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. 

Week 12, Box 12

I don't know if it's because we are between growing seasons a little bit, but the box has been kinda scarce lately. Maybe I am just spoiled from when I got all of The Rabbi's share while he was on vacation, but still, this week's box was a little depressing. Oh and I'm starting to get overrun by peppers again.

Week 4 Box 4

Yesterday  my worst nightmare occurred: I got stuck in traffic.

On a normal day my commute back and forth from my job is 20 minutes. On a fantastic day I can do it in 15. Yesterday it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get home. I tried multiple routes, all had traffic. I sat at the world's worst planned intersection for a total of 5 light cycles and then sat in more traffic all the while calling and complaining at The Husband. I get terribly whiny when I get stuck in traffic.

Thank goodness for The Husband who loves me and  was patiently waiting for my arrival with more Garlic Scape Pesto, a bottle of Prosecco left over from our wedding night and the contents of this week's Box.  That and a pound and a 1/2 of mozzarella from the Italian Deli who always gives you a 1/4 to 1/2 pound more mozzarella then you ask for... and charges you for it (not that you would complain, the stuff is delicious).

I broke into the Prosecco before I addressed the contents of the The Box.

(Doesn't it look like a face?)

Introduction

The Husband and I, being happy go lucky newlyweds who love to cook, decided that we were going to invest in a CSA Farm Box. OK, maybe it was more like I decided I wanted a Farm Box.  I had had the privilege of consuming some of the amazing foods my BFF Becky created from her box the year before, and it looked like fun and simple enough. So when I heard that my MIL's temple had a Farm Share with Catalapa Ridge Farm I made a deal to split a weekly box with my MIL and convinced The Husband that this was a great idea.  In fairness to Former-Me, it seemed like a really good idea at the time.

Anyway, we received our first box last night and as The Husband laid out the contents before me:

• 1 Cucumber recognizable in shape and form, thank heaven
• 1 heirloom tomato, big and fat and glorious
• 1 bunch of red lettuce
• Onions with the greens still attached
• Rosemary
• Rhubarb
• Green Garlic
• Elephant Garlic Scapes

 I had a minor freak out. 

Now, in fairness to this first box, it wasn't much and the first five items I recognized easily enough but the last three items were totally new to me. What the HECK was I going to do???  The Husband MAY have laughed at me as I frantically began searching the net to figure out proper storage of the above items, and chomping into a random items to try and determine what manner of green they were. After exhausting The Google Machine and experiencing the worst garlic breath I've ever had,  I resorted to picking up the phone and calling the one person whose fault this really was: Becky's. 

That conversation went like this:

• Becky: Hello lovely
• Me: This is all your fault
• Becky: What?
• Me: I did something because I was inspired by you and now I have no idea what to do.
• Becky: What?
• Me: I bought a Farm Box and now I have Rhubarb sitting on my kitchen table and some other veg I don't recognize and YOU ... YOU MADE IT LOOK SO EASY.
• Becky: ::Laughter::

It took a bit to calm me down but with promises to provide me with recipes and resources Becky got my panic under control and, to her relief, got me off the phone.

I created this blog to document my adventures with the Farm Box. I'm sure this will be filled with lots of recipes that will most certainly go wrong and some that will go right. Inevitably some items will be deemed inedible by The Husband and others spoil in the fridge forgotten. But hopefully by the end of this year I will no longer panic when the box walks in the door. That is my goal and I'm sticking to it.

Now please excuse me, I have to go do more research on Rhubarb and Garlic Scapes.