Exciting Em-i-lis Events upcoming

In case you don't stalk my events calendar (heh), I wanted to let you know a bit more about four events occurring in the next three months: 1) On Saturday, August 25, I'll be teaching another canning seminar at the Silver Spring, MD, location of Strosniders. It will start at 9am, and though the exact "what" is still TBD, we might be canning a delicious apple chile chutney.

2) On Saturday, September 8, from 1-4pm, I'll be participating in the second annual Circle Yoga Artisan's Market. It is a wonderful event featuring the wares of local cooks, artists and so forth who utilize sustainable/organic/eco-friendly stuff in their work. I'll be there with a huge table of canned and baked goods and this year will have a larger vegan selection than I did last fall.

3) On Saturday, September 15, from 9:30-11am, I'll be teaching Canning 101 at the Twins Ace Hardware on Main Street in Fairfax. Exactly what we'll be canning remains TBD.

and finally,

4) On Saturday, October 27, at the Strosniders in Bethesda, I'll be teaching another canning seminar. This event starts at 9am and we'll be making cranberry sauce in anticipation of Thanksgiving!

Registration information can be found by clicking on each event in the Em-i-lis Calendar.

T does well, pretty beans

Thank you, dear T, for a yummy dinner of lemon-basil-butter shrimp and toasted bread to sop up the sauce. As a last resort to ease my head, we opened a bottle of icy-cold rosé. It actually helps sometimes so I'm guardedly hopeful. And aren't these beans pretty? Another Food in Jars recipe- haven't had anything less than fabulous from Marisa and her book! Is anyone else really(!) enjoying male Olympian physiques? Meow! Is anyone else beyond exasperated with the ratio of Olympics:NBC blah-blah and ads?!

Different boys, take 2; migraine, day 3

This morning, Oliver insisted on wearing a police hat and jacket to camp. He's usually my Builder so this came rather out of nowhere, but diversity is nice, so I said "sure!" When I dropped him off, he eagerly said goodbye and walked off with a counselor, a stranger to him, but because of the friendly, expected context, Ol said hello and took his hand. My heart melted, and as I watched his sturdy little three year old legs walk away, thighs covered by the over-sized police coat, I truly thought I would die of love. After I picked him up from camp, we scooted over to Jack's camp to fetch him. He's taking a language arts and math camp during the mornings this week and LOVES it. Anyway, one of his "assignments" today was to write and draw about the superhero power he would acquire could he have one: grapple hooks that shoot out of his hands when he needs them. I thought this was cool, and said I would choose to fly. Then Oliver chimed in and said he would "shoot poopie out of my booty." Really? The boy humor just keeps coming. Jack, of course, said that was an "awesome idea."

Friends, I will tell you that I'm becoming extremely testy due to this migraine's longevity. Simply put, it's a beast and sucks. I have never responded to traditional migraine meds (Imitrex and triptans help not at all!), Vioxx worked like a charm but we know where that option went, and acupuncture -which works best of all though isn't foolproof- is not something I can do as simply as swallowing a pill; I don't have an acupuncturist on call, for the love. Lest you think I've not run the gamut of treatment options, I have. Repeatedly. They've definitely gotten better over the years (I used to have them for 4-5 days at a time, several times a month!) and vanished completely each time I was pregnant; now they just haunt me once a month at most, and yes, they are hormonally-related, so if you find you're plagued on a monthly basis, consider hormones as the culprit.

I am finally making the dilly beans and am putting Tom on dinner- fresh shrimp a la T.