fennel

Boxing Day, September 30 & October 7

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Dear John,

I’m posting the plans for the past two weeks, and then going to figure out what to make for dinner tonight by planning for the coming week. Whirlwind time indeed!

Currently here

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Kiwiberries
  • Banana Peppers
  • Broccoli Rabe
  • Green Acorn Squash
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • White Cauliflower

Expecting soon

  • Asian Pears
  • Empire Apples
  • Kiwiberries
  • Beauregard Sweet Potatoes
  • Fennel
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • Green Zucchini
  • Habanada Peppers

Community Produce

  • Sweet potatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Zucchini
  • Onion
  • Pears
  • Oranges

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Muscadines
  • Heirloom tomato, red tomato
  • Cucumber
  • Peppers
  • Fennel stems
  • Greens: Lettuce, Bok Choy
  • Leeks
  • Onions
  • Beets
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Oranges
  • Kiwiberries

Expected at the Garden

  • Collards
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Tomatillos enough for one batch of salsa
  • Parsley that should be left for the swallowtails
  • Eggplant
  • Radish
  • Assorted non-spicy peppers
  • Hoping for Bundles of Dahlias

Open Preserves

  • Fridge still organized!
  • Fridge still not inventoried!
  • Fig jam
  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel
  • Pickled peach
  • Fermenting curdito again

Pantry Beans

  • Yellow Split Pea
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Black Caviar Lentil
  • Garbanzo Bean
  • Buckeye Bean
  • Black Calypso
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Pinto Bean
  • Christmas Lima
  • California Corona
  • Royal Corona
  • And maybe one more on the shelf?

Cook something. Somehow. Somewhen. Again.

  • I bought pomegranate from the grocery store so we can make the roasted cauliflower and pomegranate dish from Ottolenghini.
  • Okay, but also, I’m cooking the calypso beans and there’s a recipe in the Q1 Rancho Gordo Newsletter for Calypso Beans and Caulifower. Hmmm… maybe freeze some beans? Maybe buy some frozen cauliflower?
  • We still need to make the leek soup. Maybe try this one with the calypso beans?
  • Remember the brussel sprouts roasted with grapes that the one friend of a friend introduced us to back when we lived in the apartment? I’m thinking of that, but finishing off the muscadines and using the broccoli rabe.
  • Sweet potato with celery salad!
  • Pickle the banana peppers! Use them the next time we have cauliflower.
  • I’m getting better about making a quick salad for dinner. If the dressing is premade and toppings prepped, washing the lettuce when we’re home is the biggest step. Let’s keep that going.
  • Feel like I’d love to use the zucchini and potatoes together. Smitten’s focaccia is tempting! And poison for you. (BUT THE TEMPTATION.) No? This isn’t time with your travel? Fine. Can we buy the fancy cheeses and make this project of a meal? (Or maybe I make the focaccia for my lunches.)
  • Not sure how we want to use the habanadas this go round.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, September 2

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Dear John,

I’m stressed. Last week was hopeful excitement of new routines. This week is the exhausted anxiety of disruption.

Admittedly, hormones probably don’t help. And national politics definitely don’t help. The implications of those politics on personal and local affairs don’t help. The news covering the implications of those politics on the global scale is even more horrifying. It’s hard to stop the spiraling.

The disrupted routine makes it feel like there’s no time to plan. Less time to cook when I expected more. Less time to rest and reset.

I think we need to lean into the super-quick meals. Or meal prepping the night before. Or over the weekend. I also have no idea what that looks like with our actual dietary needs and produce usage.

I don’t know. Please share your ideas.

Today’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Moon & Stars Watermelon
  • Little Sweetie Cantaloupe
  • Fennel
  • Green Kale Shishito Peppers
  • Red Carmen Italian Peppers
  • Yellow Onions
  • Cilantro

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Muscadines
  • Pepper
  • Beets
  • Cabbage: Red Cabbage, Green Cabbage
  • Peaches
  • Pears

In the Garden

  • Handful of basil
  • Parsley that turns out to have swallowtails growing on it
  • Pint of cherry tomatoes and ground cherries
  • Another pepper
  • Few tomatillos
  • Green tomatoes
  • Sunflowers! Dahlias!

Open Preserves

  • I organized the fridge.
  • But have not inventoried
  • So off the top of my head
  • Fig jam
  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel
  • Curdito

Pantry Beans

  • Yellow Split Pea
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Black Caviar Lentil
  • Garbanzo Bean
  • Buckeye Bean
  • Black Calypso
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Pinto Bean
  • Flor De Junio
  • Christmas Lima
  • California Corona
  • Royal Corona
  • And maybe one more on the shelf?

Cook something. Somehow. Somewhen.

  • Pasta with sardines and fennel
  • Smashed beets with green sauce from Six Seasons
  • Roast the shishito peppers. Serve as a side with, uh, stirfry? Cabbage salad?
  • It’s an assortment of other peppers. Maybe we make pepperonata? But also, the Six Seasons recipe calls for four pounds and it’s not nearly that much. Nor do we have the tomatoes for it.
  • You picked several green tomatoes. Do we want to see how long it takes to ripen? Make green tomato chutney?
  • I don’t know when we make more curdito with the cabbage. Maybe it should be used in stirfry? Or maybe it’s make a big fridge salad and eat on it all week long?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 3

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Dear John,

AHCK! I thought we were doing good keeping up with the produce and then we got knocked out with colds (and weren’t cooking as much) and I discovered some store bought asparagus at the back of the drawer gone slimy and the mushrooms that you picked up the other week were on the way to sadness. And then we add two more giant, gorgeous heads of lettuce to the mix? I’m not saying no to them. But I am hoping we can eat a lot of salad with friends before we bop out of town. Or that we can take lettuce to family? I know; I know; the car isn’t that big.

Today’s Box

  • Broccoli
  • Fennel
  • Garlic Scapes
  • Green Kale Swapped for Fava Beans
  • Red Leaf Lettuce

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Rhubarb
  • Green Garlic
  • Lettuce
  • Napa Cabbage
  • Scallions
  • Radishes
  • Carrots

In the Garden

  • A handful of peas
  • Radishes
  • Carrot tops. Carrot bottoms
  • Calendula
  • Black raspberries

Open Preserves

  • Still to be done.

Pantry Beans

  • Jumbo Peruvian Lima Bean
  • Mayocoba Bean
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Rio Zape
  • And more tucked on other shelves…

Okay. Deep Breaths. Priorities and how to eat them.

  • I’m writing this on Thursday. We used the fava beans and fennel stems in a pesto and pasta dish for dinner. It was a delicious. And means that the fava beans were enjoyed before they turned sad. SUCCESS!
  • Carrot bottoms are going to be grated and turned into carrot cake on Saturday. For eating on Sunday. And celebrating on Monday.
  • Carrot tops. Okay, these need to be taken care of tomorrow. I think our options are the carrot top + nut + cheese salad thing; the carrot tops blended with pickle juice thing (which we could put in the freezer, but I don’t want to put stuff in the freezer unless we think we’d take it out); the freeze with sugar and lemon juice and then eat with ice cream thing; blanching them and making a different salad thing; attempting a tabbouleh thing. Currently leaning toward a blend of options first and last. Try our normal salad but add quinoa instead of the nuts. Perhaps add the mushrooms I roasted earlier in the week. I bet we could serve that to friends!
  • Peas. Look, it’s just a handful. Really, all we have to do is remember to pull them out at lunch. And maybe add ranch dressing (or some other creamy dip) to the grocery list. Do we think that would be enough to get us to eat the broccoli too?
  • Lettuce. I think we should make spring roll dinner and see if that gets us to eat more lettuce. Baked tofu. Noodles. Can mandolin some radishes. Get out a dipping sauce.
  • It feels like every other dinner the past week has been me putting one thing or another into the blender and making a green sauce. (We’ve done the fennel pesto at least twice, the carrot top pickles once, all the greens including pea shoots was made once and we still have sauce left.)
    I love this strategy because cooking pasta and adding a sauce is a relatively quick meal and blending things is relatively straightforward. Even when they need to be blanched first. Or blended for longer than I expect. I might also be getting tired of green pasta? Anyway, I think we should blend the garlic scapes. Perhaps extend them with radish greens. Potentially we should freeze this. I somehow have more faith in it getting used than the carrot top pickle blend.
  • Fennel bulb. I’m hoping this will last until we’re home again. Cause I don’t have a great plan before then. Same for everything else.
  • When we do get back, let’s look at the radishes with tonnato and sunflower seeds recipe from Six Seasons. Our notes from last year are positive and I think we’ll be pulling more radishes from the garden next visit.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, May 20

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

Writing a headnote did not happen this week. Ooops.

Today’s Box

  • Baby Green Bok Choy
  • Green Chard Fennel
  • Green Garlic
  • Red Scallions
  • Rhubarb

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Rhubarb
  • Lettuce

In the Garden

  • Radishes
  • Carrots
  • Chard
  • Peas

Open Preserves

  • Still to be done.

Pantry Beans

  • Also till to be done.

Food dreams

  • Mulberries are on the sidewalks! Maybe this is the year to make mulbarb jam again.
  • It’s spring allium season. I think it might be time for triple threat galette. We didn’t make it for Easter this year, but we can still celebrate.
  • So it’s mostly a question of how to use bok choy this week. Honestly, I like the veggie but I might swap it if there’s something else in the box.

    *breaks to look for inspiration*

    I’VE GOT IT! Let’s try Hetty McKinnon’s sheet pan gnocci with bok choy and scallions! And one of these days let’s check out her cookbooks from the library. Her dumpling salad is one of my quick and easy lunches when you’re not at home.
  • First chard of the season. And I expect more. (Cause there are a couple of plants coming up in our garden.) Peeping over at an earlier post about favorite ways of using greens. First thought that comes to mind is that peanut butter, banana, chard wrap. We don’t have basil yet, but I might be musing in that direction,
  • Nevermind. We swapped the CSA chard for fennel. Another casserole?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, May 13

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Green to white ombré.

Dear John,

We hosted. Success! We reset, at least a little. We home maintained–getting both HVAC and plumbing professionals out to diagnose leaks. We came down with colds and have had soup for three of the past four meals. Here’s some things I’m thinking about if we get to feeling better. Perhaps to serve to our next guest who arrives in…40 hours or so. Hopefully we’re feeling better by then!

Today’s Box

  • Baby Hakurei Turnips
  • Collards Fennel
  • Green Garlic
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • White Scallions

Things in the fridge

  • Asparagus ends
  • Sunchokes
  • Rhubarb
  • Radish
  • Lettuce

In the Garden

  • Radishes
  • Carrots
  • Hardy Greens Mix (Kale/Collards/Mustard)

Open Preserves

  • Still to be done. Though we did use a vinaigrette on a celery and chickpea salad we took to a picnic with friends this weekend. One fewer jar!

Sniffling through springtime
(still dreaming of the celebrations though)

  • Despite the lack of rhubarb in our first box, I had plenty to work with when it was delivered from a visitor’s yard. I made a rosemary rhubarb crisp and two rhubarb custard pies. And then we got more delivered in last week’s box. Another custard pie is tempting. But so is rhubarb vanilla jam. Or rhubarb mulberry jam. Nevermind that I haven’t spotted mulberries yet.
  • It’s spring allium season. I think it might be time for triple threat galette. We didn’t make it for Easter this year, but we can still celebrate.
  • I picked up the fennel from the swap box (and left collards) thinking of the fennel sardine pasta. Looking at my search bar history, I’m tempted to try the fennel fritters again. But fennel and white beans sounds yummy too. Perhaps in another soup? Or maybe make the cassoulet?
  • The soup we are making in the next day or two is one more round of the asparagus ends soup. Use the leftover potato peels instead of oats!
  • How do we want to use the turnip tops this week? I’m tempted to go beans and greens route and cook up the kale and collards from the garden at the same time. (Coming soon: an inventory of our beans so that we can better consider which beans might integrate into our menu each week.)
  • Turnip bottoms into the Six Seasons turnips and yogurt salad.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 11

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Dear John,

We’re sneaking back to this routine. I’ll write more later. For now, let’s brainstorm some meals for the week ahead so we know what to shop for at the grocery store tomorrow.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Rhubarb
  • Broccoli
  • Fennel
  • Mini Purplette Onions
  • Kohlrabi
  • Yellow Straightneck Squash

Things in the fridge

  • Rhubarb
  • Greens: Red leaf lettuce, Cabbage
  • Roots: Beets, Radish, Turnip
  • Fennel
  • Alliums: Scallions, Garlic scapes, Green garlic

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • Herbs: Dill, Basil (as needed), Zatar, Rosemary, Oregano
  • Calendula and Cosmos
  • Community raspberries
  • Neighbor’s mint

Open Preserves

  • Ha! We need to do a fridge check. I’m just going to leave this as a placeholder.

I hope they’re easy meals vs slow to assemble salads

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, October 4

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Today’s Box

  • Asian Pears
  • Gala Apples
  • Butternut Squash
  • Fennel
  • Green Kale
  • Green Leaf Lettuce
  • Red Radishes

Things in the fridge

  • Apples
  • Plums
  • Pears
  • Lemongrass
  • Tomatoes
  • Greens: Chard, lettuce
  • Squash: Acorn, white acorn
  • Yummy peppers
  • Hot peppers

In the Garden

  • Habaneros, jalapenos, fish peppers, other peppers, still getting peppers
  • Rainbow chard
  • Dried beans
  • Edamame
  • Beets? Maybe. We should pull them some day.
  • Parsley if we want (we should pop some on the dehydrator)
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Dahlias and cosmos and gomphrena for the table

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled kale stems
  • Pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Tomatillo salsa
  • Cran-kin kraut
  • Cranapple chutney
  • Watermelon rind dill pickles
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Meals that might make leftovers

  • Squash and kale soup? I think I want to get sausage to put in it. Something like this. Maybe a fennel and bean soup?
  • Though, also, fennel and lentils was really good in the spring.
  • And let’s just make fennel pesto with the fronds. Can be mixed with yogurt for a dip, and you know how I feel about dips these days. (I want them all the time.)
  • Check out apple and pear salads in Pulp.
  • I still want that squash lasagna.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 4

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Dear John,

The fireworks are echoing down the street. I’m wiped from watching parade in the summer heat. You’re in the kitchen making everything neat.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Dark Sweet Cherries
  • White Peaches
  • Fennel
  • Red Beets
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Slicing Cucumbers
  • Yellow Patty Pan Squash

Things in the fridge

  • Cherries
  • Watermelon
  • Peaches
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, Chard, Collard
  • Carrots
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Green beans from neighbors
  • Rainbow chard
  • Turnips + greens
  • Radish + greens
  • Beets + reds, beet + greens
  • Sad looking ending the pea season
  • All the lettuce (17 slugs, 1 earwig)
  • Basil leaves getting pinched with flowers
  • Dill flowers
  • Garlic chives weeding forever
  • Calendula flowers getting dried by the trayful
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos bouquet

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

We pulled the peas, and planted beans to take over the tent. Two volunbeans, four from the soup pack. Harvested the last of the spring planted radish and turnips. I’m debating if we plant something else short there, or wait for the cucumber and strawberry to spread as they grow.

The beans we planted (two weeks ago?), have all popped up. The chard keeps getting thinned, so even though it’s growing, I feel like we might not be totally overwhelmed. Nevermind how loaded the bike was before we left.

I checked the internet’s horticulture wisdom and realized we needed to prune all of our tomatoes – it’s an indeterminate year.

Meals to make to celebrate summer

  • Internet browsing brought me to a newsletter with a series from Pandemic Part I. There’s this salad that looks great for cleaning out bits and ends. I made it last week and it was a hit. Not sure it’s calling me again so soon, but wanting to save.
  • It’s been so long since we made smashed cucumber salad. I miss it. We are making it this week. (I spied the first baby cucumber fruiting today. Maybe we’ll have some of our own to harvest.)
  • And the patty pan squash means it’s time for my annual making of the roasted squash and herbed chickpeas from chocolate & zucchini.
  • Green beans and tofu?
  • We just tossed fennel pesto that had gone moldy. So we can make some again. But learn from our mistakes and FREEZE it. Also, toss fennel on a salad of lettuces + peaches + toasted pecans.
  • How to use this week’s beet greens? (The beets will keep. Fine dice and roasted. Sliced on pizza. I’m not worried about them.) And what about the supply of chard? Last week brought a quiche with a mix of parm, cheddar, and gouda. Another quiche, but this time with chevre sounds potential. Honestly, it’s been a bit since we had pizza. That sounds kinda good. So does having it with pasta in a tomato sauce.
  • Last thought, if we have extra cucumbers, maybe this salad but with fennel.

Love,

Sarah

PS The wedge salad was as good as I dreamed and makes me want to get iceberg lettuce again. The toppings we used–roasted beets, toasted nuts, green onions, parsley, blue cheese dressing–feel so similar to my autumnal salads. But those are served with kale and that makes all the difference.

Boxing Day, May 30

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Dear John,

I know we need more canning lids.

We may need more jars.

Sometime last week, I took the fennel stems, chopped them up, and put them in brine with a few sprigs of rosemary, replenishing our fridge supply of pickled fennel. On Memorial Day, I pulled out our apple stock bag from the freezer, tossed in the cherry pits we’d stashed in there too. Ended up with one batch of apple scrap jelly from the juice. Then I took the solids, pulled the cranberries from the back of the fridge, and now we have a chutney. Last night, I made Artichoke Relish that I’m labeling “Relish the Sun ’23.” That (plus a giant batch of sunchoke burgers assembled last week, now stocking the freezer) used up our sunchokes for the season.

Today’s Box

  • Baby Fennel (+ bonus from the swap box)
  • Collards
  • French Breakfast Radishes
  • Red Romaine Lettuce
  • Red Scallions

Things in the fridge

  • Strawberries
  • Garlic Scapes
  • Bok Choy
  • Fennel
  • Some bitter greens from the neighbors
  • Red Leaf Lettuce, More greens from the neighbors
  • Scallions, Green Garlic
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Lettuce, gorgeous lettuce
  • Radishes + their greens
  • Turnips + their greens
  • Calendula leaves, from the thinning
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Dahlia bulbs

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

New Saturday. New starts. We’ve added Gomphrena flowers and parsley and dill. Brought the cilantro home. Pulled some more calendula and passed them to another gardener to transplant. (By the way, the ones we transplanted to our house look great now that we’ve gotten some rain. I mean, look at that picture. Don’t you agree?) We came home and made a lunch of lettuce and turnips and thinned rainbow chard that were freshly picked.

Meals to consider

  • Keeping lettuce soup on the list. Ditto the fennel casserole.
  • I made a fennel pesto from the fronds that we ate on our sunchoke burgers. It was good. And worked really well thinned with yogurt and lemon juice as a salad dressing. Since we’re looking at a lot of lettuce and turnip and radish salads, maybe try making more of that.
  • Collards, huh. I kinda want to make the Lee Brother’s collard grilled cheese sandwich, but their recipe calls for way more collards than we have. Still, I might end up going that way with them.
  • Though, alternatively, I keep having a sense memory of a dish that involved some sort of greens rolled up. Spirals of greens. I think, maybe, it might possibly be the shanu chaats from Hut-K in Ann Arbor. Described as “Spiced crushed chickpeas rolled in colocasia leaves surrounded w/ mixture of baked multigrain papdi, topped w/ mixture of potatoes, peas & chickpea, hut-k special sauces & garnished w/ chickpea flour savories. Allergy information: contains wheat, chickpeas. Vegan.” (The restaurant is closed. I do not trust the internet to save this information for me.) I’m wondering how I can go from that to a collards dish.
  • STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS UPDATE! I searched for colocasia and got a recipe for colocasia pinwheels. Which is getting absurdly close to my spiraly memory. Maybe this can happen after all.
  • Otherwise, we need to cook some of these greens down. Serve with beans and be done for a day.
  • Not a meal! But, I do want to try collecting and drying some of our calendula this season. Especially from in front of the house, it should be easy to get to. We have Resina Calendula, which is especially high in resin which is good for making the salves and oils and what have you. Apparently.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, May 23 (and 16)

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Dear John,

A week ago, not long after we’d picked up our lettuce and bok choy for the week, some neighborhood friends texted. They’d gotten a CSA and now had a fridge full of greens that would surely go bad before they ate them all. Would we like some?

So, I came back home with a bag full of chard and kale and fennel and I don’t even remember what else. I suggested asking around to find someone to split the share for the rest of the season. And also sent an email with a few of our favorite ways to cook up greens, when salad won’t go through them quickly enough. I have a feeling we’ll be needing these in the coming weeks, so for easier searching.

  1. Instant pot Indian Curry – Can switch out potatoes for chickpeas pretty easily.
  2. Coconut turmeric rice with greens – What I made for dinner that night. Toss a can of beans in it to round out the meal.
  3. Beans and greens pasta – Classic.
  4. Braised beans and greens – Also classic.
  5. Green shakshuka – Kale and eggs! Maybe another way?
  6. Turmeric black pepper stir fry – Okay, not vegetarian as written. We sub the chicken for tofu and asparagus for greens. or green beans.
  7. Braised cabbage and glass noodles – They have some other cabbage and glass noodle recipes that we also use. Dried mushrooms are a kitchen staple for us now. Also, this is one that we haven’t tried with other greens.
  8. Steamed greens and tofu in a glaze – In case you have a health struggles and suddenly go on extra low-fat watch, but are still allowed sugar. But really, I’ve used this one for years. Usually with brown rice.
  9. Sweet potato, kale, and quinoa fritters – Maybe more in the fall when sweet potatoes are in abundance. definitely served on top of salad, using even more greens 😉
  10. Tacos! – Cannot vouch for this recipe. I read the list above to you and you said tacos were missing.
  11. Enfrijodlas – Ooooh. I do like this recipe though. And would totally stuff them like enchiladas, but with wilted greens
  12. When all else fails, Greens Jam – Legit good. Tips on how to use it here. Great for picnics!

Today’s Box

  • Garlic Scapes
  • Napa Cabbage
  • Red Leaf Lettuce
  • Strawberries

Things in the fridge (from last week and beyond)

  • Cranberries
  • Red Butterhead Lettuce
  • Bok Choy
  • Fennel
  • Some bitter greens from the neighbors
  • More greens from the neighbors
  • Scallions, Green Garlic
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Orange Carrots
  • Sunchoke
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Lettuce, if we’d like
  • Radishes + their greens
  • Turnips + their greens
  • Calendula leaves, from the thinning
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Dahlia bulbs

Open Preserves

And when we peek at the garden

We bought starts on Saturday. Put them in the ground on Sunday. When we arrived, I was surprised at how green our plot already was. The radishes and turnips (pictured) were thriving–we left with a shopping bag full. The lettuce was actually forming. The calendula row from last year was quickly becoming thick with plants, so we’ve thinned and tried replanting at home. One edamame was actually recognizable. The peas were tall enough to think about training them on their tent poles. I think we have cosmos volunteering, but who knows, maybe those sprouts are actually weeds.

Beyond the greens

  • Look, I picked up extra fennel from the swap box before we got fennel from the neighbors. We’ve already had fennel with braised lentils. Twice. And turnip yogurt poppy salad with fennel fronds as our herb. I’m eyeing this fennel and bean casserole. Planning to pickle up some stems (because we’ve actually used up the previous jars). Contemplating a fennel pesto vs fennel fritter.
  • We have yet to make lettuce soup, but it has been mentioned previously. This might be the week for it. (Especially since the lettuce from yesterday’s box hasn’t made it to the refrigerator yet….)
  • If we don’t feel like fried ricing it, salad from the cabbage?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, November 15

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Squash snuggled into the cabbage leaves

Dear John,

The leaves have (mostly) fallen. The hard frost has arrived. And the single bronze dahlia bloom from the plant outside has been cut and brought inside.

Today’s Box

  • Cranberries
  • Goldrush Apples
  • Granny Smith Apples
  • Carnival Squash
  • Celery
  • Fennel
  • Green Cabbage
  • Onions

Things in the fridge and counter

  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Carrot (but not their greens)
  • Celery
  • Radicchio
  • Lettuce
  • Green beefsteak tomatoes, but baby-sized
  • Roma tomatoes, mix of green and reddening
  • Sweet Dumpling Squash
  • Stripetti Squash
  • Potatoes (purple and gold)

Garden Finale

  • Green tomatoes! Ours and ones other people had put in the compost *gasp*
  • Basil
  • Dahlias and marigolds and cosmos (gather seeds as we go!)
  • Nasturtium
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano

Open Preserves

Strategic eating before the big meal

  • The cabbage is gorgeous. It will also keep. Let’s use the few outermost leaves that are falling off for a salad now. Stir fry?
  • Time to make some apple date chutney, adapted for the freezer bags of apple and pear cores and cranberries that had been in the fridge for far, far too long. And apple scrap jelly.
  • More of the Six Seasons celery salads. With apples! And dates! And nuts!
  • Stuff the stripetti squash this week. Top with the leftovers from the cauliflower steaks last week. (That topping was so good. I can’t wait to make it again.)

Love you,

Sarah

Boxes from June into July

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Dear John,

It’s been month with you doing the bulk of kitchen duty and me being too otherwise occupied to menu plan in advance. And, spoilers, I’m guessing that’ll hold for the next month too.

We’ll hang out in the air conditioning–letting you take quick trips to the garden and I’ll do a stroll around the neighborhood in the breaks we manage. Now is the time to let friends come visit us (instead of trying to get to them). To spend time together relaxing (as best we can). And to eat whatever you make (or order)!

Predicted for the Next Box

  • Celery
  • Slicing Cucumbers
  • Sweet Fresh Onions
  • Yellow Patty Pan Squash
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Yellow Peaches

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Blueberries (farmer’s market)
  • Cantaloupe
  • Watermelon
  • Fennel
  • Cranberries
  • Greens: Stirfry mix, Napa Cabbage, Lettuce
  • Black radishes, Purple Daikon radishes
  • Potatoes: Sweet
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Growing in the Garden

  • Edamame
  • Dahlias
  • Basil
  • Tomatillas (maybe ripening soon?)
  • Tomatoes should start to come in this month
  • Peppers? What are the peppers doing?
  • Garlic? How’s it looking? Will I make it to the garden again anytime soon to see for myself?

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Cranberry orange marmalade-ish
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Meals that you can maybe make in the coming days (slash weeks)

  • Salad with blueberries and cucumbers. Lettuce and shredded beets and blue cheese and walnuts. Watermelon, feta, and basil. Cantaloupe, fresh mozz, and basil. The celery salads from Six Seasons.
  • Zucchini tuna melts from Six Seasons. Zucchini butter spaghetti. Zucchini tacos. Squash and beans.
  • Saag Feta. Aloo Saag. Beans and greens.
  • Fennel and Kale Pasta from the greens cookbook I checked out of the library. Turn the leftovers into a frittata/spaghetti pancake by adding egg, cheese, and raisins.
  • Spring rolls to eat salad in another form.
  • Agua fresca with watermelon or cantaloupe
  • Smoothies with all the fruits. (Just don’t dehydrate them and try to rehydrate….)

So much love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, September 23

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Welcome to fall. The watermelon have disappeared and the squash have arrived.

So John,

On Monday evening, I told a friend there was a 30% chance we’d end up buying a house by the end of the year. After a tour on Tuesday, I had our odds up to 50%–pretty likely actually. At least until we talked to our agent again today and decided not to write up an offer after all. Even in this market, 18% annual interest is a lot. Especially when it was just bought two years ago.

I’m thankful for working with an expert who tells us not to buy a place that’s overpriced. Or another place that will be awful to try to sell. Or that has more deferred maintenance than the price suggests.

I’m thankful that we have the flexibility to stay. Even if I never expected the housing search to take a year. Or if it did it was because we were losing bids. Not that we weren’t putting in offers. Nevermind winning bids and then failing inspections.

For now, I’m putting our chances of 2021 homebuying at 29%. The listings posted today weren’t inspiring. That’s okay. We’ll keep looking.

In This Week’s Box

  • Honeycrisp Apples
  • Kiwiberries
  • Arugula
  • Butternut Squash
  • Cilantro
  • Fennel
  • Mixed Yummy Peppers
  • Purple Fingerling Potatoes
  • Sweet Onions
  • Habanada Peppers

Garden Potential

  • Starfish pepper
  • Paprika
  • Jalapenos
  • Lombok peppers if we want them
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans (let ’em dry!)
  • Last of the Roma tomatoes?
  • Vorlon tomato
  • Dahlias

Still in the Fridge

  • Cucumber
  • Figs
  • Greens: Butterhead Lettuce
  • Peppers: Banana
  • Squash: Delicata, Red Kabocha, Acorn
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Fingerling Potatoes
  • Herbs: None
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Quince jelly
  • Dill pickle
  • Lacto-fermented & Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Quince jelly
  • Kicky cranapple chutney
  • Peach jam
  • Apple butter
  • Quince jelly
  • Veggie stock
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Starting points

  • I’d forgotten the cucumber. We should use the cucumber! It’s the last cucumber from the garden. Classic cucumber, onion, and yogurt side?
  • Squash + cilantro = we can do the mole verde butternut squash. Or acorn squash. Or Kabocha squash…
  • Other cilantro + tomatillos + jalapeno for another green salsa.
  • Apple fennel salad. Because this fennel cannot last as long as the previous one did.
  • I want something light for the lettuce. Tomato and sweet pepper with a sweet vinaigrette.
  • Whereas, I thin the arugula can go loud. Blue cheese and honeycrisp and roasted sweet potato with a balsamic.

~s

Boxing Day, July 8

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Lots of green veggies, with hints of yellows and golds. And then there’s the blueberries.

Hi John,

This weekend we took our picnic to the local fireworks display. We found a spot on the grass, spread out a blanket, unloaded our bikes, and took off our masks. In a crowd. It felt normal and weird and like the kind of thing that shouldn’t be noteworthy but it absolutely is. I felt mostly safe? Mostly because we were outside. And because blankets make easy boundaries and everyone was still giving each other a bit more space than we would have two years ago.

It was a better viewing experience than two years ago, when we tried watching from the apartment’s roof. And better than last year when we watched the show as reflected in the windows of the grocery store across the street while eating sausage with Jerusalem Artichoke Relish by our window.

I confess to mixed feelings about fireworks. They’re pretty and can be fun to watch. They’re loud and keep me up and we don’t even have pets or small children or PTSD to have extra reasons to hate them. The environmentalist side of me will be glad when they’re gone and not adding to fire risk or traumatizing birds. And there’s still the awesomeness of sitting with your group, part of a larger crowd, all looking up together and saying, “Wow.”

In This Week’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Celery
  • Dill
  • Fennel
  • Green Savoy Cabbage
  • Green Zucchini
  • Pickling Cucumbers
  • White Spring Onions
  • Yellow Wax Beans

Garden Potential

  • Occasional ground cherry
  • Red onions
  • Basil! Thai or lime or purple or Italian
  • Some apricots and blackberries from the communal area (I even snuck some into the photo.)

Still in the Fridge

  • Cherries
  • Herbs: Fennel, Dill
  • Greens: Dandelion, Cabbage, Lacinato Kale
  • Radish: Red and French Breakfast
  • Baby Hakurei Turnip
  • Onions: white and red
  • Gold Zucchini
  • Beets
  • Sunchokes

Considering the options

  • Pickling cucumbers + dill = Probably time to try making pickles. There’s just three cucumbers, so I pulled out Joy of Cooking and went with a recipe from there. They’ll be curing in the fridge, ready to eat in a week’s time.
  • Dandelion greens and white beans from Cool Beans. They’ve been here for two weeks. They need to get used. If we don’t feel like eating the dish, I bet it’d be a good one for dehydrating for a future backpacking trip.
  • I expect we’ll do more of the Six Seasons celery salads. They’re quick and don’t require heat and right now both of those are winning propositions.
  • Peanut, tofu, and wax beans! That’s my first thought. But then I’m also remembering the Smitten Kitchen salad with green beans and fennel and red onions. And wouldn’t you know that I tossed the last of the garden plot’s inherited onions in the brine yesterday. We’ll get more green beans for the tofu dish in a week or two. I spied some on our volunbeans earlier today.
  • Zucchini pasta? The zucchini pie/pizza/quiche thing from Simply in Season?
  • Do we want to make more of the sunchoke burgers? Or use them on pizza with the zucchini?
Flower and baby pepper!

I’m not sure what I’m feeling with the cabbage and kale right now. They feel mostly too heavy for the salads I want right now (though it hasn’t stopped their appearing with chickpeas and parm for a meal or two over the past week). I don’t really want the soups that I associate with them. Maybe spring rolls? Maybe in a stir-fry? Maybe I should think more about grain bowls? I bet that beet yogurt would be pretty on a bowl.

~s