Monday, January 23, 2012

Lauryn in the kitchen - CSA craziness

In December, I went to a fundraiser for the SF bike coalition. There was a silent auction and I bid on a 4 box, trial membership for a local organic CSA. And I won! After reading up on the farm and the CSA, I decided to do a bi-weekly subscription for our trial membership. I picked up our first box on January 5 and it was huge!

CSA box that I carried down Potrero Hill to our apartment
Veggies and fruits unloaded from the box - turnips and greens, leeks, red cabbage, broccoli, romanesco, spinach, collards, bok choy, pink lady apples, and mandarin oranges

My goal was to use everything in it before we got our second box. I was almost successful. We made the collards the night we got the second box and we still haven't used the broccoli. We ended up with 9 dinners and numerous lunch leftovers. Here are the snapshots of what we ended up doing with all of these amazing veggies. Feel free to comment if you would like a recipe.

Sauteed turnip greens on the first night, with white rice and teriyaki tofu

Roasted turnips, carrots and onion, with curried lentils and mixed grains

Potato and leek soup, need I say more :)

Sauteed spinach, with acorn squash and roasted seeds

Udon noodle soup with bok choy and leeks (required us to buy the most items not stocked in our kitchen)

Roasted romanesco just out of the oven


Roasted romanesco covered in olive dressing, with mac&cheese and spicy veggie protein nuggets

Indian spiced red cabbage and peas, with fancy white rice and naan (most surprisingly good dish from an internet found recipe)

Sauteed collard greens with nutritional yeast, with curried lentils and mixed grains and veggie dog
Veggie I would most recommend picking up from the grocery store - romanesco. Neither Martin nor I had eaten romanesco before and we were impressed. Just roasting it in the oven with a little olive oil, salt and pepper made a delicious dish.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Moments from January 2011

Mushrooms peaking out of the ground in the Interior Park Belt

Looking up at the eucalyptus trees in the Interior Park Belt

Another perspective on the eucalyptus trees

On top of Twin Peaks at sunset

On top of Potrero Hill looking back at the Mission & Twin Peaks

He's going to eat my brainz

He's either smiling or sneezing; I'm not sure which

See Dick and Jane?

Close up of some winter berries on the south side of Potrero Hill

We had some beautiful, warm, sunny days

Study #1 of Martin and abandoned chair

Did you say dragon?

Monday, August 9, 2010

Martin in black & white, Ansel Adams style, except that we were at Castle Rock State Park, not Yosemite.

Yosemite is still on the to-do list.

Monday, August 2, 2010

A bountiful harvest from the farm.

Yesterday, Martin and I bicycled to Alamany Farm, an urban, working, organic farm that is run and maintained by volunteers here in San Francisco. We planted parsley, weeded, wheel-barrowed compost, weeded, played darwin with beets, picked blackberries, pulled beans, weeded, hoed for potatoes and watered freshly planted brocoli plants. Did I mention that we weeded? Actually, I found weeding quite enjoyable as I have long believed that I am much better at killing plants than growing them. In my life, I have managed to over water cacti and under-water just about every other type of house plant.

After almost 5 hours of work, we gathered with the rest of the volunteers and coordinators to share in the harvest for the day. With dirt under our nails, we ate blackberries and chatted about the food and farm as people loaded up bags of fresh veggies and fruit. We took home a lot of lettuce, some spicy greens for salad, a few potatoes, a cucumber, beans, strawberries, a huge squash and some plum-like fruits. Such a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Such a nice way for Martin and me to spend the 4th anniversary of the day we met.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Sunday Sunday Someday!

the SF skyline from Buena Vista park after some serious playing around in iphoto.

Some things that had me smiling on Sunday:
  • Making pancakes from a box and grilled soysage for breakfast
  • Getting a call from my dad thanking me for his father's day gift
  • An afternoon walk to a coffee shop turning into a ferris wheel ride at the county fair (sadly sans camera)
  • Finding out about volunteering at the Alamany Farm from someone who happens to take class at the ODC Dance Commons, which is where I work
  • Going to my first Sci-Fi book club meeting and not making a fool of myself as we discussed Bruce Sterling's The Caryatids
  • Having the person ahead of me in the check-out line at Rainbow compliment me on my wine selection, which to be honest was completely random
  • Breaking out the much neglected board games of Carcassonne and Pandemic after dinner

Monday, June 7, 2010

Spring Cleaning Thoughts

Channeling my inner Taurus at the Maker Faire

I've been thinking ... when does a blog become obsolete? Can or should I come back? Or is it time to let go?