Pizza Of The Week - Carmalized Fennel w/ Feta and Garlic Oil

Usually a sore throat is a precursor. At least for me, a sore throat lasts about a day and then the rest of the cold hits. But since Sunday I've felt like a very poorly trained sword-swallower.

I've stayed away from sugar; I've skipped by nightly raisin-bran with milk (ack! just thinking about milk makes me phlegmy!), and I haven't had cheese on my avocado sandwiches. And today was a little better.

But I read about caramelized fennel after I got some at the CSA this week and I was so psyched about putting this on pizza that I couldn't wait. I made it, and ate it, with gusto. Will I pay tomorrow? Probably. 

Every summer I get so excited about buying fennel. It looks elegant, smells delicious, and promises so many unique dishes with it's particular licorice flavor. And then I can't figure out what to do with it. Potato au Gratin with Fennel it great, but who want to have the oven of for an hour and half in July?

So this was an enticing prospect. And it delivered.

It was amazing!

So if youre looking for something to do with fennel I highly recommend caramelizing it. You could serve it as a side dish, put it on toast, in a risotto, or... on pizza.

 

Or find something else to do with it. Do share!

Month Three Sham-free

So I am just short of three months without using any commercial shampoo. So I thought it was time for an update.

I was curious how the summer heat would go with all this sweating and all that we've been doing, but so far it's been fine, no worse! If it's been particularly sticky outside I'll give it the baking soda wash with the apple-cider vinegar rinse every other day instead of every two or three. Which is still fine. It doesn't dry it out or make it hard to work with, it's just that I've gotten used to my showers being so quick.

So here's how it's been working. I take some dry baking soda in a recycled cap into the shower. I scrub little bits into different parts of my scalp and work it in with my finger. Let is sit for a minute to absorb your extra oil and then rinse it out. Follow with a rinse of diluted apple cider vinegar and then rinse out the vinegar(your house mates will thank you).

And this leaves my hair smooth and easy to work with. I've been having a hard time being objective because my hair is at a kind of awkward growing stage (you can relive adolescents anytime with your hair!) but I'm looking forward to these funny layers growing out. My hair itself has been very healthy and shiny! I haven't been using any styling products, but I hear the baking soda is game enough to take anything out, you may just need to wash it twice for extreme cases.

So there it is! I don't foresee any reason why I would go back to buying shampoo. I'll save almost $175 over a 12 month period based on the shampoo and conditioner that I was using. And my hair is much more manageable than it ever has been.

Let me know; have you tried it? What did you think? What was/is your hair like?

Missed Pics from Last Week

 

Summer vacation: living at the park!

...And eating watermelon.