some pineapple tomatillos. I don’t remember planting these at all but they are delicious. They taste just like pineapple DumDum lollipops and texture of a grape. My little plant only puts out a handful (see the photo above) of these at a time so they’re really only good for a quick snack.
We’re growing luffah again this year. They should be ready to harvest in November if they grow large enough. This time we plan to let them dry out on the vine if we can. While checking out the luffah I noticed a bunch of people getting ready to play a game in to the soccer field next to the garden. At first I thought it was going to be a soccer game but then I recognized the Quidditch posts in the field. Wizards! Muggles? It turns out that it was 3 different Quidditch teams including the Providence Ashwinders were playing. Each taking turns playing the other for a total of 6 games. How fun! Pics below:
No sign of Potter.
Where’s the Snitch?
Wizards in flight!
After our trip to the garden Keri and I went to Malachi’s for coffee. I’ve been getting back into writing poetry on a somewhat daily basis and have been working on a series of poems written in situ stream-of-consciousness style with little to no editing afterwards. I haven’t decided on how many I will do for this series but I’m up to 15 poems in it so far. I’m following Ginsberg’s “First Thought, Best Thought” method as a way of silencing my inner writing critic. It’s hard but I’m powering through.
Writing time at Malachi’s Cafe.
I’ve written a handful of other poems but they go through tons of editing and rewrites so those will get added to one of the other series I’m working on. On that note, I have finally put my Del Monte Blues and Other Poems book together after 20 some years of procrastinating. I’ve kept some core poems, rewrote a few, and tossed tons to make one slim 8 poem chapbook. I’ll be selling it (cheap!) in e-book form soon and will have printed chapbook sized versions as well. The printed version will be a limited print run and I’ll most likely be giving them out for free or leaving around town in various coffeehouses and little free libraries. Here’s the cover:
By submitting your email address on this form, you agree to receive emails from me. You can unsubscribe from SummerChilde.com at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any email.
