Heirloom tomatoes

are EVERYWHERE.



So everywhere in fact, that everyone is giving them away from free because they are growing sooo many and can't possibly eat them all.

Someday, this is a problem I hope to have.

Yesterday at market I bought three different kinds. One of them--the striped green one--I just ate as if it were an apple. Didn't even need any salt. It was that good. The two cherokee purples were also amazing. I got five tomatoes for $2.


I'm in the *process* of cleaning my room and trying to pack my stuff. It's a mess. Who knew I still had notebooks from not only Ancient History (2002-2003) but also journals I kept in 1995? I'm trying to throw away lots of stuff, but it's hard for me when I know someone else could use it somewhere. On the plus side, I realized I have three _enormous_ boxes of books for my future apartment, wherever that ends up being. So many "coffee table" books. They will have to go out on a rotating basis. Anyway...


Here's a picture of the meal I made last week. The crust did not rise very much, alas. But the family inhaled it, so I guess it was good!

Farmers Market

Living at home, where some of my food is purchased for me and other foods are not, makes my food purchasing a little more difficult. Ergo, if I buy organic half and half, it will get used up, but if I buy vegetables, they often go to waste, because I'm the only one eating them/often come home with the intention of eating them and instead find some delicious food already on the table.

That's what happened with the bunch of kale I brought home- only half of it became kale chips because there was already good corn on the cob to be had. Then the second half went limp the second day. Sad times.


I also made and roasted purple-yellow-orange carrots, and blue potatoes, which were starchier than I had expected, but when thinly sliced were an exact replicla of the Terra Blues that you buy in the store or get for free on a JetBlue flight (are they still doing that?)

My list of future to-make dishes include a tomato gratin from Ina Garten, a zucchini-ricotta galette from Smitten Kitchen, and oh yeah, some vegan corn dogs from SuperVegan. I probably have the weirdest food preferences "Cheap/organic/whole dishes, and also vegan junk food. Oh, and coffee. But only the good kind, like an americano that is perfect with just a little soymilk."

Anyway, I cannot wait to see the food scene in California. I hope there are really year round farmers markets??

Blueberries, etc.

There's a family down the road that has a U-Pick blueberry stand. One of the great things about this area is that I called them on a Sunday afternoon to ask if I could pick berries, and even though they weren't technically open they said yes.


Then I went and picked like 10 lbs and didn't have enough cash and they were totally fine with it.





They had these two adorable children - ages 3 and 5- who accompanied us to the berry field and chatted up a storm.

Later, I made blueberry "galette". It's not the most beautiful thing in the world, but it does have a stick of butter in it, so it was GOOD.



Galette pre-baking.





It's kind of funny because everyone has been mentioning where they got cheap blueberries in town (I can think of three separate occasions where this happened) and I just think to myself, "HAH! I got mine for $3.50/lb, not $2 a pint..." But I don't share, because not everyone lives 10 minutes away from blueberry bushes, and that would make them sad. We still have two huge bags in the freezer. If I start eating oatmeal in the AM again, I'll use them.

Another new thing I tried was making foods with coconut milk. I made a coconut curry, I guess, using curry powder. But I added too much and the second tablespoon didn't really dissolve which made the dish grainy. There could have been a greater depth of flavor.



Speaking of depth of flavor I also made macaroni and cheese following an alton brown recipe to the letter. I'm not sure if it was the bay leaf, the powdered mustard, or the paprika, but OH MY WORD that was addicting.

Right now I'm making no-knead bread to go with the oodles of local hummus that I have in the fridge. I also just need to buy more vegetables which I haven't.

struggles, or, 10 things I made during my first 10 days here

my stupid camera (or should i say, stupid iphoto) deleted all the pics from my memory card. now i have to debate buying stupid data recovery software so that i can retrieve my pics from work and from the food that i've made.

Which I figure I might as well recap, photos or no photos.

1. Roti & Aloo Paratha
The mystery of Indian cooking is being slowly lifted, thanks to the amazing Manjula of Manjula's Kitchen. She has everything on her website from breads to cheeses to dals, along with a glossary of less-common spices, and videos to accompany every recipe. And it's all vegetarian!!! So I tried to make roti, somwhat successfully, and then Aloo Paratha, less successfully, but I still ended up eating them all. I even bought the Paula Deen french rolling pin from WalMart (shoot me, ok? It looked nice) but my rolling skills are still not up to par. Do I really need the silpat baking mat like hse has??? Anyway my problem was that the potato mixture wasn't uniform enough so when I rolled out the parathas, the potato came through, and so then the bread didn't rise. But the combination of potato, cilantro, cumin seed and jalapeno is AMAZING and will certainly be replicated before the summer is out.

2. coconut lentil soup- I got this recipe from the new vegetarian cookbook, which is beautifully laid out and everything in it looks accessible. Although I followed the recipe to the word, it wasn't quite the flavor explosion I was expecting. The french lentils were interesting (and only cost 80 c at Greenlife) but I think I like the creamier soups better. This was just like lentils in a sauce that failed to thicken....

3. Grilled pizza. An epic win. Next time I won't use the no-knead pizza dough, since it got EVERYWHERE and could barely make it onto the grill, but the smokiness from the grill is not to be missed. I wouldn't call what i had a pizza per se, more like a flatbread with amazing toppings, but whatever.

4. East Coast Coffee Cake from Vegan Brunch: I added a ripe banana and some frozen blueberries to the mix, and cut out a few tablespoons of sugar. WOW. WOW. It was ADDICTING. So good. The banana was so subtle. And so good. I'm glad my family ate most of it so that I didn't go overboard with it. Will make again. And probably bring to staff meeting.... (although then it would get all over the carpet...anyway.)

5. Classic sandwich bread from veg. cooking for everyone & classic 100% whole wheat bread from king arthur flour
Got to say the white bread came out way better. Rose a lot higher, and didn't taste doughy the next day which is usually my problem with all whole-wheat bread. I really don't know how earth fare does it. Their whole wheat walnut is AMAZING. Maybe the secret is really the kitchenaid mixer.....unclear.

6. Tabbouleh with farmers market roasted beets- this was good. Roasted beets are amazzzzzzzing and there's no other flavor like it. Do not, however, prepare while in white clothing.

7. Lettuce wraps- Ashley and her husband made this yesterday at the KCM and I'm addicted. Veggies sauteed in a sweet/savory soy sauce, wrapped in crunchy deliciousness, sprinkled with tamari almonds. It's foods like these that make me ask- who needs bread? really?

8. Fried tempeh- someone was giving out sample at the market and I popped one of these oil-bathed beauties into my mouth (I believe it was adzuki bean flavor?) It made the yearly "I'm gonna try making tempeh and this time make it right!" lightbulb in my head turn on.

9. Parsley pesto- Made it with nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil. Goes well on almost everything I eat. More like a paste than a sauce, but soooooOOOOOOoooo good.

10. Nutritional yeast on popcorn- never gets old.

That's all, Pics later if I feel up to it.