Week 3 Box 3

The Husband and I went on our annual pilgrimage to Cape Cod this weekend to celebrate the 4th with his side of the family. We drove up Thursday night literally in the first band of rain and wind from Hurricane Arthur. It was terrifying. Everyone around us was driving at 35mph on the highway with their hazards blinking. There weren't even that many people on the road but the wind and the rain was so intense, I spent at least 2 hours of the drive trying to convince The Husband that it was time for us to find a hotel room and hunker down. He remained unconvinced and we made it up there in a respectable 5.5hrs.  An hour better then last year when I drove myself up in basically bumper to bumper traffic. I am starting to think The Cape doesn't want me.

Friday, Hurricane Arthur passed over us in our sleep and we awoke to beautiful weather with temps in the high 70's and low humidity. Are you Jealous?

Needless to say I didn't  cook all weekend. We ate well, we drank well, I made Mojitos with the chocolate mint that came in the box last week and read my way through a really good book (The Son by Philipp Meyer - A fantastic novel about a family throughout the generations in the Texas frontier from 1800 - the present. This book comes with a MAJOR trigger warning and can be descriptively gory, but is worth the read). The vacation was exactly what I needed. We got  back late monday night to  boiling house, put the AC's on and passed out.

On Tuesday The Husband brought me home The Box. And while I was excited for it, I was exhausted and in no mood to cook. The Husband suggested a salad or something simple, but even that seemed like punishment for my tired body. So when my Father showed up with a pizza for him and my grandfather, it felt like being rescued on a white horse of sauce and cheese. Yummy. I went to bed early with a fully tummy, but don't worry I took the time to take a picture of my haul from this week. Here is what we got :

• Swiss Chard
• Collard Greens
• Fava Greens (my favorite!)
• Cucumber (big fat and happy)
• Garlic Curls (what the hell am I going to do with all of these?)
• Green Onions
• Blue Potatoes (YAY!)
• Lemon Basil 

It's nice to have some creative products to work with. The Chopped Challenge is being delivered to me on Thursday. Here is hoping it's not too difficult, but knowing The Husband... we shall see.

Week 18, Box 18 and G*d Damn It

Last week I happily looked forward to the delivery of The Box. You see it's fall, and fall means butternut squash and I had this feeling that this week The Box would contain at least one of the big fat orange veg. I went about my day with a skip in my step, researching recipes making grandiose plans and greeted The Husband joyfully at the top of the stairs eager to break into the box and start cooking away. When I saw that sly smile on his face, the one that indicates he knows he is about to bring my day to a screeching halt, my heart dropped low in my chest and with a sudden sense of foreboding. This is what the box contained with in it:

• Butternut squash
• Fava Greens
• Two decorateve Pumpkins
• three cippolini Onions
• Six apples
• Four Tomatoes 
• And wait... WTF are those black things marring up the Far right corner of The Box?

TWO TAKES

Last week I made a couple of dishes for the blog, went through the whole taking pictures process, but they seem repetitive from prior posts. So I've mushed them together for you here.

Week 13, Box 13

Last week was a disaster, not only was The Box unforgiving minimal, forcing me to work with Beets (ick), but that week, my kitchen also made the untimely decision to FALL INTO A MILLION PIECES. First the dishwasher, then the sink, and of course I was on a mini-break visiting my two very good friends and trying to get some culture/history. Meanwhile The Husband was dealing with the mess that was my kitchen appliances circa 1967. Luckily between himself and my amazing uncle, things were, for the most part, fixed by the time I got home. and BONUS, new dishwasher!!!!!!

Anyway, for what lacked in The Box last week, this week more than makes up for it. I guess you could say I have an over abundance of.... interesting:

Dinner for One

The Husband works in retail and while I am of course grateful that in this economic climate he has a job, his work schedule often requires me to eat alone. This requires a lot more ingenuity then cooking for two or more because I don't really want to use any produce that might come in handy for future meals, I don't want to dirty too many plates and I don't want to be slaving over a stove just to please little old me. In the bad old days I often fell victim to the over processed, rubbery food that was the low-calorie frozen dinner. However, since we started getting The Box every week The Husband and I have been trying to cut back on on foodstuffs that can't fairly be called "food."  So on the days when he has a late shift, I think back to my years in law school and pull those fast, easy, one person recipes I invented that allowed me to let loose some creativity and still get back to the books in a reasonable amount of time. This week, when I saw the Fava Greens beginning to wilt in their bag, I knew exactly what to do with them.

Week 11 Box 11

Let it be known that the Rabbi has returned. This of course means that I no longer get the benefit of a full and fruitful box. Ah well, I'm back to my half share and it's probably better for the environment (less veg going to rot) and for this blog (splitting the share with the MIL results in me getting the weird stuff). However, we are coming into the Fall (even though it is still August) which means the "harvest time" is coming. I'm excited for the bounty of new veg that are coming into the season. And this week The Box is starting to reflect it. Here's what we got: