I’ve written one rather pedantic post about my CSA box, back when I first started receiving it. Now, after 6 months-ish, I’d like to give a status update.
I diligently pick up my box every second Wednesday after work. I have not lost the excitement to see what is inside. I have learned that some things are staples, or recurring items, while others are seasonal specialties:greens always; red cabbage often; gorgeous sweet heirloom tomatoes and tiny ripe strawberries only a few times in the summer reason. I feel a compulsion to use all of my produce, which creates a unique problem-solving challenge when I receive radishes I don’t recognize, turnips I’ve never cooked, and more greens than I can reasonably salad-ify. The satisfaction I feel when I create a dish to use my CSA produce (extreme satisfaction) is disproportionate to the achievement (basic cooking). The aforementioned self-satisfaction leads me to tell other people about my CSA meal accomplishments. When I have exhausted the (severely limited) interest of my friends, I must turn to the wider internet community…
So, let’s recap some of the things I have cooked/made. I used a butternut squash to make a ‘pumpkin’ pie. I cooked rice with cubes of summer squash. I put red cabbage on a pizza. I made Vietnamese spring rolls with lettuce, carrots, and basil. I have experimented widely with green smoothies. Spinach, lettuce, cucumber, red chard, green cabbage with frozen berries, bananas and cocoa powder, watermelon, and/or peaches (CSA!). I’m particularly pleased with the green smoothie option, because I can use up my greens that way, in large quantities, when they are teetering on the brink of spoilage. And it feels so healthy…
Last night I made improvised pad thai. Leftover rice noodles from my roomie who moved last week, a little fish sauce, a little soya, a little brown sugar for sauce… Soften a CSA onion, CSA garlic, CSA red cabbage… Add an egg, sauce, and noodles, and stir fry into delicious pad thai. It was tasty AND it used up the head of red cabbage that had been languishing in my crisper box. Truth be told, I have struggled with the cabbages!
Wednesday’s, the day I pick up my boxes, are morphing into semi-regular dinner party days. My roommate, his girlfriend, my buddy, and my boyfriend came over last Wednesday for turkey tacos, with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber from my CSA. The Wednesday before that, my boyfriend came over for caprese with the gorgeous tomatoes, and pesto chicken, with a homemade pesto from CSA basil. The Wednesday before that two friends came over for a Thai homemade curry with CSA potatoes, carrots, and bell peppers.
I love my CSA box. I love it like I love banana bread. And I love it like I love my boyfriend. Or, I love it like I would love my boyfriend if I were sure that I loved him. More on him soon.
Related thought: I really want to work on vertical farms and other ways to grow and distribute food within cities. I’ve been trolling the websites of a few start-ups…particularly a greenhouse/greenroofs deal in California.. Let the record show that if/when the opportunity arises for me to work in the field of food and tech and social shift… This is what I daydream about at work.
Going to daydream about it now.
Spoonbill.
Ibis and Spoonbill 