A change in directon

Ok, I give up.

We cancelled the box a couple of months ago. Too much stuff was ending up in the compost bin and it was too unpredictable as to whether we'd be eating at home on any given evening; it was time to take break. That's not to say we'll not restart it sometime.

Also the local shopping landscape has changed in our neighbourhood; there's a weekly farmers market two blocks from my house and a Whole Foods opened in the neighbourhood which has in turn encouraged the local independent market to up their game by doubling in size and adding a butcher, deli and fish counter.

And our eating patterns are changing. We're both pretty tired of take out so we're actually eating out slightly more but also cooking at home more, but shopping in the neighbourhood for what we cook. It's very easy for me to stop at the store on the way home for ingredients so we can have fresh stuff every day rather then using the dregs of a biweekly box. Also we're unabashed meat eaters and the box didn't really help with that whereas I now have two decent butchers within walking distance.

So the direction of this blog will be changing. I do want to post more home cooked meals. There's going to be more meat, and we're already working through some experimentation with all the different cuts that are available. Something else I'm going to address is food cost; it's all very well for white middle class San Franciscans like me to blog about our organic dinners but but I thought it would be interesting to talk about how I actually shop and what we actually spend on food.

Stay tuned!

2 Mar Box (+ catching up)

It's been a while. After getting back from vacation we were variously laid down with flu and other ailments, I was on my own for a while, some veg rotted. Then we had a lot of cauliflower and it mostly got turned into gratin, which was great. And now I finally catch up; we're drowning in oranges though. This week:

• Gala Apples
• Murcott Tangerines
• Kent Mangoes
• Kale
• Collard Greens
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Leaf Lettuce
• Garnet Yams

5 Jan Box

I just got back from vacation the night before so a box of Capay goodness was a welcome sight the next morning. We have:

• Anjou Pears
• Gala Apples
• Minneola Tangelos
• Leeks
• Red Kale
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Leaf Lettuce
• Radicchio
• Yellow Onion

I'm on my own for a week, but I think I can still find use for all of this. Although I'm not sure about the butternut squash from weeks ago that is still sitting on top of the fridge, along with the pumpkin fished out of the bay about two months ago…

Another CSA

The veg box delivery is great but for a while I've also been thinking of getting involved in a more meat-oriented CSA. I do like to eat meat, but have been making a lot of effort to make sure I'm buying good meat; fortunately in San Francisco that's not that hard, but getting into a CSA would be even cooler.

I googled around a bit, found quite a few that didn't really work for me (like Marin Sun Farms) and decided to try Soul Food Farms: Chickens and eggs, only a $100 commitment and a reasonably convenient pickup location.

Once a month I can choose what I want online (one whole chicken and a dozen eggs in my case) and then pick it up a few days later on the way home. It's not cheap (working out at around $30 per order) but I like the regularity of it—ordinarily I might roast chicken two times a year but we really like it and even better we can use the carcasses to make stock, which is something we do use a lot of.

Is it worth it? I don't know. It does a have a high feel-good factor (poultry is one thing where I look at the options in the store and don't have much idea what the labels mean for the animals' welfare, e.g. organic vs. free range from the same supplier). And not having to commit to a regular monthly order means I'll probably top up my balance with $100 every so often and then order as I feel like it.

8 December box

So we skipped a box for being out of town over thanksgiving. On to today…

First of all I forgot we got a box today so I bought some veg on the way home intending to make a risotto. Then I forgot that Cior was going out tonight so I would only be feeding myself. So I just emptied the bag of spinach that has been sitting in the fridge into a bowl with some mustard dressing and ate that for dinner. But in the box:

• Satsumas (lots)
• 2 pears
• Navel oranges
• Leeks
• Carrots
• Chard
• Dino Kale
• Red Cabbage
• Butternut squash
• Baby mixed lettuces
• Radicchio

Winter veg is here again! Roll on Brussels Sprouts!

10 November box

I've been shamed into making the effort to unpack the box and take a photograph, so here we go:

• Persimmons
• Fuji Apples
• Red Delicious Apples
• Butternut Squash
• Leeks
• Spinach
• Green Beans (subbed for Kale)
• Carrots
• Romaine Lettuce
• Radicchio
• Bell Peppers
• Cilantro
• Yellow Onion

The squash is not in the picture—it's in the oven, baking, before being stuffed with curried minced beef and minty goat yogurt. Those leeks are huge! There was supposed to be celery hearts but since they are on our blacklist they've presumably subbed something else, but I can't work out what.

A good thing about taking everything out to take the photo is that it makes me unpack all the greens from the big plastic bag they come in soI don't just throw the bag in the fridge and let it all rot together…

Pork Ragù al Maialino

Do you ever read the recipe columns in the Sunday paper, idly thinking about how someday you might make that? Me too.

But today we actually did it (a first for me). About a month after reading about Pork Ragù al Maialino in the NY Times magazine I actually got my act together to do it (which means thinking about it at least a day before.)

It starts with a pork shoulder. I'm always learning about meat cuts so it was interesting to go to the butcher and discover that 'butt' is the same thing (or so they told me). The recipe says 'bone in', but this piece seemed to only have a tiny bit of bone in it. And the direction to remove the skin was unclear; is the fat skin? Or am I looking for some hairy skin? And season to taste? That's easy to say.

In retrospect I over-salted it a little and should have cut off more of the fat.

But that aside it was fairy easy to follow and the result was spectacular—so fucking tasty. Don't skip on the arugula as it completes the dish very nicely. This is going in the repertoire for Sunday afternoons.