Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Welcome Fall

The garden is mostly buttoned up for the season. There are some parlsey and cilantro plants left and some late spinach. I'll pick them slowly over the next few weeks, so that summer doesn't come to too abrupt an end. I picked all the green tomatoes last week. I'll pickle some and make pasta sauce with others. The leaves are putting on their fall colors, much to Alessia's delight, and Adam keeps trying to make a game of collecting leaves in the yard. Across the back of my property are several maple trees. While I find collecting leaves all fall exhausting, I have to admit that the first day I step outside and my entire backyard is blanketed in yellow leaves, it's truly beautiful.

In the house, the oven goes on again. The first of the winter squash and the last of the summer's corn were roasted last night. Tonight I am going to try and bake corn bread (with my dietary restrictions it should be an interesting experiment). I also have more time and energy for inside projects. I am sewing Alessia a halloween costume (more on that later), and I am setting up a project on the table top loom I bought myself this summer.

I'll miss our summer picnics at the Boston Public Garden and the fresh vegetables from our CSA share, but I'm also ready for fall.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Fried Rice - the leftover solution for people who don't like soup

Fried rice has become a staple leftover lunch for us. I had always thought about fried rice in terms of Chinese food or Thai food. After reading An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler, I realized that fried rice can be seasoned in any way I choose and really anything bite-sized can be added. Leftover broccoli? A bit of shredded chicken from taco night? A half piece of fish? Some peas? Is there a can of ceci beans lurking in the cabinet? I always make more rice than we need for dinner, so that I have some on hand for lunch.

So the basic formula goes like this:

Fry diced onion in oil until translucent. Add any dry seasonings you are using. Add bite-sized vegetables and meat. If you don't have enough left over vegetables, a handful of frozen corn or peas works well. Add rice and stir, stir, stir until the rice sucks up the oil. Add soy sauce or fish sauce if you are going for an East Asian flavor. If you are using them, add beans. Add salt and pepper and any fresh seasonings, like cilantro or parsley. Lunch is served.