Beets: they're what's for dinner

...or are they?



Today, I was on a budget:
1 bunch beets
4 peaches
5 Ginger Gold apples
1/2 lb. apricots
1/2 lb. Green Gage plums
3 ears white/bicolor corn
4 small zucchini
Total spent: $19

The apples are delicious, like last week's (but they're not the same type) - sweet-tart, crisp, perfect in slices - and I loaded up on them for lunches next week. And as promised, I am re-trying plums, this time with Green Gage, apparently the "plum of royalty" or something; we'll see if they live up to the hype.

Beets are the real experiment. I've never really eaten them on their own, or as the main ingredient in a dish. I've found a lot of ideas from Recipezaar, but from what I've read, baked beets are the way to go to really enjoy them - and that requires 1-2 hours of baking in a 400-degree oven. Today's not really a 400-degree-oven type of day, and for a few hours? Yikes. So do I suck it up and boil them? Or do I wait until a more oven-friendly evening? We'll see. Perhaps it will cool down 30 degrees tonight, and I can try 'em out.

Otherwise, a pretty pedestrian trip to USG. I did run into some friends, which made me seem a little less crazy for getting up early to shop for produce. But since Jeremy is going to be out of town most of the week (and since I'm broke), I couldn't go on as many interesting tangents as usual. The real tragedy was having to ignore the heirloom tomatoes this week - one stand had about 10 different varieties, all arrayed beautifully, labeled with their evocative variety names. Maybe next week!