Saturday, October 22, 2011



Sometimes you just have to take the plunge.  After several years of snooping around Sapelo Farms' website, I  inquired about an opening in their CSA program and joined.  Once a week for six weeks I will pick up my box of vegetables - whatever is in season and ready to be harvested.  I figured we would have to expand our palate a bit, and I was right.  This week was heavy what looks to be a ton of greens for salads, radishes, a cucumber, a couple of winter squash and two other items I've never laid eyes on in my life.  

The first new veggie is tatsoi.  I have never even heard of it, let alone know how to cook it.  Thankfully, Sapelo Farms enclosed a simple recipe to try - a pasta dish that uses tatsoi much like spinach is used in chicken Florentine.  The other mystery vegetable looked like over ripe green beans, but with a thinner shell and funky colored.  I surmised that they were field peas, which I had had before but had never seen un-shelled.  Honestly, they look far more like a bean than a traditional pea to this Yankee girl.  I KNOW how to cook those like a Southerner - throw them in a pan with a little water and bacon and I'm good to go.

Here's to the Eades attempt to support small, local farmers and eat fresh from the field vegetables.

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Two Perspective

Alyssa, Kevin's girlfriend Lauren, and my sister-in-law Cynthia have safely arrived in Florence, Italy and have met up with the boys.  They spent today meandering to Rome, will spend the night and see the sights tomorrow.  Sure hope they don't eat so much pasta and gelato that they make themselves sick.

I'm not sure who was more excited about the trip...the girls getting to see Italy (well, and Lauren seeing Kevin) or the boys getting to see some familiar faces other than each other's.  In preparation for the girl's arrival, the guys found their razors that had long been buried at the bottom of their packs.
Handsome, don't you think?


On our side of the pond, I'm noticing the same sad song being repeated around the house.  The girls, Victoria in particular, miss Kevin.  Just a few days ago, Victoria surprised me with her countdown.  Yep, after Kevin counting down the days until the beginning of his adventure; Victoria is counting down the days until his return.  Today's number: 20.

I'm anxious for him to come home and add captions to his photos.  Looking forward to learning so much by living vicariously though his pictures.  I mean, who knew that Budapest had thermal baths?  Pas moi.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Smooth....Very Smooth

Budapest, Hungary
As most everyone knows, Kevin and his friend Sam have been gallivanting around Europe for the last month.  When people would hear of this trip, they normally had one of two reactions.  One group of cautious folks would have a look of horror come over their faces and would ask if we were nervous about letting him go.  The second group would slap us on the back and congratulate us for encouraging such a fine learning experience.  Typically that person had backpacked or biked through Europe themselves and would proceed to tell us stories of narrow escapes and wonderful memories from back in the day when they were a carefree teen or early twenty-something.  

Honestly, when Kevin approached us about the trip, I think he was surprised at our positive reaction.  But Kevin's super responsible, level headed, possesses more common sense than the average teen and has one of the biggest cases of wander lust ever known to a seventeen year old, so the trip seemed like a tailor made adventure for him.

While I confess that "worst case scenarios" occasionally run through my mind, for the most part I have complete confidence that Kevin and Sam are resourceful enough to find their way in train stations, decipher the time schedules, and figure out a way to communicate their needs, even in countries that don't speak their language.  And, if all else fails, they can both be amazingly charming and nearly irresistible.  

And based on a conversation I had with Kevin on facebook, my assessment of their abilities is entirely accurate.  They are in Croatia, staying in a home (the owners are out of town) with no internet access.  They rented bikes and planned to camp for two nights at a mountain near Varazdin, Croatia.  Unfortunately it was cold (like 45 degrees) and raining, so they pedaled back to the house in town.  The house with no internet.  

I saw Kevin online at about 1pm Croatia time and wondered how it happened he had internet access.  Here is a log of our Facebook chat.

Me:  Where are you right now, if the people don't have internet at their house?  
Some coffee shop or something?

Kevin:  We asked the neighbors for there wifi password. Lol

      Me: Oh my gosh...you all are CRACKING me up!   


       Kevin:  Haha.  We try.


       Me:  You just went knocking on their door, introduced yourselves and asked for their password?

      Kevin:  Maybe

Me: lol  Oh my...


Kevin:  We needed Internet!!!!


Me:  Desperate times call for desperate measures...no doubt.

Kevin:  Lol. It's good we did cause it's too rainy to go to town for Internet. It's nasty!


Me:  And they were happy to meet such charming American young men.


Kevin:  Exactly. And we needed it for getting train times and stuff


Me: Right...

So if you are the shocked and dismayed type who wondered why on earth we would let these young men buy a Eurail pass and visit London, The Hague, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Krakow, Budapest and now Croatia before moving on to Venice, Florence, Rome and who knows where else; rest easy.  These boys are smooth, very smooth.  Who else would have the courage to visit perfect strangers, who may or may not speak English, and ask for the password to their secure internet access?  And how many young men would be charming enough to walk away with password in hand?  No worries....these boys will be fine.