Farm fresh veggies!

Last night I ran out of organizing steam, so not much progress was made on my interior design. I managed to move most of my stuff from the piles in the hallway, kitchen, and living room and back into my bedroom. So now my pristine "serenity bedroom" is going back to its usual state of entropy. But it will heretofore be known as the Serenity Room (shout out to Vicky for that designation).

Anyhoo, I'm not here to talk about furniture. I'm here to talk about vegetables!!!! Last night I picked up my first farm share box of the season with my friend Dave. I started this last year with my bestie and since she is leaving me, I roped Dave into sharing it with me this season. Even though it's a small box, it's hard to eat that much roughage all by yourself. We get our share through World PEAS - a joint venture with Tufts and the New Entry Sustainable Farming project. They help beginning, immigrant, and refugee farmers with growing and distribution - got to love a dual mission organization. Since many of them are immigrants, we get some interesting stuff in our shares from Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, etc. They send a newsletter every week with cooking tips and recipes. It's a culinary surprise each week!

Last night our pickings were kind of slim because we've had some bad weather this season, but what little we had was delicious. For our first share, we got lettuce, arugula, pea shoots, radishes, kale, green onions and strawberries. Dave and I made a little green feast (with some chicken and bread), and I let him keep most of the share since I'm going away for a week. Sorry the pics aren't so hot. I was too busy eating to think about taking pictures.

Look how perfectly red and white those radishes are. I didn't even know I liked radishes until last night. But they were crunchy and spicy. It makes you realize why they sell them in the grocery store in the first place.

This looks like a sad, lonely strawberry, but that's because they were so delicious I passed out and forgot to take a real picture. Best. Strawberry. Ever. It was like a burst of berry sunshine in my mouth. Normally I only have a food orgasm over cheese or meat, but this strawberry was worthy.

I bet you're thinking - "Here we go. Another hipster Cambridge chick who shops local organic, knits, and blogs." I will have you know, my favorite food is Cheetos. And if you've seen me in person, you know I'm not a hipster. Today I look like someone's mom because I'm wearing khaki pants and old lady shoes. But if you have a local farmers' market or good produce stand nearby, I highly recommend you skip the grocery store and get real vegetables! Food tastes better when it comes from a farm! It tastes better when fewer people have to work to get it to you. Forget about the politics and do it cuz it tastes good.


Pea Shoots for Dummies
Pea shoots are the young leaves of snow pea plants. They're used a lot in Asian cooking, and are like a springy combination of spinach and peas. Wash and spin them like lettuce, and trim off the hard stems. Go for mostly the leaves. Here's how we cooked them:


1. Chop up a bunch of garlic and saute in olive oil. (If you don't like garlic, shoot yourself because life is probably not worth living. No, that's mean. You are entitled to your own opinion).
2.Stir in the pea shoots
3. Add some salt and pepper, or other seasoning. A dash of soy sauce, squeeze of lemon, whatever floats your boat!

You can also eat pea shoots raw or in a salad. Really! Even a dummy can eat it!