vegan

"Attack of the Squash People" by Marge Piercy (Part 2) + Superfood Salad with Magical Zucchini and Walnut Dressing

Today I'm back with Part 2 of the zucchini posts, so I'll pick up where I left off. On the same trip to Hawaii, I also had a moment. You might call it a lightbulb, a-ha, game changing moment, and it's all thanks to zucchini. You might think it was all thanks to kale, but it turns out that kale was hardly the most surprising part of this recipe.

Also, it's safe to say that all of our bodies must be telling us something. As I was working on this post, another wonderful blogger also posted her take on a creamy dressing for kale, and Twitter chronicled our cravings and adaptation ideas as well. I love being in good company this way.

"Attack of the Squash People" by Marge Piercy (Part 1) + Raw Zucchini Pasta with Basil-Spinach Pesto

The end of May was refreshing in many ways. After celebrating my birthday (and thanks to all of you for such heartfelt wishes on my big "turning 30" post!), Andrew and I jetted off to Maui for a week, then returned to attend the wedding of some dear friends in California's wine country.

We did all the things you would expect on a tropical vacation. We ate fish, drank mai tai's, sought out the softest Hawaiian shaved ice, got a couples massage, went snorkeling in a secluded cove, read as many books as we could, took afternoon naps, and watched the sunset from our wrap-around balcony. Ah, the joys of island time. I miss it just typing these words. After a week or so, as much as part of you is renewed to return to the routines of life, the other part desperately wants to stay another day. Or two.

"Edamame Haiku" by Katie O'Connell King + Asian Panzanella

Think of haiku as today's equivalent of a tweet, in the sense that there's a fixed number of characters you must stick to in order to convey an idea. Instead of 144 characters, you have 17 syllables to make an impression.

Poetry can carry a lot of emotional weight. Its lines can wade through deep territory and cause you to ponder the very things you try to avoid thinking about on a daily basis. It can open a wound or illuminate a small experience, making you grateful for having read it in the first place. But there's also something to be said for the lighthearted, and I think we could use a little bit of that today. This haiku is about the "glossy tender bean" edamame, and describes some of the humor involved in eating them.