Food Swapping

Sunday was the monthly Boston Food Swap. On a quiet street in Fort Point 15-20 amateur bakers, cooks, canners, jelly-ers and the like gather together to share their wares. Very Norman Rockwell-esque. Relaxed, friendly and wholesome. The little room was packed with card tables covered with jams, salsa, pickles, breads, cakes and cookies with creative ingredients.

In under an hour I sampled, made friends, and traded 5 jars of spicy pickled carrots and 2 jars of pickled beets for 2 mango chutney muffins, 4 homemade oreo cookies, 2 jars of preserves - pear vanilla bean and kiwi strawberry, 2 slices of ginger olive oil bread, 6 Dude Bars and 1 jar of giardiniera.  Not bad.

E took home a great haul too trading her thyme simple syrup for a similar range of treats. She got a big jar of corn salsa I was eyeing, lucky girl. Afterwards we ran into the 3 girls that organize the event heading next door for tequila snow cones. I like how this crown rolls.

On another "new things" related note, I've been stumbling through my practice of the Divine Hours trying to weave them into my life. Yesterday I had vespers (5-8pm) with a friend walking along the esplanade.

Because you are my help,

    I sing in the shadow of your wings. 

I cling to you; 

    your right hand upholds me.*

We practiced visualizing God's right hand holding everything...
my vocation, 
each one of my friends I visualized their face and mentally put them in God's hand,
anyone I don't get along with,
cares for the future,
my family,
the success in my job,
the work of life - bills, laundry and such,
anything that I care about went into God's hand.

His hands are big enough for it all. I won't lie. Yesterday I was in a funk, I won't even go into it, but I was. It happened in the blink of an eye. One second I trust God with all these things and the next I take the reigns and get completely anxious. It helped to remember that just as easily I can give the reigns back to Him and enter into His peace.

blessings,
t

*Psalm 63:7-8 (NIV)

Vegplosion

Thanks R. for giving me your CSA this week. For the few people who may read this, you are in for a treat. Vegetables have exploded out of this unassuming little box to cover my kitchen counters. That means I'll most likely be making amazing deliciousness all week and posting it here because, hey I'm a blogger this month. Get ready for green smoothies. 

Bright orange carrots, crisp little cukes, lots of yet to be identified leafy greens and my absolute favorite of the bunch. Beets. Oh how I love beets. I love beets fried. I love beets roasted. I love beets on salad. Most of all I love beets pickled. Jars of pickled beets lined my grandmothers cellar, were on the table at every Easter dinner, and are in many dangerous stained finger memories from my childhood.

Magic is going to happen and the beets are the object of my affection.

To make this box of veg joy even better, I discovered that the Boston Food Swap July meeting is this Saturday. I will be pickling and brining and cutting and jarring all week because doing a food swap is on my list.

I'm fairly certain that a miracle of science will occur in my kitchen. I will keep you posted.

First things first: fava beans. Recipe courtesy of my fave cooking gal pal, Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. My roommate M. and I enjoyed these little treats last night and I won't lie, I was pleasantly surprised. They will be making many more appearances in my kitchen. So without further ado, I give you grilled fava beans.

{ Grilled Fava Beans }

fresh fava beans, still in their pods

a couple glugs of olive oil

a few pinches of kosher salt
optional: crushed red pepper flakes, lemon zest, and or chopped fresh herbs.

Toss oil, salt and beans together. Add your herbs or pepper flakes if you wish. Grill in a single layer on an outdoor grill or on a grill pan. You can also pan fry like I did, just use a little more oil and watch the heat so you don't burn the pods before you steam the beans inside. Heidi says 4-5 mins per side and that worked for me. You are trying to steam the beans inside. You'll start to see little burn bubbles toasting on the pods when you are ready to flip. I eat them like giant edamame pealing the bean from the pod with my teeth and getting lots of salt on the way. You can also pop the beans out and take off the little shell inside which is a bit more lady like.

bon apetite,

t