Thanksgiving market trip and things I made today

Still no photos. Also: afraid if I sit down too long I won't get back up. Not enough sleep last night.

Ready for the not-so-big day:
1 sugar pumpkin
3 sweet potatoes
3 lbs. German butterball potatoes
1 lb. crimini mushrooms
1/4 lb. shiitake mushrooms
2 heads Rocambole garlic
3 lbs. onions
1 lb. shallots
1 bunch sage
1 bunch rosemary
1 lb. carrots
1 head butter lettuce
1 bunch Siberian kale
2 cute little squashes
6 lbs. Mutsu apples
Total spent: $70

Things I made today:
Applesauce
Quiche (whole wheat crust with caramelized onions, cheese, fresh thyme, greenmarket eggs, Amish cream)
Spelt bread (on its final rise right now)

Things I will make for Thanksgiving:
Celebration roast (artisanal ersatz meat roast, for fun)
Mushroom gravy
Mashed potatoes
Sautéed greens with caramelized onions
Cornbread stuffing (is it dressing because nothing is getting stuffed?)
Pumpkin pie (using roasted pumpkin and sweet potato, per Cook's Illustrated)
Ginger cookie ice cream sandwiches

There will only be three of us (though more are expected later for dessert) so I think I am going to skip another starchy side, though this sweet potato recipe, which my friend Zeb sent me, sounds really delicious. Maybe I'll make it one of these non-Thanksgiving days.

Also want to make soon: polenta lasagna with portabellas and kale from Fat Free Vegan.

I'm pretty sure that quiche is my favorite food ever. It is so nice and self-contained, and just tastes amazing. That may have something to do with the fact that it is entirely composed of butter, eggs, cheese, and cream. Maybe. Looking forward to quiche almost makes up for the fact that the sun started setting before 4 today. Almost.

Technical difficulties continue

Oddly beautiful morning that opened an emotional roller-coaster of a day. Every year as winter begins I forget what seasonal affective disorder means...for about a week.

And my camera is still not working. I think I'm going to order a replacement battery, after I consult with my dad about it.

Not on a budget this time:
1 lb. shelled fresh Tarbais beans
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch lacinato kale
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch celery
1 head Red Oak lettuce
1 head French Crisp lettuce
2 1/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts
2 lbs. zucchini
2 1/2 lbs. soup carrots (big)
2 lbs. eating carrots (little)
1 lb. red tomato "seconds"
2 lbs. German butterball potatoes
2 1/2 lbs. apples (Macoun and Winesap)
1 lb. Mars purple seedless grapes
1 bunch dill

Total spent: $70

I've already used most of the soup carrots in an oat-thickened carrot cream soup, which I served for dinner, garnished with fresh dill; inevitably, we started with a big green (and red) salad. The carrot soup was the recipe we had to prepare for our midterm, and despite the practice runs and the stress of making it for the test, I still like the stuff. And my photo assistant, despite his disdain for carrots, lemon, and ginger - the soup's primary constituents - also finds it agreeable.

More carrots and onions, along with the celery, most of the fresh dill, and the beets I've been saving, will go into the season's first batch of homemade borscht. I'm going to use some of the fancy French Tarbais beans instead of limas.

Otherwise: Brussels sprouts for breakfast tomorrow, and lots of greens to eat this week. I feel good about this haul.

Can you stand it in the cold light of day? Neither can I.

This morning was crystalline with a sharp chill, the kind that can only happen in early fall and seem replete with meaning - the sky's clarity and cold an almost embarrassingly obvious metaphor - the type of morning that carries with it a plangent demand for urgent forward motion and harsh self-examination. Or at least, that's how the morning looks just after coffee to a person as ennui-leaning as myself. It was uncomfortable in a way that felt necessary.

Beautiful morning, lovely time at the market, didn't get quite everything I wanted but got closer than usual. Sadly my camera is on the fritz, as the light today has been perfect.

I've got a market bag full of allegories:
1 head Romaine lettuce
1 head French crisp lettuce
1 1/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts
3 lbs. carrots
3 lbs. onions
1/2 lb. shallots
3 lbs. tomatoes
1 small butternut squash.
2 heads Rocambole garlic
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch thyme
1 box raspberries
4 lbs. mixed apples
1 lb. Lakemont seedless green grapes
1 qt. red grape juice

Total spent: $64

Some of the onions, carrots, thyme, and parsley, along with last week's celery tops, went into a four-quart batch of vegetable stock. It didn't turn out quite as flavor-y as I had hoped, but then again, it is very tough to tell with unseasoned stock. Next time I think I'll brown the vegetables first. I'll use it first in some minestrone with the tomatoes, as well as more carrots and onions, though I am disappointed that I couldn't find cranberry beans at today's market for it. I think I'll substitute lentils as an experiment.

Eventually I'll probably make some butternut squash soup.

And lately, I've been eating Brussels sprouts for breakfast.

Don't worry, baby

"We'll have them for awhile still," volunteered the man who grows the best carrots I've ever had, as I paid for my weekly three-pound ration of the hairy, knobbly, bright-orange jewels (pictured here). No doubt he saw the fear in my eyes, saw the wildness with which I clutched my bags of greens and tomatoes; as fall undeniably chugs in amidst mornings fragrant with mist and chilly evenings, harvest bounties dwindle, and I am left to dread my squash and sweet potato-laden near-future.
Late summer and early fall mix:
1 bunch chives
1 bunch dill
3 lbs. plum tomatoes
1 bunch fancy flat kale (can't remember the variety)
1 bunch green Swiss chard
1 1/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts
1 lb. crimini mushrooms
1/2 lb. mixed salad greens
3 lbs. carrots
1 1/2 lbs. zucchini
2 ears white corn
4 lbs. mixed apples
1 Bosc pear

Total spent: $57

Once again I forgot that my photo assistant is leaving town tomorrow, meaning this week's haul is all mine to eat. I should have bought broccoli!

The corn will join the lima beans I bought and didn't eat Monday in the last succotash of the year for dinner tonight, topped with red pepper coulis and served alongside crispy "crash" potatoes and eggs baked with butter, chives, and goat cheese. We'll start with big green salads topped with the handful of plum tomatoes that wouldn't fit on the sheet pan with the rest which are currently slow-roasting in my oven.

I bought the Bosc pear to poach in preparation for my upcoming midterm; today's order is studying after a bit of housecleaning and laundry. Living the dream, people. Living the dream. Speaking of which, to meet my loyal readers' furious demands for more kitten coverage, here's an outtake from the carrots photo session:

News flash: making grape jelly is tedious

I started with 4 lbs. of Concord grapes, and after mashing them, simmering them for ten minutes, running them through my food mill, and straining them through cheesecloth twice, I have 3 cups of grape juice and lots of middling grape almost-liquid that is dropping out of my cheesecloth-lined colander at approximately the same rate that microwave popcorn pops when it's time to take it out.

Once I've got the 4 cups of juice I ought to have, it should be easy enough to boil the stuff with pectin and agave nectar, check for jell, pour into jars, and process...but right now things are a bit dire and boring. Though I suppose I can use a bit of forced relaxation given the way things have been the past few weeks...season change being what it is.

Today is stretching out errand-free until I have to go to class at 5, so once I've got the jelly sorted I'm going to make granola, lentil pepper-pot soup, and start some yogurt. And tonight before bed I'll put in a couple sheets of tomatoes to slow-roast while we sleep.

That is the tempo

Until this week, I've been mostly successful in avoiding tomatoes, despite the gorgeous piles they make everywhere at USG - because they're nightshades, they cause inflammation, they give me canker sores - but yesterday I chanced upon this recipe for slow-roasted tomatoes, and I knew I had to make them, despite the whole "leaving the oven on for 10 hours" thing. And once I had bought the plum tomatoes, I thought I may as well try a lovely low-acid yellow heirloom and a pint of my favorite Sungolds - totalling about five pounds.

So much more than tomatoes:

1 (small) bunch collard greens
1 (huge) bunch kale
3 lbs. carrots
2 lbs. yellow cooking onions
1 1/2 lbs. green beans
1 head celery
3 lbs. mixed summer squash (avocado and cousa)
3 lbs. plum tomatoes
1 pint Sungold tomatoes
1/2 lb. mixed salad greens
1 large yellow low-acid heirloom tomato
1 head Rocambole garlic
2 pints strawberries
1 box raspberries
Total spent: $60

Incidentally, almost everything I bought today was organic. My four favorite produce stands are organic, and I bought everything from them. If I don't have the option of local and organic, I will always choose local, but it's nice to find both - especially because the organic stands (whether certified or not) tend to have the best-tasting produce.

The tomatoes are already in the oven at just over 200 degrees - here's a shot just before they went in. I'll check them at about eight hours, but I'm expecting to leave them in for 10-12, like most of the recipes I've found online have indicated.

Otherwise, a pretty standard trip to the market, tinged with a bit of summer's end gloom. Peaches are finally waning - the last few I've gotten have been a bit mealy, and green beans are no longer young and tender. I think I'll have to roast these to make them delicious, as they're a bit tough. Tonight I think I'll make a light pasta dish with tomatoes, summer squash, greens, and parsley. We'll start with a salad and have berries for dessert, in late-summer style.

I have expensive tastes

There are two types of carrots available at USG these days. One vendor's carrots cost $1/lb. and taste like perfume. So I've started buying Windfall Farms carrots, which cost $5/lb. Also, the only spinach I can find is $6 per $1/4 lb. At these prices, I guess I'm lucky there aren't a lot of options.

Good thing I really like carrots:
1.5 lbs. carrots
1/2 lb. baby spinach
1 box red clover sprouts
1 bunch tat soi
Total spent: $22

I also got the usual goat cheese, eggs, and apple cider...though the pricey carrots did eat up my Rick's Picks budget. I do have four half-finished jars in the fridge, so I suppose I can manage for a few more days.

There are still a few pounds of apples in the fridge, left over from a few weeks back (!), so I'm going to make another batch of applesauce today. At the moment, though, I have a batch of chili on the stove. My favorite moment in the chili-making process is after adding the garlic, cumin, and oregano to the softened onions and jalapenos - the second when it becomes aromatic, just before adding the tomatoes and beans. That moment might be my favorite smell in all of cooking.

Otherwise, I'm going to put the tat soi in our smoothies, make another borscht with some weeks-old beets, and pray for spring.

Which do you want first? The good news or the bad news?

Everyone always chooses the good news first, which is often essential, since the bad news generally correlates to the good. But in this case, that's not true. Well, it's kinda true.

The good news is that my ersatz carrot pickles totally worked! They're delicious, and the bonus is that my experiment taught me that I like pickled carrots (though it wouldn't be hard to extrapolate that conclusion from my loves of pickles and of carrots). I just peeled and "sticked" the carrots, stuck them into the jar of leftover Kool Gherks brine, topped off with white vinegar, put the lid on tightly and shook it all up, then let it sit in the fridge for about a week. Now I have bonus pickles.

The bad news is that my stomach is acting up pretty seriously again, despite my trip to the gastroenterologist and the resulting acid-reducing meds - perhaps my obvious unwillingness to give up briny and spicy foods is partial culprit. I've also been hit by a big heavy molasses-truck of depression this week, and I'm not sure if the stomach is the egg or the chicken here. (Metaphors fly thick and fast around here when I get to talkin' about the sads.)

Oh no, you got kale in my mashed potatoes!

Maybe winter won't be so bad if I can have this colcannon all the time. It is what the annoying might call a "no-brainer" - three of the best foods (garlic mashed potatoes, kale, and seitan) sharing one stage...the event of a lifetime!

Thank you, Vegan Yum Yum. Thank you for giving me hope where my wintry future offers none.

Strawberries in October

Today I was on a very strict budget, and forcing myself to keep to a list. But when I had $5 left and had to choose between tomatoes (on the list; necessary for many of this week's planned dishes), and totally unexpected strawberries, I chose the latter.

I scrimped, I saved:
1 bunch kale
1 bunch chard
1 bunch beets
1 lb. green beans
2 zucchini
2 yellow onions
4 shallots
1 butternut squash
1 lb. lima beans (in shell)
1 lb. green seedless grapes
1 pt. strawberries
Total spent: $32

Because my brain is obviously not ready for fall yet, I forgot about last week's apples until Thursday, so they only made it in one lunch - plenty left to tide us through until next Saturday, especially since I can alternate with grapes.

Buying my year's first butternut squash felt a bit like a concession, but there is very little struggle left against the impending autumn, and the weather has admitted as much by becoming decidedly crisp and chilly. My plans for this harbinger are nevertheless ambitious - I want to fill ravioli with butternut squash puree, and serve them, simply and classically, with herbed butter.

I was very happy to find the limas, as I've been reading so much about the glories of fresh shell beans, and the cranberry beans we had last week were quite nice. My photo assistant loves lima beans, so I may enlist his help in the shelling.

And the strawberries? I have no idea where they came from. The organic grower I usually hit up at the tail end of my USG trip for Sungold tomatoes was putting them out as I was browsing tomatoes; though initially incredulous, I tasted one and couldn't resist their unseasonal delight. These strawberries aren't a straightforward, perfect, mid-season joy - they have a bit of an herbal, almost medicinal edge to them - but their innate strawberryness isn't troubled by this complexity. Of course, I've eaten about half of them already.

There is a light that never goes out

I put off this morning's USG trip for hours, because I was sleepy from a late night at a rock show, knew it would be crowded when I got there (I didn't wake up until 9:30), and I was not looking forward to my first weekly haul of fall vegetables. But once I started walking around the market, I got so wrapped up in all my options that I didn't notice the crowds or the startling ubiquity of apples and (already!) squashes. I should have known the USG wouldn't let me down - the fact that I spent way more money than usual despite having only one night of dinner at home next week notwithstanding.


None of this is murder:
1 box white raspberries
8 apples (Macoun, Empire, Mutsu)
1 lb. seedless grapes (half Marquis, half red)
1 pint Sungold tomatoes
1 pint Black Cherry tomatoes
1 lb. cranberry beans
3 ears bicolor corn
1 bunch carrots
1 bag spinach
1 bunch red Russian kale
1/4 lb. rughetta (spicy Italian arugula)
1 lb. golden nugget potatoes
2 heads Rocambole garlic
assorted chili peppers: Novallo?, Poblano, Scotch bonnet
Total spent: $56


I have no idea what to make with cranberry beans, but they are so lovely! Inside they're plain white, but the pods are just too beautiful. I am thinking maybe I'll create some sort of succotash with the cranberry beans and the corn for our one night of home-cooked dinner. And I'll use the gorgeous and probably way-too-spicy (Scotch bonnets? Am I serious??) peppers in a pot of black beans, assuming I can find the time to cook them during this crazy week.

Almost everything else will be used in lunches - the greens will be added anywhere I can put 'em, the potatoes and rughetta will be combined into a cold potato salad, and the carrots, apples, and grapes will be eated as is. (My worries about not having fresh fruit anymore have been momentarily assuaged by the abundance of grapes in many varieties.)

I have no plans for the white raspberries, because I already ate them! They were odd-looking, like Bunnicula had struck - about the color of champagne - but quite delicious. If I was in charge, all raspberries would taste this way. They were perhaps a bit tarter than their red counterparts, but nonetheless tasted absolutely raspberry-y. Lovely.

Next week I'll probably give in and buy my first squash. I'm trying to come up with a good way to use squash in lunches...perhaps just cubed and lightly-dressed as a side "salad." Since our microwave at the office stopped working last week, I've been working on cold and room temperature lunch dishes that are nonetheless filling and satisfying. It's been quite good for my creativity, I think, and I don't have to confront my (undoubtedly correct) fear of microwaving food in plastic. So far it's been all wraps and pasta salad, but I'm going to try the aforementioned potato salad and some grain salads next week.

Post-vacation items

1. I kind of liked the blueberries. Kind of. They were quite nice in my morning smoothies, I have to say. Usually they're presented in sweetened baked goods (generally not my cup of tea anyway), which is when I balk, but fresh they're alright. Just not my favorite berry.
2. Speaking of tea, my time in the English countryside reminded me how much I wish American culture included an afternoon break, like Britain's tea, or the siesta of Italy and Spain. Most folks seem to "slump" a bit in the afternoon, and slogging through is probably less productive (not to mention less satisfying) than taking time to have a nibble or a rest and returning to work refreshed.
3. Being vegetarian in a tiny English village isn't impossible, but it's certainly not easy. Being vegan may have been impossible - the only veg dishes on any menu I found, except at the Indian restaurant, were full of butter, eggs, and cheese.
4. It's nice to be home, but I have to admit I'm dreading Saturday's greenmarket expedition, which will force me to realize how far autumn has already progressed.