box 13 - return of the box

i remembered to order this week! very glad i did. this weeks small box was a great mix of top quality fruit and veg. the bonus is that i can idenitfy them all!

here is the photo

from the back, we have basil, mushrooms, zucchini, pumpkin (welcome back), carrots, onions, spuds, tomatoes, a big juicy cos, a big cucumber, broccoli, plums, pears, apples and grapes. delicioso! i have already scoffed some of the grapes - nice and sweet sultanas. the plums are in grave danger.

i have a challenge for anonymous reader number 1 to translate this list of fruit and vegetables into italian. the rest of you can improve my general knowledge by picking a language and translating for me!!

i used to work at coles on the graveyard shift (the stories i could tell...). we were a multicultural staff, and used to teach each other swear words and phrases (the real joy of multiculturalism - discuss). one night, we strung the phrases together and pronounced over the PA (to an empty store)..."da haoula cosomac mahoofna apopiso". this is a phonetic spelling involving three languages and bad grammar. dinner for anyone who can translate.

an open letter to tom phat

dear hipsters,

i was at your food service joint today for lunch. i sometimes drop in for food and drink, because this is what you are there for. i like the food you make for me. what i don't like is your attitude. is it that your asymmetric fringes and ironic moustaches make it too hard to speak? will breathing in deeply enough to generate sufficient air speed to cause vocal chord vibration place too much pressure on the button of your skinny jeans?

whatever it is, cut it out. i shouldn't feel as though i should apologise for interrupting your absence seizure when ordering food. nor should i have to guess whether you want a table number or details of my order when it comes to paying - you should ask.

best of luck and hope that you grow out of it soon,

p

forgotten box...

so i am so on holidays that i fell asleep on the couch and forgot to order a box. it doesn't matter really because there is still enough left from the last one.

instead here is a picture of something else...

it is some native aniseed vinegar - i know, next i'll be making jam and crochet-square rugs. it is apparently tasty, but i'll let you know once it is ready. at least it looks good...

a new box next week!!

spanakopita guts...

...could have been an insult traded in the playground at high school, but it doesn't contain enough swear words. instead it is the first step of this really nice spanakopita made this evening.

here is a picture...

it is probably not really spanako because i used box silverbeet, but i dont know the greek for silverbeet. it was really green silverbeet, and the ratio of green to cheese was correct - just enough ricotta and feta so that the greens were speckled with it and not the other way around.

the mix included silverbeet, spring onion, ricotta, feta, pepper and 2 eggs. that's all. no garlic, no nutmeg, nothing else. it is another dense-face inspired recipe. you simply mix all this stuff up and tip it into a frypan that you have lined with filo (melted butter in between each layer). you want lots of filo hanging over the side because this becomes the lid. when it is all tucked in, give it 5 minute on a medium to high heat to get the pastry on the bottom crispy. then, oven it until it is melty (inside) and crispy (outside).

here is another photo...

the spanakopita was accompanied with a simple box salad (really nice tomatoes this time), and a glass of delatite dead man's hill gewurztraminer (favourite wine of the year so far - minerally and crisp with fruity/floral finish).

i like spanakopita and this was a good one. next time, i will try it with cooked spanako - things got a bit wet on the inside and bottom and i think cooked (and squashed) spinach/ silverbeetwill help reduce this.

seeyas.

box 12...

...is huge! I got a medium box to replenish supplies after being away for a while, and it is a whopper. heaps of good stuff. noticeable is the absence of stone fruit and the introduction of apples and pears...just as you'd expect really.

here is the photo...

so we have bananas, silverbeet, lettuce, 4 ears of corn, zucchini, mystery vegetable (see below), mushrooms, onions, potatoes, tomatoes (an heirloom variety - look weird but taste great apparently), apples, buerre bosc pears, nashi, grapes (!), carrots and broccoli...exhausting yeah? i've tried a couple of the grapes and they are intensely grapey...very very good.

here is the mystery vegetable...

i think perhaps it is not in fact all that mysterious and that it is a squash of some description. there is a chance (based on facebook evidence) that it is a poorly-formed, tiny honeydew. i would put money on squash but. comment in the comments.

thanks for asking! the holiday has been great so far. two weeks in merimbula - lots of swimming (including snorkelling - who knew?), prawning, eating, reading, relaxing, walking on the beach with the wind blowing through my hair etc etc. the weather was a bit grey at times, but it didnt really matter. back in PIGSTY now, and with still almost another 2 weeks hols to go. pretty good i reckon.

so, what's been happening with you?

Another test

holiday...

...celebrate.

so i'm on leave at the moment, for like 5 weeks!!1! a couple of weeks on the sapphire coast and the rest at home. this means that there are no boxes for the next short period of time, but i'll still be cooking, and maybe doing some other things and i might post about them, but there are no guarantees.

vincenzo from the work (not her real name..yes, really) donated some vegetable surplus. amazing zucchini, cucumbers - including an apple cucumber, and some dill. there remained the u.f.o. squash from box 11 and an ear of corn. i turned these into fritters (grated the squash and zucc and made a stupidly quick batter of some eggs and flour, some spices and some 'erbs). these were accompanied with a salad and the apple cucumber, quickly pickled (not even really) in some cider vinegar and brown sugar with thin slices of box onion. here is the photo...

was alright. without a doubt the star was the apple cucumber. the fritters were good but not outstanding. i should point out that this was not the fault of the vegetables - the corn/zucc/squash combo was really sweet and 'gentle' (really?). it was the cooking. i got bored and turned up the heat, and then they were cooking too quickly, so i turned it down, and then they weren't cooking, etc. etc. they were supposed to be 'crunchy'...

for herbage, i used some native mint, which i think is really only called mint because it looks a little like colonial (?) mint. it has a much stronger taste and it is a bit turpentiney, but it is good.

so that's it. have fun! i'm looking forward to (i) sandy books, (ii) salty hair, (iii) nanna naps on the deck in the sun, and (iv) soles of my feet that are able to withstand surfaces other than plush-pile carpet.

oh, yeah...also hello to the everyone from outside the LRO who reads this. you should feel free to comment too, but it is not a compliance requirement and there is no auditing or things.