The first fruits of the season

We are once again signed up for a veggie box from our friends at Coopers CSA Farm in Zephyr, Ontario! Last week we got our first box, which included thyme, sage, oregano, russet potatoes, lettuce, and asparagus. J had a craving for potato salad so I boiled up the taters and served up some salad borne of my mother's recipe, which, in my opinion is the best in the world. I shall share it, because I'm that kind of a gal!


Cut up some potatoes into 1/2" squares - as much or as little as you want -and boil them until tender. Depending on the potato, I usually don't peel the skin off but in this case, it was necessary.

Finely chop an onion (which will be enough for a salad for about 6-8 people, use a half if you're making less). Chop a whack of parsley. I use probably about 1/3 to 1/2 of a cup for 6-8.

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and put hot into a bowl. Right away, squeeze at least half a lemon over it and add about 1/4-1/3 cup of plain vegetable oil, canola is best. Add two teaspoons salt (or to taste), the parsley, and onion and gently mix it up. It should be good and lemony, so add to taste. It's best if it sits in the fridge to cool for an hour or two before serving.

It was most delicious and made with parsley from my indoor herb garden and the beautiful potatoes from the farm. As such, it was part of a fantastic little "we don't have a bbq but we're still going to eat like we have one meal" that had a bit of steak and corn on the cob to round it out.

CSA and the G/J Household.

As I have previously mentioned, G and I have signed up for a summer meat and veg allotment. The meat for the most part has been fantastic, which is a great treat. The veg is also great, though we get so much of it that sometimes it feels like a total waste. We've been freezing strawberries left and right just to make sure that we squeeze as much from our box as possible!

It's given us some good locavore dinners!

Including...


Sausages from Cumbraes with peas, sauteed zukes, and mashed potato. All veg from our box!


Roast chicken with potatoes, corn on the cob, roasted carrots, and green beans. The veg in this box, while all starchy, was DELICIOUS! Every bite of this veg was amazing. When G served the carrots, our friend Pat thought we were being very British and serving sausages!

You may notice a theme. We eat this veg all pretty simply cooked. It's so delicious on it's own that we've done very little to it and just enjoyed all the natural flavours. G did make a green bean stew in the pressure cooker, though...


...that totally kicked it. The green beans in this were so soft, they honestly reminded me of the green beans my grandpa used to make when I was a kid. My grandfather died right before I entered high school, and I remember so vividly the holiday dinner when we finished the last of grandpa's canned green beans. It was like really letting him go, losing this center of the family that held us all together. There were lots of tears (and a few right now just thinking about it) because it was like losing someone all over again. It's amazing how this memory has lasted with me, and how fast life can change.

My mom and I have tried quite a few times to recreate the flavour of grandpa's green beans, looking for that delicious taste and that tie back to a person we loved so much. It hasn't happened, but this was pretty close. Next time Mom visits, it's on the menu!

It's been awhile...

I know, it's been awhile.

There are numerous reasons. Lots of little things, at a conference in Vegas, work has been crazy, home has been crazy, I have been sick. But in reality, I think I just needed a bit of a break. I started feeling really overwhelmed by everything, updates on facebook, twitter, the blog, emails, and I finally had to start de-technologicalizing myself. (Is that a word?) So it's been a bit without facebook and twitter and I have to say *breathing a sigh of relief* it's better. I feel so much better being alive and in the moment. I feel a bit in control again.

Plus, it would seem that issue with wheat is more of an intolerance. So it's going to pop up from time to time on my blog, but hopefully not in any considerable amount! The food/illness thing has been very very overwhelming and I am still trying to make it all okay with myself, so you're just going to have to roll with it with me for awhile. It will become second nature, I know that.

So in the spirit of trying to live in the moment, G and I received our first CSA meat and veg box!!! Our meat haul is a bit much for two girls: loads of steaks and hamburger patties, a whole giant chicken, and a giant chicken split in half. Yummy! Our first veg wasn't so entirely spectacular, but it's early days for the harvest. Lettuce, spinach, asparagus, spring onions, and LOADS of rhubarb. We were amazed at the size of our chickens, and with a tiny freezer, we knew we had to roast the seven pounder all at once.


That is one half of one of the chicken breasts. I couldn't eat it all! We overcooked the asparagus a bit, but it was our first of the season and it was amazing. We stirred some of the green onion (chopped very finely) into the mashed potato. Not super innovative, no, but very delicious all the same. We really enjoyed the first fruits of our lovely CSA farms labour!

(The farm we have started using is the Cooper's CSA Farm located in Uxbridge, Ontario. It's really fantastic. We sadly missed the Open House, but have greatly enjoyed the delicious food and veg that we have been getting! Finding a fantastic CSA farm to get both meat and veg has been wonderful.)

CSA Box and lunch!

We got our first CSA box. It was a nice little package of parsnips (which I don't like), organic lettuce with the stem, onion, earthy smelling potatoes, carrots, cilantro and a whack of beets. We didn't get a ton of any one thing, which was a little disappointing, but which worked out this time, as G had a massive cold all week, and I was sick, we didn't end up cooking or eating much for the first week.

Here's a pic:

I tried taking this photo with the fluorescent light setting on my camera, but it seems quite blue...Hmmm.

Anyway, as I am starting a new job tomorrow, I am trying desperately to get over the sick today! I am drinking tons of oj, staying home, and doing a combination of freaking out and relaxing. But, yesterday, as we were trying to get better, we decided to go out for breakfast, but ended up getting lunch.

We went to this place called the Church Street Diner. It's in our neighborhood, so it's walking distance, which is the most deluxe thing about living downtown. Anyway, I had the club sandwich and fries. It was a grilled chicken breast with bacon, dill mayo, and tomato. I asked for (and received) no lettuce on my sandwich because warmed lettuce makes me a bit ill.

See for yourself (the sandwich, not the ill)....


It was alright. The fries LOOKED good, but they were oddly not crispy, just sort of weird tasting. Anyway, next time, I will likely stay with the brunch food at the Diner because it really is outstanding.

Hopefully, we will continue to feel better and get properly into this CSA box. I am looking into finding a community garden allotment for next year. I think that would be good fun.

Anyway, that's all for now.

CSA Boxes.

So I mentioned yesterday that I was looking for a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) box, and I am pleased to announce that I found one!!! We have signed up with mywowbox.com, who provides a box of locally harvested food, which is exactly what I want. I would rather have locally grown small farm food than organic produce from Mexico or Kenya. I am really excited. We will get our first box post-Disney, and I will post the contents asap.

Also, you may notice that I have made a few changes to my blog. I hope you like them...I do.