I kind of want to go back on July 4th just to see what happens

I'm not sure how to feel about the fact that this is not the first time I've had roasted beet sandwiches for dinner. How did my life get to such a place? It probably won't be the last, either, since "put it in a sandwich" is my go-to technique for foods about which I am ambivalent and I can't stop ordering "local boxes" and they can't stop including beets. It's just the way things are going to be. At least this one was on some nice oatmeal bread.

I guess I can cross "folate deficiency" off the list of probable reasons for my demise.

Did I tell you that we're currently running a small-scale pepper farm in our backyard? Sometimes when you send your husband to buy plants for the garden without very specific instructions you end up with a packet of squash seeds and sixteen pepper plants. This will be your own fault for saying "I would like some peppers this summer" without remembering to include "but I imagine sixteen plants is in excess of what two people will want to consume."

My own spicy little tribbles.

Anyway, if you live anywhere in the vicinity of my house, please do not purchase any jalapeños or banana peppers this summer. Take them. Take them from me. Help.

Monday morning we met Andy at World's Most Flag-Adorned Restaurant Original Pancake House.

Just thoroughly Sousa-fied, the whole place.

"Mmmm.....patriotism."

We also had a very nice Memorial day lunch with the Loontjers and went to a fun party next door, but I apparently enjoyed those activities too much to photograph them so you'll have to use your imagination. Just know that I am back on the cheese-eating horse and more cheese-consumptive than ever. At the top of my cheese game, even. All lactose trembles in fear before me.

Anyone who believes that two year olds lack focus has probably never seen Anna watch a show about trains while simultaneously reading a book about trains.

And muttering "traaaaaaaaaaaaains," zombie-like, under her breath.

She has been pursing other interests as well. She likes the extremely educational marine magnets we got her at the Seattle aquarium.

Lesson #26: The Verticality of Sea Life.

I am so close to making this blog a pizza and ice cream review site

Despite being safely in my second trimester and no longer besieged by constant nausea, I still do a great deal more "unhappy yet determined choking down" of various healthy things than I prefer. Here are some perfectly nice-looking, nutritious things that I practically had to force down my own throat by massaging it with my hand, like giving a vitamin to a cat.

First, Buttermilk Farro Salad from 101 Cookbooks. It's basically covered with homemade ranch dressing, and still no. I actually only picked this recipe because I was looking for a way to use up the fennel that I thought I was getting in my Local Box but didn't. So there's no fennel. And no reason for this salad's existence in my life.

Hey, that was a really compelling story, about the fennel. You're still thinking about it, huh?

Then we have fish. Fish with salad and steamed edamame.

The fish pictures just never look interesting.

This one was much less arduous, overall: Sweet Potato-Peanut Bisque with salad (slightly arduous) and buttermilk biscuits. The biscuits were only because I had buttermilk leftover from earlier in the week.

Dan is going to weep when he reads this, but we were thisclose to having soup and pancakes instead.

Once she had her fill of the tissue paper surrounding it (or we threw it all away when she was napping, whatever), Anna really got into the drum set Kay brought over for her.

"I have found my calling, and--perhaps unsurprisingly--it is beating things with sticks."

The CSA box is dead! Long live the CSA box!

Okay, I did let the CSA membership lapse because, come on, I was drowning in beets and kale. But then something weird happened in my brain--second trimester energy rush?--and before the last bunch of chard had even started to wilt I had signed up at Greenling. In my defense, there are some differences--they deliver to the house and I can decide what to put in the order. But one of the options is to get a "Local Box," and the first one is 50% off and I couldn't resist and yeah it's full of beets and kale.

Meet the new box/ Same as the old box

I feel like Baby Two is just asserting its need for vitamins or something. I believe it's also serving as a good luck charm at Bunko, so I'm inclined to let it have what it wants. Anyway, I started off with the easiest box contents--summer squash and wax beans, with some grilled chicken.

Dan's assessment of wax beans: "These green beans aren't very good."

I decided to get as close to kale ice cream as I dared by making this green smoothie.

It was significantly less melodramatic than the last time I had kale for breakfast.

Much like green smoothies, sweet potato quesadillas are almost like not eating vegetables at all.

See how the tortilla is green? That makes it healthy.

Anna's been trying to spend lots of quality time in the backyard before the heat gets too unbearable.

"There are twelve giant pieces of chalk hidden in the yard and garden and you'll never find them. I also fed one to the cat."

Yesterday, Kay came over bearing many, many gifts. Anna was so excited!

About the tissue paper they were wrapped in!

The week I didn't want cheese

Monday seemed like a good time for a little vacation-recovery initiative in the form of an avocado and black bean salad.

Hey vegetables, I actually missed you a little bit. Hugs!

Like most health initiatives, it was almost immediately derailed. This one was Dan's fault.

I know I don't need to explain to you that birthday cupcakes don't have any calories.

Okay, quick, back on track! See that colorful little pile? It's the very last bit of CSA vegetables. No surprise that the stragglers were beets. Slight surprise that they were yellow and pink. I covered them with tahini sauce and made some chicken gyros.

Unfortunately, the yellow and pink ones also taste very much like beets.

After that I figured it was time to stretch my non-traditional-pizza muscles. How about something with no tomatoes or cheese? With...I dunno...cashews?

Seriously, when first confronted with a slice of pepperoni at age five, Anna will be baffled.

Yesterday we celebrated the very rare rain shower by going to the splash pad. (Don't question it, it's like Blanche DuBois taking hot baths to battle the heat, it just works.) Actually, this was part of a birthday party.

We were a little bit late.

And that's why I think everyone should wear maternity pants on vacation

Presented with very little commentary, three days of eating in Seattle:

Fresh fruit coffee cake, Macrina Bakery. A fine introduction to the city.

Chanterelle mushroom and truffle cheese pizza, Serious Pie. This may have been my favorite meal, and it was largely comprised of mushrooms. That's how weepingly good this pizza is.

Asparagus soup and crab bisque, Local 360. The soup was like liquid asparagus, in a good way. The bisque made me think that maybe I don't really understand what bisque is. Should it taste like there's sand in it?

Tete de cochon, rhubarb, brioche, sunny up egg, Local 360. One of those phrases means "pig's head." In case you were worried this didn't look fatty enough.

Selection of cheeses, Local 360. Had I been able to see two days into the future, we might have skipped this one.

Lemon meringue pie with roasted strawberries, Six Seven. This was the restaurant downstairs at our hotel, so between that and the water view it's sort of amazing that we ever left the building.

Apple fritter, Top Pot Doughnuts. This is the picture of morning perfection. Also, I just noticed that they have nutritional info on their website, so I have to go close that window now.

Herbacious omelette, hash browns, toast, 5 Spot. This was aaaaalmost good enough to distract me from the restaurant's tornado theme (Wizard of Oz bathroom included).

Tart cherry and cream cheese french toast, 5 Spot. This was one of the only times that Dan and I ordered two different things instead of just sharing something, and I think he may have won.

Grilled crostoni with salami and pear, Macrina Bakery. That's not a typo, it's like a crostini, but bigger: the more you know!

Steamed dungeness crab, Etta's. I'm never going to understand how this stuff is worth the work involved to extract it, but I did enjoy the bibs.

Baby spinach salad with sesame dressing, Etta's. The picture itself is pretty worthless, but I wanted to prove that we did eat a few bites of green vegetables at one point.

Fish fry with ling cod, Etta's. The breading on that fish was so light it almost melted. Not sure how they did that.

Pacific northwest seafood bouillabiasse, Etta's. I didn't try this, but Dan assures me it Pacificnorthwestseafood-tastic.

Triple coconut cream pie, Etta's. Single and double coconut cream pies forever ruined.

Okay, Day 3 is where things just get stupid, nutritionally speaking. Brace yourself.

Marionberry pancakes, Six Seven. See that little pile of fruit over there? This is going to be our most responsible choice for many, many hours.

DANGER.

This represents .03% of the free cheese I ate that day.

Peanut butter and chocolate mini cheesecake, shot of drinking chocolate, The Confectional. I know it wouldn't occur to most people to wash down 48 lbs of cheese with cheesecake, and that's why I'm here. Notice the very healthy apple! (Just a prop.)

Fromage blanc grilled cheese sandwich, Seattle Cheese Festival. Was it really necessary to eat more cheese at this (not even noon yet) point? Possibly not, but come on, it WON A CONTEST. Who are we to ignore such accolades?

We did pull it together enough to make a responsible selection for our airplane dinner.

Verdure vegetable sandwich, Macrina Bakery.

Mostly.

Chocolate chip cookie, Macrina Bakery.

I don't have to cook for the next five days wheeeeee

For the past couple of days I've been playing a game called "we're going out of town so I have to cook everything in the fridge real quick." It's super fun and mostly involves not caring very much about what dinner tastes like.

First up: Stew With About Eight Vegetables and Some Shredded Chicken That Was In The Freezer.

Part of the game is not working very hard at naming things. This tasted like broth.

Then: Broccoli and New Potatoes Over Couscous With Some Cheese Sauce I Made Up.

I enjoyed this one, due to the involvement of cheese.

There are still some beets in the refrigerator, and I've made my peace with that. Either they're still good next week or they'll add a nice crime-scene-looking element to the compost pile.

Last night we went to Amy's so that Anna could further commune with her silent bovine friends.

She's basically like Dr. Doolittle with a concentration in cow statues.

Mothers and pizzas

Here we are at last, CSA box #10 and time to let the membership lapse for a while. Of course, since I had already decided that I was tired of dealing with it, this last box was designed specifically to make me change my mind. It's filled with things like squash and new potatoes and basil and onions and carrots, things that my stomach recognizes as food without coaxing. I don't even need recipes. POTATOES!

Nice try, CSA box, but you accidentally left some beets in there too.

This weekend we headed to Boerne to spend Mother's Day with Dan's parents. Our first stop was the Cibolo Nature Center, since Anna usually loves being outdoors so much. Hey Anna, how's that nature treating you?

This is the daintiest she has ever looked in her life.

We worked it out, though.

She just needed a little room to strut.

After that it was time for Grandma and Grandpa's house.

No reason to include a picture of her eating yogurt except that I personally enjoy her breakfasting hat.

Pretty much the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was a babysitter and a glass of scotch some pizza, and looky here!

Oh, pesto. You oily green magnificent bastard.

Ladies, if you don't have a husband who makes pizza like this, I highly recommend you trade him out for one who does.

The rest of the afternoon was very pleasant. Anna got to spend some time hanging out with Bruce the dog.

"This ear you have here is seriously amazing."

Also, stealing Aunt Tiffany's style.

I might eventually just have one giant sunglass shade custom made to cover her entire face.