Oh, Yes.

Damn, but food is exciting. I went to Sunrise market on the downtown eastside with mom, dropped $35, and came away with a box and a bag full of food that I could literally barely stagger along with.

This is the haul:

-2 pineapples
-4 avacadoes
-3 long english cukes
-1 bunch parsley
-1 big basket grape tomatoes
-a bunch of hothouse tomatoes
-6 butternut squash
-branches of lime leaves (!!!!!!!!!!)
-2 big jicama
-2 big lo-bok
-bunch of ginger
-some onions
-ten pounds of potatoes
-a bowlful of honey mandarins
-a big bag of red peppers
-one big sui choi
-Four cans of tomatoes
-Black 'glutinous' rice pasta

I am going to make, for family dinner:

o Roast butternut squash soup with red pepper, cayenne and lime leaves (total cost: $2 for squash, $1.49 for lime leaves, $0.10 for spices = $3.60 for maybe a gallon and a half).
o Sweet and spicy cabbage (total cost: $1 for cabbage, $0.25 for olive oil, $0.50 for sugar and spices = $1.75 to serve five or six people full portions).
o Avacado, tomato, cucumber and parsley salad (total cost: $1 for avacadoes, $3 for tomatoes, $1.50 for cucumbers if I use them all, $0.50 for parsley, $0.75 for lemon juice and salt = $5.75 for a big bowlful, fresh veggies feel so good in the winter though).
o Carrot juice cos there's a ton of carrots in the fridge.

I am going to make, in general:

o Lo-bok pickles using greensinger's sour pickle recipe for one batch and maybe this refrigerator pickle recipe for the other.
o Bacon with pineapple and hash browns fried in bacon fat for breakfast for Angus.

I still need:

o Bacon (w/o artificial smoke or nitrates for his IBS)
o The juicer from the boy's place
o Bananas to fry for breakfast with more pineapple Monday
o Sesame oil to finish the squash soup

I mean, seriously, how wonderful is this? I'm making this post because everyone's at work right now so there's no one I can call and babble at who wants to hear me talk about food, and I'm gonna explode with exciting-ness. I should get the squash roasting now, actually. Roasting before souping *really* brings out flavour, in everything from meat to squash. Caramelising onions changes their flavour too, of course.

Who says that eating veggies in winter has to be expensive? There's nothing else *in* this meal. There'll be rice served with it, of course.

Last night was Dine Out Vancouver, and their butternut squash soup (with nutmeg) was the inciting incident for this-- that is, until I saw the lime leaves for sale. Nutmeg will be another try, another time. Sunrise has these $1 bags of squash with three or four squash in each-- that is, when they don't have it on for $0.19/lb. It's sort of an orange veggie themed night, what with the carrot juice and all.

I also got my hair cut and re-highlighted last night, and done up in curls, and I dressed up in satin and heels (I clean up pretty for a dirty hippie) and had lots of fun. It was a pretty wonderful date. There was a little food-throwing at the table, but not enough to be a problem, and general good humour all 'round.

My house is clean cos I cleaned up for the landlord yesterday (well, tidy-- the floors really need a scrub, but not before a family dinner!) and Angus did the dishes, and my rat cages are clean, so everything is good here. It really is a gorgeous house, you know.

That's pretty much my world right now, and all is well within it. Nice, mmm?

Be well, and see some of you tonight.

Organic Food

Synchronicity: this article plus this discussion with a garnish of the aesthetically-related article here on square watermelons.