Zydeco for Mom's Day

Today is Mother's Day. Coincidentally, we celebrated, because it happens that this weekend is the annual Gator by the Bay Zydeco Blues and Crawfish Festival in San Diego. Today is the last day. We drove down way early so we could get a free parking spot at a free festival shuttle stop, and then get breakfast in Little Italy before the gate opened. Gigantic breakfast. Must change eating pattern tomorrow. 

Then we wandered along the water by the Maritime Museum until it was time to catch the shuttle. Must make that a trip of its own. 

The festival was great. Five stages strung along Spanish Landing Park across from the airport, interspersed with vendor booths and the extensive food court. I wish I'd taken a picture of the boiled crayfish servings I saw people eating -- a huge huge pile. The Louisiana sausage sandwich and the barbecue tri-tip steak sandwich were plenty. Must change eating pattern tomorrow.  

We watched all or part of performances by five different bands, and we didn't even stay to the end. Each stage also had a big dance floor, and boy, do people dance! Folks dress up, sometimes in goofy outfits, and ham it up. Zydeco dancing has it's own tricky steps, and if you've ever tried to waltz to Cajun music (and have two left feet) you know how challenging that is. We know because we tried it at a previous festival without taking the free lessons that were offered. "Oh, we don't need lessons," he said. Must take lessons next time. There was a parade led by a brass band, and also a great blues band with some very funky dancing happening on their dance floor. Today we were observers, just walked around, sat in the shade on the handy hay bales and watched, cameras ready. A few pictures. 

Must learn to dance Cajun before next year.

PS I'm double-posting this because my Restless Barb travel blog has been so neglected lately. You could go there if you want. It's at http://restlessbarb.blogspot.com/

Consumer Supported Agriculture

Ever since I heard of this, I've wanted to do it, except that it didn't make any sense because we had a garden. I should say Mike had a garden; he was the hard worker. And he loves gardening, he's a dirt mystic, and it would be silly to make him stop so we could buy stuff instead.

So, we already had produce. I had enough to cook! Have you ever had a man walk into the kitchen and plunk down a five pound zucchini? And wondered why you weren't excited? Wondered, in fact, why you screamed?

Note: I never cooked one of those giant zucchinis. You have to draw the line somewhere. There was also the year with all the pak choy. I say, this is why you have a compost pit.

Well, this year he's taking a break from garden responsibility. The garden is at my brother's place, and required a trip every couple of days, interrupting his painting. My sister-in-law is picking up the slack.

So, this week we picked up the first box from the CSA we joined. It's called Be Wise Ranch, and they have a location less than five miles from us. If you don't know how this works, here's the deal. You join the CSA and pay up front for three months at a time, which gives the farmer operating capital. Then you go get your produce on your assigned day. We signed up for the big box, $30 a time, every other week. There's a smaller box for $25, but since we already ran out and it's 4 days to go for our next box, I think this will work out. We'll see if my cooking enthusiasm dwindles -- maybe we'll even increase the order.

Here's what we got this time: cauliflower, asparagus, mustard greens, red Russian kale, celery, carrots, golden beets, Romaine leaf lettuce, cabbage, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, lemons, tangerines, tangelos. There are a few Valencia oranges left in the fridge, but I have plans for those, and there are some carrots left. I tried a couple of new recipes (mustard greens with balsamic glazed garbanzos, and cream of celery soup with no cream) that turned out great.

The farm is organic, which is nice, and I plan to research the prices at my usual produce departments to compare. As of yet I have no idea how that calculation will come out.

I am excited to see what's in the surprise box on Thursday. And we are eating so healthy!