“Look out my window… it’s still raining…”

After yesterday’s mugginess I thought that just maybe the first day of summer would actually feel like summer, but instead we woke up to grey skies, rain, and cold, gusty wind. It feels like October and it’s not supposed to get better any time soon. Gah. I’ve spent most of today in our big fat armchair with tea, scones, and books. I suppose life could be worse.

We’re still working our way through our amazing produce and meat. I’ve been eating big fat salads, such as Thursday’s masterpiece, which accompanied me to school:

Arugula, lettuce, radishes, garlic chives, and parmesan (huzzah low-lactose cheese!) tossed with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Nectarine and sweet sweet date roll (aka Larabar) on the side.

Trent kindly made stock from our leftover chicken carcass.

Liquid gold

On Friday I left the house for a study date and karaoke party, and when I returned T had yet again performed culinary magic with our CSA collards, sausage, stock, and non-CSA beans:

Words fail me

We’ve made this dish before and it’s been great, but this time it was magical. The broth was outstandingly rich and flavorful, the sausage was tender and juicy, the collards were stellar. I’m running out of superlatives. When I finally got to eat it on Saturday I kept turning to T to exclaim about how amazing it was. The chef was duly flattered.

T has definitely been upstaging me in the kitchen lately, although I did manage to make another beautiful salad today. I forgot to photograph it, but it consisted of greens, figs, pistachios, garlic chives, parm, and a splash of balsamic and olive oil. Figs in salads = love. T got jealous and made one of his own, even though he’s usually not a big salad person.

After our salad adventure I lobbied for our first trip to Trader Joe’s. Since we’re getting all of our meat and most of our produce from CSAs now we mostly just need cereal, eggs, bread, and a few other staples, so I think it’s time we switch. T was filled with trepidation – we don’t know how the store is laid out! it will be crowded! it’s farther than Stop & Shop! – but he overcame his fears and off we went. When he saw how large the boxes of Barbara’s cereal are there (for $3.50!!), he was sold. We managed to get most of what we need this week (and a few things we didn’t *need* but that looked delicious) for about $75. That’s pretty good for us, especially considering a six pack of beer made its way into our cart. As did these:

and these:

Spicy and sweet. Yes!

And of course, last but not least, it’s father’s day. Happy father’s day Mr. Morgendorffer and Mr. Lane!