F.O.O.D. Wednesday: Picnic and BBQ Season!

I have to apologize for my frequent absences lately. I having been feeling great for the past few weeks and more than anything my exhaustion has been keeping me from cooking and blogging. I started seeing a Naturopathic doctor a few weeks ago and had some diagnostic testing done to try and get to the bottom of some of my health issues, including:

• general fatigue and exhaustion
• headaches 3-5 times a week (tension, migraine, or sinus)
• getting physically sick if I get less than 7 hours of sleep 2 nights in a row
• ongoing GI issues
• needing about 9-11 hours of sleep a night to feel well rested
• colds once every 2-3 weeks that last 24-48 hours
• feeling so tired and/or sick that I need to take a day off every 2-3 weeks.
  

The diagnostic test told me I'm allergic to eggs (no surprise there, I get violently ill when I eat them alone but seem to be okay if they're in something else) and soy (this was a surprise). The test is actually pointing to a possible parasite which was really not what I was expecting. I'm seeing my GP on Monday for further testing and to hopefully get a real answer after almost 2 years of this.

But on to happier things. Today I picked up the last food box that we'll share with Shawna and her husband. Shawna will be away next week and then we'll all be away for most of July so there was no point in them continuing with the box. We'll actually only be getting 3 more small sized boxes ourselves. Come July 7th we'll be away for the Winnipeg Folk Festival and then on the 13th we'll be hitting the road for the West Coast. When we return we likely won't start getting the box again until November when the Farmer's Market closes.

Speaking of the Farmer's Market, Ryan and I went out to the opening day in St. Norbert. There wasn't much in the way of produce except for rhubarb, herbs, and lettuce but plenty of folks were selling their wares. Ryan's mom was kind enough to buy us a piece of creamed butter fudge, peanut butter and vanilla, from what I'm pretty sure was Graham's Groves. Oh...my...god...it was the best fudge I've ever had by miles. I'm hoping to make a quick stop in on Saturday and pick up some more and see what else looks good. Last year I'd wanted to get a piece of framed coloured glass but for some reason we didn't end up buying one - so we stopped by Three Wise Crafts: Rustic Charm and picked up some blue stained glass. We hung it in the middle of our living room windows. The owner of the kiosk, Nester Gylywoychuk, saw that I really liked a particular colour of glass but the frame was too large - he said he would look around to see what he could do about getting a smaller piece.

And of course, even though I haven't been cooking a lot, I have been cooking. Unfortunately it looks like it's going to be a wet summer - but the days where the rain has left us alone have been beautiful, sunny, and not too full of mosquito's yet. Today especially is beautiful, clear, and hot - but of course I'm working until 7pm. Tonight we'll be cooking up a top sirloin with some 'taters, salad, and maybe asparagus and green beans that came in today's Fresh Option Box.

But this tasty meal was from a week or two ago already. For Christmas my older brother and niece gave us a countertop grill and I love it. I cooked the home fries in the oven, left the husk on the corn, and cooked the bison burger from Frigs and the corn on the grill at the same time. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes and was a very tasty meal.

Here's hoping that I'll feel up to more regular posting in the next few weeks!