Foraging
The only times I've ventured out of the house this weekend have been to search for food. Really. Yesterday I spent most of the day crocheting; then we went to the CSA and to Whole Foods. This morning I walked to the farmer's market to get apples, and then stopped off at our neighborhood bodega to get a couple things I'd forgotten at Whole Foods or that WF doesn't carry -- like diet Coke.
This was the first time I'd been to the big farmer's market under the expressway all summer. It was a revelation. Being part of the CSA has been interesting, but we're not planning on renewing our membership. As I've said before, I like the way it has made me stretch to find recipes for things we don't typically eat -- garlic scapes are the best example, but I've also eaten more squash (butternut and delicata) in the last month than I'd probably eaten in the preceding five years. Yesterday I put up another batch of green tomato pickles, and today I'm going to attempt a green tomato salsa, because how many pickles can we realistically eat? Plus we have all these chili peppers. I've been putting them in Ziploc bags and throwing them in the freezer, because I don't know what to do with them. So that's been fun. And I like what the CSA stands for, and being part of that. But the abundance of the farmer's market -- and the idea that I could get anything I wanted, in whatever quantities I wanted -- was overwhelming. I only bought a few things, because we have a fridge full of CSA stuff to eat, but wow. I was realizing that I could totally live on farmer's market food. There are potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash for your starches, someone was even selling fresh field peas and lima beans, and of course there's ever kind of fruit and vegetable you could want. It would be a lot of work and I would complain about the prep time, but how much fun would it be to eat only from the farmer's market for, say, a week? You could even get bread if you insisted, and coffee.
Then I went to Eddie's (the bodega) and understood what everyone has been talking about re: higher food prices. A bag of dried split peas that should have cost 50 cents was literally five times that much. So much for eating vegan being cheap. I didn't buy any -- if I want to pay $2.50 a pound for dried beans, I'll go to WF and get snazzy French lentils or at the very least I'll buy organic. Give me a break.
Food projects for today:
Dilly mashed potatoes -- finally got more silken tofu at WF last night! Had it for dinner and it's going to be lunch tomorrow, too
Something beany with green beans and kale -- I'm thinking a red lentil soup with berbere
For dinner maybe we'll eat bok choy with teriyaki sauce
Put some black beans to soak I'll cook these tomorrow night
Green tomato salsa -- this is going to be an unvention. I looked at some recipes on line last night, and I think I'm ready to go.
If I have the energy, bake some cookies for the No On 8 phone bank Tuesday. I have a feeling we are going to need cookies. I bought chocolate chips and everything.
The rest of this is going to have to wait. I have another turkey to crochet.
This was the first time I'd been to the big farmer's market under the expressway all summer. It was a revelation. Being part of the CSA has been interesting, but we're not planning on renewing our membership. As I've said before, I like the way it has made me stretch to find recipes for things we don't typically eat -- garlic scapes are the best example, but I've also eaten more squash (butternut and delicata) in the last month than I'd probably eaten in the preceding five years. Yesterday I put up another batch of green tomato pickles, and today I'm going to attempt a green tomato salsa, because how many pickles can we realistically eat? Plus we have all these chili peppers. I've been putting them in Ziploc bags and throwing them in the freezer, because I don't know what to do with them. So that's been fun. And I like what the CSA stands for, and being part of that. But the abundance of the farmer's market -- and the idea that I could get anything I wanted, in whatever quantities I wanted -- was overwhelming. I only bought a few things, because we have a fridge full of CSA stuff to eat, but wow. I was realizing that I could totally live on farmer's market food. There are potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash for your starches, someone was even selling fresh field peas and lima beans, and of course there's ever kind of fruit and vegetable you could want. It would be a lot of work and I would complain about the prep time, but how much fun would it be to eat only from the farmer's market for, say, a week? You could even get bread if you insisted, and coffee.
Then I went to Eddie's (the bodega) and understood what everyone has been talking about re: higher food prices. A bag of dried split peas that should have cost 50 cents was literally five times that much. So much for eating vegan being cheap. I didn't buy any -- if I want to pay $2.50 a pound for dried beans, I'll go to WF and get snazzy French lentils or at the very least I'll buy organic. Give me a break.
Food projects for today:
Dilly mashed potatoes -- finally got more silken tofu at WF last night! Had it for dinner and it's going to be lunch tomorrow, too
Something beany with green beans and kale -- I'm thinking a red lentil soup with berbere
For dinner maybe we'll eat bok choy with teriyaki sauce
Put some black beans to soak I'll cook these tomorrow night
Green tomato salsa -- this is going to be an unvention. I looked at some recipes on line last night, and I think I'm ready to go.
If I have the energy, bake some cookies for the No On 8 phone bank Tuesday. I have a feeling we are going to need cookies. I bought chocolate chips and everything.
The rest of this is going to have to wait. I have another turkey to crochet.