conquering the csa while sitting in front of the tv

Did you know that my one-day-a-week job is now two days a week? It goes without saying that I am not cut out for such a rigorous schedule.

The yachtsman appears to be growing a huge mustache (pronounced moose-TASH).

All I want to do right now is watch TV.

But first I'm going to tell you how to roast some little plum tomatoes. As if you didn't already know.

Cut off the ends, then cut them in half the short way, place them on a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper for easy cleanup, if you like), douse them with olive oil, sprinkle with salt,


and roast them in the oven at a very low temperature (200-225 degrees) for a very long time—several episodes of Mad Men, a couple of Friday Night Lights, a Party Down or two. Until they're shriveled, basically, but before they're overly chewy.

Toss them with pasta, serve with a salad, eat as a salty-sweet snack.

They can be refrigerated in an airtight container in their cooking oil, plus some extra, for a week or two, or stored frozen for much longer.

That mustache has got to go.

Please pass the remote.

conquering the csa, biblical stylee

Like it says in the bible, when life hands you raspberries, make popsicles. Never mind that it's 57 degrees and rainy; who are you to question the word of God? Throw two cups of raspberries into the blender, heretic,


along with two cups of whole-milk yogurt, one-third cup of sugar, and one teaspoon of lemon juice. Thou shalt blend until smooth, and then press the mixture through a strainer into a bowl with a spout.


From the bowl with a spout pour the now-seedless liquid into popsicle molds, or, if you don't own popsicle molds (and who does?), into whatever small containers you can scrounge up, including the pretty Moroccan-mint-tea glasses your husband gave you, and the tall, skinny shot glasses a Mexican guy you barely know sent to you from his homeland after coming to a party at your house and being served a, god forbid, margarita (apparently tequila is meant for sipping out of tall, skinny shot glasses, not mixing with lime juice and orange liqueur). Freeze until the raspberry mixture begins to set, around half an hour, then plunge a popsicle stick into each one.


Don't have popsicle sticks? WWJD? Pray on it.

That's right, he would break in half the disposable chopsticks that accompanied takeout Vietnamese and are now clogging the silverware drawer and use those.

Maybe don't put the splintery end into the popsicle, my child.

And it was so.


Freeze the popsicles until very hard. To eat, run the mold (or shot glass, as the case may be) under hot water and wiggle the stick around to remove the pop, and rejoice unto the popsicle.

Supermodel P.Loz

Next week I'll tell you about how the Lord summoned me to the mount and told me to roast tomatoes, and how I did not forsake him.

[Popsicle recipe adapted from Orangette.]

conquering the csa, one english muffin at a time

Did I mention the English muffins? The homemade English muffins that were included in the Palmenters' CSA? I toasted one and ate it for breakfast. Half buttered, half peanut-buttered, because variety is the spice of life.

Consider this a recipe for toasted English muffins.

Next up: tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, tomatoes, leeks, zucchini, raspberries, yellow squash, tomatoes...

the road to hell

I am not particularly goal oriented, but this week I'm determined to cook every last gorgeous vegetable in my refrigerator. Our friends the Palmenters have gone out of town (Connecticut, Mongolia) and in their absence generously made us the beneficiaries of their farm share. As far as I can tell, having a CSA is like subscribing to the New Yorker: Instead of a mailbox-ful of reading material, CSA shareholders are inundated with beautiful produce. But while the New Yorker has totally kicked my ass, I will persevere with this particular bounty, so help me god. Prepare yourselves, bitches. There will be vegetables.

These I smeared with goat cheese and dispatched, raw, to my stomach. Consider this a recipe for purple broccoli.