What’s for Dinner
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:
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:42 am
Three things.
I’m impressed you were able to up the feedback levels. I tried after your post a while back but I’m still getting so so feedback.
I also bought the 2 for $5 raspberries. The kids ate one box. I was saving the remaining box for the Mark bitten chocolate silken tofu pudding for dinner last night with guests. The raspberries then disappeared while I was at work (!) so we had chocolate pudding with um, gorilla munch (kiddie cereal that I use as snack once in a while).
But I did get to eat 1/3 of the strawberries. They were the best strawberries I’ve had so far this season (and the first ones I didn’t let the kids eat first).
I would be interested in a post on why you are doing the capay valley box. I switched back and forth (the local thing) but am now back to regular- mostly because more fruit for kids.
Super cute picture.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
The local-only box has its drawbacks, for sure. It’s hard in the winter (and even the fall) when you get the same things week after week…chard, kale, fennel, etc. and an endless stream of squashes in the fall.
The up side to eating locally is that the food is the freshest possible, and therefore (I think) tastier; you feel really tied into the changing seasons; and of course the environmental benefits.
Before we switched to local-only we were doing the Planet Organics delivery. My problem with that is that I would see the same things in the box as Whole Foods had on their shelves, and I felt sort of like we were just paying extra to have the same things delivered that we could have bought anyway.
Now we’re probably paying extra to get the same things that I could pick up at the Farmer’s Market, but I’m actually totally okay with that, because Sam doesn’t much like going to the market–and I value my Saturday morning time with him.
I supplement our meals with fruit, fish, and meats from Whole Foods. I try to buy local even at the store, but I’m willing to break that rule for things like coffee and bananas (and fish, hardly any of which is local even though we live right by the ocean–the environmental regulations that have ensured this state of affairs are well-meaning but probably counterproductive).
As far as the feedback for the cook goes, Sam has gotten markedly better about that, but I am sorry to report that it was not as a result of a single conversation. It took probably a month’s worth of nagging. “How do you like your dinner, hon? Oh, you like it? On a scale of one to ten how would you rate it?…Oh really, that high? You do remember that I don’t get any affirmation in this job except from you, and that I need to know my work is meaningful and appreciated? Like we talked about, right? So do you think you would maybe use the word ‘love’ here? Maybe you could try saying it with me…’That was great honey, I loved it!’ Okay, now all by yourself…”
I’m sure I was extremely annoying but Sam bore it with good grace, and now he’s in the habit of providing me with good affirmation and support (as well as clear and honest feedback when the dinner isn’t great).
I really hate nagging, but I guess when you’re trying to set new habits within a partnership, it’s unrealistic to expect that to happen overnight or without consistent encouragement. “Consistent encouragement,” there, that sounds a lot nicer than “nagging”!
Good save with the gorilla munch!
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:39 am
Oooh, I’ve never tried cooking calamari at home… sounds like a challenge!
I’m jealous of your apricots, I’m thinking it might be time to switch back to the Capay Box!?