Bonus CSA!

This week, in addition to my normal CSA share, I brought home armloads of fresh veggies from my friends' farm near Ithaca, NY. The summer bounty included: basil, kale, beets (with greens), red onions, zucchini, summer squash, Swiss chard, parsley, lettuce, snap peas, and a cucumber. 

Not to mention that I got to indulge in strawberries with fresh cream and blueberries with sweetened sour cream (kinda like cheese cake, minus the hard work) and a few other random berries picked from amongst the thorns.

After washing and packaging everything, I put together a simple dish that really let all the fresh flavors come through: quinoa with peas (slightly steamed), tofu (browned), zucchini and onion tops (lightly sauteed), and parsley. I dressed it with a bit of white wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. Yum!

I also sauteed the beet green stems with some butter and garlic for my morning eggs. Tonight I made use of the kale in one of my favorite, and super simple recipes. You basically just rub the kale with olive oil, lime juice and salt to soften it and then fold it into a delicious taco. I like to use corn tortillas. It went well with my favorite summer beer, Harpoon's Big Squeeze shandy.

Next up I plan to make a veggie lasagna featuring the Swiss chard, beet greens, and summer squash, as well as some red onion and basil. Also on the menu will be a beet, goat cheese and walnut salad, though my lettuce and beets appear to have frozen in my refrigerator :( And for an upcoming BBQ, I intend to recreate the delicious kale and spinach dip made by the Great Trader Joe himself.

In the share today is rainbow chard, spring onions, a bit of cilantro and some snap peas. I'm planning to saute the chard with a bit of garlic for my breakfast eggs, toss the cilantro into some corn and beans and rice, pop the snap peas in my mouth, and save the spring onions for grilling or roasting later.

CSA Time!

So I am restarting this blog as a food blog, mostly as a way to keep track of my own recipes, so I can remember what was amazing and what was just eh. I'm getting a CSA from Rustic Roots Farm, which is run by people who work at the Aquarium (I work at the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA now btw).

Three weeks ago was our first share, we got: pea shoots, radishes, and lettuce. I actually made quite a feast, but it was supplemented by my local Stop & Shop.

So, on the menu was:
1.) Radish leaf pesto - your basic pesto, but using radish greens, and adding a bit of lemon juice.

2.) Mashed chick peas with roasted radishes - I roast the chick peas in the oven in their juice with lots of garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper at a pretty high temp (between 375 and 425) for about 30 min, stirring once. I then take them out and smash them up... it turns out kind of like warm hummus, delicious! The radishes are sliced thin and sauteed in hot olive oil for a couple minutes until lightly browned. You then transfer the whole skillet to the oven (set to 475) for 5-10 min until the radishes are soft. Then remove from heat and add a bit of lemon juice.

3.) Salad - This is one of my favorite combinations and it's so green and light. Start with a bed of lettuce and spinach, top with sliced cucumbers, chopped green onions and capers. Sprinkle on some feta and sunflower seeds and dress with salt, pepper, pumpkin white balsamic and lime olive oil (sounds weird, but it's delicious). Boiled eggs are optional for added protein.

4.) Stuffed peppers - I roasted the red peppers first and they taste so much better that way! Stuffed with a mixture of quinoa, black beans, carrots, corn, onions, garlic, chipotle pepper, and cheese.

Last week we got more radishes, garlic scapes, and lettuce... didn't do too much exciting with that, but saved the radishes for this week. Today we got: arugula, sugar snap peas, garlic scapes, and STRAWBERRIES! So on the menu for tonight was arugula pesto (with a few radish greens thrown in) and a salad with lettuce, spinach, snap peas, cucumbers, garbanzo beans and cottage cheese. I also roasted the radishes and greens using the skillet/oven method above. Yum!

This all was followed by strawberry shortcake, complete with whipped cream and homemade baking powder biscuits. My Grandma would be proud (and also probably would've added more sugar). And of course, it wouldn't have been complete without an experimental cocktail: muddled strawberries with a bit of sugar, fresh squeezed lemon, melon vodka, St. Germain, and tonic. Would've been better with club soda, but I didn't have any. Still pretty tasty though.

I had a wonderful day at work today and it's been a great couple of weeks. On Monday Vina and I went Mountain View Farms to pick up Sam's farm share. Vina came up with this idea of incorporating more local foods into Sam's menu as a project for school and now we're beginning to implement it. I'm super excited. We picked up four heads of lettuce, various mixed salad greens, scallions, radishes and fresh herbs. Today I used the fresh thyme to make a delicious vinaigrette dressing, cleaned the lettuce and greens and tossed them all together. Then Vina and I came up with a salad special and sampled it. It was fantastic! And my hands still smell of thyme and fresh lettuce. It's wonderful to get fresh, local vegetables again and get creative with them.

Yesterday I took a break from work to do my own grocery shopping. On the way home I stopped by Flayvor's and tried the Hadley Grass ice cream. It was surprisingly light and delicious. I also picked up fresh asparagus and strawberries. Mmmm!

This past weekend I moved into my new/old house. I moved back to Walnut St., which is where I lived last summer, just with different roommates. It's good to be back in the house. I still love it, even though it has a bit of a different feel. I'm much more comfortable here than I was in my old place, plus it's a quick walk into town so I'm driving less.

This coming weekend Jiggle, my mixed ultimate team, has a tourney in Devens, MA. I can't wait. I think we have a lot of potential and I'm really excited for tournament play again.

I honestly didn't think that my graduate school options could keep getting better, but it seems that they do. I've now gotten into all of the schools that I applied to: UCSB, SUNY Stony Brook, Duke, and Cal. State Monterey Bay. Stony Brook was the first school I heard from and I was thrilled. Shortly after they told me about the amazing financial offer as well as being able to work with the professor (Dr. Ellen Pikitch) that I wanted and I was floating. They're hosting an accepted students weekend this coming weekend and the program sounds awesome. I will meet current students, other prospective students, my advisor as well as other prominent faculty and researchers. I also just found out that the seminar on Friday will feature Dr. Carl Safina, whose work is amazing. CSUMB was the last school I heard from and I was also very excited to get in there. The school was wonderful when I visited and I've had conversations with both of the professors I would be working with. Unfortunately, the funding is not yet guaranteed, they won't hear about grants until late summer and when I told them about my offer from Stony Brook they basically said I would be stupid to refuse it. So, it all comes down to this weekend. I hope I have not placed unfair expectations on it, but I honestly don't know what I would do if I don't like it. I find it hard to imagine that I won't given all of the great things so far, but you never know...

I've really been enjoying the spring weather, especially since I am now sans bike and must walk everywhere. I've been meaning to get my camera out and take some pictures of the beautiful sunsets and luckily remembered to on the same day I got a tour of my friend's new apartment. It's a gorgeous place on the fourth floor in downtown Noho and the views are amazing.

Tomorrow Faith, best friend from Michigan, is coming for a few days and I can't wait to show her around the valley. She's never been here in the 5 years or so I've been around (has it really been that long?) so it should be fun to be a tour guide. Also I'm taking 5 days off work so it's like a mini spring break for me.

I'm also really excited to visit Stony Brook at the end of the month. I haven't made a decision yet... I've gotten into Duke and UCSB as well as Stony Brook and am still waiting on CSU Monterey Bay, but unless it seems like a terrible place I will likely end up there, given their amazing financial offer and a professor that would be fantastic to work with.

Life Update

I'll start with the big news first (just got it about 5 min. ago) - I got into graduate school! SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island is the school I just heard back from. It's a marine science program and I would hopefully be working with Dr. Ellen Pikitch on forage fish. Of all the schools, it's the only one I haven't visited, so I'll have to plan a trip soon. I have no idea what I'm going to do if I get into all the schools, but at least now I know I'll have somewhere to go in the fall. Hopefully I will hear back from the other schools (UCSB, Cal. St. Monterey Bay, Duke) soon.

On to the rest of my life, which I must warn you, is much less exciting. I'm in my new apartment, which I like a lot. My room is cozy and I finally have a mattress to go on the bed frame, so I'm sleeping a lot better. My housemates are nice and I've been spending some time with Sadie. She joined Paul and I for our weekly Heroes night. (Meg, come watch Heroes with us!) The neighborhood is nice, I guess you could kinda call it the suburbs of Northampton. But there are old houses and trees and yards. I have about a 1.5 mile bike to work, which will be fine come spring, but right now it's either been bitterly cold or super slushy. I'm not actually ready for spring yet, I think we need a couple more good snows first. We had some a couple days ago, but it promptly melted. Not that the warm days have completely done in the thick layer of crusty ice and snow that is covering everything.

Work is good, but stressful. I'm back at Sam's. Who knew managing a pizza shop would be stressful? I'm working six days a week, so that's part of it. Also, there is just a lot of disorganization there and I'm trying to get things to run more efficiently as well as deal with all the other employees (some of whom are my friends and have worked there much longer than me) who haven't had a manager before.

Then there's my calculus class, which totally confused me the first couple weeks and now just slightly confuses me. It's been 5 years since my Calc I class in high school so it's taking a while to come back, not to mention that it's a Hampshire Class so it's about learning "ideas" and not formulas... slightly different from AP calc. I think it's Mon., Wed., Fri. at 9am that's really killing me.

On a tangent, (I learned about those in Calculus, thanks Kelly) I just made the most deliciousl oven fries: slice potatoes into whatever shape your heart desires, toss with olive oil, salt, black pepper and curry powder, bake at 400 for awhile, turning once. I dipped them in plain yoghurt mixed with curry powder and salt. Curry is my new favorite spice.

That's enough of an update for now. I don't get cell phone reception at my house, but call and leave me a message and I'll get back to you when I have bars.