Do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on

[raybear]

Once every 3 years I find something on eBay I want to buy, so I make a bid and 'commit', but than can't be bothered with PayPal and so I flake on it. Its not even laziness, its general disgust for all things eBay and PayPal and feeling unwilling to deal with them at all. I have the same feeling whenever I go to a MySpace page. I'm sure there's some internet karmic response that is served on me as a result.

The problem with summer bringing an explosion of vegetables every week from the farm where we own a share is that in the heat and humitidy of our apartment, I am the least willing to cook. Granted, we are getting lots of lettuce and things that I can just cut up with scissors and eat raw, but that gets tiring. Today I'm going to do it anyway though, and create some sort of dish involving kohlrabi, beets, zucchini, radishes and scallions. I got sucked into watching most of an Oprah, a repeat with Jerry Seinfeld's wife who made a cookbook that's all about using vegetable purees in every dish, to sneak it into foods for kids, etc. Psychology aside, there were interest food ideas. And then Dr. Oz came on and explained the "scientific principle" behind kids being picky eaters, which is that children evolved to have 10,000 taste buds on average, whereas adults have 3,000. The evolutionary purpose is that in the wild, foods that taste sweet are safe, foods that are bitter might be poison. As you get older, you learn what is good to eat, you don't need to stick only to sugar-tasting things. Its funny, I was just thinking last week while eating a sandwich with sprouts, how as a kid I had no problem getting dirt in my mouth while playing, but hated all foods that were "earthy". As an adult, I'm all about foods (or wine) that taste like dirt or minerals. The tastebud thing makes sense though, as to why certain foods like spinach or broccoli made me gag as a kid, or even a teen, but now I don't even notice the sulphur smell that used to trigger it.

Speaking of, I recently had a conversation about sulphur dioxide and why its "bad". Well, it wasn't really a conversation, it was more like 'does anyone know why we aren't supposed to want it in our apricots?' and no one knew. Turns out it can trigger asthma attacks in sensitive individuals. Since that's not an issue for me, now I don't have to worry about sometimes indulging in cheaper storebrand dried fruit.

Ok, ok, gym, bank, laundry. I'm going.

Comments

[crafting-change.livejournal.com]

I'm always a bit skeptical about the food thing... I mean, I'm sure us losing taste buds is part of it.. but at the same time, I think often veggies were promoted in god awful ways. Now some of that was even 20-25 years ago getting fresh asparagus in winter? Impossible...so you had canned, maybe frozen. As a kid who grew up eating LOTS AND LOTS of canned veg - I hated them - it wasn't the earthy taste, but rather the tinny part. Now I have my asparagus marinated in white wine vinegar and red pepper flake, or grilled then added to sushi. As a vegan I eat lots of veggies (face the same summer eating issues as you though) but I think that my economic situation and veggie availability has made huge changes to that.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

I totally agree -- we ate mostly canned, sometimes frozen vegetables, and then they were cooked mostly by boiling with no seasoning, and if were to eat most of those dishes today, I'd probably find them pretty gross. (Well, except for green bean casserole.) This is why I put the quotes around scientific principle, because its not that I disagree with the statement, just that I think its a lot more 3 dimensional than said evolutionary hypothesis!

[crafting-change.livejournal.com]

I never got the green bean casserole thing

but you know what?

I miss scrapple.

Like, a lot.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

I bet you could make some vegan scrapple. Just add tons of salt and fry the isht out of it!!! TVP, maybe? Or seitan might be better.

[crafting-change.livejournal.com]

Oh I've been pondering it.. I make my own seitan now - so I just need to play around with the recipe to get the right density and spices.

sauce it up!

[(Anonymous)]

I say get your blender out and get gazpacho creative crazy! Blend a can of northern white beans with some olive oil, raw tahini and a dash or two of paprika and serve it with steamed veggies.

Another thought is a food dryer...if you know anyone who has one. You could make a savory trail mix of dried veggies.

[unscrambled.livejournal.com]

I will totally consume all extra vegetables. Maybe we should give me a bit extra. My half-share isn't enough (sadly, it is not short enough to get a full share. Zounds!). Also, you could shred all of those vegetables (keep the beets away til last), marinate them in rice wine vinegar and sesame oil (pinch of sugar or bit of ginger if you care to), and eat.

I just found a gizmondo bag of garlic scapes at Chicago Food Corp, and I am about to make a fearsome stirfry along with some ginger and shrimp. I have also decided to make some kimchi, because I am a control freak and want to eat it exactly how I want it in my brain.

I think the sulphur dioxide thing is probably about a general fear of preservatives in general, too.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

funny, i did combine all those things (plus some of the greens on top that weren't too wilty), with rice vinegar (and some oil, salt, pepper and cumin), and sauteed them and it was delicious. except i didn't really save the beets for last, so everything is pink, but i find it delightful.

i think part of my feeling overwhelmed is that its a new routine. plus, being out of town last weekend and not eating at home. but definitely we can err on the side of you taking more, whenever we are splitting the boxes! the fruit share, however, i wish came every week.

confession: i have never used garlic scapes (which i want to keep calling "scrapes") before this, but i'm in love.

[jethead.livejournal.com]

OK, yeah, so what are these vegetable and fruit shares you are referencing? Local stuff? Different than what's at the farmers market?

[raybear.livejournal.com]

We have a share here: http://www.angelicorganics.com/indexold.html

You have to sign up before the season starts, so its too late now for this year. Its probably fairly similar to what is at the farmer's market, its just that the boxes are packed up and delivered to the neighborhood every Saturday and we pick it up (we share it with my friend unscrambled and her partner).

We used to get deliveries from http://www.tcforganics.net which is okay, but not local, more like quasi-wholesale organic produce delivered to your door. And it tended to give us a lots of cauliflower!

These systems work better for me, as I'm really bad about getting to the farmer's market on a regular basis.

[mintwaster.livejournal.com]

We're still only getting bags of lettuce and salad greens from our farm.

[dommeyourass.livejournal.com]

i keep calling it "our" farm. since we have a share.