Phone Photo Flashbacks

I found a couple dozen photos on Dan's phone that I didn't realize/remember existed. Their discovery comes with some lovely food memories of the recent past.



Hey! Remember that awesome bánh mì we ate in Chinatown with Kate and Luke and Melissa near the bike polo and soccer fields? I think those are shrimp chips to the right of the sandwich.




(photo by Dan)

Ooh! And remember the pretzels I made for H's first birthday?



(photo by Dan)

And how she wouldn't eat the blueberries, but really enjoyed squishing them with her fingers? And spilling them?



(photo by Dan)

Those were some good pretzels. I should make more.

Adventures in CSA: Week 14, Part I

This week, if you'll recall, I had a friend offer to pick up my CSA share while I was out of town. Naturally, I took him up on the offer. That's a far sight better than giving it all away! Mr. Paul procured:

1 bok choy
1 lettuce
3 beets
1.5 lb potatoes
1.5 lbs (mooshy, gooshy) tomatoes
1 lb shelling beans (CHALLENGE VEGETABLE!)
1 peach (bonus fruit)
1 plum (bonus fruit)

We're off to the races now, kids! This was a big batch and we haven't gotten through it yet. So, what did we eat so far?




1. CSA Pasta Sauce and Pasta. The tomatoes were super-ripe and turning to mush, so I felt we needed to use all of them immediately. A vat of pasta sauce seemed the perfect solution. I sauteed leftover CSA squash from week thirteen in olive oil with half a large onion, added 2 bulbs of CSA garlic that have been kicking around the kitchen for a while, smashed the tomatoes, and added basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

I forgot to salt the pasta water, so I had to add a fair amount of salt to finish the dish, but otherwise it was perfectly simple and comforting.





2. Peachy Yogurt Breakfast. I posted earlier on my week of yogurty breakfasts. This one was a bowl of raw honey, bonus CSA peach, puffed brown rice, sesame seeds, dried cherries and cranberries (the final, frozen "crispy rice cakes" from July), plain yogurt, and flax seed.

I do believe Dan ate the bonus CSA plum, though I don't know if he yogurtized it in so fine a fashion.





3. Beet and Goat Cheese Salad. I baked the beets (2 golden, 1 red) in foil, then cooled and sliced them to add to a salad of CSA lettuce, clover sprouts, and goat cheese. Dan dressed it with oil and vinegar, and it was done. I love beets.





4. Bok Choy and Mushroom with Noodles. This was a week of fast suppers and light labor. We have had leftover cellophane noodles in the house for a month or two, and since preparing them is much quicker than cooking rice, we added the remaining noodles to a stir fry of bok choy (the leaves were a little bitter, but didn't harm the dish much), scallions, baby portobella mushrooms, and leftover soy-glazed almonds (from that magnificent green bean salad recipe I've raved about). With peanut and sesame oil, fish sauce and soy sauce, the whole thing cooked up nicely, though the noodles are a bit fiddly and tend to stick together -- perhaps I should be cutting them?


----

I picked up a smaller lot of vegetables yesterday (for week 15), which is great, since I still have some lettuce, some peppers, all of the potatoes, and the beans (which I have shelled) from week 14. Watch this space for more on that.

Triumph over the rot.

I always feel incredibly accomplished when we manage to finish a family-sized yogurt tub before the yogurt in it gets moldy. It's not that I don't like yogurt; I get distracted and forget it's in the refrigerator.

Last week, there were several mornings of yogurt-themed breakfasts. The one pictured here was yogurt, granola, pomegranate seeds (harvested from the whole fruit by Dan), and flax seed. An accomplishment, to be sure!


p.s. I just hit 550 blog posts! I should celebrate by finishing off the yogurt that is currently in the fridge.

And, oh yeah, I tried Pinkberry...

Our visit to Pinkberry - my first - slipped my mind because it wasn't on my camera. But I found a couple of blurry shots while flicking through Dan's camera phone's album. Consider my memory jogged.

I chose the pomegranate flavored frozen yogurt (or whatever it is) and had it topped with toasted almonds and little round crispy chocolate pieces. I recommend this combination wholeheartedly. Dan's original with oranges and coconut was good, too, but my combination won the day. I liked the tanginess of the pomegranate more than the original, though neither one displeased me, and the almonds were perefectly toasty, which meshed beautifully with chocolate.

Hitting Pinkberry was Molly's idea (she was visiting from the DC area), and I'm glad she suggested it. I was afraid the stuff would taste "diety," but it wasn't bad. It's not that I'm suspicious of restaurant chains that are born in LA. I'm suspicious of things that resemble ice cream but are not ice cream.

Giant Movie Night -- Accidentally Awesome

 

 GMN Week six Film: Boogie Nights, starring Luis Guzmán, as far as I'm concerned. With Thomas "Mr. Patricia Arquette" Jane of Hung, interestingly enough. 

Snack: Spotted Dick (a gift from Rusty), ice cream. 

Guests: Dan. 

Outcome: It was another quiet Giant Movie Night. I appreciated the film on this re-viewing. Like Casino, it's the sort of stylish epic (with just enough humor) that I don't get tired of.

 

Canned Spotted Dick was a frightening and exciting treat. I may have mentioned I'm not too big on raisins, and this is basically a stiff sponge cake with raisins (if only it had been currants, as described on the Wikipedia page). However, once steamed in the microwave it wasn't half bad. It was a little like slightly dry pumpkin bread (with raisins). I didn't even need to cover it with ice cream to make it palatable. Perhaps the non-canned version is grosser? I thought it would be grosser. In short: this snack was not terrible at all. Thanks, Rusty! It was only due to your thoughtfulness that I had the chance and encouragement to try it. Still, the cake does manage to look unappealing. You could work on that, Brits. But don't let me tell you your business.

How to Accessorize a Sweet Tooth

(photo by Dan; shirt by Jemma Hostetler; cardigan from Urban Outfitters; tank from source unknown; purse from Anthropologie)

Is it weird to be excited because one's new purse photographs so well alongside Reese's Pieces?



I mean, it only made me a little more excited than I normally would be about Reese's Pieces, but still.

Poetry Tuesday: What I Ate in Texas

The BBQ of Texas
(to be sung to the tune of The Yellow Rose of Texas)

There's a yellow rose in Texas, but all I find is meat,
Few vegetables or salad, unless they're fried or sweet.
There's BBQ a-plenty, with sauces as high art,
But eating yellow roses might be better for my heart.



(Chorus)
I'd the biggest shrimps with bacon this chow-hound ever knew,
Their bellies stuffed with cream cheese, and jalapeño, too.
You may talk about your San Antone, and sing of Kansas Cee,
But the Mexican of Dallas beat the belly out of me.



Where the chicken gravy's flowing, and the okra fried delight,
I walked with my umbrella* to huge dinners every night;**
I think that I remember, when I left upon the plane,
I promis'd to not eat for days, so I'd feel me again.

(Chorus)

Oh! now I'm going to veg out, for my stomach's full of woe,
And also full of casserole, and things fried long ago;
I'll eat my greens so happily, and I'll sing a song of fruits,
And the BBQ of Texas I will leave for Texan brutes.***

(Chorus)



*It did rain the entire weekend we were in Dallas.
**And lunches every day
***It was really good! But overwhelming. I can't eat like that every day.