Produce Wednesday & Medjool Date Love…

Here’s today’s organic bounty:

~~Avocados MEX~~

~~Portabello Mushrooms PA~~

I wasn’t in the mood for avocados and mushrooms, so I substituted them out for more bananas and grapefruit, respectively. The grapefruit was from the mixed box selection, so it is not organic. I also special ordered medjool dates, I like them so much better than the deglet noor dates I was getting, but I had to go to two different stores last time to find them (both Trader Joe’s, but the first one was all out), so I thought I’d give the medjool dates from my produce delivery a try instead. I poked my finger a little bit on the plastic wrapping, ooooh, these are really soft.

All the better to make these fun balls (fudge babies, fudge balls) with…

I made these fun balls with peanuts, pinch of salt, medjool dates, and vegan chocolate chips. I attempted to make this again with the deglet noor dates that I still have, with just a bit of water added, but they just don’t compare with the ones made with medjool dates. If you can find medjool dates, they are definitely the ones to use.

I’ve been looking at getting a new camera, my ‘taste-tester’ has been doing lots of research for me. He mentioned the cameras having a macro setting. Um, sometimes, I’m such a tool, my camera has a macro setting, I just didn’t know it. So some of the close-up shots I haven’t been able to post because they turned out blurry… um, well… had I had the macro setting turned on, I would have been able to get those close-up shots! Hey, I’m learning everyday. It’s a good thing.

I might still get a new camera (I’m thinking about the Canon G11), I like some of the features, like image stabilization (I apparently have shaky hands and currently have to resort to using burst and picking out the best of the group) and a higher ISO limit (my apt is kinda dark, all the windows are on one wall, this would be a nice change… I have tons of pictures from my oldest camera, that are so dark that it is hard to make out the photo). This camera has been getting some really good reviews.

I have some really good books on GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), my photo manipulation software, now I need to find some good sources for how to take good pictures. Any suggestions? (Frank?) You know the kind of books that photography students would buy, nothing with ‘for dummies’ please.

Oddly, I didn’t really try any new foods this past two weeks, other than the glo bars, turnip soup, and gingerbread waffles, that I’ve already reviewed. Actually, I made a mushroom gravy, various bread doughs, and I revisited a potpie recipe, but I’ll probably write a post about them soon. But as for new products, not so much.

So, I’ll just leave you with the pretty picture of today’s bounty.
~nic

P.S. I’ve finished the DragonLance Chronicles Trilogy and have started the DragonLance Legends Trilogy.