We’ve been experimenting with getting our food from a number of different places recently. We make regular runs to the grocery store nearby (Tesco: fine, but not fantastic), we’ve gotten a big delivery from another, bigger grocery (Waitrose: quite nice, though we like to pick out our food ourselves), and getting some produce at the covered market (nice apples). Today we got our first delivery from a CSA-type operation: a farm outfit that delivers boxes of veggies of various kinds to your door on a weekly basis. We were happy to learn that, unlike all the squeaky-clean veggies we’ve seen in supermarkets around here (scary, really, how clean they get), these veggies come fresh from the field (dirtier, but with less abuse along the way). You can pick from a variety of veggie boxes, but we decided to be adventurous this time and now find ourselves with a couple of kinds of greens we’ve never seen before. Finally, inspired to cook again because I’m puzzled about a new thing that showed up in my kitchen! If we’re feeling decadent they also have fresh herbs, eggs, breads, and desserts you can add to your order. Something about having veggies show up, dirty and in bulk, forcing us to organize our cooking around those surprises, feels right to us. Feels Ithaca-normal. The best we can do without a garden of our own. Along with a normal load of veggies we ordered a bag of apples and a box of winter squash, which is currently decorating our windowsill. Food as decoration also makes me feel back to normal.
Now, off to eat about three of those great-looking apples . . .
Erin
Alan Schmierer
What fun!! With your little freezer at your fingertips, you can savor those surprises throughout the winter! And you get to choose if you want a weekly surprise. It does indeed sound very Ithaca-like! Enjoy!
What were the ‘surprise’ greens?
That’s what we need to figure out . . . a Savoy cabbage and some Asian greens we aren’t familiar with.
Erin