Friend Makin' Monday in the fridge... plus, a grocerytopia contest!

Happy Monday!

We had a nicely balanced weekend, which included both fun times and mellow times, including...

• Attending a sing-along downtown, and sang until I was hoarse.
• Trying a new vegan restaurant, where Tom had his very first date shake.
• Sweating (profusely) during an excellent workout at Slimmons
• Watching a brilliant solo play, performed by our friend Joy Nash (who you may know of Fat Rant fame, or as our Roz in Bubble Gumshoe.)  Man, the next time she mounts this production, all of you locals have to come with us.
• Getting a bit blue, though I managed to nix any emotional eating, and lean on the support of my friends.
• Kitten snuggle time, in the midst of our still-going Buffy marathon. (We just started Buffy 7/Angel 4, for those of you playing the home game.)
• Lunch out and party planning with friends. This included sharing a root beer float, which I thoroughly enjoyed and do not regret in the least. Even if it puts me at a plateau this week, that float was exactly what I wanted - was therefore extremely satisfying.

It's going to be another great week, so I'm happy to be kicking it off today with a Friend Makin' Monday that so beautifully collides with what I was already planning to share with you!

I've mentioned our amazing produce store, Super King, before.  This place is GROCERYTOPIA!  They have remarkable fruits and vegetables.  So, inspired by my last haul, I have a contest for you today!  Check out this picture of my last haul, and post a comment here with your guess of how much - to the penny - our bill totaled.  (By the way, Alexa and David, as our fellow Super King shoppers... so sorry, you're ineligible this time.)

This haul includes: 3 packages of mushrooms, 1 head of cauliflower, 5 stalks of rhubarb
1 package of blueberries, 2 kabocha squashes, 3 onions, 1 ginger root, 1 package of cherry tomatoes,
4 tomatoes, 1 bag of cherry peppers, 1 eggplant, 1 bag of grapes, 2 heads of broccoli, 5 bananas,
5 peaches, 3 oranges, 1bunch of basil, 1 bunch of cilantro, 1 bunch of dill, 1 zucchini, 7 cucumbers,
8 limes, 3 lemons, 1 bunch of squash blossoms

If you guess closest to the correct total, you will win an unusual prize... Tom and I will make a custom meal plan for you!  We'll ask the winner what his or her favorite foods are, and then we'll create healthy, balanced recipes for a whole meal built around them!  I'll announce the winner on tomorrow's post, and then we'll share the recipes we come up with here, in an upcoming entry, so you can all enjoy.  Good luck!

And now, a happily thematic...

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at  www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts.

FMM: What’s in Your Fridge?

1. List a few common items that can always be found in your fridge.  Produce. Produce, produce, produce!  In order to meet our combined goal of fruit and vegetable servings for the week, Tom and I buy a combined total of 77 servings of veggies and 49 fruits each week.  Beyond that, I always keep my favorite vanilla Greek yogurt, low-cal tortillas for sandwiches, and easy-to-grab protein, like boiled eggs and a batch of chicken I've grilled for the week.
   
   
2. What kind of milk do you drink? I tend to have a glass of skim milk each day, and I make it through about a quart a week.
3. Do you prefer fresh or frozen vegetables? Oy, fresh.  We're blessed with California weather, which means California produce.
4. What do you currently have to drink in the fridge? Milk, sparkling water, and our water filter pitcher.  We occasionally have something else for a party, like single-servings of juice to mix with the sparkling water.  But we've cut out all soda. (This was a big thing for Tom, who used to subside on Splenda Diet Coke.)
5. How often do you clean out your refrigerator? Now that we buy so much produce, we pretty much have to clean it out every week as we bring the new stuff in.  Otherwise it won't all fit!
6. What’s the healthiest thing in it right now? Produce, produce, produce! A whole fridge full.
7. What’s the most unhealthy thing in it right now? Eight ounces of salted caramel ice cream, from our favorite local artisan company, Carmela.  We bought it especially for a dinner party we're having tonight - just enough for all four of us to have a half-cup.
8. What do you wish you had in it that you don’t have now? Kyoho grapes and heirloom tomatoes. They're not in season until August.
9. How often do you shop for groceries? Typically, just on Sunday. It's our big food-shopping day.  We begin by planning our menu for the whole week, and then depending on our needs, we go to the farmer's market, Super King, Trader Joe's and Ralph's.
10. What’s the weirdest thing in your fridge right now? Well, nothing is really weird to me.  But you might find our little container of homemade Thai chili paste a little unusual.

All right!  I hope that you kick off your week by doing something great for yourself.   I'll be back tomorrow with our contest winner, plus a weigh-in Tuesday.  Til then, take care of you!