Beach Baby

This week in the CSA - Yummy Stir Fry

It's no secret that Wednesdays tend to be stir-fry night at our house. It's is the night I throw every veggie that is left in the fridge into the pan in an effort to clear the decks before the next delivery on Thursday. Last week: Lemon chicken with snap peas, carrots, etc. This week: Tofu with baby bok choi and summer squash in oyster sauce!

Walleye Fishing Weekend with the Grandpeeps

It's my goal to get Hank out into the elements as much as possible. Kids need to be outside in my opinion. I spent most of my childhood out-of-doors and I want the same for him. Nathan was itching for some walleye fishing and we'd been meaning to spend some time with the folks so we tied all three together by having all four of Henry's grandparents meet us at Stony Point near Walker, MN on Leech Lake for a long weekend. The first morning we were up early and I was able to go fishing with Nathan and Merald and the Grandmoms watched Henry. We caught 5 fish that morning, 2 walleye keepers that were just under the 18" slot. Nathan and Merald caught more the second day, but they were too big too keep as they were in the 20 -22" inch range. Leech Lake regulations currently call for all walleye between 18-26" to be immediately returned to the water in an effort to boost the breeding population of the lake.

Happy Nathan at the helm

Later that day, I took Henry to the beach and let him play in the water for the first time. I was relieved that he liked the water and plan to teach him to swim as soon as possible. As much as I like swimming in lakes, I was a bit put off by the Mayfly stew happening that day. A huge hatch had deposited millions of carcasses in the water and make swimming a little unappetizing.
We also took the boy for his first ride in daddy's boat. He didn't hate wearing the life jacket, but was confused and uncomfortable. He smiled a lot and looked around, especially at the splashing water. He ended up being lulled into a sound sleep by the motion of the boat by the time we got back to camp.

I love sleeping in tents, especially when its raining, and we had a great rain storm on the second night. Henry slept so soundly that we all slept in until 9am, entranced by the sound.

Dinner on Saturday night was memorable as it was more of a disaster than dinner. Just as we were about to sit down to eat the sky grew very dark, there was a single clap of thunder and we had to scramble to get the picnic table, the food, drinks and baby out of the sudden and drenching downpour. Everyone got a little wet, Henry wouldn't eat, Nathan's campfire nearly went out, several drinks were spilled and it was all fairly chaotic and funny. But, the brats were tasty and hot, everyone got enough to eat and we're not likely to forget it.

Overall it was a great weekend. We caught fish, slept well and the grandparents all got plenty of baby time. I think a good time was had by all.

Love & Baseball IV

What to do with Garlic Scapes

Half the fun of getting a farmshare is trying things you've never had before or things you've never had in mass quantity. There was the summer I learned what to do with an entire box of beets, as well as the endless possibilities of "gazpacho" when you use the term loosely. I've learned that you can make soup out of just about anything and Wednesday is often "Stir Fry Day" as I use up all remaining vegetables in the fridge before the next load comes on Thursday. So, what to do with garlic scapes? These were new to me last summer and I had a whole handful in the veggie drawer today, collected over the last two weeks. I chopped them up, sauted them in a knob of butter with some kosher salt and then I put them in the food proccessor with two more sticks of unsalted butter and more kosher salt. The result is a huge frozen log of the best garlic butter ever. I look forward to using it on fresh baked bread, melted over steak and for sauteing all those other veggies that I won't know what to do with as the summer progresses.

Parsnip and Sunchoke Soup

We received more sunchokes and parsnips in this week's farmshare (CSA). Last week I boiled the parsnips and tossed them with orange juice, zest and honey. They tasted great. And, so far, my favorite way to eat the sunchokes is to boil them with an equal amount of baby red potatoes and some garlic cloves and mash them with butter and milk.

Today, I decided to take the bounty of last week's box and make a pot of soup. I sauted the green garlic, spring onions and a couple of carrots in olive oil and butter then added vegetable stock, dired thyme, sunchokes and parsnips. Once everything was soft, I pureed the whole works in the blender, returned it to the pot and added some cream and seasoning.

The verdict? Pretty good. The flavor of the sunchokes is dominant and is accented well by lemon and thyme. The consistency is that of a potato soup as the sunchokes are starchy. I topped the soup with a bit of finely shedded mozzerella also from Harmony Valley's cheese share. It would also be tasty topped with a bit of truffle oil or you could render some bits of bacon to saute the veggies in at the start and top the soup with the crispy bits.One note about parsnips: they smell bad. I mean, they taste great once they're cooked but during cooking they smell like death. Or like you forgot to take your garbage out before you left for a two week trip in the summer and something died in there. It's unpleasant. Open a window if you can.

Henry's First Camping Trip

We went to Whitewater State Park this weekend and Hank did just fine. He slept well in the tent and was a mostly happy baby all weekend. He dug hiking in the backpack carrier and loved playing with Megan and Emma!