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 2, Box 2 and I Want My Baby Back

This week The Box arrived with little fanfare and stuffed to the brim with mostly salad greens. That's the way it is in the early weeks, you get garlic curls and salad greens. Nothing TOO exciting. I hope things ramp up soon because as much as I love the abundance of green on my plate and in my fridge, it's extremely difficult to keep everything from wilting away before we get the chance to eat it. Let's see what we got this week:

• Red Lettuce (Went to my grandfather)
• Escarole (Also went to my grandfather)
• Turnip Green Thinnings 
• Looseleaf Chinese Cabbage
• Tomatoes
• Garlic Curls
• Herb of The Week: Basil & Chocolate Mint

The basil and chocolate mint sound interesting. Mojito's anyone?

After putting everything lovingly away I turned my attention to the dreaded basket ingredients which The Husband had the pleasure of bringing home to me. I wondered, briefly, what was in store for me. Bison? Quail eggs? Some unknown spice from the far east ::cue belly dancing music::. After my success last week I felt a little bit more confident, until I opened it up.

Week 1, Box 1, 4 Basket Ingredients....

Welcome to the spectacle everyone! Step right up and watch the disaster in progress. For Monday I received my very Farm Box of the season! A little late due to a cold and late spring but super bountiful. Of course the vast majority of this first box is salad greens, and therefore slightly un-creative, but we've got some goodies too so let's dive in!

This week's box contained the following:

1. Red Lettuce (which went to my Granddad who was thrilled to see it)
2. Green Lettuce (Ginormous) 
3. Half a Bok Choi (the other half taken by the MIL)
4. Micro Greens
5. Rhubarb
6. Two Tomatoes
7. Garlic Curls  (those curly tops of the garlic that gave me such a heart attach last year)
8. And Garlic Chives (which are neither garlic nor chives, but still yummy)

I was already making plans in my head, the Rhubarb is OBVIOUSLY being turned into Jam again because it came out so yummy last year and I know I only get it once, twice if I am lucky. Salad greens to be washed up and made into salads (Duh) and I was getting really excited about the Bok Choi when a sadistic smile on The Husband's face reminded me that in my joy in finally having my farm fresh produce back, I had forgotten something...My basket ingredients.

is that, Kiwi? Yes yes it was, and wasabi peas, AND apple chips... not to mention A WHOLE FRIGGEN CHICKEN.