speaking of salads and such, sometimes i just want a huge bowl of healthy and tender winter greens – lightly sautéed and wilted in garlic and olive oil… so colourful and vibrant and good for you!!
before and after…
speaking of salads and such, sometimes i just want a huge bowl of healthy and tender winter greens – lightly sautéed and wilted in garlic and olive oil… so colourful and vibrant and good for you!!
before and after…
and the awesome crescent moon… lookin’ like the cheshire cat smile!!!
🙂
p.s. i love how you can see the outline of the moon, too!
both venus and jupiter will be visible through the end of february! so, make sure to look up! ❤
and don’t forget to get out in nature! it’s so healing!!!
every time there’s a party or gathering and i need to bring a dish, i almost always bring the salad. my family lovingly refers to me as “sally salad” for that reason. i pretty much eat a salad just about every day, even in the winter.
and this is that time of year where we all promise to “eat better” or “eat less” …
{how’s that working out for you? it’s not working for me – haha!}
i made this particular salad way back at the end of harvest season last year… it’s loaded with lots of garden veggies like two different kinds of homegrown lettuce, tender baby kale, shaved brussel sprouts, flavourful celery leaves, gently bitter radicchio, teeny tomatoes, my famous pickling cucumbers, and i think i even threw in some fresh corn… nom nom!
pan-seared mahi mahi – crusted with old bay and lemon juice, served with homemade roasted corn and shishito pepper succotash, and a glass of miller high life – ‘cuz we fancy. 😉
what are YOU having for dinner??
greetings!
happy holidays and happy new year! {also – happy mercury retrograde for all you astrology fans out there!}
i hope you all are doing well! also, i wanted to welcome my new readers to this tiny little space on the world wide web. thank you for taking time to subscribe and follow along – i truly hope you enjoy the time you spend here at food and foto dot com.
as a personal goal, i am working to post new blogs at least once or twice a month… but ideally, my aim is to post once a week. as usual, you can expect the topics to include all things food and foto related – as well as the great outdoors, cool people and places, occasional astrology jargon, and general musings/ramblings from yours truly.
for example :
even though our temps have been in the mid 50s all week, this morning i was thinking about the weather and how i really never liked winter… this became particularly true when i lived in the high country in colorado and worked at 12,000 feet elevation {brrrr!}. i don’t enjoy the cold, although i do know that some people really do! the winter season is just not my favourite. however, i have recently learned to embrace each season for different reasons.
as humans, we are just as much a part of nature as nature itself. i sometimes feel we have really lost that connection and we often forget that we, too, have seasons. whether it be the “aging” process, or a relationship, or a job, or relocating/moving, or any other variables in life, we all go through seasons. and i believe that the winter season is a time to relax, reflect, and regain strength for spring. it’s a time to hibernate and go within, and most importantly – a time to REST!
personally, i {now} enjoy the downtime that winter has to offer more than I ever did in the past. of course – a lot has changed in my life which has offered me new perspective on this time of year… but nevertheless, i have certainly learned to embrace this season in a different way. plus, {in true introvert form} i enjoy working on a lot of puzzles this time of year – one of my favourite hobbies. 😉
also, i am not really big on “resolutions” – but i did make a short list of things i want to do more of this year. that includes :
do you have any resolutions or goals this year?
i have some of the best people in my life! thoughtful, genuine, generous people… and i’m so thankful!
for my birthday last year, a dear friend gave me this awesome feather pen and quill ink stamp kit. i have always wanted one! i casually mentioned it to this person, and one day she brought it to me and i just shrieked in excitement! 🙂
i have since written several letters and sent them out to a select few people… it is just so much fun! i found this cool stationery that i had been holding onto for years, and it was just perfect for this kit!
my thoughts are like this – the internet and social media and all of that have great perks… but i also tend to be a little old-school… in that, i will always love sending and receiving mail! so this is just a perfect addition to my artistic studio!
would you like a hand-written wax-stamped letter from me? go to my about me page and fill out the form with your mailing address information and let’s be pen pals! 😀
as many of you probably know, i prefer to eat seasonally… it gives me things to look forward to, and it’s also good for the body. now that we are in the prime of summer, i am switching up my diet to include things that are currently in season. which is exciting because my garden is poppin’ right now and i’ll soon have more seasonal produce to enjoy {and share!}
the flip side of eating seasonal is letting go of some of the foods that stop producing as the months progress. for example – peas, arugula, radishes, asparagus, and in the case of this blog – artichokes.
i just love love love artichokes and i do miss them when they are not in season… but i also do get my fill of them during the spring and early summer months. i like to serve them with an aioli or melted butter… nom nom!
aren’t they just so interesting looking? i love vegetable guts, and i have always been fascinated by the insides of certain veggies like artichokes, cabbage, lettuce, etc.
look at that color! and that devine design! ❤
speaking of strawberries… these are like nature’s candy!
i love to make dehydrated fruit of all kinds! one of my other favourite things to dehydrate is bananas. it’s a great way to preserve in-season foods and enjoy them later. it’s also easy and cost-effective.
strawberries are one of my top favourite fruits to enjoy when they are dehydrated. they are so sweet and so delicious! they curb my craving for gummy bears or gummy snacks, and obviously have way less sugar! the only issue is, they don’t last very long! 😉
aren’t these just the most beautiful strawberries you’ve ever seen?!
and i promise you, they taste better than they look, if you can imagine 😉
by the way, which background do you like better?! comment below…
fun food facts :
strawberries contain more vitamin c than oranges. they are also high in antioxidants and are super easy to grow! they self-seed and make a fun little patch to pick from. they are the only fruit with seeds on the outside. some strawberries contain over 200 seeds! they have a short season, so continuous harvesting is necessary for optimum enjoyment. also, to maintain the sweet flavour, strawberries are better served at room temperature.
the weather here in Maryland has been so confusing for the last two months. i think we even had a frost last week! however, i do believe we are finally hitting that spring stride… and i’m so ready!
i’ve been steadily getting my garden ready, also! currently, i have lots of sprouts coming up, hooray! i also have a lot of weeds, boo! but i’m holding off on doing too much weeding just yet so i make sure not to pull any sprouts. typically i don’t have any weeds and i take pride in that… but i’ll just have to be patient for now. 😉
here are some pics to show the progress. {if you follow me on instagram, you’ve probably already seen these… and if you don’t, please do – here.}