9/19/13 : WHAT WAS IN THE BOX , WHAT I WENT HOME WITH, and what I will do with it

This is what we got and what I ended up taking home:

Celery root – 2 pcs
Baby bok choi – 1 bun
Scallions – 1 bun……………traded for bok choi
Arugula – ½ lb bag…………traded for 3 red peppers
Zucchini – 1 pc………………got 2 med.small eggplants
Long Red Peppers – 3 pcs
Sweet Potatoes – 1.75 lbs

It was hard for me to decide to take home the eggplant but there was really nothing else to choose except 3 small sweet potatoes, so I bit the bullet.  Now, after researching for only a short time, I wish I had traded something for the eggplants there for trade, as I have found several tasty-looking recipes for fermented eggplant. I am looking forward to making some hot ajvar with the eggplant and red peppers, and some fermented eggplant with garlic.

Advertisement

8/29/13 CSA SHARE- what we got and what I am going to do with it

POST #967
Without my blog, yesterday seems so long ago! I mean it! I’m so happy to be back on-line!

WHAT WE GOT
Yellow Potatoes – 1 qt
Scallions – 1 bun
Green Bell Peppers – 2 pcs
Garlic – 1 pc
Tomatoes – 6 lbs
Zucchini – 2 pcs

Somehow, I came away with 3 bunches of scallions and 3 pcs of garlic, and a thing of chard (what do you call a “thing of chard”? Thank heavens for the word “thing”)

I chatted with some interesting ladies at the share distribution (one on the volunteer side of the table, and the other right up next to me, bagging her boxed goodies (I gave her one of my Ziploc bags) Promised to send them some fermenting recipes (should I start a mailing list on these things? I’ll have to look into that!) I expect this weekend is going to be about fermenting – I have some cabbage, all those tomatoes, and, I hope some of last week’s cucumbers have survived)

I decided to keep the potatoes. All of the raw food “experts” are now saying that they are actually eating cooked food. I haven’t done that in a long while (I had the power company cut off the gas a good while back, when the last room-mate left, because I haven’t cooked food in 30 years or so). I do have a rice cooker , a coffee-maker, and a microwave, left by a former room-mate, so I am going to experiment with cooking the potatoes and making a real potato salad (with such raw entries as onions and bell pepper). We’ll see how that goes. (We’re talking: I’m dirt poor right now, and I live off what comes in the box, so, at least, this week, I am going to bend and see what all the hoopla of going off 100% raw is about — okay, folks! I’ve been telling you I am 95% raw, even though I have been 100% raw – this is where that comes in! I am finally going to do something you can point at). I’ll let you know how that goes (I’m feeling kind of sheepish. I mean, how do you cook potatoes without boiling or baking them? I guess I can find the info on the Internet somewhere. Somewhere somebody has put information about how to get boiled-like potatoes in a microwave or a rice cooker — if you know, I’d be grateful if you’d tell me – I’m thinking rice cooker)

So, anyway – I’m going to make a fermented salsa with most, if not all, of the tomatoes. Ferments last longer, and I can combine a fermented salsa with all sorts of things. I am probably going to take one tomato and make a fresh “pasta” with one of the zucchini.

An aside – I am kind of bummed that I won’t be able to go to the September meet-up of “NYC Ferments” – they are doing “fermented fruit” this time, and I was planning to take a fermented squash salsa  (check it out on meetup.com), because I have work that night (yea, work! helps pay the rent)

Stay tuned! I’m back! Yea! (thank you WordPress, and thank you, Lord!)

BRINGING FOOD TO MOM FOR A CHANGE

POST #845
I made it down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with almost everything I had left with (I ended up sleeping through almost the entire trip and only ate a few of the crackers I had with me). Even the kale chips made it.
So, yesterday afternoon, after we had gotten settled and were recouping from the long drive, just sitting around talking over a glass of wine, I dragged out the fermented kohlrabi, the fermented carrot sticks, and the kale chips. At first, my parents were wary, yet my Mom, being a good Mom, was willing to try the kohlrabi and carrots. Then she wanted more. Then she wanted my Dad to try them. Then he wanted more. Then I showed her the kale chips, she tried them, and she wanted more. I always take “voluntary wanting more” as a good sign. My little pride sign lit up (it’s always nice when your Mom thinks you have done something well). Today, when my Dad and I got back from church, I found that Mom had made salads and chopped liberal amounts of the kohlrabi and carrots into the salad. Ding!Ding!Ding! Mom always makes a good salad, but, with the fermented vegetables, and a dose of the fermented salsa as a dressing.. the salad was a super-hit, even with me (remember me? the raw vegan who doesn’t like salads?)

GRAND RE-OPENING! I learn longer can be better

POST #840
I put up some kohlrabi/garlic/dill/jalapeno pickles on October 5.  4 days later, I opened the smallest jar, but left the other two jars to ferment a bit longer.

To tell the truth, I didn’t much care for the 4-day pickles. They were not very spicy at all.  I am very very glad that I left the other 2 jars for a while longer.  

Last night, I opened one of the jars and tasted the pickles. … and tasted some more…. and some more… dang! Those things were super ultra really very wonderfully gooooood!  I put some in a baggy to take to take to a woman at work who has been bringing me herbs from her garden.  She tracked me down later to rave about the pickles.  It turned out that she had shared her pickles with someone else (a person I don’t know) who also tracked me down and raved about them.   Okay. I get it. Some things are better if you wait longer.  

I’m taking the remaining jar on vacation with me to see how my Mom likes them (I think my Dad will like them, unless he has mysteriously gone off spicy)  I’m also going to pack up a bunch of these pickles for snacks on my train trip Down South (only problem is that they are “very aromatic” — well, that might not be a problem… people might smell them and not want to sit next to me on the train.)

I still do like 3-day sauerkraut, though, so I’ll open the sauerkraut I put up on Sunday night tomorrow, and pack it with me, too.

10/11/12 CSA SHARE: What we actually got

POST #836
Sometimes you hit the jackpot, and sometimes the jackpot just laughs at you.  I got there at 4:00 and, still, someone had gotten there before me. Oh well. Next week I’ll go at 3:30.

Butternut Squash – 1 or 2…… got 1
Green Cabbage – 1 hd…………. broccoli
Cilantro – 1 bun
Baby Arugula – 1 bag……………traded for cilantro
Toscano Kale – 1 bun
Red Russian Kale- 1 bun

I looked so longingly at the share box, hoping that something would appear there that I wanted, that someone noticed me mooning over it and asked me what I was looking for, and what I was willing to trade: I traded the broccoli for her kale.

Since I really did want to get the cabbage for sauerkraut, I stopped off at the supermarket on the way home and picked up two medium-sized heads, and I got some of the Scotch Bonnet “aji” peppers that I met in Venezuela (here they call them Jamaican peppers)– they pack fire, which is what I want in my sauerkraut (I don’t know why the jalapenos have been so lack-luster lately — I’ve been putting two or three large ones in each of my ferments, but the spicy hasn’t been coming through.  I actually ate a piece of jalapeno from the carrot ferment, and there was absolutely no fire)

ANOTHER GRAND OPENING – the Fermented Carrots & Kohlrabi

POST #835
I’ve opened the jar of cultured dill/garlic/jalapeno/ginger carrots and one of the jars of dill/garlic/jalapeno kohlrabi.  Both unexpected tastes, but both good.  I took them both back to work with me this evening and shared them around – got good reviews on both of them!  Yea!

I’m leaving the other two jars of kohlrabi for a little longer to see what will happen.

Meanwhile, I’ll be working my way through these delicious cultured vegetables for a few days. Yumm!

ANNIVERSARY MONTH: It was 10 years ago this month that I knew I had taken off 100 lbs. They are still off!

POST #833
Ten years ago, on October 2, my birthday, I realized that my clothes were rather loose.  I ultimately took off @100lbs.

So, now, it has been 10 years that  I have kept the weight off.  I hope you will understand if I reach around and pat myself on the back.  Yeah, I’m proud.  Today, instead of wearing a size 22, I am wearing a size 2.

 

OPENINGS: the carrots! the salsa! the re-opening of the green beans

POST #863
I finally opened the carrots, two days after I could have.  They were good, but I thought I would like to have them more dill-flavored, so I added about a tablespoon more dill seed, and sealed them back up, shook them up well, and set them back to wait some more (I don’t know if you can do that successfully or not, but I’ll find out in about 3 days).

I opened the tomato salsa – yumm!  It wasn’t as spicy as I had expected, but it was still good, so I used it as a salad dressing.  I also added it to some of my cashew cheddar cheeze.  Yumm!

Tonight, I ate most of the rest of the first quart jar of green beans (the one I opened the other day).  They were more dilly than they had been on the first day.  Yumm!  I still haven’t opened the second jar (I will, after I empty the first jar).

Meanwhile, I believe that my jars have arrived at the Ace Hardware store. That’s good, because tomorrow I want to ferment some of the vegetables that are coming in the CSA share.  I just have to find a way to print my receipt to carry with me to the store.

FIRST TASTE: the latest batch of fermented green beans

POST #827
I was trying to wait for the 4th day, but, finally, I just couldn’t wait, so I opened the jar closest to me to see what I’d got.

I had kind of expected this batch to be spicier, but, instead, it is garlicky, and not so dill-y.   The dill is still there in force, but the garlic is the primary flavor, and there is just a tiny kick from the jalapeno.  Still, these green beans are good, and I know they will be all gone soon.  

The big pieces of garlic are good, too, so I must remember to cut the garlic larger for these green beans, and other things I am adding garlic to.

Tomorrow I can try the carrots, or else, I can leave them another day or so.  Will I be able to wait?  Only the Creator knows at this point.

Meanwhile, yumm!  I am dining on a bowlful of the green beans! 

ORDERING BALL/KERR/MASON JARS – my ordeal, my success

I’ve mentioned that I had hear that you could order Ball/Kerr mason jars (it seems that Ball and Mason are the current brand names and “mason” is something like a generic name, anymore — the company which manufactures them responds to Ball and Mason).  I’ve mentioned that Ace Hardware has an unbeatable deal (order on-line for a price you cannot find anywhere else, and they ship it free to your local Ace Hardware store)

I went online tonight and located an Ace Hardware store which is on my subway line (and, added benefit, in a cute neighborhood that I would like to visit again, in Greenwich Village).  I tried to order, but the website would not accept my cellphone number. Grr.  Still, they have a 24-hour help line, with very polite American native English-speaking customer service reps.  Hence, I got my order placed in a relatively short time, and will be able to pick it up at an Ace Hardware Store on W. 3rd St. in Greenwich Village, just a couple of blocks from the train which will take me home again with no transfers. 

The cost for my jars is $10 less than anywhere I could find on-line, including amazon.com

If you need jars for canning, pickling, preserving, culturing, etc., or for whatever other reason,  I recommend Ace Hardware.