Berry memories

One of my very early memories is being in my grandfather's garden.  I would follow him around with a little red cup in hand.  I would pick raspberries off the canes and eat them almost as fast as I picked them.  Many years later, long after my grandfather had died, I visited my Aunt, Uncle and cousins in Oregon.  My cousin who was a few years older than me, took me on a walk along the Willamette river.  Along the path blackberries were growing and I was fascinated with being able to just pick them and pop them in my mouth.  At the time I was living in the Midwest and there was no equivalent activity in Kansas City.

Now I have a grandchild and I realized the other day that we two share a berry memory.  Both of us have blueberry bushes in our yard and in summers past we have shared each others berries with enthusiasm.  She is only four but apparently we have made a shared berry experience.  Just the other day we were standing on her patio together and she pointed at the blueberries, which are still green.  "Grandma, they aren't ready yet."  "I know", I replied, "still green".  At that point we both sighed. "Soon", I said. "Yes Grandma", she said.

Veggies!

One of the highlights of my summer is our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) weekly box of produce.  We pay an upfront cost for the season and in return pick up a box of fresh from the fields produce once a week.  We start in June and last year picked up our last box the week before Thanksgiving. This year I'm sharing with a friend from work because as the season gets in to full swing there is more than two of us can manage.  To me it is like Christmas once a week.  The box has something different every week as various fruits and vegetables ripen.  Right now we are getting baby lettuce, spinach, green onion and strawberries.  Later there will be corn and tomatoes, potatoes and peaches.  Towards the end of the season, squashes and nuts.  Besides having really good stuff to eat it also sparks the creativity a bit because you don't get to choose what is in the box.  Each week when you open it you have to start figuring out how to use it all.  This week almost all of it went into a spring veggie, chicken stew.  Last year we were overwhelmed with green beans so I dug out an old canning guide and made some excellent garlic, chili, dill green beans that go very well with a pint of ale,cheese, crackers and a Formula 1 race.  We had so many different kinds of potatoes I lost track but they actually all had a different flavor and texture.  I don't really recommend the blue ones.  I thought they were awfully dry but perhaps I didn't have the correct cooking technique.  Sometimes there is something you have never tried like garlic buds, basically the stems and flowers of garlic.  You cook them kind of like asparagus but they have a mild flavor that makes a very different veggie to go with your steak.  After cooking for my family for almost 40 years anything that puts a little fun in the planning is welcome and these boxes of wonderful fresh food definitely adds some fun.  To quote one of my favorite food celebrities, Alton Brown,  "Good Eats".

Small adventures.

Today was one of the few really pleasant days we have had this spring.  We rode the BMW into work and I always forget how much fun it is too get out of the Toyota and onto the motorcycle for the first time each year.  It is cold, barely 50 this morning when we left at 6:30, but with a heated vest it is bearable in fact almost cozy .  Sitting behind my husband I don't have to worry about traffic or driving.  I can watch for hawks along the road, smell whatever is in the air, sometimes Scotch Broom and sometimes dead skunk but still a pleasure.  It is a way of starting the day with a little adventure and the best part is another ride is to be had coming home.  A ride that will be in warmer temperatures and relaxing knowing the work day is over and you are heading home.