pease porridge

Required Reading

As far as I'm concerned, What to Eat by Marion Nestle ought to be required reading.  Not just foodies, or people in the food industry, or food bloggers, but everyone who eats food should read this book.

Marion Nestle (no relation to the food industry giant) is a nutrition professor at NYU who you may have already met if you saw Super Size Me.  So, she knows something about food and she probably shares some of the same political preferences as me, which information totally did not prepare me for the tour de force that is What to Eat.

On Canning

On Thursday, my husband came home from the farm with ten pounds of tomatoes:

Now, there is nothing in the world nicer than fresh tomatoes, but we were expecting another ten or so pounds to come in on Sunday, so we had to think fast.  The solution?  Run out and buy a gigantic canner:

Okay, so we weren't planning on buying a gigantic canner; we would've settled for a more modest size, but there aren't many places that actually sell canners these days, so we had to make do with what we found, which was this one.  Should the occasion arise, we shall be able to can nine quarts of produce at a time.  I have no idea where I'm going to put it.

By the way, I'm just going to give you a summary here of what happened next.  If you want actual factual information, please don't start canning without going to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.  I do not want to be responsible for an outbreak of botulism if I can help it.

Spinach Falafel with Tahini Sauce

I don't normally deep-fry things.  I don't like wasting the oil, I don't like making a huge mess on my stove, I'm always worried I'll over- or under-cook something, and, not too healthy, is it?  I will, however, make an occasional exception for a few recipes (corn fritters, fried chicken, fried eggplant with honey and sesame seeds) and this is the latest addition to the short list.

The recipe says spinach falafel, but I actually made these with random leftover greens in my refrigerator, which included kale, chard, turnip and beet greens, I think.  I'm happy to say it worked just as well that way.

The veggies on the plate, by the way, are all from the farm.  The cucumbers, especially, are an amazing treat, because they actually taste like something, as opposed to the crunchy water of the supermarket variety.  There's also a shot of the last of the beet tzatziki, which, I know, I promised would come in the future, and it will, but we ate it all up really quickly so you'll have to wait until I make more.