Thus, on a snowy day in Boulder, I present OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Fridge Soup.

1. From that still unopened package of bacon you bought because it looked like a good idea at the time, remove four fat slices. Cut them into 1″ squares. Start them frying.
2. If you like, add a quarter-cup chopped up roasted chilis. The ones that looked so gorgeous at the farmer’s market last week. You only meant to buy three ears of peaches ‘n cream sweet corn, but you can’t resist a bag of freshly roasted chilis.
3. When the bacon is about half-done, delve into this week’s CSA share. Slice up and add to the bacon pan the stems of that beautiful bunch of rainbow chard, one fat green pepper, and one yellow onion. Let these cook until the aroma makes you salivate. Let cook a few minutes longer.
4. Roughly chop the chard leaves and stick them in a soup pot with just enough water to cover. Dump in a can of navy beans. (This is why you stocked up on canned beans.) Dump in a quarter-cup or so of frozen turkey drippings. (This is why you save and freeze the turkey drippings.) Dump in a nice big anonymous spoonful (teaspoon? tablespoon? Who knows? Who cares?) of your favorite bouillon.
5. Take the pan of bacon-onion-pepper-chili off the stove and put the soup pan on. Turn fire up to “please come to a gentle boil, if you please.” Dump contents of pan into soup pot. Stir.
6. When the pot’s boiling, reduce to “simmer but don’t take forever about it” and wait as long as you can stand it.

Serve with OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Fridge Salad, which is all the mizuna and arugula still fresh enough to eat in a salad plus a couple radishes and carrots and cucumbers and raw zucchini and julienned roasted beets and, you know, whatever, drizzled with Ravenous Chocolate Vinaigrette.

Time to eat!

Typically some greens haven’t been used up. Make stir fry tomorrow with the choi, using those Hazel Dell oyster mushrooms you bought for just this purpose. Also one of those great long yellowish-green peppers that you’re never sure what to do with.

Take the rest of the chard, collard, arugula, mizuna, and whatever choi didn’t fit in the stir fry, and boil them down for Green Gumbo. (This has the advantage of using up more peppers and onions, though you may have to go out and buy the celery and parsley.)

“Next time on the CSA Overflow Creativity Show: OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Freezer! Stay tuned.”

–
(Reposted from my personal blog, because if the Boulder Farmer’s Market and Abbondanza Organic Seeds & Produce aren’t relevant to Denver Metblogs then I dunno what is.)

And in the former downtown location of Borders Books, we’ve got Spirit.

Spirit at the old Borders

Notice the “Cafe Espresso” sign still on the wall. I’d make a Hamletonian lament along the lines of “funeral meats not yet cold,” except, of course, they are. They are so cold. And they’ve been reheated by the warm summer sun. And the flies and crows have long since had their way with them. They are compost.

Not to be outdone, Halloween USA has taken over the ex-Circuit City.

Halloween USA at the old Circuit City

This has been your official warning that, yo, Halloween is coming. Get ready, y’all.

For purposes of recognizing him – I mean, if the big honkin’ wind instrument isn’t enough – you might view his Today show appearance. Which was not, incidentally, from today, but is yet quite relevant today, because today is when Mr. Carver will be here.

Happy bagpipe spotting!

And if you’ve been sighing over the unfortunate copyright circumstances that make this film the most intriguing piece of Flash cinema you’ll never get to see, rejoice! Nina Paley has a plan to give her astonishing cartoon gem the distribution it deserves, the upshot of which is, you get to see at the Starz Film Center.

This isn’t its first time playing at the little theater under the Tivoli smokestack on Auraria. But it’ll definitely be my first time seeing it. I’ll be there tonight at the 7:00 PM showing. Say hi if you’re there!

If you can’t make it tonight, you’ve got most of the nights of this week until the final showing on Thursday, July 2. Pick a date and buy your tickets online!

And, while you’re at it, if you’re so inclined, become a supporting member of the Denver Film Society. Members get discounted tickets to any film ($6.00), occasional opportunities to attend free screenings ($0.00), and the warm fuzzies of knowing that you’re playing a part in keeping independent cinema alive in Denver (priceless).

Besides, Starz got beer! Mmm, beer. Can yer ol’ AMC and Century Theaters say that? Didn’t think so.

That’s CSA 101. And this is CSA Week 2!

(What happened to Week 1? I was out of town. Oops.)

Click over to the Abbondanza web page and take a look at the upper-right-hand corner of the page: “What’s in the Box?” This is updated every week to give members an idea what to expect when they come pick up their veggies. This week, Week 2, a lot of the produce was damaged by hail, particularly the lettuce and the arugula. That’s farming for you – stuff happens. But there were plenty yummies to be had regardless. Here’s what I brought home today in my partial share (full and individual shares vary):

CSA 2009 Week 2

• Garlic “scapes” (stems)
• Spinach
• Radishes
• Mizuna
• Hon Tsai Tai

There was also cilantro, from which I abstained.

Hon Tsai Tai is a new one on me. Monday I got to meet it in the field when a team of us were out there weeding (wanna volunteer? click here!). They pointed it out to us as we unrolled the hail-protective covers from several rows of lettuces and Asian greens. “See that one there? That’s a great crop. It’s kinda like broccoli. You can just eat it raw in a salad–the flowers, too.”

Some of everything, except the garlic scapes, went into tonight’s salad, which accompanied my first grilled cheese sandwiches since de-rusting, cleaning, and re-seasoning my grandmother’s old cast-iron skillet. Bliss. And now I’m looking forward to stir-fry.

Recipe: Very Simple Basalmic Vinaigrette

• 3 tbls balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbls olive oil
• 1 tsp or 3 stems chives
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 hard boiled egg yolk, mashed

Combine all ingredients. Chill overnight. Shake thoroughly when you think about it.

(Next batch will have a garlic scape instead of the chives.)

Note! Abbondanza are still taking membership applications! Also, you can find them at the farmer’s markets in downtown Boulder and I do believe in Longmont too.

Microsoft Office and Office Live are partnering with social media platform, Kirtsy, to organize and host a series of free training sessions for women who are looking for an introductory crash course in social media and tech. The sessions will take place in Boulder on Friday, June 12 at The Cup at 7pm and in Denver on Saturday, June 13 at The Curtis Hotel at 9am.

Called “Hands on Social Media,” these seminars will focus on online sharing services, software for creating great-looking documents and presentations, as well as social media and networking tools – such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. Women can sign up to attend and learn more at www.handsonkirtsy.com

The events are free, but registration is recommended. Click the links above to visit the registration page for each event.

Bring your laptop if you’ve got one!

Squee #2 – Boulder City Council are urging Amtrak officials to alter that old line a bit. The Pioneer used to run through Greeley, but considering all the local support surrounding FasTracks and the much-anticipated Boulder Transit Village, they suggest the revived Pioneer run instead through Boulder. Direct rail travel from Boulder to Seattle? OMGWTFBBQ!!!1!1!1!!!eleven!

I done saw it in the Daily Camera (also in the Colorado Daily, for more detail, via Twitter feed AmtrakNews) where the sole commenter as of this moment is voicing support for the reinstated line but not for “regular Amtrak trains through Boulder.” I’m not quite sure why. Do they fear the noise and congestion of 20 TRAINS DAY, I SAID TWENTY MILLION TRAINS A DAY, SINGING A BAR OF ALICE’S RESTAURANT– Dude, chill. You got any reason to expect the Pioneer will run more often than the California Zephyr, which is to say once a day in either direction? You think that’ll add any significant hullabaloo to the existing freight traffic that passes daily through town on the BNSF? Or maybe they worry that Boulder will suddenly host a super big amount of car traffic as the new Amtrak Mecca? I am confused. Enlighten me.

As for me, I totally support an Amtrak stop in Boulder. Do you? Squee here! Don’t you? Explain!

Denver Union Station: Amtrak Baggage Department: (303) 629-6477

This number reaches a Real Live Person – as long as someone’s in the office, of course. Courtesy note! The best time to call is at least half an hour after the train has departed, I think; this should give them time to handle all luggage retrieval issues with arriving passengers. Trains depart around 8 AM (Train 5, Westbound) and 8 PM (Train 6, Eastbound). You may want to check the train status at Amtrak’s web site just to double-check the train isn’t late and you’re not calling while the staff are frantically checking luggage for impatient departing passengers.

If you just want to get train arrival/departure status by phone, dial (303) 534-2812.* This gets you a recording which is updated several times a day. But use the web site if you can. It’s a lot closer to to-the-minute up-to-dateness. It has a nifty interface for mobile devices, too!

*(If you’re curious: I got the recording number via Google and called it several times over two days hoping it would finally get picked up by a human or get a “to speak to someone, press 0″ addendum.** It didn’t. But when I flailed around pressing buttons, dialling 1 made the recording shut off with a “beep” that made me think of answering machines. So I started spewing out my name, number, and concerns in hopes that I was actually leaving a message. Turns out I was; I got called back about 2 hours later by an exceedingly nice person who gave me the baggage department number.)

**(Because I’m leaving Friday and would like to take my bike with me. And because I don’t entirely trust Amtrak’s web site to tell me how the people in Denver want me to pack my bike.)

As you possibly did not know, ’cause I certainly didn’t know until just now a minute ago when the robo-call came in, portions of Northeast Boulder will experience an interruption of service tomorrow, Thursday May 14th, starting around 12:30 PM.

How Northeast? Think roundabouts where the Bolder Boulder 10K starting line is. Remington Post, sure. Diagonal Plaza? Alterra/The Atrium? Eagles Nest and the various units on O’Neal? Dunno.

Prepare to do something non-electric, go elsewhere for your wi-fi and A/C fix, or just gloat that you’ll be at work anyway and won’t notice a thing. Me, I’ll be taking a nice walk around the block, maybe bring the socks I’m knitting with me. After all, the weather’s supposed to be lovely.

Shouting out: Did you get a robo-call today? Write in and tell us so, and roughly where you live. No, don’t give out stalkeriffic personal data; just give an intersection or something. Comment anonymously if you like. It might be cool to try to predict via Super Blog Community Powah! exactly how wide the area affected should be.

The answer? Yes, there is a phase two, as the campaign’s PR manager let me know quite promptly by email. (Thank you for that!) Phase One, the unbranded phrase, ran from April 16 through April 20. The branded phase was rolled out on April 20. I’m only getting around to posting about it now, because I am a slug. Maybe this is old news to you, I don’t know. On the off-chance it isn’t, this:

The website LetLoveHeal.com has sprouted identifying features! There’s a logo and a blurb on the front page now. The logo belongs to Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, and the blurb runs thusly:

Love. It makes hearts grow fonder, blood move faster, and creates that never-want-to-live-without-it feeling for everyone it encounters. Surprisingly, love also has an unmistakable therapeutic power. It has been scientifically proven to aid healing and help improve the lives of people, animals, and plants alike. And with the help of our experienced doctors and caring staff, it’s now making its way into the hearts of every patient at Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers.

And there’s swag! As I drove down Foothills today, I was passed by a pick-up truck with the LOVE™ HEALS logo on the back. Street teams have been passing out magnets like that one and T-shirts too.

The cynically minded will want to know, “So what are they selling?” And they will look all over the LetLoveHeal.com site for a swag shop or similar. In vain! for there is none. All they are “selling” is the message. As Beth Hardy of Weise Communiciations told me in her kind email (which I pray she will forgive my quoting),

Because cancer touches nearly everyone in some form or fashion, RMCC developed this campaign to try and reach out to as many people as possible and help spread the message that compassion, kindness, friendship and love can truly help an individual’s quality of survival.

As they say on LiveJournal and on many blog comment communities, “Quoted for truth.” ‘Cause it is. True, I mean. I should know, being a cancer survivor myself. Clearly, chemotherapy had a lot to do with my survival, but it’s no insult to the skilled oncologists, the caring RNs, and veritable army of blood donors to say that love – expressed via hugs, kisses, hospital visits, prayers, and huge tangles of Mardi Gras beads tossed off the floats of the Krewe of Thoth – was also indispensable.

So, good on RMCC. It’s a message worth spreading, and I’m pleased to know whom to thank for it.

(Also, the trademark thing? Where it looks like someone’s trying to trademark the word LOVE? Holds true on the RMCC logo as well: “ROCKY MOUNTAIN™ CANCER CENTERS”. Apparently, when you’re trademarking a logo, it just looks better to put the TM at the end of the top line where the words are bigger. And I’m just an overly literal-minded English major doing that literal-minded English major thing that I do when I go, “Huh? You’re trademarking the Rocky Mountains? All of them?” So you can just ignore me there.)