Me and my box: Adventures with vegetables

A change in directon

2011-06-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-03-02T23:07:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-09T01:06:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

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.

14 October box

2010-10-24T22:04:00.000-07:00

Um, there was a box. There was stuff in it.

During the summer I try to bring the box up from the bottom of the stairs in the morning when it arrives so that anything temperature sensitive doesn't suffer, but that means there isn't really time to set up a photo. We're definitely not a morning household so I just grab the big bag of green stuff, stuff it in the fridge and head out the door to work. Unfortunately this does not make for good blog posts. Also the newsletter got mixed up in the recycling somewhere…

So from memory: fingerling potatoes - yum. Small peppers - also yum. Lettuces and and spinich - great, but more than we could use before they started to rot. Tomatoes - oops, kind of forgot about them, and they looked like good ones too. Apples - Yay! Green beans - still in the fridge, looking ok. One enormous onion.

Homemade vermouth

2010-10-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

While in D.C. over the 4th of July weekend I went to PX, one of those needs-a-password speakeasy style cocktail bars, which was fun. Especially once we got a seat at the bar itself and could talk to the bartender about making the perfect Old Fashioned. But the drink that stood out to me at the time was their Manhattan—I was drinking a lot of Manhattans around that time but this one was different. Different as in better. And I decided it was probably because they used homemade rather than commercial vermouth.

I have a home, so technically I could make homemade vermouth too. Some googling revealed that vermouth is basically white wine infused with a bunch of interesting botanicals, fortified with some brandy and, for sweet vermouth, some carmalised sugar. Every recipe seemed to have a different list of interesting herbs, many of which I'd never heard of, so I wrote down a combined list of about 20 or so and set off to see what I could actually get my hands on. This proved to be easier than I thought as the local health-food store actually had a self-serve section with many dried herbs. Half an hour later I had about a dozen little baggies of herbs and a $10 bottle of wine.

The recipe I used was basically this one. Once it was cooled and strained back into the wine bottle we put it to the test head to head with the Noilly Prat in a couple of Manhattans. The homemade was definitely smoother although I think the taste still needed improvement. But the fact that half the bottle was gone by the next morning would indicate that it was by no means bad…

Belated update

2010-08-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know. And you probably won't get another one for at least another couple of weeks either.

So what's been going on in the world of veg boxes? Boxes have arrived, some cooking has been done, photos weren't taken and blog posts weren't written. And a load of fruit was composted.

So what kind of happened is that I wouldn't realise it was box day until I was leaving for work on a weekday morning then see the box on the way out, run upstairs with it and throw anything perishable looking in the fridge. Now that they throw everything green into one giant plastic bag it's pretty easy. But that does mean that taking a nice photo of it means digging stuff back out of the fridge, so that tends not to happen.

Also, stone fruit and lots of it. Which is a good thing, except I'm finding it difficult to get to eating it. I love eating fruit at work. When I worked in London we had fruit bowls around the place and I would eat 2-3 pieces of fruit a day. At my current work we don't have any of that, so I try to bring fruit in but it's bizarrely difficult. I cycle in so anything soft gets easily mushed. The best I've done is buying bags of apples to take to work. But of course I don't leave myself enough time in the morning to stop at the store and buy them. Yes, I'm making this needlessly difficult for myself and I need to fix it.

Tomatoes: finally, tomato season is here! We didn't go to the Capay tomato-fest this year, and it almost looked like there'd be no tomatoes ready for it anyway, but we're getting plenty in the box at the moment. Although not so many heirlooms and more generic tomatoes, which is disappointing. They're all been getting made into bolognese, which is my new favourite 'lazy but I have time' dish. And last box we got some bizarre tomatoes; they seem like a cross between tomatoes and peppers. I'd take a picture but…

…my camera is in Greece. Along with my wife. So I haven't been doing any cooking the last couple of weeks beyond bachelor-mode stir-fry veg with rice or stir-fry veg with noodles. And I won't be updating for another couple of weeks because I'm flying to Greece on Saturday morning ;)

July 7 box

2010-07-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry—no photo this week. But we have:

Red Flame Grapes
Seasonal Melon
Yellow Peaches
Strawberries
Mixed Squash
Nantes Carrots
Tomatoes
Green Beans
Cucumber
Grapefruit
Basil

Pretty good box all in all. Especially the huge bag of squash. Also most of it will last a good few days so no panic to try and use lots of stuff on Wednesday and Thursday this time.

We've been cooking a fair bit this week; Cior made an tasty tabouli (we got lamb bones from Falletti's for the broth), we had some of their sausages too and I stir fried a bunch of squash last night.

June 23 Box

2010-06-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

Fantastic box:

Red Flame Grapes
Watermelon
Cherries
Chard
Yellow Corn
Yellow Nectarines
Nantes Carrots (2 bunches)
Gypsy peppers
Romaine Hearts (2)
Avocado
Misc squashes

The contents differed somewhat from what the newsletter says is in it—no tomatoes, but the avocado and squash are extra. The 'seasonal melon' looks like a watermelon to me.

Dinner tonight was roast veg (carrots, squash, peppers from the box, asparagus and zucchini from the fridge). We were going to go to the August Briggs dinner at Zazie tonight, but since we had dinner at Zazie on Monday and have half a case of

August Briggs wine kicking around the house we decided to pass. Plus we had a great dinner up at the winery just over a month ago.

Also I took this picture yesterday but was too lazy to blog it. God I love asparagus.

June 9 box

2010-06-10T23:31:00.000-07:00

We have:

Yellow Peaches
Honeydew melon
Strawberries
Blueberries
Red Plums
Baby Broccoli
Cauliflower
Nantes Carrots
Gypsy Peppers
Romaine Hearts
Dandelion Greens
Jewel Sweet Potatoes

I will, I will, I will use those sweet potatoes. The carrots are way better than last time too.

Dandelion greens? Huh? I may have to resort to the recipes on the newsletter for those.

What got composted from the last box? Alas quite a lot, as we didn't cook at home for about three days after it came. Corn, chard, lettuce, all too far gone by the time i came to try and use them. The melon sat for a while until I finally got around to having some for breakfast but it was a bit rancid. And those apricots spoiled fast too. Must try harder.

Already used half the cauliflower, so that's a start ;)

May 26 box

2010-05-27T09:26:00.001-07:00

We have:

Valencia Orange
White Peaches
Strawberries
Apricots (two bags worth)
Asparagus
Yellow Corn
Broccoli
Green Chard
Green Leaf Lettuce
Canteloupe Melon
Rosemary
Yellow Onion (huge)

Looks like it's stone fruit season. I'd started seeing peaches in the store but not at in-season prices yet. Also I just bought strawberries.

Let's look in the fridge and take post-mortem on the last box. We've been cooking at home a lot, but still didn't use everything. Broccoli is still there—oops. I like broccoli but Cior doesn't so much so I tend not to use it. Sweet potatoes—alas I prefer regular potatoes so don't have many ideas for these. And those carrots didn't last a day, they were to bendy to even think about using by Friday.

Time versus effort

2010-05-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

The Crockpot, exciting purchase of the holidays, didn't get a lot of use but I've been busting it out again the past couple of weekends when we've mostly been home during the day and are up and organised early enough to set it off.

I've been making a simple beef stew based on one of the recipes in the instruction booklet; a couple of pounds of stewing beef, an onion, potatoes (from the box) carrots, salt, pepper, bay leaves, parsley and a cup of cheap red wine and then leave it for 5–6 hours. It's absolutely delicious and apart from a bit of chopping the throwing it in the pot in the morning takes zero effort.

We tried a whole chicken once which was nice but a bit of a tight fit and I was worried about it cooking fully all the way through (cue much poking with the meat thermometer). It was tasty but the way it disintegrated meant quite a bit of poking around to remove bones and other unsavory pieces. Next time I do chicken I think I'll use some cut pieces such as thighs.

Bread

2010-05-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

One of my Christmas presents was a special treat; after unwrapping random items including a pizza peel and a baking stone it was revealed that I was to receive a baking lesson from Danny at Sour Flour.

I love bread. I can quite happily consume a whole loaf at a single sitting. My favourite has been the sweet batard from Acme Bread; I tend not to like wholeflour breads or breads with additives (walnuts etc.) as much as a really good simple loaf.

So I've tried baking bread a few times before, not really with a recipe but more just aping what I saw friends do when they baked and I've never been much impressed with the results. So given the chance to actually sit down and learn to do it properly I was all for it.

You can research Sour Flour yourselves, but basically Danny gave up his job to bake bread and give it away. I know, it's a San Francisco thing. He came round to our house just after New Year to walk me through baking bread. Although he offered to host I though it would be good to learn in my own kitchen since that's where I'm going to be baking.

He came armed with flour, a starter, and miscellaneous hardware. While we plied him with leftover New Year sparkling wine he walked me though baking a couple of baguettes. We worked out the hydration formula, mixed started, flour, water and salt (using my crappy scales), left it to proof in the bathroom (with the shower running, to accelerate things), shaped it, left it again, then baked it.

Baking was fun. Trying to recreate the environment of a commercial bread oven in a home cooker involves using a baking stone and a cast iron skillet, cranking the oven as high as it will go (545°F) and letting the stone preheat for a while. Then it's all action for a minute—get the bread on the peel, get it off the peel onto the stone and throw a cup of water into the skillet to blast into steam and then slam the door shut before too much heat escapes.

We'd rushed the bread, but it was ok. And Danny left me some starter to cultivate on my own. But now I'm on my own; update to come…

May 12 Box

2010-05-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Back to box blogging! This one looks pretty good:

Navel oranges
Strawberries
Grapefruit
Eureka lemon
Fava beans
Broccoli
Zucchini
Cabbage
Nantes carrots
Iceberg lettuce
Celery hearts
Klamath pearl potatoes

Hmm, that lettuce has seen better days. And the carrots feel slightly less than fresh out of the ground. But four avocados—awesome! And I like fava beans but never actually cooked them myself before; hope I don't get favism!

Also today I managed to hit the Haight farmers market after work. There still seemed to be a fair amount of produce left even though I didn't get there until 6:45. However having received the capay box this morning I didn't feel the need to actually buy anything…

Back to schedule

2010-04-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

For a while we switched to the mostly fruit box—too many squashes piling up. But once we had an entire pyramid of oranges in the fruit bowl I decided to switch back to the regular box, still every two weeks, and it came this morning.

Unfortunately I totally forgot to take a picture until it was all put away, but it's a good one. Four big fat zucchinis, two cucumbers, bag of mushrooms, bunch of carrots, couple of lemons, couple of avocados, broccoli, strawberries—all good stuff.

Okonomiyaki

2010-01-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

Quite excited to read the newsletter in the latest box and see a recipe for Okonomiyaki—a Japanese pancake/omelette type dish. Having just come back from a week in Japan and having no other immediate use for all the cabbage in the box I made it. The recipe is basically cabbage and leeks coated in egg and flour then fried; the similarity with Okonomiyaki I've had in Japan or restaurants here is slim but that probably because I didn't smother it in mayonnaise, sauce and dried fish flakes—it was still pretty tasty though and I think I'll make it again.

Other than that the box was more squash, greens, bok choy, oranges and pears.

Pizza 2

2009-12-29T16:07:00.000-08:00

Homemade dough this time, and thinner. Topping is Gruyère, onions and peppers. It was good.

Pizza

2009-12-27T14:48:00.001-08:00

For reasons that will be explained in a later post we now have a pizza stone and a peel. So we thought we'd make pizza with bag of TJ's pizza dough. Stone in the oven as high as it would go, put some tomato sauce, gruyere, peppers, onions and sliced sausage on the dough then plopped it on the stone for about eight minutes and it came out really good.

We should have been more liberal with the flour since the pizza stuck to the peel, and then the stone. And next time we might try using just half the dough to get a thinner crust.

Xmas 2009

2009-12-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

With the way Christmas falls this year I'm in the very fortunate position of having almost a whole week and a half off, which means lots of eating. Things I intended to do: more baking, try things that take a bit longer or that I've not done before, eat a ton of cheese, and I bought a slow cooker. Then on Christmas Eve we spent $300 in Trader Joe's (much of that on booze) and prepared to settle in.

The slow cooker is fun—I've just tried it once so far, a simple beef stew with a pack of stewing beef from Trader Joe's just to get a feel for using it and the timings. The recipe included with the machine said to sear the beef first with flour, salt and pepper. This ended up leaving most of the flour and salt stuck to the bottom of the pan, so a fair bit of salt needed added later. Then we cooked it for six hours on low—it smelled great but when we tried it the beef was still a bit tough. After a couple of cooking on high and then some more on low while we went out it was much better. But alas we'd had to eat something else so it went in the fridge. So I learned I need to cook it longer/hotter than I thought.

We've been eating out a bit (House of Prime Rib on Christmas Eve!) so the food is piling up and the CSA box has seen little action. But I'm home all next week while Cior is working so we'll work on that…

Homemade pesto

2009-09-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I wrote here—the boxes are still coming every two weeks just we haven't really been cooking that much. We're getting married in a couple of weeks so things have been a little hectic and it was birthday last week too so I don't think we prepared food at home for about a week. And this time of year is not my favourite for what's in season so the boxes have been leaving me a little uninspired.

But on Friday evening I took a bunch of basil I'd bought Monday and made pesto, which is super easy and tasty. The recipe is from the Alice Waters book and is basically a bunch of basil, a clove of garlic, ¼ cup of toasted pine nuts, ¼ cup of parmesan and a ½ cup of olive oil. Alice really wants you to mash it all up with a mortar and pestle but I quickly found mine was too

small so transferred it all to the food processor. And when I reached for the olive oil I found I only had about ¼ cup left so I made up the difference with peanut oil and then added some butter for good measure.

I boiled some linguine, sautéed a zucchini and mixed it all up. There was a whole load of pesto-y butter left at the bottom of the pan so we poured it into a bowl and put it in the fridge. It makes a great pesto butter for spreading on toast the next day.

Osso bucco

2009-08-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

So not really a box story as we're all out of box veg right now and no more until Wednesday, but Cioremailed me in the middle of the day—do you want to make Osso Bucco? I didn't know what it is so I had to google it, I guess it has become more of a fixture in American-Italian cuisine than British-Italian. My Dean & Deluca recipe book was well into it too. But veal sounded good so I agreed to pick up the ingredients on the way home.

It was fun to make, and flouring and frying big chunks of veal was a kick—it looked amazing. The end result was good but the meat perhaps a little chewy; maybe the cuts were too thick? I assume it was good meat as I trust Falletti with all other meats—who knows. But this is all part of the a learning experience we've set ourselves; we want to get to know the different parts of meat we eat and how to prepare them. Maybe we'll try it again sometime.

Beignets

2009-08-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

No box report last week—we did get a box, but I was away in New Orleans for the week so I didn't photograph or report it. But Cior said it was good, and some of it is still left (tomatoes again).

I brought back a pack of Beignet mix and we tried it out on Sunday; Pretty tasty. I think we made them a little smaller than is convention, and the first batch to hit the pan were probably too thick so we re-rolled the dough. Still got half the box left which will be fun for this weekend—then I need to try making them from scratch.

Capay Tomato Tasting

2009-08-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we drove up to the Capay farm for their heirloom tomato tasting festival. It was beautiful up there, especially compared to the dreary weather we've been having in the city. We got there at 5pm just as they were starting, and managed to get a spot in the shade as the sun was still quite high in the sky.

There was beer, music, tomatoes a plenty and a lovely atmosphere. One thing we screwed up was not taking any food of our own—we kind of expected there to be more picnicy foods available for purchase. Instead there was a stall of farm produce and a food vendor with corn, soft tacos and yummy popsicles, but none quite substantial enough for dinner. But at least there was at many tomatoes as you could eat.

I took the self-guided tour around part of the farm, which was fun—nice to see your dinner out in the wild. I think we'd like to go again next year, better prepared with food and maybe even camping out to avoid having to drive home the same evening.

There are more photos.

22 July Box

2009-07-23T21:39:00.001-07:00

You'd never know it was summer here, it's so cold and foggy right now. But what's growing in the valley where I don't doubt it's hot and sunny?

Cherries
Cameo Apples
Yellow Nectarines
Globe Eggplant
Mixed Squash (zucchini in this case)
Gypsy Peppers
Broccoli
Heirloom Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Spearmint
Nantes Carrots
Yellow Onions (look red to me)

The apples are huge and delicious. I'm up to my knees in cherries, having just bought a big bag the night before—I'm unable to walk past the huge pile of cherries outside the Haight grocery without buying more every time. I take a big bag into my work meetings to pass around. The eggplant I'm not sure what to do with—I'm not a big fan of eggplant and my previous attempts to roast it have just ended up a big rubbery chunks.

Seeing the tomatoes and other things that would need to be used in the next day or two (carrots, zucchini) I immediately decided to make bolognese again. We'd intended to try using pork rather than beef this time, but I accidentally picked up lamb (prepacked it all looks the same, and I was looking as the labels on the shelf rather than the packs). I worked out pretty well though, imparting a nice meaty flavour to everything. And we made a massive pot so we both had it for dinner, lunch the next day and Cior had what was left for dinner tonight. So that was an onion, half the carrots, half the peppers, most of the zucchini and all the tomatoes, augmented with some yellow squash I had left over, muchrooms, tomato puree, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a bunch of basil.

One last thing—on Saturday we're going to Capay farm to see where all these lovely noms come from!

Quick'n'Easy: Fried rice

2009-07-13T20:22:00.001-07:00

I get pretty bored of the canteen at work so one thing I like to do is to make a very quick fried rice in the morning to take with me for lunch. It's a great way to use up odds'n'sods that are left in the fridge; the only prerequisite is that you have some old rice—we quite often have a left over portion or two from ordering takeout. Boiling new rice takes too long and doesn't work very well anyway; it needs to dry out a bit first.

Here's this morning's:

Sauté half a red onion in some butter (and salt)
Add two thinly sliced carrots and a diced squash (and more salt)
When it's looking good, throw in the rice. My rice is usually solidified into the shape of the takeaway container at this point, so I need to break it down a bit with a spoon.
Once the rice is mixed in, crack an egg into it and mix that in. Once the egg is mixed int, turn of the heat, keep stirring it for a little bit and then let it cool down a little before putting it into a container to take to work.

Step two is where you can chop up anything you have lying around and throw it in. My rice had a few peas in it too, which was an added bonus.

8 July Box

2009-07-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

Catching up again. This week we have:

Bing Cherries
Yellow Nectarines
Black Plums
Summer Squash
Broccoli
Green Beans
White Corn
Cucumber
Romaine Lettuce
Basil
Nantes Carrots

Quite a good haul. I made a creamy alfredo-style pasta with squash and carrots and a side salad with some of the lettuce and cucumber. We've been coming down with cherries and nectarines since I've also been buying them at the store, but we're getting through them—they're great for summer cocktails and I take a bag of cherries with me for my 2+ hour Friday afternoon meetings at work that we all munch through. We've decided that fruit goes in the fridge whether it's good for it or not; if it's left out it's starting to rot and gather flies after barely a day at the moment.

Corn is gathering in the bottom of the fridge—I'm going to have to take it all out and grill it soon. The broccoli was mostly stalk, which is not my favourite. And I think I may even try the recipe on from the Capay newsletter for spicy green beans this evening.

Capay Tomato Tasting?

2009-06-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry no update on last week's box—we got home on Wednesday and got into a big discussion about whether we were cooking at home or going out drinking and eating, decided we were going out and then abruptly changed our mind and threw half the box into a huge pot of bolognese. It was delicious.

But the newsletter included in the box announced a tomato tasting and picnic at the Capay farm; we've been thinking of taking a trip up there and this seems like the perfect opportunity. Saturday 25th July—anyone in the bay area interested in going, or carpooling? Details here.

Bolognese

2009-06-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

Haven't been doing too well with the current box; but remembered that there was a bag of tomatoes still sitting on the shelf from it and decided to make a bolognese.

Chop up an onion and a carrot (and salt & pepper) to make a mirepoix with some olive oil in a big pot; I know I should use celery too, but I don't really like it, had just thrown out a big wilting bunch of it and wasn't buying another bunch just to use one stalk. Mix in one pound of minced beef until browned, then added two zucchini, three large mushrooms, one green pepper (and more salt & pepper). Open bag of tomatoes to find two are rotting—never mind, I have a tin of chopped tomatoes in the cupboard, so add that to the two good ones and a tin of tomato paste. Then a couple of bay leaves and some fresh basil, and let it simmer for a good long while.

It was pretty good, even though I forgot to add garlic and one of the chile peppers from the box. The side salad was half an avocado because I was lazy…

27 May Box

2009-05-27T23:15:00.000-07:00

Woo! New Box! We have:

Yellow Doll Watermelon
Braeburn Apples
Strawberries
Dandelion Greens
Gypsy Peppers
Heirloom Tomatoes
Lettuce
Rosemary
Spring onions
Nantes carrots

Dandelion greens? What the hell do I do with those? I guess I make 'spicy dandelion greens' from the recipe included in the box...
Those strawberries are already looking rough, and are going to have to be used today or chucked. Straight into cocktails with those suckers! Strawberries, lime, sugar & gin = strawberry gimlet.

Ciaran vs. Contessa

2009-05-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

Cior is a big fan of the Barefoot Contessa baking mixes. I'm less enthusiastic since I mainly see them as an expensive way to buy flour and sugar, but we picked up the chocolate cupcake box a couple of weeks ago to make birthday cupcakes for our friend/lodger/adoptive son. About a week after his birthday we finally got around to making them.

The first thing we discovered—the Contessa must have some seriously large cake tins. I have a bog-standard Ikea muffin tin that makes 12, and after following the instructions to 2/3 fill each one we still had about 1/3 of the mixture left. So of course we overfilled the pan and then licked the rest out of the bowl, raw eggs be damned.

Second thing, the Contessa likes butter—A lot. One stick in the cakes, two in the frosting (which there was also far too much of).

What I discovered was that cupcakes aren't muffins—overfill the pan and you end up with cakes burning before the middle is cooked and it's hard to get them out of the tin. And it is an expensive way to make cupcakes if you use Clark Summit eggs ($8/dozen) and Strauss Creamery butter ($8/pound). It's tough being a San Francisco yuppie.

Leftovers

2009-04-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

What to do with the strawberries before they go totally off? Muddle them up with lime, simple syrup and Bacardi. Ta da! A strawberry daquiri!

Also leftover (strangely) grilled ribeye's from an improptu BBQ on Sunday (after spending rather too long in the Alembic). A friend rather overindulged and had to be taken home, leaving us with two extra steaks. I chopped one up, sauted with onion, carrots, basil, mint, egg, lime and a little rice vinegar (i.e. whatever I could find in the fridge) and served with some udon. Was pretty tasty.

Done pretty well with this box in general. The oranges are great. Half the potatoes had to go (guess I shouldn't keep them in the plastic bag) and I think some of the salad greens are done but I'm afraid to look too closely. Full post-mortem tomorrow.

15 April box

2009-04-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

More winter veg and citrus. Forgot to put the old box out again, so they're piling up in the kitchen (makes the cats very happy). We have:

Braeburn apples
Valencia oranges
Strawberries
Blood oranges
Green chard
Baby Lettuce
Sugar snap peas
Yukon potatoes
Cilantro
Nantes carrots
Yellow onions
Red onions

The onions are huge, and the carrots so small and cute! Had dinner over at Kezar tonight, but will cook in earnest tomorrow night for sure!

Compost death watch

2009-04-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

So I promised to do this for a while—show what didn't get used in the end. Box day and garbage pickup day happen to coincide, so Tuesday night is an excellent time to clear out the fridge. Plus I just got back from the SPUR blogging panel and decided my own little blog needed some love.

It looks worse than it really is this week because we had friends over for dinner last Sunday and had bought quite a lot of stuff ($170 in Falletti's—oops), so not much of what's rotting here is from the box itself. And there was a couple of lemons I found rotting in the corner after I took the picture; I'm going to turn the rest into cocktails forthwith.

18 March box

2009-03-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

I love these winter boxes. This week we have:

Navel Oranges
Pink Lady Apples
Eureka Lemons
Pea Shoots
Asparagus
Chard
Romaine Lettuce
Spearmint
Norland Potatoes
Yellow Onions
Collard Greens (substitution for celery)

What didn't make it from the last box? Sadly, the artichokes; I love artichokes but left it too long to use them.

The bad news on this box is that the day it arrived I was also having oral surgery to have a dental implant put it, so I didn't expect to be eating much for a couple of days. But the implant was remarkably pain free, and apart from being careful not to disturb my stitches I'm eating pretty much normally now—I just have to avoid particularly sharp or crunchy things.

Last night I sautéed up the the collard greens (or was it the chard? I get those mixed up) with an onion and some other stuff lying around in the fridge and had it with rice and one of the romaine. Yum.

Not sure what to do with the pea shoots though.

2009-03-04T22:44:00.001-08:00

Sorry, it's been a while, but we're going to get back into this I swear! This week we got:

Baby fennel
Gold Blush Apples
Collard Greens
Radicchio di Treviso
Tangelos (some kind of orange, as far as I can tell)
Nantes Carrots
Yukon Potatoes
Dino Kale
Broccoli
Eureka Lemons
White Mushrooms

Yum. We thought a good idea to force ourselves into making better use of the box would be to also post what got thrown out from each box when the new one comes in. Maybe in two weeks I'll do that, and shame myself into eating more kale.
Also we're going to make a concerted effort to cook at home on the Wednesday night when the box comes so we can use the stuff that goes off quickly. Tonight we cooked up the collard greens, some carrrot, mushroom and red onion from the last box with andouille sausage and an egg on top of udon noodles, and it was delicious. And I'm about to saute up some more with some of the brocolli to take to work tomorrow with the leftover noodles.

22 Dec box

2008-12-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

Arrived a couple of days early due to Christmas, and looks like a good one. We have:

Kale
Chard
Oranges
Lemons
Leeks
Pears
Fennel
Brussels Sprouts
Lettuce

A good haul to get us through Christmas! The oranges and already getting used in cocktails in my new cocktail glasses. We also have a ton of cheese, a bunch of sausages and a shedload of booze. I think we're going to make it.

Home for the holidays

2008-12-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

For once we're actually going to be at home for Christmas which means for a week or more we're going to have to feed ourselves and also our friend who is staying for the holidays. The cupboards were pretty much bare after a couple of weeks of eating out a lot so this rainy Sunday I took a city carshare down to Falletti's and loaded up with a couple of hundred dollars worth of groceries. Of course a couple of hundred dollars barely fills your basket there, but I was looking for the various staples we'd run out of and will be handy to have over the next couple of weeks. And I got a rack of lamb for dinner.

zomg it was delicious, and well worth every penny of the $40 it cost. Using a recipe from my very underused Dean & DeLuca cookbook I seared it first in a sauté pan, rubbed some olive oil, mustard and thyme on it (because I have no fresh herbs) then cooked it in the over for about 20 minutes. I sautéed some brussels sprouts and leeks in the left over fat and boiled some potatoes.

I think it was a little underdone but tasted amazing regardless, especially the ends. And like a moron I just accidentally deleted the pictures.

10 December box

2008-12-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

Wow—it really is citrus season. This box seems at first glance to be almost entirely oranges!

Navel Oranges
Satsuma Mandarins
Meyer Lemon
Fennel
Radicchio
Carnival Squash
Baby Lettuce
Leeks
Dino Kale
Pink Lady Apples

Turkey leftovers

2008-12-09T20:50:00.001-08:00

There were a lot of turkey sandwiches, turkey quesadillas and just plain old turkey eaten straight out of the fridge. But probably the best was sautéing up some of the dark meat with the collard greens, chard and leek from the box and having it with some pasta (from a delivery place). Ate half of it one evening and took the other half to work for lunch the next day.

Turkey

2008-12-02T21:33:00.000-08:00

Not from the box; rather a gift from my employer. We went out for lunch on T-day so actually roasted this on Sunday and since nobody wanted to sit down to yet another traditional dinner we just cut some meat off to make turkey fajitas instead.

26 November box

2008-11-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Thanksgiving—alas we're not cooking at home today, but I do have a turkey in the fridge (a gift from my employer) that we'll cook up probably on Sunday. And I got a new camera! Anyway, on to the box:

Fuyu Persimmons
Chard
Beets
Collaard Greens
Bok Choy
Butternut Squash
Jonagold Apples
Leeks
Sweet Potatoes
Cranberries
Meyer Lemons

Mostly good stuff. Cranberries I'm not really sure what to do with and I still have the bag from the last box, so we fobbed them off on a friend to take to her parents' thanksgiving dinner. Persimmons are new—I've never had them before. We called our good friend Camper to see if he had any cocktails suggestions for using them. The best we've found is a recipe from Square One Vodka but it involves preparing a puree. Maybe I'll do that over the weekend.

Minimal update

2008-11-18T23:11:00.001-08:00

So yes, we got another box last Wednesday, but my camera is broken (it fell in the Pacific) and I'm working 60 hour weeks with little time to cook so I didn't have much to say about it. I think I've already recycled the info sheet telling me what's what. So what I remember:

Broccoli—I actually love broccoli but my girlfriend doesn't, so finding something to do with it is hard.
Greens—two bunches of collard-like greens.
Leeks—awesome. I love leeks.
A rooty green thing—fennel?
Radishes—never in my life have I known what to do with radishes. I think it's one of the things my parents didn't like so it never really entered my world.
Apples and Pears—yummy work snacks.
Cranberries—seriously?

The only cooking that's happened recently has been grilled cheese sandwiches and a carbonara I made last night but I don't think it used anything from the box. I'll try harder, I promise ;)

Belated update

2008-11-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

We got another box, but I got home late on Wednesday and didn't really have a chance to take a picture before putting what needed to go in the fridge in the fridge and then going to bed. But there were potatoes, pears, apples, radishes, chilli peppers, mushrooms and some greens. The mushrooms and a chilli went into a creamy pasta sauce the other night, the fruit will go for snacking and the rest is still awaiting use. The greens look more like the salt and steam the hell out of them variety than salad greens.

Oh, and another pumpkin—I think we have three now. I don't really like pumpkin so all we've managed to do so far is attempt to carve on of them at the last minute on Halloween. Lacking a good carving tool (only scary sharp kitchen knives) it all went predictably wrong and we ended up with a pumpkin full of holes.

Cannelloni

2008-10-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

Decided I really wanted to cook tonight, and I probably won't cook at home again until Sunday due to weekend parties—so I decided to make a spinach and ricotta cannelloni, something I really liked when I was a kid. I was always torn between ordering a meat lasagne or a veggie lasagne in restaurants as I love them both.I think the only thing from the veg box in this is an onion. Oh, and the salad. I had to buy a bunch of stuff

in the Haight market, but it felt good to buy stuff in there on the way home and actually use most of it rather than having it sit around the kitchen.

The result worked out better than I expected, but tasted a little bland. I think it needs a lot more salt, and probably a bit more of everything except dairy. But I am going to try this one again.

Oct 15 Box dinner

2008-10-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Success! Sautéd zucchini, squash gratin, arugula, lettuce and tomato in a tarragon mustard vinaigrette.

Oct 15 box

2008-10-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

Our first every fortnight box—and it's great! Lots of vegetables and fruit, all stuff we like and useful too! We have:

Tomatoes
Arugula
Potatoes
Butternut squash (x2)
Onions
Zucchini
Lettuce
Bartlett pears
Red pears
Gala apples

Pears and apples are coming to work with me for snacks. One of the squashes is in the oven right now as a gratin. Then I'm going to sauté some of the zucchini and make a salad with some of the arugula, lettuce and tomato. It's the first time I've really cooked anything at home for a while and I'm feeling good about it.

Yet again I forgot to leave the previous box out to be picked up (actually I slept in and they'd already delivered by the time I went out) so they're piling up on top of the fridge, the only place where they're safe from the cats.

Admitting defeat

2008-10-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

No update last week—because there was no box last week. We finally admitted to ourselves that a box a week was too much, surrounding ourselves in rotting fruit and veg that we have to throw out before the house fills with little flies. Sorry Capay—we weren't good enough for you.

So for the moment I've reduced it to a box every two weeks (which is what they recommend for a couple anyway) and I'll just drag my lazy arse to the store if I need any more. And I know this week's box is already sitting downstairs…

Back on track

2008-10-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've been very very lazy. But I'm determined to get back on track with this now…

The last few boxes have been pretty fruit heavy which hasn't given me a lot to cook with. So we fell back on lazy ways, and now have a small stockpile of melons, grapes and pears. The melons are getting bad—I think we have four now, and they're not very ripe either.

We also got a lot of peppers, which were great. Many omelettes were made with them, and I forgot to photograph them all. In fact this very evening I made a stir-fry with peppers, onions and green beans all from the box and again I forgot to take a picture.

But on to this week's box—we have:

Tomatoes (regular, not heirloom)
Cherry tomatoes
Radishes
Crimson grapes
Yellow onions
Baby lettuce
Acorn squash
Gala apples
Starkrimson pears
Butterball potatoes

Tomatoes and onions can always be used. It's a shame we're onto regular tomatoes, because the heirlooms were great. Potatoes are a win too, and apples and pears I'm taking to work to snack on. Crimson grapes are a different variety from what we've had the last few weeks—they're big and look good but not too flavourful.

Radishes and the squash I have no idea what to do with yet.

Box #8

2008-09-04T19:33:00.001-07:00

Got to eat more melon. Alas they haven't been that ripe, and are stacking up. What else have we got?

Heirloom tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Basil
Peppers
Crimson Grapes
Bok Choy
Musk melon
Asian pears
Green beans

We've been pretty slack with the cooking but I'm going to get back into it, hopefully starting tonight when I intend to put some of the beans, peppers and bok choy into a stir fry.

Box #7

2008-08-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the half-arsed picture, but it's been a long day. I didn't get home until after 9pm and some of the cherry tomatoes and grapes had already been nibbled by the time I got around to taking the picture.

so this week we have:

Heirloom tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Basil
Peppers
Grapes
Melon
Lettuce
Figs
Green beans

A pretty decent box, I think. Still not sure what to do with all the figs, but tomatoes and basil are always a hit. And now I have two huge melons in the fridge—I like to have some melon for breakfast but keep skipping it in my hurry to get out the door in the mornings.

Drink it all away

2008-08-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

What to do with all this fruit? Make cocktails of course!

Sunday evening began with me turning one of the peaches into a peach daiquiri. By Monday morning all the peaches and all but one of the pears were gone and we weren't quite sure what happened.

Japanese curry

2008-08-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

Back when I used to get a weekly vegetable delivery in London and the veg was piling up at the end of the week my trick was to make a Japanese curry. Just get some curry cubes from the Japanese store round the corner, chop and boil up all your veg or 20 minutes (usually I had a lot of cabbage, carrots and potatoes left), add the curry cubes then simmer for another 20 minutes while you make some rice. Viola—simple meal and all your leftover veg disposed of.

So on Thursday I repeated the trick but I think I over salted the water when I boiled the veg, as one bowl was all I could stand.

Box #6

2008-08-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I missed one—I was down in LA, and although Cior has a picture on her camera I didn't get it off there yet.

This week however we have lots of fruit:

Tomatoes (2lb)
Cherry tomatoes
Peppers
Peaches
Grapes
Melon
Pears
Arugula

This looks like it'll be an easy box to dispatch—practically nothing needs cooked, it's almost all snackable foods. Alas no herbs. And when it's all out on the table it looks like less than the usual haul.

Box #4

2008-08-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

Another Wednesday, another box!

Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Eggplant
Basil
Sweet peppers
Peaches
Grapes
Squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Pears

The cherry tomatoes are delicious—we've eaten most of them already. The sheet in the box says 1.5 lbs of tomatoes, but I count, um, one. Admittedly it's big (and green), but it's still a single tomato. We cut a little slice off it to taste and it tastes almost like a pepper, with a very crisp skin.

Wednesday night is now turning into panic cooking of whatever's leftover from last week's box to clear space for this weeks. I roasted the other eggplant from last week, but Cior was late home and it looked pretty unappetising after being out of the oven for two hours.

Instead I cooked up the zucchini, a pepper and some snap peas and two different sauces; a pesto with the basil that's piling up, and a creamy goat cheese sauce (that actually turned out a wee bit bland).

Slacking

2008-08-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Ate out Thursday night, take-out on Thursday and Sunday—what are we going to do with all these vegetables? Actually it's not so bad, especially considering we had two boxes worth.

The cleaner put the tomatoes in the fridge (which we now know is a no-no) and by the time we took them out and they'd sat around for a bit they were pretty sorry-looking. Into the compost they went.

Over the weekend I looked through Alice Waters' Simple Food for easy veg recipes. I have to say I love that book. So the purple cauliflower and the chard got fried up with some onion, and it was pretty good.

We're slowly making our way through the fruit, trying to avoid a fruit fly infestation in the kitchen. The plums are very good and we've been incorporating various things into cocktails, with varying degrees of success.

Box #3

2008-07-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

Another Wednesday, another box. Capay must have been reading about my disloyalty, because this week's box is fantastic. We have:

Basil
Cherry tomatoes
Snap peas
Eggplant
Plums
Gypsy peppers
Peaches
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Lettuce

So a decent amount of fruit. Love the basil—keep it coming. Peas! Yum. Cucumbers! Including a little itsy-bitsy super tasty one.

For dinner I made a salad with a lot of the greens that we had in the fridge (the mixed greens from yesterday's guerrilla box were really good) and some of the cherry tomatoes, and roasted one of the eggplant with some crutons and a courgette (zucchini to you americans) that I found at work (people bring in produce from their gardens and leave it in the kitchen.)

A challenger appears

2008-07-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

After two weeks of the Capay box, we were wondering if we might be able to get a bit more variety (more fruit would be nice in particular); obviously with most of it coming from the same farm it's going to be pretty similar week to week. So I ordered a single box from Guerrilla Organics, which arrived yesterday. It contained:

Bag of mixed greens
Head of romaine
Red cabbage
Radishes
Red cauliflower
Celery
Two (large) carrots
Three Bananas
Red potatoes (not sure what variety)
Lemons
Chard
Grapefruit
Two plums

So not actually a bad selection or quantity. The extra fruit is a boon, and the potatoes are cool. I hate celery, but I deliberately didn't specify not to get it on the order to see if I did. And lo I did. Maybe it'll go in some soup or something else where I won't have to taste it.
But a Cior said, it kind of looks like they picked a bunch of stuff up in the grocery store; which is maybe too surprising since as I understand it they buy stuff from a bunch of suppliers. With another Capay box coming today we're going to be drowning in produce so we're going to stick with just the weekly Capay box for now. But box itself met approval from the official box inspectors—interesting waxy finish and a good smell.
For dinner I broiled the left over rib-eye from Sunday (when we had a cookout—more squash and carrots used, corn cooked but ultimately not eaten) with more squash and some of the red potatoes. The potatoes are good. The fridge is now overflowing with lettuce.

Wednesday cooking party

2008-07-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

Now knowing that some stuff needs to be used pretty soon after we get it, and also knowing that we won't be cooking on Thursday night (going to see Batman) we had something of a cooking frenzy with this week's box.
First up, more tomato sauce. Half the carrots went into the mirepoix then all three tomatos plus some canned ones into the sauce with the basil, and left it to cook all evening. We weren't planning on eating it that night, rather having it ready for use during the week. This morning I cooked some spaghetti and we both took some to work for lunch.
I'd bought some lamb at Falletti's on the way home, rib and non-rib chops. The intent was to grill them out in the yard with some veg (carrots and squash) but when I got there I found the propane tank was empty, so we broiled them instead. Pretty good, the ribs being the better of the chops. The limited size of the broiler means there's still two sliced squashes in the fridge.
Cior hollowed out the pears and stuffed them with a mix of cheese we had in the fridge and breadcrumbs. There was some generic soft goat cheese, about a third of a Mt Tam, some crumbled blue cheese and a little of the basil. The breadcrumbs were a mix of some really old crutons and those artificial ones from a tube. Once the pears were stuffed we had a lot of left over stuffing, so I ran out to the store and bought one of those big penis-shaped squashes which we cut in half and stuffed with what was left.
The pears were delicious and the squash, which we plan to eat tonight, also looks good.

Box # 2

2008-07-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

We have:

2 lbs Squash
1 bunch Basil
1 bunch Carrots
1.5 lbs Krimson Pears
1.5 lbs Flame Grapes
0.5 lbs Gypsy Peppers
1 Cantaloupe
1 bunch Kale
2lbs Heirloom Tomatoes
1 Lettuce

So, more squash (yay!). The basil smelled great. And it's nice to have more fruit.

But, more kale, which will again probably wilt before we use it. And another melon to go in the fridge. And that is definitely not 2 lbs of tomatoes.

We spent almost the whole evening cooking, which will be the subject of the next post.

Postmortem: Box #1

2008-07-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday morning, and the next box arrives today. So how did the last one fare?
We still have:

One squash
All the corn
Most of the canteloupe

The Kale went in the compost bin on Sunday, as did most of the lettuce. I guess we need to use the greens early, and it didn't help that we already had two lettuces. I really don't know what to do with the corn, as neither of us like it that much.

Mirepoix -- is not a lie!

2008-07-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Chop some carrots and squash, an onion, a few peppers and some parsley. Throw those mushy tomatoes in a food processor with a pinch of tomato powder and paste. Work it. Add noodles. You'll swear there's some sausage at play. Still, totally veg. The products will be all over your face, your shirt and the surrounding room—it's that tasty.

Mirepoix as a base is the best way to go, for sauces, soups and pretty much every other Franco-Italian persuasion your kitchen might prefer.

Photo to follow...

Breakfast

2008-07-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

Used one of the peppers and most of the rest of the mushrooms in omelettes this morning. Cior ate one of the tomatoes. Half the cantaloupe is gone—tried to incorporate some into a cocktail, but it didn't really work, possibly due to lack of citrus (would be nice to get some of that in the box, is hard to get limes around here at non-ridiculous prices) and use of coconut rum (need to get another costco-sized bottle of Bacardi).

Carrots are looking a little sad, as are new potatoes I bought at the farmers market last weekend. Not really sure what to do with all the cord (neither of us are big fans of corn-on-the-cob),

Box No 1!

2008-07-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

The first box arrived!

What we've got:

Summer Squash
Carrots
Gypsy Peppers
Heirloom Tomatoes
Corn
Mushrooms
Lettuce
Canteloupe

So it's looking good; there's a decent amount of stuff in there, and nothing totally left field that I've never heard of before. The quality looks ok—one of the ears of corn was a bit fusty at the end so I cut it off, but the rest looks good.

So what to do with it all? I already have a canteloupe in the fridge, so I need to make sure I eat that; I'm trying to remember to eat some every day for breakfast before I leave for work. I also have a bunch of tomatoes in the fridge already, so maybe we have a big sauce or salsa coming up. But it's all pretty easy to cook, which fits in with the plan of eating at home in the evenings since we're not going to be doing anything involved or complicated.

For tonight we had a couple of rib-eye steaks in the fridge which I picked up at the farmers market on Saturday and were needing eaten, so took them out back and grilled them with some squash, carrots and mushrooms. The veg were really good, the steaks ok—I'd actually been expecting great things from this Marin grass fed beef, but the rib-eyes from the butcher counter at Fallettis tasted better.

We ate them perched on the couch in front of Project Runway, like morons.

Choosing a box

2008-07-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

I first decided to sign up to a box after a trip to the Ferry Building and picking up the leaflet at the Farm Fresh To You store (Capay farm). But rather than signing up immediately I decided to do a bit of research first into the alternatives. Initial googling provided daunting lists of farms and delivery schemes but when I actually sat down to analyse the choices it narrowed down pretty fast.
The basic requirement was home delivery in San Francisco, rather than picking up from a designated place. We're just to busy (read disorganised) to make a weekly pickup. Internet searches and asking around led to this shortlist:

Two Small Farms and Eatwell managed to disqualify themselves by being closed to new subscribers (popular!). That left FFTY and Guerilla Organics. FFTY looks like it's a big operation, with it's Ferry Building store and glossy leaflets, and Guerilla Organics isn't a farm itself but rather buys and then delivers local produce. It would be nice to support a smaller local farm, but if they're already oversubscribed, what can I do.
Having looked at the sites for both, and realising that this isn't a long term commitment, I entered by credit card number on the FFTY site for a regular box every week. We can always change it, and maybe I'll get a Guerilla Organics box one week just to see how they compare.
First box arrives next Wednesday!

Let's begin

2008-07-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

When I lived in London I subscribed to a box scheme (which is what we call the CSA type things) for a while - it was pretty good, although we were always left with one mystery vegetable at the end of the week that we didn't know what to do with.
Now in San Francisco I want to try it again, as part of an effort to eat better, eat cheaper and to cook more at home rather than eating out or ordering in. So I've bought a copy of '>Alice Waters' new book and signed up to a weekly box. The idea of this blog is to record what we get and what we do with it.