My neighbor went out of town for two weeks (please don’t rob his house).  Before he left he asked if I could collect his mail and recycle his papers.  I agreed since he is a nice guy.  If he were an asshole I might steal some of the plants in his yard and replace them with crappy ones.  Good thing he doesn’t have very many good plants and that he’s nice.  Anyway, he also asked if we could use some fresh produce.  Um, yes.  We can always use fresh produce (she says as she ignores the 3200 square feet of vegetable garden and that every other week box of organic produce that comes to her doorstep).  Why YES!  Bring it on.  He said that he gets a weekly CSA share from Zestful Gardens and that we are more than welcome to pick it up for the next two weeks.  He would let them know that it would be us picking it up and that we would collect it at a church in the North end.  The next day he arrives with a note about where to pick up the produce and other things.  The note says he gets a full farm share, a greens share and 2 dozen eggs… on Tuesdays.  As in every week.  We weren’t sure what we were in for and we went to pick up the share and then to the farmer’s market.

The Zestful truck parks in a church parking lot and like any other CSA they put out their wares and a board that says what that week’s share is.  You then go through and fill your bags.  We walked away with 2 giant bok choi, 2 head of endive, 1 bunch of radishes, 1 bunch of chard, 1 bunch of chives, 1/3 pound of snow peas, 1/2 pound of snap peas, 1/2 pound of salad greens, 1/2 pound of spinach (that was the farm share).  We also got a Chinese cabbage (the greens share) and 2 dozen eggs.  Needless to say we didn’t buy any vegetables at the farmer’s market.

To add to it we have bunches of spinach (leftover from his last week share and our garden), 3 bunches of radishes (leftover from his last week share and our vegetable box), mustard greens, salad mix (from our vegetable box and the gobs from our own garden), kale, spring onions, spring garlic and carrots.

The question is, what do I do with all of this?  I’m going to get another farm share next week and our vegetable box and I have stuff coming ready in my own garden.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, but I can only eat so many salads a day.  I may have to add a 3rd breakfast salad.

So give me your best suggestions.  Given everything in my fridge, give me your best recipes.  Help me out here.  What would you make with all of this stuff?

Greens come in a wide variety.  They can be “winter” or “spring.”  As a general rule of thumb the winter varieties are a little tougher in the leaf and can stand a cooking.  The spring types are often the tops of other greens (beets) or softer leafed varieties that are good eaten fresh.  Here is my personal guide to greens.  Feel free to add your own tips and tricks.

Arugula:  We eat arugula fresh.  Put it into salads or on top of pizza.  I grow a large stand of arugula all at once, but after I harvest this batch (that is currently starting to flower) I will sow 1/a row and then another 1/2 row about 3 weeks later.

Collards: As I mentioned, we don’t eat collards.  I tried them in a cornbread, but I was not impressed.  I bet that if I cooked them like I do kale I would be much happier.

Corn Salad: I’ve never purchased it, grown it or eaten it.  Any suggestions?

Cress: I also love cress.  I grew it last year, but ran out of seed for this year.  I put it into salads.

Mustard Greens: Mustard came in our vegetable box for the first time this year.  I had never had it, but I can say it makes a wonderful addition to salads.

Bok/Pac Choi:  I’ve never grown Bok Choi, but I have eaten it.  We will cut it up and throw it into stir-frys.  We’ve also had baby bok choi cut in half and sauteed with oil and garlic… oh so good.  Pac Choi is similar, but it also makes a great salad green.

Endive & Escarole: Never grown it, but is great in salads.

Kale: I could eat kale every day.  I love kale.  I don’t eat much red meat so I make up for the lack of iron with this dark green veg.  My favorite preparation is to saute the kale in a generous amount of oil (I use grapeseed) and garlic.  Salt well and cook until it is just wilted, but still has some crunch to it.  Baked kale is also a hit in this house.  I add it to a pasta dish from the Splendid Table cookbook.  I am currently growing a Russian Red Kale.

There are many more greens out there.  I didn’t cover any of the Raabs.  The category of greens is quite vast.  I’m enjoying getting to know this highly under used dinner option.

It threatened to rain, but the weather held the whole time we were there.  The face of the market is ever changing.  Now in its third year the 6th Avenue market is coming into its own.  They are rearranging things a bit and adding a little bit of diversity in the vendors.  There are a few more craft type vendors and a few new non-produce vendors.

We browsed our way down the market and purchased our way back.  I’m sad that I didn’t have the opportunity to catch the names of all of the booths I purchased from, but I did get some.  We purchased Asparagus and spring onions from the wonderful family that sits at the very back of the market.  I have been buying amazing produce from them for 4 years now and I still don’t know their names.  This year they have a new addition in the form of a 2 month old baby girl.  She is just as sweet as her mama and I can’t wait to watch her grow up.

I picked up smoked salmon from Rolf (always a must on a weekly basis) and was happy to hear that he’s on his way up to Alaska to catch more to sell “fresh” (it is flash frozen for transport).  Nothing better than fresh salmon on the grill in the summer.

Next we were pleased to see Vallhalla Coffee.  This is great because we love their coffee, but for some reason we forget to stop by their shop on 6th Ave to pick up beans.  What’s more is that I was tasked with buying good coffee for the nursery and I was going to get Stumptown at Satellite.  However, I did better than that.

We picked up dinner at Gateway to India (per our usual 1st day of the market tradition) and CJ greeted us with a giant smile.  The food was delicious as always.

I was happy to see that Tahoma Farms had a booth right in a prominent place.  This is good so that we can pick up the items offered in the Terra Organics boxes on the off weeks (or at least what Tahoma grows).

My husband is a huge local honey eater.  He has had peanut butter and honey toast nearly every morning for the past 7 years (maybe longer).  In the off season we purchase our honey at Tacoma Boys or H&L.  During the market season we purchase it from whomever is selling it at the time.  The last bottle we purchased was at the Proctor market the day before Mother’s Day.  It crystalized quickly and I wasn’t impressed.  My husband was running out so he was happy to see Sweet As Can Bee Honey at the 6th Ave market.  They had samples of all of their offerings and I love it when honey vendors do that.  We walked away with a bottle of vanilla honey and a jar of cinnamon creamed honey.  It was the only purchase we used our debit card on (typically we only spend $40 in cash at the market.  it is our way of not overspending).

Our last stop was at a small booth selling tomato plants and greens.  I am fully stocked on tomato plants and I am no longer allowed to even look at them, but greens… I could eat my weight in greens.  I have a crisper drawer full of braising mix and kale so I didn’t need that, but this little vendor had a little green which I’d never heard of.  I don’t know how to spell it, but is like a raab of some sort although not quite a raab.  It can be eaten raw or cooked and tastes delicious.

I was happy with the selection of the market on opening day.  I wish there were more people, but with the weather being so bad I’m not surprised.  I will continue to support the 6th Ave market as long as it is open.  I’ve missed you market season… it’s been a long winter.

So when some good friends asked us to join them for dinner on Valentine’s Day (at one of Tacoma’s most expensive restaurants) it wasn’t just the price that made me say no.  Instead we elected to invite their whole family to our house for a nice dinner (and a just a little kitsch).

For the meal I served:

Avocado Seafood Cocktail with Chipotle Adobo Dressing

Cabbage Slaw with Orange and Pumpkin Seed Dressing

Black Pepper Honey Steak

Melting Greens

All of the recipes were out of the Splendid Table cookbook and I settled on them because of their (somewhat) seasonal nature.  Granted, the seafood cocktail did include grape tomatoes and bibb lettuce (avocados are never in season here) and Cabbage isn’t 100% in season, but close enough.

Just the thought of spending a nice evening with good friends and sharing a meal is what makes the day special.

This afternoon we attended a playdate at a preschool classmate’s home.  We’ve been trying to set this up for weeks, but well… I get distracted by shiny objects and it just hasn’t worked, until today.

I must say I had a lovely time and got to know what I hope will become a new friend.  Someone quirky like me (in a good way) and easy to talk to.  My son had a wonderful time and behaved himself nicely (despite the one near catastrophe).

Oh wait… this isn’t the mommy blog is it?  Darn it.  Bet you thought I got confused there for a minute.  I’m getting to the point.  Keep your pants on.

I mentioned to the other mom about my chocolate “business.” I went to pull out a business card (which I totally left at home) and while I was rummaging in my bag she handed me a business card.  It just so happens that this mother owns Trails of Crumbs Bakery.  Even better, she writes a blog too.  Honestly, what mom doesn’t write a blog these days.  I assure you, this is not a mommy blog.  It is a blog loaded with recipes and photos of delicious baked goods.  Check it out.  You can have a little piece of Tacoma delivered right to your door.

What does this have to do with gardening?  Nothing.  I just like cookies.

Another bit of fruit I happen to have an excess of is Black Currants.  Somehow I got talked into planting a Black Currant bush in our garden despite having no clue what to do with the actual currants.  The first year we had a small little crop that the birds ate.  The next year I got a slightly larger crop that I picked and then let go bad in the refrigerator.  Last year I grew quite a decent crop and made sure to rescue the harvest before the birds had their fill.  I managed to freeze that batch.  This year was much the same, only my yield was huge.  Well, if you consider 1 lb. 10 oz. huge.  After all, it is one small currant bush.

I carefully picked off all of the stems and flower end bits and froze the berries on a sheet pan so they didn’t stick together.  I did the same with the Blueberries we gathered from Blueberry Park.

Yesterday I had grand intentions of making a grand batch of mixed berry jam with the blueberries, black currants, strawberries (from the freezer) and the blackberries my son and I picked.  Sadly, I didn’t get to the blackberries before the fruit flies and mold did.  That left me with one less berry.  I didn’t think that strawberry/blueberry/black currant jam sounded all that delightful (not that adding blackberries would have made much of a difference) so I scrapped the strawberries.  They are now thawing in the fridge and hopefully I can get back up the hill to get a fresh batch of blackberries.

I did some looking for what to do with blueberries and black currants and oddly enough it was mentioned that they can make a nice jam if mixed together.  Might as well.

My pantry is in a state of disarray and I’m short on a few things.  Sugar happens to be one of them.  I only had about 1/2 of the sugar I needed, but somehow it worked out.

Blueberry Black Currant Jam

(These are the weights I had to work with)

2 lbs. Black Currants
3 lbs. Blueberries
1 1/2 lbs. sugar
little over 8 ounces of water
1 whole cinnamon stick

Combine the water, sugar and cinnamon stick in a large pot. Heat over medium heat to dissolve the sugar. Add berries (fresh or previously frozen). Cook fruit down until it is syrupy. I let mine go about 2 hours. Remove cinnamon stick and mash the remaining whole fruit. I put the mixture through a foley mill with the largest size screed on. Transfer the mixture back into the pot to keep warm.

Sterilize 12-13 4oz. jars. I do this by washing them thoroughly in hot soapy water and then placing them open side down in a skillet of simmering water for 10-15 minutes. Bring a small pan of water to a boil and then turn it off. Put the clean lids in the pan. Heat a large canning pot of water to a rolling boil. Remove the jars from the skillet and dry with a clean towel. Fill the jars with the hot jam mixture. Leave about 1/4″ of head space and run a small spatula around in the jar to remove any air. Clean the rim of the jar with a clean wash cloth and place a lid and ring on each jar. I can fit about 6 jars in my canning pot so I only do 6 at a time. Put the jars in the boiling water (using a jar lifter) and process for 10 minutes. Remove jars from boiling water and place on a towel on the counter to cool. The jars have sealed correctly if the lids get sucked in.

I happened to only do 12 jars and had enough left over to fill another 9 ounce jar. I could have processed that one too, but I just put it in the refrigerator to enjoy now. The jam is not super thick, but more like a fruit preserve spread. It tastes delicious on toast.

Since I have a wide variety of types of tomatoes (and none are dedicated “sauce” tomatoes) I thought I would give drying a try.  I was lucky enough to receive a food dehydrator from mom a few years ago that comes in handy ever now and again.  I pull it out during apple season to make chewy apple chips or banana crisps.  I pulled it out a few weeks ago to dry some peppers that were on the verge of going bad.

I did some looking on the internet to make sure that using a food dehydrator for tomatoes would actually work, and sure enough there was plenty of information.  In addition I recently purchased “Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest” by Carla Emery & Lorene Edwards Forker at the suggestion of Willi at Diggin Food.  The writers of the book had a great idea on preserving dehydrated tomatoes.  It doesn’t even require boiling giant pots of water.

My version is slightly different than the book, but this was a trial run.

Clean all of your tomatoes.  Spray the racks of the dehydrator with cooking spray (if you don’t oil the racks you will say bad words later, learned this with apples and bananas).  Slice tomatoes in 1/4″ slices and remove the white core part.  Place on dehydrator racks without the tomatoes touching.  Turn on dehydrator and let go for what seems like eternity (mine went all afternoon and night).  1/2 way through the drying swap the racks.  Put the top ones on the bottom and the bottom ones on the top.  The tomatoes are done when they feel like leather and are still pliable.  Some of mine were a little crispy.  Turn off the dehydrator and let them cool.  Once the slices are cool put them in a bowl and toss them with a little plain white vinegar.  Take them out of the vinegar and pat them dry with paper towels.  Allow them to dry completely.  Place them in sterile jars and cover with olive oil (I happen to use grapeseed oil since I’m quite allergic to olive oil).  Place a lid on and keep them in a cool dark place.  Apparently you can keep them for up to a few months.  Refrigerate after opening.  So simple!  They look pretty to boot.