January

Good morning,

I obviously have been feeling a bit uninspired lately - it took me about a week to feel like myself again after coming back from vacation, and now it appears to be taking me another week to get organized and figure out how to methodically move through my day in a way that allows time for all of the different things that I want to do.

On the bright side though, I did manage to get to the farmer's market.  One of the great things about Barcelona was that the food was so excellent; I arrived there longing for fruit and vegetables after three days of stumbling around exhausted and eating tapas - and my wishes were easily answered.  I went several days without eating any meat at all without realizing it until later, because there were so many fresh and delicious vegetable and egg options... salads with really fresh, soft leaves and little surprises like pomegranate seeds, sprouted vegetables, a vegetable 'pie' swimming in olive oil, delicious 'tortillas,' (frittatta-like omelets), one even with thin bits of almond in it... and speaking of olive oil, I have never seen a country so liberal with the olive oil - a slim woman at a table next to us in a restaurant ordered a 'steamed vegetable platter,' which arrived with a little pitcher of olive oil, which she proceeded to pour over it for so long I kept glancing over to see if she was done yet.  So I came back feeling very ready to cook again with fresh ingredients and... of course NYC in January is not the place to find a huge array of local fruits and vegetables.  

The findings at the market aren't bad, though - and I haven't even been on Saturday, the "big" day.  Last Friday and this Monday I've found plenty of root vegetables (carrot/onion/potato etc.), salad greens, mushrooms, and a few stands that must have greenhouses (like D&J organic which you can see from this picture) are offering greens: bok choi, swiss chard, etc.  And of course there's eggs, cheese, and meat.  So I actually managed to come out with a bit of a haul, and last night for dinner had eggs with mushrooms, bok choi, and a piece of toast, which I could proudly announce all came from the market.  Doesn't always happen, but it's kind of gratifying when it does.

Still - that doesn't mean I'm not already eagerly looking forward to April when the first scallions appear just as I feel as though I'm desperately longing for chlorophyll... after that Feb / March period of cabbage, cabbage, cabbage... I just need to be optimistic about winter and not have this cringing feeling of bracing myself for weeks and weeks more of wading through slush, huddled inside my down jacket.

And on that bright note, food food food, hopefully I'll have more to say for myself when my brain is functioning again!