CSA Update

For the second year, E & I are doing a CSA (community-supported agriculture). You pay $300 something upfront, and you get fresh fruit, organic vegetables, and cheese (extra) for twenty-something weeks. We were unhappy with how the first one was run, so we switched to the Grand St CSA. We were on the wait list for Grand St. last year, which so far has had more produce, and is closer and more convenient to our apartment. Not only do we have fruits this time, we also have CHEESE. Cheese! They also do one off things, too, so we recently came into a couple quarts of maple syrup that is seriously delicious.

This year we're actually getting vegetables every week (not every other week), which will help with the waste. E was on a business trip in Houston a couple weeks ago, leaving me to cook a head of swiss chard (I made stuffed shells) and eat more lettuce than I ever have in one week in my life--we got two heads of lettuce plus a bag of mixed greens. I hate most bottled salad dressings now that I've started making my own, so I've been making small batches of dressing (so easy, I swear). That way you can have a couple salads with one dressing then move one. I've made a couple viniagrettes, throwing in some fresh herbs, and I am a huge fan of my creamy greek dressing, which I will try to post here soon.

Other things we've done with our vegetables
1. Radishes "the French way, with butter and salt." Meh. I added a Ritz cracker to the mix, but I'm still not a huge radish person.
2. Radishes in fish tacos. Yum! The way radishes were meant to be: In small quantities
3. Swiss chard with caramelized onions in a calzone. So loved! We even figured out a way to cook the stems this time!
4. Salads with fruit, cheese, and nuts. These are the best.


5.Garlic Scape Dip. I actually kind of screwed up this recipe this time, after two times with great success last year. I used WAY more scapes than I should have (they were bigger than the ones from last year, and I just plain added more.) I'm going to buy some more white beans to try to save it from its aggressive garlickiness.
6. Rhubarb compote. We kind of roughly used this recipe, adding some frozen strawberries, mango nectar instead of orange juice, and just a tablespoon of sugar (we had less rhubarb). So yum.

E is flying to LA today for ANOTHER last-minute business trip. I like that he's all important at work and all, but I'm going to be so lonely!! And I'm going to have to eat all the vegetables!! My plan is for him to accrue enough frequent flyer miles to takes us somewhere awesome.

Highlights List

1. I am now the proud owner of a bike. I have gone on two biking adventures since I purchased it three weeks ago. It just transforms the way you experience the city. The first week we took this 5 hour trip that involved Central Park, Soul Food in Harlem, and just the prettiest water sights from bluffs you have ever seen. Last weekend involved the Manhattan Bridge, Prospect Park, meeting up with a Brooklyn friend and brunchin', then over the (massively crowded) Brooklyn Bridge, the three of us, home to some Easter dinner. Biking is so much faster. I am still nervous about traffic but thankfully there are areas with good bike lanes so that makes things easier. Eric & I are thinking of going on a bike trip over Memorial Day weekend because renting a car costs $500 for that weekend and hotels are apparently expensive too...we'll see how that pans out.

2. Amazing weather! It got almost to 90 degrees this Wednesday. I kind of regretted my wish for a hot summer. The best part of this is living somewhere with a balcony. This week Eric & I have been having our morning coffee out there, as well as our evening meals. Pre-Sunset, it's pretty awful out there because the sun is shining right in your face, but that's the price you pay for some great overall exposure. Usually we eat post-Sunset so it's been more of a problem when I got out there for some happy hour or post-work relaxing.

3. Gardening! I have one hanging plant indoors (that was a drama to hang, since there is a lot of steel near the windows that you, um, can't drill through) and bought some mint last weekend (MOJITOS!!!). Eric has killed every tree-like plant that he has ever put on the balcony, so I hope to fix that this summer and make the mint survive. Since it's lower down than a tree, hopefully it won't tip over the pot, since we do get high winds that can pose a problem. All of the plants sold at delis are kind of questionable or expensive, but on Wednesday I went to the Union Square Greenmarket and saw tons of indoor/outdoor plants for sale. I am going on a shopping spree!!! Hoping for an aloe vera plant, some basil, and maybe one other herb.

4. CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture). Eric & I joined. It will be for 22 weeks, I think, which comes out to $15 or so a week, for organic fresh veggies that we have to pick up on Thursdays from 5-8. Neither of us is crazy about having to be free at a specific time once a week, but hopefully it will work out and we can make friends who can pick up the produce for us in a jam. I am looking forward to GOOD tomatoes, and not those awful pink ones. Hopefully this will make us eat more veggies, too, and be more healthy. Last night I improv'ed this awesome veggie dish (1 zucchini + 1 tomato + 3 cloves of garlic in the last minute + fresh basil, wilted in the pan for a little less than a minute after that) and it was sooo good and made me get excited about vegetables. I liked the mix, so much more interesting to the palate than sauteed broccoli. Amazing accompaniment to salmon.

This weekend we plan to take the ferry to IKEA in Red Hook, and hopefully we can cart out the awful dresser we replaced a couple weeks ago. Hurray for the weekend!