What I've Been Eating

 

The month is drawing to a close, and I wanted to check in and let you know what I've been up to, since that category does not include updating this blog, heh. The crocuses above have come and gone, and now we're firmly in daffodil season. I've even had my first iced coffee of the year!



I also made a truly spectacular meatloaf, which we ate for a week and weren't tired of. In fact, I kind of want to make it again right now.



I made this perfectly fine vegetable paella, though I cobbled it together from several recipes and I seem to have missed a step somewhere, because my soccarat was not very crispy. Will have to try again soon, I think. I want to get paella right, since it's so versatile. This time around I did learn that greens are not the best addition, the arugula I used burnt on the bottom before the rice did.



We went up to Maine last weekend to escape the madness in Boston, after having spent Friday locked in our house, frantically updating twitter and hoping for some resolution to the city's fear. My dad took us to Fishbones in Lewiston where we had a darn tasty appetizer of lobster and brie inside puff pastry, served with blueberry preserves.



Oh and last night I made this excellent salad using CSA radishes (even the leaves! I love that), plus some guilt-laden cherry tomatoes and mini cukes from the supermarket. I know I should try to hold out for summer veg, but it's starting to warm up here and I am totally over storage crops at this point.



This weekend we'll start planting in the garden - just potatoes and greens, saving the rest until we get back from our vacation in early May - and grill some hot dogs since the weather looks positively dreamy. We might hit 70 on Sunday! So, what have you been eating?

Dreaming of spring while the snow falls: Kitchen Garden Farm Share

So it's snowing again. I can't even tell you how profoundly unamused I am by this fact. Here's my walk to work this morning:

Note the lack of shoveling. I genuinely wished I had a pair of snow shoes. We're supposed to have dinner tonight with one of Adam's cousins, who is allegedly flying in around 4. It's 11 now and it's still coming down hard, so we'll see. I was perusing some old draft posts and saw these photos from last year's spring treat* CSA share and I thought I'd share them in case you, too, wanted to remember what spring/summer looks like.



 First spring treat share: onions, spinach, potatoes, cabbage, eggs, lettuce mix and parsley. Some silly fool put a cabbage in the swap box, and I traded a jar of jam for it since I have a lot of jam.


Spring treat share: green garlic, harukei turnips, popcorn, Four Star Farms cornmeal, eggs, chili flakes, spinach and tea.


Spring treat share: spinach, eggs, sunchokes, radishes, chives, shallots, scallions, asparagus and Sidehill Farm Yogurt.


Final spring treat share: two heads of lettuce, white russian kale, bok choy, radishes, lettuce mix, eggs and an entire quart (!) of strawberries.


First summer share: radishes, spinach, butterhead lettuce, swiss chard and garlic scapes (woo!).

*Our CSA share is with Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland, MA; in past years we've purchased a "spring treat share" as well as the summer and early fall shares. This year they switched it up to a summer and a winter share, and we've been enjoying excellent produce from them all winter long - onions, garlic, winter squash, lots of sweet and regular potatoes, herbs and greens. Pickups are every two weeks until June, but alas, I don't get to do the picking up - we're signed up for a downtown pickup near where Adam works, and I work too far away and too late on Wednesdays. I'm hoping to be able to photograph some of our shares again this summer, but often my very kind husband has already put them away by the time I get home... and I'm lazy. If you're looking for a CSA with pickup options in Boston and various parts of Cambridge, I strongly encourage you to check out The Kitchen Garden - the produce is great and they are excellent communicators. And it's almost spring! Please?