Don't worry, I'm not dead...

Between catching up from being gone most of last week and starting a new project, this week has been fairly busy.  Luckily (note the sarcasm), things have already been screwed up with my project, so I have to wait a few weeks until I can do anything else.  But, in all of the mayhem, I managed to make some bread and cook a lot of veggies on Monday.  This batch of bread is probably my favorite so far.  I made the basic whole wheat recipe that I love, but added flax meal and walnuts (and used even less honey than before).  Unfortunately there aren't any farmers' markets open on Mondays (and I couldn't survive without veggies), so I went to the store across town that has decent produce and good prices.  I was surprised to find okra again, and you could pick out your own (so I spent a while picking out all of the small pods).  I steamed them, and it was delicious.  One of the things that I love about okra is that I don't even want any seasoning on it because it's so tasty absolutely plain.  I also got some lettuce, corn, peppers, carrots, and indian eggplant, all of which were good.  

I managed to make it to two farmers' markets on Wednesday (including one that I had never been to before), but unfortunately the selection is getting pretty slim.  They have winter squash, some beans, some greens, potatoes, apples, and a lot of stuff shipped in from warmer climates.  I got some green beans, lots of apples, kale, and some meat (a pork shoulder roast and ground turkey).  Last night was the perfect night to cook the pork; I was exhausted from being on my feet all day at the Obama rally, so I came home, rubbed the pork with some spices, put it in the oven, and collapsed on the couch for a few hours.  I didn't quite cook it long enough so that it's falling off the bone (I was too hungry by that point), but it was delicious.  I also found a recipe for my green beans - pan roasted with a soy/vinagrette/garlic sauce.  It was quite an adventure because there was a little bit of water that dripped into the pan when I was adding the beans, and the pan was hot enough that it created smoke everywhere and my smoke alarm went off for a while.  In all of the craziness, I forgot to add the sesame seeds on top, but they were still very good.  I'll probably make them again (but I'll be a little more careful next time).