Nathan officially opened summer vaca with a rock climbing class this a.m. He really enjoyed it. Then he's off to basketball later this afternoon. We keep him pretty busy in the summers, moving around, doing new and challenging things. It means alot of driving around, but within a pretty small area, so it's worth it. There's plenty of time for swimming and playdates and just hanging out too, but if he's out and about a part of each day, there's less of a battle over the cursed television. I hate that thing. Even when I love it (Desperate Housewives, Big Love, and of course Sex and the City), I hate it. Ack.

For lunch, I took Nathan to Arby's for a roast beef sandwich. He loves Arby's right now. I feel like I ate a brick and am so regretting it. I could have had a lovely salad, piece of delicious cheese, and fresh fruit, all from my own fridge, and felt great to boot...instead I had some industrial fast-food blech that gave me a headache and made me groggy as hell. Shit. I need to go for a walk to get myself out of this stupid stupor!

Dinner, hmmph, won't be fast food, I can tell you that. Hell to the no. There are plenty of roasted onions from last night's salad, think I'll repeat that dish, it was so good. I have a heel of day-old baguette that can easily become yummy croutons. And shaved ham that I can saute to crisp up a bit - delicious with the salad ingredients of sweet onions, blue cheese, and bitter greens. And, I have haricots verts in the cooler as well. Yes! There's dinner... Nice white wine, eat on the deck, we're jamming. Now I have to go find some energy...lots of laundry and chores on my plate today and I feel like I'm getting exactly nowhere with it all.

I'm so excited, I'm using my own home-grown arugula and basil in our salad tonight - woo hoo! I'm proud to say the arugula is tender, peppery, and buttery tasting all at the same time. Sublime. And the basil is sweet and subtle. If I could, I'd have a big, huge veggie garden in my yard. My ancestors' farming blood definitely flows in my veins. However, it doesn't go with this house, or landscaping, or frankly our lifestyle, so I've done the next best thing. I grow herbs and lettuces in pots on my deck, tomatoes too, and I've bought a CSA (community supported agriculture) share from La Finca Farms in Bruno, MN. Once per week, La Finca delivers organically, sustainably, locally grown produce to a home in my neighborhood - I'll pick it up on Fridays. It should be interesting, and for me, positively exciting, to incorporate the seasonal veggies that show up each week into our meals. I'll keep you posted on how it goes...

Ooooh, good salad for din, wow. As I said, warm roasted onions and Spanish blue cheese per last night, plus basil and arugula from my deck, plus chicory, spinach, endive, green beans, and romaine from the fridge, plus toasted baguette croutons, plus warm, crispy sauteed ham, plus garlic vinaigrette. Fab combo of spicy, sweet, creamy, salty, chewy, soft, warm, cool... aaaahhh... heavenly. Enjoyed outside, on one of our rare, perfect Minnesota evenings, with my sweetie, with a food-friendly glass of rose - NICE. In fact, DAMN NICE way to end the day. A good night to you too.