Archive for June, 2006

CSA, Week 3

Wednesday, June 28th, 2006

A. K. A. OMG more lettuce. I see salad in our future.

CSA Week 3

This week we got:

    Garlic scapes
    Red Leaf Lettuce-1 head
    Buttercrunch Lettuce-1 heads
    Romaine-1 head
    Bok Choy-1 bunch
    Radishes-1 bunch
    Sugar Snap Peas – 1 basket

We also had mint in this week’s share, but we left ours in the swap basket since our garden produces way more mint than we can handle.
Tonight I made a tofu and lettuce soup with the remainder of last week’s romaine. It is a very good soup, except I don’t love the vegetable stock I used: Whole Foods 365 brand. The stock is thicker than I like and has an unusual taste that I haven’t been able to pinpoint. I’ll have to remember not to buy it again.

A seven letter word for excellent

Sunday, June 25th, 2006

Last night Jeremie and I saw Wordplay at the Avon and it was … superb! It was funny, entertaining and heartwarming and I highly recommend you see it should it come to a theater near you. Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times Crossword and author of countless Sudoku books, lives in the area and he was at the special showing last night to do a Q & A session at the end of the movie. He was very nice and it’s always interesting to hear from people who are really passionate about what they do. He stuck around a bit at the end and I asked him to autograph my sudoku book, which I always have in my tote bag that pretends it’s a purse.

Will Shortz's autograph!

Super cool.

CSA, Week 2

Thursday, June 22nd, 2006

The bounty continues.

csa veggies, week 2

    Sorrel-1 bunch
    Garlic scapes
    Tatsoi-1 bunch
    Red Leaf Lettuce-1 head
    Buttercrunch Lettuce-1 heads
    Romaine-1 head
    Bok Choy-1 bunch
    Oregano-1 bunch
    Ancho peppers – 4 (grown last season and dried in the greenhouse during the winter)

We finished up last week’s romaine last night with some grilled fajitas and we started in on the red leaf lettuce. I’m going to have to flip through my cookbooks and other recipe sites to figure out what I can make with the sorrel that doesn’t involve heavy cream. I think I’ll make at least 1 stir fry with the bok choy, tatsoi and garlic scapes but I’m soliciting ideas as to what to do with the rest.

one month

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

That’s how long I’ve been married. It’s been a good time.

Last night we got a new bookshelf and I had to rearrange some furniture between the living room and the “kitchen” living room (yes, wierd, I know) to accommodate it. I don’t know if it really is better or if I just needed a change, but I like the new setup much more than how I had it before. Both rooms seem more balanced.

Saturday night I had dinner in the city with Jeremie and Kate. Our dinner and conversation were delightful, but I wore Impractical Footware and ended up with a gigantic blister on the bottom of my foot. I hobbled around the house for most of Sunday and in the evening we went to the drugstore to see if there was anything we could get that would make my poor foot more comfortable. I picked up some Dr. Scholl’s Blister Treatment and I’m very impressed with the results. After three days of wearing the bandage, the blister is still visible but not raised and I can comfortably put pressure (and a shoe) on my foot. I highly recommend.

30% Dixie. You are a Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006

I’m a Yankee Doodle Daaaaandy,
A Yankee Doodle do or die.
doot doot doo
I was listening to NPR’s Morning Edition on my way to work this morning and they had a brief interview with Robert Beard, president of AlphaDictionary.com. I get a real kick out of linguistics and who doesn’t love a quiz? This is a pretty good one: Are you a Yankee or a Rebel? My answers indicated that while I am indeed a Yankee, I am definitely a Michigander.
Yes, Michigan. The feeling’s forever.

CSA, Week 1

Monday, June 19th, 2006

I’m a little late on this, but such is thus. There are more pictures in the gallery. Here’s what we got this week:
csa veggies, week 1

    Rhubarb-1 bunch
    Chinese Cabbage-1 bunch
    Mizuna-1 bunch
    Red Sails Leaf Lettuce-1 head
    Bennett Buttercrunch Lettuce-2 heads
    Romaine-1 head
    Chives-1 bunch
    Lemon Balm-1 bunch

We’ve enjoyed many delicious salads, gnocchi with chives, pasta with chives and that’s about it. This week we get some bok choy and garlic scapes, so perhaps there will be some stir fry in our future.

my lunch is cool

Wednesday, June 14th, 2006

(and perhaps cooler than yours)
Today is day 3 of Mr. Bento Lunch. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mr. Bento, it’s an insulated lunch container made by Zojirushi. It holds 4 containers of varying sizes and functionality: a “soup” bowl, a “rice” bowl, a medium-sized bowl and a small bowl. It keeps cold foods very cold and theoretically it keeps hot foods very hot. I haven’t felt like eating a hot meal as of late. It also comes with chopsticks in a little case. Awesome.
The past couple of days I’ve been taking a salad of cold buckwheat noodles with peppers, edamame and a lemon-tahini dressing as my main course. The rest of the items I’ve changed up. I’ve taken cold lentil soup, carrots and hummus, cucumber slices, laughing cow cheese, cottage cheese or frozen mango chunks. It’s pretty fun and it’s nice having a good, tasty lunch every day. And I’m not the only one. Flickr has a group for Mr. Bento devotees and I’ve started posting (though for some reason my pictures aren’t showing up when I’m not signed in). I didn’t take a picture of my lunch on Monday but I did yesterday and today, so if you’re interested in my lunch, you can take a look here. Good times.

hello, hello

Monday, June 12th, 2006

I’m back and I’m married. Three cheers for being married! It’s a good time. We had a wonderful wedding and a very nice honeymoon in Hawaii (first Kauai, then Maui). Hawaii was really delightful and I can’t say that I’m too happy to be back. I guess all vacations must end sometime though. *sigh*

We had good weather this weekend and hit up the opening of the New Canaan Farmers Market. I was really surprised at how much was there other than just flowers. We bought some basil plants, green onions, baby beets, rhubarb, rosemary bread and fresh mozzarella. I wanted to be careful with my purchases since Wednesday is our first CSA delivery. On Saturday evening I made a quiche with the beet greens, green onions and some feta. I used a biscuit dough for the crust since I wasn’t in the mood to roll out a pastry crust and the whole thing turned out really well. Very tasty. We ate it hot for dinner and cold for lunch the next day and I almost like it better cold.
Everything else has been planted or cooked and the kitchen is tidy. Lots in the fridge for lunch and dinner the next couple of days.