Maybe you’ve already noticed, but I am in a funk. I have really slacked off on blogging lately and on doing much of anything in general. A lot of bloggers go through a period where they are just not excited about blogging. I think I’m just now coming out of one of those.

In an effort to get myself back on track, I’m gonna try adding some structure to my posting. Today I am introducing something I’m calling “morning musings.” Basically, I’m going to try to blog first thing in the morning about my breakfast, my life-happenings, and whatever else is swimming around in my head to help me gain some focus for the rest of the day.

Today I tried something totally new for breakfast. I bought a half of a papaya at the farmers market because it just looked so juicy and beautiful. I’ve never had papaya before and at first I didn’t really like it. It kinda reminds me of melon but with almost a faint cherry flavor, both of which are not favorite flavors for me.

I topped it with greek yogurt, honey, and slivered almonds.

As I kept eating I liked it more and more. It is so soft that it just disintegrates in your mouth and it’s really sweet and summery.

This guy was pretty sweet too…

I love how Liam sleeps with his arms tucked under his belly instead of his chest. I think he breathes better in this position or something. He is unusual, to say the least.

Hopefully this little experiment will help me to get back on track, I’m definitely a person that thrives with a little structure and things have certainly felt out of control this past month (more on that later.)

And I definitely have something fun to write about tomorrow since tonight I’m attending a blogger dinner at Rosebud restaurant. I’m excited to chow down on the vegetarian tasting menu they’ve planned for us!

Have you ever had the blogger blues?

What is your favorite exotic fruit?

June 15, 2011 Alayna Discussion 6 comments

Thanks so much for everyone that had nice things to say about my new haircut. I didn’t mean to be negative, but sometimes it just feels so good to whine! I’m sure you know what i’m talking about. I’m glad that I let my emotions about it out so that now I can really move on. (BTW, I’ve had the chance to style it myself a few times now and while I still don’t love it, I can deal with it until it grows out.)

Yesterday I had a very green lunch. Another salad, this time with creamy avocado, and a side of yet more avocado smashed on sprouted toast with seaweed flake. It occurred to me recently that maybe not everyone is sprinkling seaweed flake on everything like I do, so I think soon I’ll need to do a post on this stuff to extol its virtues, cuz it really is a wonderful and delicious thang.

Last night’s dinner was incredible.

I made a spicy pineapple pork dish over jasmine rice. This was kind of half-way between sweet and sour pork and some sort of Hawaiian dish. Jeff and I both swoon for hot pineapple, so this was much enjoyed by both parties.

I made it by first adding some sesame oil and red pepper flakes to a wok (pan is fine) and then sauteing the red peppers in the spicy oil. When those were half-way cooked, I added the pork pieces and let them brown on both sides. Then, in went the pineapple cubes and chopped scallions. To make it a little bit saucy, I crushed some of the hot pineapple pieces with the back of a spoon, then added a swish or two of fish sauce and rice vinegar. The whole thing got a small sprinkle of salt and black pepper and was done!

It takes more time for the rice cooker to finish making fluffy rice than it does to make that dish. Super easy.

This morning, I thought that I would be really clever and make green tea and blueberry pancakes for breakfast…

I wanted so badly to draw a smiley face on this one, but I restrained…

As usual though, any time that I think I’m being really clever with a recipe it kind of fails. While these were totally delicious and filling, I couldn’t really taste the green tea at all. I’ll try ’em again sometime and up the matcha addition quite a bit.

This afternoon was gorgeous out. 85 degrees but breezy, can’t argue with that! We took the open morning to start house-hunting in the area. We are not on track to buy for at least another year, but we’d like for our next rental to either be a single-family home all to ourselves or a nice condo really close to or in downtown Decatur, so that we can enjoy this town to it’s fullest.

After an hour or so of driving around and writing down numbers to call for rentals, we parked the car at home and walked into town for a relaxing afternoon beer break.

(Love that thermos!) We parked ourselves at the bar in Leon’s and spent some time drinking good beer and talking about the next few things we need to do to make RipeTrack better. SO much work left to do, but all worth it.

This weekend has felt long, and for that I can’t complain.

This next week is going to be tremendously busy. My brother-in-law’s wedding is Saturday so I’ll be baking and decorating the wedding cake for he and his fiance from Tuesday on. Yeah, it takes several days to put a wedding cake together, yeesh. I cannot wait to show you guys my mad cake-baking skillz!

What do you have mad skillz at?

April 10, 2011 Alayna Discussion 11 comments

Ahhh! Weather is back to feeling good, as evidenced by these two blissful sunbathers!

This morning Jeff and I got dressed early and headed over to Decatur’s outdoor farmer’s market. There weren’t too many vendors out today since spring hasn’t officially sprung, but we were still able to snag a few special items.

I’ve been wanting to get my hands on some farm fresh eggs for a while now! These were so beautiful in their varying colors and shapes.

You can really feel how much thinner and more delicate the shells are since these chickens haven’t been fed a bunch of crushed oyster shells, bone meal, and calcium tablets like the factory farmed chickens are.

Can’t wait to eat one of those nearly raw tomorrow morning over rice for breakfast!

We also got some awesome granola full of candied ginger. I’m such a huge ginger fan, this is going to make me very happy sprinkled over a bowl of chopped fruit and drizzled with almond milk.

And when we saw a vendor selling fresh tamales, we had to restrain ourselves from buying more than one pack! These will make a delicious dinner for tomorrow night.

After we got home and put everything away it was time to meet up with Emily and John for brunch at Java Jive.

Jeff and I had never been here before, but I heard about the charming 50’s diner decor and antique kitchen appliance memorabilia online.

We waited in a cute little area surrounded by old pastel-colored stoves and rusty old oscillating fans.

Everything was so cute! I loved all the silly knick knacks and charming collectibles.

I did quit snapping pictures long enough to eat. I started out with a latte and the garden scramble.

I loved all the fresh veggies, and that biscuit you see there is easily the best I’ve ever had! It was the perfect flavor, texture, doneness, butteryness, flakiness imaginable!

Jeff got the gingerbread waffle with lemon curd. Oh yeah, it was amazing!

It had a great spicy flavor and was perfectly crispy on the outside while soft on the inside. I kept sneaking little dollops of lemon curd to put on my biscuit, it was delightfully tart and not too sweet.

We loved Java Jive and will definitely be going back. Now what to do with the rest of the day?

Tonight’s my blogger meet-up with other fellow Atlanta bloggers, some that I haven’t had the chance to meet yet, so that should be a good time. Tell you how it went tomorrow!

March 12, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments