Farm share, week 10

[magid]

Too heavy to carry home afoot, though not surprising given that it's August and halfway through the share, time for all sorts of non-leafies to appear. (Where did July go?)

• a head of kamutsuna
  
• seven tomatoes (red, yellow, and/or orange)
  
• a Walla Walla onion with greens
  
• a pickling cucumber
  
• five peppers (white, green, and purple bell peppers, and Italian
  peppers)
  
• an eggplant (short and violet, thin Asian ones, regular dark ones)
  
• fifteen beets of various sizes
  
• ten carrots (mostly red ones, some orange)
  
• six sprigs of basil
  
• a musk melon
  
• a bitter melon (medium)
  
• a spherical watermelon (yellow fleshed)
  
  
• fruit share: a pint of cherry tomatoes (I got all Sungolds. Bliss!)
  
• ten peaches

And the delivery, 1/2 fruit.

• a head of red cabbage (MA grown)
  
• four ears of corn (MA grown)
  
• a small bag (1/3 pound?) of green beans (MA grown)
  
• a zucchini (MA grown)
  
• a cucumber (MA grown)
  
• five heads of garlic
  
• two kiwis
  
• four plums
  
• two nectarines
  
• a small bag (1/2 pound?) of cherries

From the news sheet: they're now offering two teas, which is nice, but I can get Equal Exchange tea at Trader Joe's. And in a couple of weeks, there'll be a seasonal offer to add a 5-pound box of local (Maine-grown) blueberries to a delivery. This might mean enough blueberries to cook with, rather than guzzling out of hand. Also maybe blueberry-cranberry jam...

Tonight I hosted dinner, and given the minimal time I had to prepare (5:30-6:30 A.M. and 6:30-7 P.M.), I'm pleased with what I managed to make. The menu included a fresh corn and fish chowder (no potatoes again, but lots of corn), spicy almond noodles, cucumber-dill salad, tomato-basil salad (with feta on the side, to accommodate the lactose intolerant), sauteed zucchini with onion and mushroom, sliced wheat bread (bought; I ran out of time to bake), kalamata olive hummus, and kalamata olives, followed by slices of yellow watermelon, three types of chocolate (chili pepper with cocoa nibs, 50% cocoa milk chocolate, and 70% cocoa dark with raspberries), and two sorbets (mango-tangerine and passionfruit). Especially pleasing: the fish-disliker had a bowl of chowder, though admittedly not a very fishy one.

Comments

[rethought.livejournal.com]

That meal sounds fantastic. Mmmm...

I miss Walla Walla and Vidalia onions. :(

[magid.livejournal.com]

There aren't any kinds of sweet onions there? How sad.

(If you take the time to caramelize regular onions they can be pretty amazing. Though not same effect as less-cooked sweet onions, of course.)

[rethought.livejournal.com]

Some of the local Scottish ones aren't bad, but definitely not sweet.

The ones we got in spring were so strong it had ybunny and I streaming with tears.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Wow. I haven't had any that strong in ages. If you get some that strong again, try chilling them before cutting; it can help a lot. (I haven't tried the other methods I've heard of (cutting near a lit candle, having bread in the mouth/under the tongue, wearing a snorkeling mask).)

[rethought.livejournal.com]

Heehee. I'll remember the snorkeling mask. :)

(Actually, I'll probably try chilling them.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've thought about getting a snorkeling mask, but it seems odd to do it just for onion prep :-).

PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

I very much like the tomato icon.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Wow, the Boston Organics fruit quantity seems lighter than usual, which is disappointing.

And assuming I get cabbage, I guess I'll have to figure out what to do with it. Any ideas that aren't essentially cole-slaw and that don't involving boiling it to death?

[magid.livejournal.com]

The box seemed noticeably lighter this week, and yes, less fruit.

Cabbage thoughts: there's a Asian vinegar-y slaw that salts the cabbage first, to change the texture, but that's still slaw. Cook it with apples and onions and cider vinegar, plus possibly some sausages (and/or caraway seeds). Stuffed cabbage (though I admit I've never made it, though I like eating it). Some could be sliced finely into a green salad for different crunch. Cabbage soup (though that might fall into the boiling to death category), either vegetarian or with beef.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

sliced into salad, good. In soup or with vinegar, not so great (but I should remember that while I don't much like vinegar doused stuff, using citrus juice instead works fine for me.

None of which I'll try this time though. I got no cabbage (I did get lettuce). I got no garlic (but did get a green pepper). I also got less corn, though I'm not sure why.

I seem to have received considerably more fruit than you though. No kiwis, but I did get a container of strawberries, and a bunch of bananas, and a cantaloupe in addition to cherries and nectarines and plums.

I wonder if they messed something up? I know I'm getting billed for just a small box, and I thought I was signed up for half/half...but maybe not.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Mm, sounds good.

re blueberries, knowing me, I'll just eat 5lbs!

(When I was very little, I went with my mom to the farmer's market, and the nice farmers kept giving me blueberries. I got home and told my mom: "I don't feel well", and immediately threw up for the first time in my life.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Even then, you ate well: I was the kid who made herself sick on frosting (at a birthday party).

(And you could always get two 5-lb boxes, one for eating raw, one for cooking.... ;-)