Shannon Phillips

Whenever I spend an hour tidying up the house, it always has the added benefit of providing twenty minutes’ amusement for the boy, as that’s about how long it takes him to pull everything out again and strew it across the floor.

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.

Last week I didn’t make everything I had planned—I didn’t get around to making the tuna casserole until Wednesday night, and I didn’t make the baba ghanoush and tabouleh at all. Instead we ordered pizza. Last night we had leftover tuna noodle casserole and a fresh heirloom tomato salad:

The tomatoes were in our box, of course. It was a heavy box this week, stuffed full of goodies: bok choy, lettuce, five red onions and two white, a bag of little white peaches, broccoli, baby carrots, and many small green peppers, in addition to those lovely tomatoes. Tonight we’ll do a big salad with the lettuce, red onions, and carrots, as well as hard-cooked eggs and some bacon; tomorrow I’ll make the pepper steak that Sam likes with the green peppers and the white onions, and some brown rice. Sunday we can have pork chops with the bok choy on the side. And then, assuming I don’t get sidetracked during one of those days, I’ll make the baba ghanoush and tabouleh on Monday.

I finally goaded Sam into transferring the eight hundred and twenty-nine photos he had stored on his camera over to the computer. Here’s some of my favorites.

This is from a Memorial Day picnic we had in a little park by the bay. I think Robin has a fried chicken crumb on his chin.

This is from Mother’s Day, when Robin was wearing his sailor suit. I promise you that .003 seconds from the time this picture was taken, he’d pulled off the hat and dropped it on the floor.

Here are three from the park:

And these are from when we went to see the steam trains at Tilden park:

We weren’t going nearly as fast as Robin’s expression in that last picture would seem to indicate.

And we were back in Tilden park last weekend for the wedding, but we both forgot our cameras. It was a really nice time though, and extra fun for me because it happened to be my birthday—and here was all this food, music, and friends already gathered together!

I wish I’d gotten a picture of my peach pie. It looked pretty, and it was very well received. I guess I’ll just have to make another one!

Today’s veggie box was another delight to open. We got strawberries (which Robin immediately set in on), a bag full of peaches, a bunch of oranges, a head of lettuce, a head of broccoli, some bok choy, several spring onions, a few carrots, and five huge beautiful heirloom tomatoes.

Tonight we’re having hot and sour soup with the bok choy; tomorrow, pasta with fresh tomato sauce. Friday we’ll have grilled sausages and a salad.

Saturday two of our dear friends are getting married, and holding a potluck reception afterwards. I’m going to make a spinach-mushroom lasagna and a peach pie to take with us.

Sunday I’m thinking tuna casserole; Monday, baba ghanoush with pita bread and tabouleh. And Tuesday will be devoted to leftovers.

We were outbid on the home in Martinez. So Sam took today off work and spent all day looking at houses. We found two that look really good, so hopefully we’ll have another offer in by the end of the weekend.

I’m so glad summer is here! In our box today we got a pint of strawberries, a bag of apricots, four spring onions, a bag of lettuce, a bunch of carrots, a bunch of radishes, a bundle of fresh rosemary, and two little paper bags—one filled with beautiful heirloom tomatoes, the other with yellow gypsy peppers.

I wanted to work with those tomatoes and peppers immediately, so I made panzanella—Italian bread salad with tomatoes and other veggies. Here’s the recipe, adapted from The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market Cookbook.

Press two or three cloves of garlic through a garlic press and into a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, a pinch of salt and several grinds of pepper, and mix it all up with a fork. Set aside.

Cut a loaf of country bread (we used whole wheat and it was delicious) into inch-wide slices. Toast or grill the bread slices, and when they are cool enough to handle, tear them into bite-size pieces and put them in a large salad bowl. Alternately, if you have slightly stale bread or really good croutons, you can use that instead.

While the bread is toasting, cut your tomatoes—two or three pounds of lovely, lovely tomatoes—into bite-size chunks and put them in the same bowl with the bread.

Add whatever you have to hand. A cucumber is good. If you have sweet peppers you can chop them up and throw them in. Anchovies or capers are good (six to eight anchovy fillets, minced, and/or 1/3 cup capers). As Wikipedia says: “Sometimes thought of as a ‘leftover salad,’ additional panzanella ingredients vary widely, and include lettuce, white wine, capers, anchovies, celery, carrots, red wine, red onion, cucumber, tuna, parsley, boiled eggs, mint, bell peppers, lemon juice, and garlic.” So, you know, you can put in any or all of that. I used the peppers, cucumber, and anchovies.

Whisk 1/2 cup of olive oil into the vinegar and garlic mixture until you have a vinaigrette. Pour half of your vinaigrette over the tomatoes, bread, and other ingredients; give them a good toss, then pour the rest of the vinaigrette in and toss again.

Pick out a tomato and a chunk of bread and taste them. If the panzanella needs more salt and/or pepper, add that now. Take a bunch of basil (a couple dozen leaves) and scatter them over the panzanella. Give it one more toss and it’s ready to eat. (If you make the panzanella ahead of time, the bread will soak up the dressing, and you may need to add a bit more olive oil before serving.)

Ours looked like this, and it tasted like summer through and through:

For dessert we’re having a fruit salad of strawberries, blueberries (on sale this week at Whole Foods), and apricot slices. On a long lovely evening like this we can only be grateful for our good fortune.

Robin’s added a new word to his vocabulary, and mastered a new skill.

The word: “Poopy.”

The skill: Nose-picking.

Isn’t it interesting how fingers and nostrils remain exactly the right size for each other through all stages of development?

Would you believe that we actually forgot to pick up our veggie box (from the front doorstep) on Wednesday? Our neighbor Tony, who lives one floor down, brought it up to us. And it was an exciting veggie week too: we got chard, lettuce, dandelion greens, a pint of strawberries, a bag of apricots, six baby artichokes, two spring onions and two stalks of green garlic.

Last night I made two strawberry tea breads—one for us and one for Tony—and a springtime green pasta using the green garlic, baby artichokes, some peas, fava beans and mint (the recipe is from The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market Cookbook). I took a picture but the artichokes ended up looking sort of dark and slimy in the picture, so I’m not posting it. It was actually very good.

Oh and I should note, mostly for my own reference, that last week’s dinners were a smash success. The beef enchiladas were really, really terrific: that recipe was from the Cook’s Country Cookbook, which has quickly become my very favorite cookbook. It’s just solid, familiar recipes for American home-cooking: perfect for the kind of cooking I do every night. Of course the enchiladas did involve two cups of cheese, so I don’t think I can justify a weekly Enchilada Night, but I do think I’ll slide it into the rotation monthly or so.

After our veggie meal the next night, I made pepper steak (beef strips stir-fried with bell peppers and onions, served over brown rice)—again from the Cook’s Country Cookbook—I’ve made this several times before and it’s very quick and easy. I know Sam likes it, but I think the last time I made it was before he agreed to ramp up his feedback levels, because I honestly had no idea how much he likes it. He likes it as much as the enchiladas! And this is a dish that I have zero health qualms about (we buy grass-fed beef, which is a lean meat and a good source of vitamins). I also made a fish stew (using rockfish fillets and a handful of mussels) and a pot roast, both of which were well received.

For tonight I’m planning a dandelion salad with bacon and a red chard risotto. Tomorrow it’s Robin’s day to hang with Daddy while my gaming group meets, so they’ll be on their own for dinner (generally they pick up burritos from down the street). Sunday I’ll roast a chicken and make a simple green salad; Monday I want to try Mario Batali’s 2-Minute Calamari. Yes, I haven’t given up on squid, even though my last attempt at dealing with it was a flop (Mark Bittman’s Squid in Red Wine Sauce was quickly christened “squidghetti,” and the copious leftovers sat in our fridge untouched until I finally threw them out.)

Robin is a voracious consumer of fresh fruit, and has already devoured half the apricots: I’m sure they’ll all be gone by tomorrow. Not knowing we’d be getting so much fresh fruit in our box, I bought raspberries when Whole Foods put them on sale. I bought some fancy local yogurt too. We felt very high-falutin’ eating our raspberries and sheep’s milk yogurt from Sonoma. Here’s Robin stuffing his face like a proper gentleman:

Robin just totally busted out with a perfect “uh-oh!” when I dropped a strawberry on the floor. I was pretty stunned but recovered quickly enough to give him an enthusiastic “That’s right! Uh-oh! Smart boy!”

Now he is running around the house calling “uh-oh! uh-oh! uh-oh!”

It seems like the floodgates have opened on this “language” thing.