The Hungry Engineer

We picked up our second CSA box not long after the Hill Country had undergone a particularly vicious freeze (vicious for Texas, that is). To be honest, I figured it’d be a little light this week, and there was even an apology note from the supplier, Johnson’s Backyard Garden, to that affect tucked in amongst the produce. That said, I felt like we got every bit the content we did last time, and maybe even a little more. An added bonus – there was a pile of organic citrus from G and S Groves as well.

This is part of why I wanted to be a CSA member – to get random vegetables and have no immediate idea what I wanted to do with them, thereby forcing me to figure out new uses, new preparations. Part of our Box 2 offering was a big, beautiful 2-pound bunch of carrots. The weird freeze Austin experienced earlier this month managed to intensify their sweetness, and while we ate some of them as they were, I wanted to do something special with the rest. I picked up a random cookbook that I hadn’t opened in years and found a lovely recipe for Carrot Garlic Soup.

It all started with Eat Local Week this past December. It got me thinking that I often didn’t consider the bounty that central Texas has to offer – and that extends beyond organically grown produce and ethically raised meat. It includes talented people producing all manner of wonderful food items. So, in the spirit of Eat Local Week, we placed our very first order with The Soup Peddler.

We’ve decided to try a CSA membership for a while to see if it helps us eat more fruits and vegetables. CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a system whereby individuals pre-pay for a share of a given farm’s bounty. The farm has a bumper crop, the CSA members get extra large shares. The farm suffers an unexpected hard freeze, members wind up with less. Through Johnson’s Backyard Garden (who is currently accepting new CSA members, by the way), we’ve opted for an every-other week ration of vegetables. The following is sort of a note-to-self on what produce we’ve received, what recipes we prepared (or preservation methods we employed), and what we didn’t manage to use in time.

The seed was sown last Christmas when my husband’s parents gifted me with a lovely tin of tea called Earl Grey Creme from Mrsteas. The aroma was heavenly. I am generally a fan of Earl Grey tea anyway, but whatever they blend it with to give it that incredible sweet aroma and subtle “creme” flavor renders it unique. This holiday season, after begging to go back and refill my long-depleted stock of Earl Grey Creme, I found out they served food as well, and it turned out to be one of my favorite dining experiences of the trip.

Several months ago, I received a review copy of Ree Drummond’s new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I’ve been a fan of her lovely website and warm, self-effacing writing for a while and was excited for the chance to see her in print (I’m one of those awful tree-killing people who may never be able to let go of physical books in favor of e-readers). I’m pleased to report that the book doesn’t disappoint.

You know how Sean and I are shameless devotees of the Uchi restaurant here in Austin? The mastermind behind that restaurant, Tyson Cole, branched out and partnered with John Cassimus to open a fast-service sushi joint in the Birmingham, Alabama area called Maki Fresh. Well, it just so happens that during our recent holiday visit with Sean’s family, we had a chance to try it out … and now I’m sad that there isn’t one in Austin.

On my to-do list yesterday was to write my top-10 post for 2009. Not on my to-do list yesterday was dealing with an icky half-hangover, half-sinus headache and general crankiness, but it happened anyway. 2009 was an odd year for me blog-wise. I had days when I wondered why I bothered, and still other days when I happily wrote two or three posts at a time. What’s interesting about the most-read posts in 2009 is that several of them were from 2008. In a weird way, that makes me happy. It’s good knowing that at least some of these posts aren’t written, read by a handful of folks, and then never seen again. And here they are:

Last year, we made cookie plates for our families, but due to poor planning on my part, I only managed three kinds of cookies. This year, I got an earlier start and did a little bit better job. But for whatever reason, that just wasn’t enough. Thanks to all the charcuterie fun I’ve had this past year, we decided to make gifts of meat for our families as well.

In hunting for and testing holiday cookie recipes, I stumbled across this understated gem in an old issue of Cooking Light. I personally love peanut butter cookies, but Sean is not a fan. We have found a happy medium in macadamia nut butter cookies.