Coming Soon...

Any day now, Guy and I expect to hear from our favorite farmer, Marie, calling us back to work on the farm. Maybe even as soon as next weekend!

To be frank, Guy and I chose to do the work share because it would be extremely difficult for us to afford 400$ three times a year for farm-fresh food. Our budget is really tight even just paying half that. We figured helping out on the farm would also allow us to assess our ability as gardeners and learn a lot about when and what to plant each season, preparing us for the the future when we can have a little land of our own. We also thought it would be kind of fun.

But I never expected to enjoy it as much as I do. I can hardly wait to get my hands back in that soil, pulling weeds or planting seeds.

Three Weeks and Counting...

It's been so long since we've been out to the farm and we miss it terribly.

Marie offered to let any of us sharers come out to the farm, even though it's not required at the moment, and we just might take her up on that. It's amazing how quickly we got addicted to getting our hands dirty and being a part of the growing process.

Habanero Chile Oil and Hot Sauce

Even though the season is technically over for a few more weeks, Guy and I are still working on some of our produce. The last of the tomatoes are starting to turn, a few squashes are still hanging in there, and we are finally seeing the end of our Habanero peppers.

Although we've done a lot with those little Habaneros, our favorite recipes by far are Habanero Chile Oil and Habanero Hot Sauce.

The chile oil is simple to make and extremely hot. It's really good on a stir-fry, although I think using a different type of pepper might make a more interesting oil. Here is ours in the microwave, bubbling away:

The hot sauce we made is possibly my favorite hot sauce ever. And I do not say this lightly as, until now, I've been quite the loyal devotee to Frank's. We've already gone through one recipe of this ourselves, taken a double batch to Taco Tuesday, and gathered the ingredients to make ourselves a second batch tomorrow. Here it is working its magic on brekkie:

The Mayo That Never Should Have Been...

Friday I decided to try to actually make the mayo. I followed the recipe, using Safflower oil, as called for.

After whisking for what seemed like an eternity, it was time to add the second half of the lemon juice... but I added the leftover egg white. Doh!

I went ahead and added the lemon juice and it seemed like all was well. Into the fridge it went.

And there it sat until the following morning when we gave it a taste.

Ick!

I don't know exactly what went wrong, whether it was the safflower oil (which was quite old) or the extra egg, but it was not eatable.

Will I try it again? Or move on to another episode? Who knows.

The Mayo That Never Was...

Just before Thanksgiving (well over two weeks ago), I noticed we were low on mayonaisse and thought what a perfect chance to make the Good Eats mayo from The Mayo Clinic episode (Season 4, Ep. 10).

Ha.

Ha.

We ran out of mayo days later. We watched the mayo episode. And then.... nothing. No mayo.

Laziness set in. It was on our to do list every day and never got done.

Guy asked if we could buy mayo. I'm still holding out. Will I finally make the daggarn mayo or will Guy demand mayo for his morning eggy sammiches? Stay tuned...

CSA Haul #7: End of the Fall Season

This weekend at the farm was even more fun than usual. Guy helped Marie run rows of drop tape while I harvested lettuce, Pak Choy, and Mizuna greens. Then we both harvested chard. Marie stayed in the field working, while one of the other girls and I went to the front of the farm to start sorting out the food for this week's share and help the other CSA members get their haul.

When Marie came up to join us, she even made us cocoa and brought us cookies! This was a great treat, especially since the temperature dropped 10 or 15 degrees from the time we got there.

Here's what we got in our last share of this season:

From top left, anticlockwise: red and green mustard greens, green tomatoes and red tomatoes, Pak Choy, some kind of squash (Calabash, maybe, I don't know but now we have two of them), baby beets, half gallon of milk, dozen eggs, one carrot, 3 turnips, 1 daikon radish, 2 turban squash, bay leaves, chard leaves, and red and green leaf lettuce. :whew: We paid extra for the milk and eggs, which has been well worth it. (We get a better price from the farmer's because we're in the CSA.)

Folks, that's the end of our first season. Overall, we are both really pleased. Guy likes the structure it brings to our meal planning. If we get a basket a food that needs to get planned into meals for the week, we don't just play it by ear. Now we generally know what we're having for dinner every evening. I like that I am eating foods I wouldn't normally buy, like turnips, beets, and sweet potato leaves. Plus, we both enjoy working on the farm with Marie.

Green tomatoes and Curry

Our tomatoes are turning.

We have three batches of them: one from before Thanksgiving, one from after Thanksgiving, and one from this week. We've eaten most of the tomatoes from the first batch but there are still a few holding on. I'm really impressed with how well it works to just patiently wait for your tomatoes to ripen. We've been eating them in salads or raw with salt and with few exceptions they've been delicious!

Not all of our green tomatoes have had a chance to turn red, and here's why: Green Tomato Curry with Potatoes and Garlic.

I can't get enough of this recipe. We ate it last week for the first time and I was shocked at how different it was from what I had expected. I wanted more... and I usually get what I want. ;) So, this week it's on the menu again and probably next week's too!

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