Shannon Phillips

There was a perplexing note tucked inside our veggie box this week, apologizing for the quality of the produce in the last few boxes. It had me scratching my head because I’ve been crowing over the boxes this last few weeks, and today’s haul was no exception: I clapped my hands when I saw the bright yellow pattypan squashes nestled among the vegetables. In addition to those little squashes we got a gorgeous bunch of basil, six more of those wonderful heirloom tomatoes (I devoutly hope they keep coming all summer long), a bag of lettuce, a bunch of beets, two red bell peppers, six baby zucchinis, nine white peaches, and a bunch of red spring onions. A very delightful box to open!

I realized when I put the beets in the crisper that we never ate last week’s broccoli. It is looking a bit scraggy at this point so I think Robin and I had better have the best bits as a snack this afternoon, raw with some salad dressing. And tonight I’ll make ratatouille out of the tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, onions and squashes (is it still ratatouille if it doesn’t have eggplant, or is it just vegetable stew?) and serve it over quinoa.

Tomorrow we can have a salad with roasted beets, blue cheese, walnuts, and what’s left of the red onions in a balsamic vinaigrette. I bought two big artichokes at the store that we can have on the side.

I noticed that there’s local lamb at the meat counter now; Friday I’ll buy some and we’ll have it all’araba. Saturday something simple—maybe that bulgur salad with kale and salami. Sunday is Father’s Day and Sam and I are planning an outing to a train museum, so I expect we’ll eat at a restaurant nearby.

Monday I’d better do something with fish if I want to keep to my resolution about eating more seafood. Maybe I’ll do that salmon-and-quinoa stew again. And then Leftovers Appreciation Night on Tuesday.