Breezy Tradewinds

It's pretty gusty out there.  Normal tradewinds (which are light up here) bring heavy sodden rain, but these breezy ones seem to have enough oomph to send the clouds over the bump of Kilauea and give us a scattered showers and sun intermixed.  It's a bit chilly, though.  You'd think I would take advantage of the not-pouring weather to be outside, but I am feeling a bit worn out from this week's work, so I am cooking instead. 

My basement is semi-full of teen-aged boys who are working on a game programming dare.  Twice a year, there is a just-for-fun challenge to write a video game, based on a theme.  Apparently, the point is to stay up for something approaching 48 hours to do this thing - and apparently, this is the point - to stay up all night and see what you can produce.  I have to say, their game looks pretty good this year.  They come up for food, thank me nicely for dinner, then sink to the depths of the house. 

My youngest came home from her two day trip to Kona for a band festival.  She wants to ride, but she is also complaining of a sore throat so bad she would rather drool than swallow.  I am sure a room full of 12-13 year old girls didn't go to bed when they were told to, on top of the several terrible bugs floating around school, so I told her to take a nap and talk to me later about getting on that horse. 

I went to town yesterday to take advantage of the Divine Mercy opportunity - and after visiting the church, I went to the Hilo Farmer's Market.  I keep meaning to go to the Kino'ole Market instead, but I never think of it until I am passing it on the way home and they are closing.  I bought some kabocha, cauliflower, Okinawa sweet potato, broccoli, green onion, sweet onion, several bags of green beans and a couple of bags of cucumber, and a huge head of lettuce.  Until my own veggies are up and ready for harvest, I am glad for the Farmer's Markets.  I am getting plenty of tomatoes (well, for salad; I would like more to make sauce) from the greenhouse, but everything else needs to be purchased for now. 

I am pressure cooking some pinto beans for the freezer.  I like homemade refried beans so much better than the canned, now. I made split pea soup yesterday - I added a few slices of ginger root, a quarter of a kabocha pumpkin, cubed, and lots of onion and garlic.  It didn't even need the Portuguese Sausage to taste good.  I used a regular slow cooker for that.  I am still mildly scared of my pressure cooker, but the prospect of cooked beans is worth the slight raise in my pulse rate. 

8 days until my son has to decide which college to go to.  4 weeks and 6 days until he graduates.  In a few months, there will be only two children in my house - what a weird feeling it will be.