Veggie Mania

The other day, I commented to twitter that it’s time to bring in my plants from outside. For me this includes a thyme plant, a lemon thyme plant (neither of which grew in the slightest, but neither of which died back at all either), and an asparagus fern. There’s also some really cute volunteer flowers and some volunteer chives in pots my landlords left, but those can stay where they are. I’ll harvest the remainder of the chives, chop them up and freeze them.

My friend, Ellen responded, “I stood by my back windows and contemplated the huge task of harvesting the backyard… Too much food.” Assuming she meant that there’s just a lot of work getting all the food from her copious garden into her house, I volunteered to help.… Continue reading →

Meeting Bill’s Family in Seattle, WA.

After Salt Lake City, Bill and I hit the road again. Well, the contrails or something. We flew, is what I mean. Flew from Salt Lake City to Seattle, WA. While there, we saw a ton of friends. We made new friends. I got to meet some of Bill’s extended family for the first time. That was super awesome because Bill’s aunt makes an amazing dinner. You all? You’re disappointed you didn’t get to eat with us.

This is actually something Bill’s Uncle Russ made. The morning of our arrival, he and Bill’s cousin Jack went down to some place in Seattle where you buy fishes and bought two big salmon. When they got them home, they discovered one was full of eggs – an amazing and lucky treat!… Continue reading →

Vincent

Yesterday, Bill & I had brunch at a small Andersonville restaurant called “Vincent.”:http://vincentchicago.com/ Until Tuesday, we’d never known it existed. Tuesday, though, the folks behind the “Restaurant Intelligence Agency (RIA)”:http://hq.restaurantintelligenceagency.com/ ran a contest on Twitter for “a basket of dutch goodies” from Chrissy Camba, the Chef de Cuisine at Vincent.

Here’s how I think it works: every Tuesday, they feature a chef who is registered with them (or, at least, I think that’s a requirement), interview them over the course of the day, and then run a contest involving that chef. That’s certainly how it worked this time. In my case, they asked us to guess which celebrity would Chrissy Camba most like to cook for, with the hint of this celebrity is the nephew of a legendary film director.… Continue reading →

[20] Penne with Beets, Beet Greens and Goat Cheese

Cover of Simply Organic, by Jesse Ziff Cool

This recipe came to light just before our third CSA delivery. We’d gotten an e-mail a couple of days beforehand with a “sneak peak” of what was going to be in our box, beets being on the list.

Well, as interested as I am in local foods, I have to admit that I don’t know much about when many types of produce are available when. Thus, that sneak peak seemed like a total life-saver, as it allowed me to plan a menu in advance of the CSA arriving, and do the supplemental grocery shopping done prior to the delivery.

“Seemed?”, I hear you ask. Well, unfortunately, yes. There were no beets for us in that particular box. Furthermore, as yet, we’re very much enjoying a number of salads, but most of the other vegetable produce has been rather skimpy.… Continue reading →