waiting for the siren's call

September 4 delivery:

• arugula - 1 bag
• eggplant - 2
• honeydew melon
• leek
• sweet corn - 2
• tomatoes - 13
• carrots with greens (instead of corn, wah) - 2

We got a last minute email from the CSA alerting us to a bunch of possible swaps...after I had already planned meals and gone to the market. Oh well. I was relieved to get our melon rather than the delicata squash since those are NOT THE SAME. We also got our Rancho Gordo bean club box, so you get some bean updates as well.

• Carrots and market potatoes in a roasted veg panzanella
• Several tomatoes in Nora Ephron's tomato sauce made early in the morning before I did Bike the Drive. I liked this better in idea than in execution. Maybe I let it sit too long.
• Corn and tomato salad from The Modern Cook's Year (again)
• Eggplant roasted for lackluster sandwiches with pesto. I made extra pesto to freeze for the winter.
• Eggplant fried for sabih from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem. SO EFFING GOOD.
• Black bean and poblano tacos from Cool Beans made with Ayocote Negro beans
• More Ayocote Negro beans in with coconut rice from the Rancho Gordo newsletter
• Alubia Blanca beans in this absolute knockout recipe for roasted sweet potatoes with miso white bean spread and spring onion dressing. Seriously, eat this now, and use a different vegetable if you don't like sweet potatoes.

August 21 delivery

• eggplant - 2
• fennel
• honeydew melon
• muskmelon
• peppers - 2 (green, ugh)
• summer squash - 3
• sweet corn - 8
• tomatoes - 4

The day we picked up this delivery, our AC started to fail which coincided with the beginning of a stretch of days in the high 80s. We tried our best to keep the apt cool for the first few days before abandoning all hope and just hanging out in our underwear eating popsicles. So grateful that neither of our kids are embarrassed or uncomfortable around other people's bodies (yet).

Meals (as it were):

• Corn and tomatoes in a giant platter salad from The Modern Cook's Year. I have made variations of this at least 8 times since the AC went out, including 3 times this week. It checks all the boxes: sweet, savory, crunchy, salty, tangy, rich.
• Fennel plus kale from a previous delivery in Moroccan chickpeas and kale
• Eggplant and peppers in a North African stew from Picture Cook
• Melons eaten out of hand

Week of August 7

• 1 bunch ENORMOUS beets
• 1 bunch carrots with greens
• 2 cucumbers
• 2 eggplants
• 1 bunch kale
• 4 squashes, at least half patty pan
• 10 ears corn
• 1 watermelon

Meals

• I missed my grandma, so on the anniversary of her death, we had Beyond Beef meatloaf, cole slaw, oven-roasted corn, watermelon, and mint juleps
• The big kid has been asking for a corn contest, so we (I) made corn two ways: firecracker cornbread from My New Roots but with fresh corn added, and an improvised pumpkin corn soup for a toddler who was experiencing potty fears
• Beets roasted, marinated, and served as poke which was wildly better than expected
• A bunch of things spiralized into zucchini noodle pad thai which basically no one other than me liked. I gave my spiralizer away after N pointed out that spiralized things always seem like they're going to be better than they are. Fair point.
• Still more beets in a salad with red onion, olives, and orange. Love this and can't make it often enough.
• Roasted squash and corn with chimichurri
• Eggplant fried and served with steamed dumplings and rice after an afternoon at the beach with a friend

I am many weeks behind in talking about this year's CSA experience. I have been in a persistent state of pandemic-related cooking burnout and while the CSA has provided positive pressure in that area, frankly, I'm just exhausted. I'm tired of thinking about food. I'm tired of planning meals. I'm tired of buying food. I'm tired. I miss the windows of time when cooking, preparing to cook, selecting meals, opening the CSA box felt inspiring or at least fun.

July 24 delivery

• 1 bunch carrots with greens
• 2 heads fennel
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 bag lettuces
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 bunch scallions
• 4 patty pan squashes
• 1 bag turnips
• 1 bag parsley

Meals, July 24-30

• Roasted beets, kohlrabi, and market corn with carrot top pesto and dill dip
• Carrot corn salad from My New Roots, always a favorite
• Roasted carrot tofu burgers with market corn
• Squash and scallions in Korean vegetable pancakes with a whole lot of sourdough discard - these were fantastic and used up almost all of my discard
• Squash in Ottolenghi's terrific pasta and zucchini salad, also always a favorite
• Fennel and kale in Moroccan chickpeas and kale which we haven't made in forever and forgot how much we really loved

July 10 delivery:

• 1 head bok choy
• 1 head broccoli
• 1 bunch garlic scapes
• 1 bunch kale
• 2 kohlrabi with greens
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 bag radishes without greens
• 1 bunch swiss chard
• 1 bag turnips without greens
• 1 bunch dill

Meals:

• Broccoli in last summer's favorite broccoli date salad
• Some dill used in Greek baked beans with honey and dill - if you make this, note that if you're starting from dried beans, the total cook time is AT LEAST 2:15, not the 1:30 indicated. The rest of the dill is hanging to dry.
• Bok choy in a stir fry with carrots and tofu
• Radishes and turnips roasted on a sheet pan with gnocchi a la this recipe
• Kohlrabi roasted and served with Beyond Meat meatballs
• Lettuce in salads and on sandwiches
• Kale or chard in the spring chickpea stew from A Modern Cook's Year - so good.

December 5 - final delivery

• 3 heads purple cabbage
• 1 stalk brussels sprouts
• 1 bag fingerling potatoes
• 1 bag arugula
• 2 bunches kale tops

Meals:

• 1 head green cabbage from prior delivery made into sauerkraut - I only let this ferment 3-4 days and wish I'd let it go longer.
• Another head of green cabbage from prior delivery in turmeric and coconut braised cabbage with chickpeas - this recipe uses half of a head of cabbage, so it worked out well that we really liked it as I ended up making it a second time the same week. I made this with desi chana from our Rancho Gordo Bean Club box - they're firmer than regular chickpeas and so hold up well in the braise.
• Potatoes in aloo gobhi
• Brussels sprouts roasted with fingerling potatoes and mushrooms
• Kale tops in smoothies
• Arugula in salads and on sandwiches
• Popcorn from prior delivery had to be tossed because there were tiny bugs in the bag - glad I sealed it up!

On the whole, I'm happy with our CSA experience - the quality of produce was great, pick up was really easy and mostly convenient, and I liked the challenge of having at least half of our groceries for the week basically picked for us. (We had the ability to customize within what was available - which didn't always offer all that much flexibility.) I don't know that I would do the extended season again - I don't think it was as cost effective as the summer, and there's only so much cabbage we can eat - and while we'll definitely do another summer CSA, I think I'll ask around about other options before committing to this one again (not because anything in particular was bad, but because there are many options).

November 21 delivery:

• 2 heads cabbage
• 3 kohlrabi with greens
• 1 stalk brussels sprouts
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 kale top

Meals:

• Cabbage in cabbage and potato pie, warm and filling
• Pumpkin from a previous delivery baked in a packet and served with spicy tomato sauce
• The other half of the pumpkin roasted and served with black beans in tacos
• Kohlrabi mashed with potatoes in stoemp
• Kohlrabi greens sauteed with $1 bag chard
• Half of the butternut squash in this GF butternut and apple galette which was better in theory than in execution
• Brussels sprouts in this loaded sprouts salad, except that I didn't have enough sprouts and so threw in half a bag of arugula. Will make again.

And for posterity's sake, here's our extended holiday weekend menu:
Meal 1: stoemp, sauteed greens, cranberry sauce (filling from cranberry hand pies), "key lime" pies
Meal 2: butternut and apple galette, green bean casserole, cranberry hand pies (made a half batch of pastry + the whole cranberry recipe)
Meal 3: corn pudding, loaded brussels sprouts salad, roasted potatoes

November 7 delivery -- last of the regular season. Our fridge looked weird and empty without giant bags of greens!

• 1 head cabbage
• 1 stalk brussels sprouts
• 2 butternut squash
• 1 bunch leeks
• 1 bunch radishes with greens
• 1 kale top
• 1 bag cilantro

Meals:

• Leeks roasted with cod, potatoes, and red pepper sauce to use up a bunch of $1 bag peppers (why did I do this?)
• Half a cabbage with a spaghetti squash from a previous delivery with in pulled spaghetti squash tacos with avocado slaw -- so glad to be done with spaghetti squash. Also this was delicious.
• The other half of the cabbage plus carrots from a previous delivery in curried cashew and cabbage stir fry -- a smidge greasy but pretty great.
• Brussels sprouts with sticky tempeh and rice -- I wanted this to be more like the sticky ginger tempeh that we've been loving, but it really wasn't. Nico ate the tempeh but not the sprouts. Louis ate the sprouts but not the tempeh. N ate a single helping which is uncharacteristic for him. I had enough leftovers for two lunches.
• Butternut squash in the knockout squash and sweetcorn erriseri
• Cilantro in açorda à alentejana with Rancho Gordo chickpeas -- stretched to two solid meals with extra chickpeas
• Kale top (the top of the plant) in Roberto
• Radishes pickled and eaten crunchy and raw

 October 24 delivery:

• 2 heads cabbage
• 1 bag broccoli
• 1 bunch carrots with greens
• 1 bunch radishes with greens
• 1 bag daikon radishes
• 1 ENORMOUS head bok choy
• 1 bag arugula
• 1 bag loose leaf lettuces

Meals:

• Spaghetti squash from a prior delivery with arugula sauce and mushroom balls -- I used the NYT kale sauce approach which, as it turns out, works better with sturdier greens and actual pasta. The sauce was wet and didn't really work with the mushrooms balls. Oh well!
• Radishes in place of turnips in tagine
• Approximately 1/3 of the bok choy in Roberto
• Broccoli roasted and served with sticky ginger tempeh and rice
• Two different stir fries with carrots and bok choy
• Several comically large salads using up the lettuces, including a harvest-y salad with apples, pumpkin seeds, and a mustard vinaigrette
• Cabbages stored for later

 October 10 delivery

• 1 spaghetti squash (omg so tired of spaghetti squash)
• 1 head broccoli
• 1 bunch sprout tops
• 2 butternut squash
• 1 bunch turnips with greens
• 1 bag baby chard
• 2 heads lettuce

• Turnips in the best tagine with purple sweet potatoes and prunes
• Broccoli in  broccoli date salad, which I am making again tonight
• Baby chard in Roberto
• Butternut squash in roasted squash and tofu with ginger, which I honestly liked more the 2nd day
• Butternut squash roasted for a vegan sourdough discard flatbread pizza with caramelized onions and white bean puree, which was good but also the kitchen was DESTROYED. Bowls and pots and pans on every surface, the windows wide open because our smoke detector is garbage, etc etc etc. Way too much work for what seemed like an easy Sunday night win.
• Spaghetti squash with black beans, mole sauce, and pickled onions, good but not great. This sauce is a better match for the butternut squash for which it was intended, but this was L's request. I think I like the red blanket sauce from My New Roots better as a vegan mole stand-in. I also made an apple pie in honor of N's citizenship anniversary.
• Sprout tops with pinto beans and roasted potatoes, which is becoming a staple
• Lettuce on lunchtime sandwiches