Fixin' Supper

I’ve really been wanting to include more recipes recently, but when this is all we’ve been eating in the past week, it’s been hard:
Cherries
Grapes
Corn
Tomatoes
Cauliflower
Red potatoes (I did roast these with a little parmesan cheese but it’s hardly worth calling a recipe)
Blueberries (LOTS of blueberries)
More tomatoes
Did I mention tomatoes?
Carrots
Hummus
Yogurt
Sourdough bread
UPDATE: I previously forgot the butter beans. Wow, they have been awesome.
And the peaches.

That’s pretty much it. This week I’m going to think about actually cooking. But last week it was so hot, and all those fresh fruits and veggies were so good just like they were, well I just didn’t get a lot farther than washing them. I’m sorry if you were waiting around here thinking I would have had more for you.

This week will be our week.

Well lots of folks here today are all abuzz about the article in the Tennessean announcing that the airport authority is considering a proposal to include a number of local, mostly independent, Nashville restaurants in the upcoming renovation of the airport facility.

The Nashville airport has long been a place where you could go to starve for hours, a massive concourse unmarred by culinary interest of any sort. Part of my problem with their past attempts to inject local interest in the form of barbecue or other semi-enticing restaurants has been that they’ve done one-shot deals, with limited hours. Inevitably they’d have a barbecue restaurant open at 10 a.m. on Sunday for instance, not a bagel in sight. Where’s the logic?

I hope this will help. It’s been quite disheartening to fly to other cities in the past five or six years and see really great airports with amazing facilities, great places to eat, free wifi….heck, the list goes on.

Here’s a great item I ran across this morning. Feeling goofy I didn’t know before since my friend Debbie Miller is so involved with all these issues as the director of Vanderbilt’s Child and Family Policy Center. I should read my newsletters better.

The CFPC is working with a number of neighborhood groups in North Nashville on community-building projects, and this summer one of their efforts involves a produce stand. Wha-huh, you say? As the article in the Nashville City Paper and the CFPC’s own Web site both point out, prior to the existance of the stand, the neighborhoods served by the produce stand weren’t within easy walking distance of any fresh food. So it’s not just an amenity, it’s a health issue.

Open each Saturday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., the stand sells mostly organic produce that it purchases from the Farmer’s Market and Delvin Farms.

  Box o’ gold   

I’m participating in a CSA program again this summer — community-supported agriculture. This season, my boxes of summer gold are coming from Delvin Farms every other Wednesday. Already, I’m so thrilled. Just look at this stuff. Of course you know I can’t help myself. I had to fry that green tomato and a couple of those squash last night. I am going to be all healthy with the rest of it, though.

Already this year, I have learned to cook (and that I like!) kale. And that if you’re short on onions, leeks are great with zucchini if you cook it just right.

And here’s another small-world item: way, way back in the day, my sister and I were in 4-H with the Delvin’s kids. How’s that for weird?

What an absolutely delinquent blogger I’ve been over the last month. I apologize [but I am grateful] if you’re still out there. Moving is so emotionally draining. I can tell you that all the time I used to spend blogging (and cooking, for that matter), I’ve instead been spending on the phone with various utilities, or pulling staples out of my newly revealed hardwood floors, or unpacking something else I should have just thrown away. I’m thankfully approaching the end of all those tasks — so perhaps I’ll be getting back to real life.

I have been cooking a bit more in recent days. And I’ve stumbled across the most incredible fresh-food find. If you live in Nashville, you just must know about it, and if you don’t, you need to seek out something like this near you — Google "Community Supported Agriculture" and your city.

The Bugtussle Farm is a family farm in Kentucky. A young couple owns 120 acres, but they’re currently cultivating two of them. From their work, you can receive incredible bounty through a 20-week growing season between May and September. You purchase a "share" in the winter or early spring [too late for this year obviously] and then you get in-season fresh veggies each Saturday all summer. However, they may offer a fall share September-November. I’ve put myself on their waiting list; you should too!!

I learned about the Bugtussle folks via a friend who was going to be out of town the next several weeks — she asked me to pick up and eat her share. I jumped at the chance. With the chaos of moving this summer, I haven’t even made it to the Farmer’s Market yet. I wasn’t disappointed with my first basket. I got:

• fresh green beans
• a delicious cucumber
• first homegrown tomato I’ve had this year [that and the cuke are gone already]
• one of the sweetest fresh heads of garlic I’ve ever eaten [roasted last night and used in potato soup]
• fresh herbs
• a head of cabbage
• fresh lettuce
• several carrots straight out of the ground

My friend has the one-person-sized share, so that was it. Mmmmm. Am getting hungry now so I’ve got to go. Next Saturday when I do my pickup, I’ll remember to take a photo of my bounty. I will be sad with Tina is back in three weeks.