Update

Our CSA ended last week, so I had no fresh veggies to pick up yesterday. Honestly, I didn't really miss it at all. I had a little more time in my day. (The nearest CSA to us was still about 35 minutes away, which is actually pathetic considering that I live in a rural, agricultural part of the state. It's kind of like being unable to find a seller of raw milk in in Wisconsin. But I'm not bitter.) The extra time was nice this week because I've actually had subbing jobs most of the week . . . I turned down a job on Monday because I had lunch plans, but if you keep reading you'll see why this ended up being a particularly wise decision.

Today I headed over to the local Farmers' Market to check on my Thanksgiving turkey and to pick up the two bunches of carrots I ordered last week from the great farmer who supplied me with fifty pounds of canning tomatoes this summer. It turns out the woman who I ordered a 15 lb turkey from never wrote down my order . . . which explains why I didn't get a call last week to say the turkeys had been "processed" and would be available for pick-up at the market last week. (By the time I got to the market last week this particular vendor was gone, or I would have found this out then.) The guy who was there today seemed annoyed with that woman, but told me someone else had not responded to repeated calls about the status of her turkey, so he said I could have hers. It's 20 lbs, a LOT more turkey than I need for my 11 guests, two of whom are very little girls. It's also selling for $3.50 a pound. I could have taken it home today but I didn't have that much cash on me, and I wasn't sure I actually wanted to go through with the purchase. I *think* I saw a sign for pastured turkeys at Jordandal Farms at last Saturday's little market in Madison . . . but at the time I thought I already *had* a turkey so I didn't stop to chat. Also, there was a big line of customers.

I'm not worried about the turkey situation. I'll either get one on Saturday at Jordandal or I'll keep my fingers crossed that the 20 lb turkey is still available next week, clear a space in my freezer, and stock up on soup ingredients.

Speaking of soup ingredients, I picked up six medium sized candy onions, three or four tomatoes, and two bunches of carrots from my favorite farm, and a bunch of larger carrots, a small bag of apples, and a 2 lb bag of popcorn from some other vendors today. I spent $14, which is less than our CSA share would have been, and I got to pick what I brought home with me. I'm still kind of on the fence about the CSA for next year. I'll keep you posted.

But the real reason I wanted to write tonight is that I have a house full of leftovers and goodies, and I've been enjoying the heck out of having homemade, real, fast food available every night. Last week I think I blogged about making pasta with eggplant, those tiny zucchinis, the grocery store mushrooms, etc. We are still eating that up - I made a BIG batch. Plus, I made a batch of chicken noodle soup over the weekend, and there's still a little bit in the fridge, in addition to what's in the freezer. The FACE (Family and Consumer Education, for those of you who took Home Ec back in the day) teacher brought lasagna to the teachers' lounge for lunch yesterday, and my husband was instructed to bring a salad. That did away with the remainder of the lettuce, carrots, and radishes I had from our CSA, but it made a very big salad, which I just finished off for dinner tonight, topped with an apple from today's shopping.

We had dinner with friends on Sunday to celebrate three significant birthdays in October, and I made a batch of dinner rolls and cupcakes, along with another yummy salad. We left the salad (and plenty of cupcakes) with our friends, but enjoyed some carb overload at home - and there are still two cupcakes left. My plans to freeze the remaining rolls didn't work out because the second batch, which I refrigerated on Sunday night and cooked on Monday, were cooling on the counter while I made applesauce, and they got splattered with sticky apple puree. (I had an interesting night on Monday.) So instead of freezing them with a really long label that read "Rolls baked 10-19, glazed with applesauce" we ate them. They made good breakfasts.

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies today - not at all good for us, made with white sugar and white flour - for my former museum boss/neighbor/friend, who had a hard week. They didn't turn out particularly well because the butter was too soft, but they taste okay. So now I have about 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies, two cupcakes, two more servings of pasta, one very generous dish of chicken noodle soup, and a bunch of fresh vegetables in my fridge. I still need to make a cranberry apple pie before my cranberries go bad . . . but I'm kind of enjoying not needing to do any cooking at all.

This is an especially good feeling, as I have been presented with a possible opportunity for more work in the near future, if I can reach some kind of arrangement that allows me to work flexible hours around my completely unpredictable substitute teaching assignments. The new job opportunity is actually at a law firm in town . . . to which I sent a resume three and a half years ago, only to hear back that the firm was not hiring attorneys, but it sincerely wished me good luck finding a job in this little town, where my then-boyfriend, now-husband lived. My boss from the museum (where I had been working, till it closed for the season last Friday) put me in touch with one of the junior partners in the firm, who is the daughter of the senior partner who wrote the nice rejection letter (which I saved, along with all the other rejection letters I got from law firms) because my boss thought we should meet - we're young, professional (okay, I could be a professional if I could get a real job) women in town who are interested in civic life and leadership, but are significantly younger than most of the other active women in town. Also, my boss thought I needed a friend (I was originally introduced to my boss by a neighbor who thought my boss and I should become friends) and my boss is too busy to hang out with me. (Earlier this summer my boss broached the topic of introducing me to a young lawyer, and told me her name. I asked if she worked at the law firm that shared that name. My boss said yes, and seemed surprised that I'd heard of the firm. I explained that I had tried to get a job there back in the day. I was, and still am, amused by this. I know it really isn't that funny.) We had lunch a few weeks ago, and, just for kicks, I brought the rejection letter -as I said, I think this situation is amusing. (To be clear, I sent resumes to most, if not all, of the law firms in this town, and none of them wanted to hire me. Some of them wrote back to say so. But I felt strongly about *this* firm because the senior partner went to the same college as my husband, and one of the junior partners did too. I thought I'd have an "in" with them, if I could score an interview. But it wasn't meant to be. And then I ended up going back to school - that very same college, in fact - to become a teacher - so now my connection to the school is less tenuous than "my boyfriend went there" but my professional outlook has changed a bit.) The three of us (boss, junior partner, and myself) had lunch again on Monday. Imagine my surprise when the lawyer said she had talked to her dad and he said he'd hire me this time around, even though I hadn't applied for anything. They're always busy and could use another person to do stuff around the office. Since I have multiple degrees and I was working part-time for just-above-minimum-wage this summer, everybody (correctly) assumes I'm in the job market. I'm meeting with the attorney next week to sort out the details of how I can work part-time doing paralegal type activities (my law license is currently inactive) at the firm while still staying active on the sub list.

If anyone else wants to introduce me to a potential friend who is going to end up getting me a job, I'm game. Just sayin'.