Author: Lauren

Starbucks Around the World: San Francisco, CA

Ok, I have a confession to make.  So without experiencing their legendary service, I can’t automatically assume that any Starbucks store gets my thumbs up of approval.  What I CAN say is that San Francisco is awesome – as are the dance bloggers I’ve been hanging out with here. With all the techno-talk and tweeting I didn’t even have time to actually go inside this Starbucks to buy a beverage (hence the nervous endorsement). But like I always say, Starbucks is like the Catholic Church… you can go to any one in the world and pretty much know what you’re gonna get.  I can’t imagine this store on the corner of Powell and I-don’t-remember near the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts would be anything but exceptional.

What’s in the box: Week 3/4

With being in San Francisco since Tuesday, most of my CSA box is still at home in the fridge.  But I managed to make some bang up meals before I left.

Ravinia date with myself:

An on-the-fly Spinach Artichoke Dip used up all the spinach I had left over, plus cream cheese in anything is delicious.  Simply sautee the spinach until wilty (add a little water to the pan so it doesn’t burn.  Mix with a jar of drained artichoke hearts and equal parts cream cheese and sour cream.  I took this beauty on my Ravinia picnic before attending the live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion and paired with grapes, crusty bread, homemade pickles and a bottle of red.

Shrimp Something-Or-Other

In an attempt to throw as many of my box ingredients as possible in the same dish, this delight (not being facetious) started off with sauteed onion, kohlrabi, garlic scape and kale with a bit of soy sauce and a bit of adobo seasoning.  I added ramen noodles and shrimp that were sauteed separated in butter, and was pretty much the envy of my Facebook newsfeed for the evening.

I’m thinking that at some point it would be helpful to find actual recipes to complement the ingredients that I find in my box, but honestly, I’m short on time and seem to be doing just fine throwing a little of this and a little of that into a pan and seeing what comes out.  Maybe that’s the beauty of having fresh produce around all the time… it tastes amazing no matter what you do with it.

If only baking was that easy… but what with it’s chemical reactions and such measuring cups and recipes come in quite handy for that…

What’s in the box… week two

Each time I visit Midnight Sun Farm my back hurts less.

Although, I have to say those ladies who spend all day long bent over in rice paddies must have hamstrings of steel.  My typically workload on farm this time of year consists of weeding…. lots and lots of weeding… and after a few minutes of bending over my legs start to bark and I’ve now started in on the “crawl on your hands and knees” technique.  Very elegant.

What really excites me, though, is when I see the things that I’ve weeded (and a few things I’ve harvested and washed) showing up in my CSA box.

In my box this week were:

  • getting the rainbow chard ready

    salad mix

  • two heads lettuce
  • one bulb fennel
  • green onions
  • rainbow swiss chard
  • Hakuri sweet turnips, and
  • spinach

So, what became of this random box of green goodness?

I made several salads and another stirfry, but the true prize of the week was Frittata Night with my friend Kelly.

I totally made this recipe up based on something I’d seen Chef Giada do on the food network….. this is not really at all close to the recipe, so, it’s a Lauren original, and delicious.

Lauren’s spinach and chard Frittata

Ingredients:

  • 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 small onion, sliced or diced (depending how onion-y you like it)
  • 3 sweet turnips, peeled and cubed
  • 1 small bunch rainbow swiss chard
  • 1 small bunch spinach
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 C. half and half
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 – 4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
  • bacon bits (the real stuff, not Bacos, people)
  • 2-3 green onions
  • 4-6 sprigs fennel leaves

Directions:

Add 2 TB vegetable oil to a high sided saute pan and heat over medium heat.  Add potatoes and cook until slightly softened and translucent (maybe about 5-7 minutes… just prep the other stuff while you do this and check on them occasionally, turning down the heat if they are starting to brown).

wilty greens ready for the eggs

Meanwhile, separate the leaves of the chard from the woody stem and chop the stems.  Add chard stems, onions, and turnips to the pan and cook another 2-4 minutes.  Add the spinach and chard leaves by the handful, and mix until the greens become dark and wilty.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl with half and half and and salt and pepper to taste.  Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and lower heat to low.  Cook about 5 minutes, covered, and add shredded cheese, bacon, fennel and green onions.  Return lid and cook until the cheese is melted and eggs are set.

I served this gorgeous thing with a side salad of spring mix, kidney and garbanzo beans, strawberries, sunflower seeds, leftover radishes and dried cranberries.  That, and about a bottle of red wine….

And it looked like this:

Lauren’s spinach and chard frittata with strawberry salad

This, friends, was a night to remember!

photos courtesy of Kelly Rose

A quick plug showing some lovin’ for Bloglovin

Much like Mailchimp is the sarcastic, hipster version of Constant Contact, I recently came across Bloglovin as an alternative reader that’s equally witty and totally user-friendly.  I won’t faun over it like I did Workflowy, but if you’re looking to coral all your favorite blogs in one place, this might be the reader for you!

 Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Cheers!

What’s in the box… week one

Lauren’s first week as a work-share CSA member

This week was exciting for a number of reasons.  The weather in Chicago has been absolutely perfect, so I took my first of what I hope will be many summer jogs on the lakefront. I put in my first shift pulling weeds as a work-share at Midnight Sun Farm in Grayslake, and the resulting CSA box fed me all week long.

Throughout the summer I hope to give you a peak into what’s in my CSA box and the resulting gastronomical feats I achieve each week.  

The overall goals are:

  • To not let anything rot and have to go in the compost
  • To not buy produce from the grocery store all summer
  • To get that healthy glow that can only come from eating multitudes of fresh, local, seasonal produce all summer long

In my box this week were:

  • salad mix
  • one head lettuce
  • one head curly endive
  • asparagus
  • Carola spring potatoes
  • pea shoots
  • Prize bok choi
  • mixed radishes

So, what became of this random box of green goodness?

I used the potatoes to make a German Potato Salad with some leftover bacon, and substituted fresh arugula from my friend Ann’s garden in place of parsley.  I discovered about three days ago that it’s really delicious for breakfast with melted cheese on top.

Pea shoots and bok choi went into this stir fry with some sauteed tofu and onions, soy sauce, a slash of red wine vinegar, and a little bit of H20.

My favorite meal of the week has to be the grilled asparagus with black forest ham and pinapple skewers.  Ok, so I know pineapple didn’t exactly come from a farm in North Central Illinois….. In my defense I bought it a week ago before I got my first box and it was on its last leg.  The whole package deal of this meal, combined with my first time grilling and a glass of Cabernet made for a lovely, lovely dinner.

Lots of salad is in store for tonight and tomorrow to use up the greens and radishes, and then we do it all over again…

Sweaty and Sossy in St. Louis

Round two of the Summer ’12 “Places I’ve never been tour” began just a day and a half after returning from Cleveland.  The primary objective of visiting St. Louis was the Spring to Dance Festival at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.  As such I spent my evenings seeing some of the best dance in the nation (including favorites BalletX and Sossy Mechanics), and took the opportunity of spending my three days here exploring a new city. I really didn’t try to cram it all in; my goals for St. Louis were cathartic, relaxing, and free.  Here are the highlights:

The St. Louis Zoo

Tucked way back in the Forest Park area of St. Louis, the zoo is totally awesome – if you can find it.  I drove round and round and eventually found the North entrance.  If you can happen to find it, go, and DON’T PAY FOR PARKING.  There’s free street parking everywhere; I parked directly across the street from the $15 pay lot.  I’m pretty sure that St. Louisians (?)… Louistons (?)… that people from St. Louis can’t parallel park which accounts for the plethora of available free spots.

I’ve been to a couple of free zoos and generally find them to be lame, which you excuse them for because, you know, it’s free.  The St. Louis Zoo claims to be America’s #1 zoo, and while I can’t say that for sure since I’ve only been to like 5 zoos, I will say that it was beautifully landscaped and the animals look happy and content.  My favorite area was definitely the apes, where I giggled like a little girl at the zoo (a pun, but, not really) as the orangutans summersaulted down a hillside and covered themselves with sheets while making eyes with the audience.

St. Louis Art Museum

“Dedicated to Art and Free for All” graces the proscenium of the beautifully situated St. Louis Art Museum.  I mainly decided to stop here because it is free and air-conditioned.  What a pleasant surprise to find Monet’s Waterlilies and Degas’s bronze dancer statue in the impressionist wing.  I spent some quiet time on top of the hill overlooking a scenic lagoon that hinted at memories of the Palace of Versailles from my trip to Paris oh, say, 15 years ago.  If I ever return to St. Louis, I’m excited to go back here and see the highly anticipated new wing of the museum opening next week.  In the mean time, things are a bit amiss due to the construction, but overall I found this place to be an absolutely lovely place to spend a solitary afternoon

Citygarden

A rather small-ish version of Millennium Park in Chicago, this was my resting spot on a self-guided, meandering, walking tour of downtown St. Louis. With the sweltering 95-degree heat on my brow, the fountains and wading pools were a welcome diversion (as was the super hip ice cream man who drove up to save the day for all the sweaty kids (ok, and grown-ups too).  I then perused the rest of downtown on foot, including a trek down to the Gateway Arch, and then promptly turned around when I saw the amusement park-type lines of tourists waiting to go up to the top.

Also,

This morning I explored the Ferguson Farmers Market with great delight since produce isn’t nearly as far along up in the “north country” of Chicago.  Ferguson is the epitome of small town America, and like most typical small towns seems to suffer from a case of Wal-Mart…. what with its quaint downtown business district that consists primarily of empty storefronts.  I really want to like Ferguson, though, and thoroughly enjoyed being part of the healthy turnout at the farmers market and taking a sweaty stroll through charming neighborhood near the downtown core.  If in Ferguson and in search of a meal, go to the Brewhouse, not Marley’s.  Just trust me on that one.

Starbucks Around the World: Springfield, IL

I certainly didn’t need coffee in my state’s capitol. This store just off the expressway showed little to no evidence of the Land of Abe Lincoln, but made for a great place to pee.  My travel companion got me a bottle of Tazo iced tea while I paced nervously in front of the retail shelves waiting for the lady in front of me to finish. This was the first time in quite awhile that a barista tried to upsell me a pound…

“I see you looking at some of our coffees there.”

“Oh, I’m just waiting for the ladies room” I said.

“Well, you should pick up some anyway!”

I’ll think that over, guy, but really, I just need to pee.

All retail attempts aside, the staff at this Starbucks were lovely.  They were friendly and it was a nice, cool respite from a hot and sunny Route 55 to St. Louis…. and so I give it a thumbs up.