For lunch today I ate:

• Salmon salad
• Sprouted grain toast with butter and homemade fig spread
• Mixed Greek olives in spicy marinade

In case you are wondering, it was delicious! Also, because I’m sure you’re curious, I did not make the fig spread, it was a gift from a very talented friend who has also bestowed upon us blueberry jam, salsa, and grapefruit-ginger marmalade. Oh, yeah.

Salmon salad is one of my go-to meals when I need something quick. It takes 5 minutes to whip up and the ingredients aren’t set in stone so you can really make it with whatever you have lying around. Because this is the inaugural What We Eat post, you also get a recipe! So here it is, even though you probably don’t need one for this dish:

Salmon Salad

1 7.5-oz can sockeye salmon, drained
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
3/4 chopped green bell pepper
1 scallion, chopped
Dill (1 tbsp if using fresh, 1 tsp if using dried)
Juice from 1 lemon wedge
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Toss the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Enjoy!

Other vegetables that work well in this dish are tomato, cucumber, red onion, and radish, but you really can use anything you like. Fresh parsley is nice, as is fresh garlic if you are feeling crazy. If you want your salmon salad to resemble more of a traditional seafood salad, dice your veggies up small and mash everything together with slightly more olive oil and lemon juice than is listed in the recipe above. Just please don’t add mayo, it makes salmon sad. Lastly, I drain off the juice/oil that is in the can and give it to Cooper, but Brian prefers his canned salmon with all of the juice, it’s really a personal thing so try it both ways and see which you like better.

I feel it necessary to note that the deliciousness of your salmon salad is directly related to the quality of the canned salmon you use. Please don’t use that nasty Bumblebee stuff, okay? We buy ours from Vital Choice and get the salmon with the bones & skin–it tastes much better and is way more nutritious. We eat the skin and the bones, except for the little salmon vertebrae because they totally freak me out.

I also feel it necessary to note that the photo above is in fact NOT an iPhone photo. I don’t believe this is the first “real” photo to appear on this blog, but it’s certainly the first one in a long time. I deserve a pat on the back!

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I get a lot of questions from readers about what we eat. I made the switch to whole, organic, sustainably-raised foods 13 years ago this year, and to local foods about 6 years ago. This is not to say that every morsel of food that passes my lips fits neatly into these categories, but the bulk of what I eat does. And Brian has come along for the ride since I do the meal-planning and most of the shopping and cooking. Sometime I’ll write about what inspired these changes, but that is a much larger topic that will need to be addressed separately. While organic foods have been getting a lot of press for several years, I’ve noticed in the past year or two that people are staring to pay significantly more attention to the concepts of eating whole foods, or local foods, or sustainably-raised foods.

Unfortunately these terms can really just be a lot of jargon. Who defines what food is “whole,” “organic,” or “local” anyway? For me, it all comes down to eating real food: something that has recognizable origins and is minimally processed if at all. I also try to choose foods that are grown near where I live because they are fresher and thus more nutritious, and because they have a much lower environmental impact than foods that are shipped from far away. Eating local foods also ensures that we eat seasonally, which I personally believe is better from a health standpoint. Organic is probably another topic that deserves its own post (I actually did an independent study on organic foods my senior year of college!) but the short, very general, answer is that it means the food has been grown sans pesticides and in an environmentally responsible way. Sustainably-raised, the way I use it, refers specifically to meats, fish, and eggs–are the animals raised in ways that are healthy for them and limit the negative environmental impact?

Where am I going with this? Well, something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time is use this blog as a way to disseminate information that could help other people live more consciously and healthfully. Eating is a huge part of everyone’s lifestyle, so it follows that if you want to change your lifestyle, altering your eating habits is part of puzzle. Because I get a lot of questions about what we eat, how to eat healthier, or how to eat whole foods/local foods/etc., I thought it would be fun to start a regular feature here that would highlight some of our meals. Hopefully the photos and descriptions of what we’re eating will inspire you to try something new, or at least entertain you a little bit. I am also going to be posting a lot more recipes here, and while I already have several requests please leave a comment if there is something you want to know how to cook!

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We joined a CSA here in Austin recently and got our first box of food last week. It was very exciting for me, as I am still unfamiliar with the seasons of food in this strange climate. In DC we bought all our food at the Dupont Circle farmer’s market and thus became very familiar with what was in season when. Austin has unpredictable cycles of warm and cold, which, combined with my limited knowledge of edibles, means that I don’t really know what is in season at any given time aside from the very obvious stuff. Our box contained a typical mix of winter veggies as well as some fruit:

Carrots
Radishes
Collard greens
Kohlrabi
Cabbage
Parsley
Spinach
Broccoli florets
Scallions
Green garlic
Lettuce
Oranges
Grapefruit

Kohlrabi

The quality of the food was incredible. It was picked the morning that we received our box and was clearly extremely fresh. When Brian came home with the box he set it on the floor and Dylan immediately crawled over, pulled himself up to standing using the side of the box, and began playing with all of the food inside. Somehow he snuck part of a spinach leaf into his mouth. We noticed something in his mouth 10 minutes later and fished out the little piece of spinach, which was not chewed up or anything (the kid only has two teeth!) but was thoroughly slimed. He must have learned that trick from Cooper, who was notorious in his younger days for carrying things like a blueberry or an acorn around in his mouth for long periods of time without chewing them. You’d give him a blueberry and he’d be all like, “Thanks!” and you’d think he had swallowed it until two hours later when it rolled out of his mouth and onto the rug. He actually did this recently and our baby helper had the misfortune of sitting upon the blueberry; luckily she was wearing dark pants.

Thumbs up for super fresh, still-dirty veggies!

Supposedly one box is enough to feed a family of 2-4 people for one week, which is pretty much a load of crap as far as I can tell. We eat a lot of veggies around here, but not an obscene amount, and have had to supplement with non-local veggies and fruits from the grocery store (a travesty, really). But of the veggies we received, nothing went to waste. I am actually quite proud of myself for figuring out how to use everything we got, including things we’d never eaten before like kohlrabi. Oh, it was all so delicious! Here’s what I made:

Sauteed radish tops, kohlrabi bulb, & green garlic
Carrot-quinoa soup (using both the roots and the tops)
Pureed carrots for Dylan
Cole slaw (cabbage, carrots, parsley)
Sauteed collard greens & kohlrabi greens
Spinach salads with radishes, scallions, and carrot tops
Steamed broccoli
And of course we ate the fruit straight-up as snacks

Sauteed radish tops, kohlrabi bulb, & green garlic with cole slaw

We have three more weeks in our 4-week CSA trial. I would like to continue with it because the quality of the food was so good, and because it is very important to me to eat local, sustainably-produced food, but we will need to see if the cost comparison comes out in favor of the CSA or not. I don’t mind spending a little bit more for quality local organic produce, but with my nursing-mama appetite it’s a challenge to keep our food costs under control so we’ll need to see how things shake out.

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Remember those Madewell boots I was lusting over a while ago? Thanks to the miracle of Christmas and birthday money and after-holiday sales, they are now mine. Yay! Aren’t they cute? I know, they are so cute. Maybe it’s hard for you to tell how cute they are because of the crappy iPhone photo above, but you can just take my word for it. Alright!

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I really want a pair of Vibram Five Fingers shoes. They may not help me in my efforts to be stylish at all times, but oh I want them so bad. This past fall I got really into going barefoot around the house. I have always liked the feel of being barefoot, but usually avoided it because I have been conditioned my whole life to think I needed special support for my extremely flat feet. Well, then I read this article on Mark’s Daily Apple about strengthening flat feet and thought I’d give the barefoot thing a go. After an initial period of adaptation, during which my feet and lower legs were seriously achey, I was converted. I had previously suffered from plantar fasciitis as well as other foot pains related to weakness and tightness. After a few months of going barefoot 90% of the time I’m home (which is most of the time since my broken back has left me pretty house-bound), my plantar fasciitis and other issues have disappeared. I do notice that my pain returns if I revert to my old habits of always wearing slippers or flip-flops at home, or spend too much time out and about (which means I’m wearing shoes since I don’t go barefoot outside). So I’ve decided that I need a pair of Five Fingers for those times when I need some sort of shoe but want to keep that barefoot feel. The plan is to get black ones and use my powers of style to make them fashionable and cool! After all, a woman who is hobbled by foot pain is never chic.

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Brian and I were recently awarded $150 in Amazon.com credit for completing a health assessment for our new health insurance company. Nothing like free money! We promptly bought:

• Two cases of chocolate (this has been discussed previously)
• Corn popper toy for Dylan
• Magazine subscriptions (Rolling Stone for Brian, Vogue & Allure for me)
• Cast iron stovetop grill/griddle
• A case of produce wash

The cast iron grill pan arrived yesterday. It is 20 inches long and weighs 16 pounds. It is clearly intended for some serious two-burner cooking action. I have wanted one of these for a couple of years because I thought it would be a good alternative to our detested Foreman grill. (Really I just want to get a house and have a proper outdoor grill, but all things in good time.)

I feel I should note at this point that in the previous 24 hours I had roasted two chickens and six yams, made chicken salad out of one of those chickens, made 17 hamburgers (two flavors), and made eight cups of a new trail mix creation (recipe to be posted soon, I promise). I still had eight burgers to cook so I was super excited about the grill pan because I could fit all eight of the burgers on it (our Foreman grill only fits four). Though I’ve used cast iron previously, I really had no idea what I was doing. I just wanted to use my new pan and save myself the trouble of cooking two batches of burgers. I cranked the stove up to high and when the grill was hot, put the burgers on. They immediately began smoking. A LOT. I thought once they got seared that the smoke would stop. I was wrong. Our entire kitchen, dining room, and living room immediately filled with smoke. Thick smoke. A lot of thick smoke. I couldn’t see six feet in front of me. I thought maybe I had the heat too high since cast iron is such a good heat conductor so I turned it down to medium and then opened all the windows and the door and put a box fan in the doorway to blow the smoke out. I was coughing the whole time, freaking out about whether Dylan was inhaling all the smoke (he wasn’t because he is short!), and shutting the doors to our bedrooms so they wouldn’t get smokey. I flipped the bugers and celebrated briefly because they had grill marks. Grill marks! The lower heat seemed to reduce the amount of smoke spewing off of the stove, but that is like comparing the flow of a river to that of a firehose. Less, but still a lot. The box fan was doing its job, as evidenced by the thick plumes of smoke billowing out our front door. I was certain that one of our neighbors would call the fire department.

It took about 45 minutes before the air in our apartment was see-through again, and I made an incredible mess. There were grease splatters everywhere, and thanks to the fact that I forgot to oil the grill, we were still trying to liberate charred bits of burger from it this morning. Despite the smoke and the mess and the panic, the burgers did turn out really well, much better than on the Foreman grill. And when the maintenance guys showed up later to fix our eternally-running toilet they were all like, “Mmmm, what are you cooking? It smells really good in here!”

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I found out about CLAREVIVIER last spring when I stumbled upon Clare’s blog and saw the bag above. Love at first sight! That perfect specimen is her now-famous (or nearly so) La Tropezienne in scrumptious, delicious eco-tanned Italian remnant leather. I had one on order for about a week and then realized that I would probably not have much use for such a bag once Dylan arrived. (That turned out to be true. La Trop, though lovely, contains no pockets and no closure, two things that have gone from nice-to-have to essential in any bag I carry these days.) Clare herself is very sweet and was even going to make the bag special for me, with longer straps so I could carry it over my shoulder. Alas, it was not meant to be but I still think La Trop is the epitome of a simple, timeless, versatile, elegant bag. La Tropezienne can be yours, though the price has gone up from the bargain basement $150 I was going to pay in May to $240 (still a deal!) because of an increase in the price of the remnant leather used to make the bags.

Even though La Trop may not be the best choice for my lifestyle these days, there are still many other incredible options in the CLAREVIVIER line:

Messenger Tote in rich navy leather. I’m really into navy lately, especially with black and brown. This is the perfect goes-with-everything-but-is-still-interesting shade of blue. I am also a huge sucker for anything that can be worn cross-body, which is probably somehow related to years of riding around on my bike with a messenger bag. It just feels like the most practical and comfortable way to wear a bag, and it’s also kind of sporty and jaunty, no? This tote has the added bonus of little satchel handles for those times when you are feeling posh. (Or for when wearing the thing cross-body would make your skirt ride up.)


Remake Clutches in a rainbow of colors. Don’t they look like candy? I want several of these. They are all fantastic, but I especially love the bright blues, reds, and greens with contrasting zippers and the white lacy leather. Oh, and the black patent is hot. And that camel with the red zipper is so lux. Yeah, I want them all. Many sizes, for every occasion!

French Linen Zip Sac with a super cool chain-link print and contrasting zipper. Neutral but still distinctive, this would be so perfect for summer days.

Wrist Wrap in mirrored silver leather. Not a bag, but it would look so good on the arm carrying your bag. It also comes studded, but I prefer it without. So chic!

Last, but certainly not least, this is a special Remake Clutch for Target’s Red Hot Shop. It’s a big deal for a small, new designer to get featured at a big store like Target. I didn’t know about their Red Hot Shop before but it’s curated in partnership with Daily Candy and the items change every month. Bonus for you is that this clutch is priced $15 cheaper than the remake clutches available directly from CLAREVIVIER, so it’s a good way to support an emerging designer while saving yourself a little dough. I am a big fan of embossed leather and love the patent camel and flat black together, especially with the red tassel–so cute!

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Today I will be making my first rump roast. The rump is denoted by the number “3″ in the image above. I will be attempting to do my roast on the stovetop, as my 6-quart pot is not oven-safe. (Yeah, I know, I need to remedy that!) I’ve roasted chickens, turkeys, and pork shoulders (also know as pork butts; that probably deserves its own post), but all in the oven. I’ve made beef stew on the stovetop, but that was different because the beef was in chunks and I always use my mom’s foolproof beef bourguignon recipe. Anyway, my rump is small (Ha! Sorry, I couldn’t resist), only about 2 lbs., so I figure the stovetop method shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. I will report back with stories of my grand success!

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I know everyone is telling you to donate money to the Haitian earthquake relief effort right now. So, um, have you?

When a huge tragedy occurs, sometimes I donate money and sometimes I don’t. What motivated me this time was the realization that there are people in Haiti who are just like me. Mothers with 7 month old babies who are just trying to get through the day and take care of their kids. Except their day is really, really awful and the stakes are totally different. Here I am thinking about Dylan’s naps and making sure he has developmentally appropriate toys, and there are mothers in Haiti who are just trying to keep their babies fed, healthy, alive. Of course if we could find out about every person affected by any large-scale tragedy there would inevitably be someone for each of us to identify with, but for some reason this time that thought really hit home for me. Haiti is a really poor country. If we (we being the people from the moneyed countries) don’t step in to help them out, who will?

Even if you think you have no money, you have enough to give something. It is very easy to feel bad and say a prayer for all of the people who are suffering in Haiti right now. But guess what? It is almost as easy to donate money to help them! I suggest choosing a large, established international aid organization, but I’m sure there are smaller organizations working in Haiti that are also legit.

Donation Resources
The NPR website has a brief list of organizations that you can donate to.

CharityNavigator.org and NetworkForGood.org can help you evaluate charities and make donations to a broader range of NGOs.

And if you’re texty, you can text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti (that $10, plus standard text messaging charges, will be charged to your cell phone bill).

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