Mmmm... Tasty!

At the beginning of the summer I purchased a cropshare from a local organic farm (Bell Organic) with my co-worker Sharla. This entitled us to 18 weeks of vegetables and 12 weeks of fresh fruits. I figured I spend money on fresh vegetables and fruit anyway, why not get some premium super fresh produce, support local business, and broaden my horizons and try some new veggies all at once?

For me this proved to be a good investment--having fresh vegetables and fruit in your fridge all the time is something I've definitely become accustomed to. We get everything from spring mix lettuce, cabbage, carrots, garlic, kale, swiss chard, onions, green onions, basil, cilantro, beet greens, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, cucumber, watermelon, peaches, nectarines, etc. Sounds good doesn't it?

As a result I've been trying to use up vegetables by finding new recipes. My favorite recipe site is allrecipes.com and that's where I found my new favorite dish: Black Bean and Couscous Salad. It tastes so summery and fresh and is delicious with chicken. Try it out for yourself!

Black Bean and Couscous Salad

• 1 cup uncooked couscous


• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth


• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil


• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice


• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin


• 8 green onions, chopped


• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped


• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro


• 1 cup frozen corn kernals, thawed


• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained


• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring chicken broth to a boil in a 2 qt or larger sauce pan and stir in the couscous. Cover the pot and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes

In a large bowl whisk together olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, and cumin. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans and toss to coat.

Fluff the couscous well, breaking up any chunks. Add to the bowl with the vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve at once or refridgerate until ready to serve.

Ta-da! Doesn't that sound easy and delicious? I like to add chicken to this recipe to make it more of a main dish and sometimes I throw in other veggies I have on hand as well. Enjoy!

China Trip

I went to China again with work at the beginning of August and this time I went all by myself. It was a good trip and I have such great co-workers over there. All things considered there were no major travel problems... except for the fact that I had to take a ferry from Hong Kong to Macau, go through Macau customs, take a taxi from the ferry port in Macau to the Gongbei border crossing, walk across a bridge to China, go through China customs, and take a taxi to the BDEA apartment... on the first night. Yeah, that was an adventure but luckily it all worked out and the rest of the trip went well.

Below are some photos from the trip (in no particular order)...

View from the balcony of the BD Asia apartment in

the morning. Not so bad, eh?

Some of the random climbing holds at this outdoor

climbing wall in Zhuhai. So random...

Me climbing and my co-worker Sam belaying me. We started garnering quite the crowd.

From L to R: Sam, Me, Stone (the owner of the climbing wall), and William

This is the type of high speed ferry we take from Hong Kong to

Zhuhai. It's a 70 minute ride across the Pearl River Delta

and can be pretty choppy.

A view of the Hong Kong skyline from the Kowloon side.

This is along the shore by the BD Asia apartment

in Zhuhai on my way to the ferry.

My co-worker Alice and her husband Fool at the beach

Alice and I at the beach. (Alice is the coolest!)

We had to buy my swimming suit from this little shack

at the beach because I hadn't brought one with me. It

was definitely on the small side but I made it work... I

wasn't going to miss my chance to swim in the South China Sea!

Alice, me, and Fool. Fool is a car salesman and considering he

rarely talks to English speakers his English was quite good. He LOVED

that I drove a Jeep and told me lot's about cars in China.

His comment when he saw this photo was "I look so strong."

He was totally kidding and it was hilarious.

Little villas on the mountainside by the beach. The sand at the beach

was really more like clay, the water was super warm, and the waves

weren't very strong. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday! (especially because

we had some tasty seafood and got massages after :))

That's right, I'm laughing while trying to climb. (at BD Asia's

climbing wall) Mostly because I know I'm a crappy climber and William

was taking photos. Haha.

This was the street I walked along every morning

to get picked up by the BD van. It is so beautiful and green!

These are some of my co-workers that came to dinner

with me and suprised me with a birthday cake! They

are so nice and very smart. From L to R: Ariel, Lisa,

and Alice. Alice even gave me a very pretty Pashmina scarf

that was made in her hometown. It's pink and gold and I LOVE it.

The aforementioned cake. Yummy. All the fresh

fruit on top was so delicious. They had me take home the

leftovers and eat them for breakfast the next day.

The whole crew at the hot pot restaurant. From L to R: Lisa,

Ariel, me, Alice, William, and Sam.

This is Chinese Hot Pot. The best way to describe it is that

it's kind of like fondue. They have a hot stone in the center that

stays warm for up to 4 hours. The water surrounding the stone is split into

two sides so you can have one filled with hot spices and the other

filled with mild. We cooked potatoes, tofu, lettuce, yams, mushrooms, beef

lamb, noodles, and all sorts of stuff in there. SOOO good.

Friday night after work I went out with some co-workers and we

played pool and then I watched them play Mah-jong (it's like a

really complicated version of dominoes). Lot's of fun.

The trip was great but it's always nice to come home!