Today in use-what-you-have cookery

Dish 1: put a cup of rice in a casserole dish. Defrost the halved Roma tomatoes from the farm share, dice them, and toss them in the casserole. Drain a jar of marinated artichoke hearts into the dish, dice the artichoke hearts, toss them in. Pick some chives from the porch to scatter over the top. Rinse the jar to get more of the spices in, cover, put into a low oven.
edit Also include two minced cloves of farm share garlic atop the tomatoes. /edit

Dish 2: defrost the halved peaches from the farm share. Dice and put in a casserole dish. Add the end of a bag of cranberries, a handful of walnut pieces, and two tablespoons of local honey. Cover and put in the oven.

Dish 3: defrost a bag of mashed already-baked winter squash (from the fall farm share). Once it was defrosted enough to work with, add nutmeg and cumin. Toss in a can of black beans, drained, and some hot sauce. Put in the oven, bake.

Hey, gluten-free, almost all vegan, too. Though I admit if I had some mozzarella, that would have been good with the squash and beans.

Bits and pieces

I finished a hat today, the first one in far too long. It's got a bunch of ringlets, and I'm pleased at how it turned out, especially since the things I was playing with turned out as I'd hoped (the rolled edge). I'm less pleased at how long it took me, weeks and weeks, which is pretty much a function of my back being unhappy, especially when sitting, so I've been doing more lying down than sitting, and it's pretty uncomfortable to crochet when prone.

I've been trying to do some basic stretches every morning, and walk more; these days I'm unsure whether I'm doing more than I had been attempting before, so the same level of discomfort is actually a win.

Sunday I went for my first bike ride of the season, and the back was fine. Plus it was a lovely day. And I had company. And I fit into bike shorts that hadn't fit before. And I wore the sleeves I'd made myself from dead knee-high socks (cutting off the bottom), which served to protect my arms from sun during the day and keep me just a bit warmer after dark. And did I mention having company? (A large part of the day being so lovely was social contact. And in fact, I've been realizing just how much I've been missing people time.)

The sunny warm weather feels more like early June than mid March to me (and is somewhat troubling when thinking about global weather patterns and the possibility that August will be unbearable). Despite my concerns, it's been useful: I've dried a couple of loads of laundry out in the sun. One plus to setting the drying rack up on the porch: I don't want the clothes to be out in the dew, so it's more likely that I'll not only put away the clothes, but also take the drying rack down.

Today's serendipity: grabbing a FIGMENT T-shirt to wear during my shift at Artisan's Asylum, and discovering partway through my shift that there was a FIGMENT meet'n'greet then and there.