All My Children

While it may not be popular to admit, I have watched soap operas my entire life.  All My Children on ABC has been a staple of my childhood and adult life. 

And today it ended.

And yes, it made me sad.

Actually, I was really disappointed in the ending. 

It was fun this past month seeing the cameos of those who I had watched over the years come back and the funny jokes tying in what they have done since then.  The last week as they tied up “MOST” of the story lines and took family pictures of the large families actually made me almost cry a few times. 

Most people have heard of Erica Kane, one of the main characters of the show which has been played by Susan Lucci for over 40 years.  The “Gone With the Wind”-esque ending of her on again off again love interest walking out on her and telling her he doesn’t “give a damn” was funny and fitting. 

But there were too many unresolved story lines.  To end the show with an unknown someone getting shot and still not knowing who else was assumed dead but was brought back to life was really annoying to me. 

And now it’s over.  (There are talks of the show being continued online, but I can’t imagine it will really be the same.) 

So please excuse me as I mourn the loss of my noon hour indulgence.  A moment of silence please!

My first Bountiful Basket

I consider myself somewhat of a foodie.  I enjoy cooking, read lots of food blogs, and definitely enjoy eating!  (Dishes are a different story though – yuck!)  Several of my friends and the blogs I read talk about getting their fruits and/or vegetables through co-ops or CSAs or farmers markets and such.  I’ve always wanted to try one and finally did for the first time.

Bountiful Baskets is a co-op that started in Utah, but has spread to several other areas of the country.  This past week was the first week they opened a location in Houston and it’s about 20 minutes away from my house so I signed up!  The first time you sign up you have to pay an extra $3 for the baskets, but typically it costs $16.50 for a basket full of fruit and a basket full of vegetables. 

Here’s what was in my baskets this week:

• 1 large head romaine lettuce
• 2 heads broccoli
• 5 green bell peppers
• 10 roma tomatoes
• 2 cucumbers
• 7 potatoes
• 1 cantaloupe
• 1 bag of grapes
• 1 pint strawberries
• 4 apples
• 1 bunch of bananas

All pretty normal fruits and veges, nothing that I was like “what am I going to do with THAT?” Although 5 bell peppers is a few too many for my recipes, I’ll find someway to use them!  I went to my favorite grocery store with this list and figured out that it would have cost me over $25 for the same foods. 

Right now the Houston location will have baskets available every other week, and I hope to buy one at least once a month.  The next time to sign up is this Monday at noon at this link. 

Who else has tried something like this before and have you liked it?  Do you think it’s worth the price?