August 2016 Bucket List: Squash Blossoms and 'Nduja

August was a bittersweet month for me. I had to travel home twice for memorial services, but as a result I got to see my family and my best friend who I very rarely get to see. We spent the spare time I had for both trips together reminiscing and pondering how we've been in a constant stat of mourning since high school. In the midst of all of this we also ate a lot of food. On the second visit she treated me to two items off of my bucket list. I had never been to a Mariano's and when we stopped in I was in grocery store heaven.  We just do not have stores with an interesting or high quality food selection where I am living currently. So when I walked in and saw a huge pile of squash blossoms from the farm I grew up going to for pumpkins I was extraordinarily excited. So, obviously we got those. we attempted to stuff and fry them but we did not have the right tools. They were still tasty, but could use some improvement, like a lighter batter and a more effective filling method.

Photo by Poison Megz

On our search for cheese to go with our figs we also happened across 'Nduja, which is a spicy, spreadable salumi that originated in Italy. We included it on our cheese plate.

Photo by Poison Megz

No surprise here, but I loved it. Spicy meat I can spread on a crostini? Genius. The only real question here is how did I live for 28 years without trying this? I can't get it in my town but I do know it is available on Amazon from previous research trying to locate some. 

Now for a sort of update... I previously posted about checking "Job I Love" off of my bucket list.  I did love that job when I wrote it. I was helping people and I was using my degree. Since then, however, I have learned that sometimes loving a job is not enough to make it the job you should be in. There were serious problems with how cases were being handled and issues were constantly glossed over in order to make those in charge look better. Sometimes business dealings become more important than actually helping people, and I was not going to be able to change that. Losing that job that I loved turned out to be one of the best things that happened to me. In August I started a new job that is an actual career. I am making nearly twice what I was before and will be able to make an actual difference in the lives of others.  I can't say that I love it yet, because the training is quite extensive, but I can say that it is not more about business than about the actual people involved. I am hoping this will be the beginning of something amazing in my life, but only time will tell. 

So as a result, the next few months may be a bit slow on the bucket list front. I will check off at least one thing a month as I have been doing, but they may be shorter stories. The training requires a lot of travel and my priority is spending the moments I can with my family in between all of that.

Until next time!

xoxo

Poison Megz