I’m a pretty new convert to kale. Last year’s CSA run was really my first major exposure, and I found it mainly useful as a green for soups. It was very sturdy and didn’t turn to mush when it was simmered for a long time.
I tried something a bit different this weekend. Well, different for me—it’s probably old had for all the routine kale-eaters out there. I made a salad. Kale being pretty tough, I started by massaging in a bit of salt and olive oil (after washing and drying the leaves, minus stems, of course), and I let it sit for a while. I then added my current salad staples: diced shallot, jalapeno, chopped dill, chopped cilantro, and balsamic vinegar.
It was out of this world. The lettuce we get from the CSA is the good stuff—no flavorless iceburg here—and this blew it all away. The kale had such a great flavor, plus the texture was the perfect amount of firmness. It was really fantastic.
The downside: when I start making soups again, I may not have enough kale to really go around. I can only hope that I’ll be off my salad craving by then.
I’m the type of person who never counts on anything until I have a measure of assurance. So, when it comes to my trip to the Baltics, I would generally respond to inquiries with a, “Well, that’s what I’m planning for, but we’ll see how it works out. It’s not confirmed until I get plane tickets.”
It’s confirmed. Last weekend I bought my tickets to London, and from there I’ll fly Ryanair to Riga, Latvia. It’s the train from then on.
Now I just need to figure out my schedule once I get there. Even that should be fun.
Today is the first day of the farm share, and boy did we get our leafy greens. Lots of lettuce, kale, spinach, beets, plus cilantro, dill, french radishes—well, a ton of goodies. I just finished eating a salad composed of the following: one head of lettuce, chopped; one green pepper, chopped; one shallot, minced, one jalapeno, sliced; finely chopped fresh cilantro and dill; freshly grated parmesan; and drizzle with just a bit of balsamic vinegar. I ate the whole thing. It was a bit spicy, but fantastic, and now I am definitely full. Weird to think of lettuce filling me up, but it definitely worked. Of course, I also had a glass of milk (spicy salad, remember?), so that may have had something to do with it.
Lately, I’ve had quite the craving for leafy greens. It’ll take a while to satiate that craving, but it feels good to start the process.
I think tomorrow I’ll have the French breakfast radishes. For breakfast.
This has been an extraordinarily wet week for this region, with heavy and long rain pretty much every day. My garden would love it if not for the hail, which did some damage to my fava and radishes. But them’s the breaks. For now, let’s check in with the boys.
Jupiter’s Belly, with Sebastian in the background:
Lots of plans this weekend, and I have a full day of work to get through first. So off I go to do my part to keep the wheels of justice turning.
Have a great weekend!
It’s been pretty wet and mucky lately. Normally, I don’t mind that at all. But yesterday, the storm included quite a lot of hail. It beat up my garden pretty bad. I thought the fava beans would be the hardest hit, and they were. The radishes got it worse than I expected, too. I’ll know more about how I can expect them to recover in the next couple days, but it really is irritating.
I got my ticket for London on Saturday, so I suppose The Trip is now set in stone. Less than two months, now, and still so much to do.
This weekend has been unbelievably productive. It included:
- Yard work. Aside from getting the lawn mowed (needed!), I also turned over the compost and added some cut grass from a friend’s place. I discovered that some squash/pumpkin seeds that had gone into the compost pile had sprouted. So I picked out a dozen or so and planted them in the garden. Maybe nothing will come of them, but it costs me nothing to try.
- Move furniture, mop floor. In addition, I scrubbed the kitchen floor by hand. At some point, I think I’ll have to get my wood floors refinished—I don’t think it has been done in the last 20 years or so, at least.
- Rearranged furniture in my office. I made a makeshift desk by spanning a door across a couple cabinets—a time-honored method. This gives me a bit more room, plus I can use my old desk as an actual work area, which is something I’ve been lacking.
It doesn’t look like as much work as it was—I spent a lot of time cleaning everything, like all surfaces, baseboards, radiators, the works. And although I didn’t slack off very much, I still didn’t get as much done as I wanted. I still have some work to do in my office, for example, and I haven’t touched the basement yet.
I guess I have something to keep me busy for the rest of the week, and next weekend, too.
In other news, I recently discovered that my internet provider provided a higher-level service plan for another $10 per month. It features almost three times the download bandwidth and four times the upload bandwidth. For me, particularly given the fact that I have a home server with remote access, it’s worth it. I signed up last week and it kicked in this morning. I’m pleased so far, but we’ll see if there’s a difference in my day-to-day experience.
