Urchins and peas

I have a lifelong fascination with the shapes, textures, and colors of sea creatures. I forgot what I was looking for when I came across Heather Knight's Etsy shop, Element Clay Studio, but if I had some extra money to spend, I'd do it here. Her serving pieces and textured tiles are inspired by shellfish and botanicals, and crafted from delicate porcelain.

How lovely are those pea pod bowls? I imagine them filled with an array of different kinds of Ceviche.

Rich

Something made me think about getting a CSA box a couple of weeks ago, and since I happened to be in a Getting-Things-Done mood, I sat down, did a little Google searching, and signed up for a weekly box of fresh local organic produce from Full Belly Farm. I chose them, among other things, because they deliver to my office. Nothing wrong with a little convenience when you're doing a generally good thing, if you ask me.

I got my second box yesterday, and I am absolutely in love with it. We used to get CSA-style produce a while back when we lived in SF, and I had forgotten how happy it makes me. I love having to improvise meals around whatever happens to be in the box, and have discovered many new favorite veggies that I would have never picked up at a market otherwise. Escarole? Fava beans? Even kale.

I love having to wash my lettuce three times because there is actual DIRT on there. Real dirt, and a lot of it. Reminds me of the veggies out of my grandparents' garden growing up. I found a ladybug in my first box, and two caterpillars in this week's.

Talking of lovely unexpected finds: When I came home yesterday, I found a paper bag hanging on my door, filled with four wonderful loaves of fresh bread. Our neighbor Amy is attending baking school, and whenever she has a lot of extra bread, she shares it with her friends and neighbors. She is officially the greatest neighbor ever. I ate about half of one of the loaves before I had even put away all the veggies.