It’s been an odd, nearly balmy, winter in the city. Here in February, I spotted a few flakes of snow, but also buds, blossoms, flowers, and even a mosquito. And a few weeks ago, the wild chives started pushing up (about a month early). Wayward chives aside, the growing season is still a long way out. But cultivated mushrooms, which can be grown year-round, are widely available at the local markets, and they’re a meaty delicacy in a season of want. [Read more…]
mission accomplished and rainbow chard slaw
Well? We did it! Brian and I welcomed a new baby girl to our family last Monday. Everything about the labor and delivery was a huge surprise, including the fact that I was only in active labor for about 4 hours! I never expected a Hollywood delivery (all the baby books emphasize how rare they are), but there we were–Brian navigating early morning traffic over the Williamsburg bridge, my water breaking in the car, needing to push before we got to the hospital (so glad we avoided an emergency delivery on 10th Avenue!), careening up to the hospital entrance, being whisked away to L & D while Brian was still signing in, and then, a mere half hour later meeting our new baby girl. Phew! Now that the wild ride is over, we are settled at home and loving these first few days with our new baby and her big sister. Suddenly, we’re a family of four.
But we still need to eat, and things are slowly ramping back up. We’ve been plugging away at our farm share and the seasonal ingredients that are pouring in. [Read more…]
mango and avocado salad
To start this post, I’d like to pay tribute to the apple. This humble fruit was made to last–how an apple picked in November could still taste juicy and delicious in May, May!, is one of nature’s great mysteries. But this is the time of year for saying goodbye to apples. They’ve been good to us, but now there are blueberries, strawberries, and cherries on the horizon. And the occasional tropical fruit from the grocery store. These sweet and fleeting fruits lack the apple’s constancy, but it is their very impermanence that makes them so wonderful. Really, summer fruit is the main reason I put up with hot weather at all.
This vivid avocado and mango salad was created against a backdrop of impending over-ripeness–tropical fruits being among the most fleeting. You get some mangoes and avocados and they’re hard as rocks for three days, ripe for ten minutes, and then they’re soon on their way to the trash. Lucky for us, this salad used the needed fruit, and was really, really good. [Read more…]