Busy Busy
Well, I would much rather have a busy schedule than nothing on the schedule at all. I have been to social service visits with clients, helped move furniture, picked up donations, and seen some families almost everyday this week. My exercise has been minimal. I went to a 90-100 minute yoga class on Tuesday with my roommate, which was perfect after a few stressful days. ( I also needed to work on details that I forget when I practice by myself.) I’ve only been on two runs this week, but this will change tomorrow because summer is almost gone here! : (
I’ll post some more adventures after the weekend, but now onto the food!
I’m still lacking food stamps, but feel like I have been pretty creative with what I have. Most of my meals have been vegetarian (which would usually be the case anyway) with the exception of tuna fish occasionally. This has mostly been due to my own laziness and limitations when grocery shopping because I have only bought a few exceptions to my big ($7) shopping sprees at the farmer’s markets on Tuesdays. I have a few exciting meals here that I actually planned, but some nights I just get tired and snack and almond butter and apples (+ grapes, carrots, whatever I can get my hands on to continue enjoying almond butter…). When I am finally rewarded with the gift of food stamps/ recognition from the DSHS office, I will be able to plan more exciting meals and perhaps not feel so limited in resources. I need to keep the food side of my blog exciting also!
Examples of meals from the past two weeks:
- Tzatziki Sauce made from many cucumbers, dill, lime, and Greek yogurt. (Cucumbers and dill compliments of the cute little Asian lady at the farmer’s market who wants me to take extras at the end!) Great excuse to buy Greek yogurt (expensive at the grocery store near my house-definitely in the process of finding better stores and markets). Also ate this with grilled chicken plus farmer’s market vegetables, sandwiches, tuna, and random raw veggies. My favorite combination was Tzatziki sauce + grilled eggplant!
- My favorite morning breakfast! 1/3 cup whole grain oats, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup milk, 1 banana, 1tsp ground flax, frozen/fresh peaches (or strawberries, blackberries, blueberries depending on what’s on sale or available cheap at the farmer’s market) and almond butter!
- ***Even better combination below- fresh strawberries and fresh (handpicked by myself) blackberries! Yum!
- Black Bean Soup- After reminiscing with Tyler about the Black Bean Soup from the restaurant I used to work at,called Casa Mia, I decided that I could do the same thing after asking them so many questions and watching all the time. Mine did not turn out quite as creamy, perfectly strained, and seasoned as the original, but was quite enjoyable (and CHEAP). Ingredients: 1 can black beans, 1/2 poblano pepper (intended on getting a spicier one though), 1/2 tsp chopped garlic, about a 1/2 cup 2% milk (totally supposed to use cream, but I used what I had), cilantro, 1 tsp onion, 1/8 avocado (both in the soup and on top because I can’t get enough of it). Topped with: cheddar cheese, greek yogurt, avocado, and True North Almond Chips (Note: I’m not one to measure ingredients in my thrown together concoctions, so I apologize for any possible mistakes!
- Summer Gazpacho: I love this soup! I was able to use all farmer’s market ingredients! I changed a few from the original that I saw from Tyler’s site, which was originally from Perfect Gazpacho by Gena of Choosing Raw. Their pictures are much better than mine, so you can use those as a better representation! For the tomatooes, I used cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, and tomatillos for a little kick! I also threw in a little left over poblano pepper and some cucumber because I had way too much left over from the farmer’s market lady! The tomatillos and extra cucumber were what made it so green.
- Eggplant Tomato Stew: I do not want any food I buy to go to waste, so eating my food (esp vegetables) at their freshest point is always a priority! I had way too much zucchini, eggplant, swiss chard, and tomatoes to play with, and decided to go a warmer route than earlier in the week. Fresh basil is key! I got the idea from Hangry Pants, and decided to try it my own way with what I had. I rated it delicious!
(Note: glass of red wine + Are you ready pamphlet about possible flooding in our area. Oh the joys of poor architecture. For more, see this article. Long story short, my apartment is not at risk for flooding, but the office where I work definitely is. Further rant information will come soon in the future after another city meeting.)
- Frozen yogurt is so the new fad! I like it though! There is a little frozen yogurt place in downtown Renton right near where we live and it’s a treat we have already indulged in.
[Neither of the bowls pictured actually belong to me because I resisted (due to an overdose of almond butter for dinner). However when I did splurge, I got raspberries + chocolate chips. This is the small, but it's about two cups worth! I keep asking for a kid's size or something smaller to no avail! It's good, but I'm currently enjoying a much cheaper container of Breyers (with more chocolate). : )
- I also had a few farmer’s market pictures to throw in! Next week, I will get there earlier. I really need to work on this balance of discounted veggies/ enjoying the ease of time.
- Last thing, a “Free Stuff” sign on the way home from a run at Lake Washington led me to a garage sale, but also a pleasant pile of free stuff. From this:
I walked away with this:
(This is some pretty exciting reading material if you ask me. Communication arts magazines featuring articles of Che and environmental architecture, some TIME books featuring Italy and France, a John Grisham book, and some other randoms. I love free stuff sales and garage sales!)
Potential Weekend Adventures: Burmese Food Fair at Buddhist Monk Monastery, Downtown Seattle exploring, a hike somewhere and Sunday morning bike ride at Lake Washington!
Ok my loves. Thanks for reading. I’ll have more actual adventures posted soon. Have a great weekend!
Finally figuring things out.
So…
It’s taken me a while to figure things out on here and I have not posted as soon as I thought I would. It’s been 24 since I arrived in Seattle and so much has already happened, including great food, people, and parks!
I got here July 21st after a tough and traumatic (a story for another time) car ride with the mom. Arrived to my apartment complex and was pleasantly surprised with the inside, but a little dismayed by the outside. Apparently, there are not many ghettos in Seattle, but some say this is one that almost reaches one. I actually don’t agree with that. There are a lot of families with subsidized housing, but the only problem I ever have is all of the kids running around in the parking lots and in the stairwells. I’m totally fine with kids and have had many good play time experiences, but it is scary when driving around the parking lot because of how many kids there are!
Some pictures of the drive across the US:
( i think these are Wyoming and Kansas)
My job has been really good so far! The AmeriCorps VISTA training was exciting because we got to meet people serving all along the West coast! My job at the refugee resettlement agency has also provided me with the opportunity to meet such a diverse range of people! I’ve visited with Bhutanese (Nepali in ethnicity) and Burmese families and helped move-in multiple Iraqi families. It’s both heart-warming and heart-wrenching to hear their stories and help them get acculturated. Currently, there are multiple Iraqi families in which the fathers worked for the US Army in Iraq, but were receiving death threats in Iraq and had to leave. This is a huge problem facing the US government. Unfortunately, not much has been done to help the government’s previous employees who now live under the poverty line. I will definitely be devoting an entire post to this issue later in the week, but it’s important to note that the Iraqis that come to the US as refugees were promised much more (i.e.-jobs) than they are receiving.
All of the refugee families I’ve worked with and met so far have been some of the most welcoming and giving individuals I’ve met here. I am constantly amazed at the motivation and persistence that these individuals maintain despite the incredibly traumatic and violent events they experienced. Some have been in refugee camps for 2 decades, some have been pushed from country to country in search of a government who would accept them. I also plan to discuss the different situations of the populations our organization receives as those are also such interesting histories. There will definitely be more about all of that in later posts…
Now various adventures that may or may not bedocumented on camera when that was available
- Farmer’s Markets Galore! Seattle does not hold back when it comes to Farmer’s Markets! Everybody has heard about Pike Place Market with the Fish Throwers, but the entire city and surrounding areas are abundant with local agriculture! During job training, we had to make a list of facts about ourself. One of mine was “Farmer’s Markets make me giddy.” Little did I know, I was in the land of dreams already! I don’t have pictures of the markets I’ve been to yet, but will be sure to do that next week! I do however have a few pictures of the great finds I got! One of the first few nights while my mom was still here, we had a delicious meal of roasted King Salmon, asparagus, and golden cherry tomatoes! At the farmer’s market that’s closest to my apartment, I have accidentally arrived near the closing time and have been able to get more and more vegetables for bargained down prices! Actually, I don’t really even have to do much of the bargaining because there has been a lot lately left over that people just throw away. Wasting good food is terrible and I figure that I’m alleviating some of this situation. [I'm also going to get a program started to donate the leftovers to our refugee clients in the future, so maybe next week this will be an even greater save!] I sometimes feel a little bad about not supporting local farmers to the fullest, but I have to be logical in order to enjoy local foods and live at the poverty line!
Some of the crazy amounts of veggies that I scored from the past two weeks’ markets:
Weekend Hiking Adventures-
- The past two weekends have been been filled with wonderful hiking adventures! Two weekends ago, the roomies and I visited Salt Water State Park! It’s on Pudget Sound and has lots of beautiful hiking trails! PLUS, there was a Native American Flute festival going on at the time! Did I sit in and play in a Turtle Drum music session? Oh yes, my friends I did!
- This past weekend, we visited Lake Sammamish State Park! The trails here were not as deep in the woods, but were long and flat, but also ran through both farms and wetlands. After about 3 miles, we found this huge trail of blackberry bushes! We definitely had a yummy snack on the way, and I carried a big handful back to make with oats! The trails looped into the Issaquah trail, which connects with some very pretty bike trails around that area!
- There was also the Kubota Gardens last week! It is a beautiful Japanese botanical garden which we just happened upon after seeing a sign on the road. The garden itself is incredibly peaceful and actually has circles of trails that my roommate and I definitely got lost on! They were a lot longer than we thought! It was getting dark, so the pictures aren’t of the best quality!
- My favorite yet has been Seward Park around Lake Washington! It has a short running train, but then also a longer bike trail out to the Seattle’s floating bridge. The road that goes to the bridge is “Bikes Only” on Sundays, which means next weekend, I will be riding! The views all around the trails are so gorgeous and you get great views of Mount Rainier and Lake Washington! This has definitely been a very energizing place to run!
Because I think I’ve said enough to keep people away for a while, I’m going to wait for the next post to update my exciting low budget-foodie concoctions! Hope everyone is doing well! I’d love to hear from you all, so leave me a message!
Good night. : )
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