Also we tested out a recipe tonight that we will be making for our new parent friends this weekend: chicken, leek and apple soup, with apple juice (we used applesauce since we have that) and apple cider vinegar as well as chunks of apple. It was VERY tasty. I think I need to start putting a dollop of vinegar in soups and other things.

And then, while watching streaming Iron Chef America (scroll down for goodness), I was overwhelmed with the need to bake brownies. I had to search around a bit to find a recipe for brownies from scratch that had only 2 eggs, since that’s all I could spare, but soon enough I found this 101cookbooks forum post with the following recipe at my preferred level of recipe specificity:

The recipe:

Melt 1 stick of butter – add 1/2 c cocoa, 1 cup sugar and mix. Add 2 egss 1 at a time- mix – add vanilla and walnuts if you like. Add 1/2 cup of flour and stir to combine. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Batter fits in a 8″ square pan.
ENJOY!

I added lots of chocolate chips and also some chopped up 57% chocolate bar that I found in the cupboard. Very successful thick, rich, fudgy brownies. Nom.

Garth was in the middle of making dinner when I got home (Day 24), originally uploaded by laurenipsum.

… he approached me as I entered the front door, holding this smiley-bowl full of grated cheese and two eggs.

(We had a variation of carbonara, with cubes of roasted squash and bacon. It was delicious.)

This is a big bag of onions, sitting in a chair. (Day 22), originally uploaded by laurenipsum.

Today we went to get our turkey at the Port Townsend Farmers’ market, which was AWESOME. Someone there had this enormous bag of storage onions; we have been unable to get good storage onions at our market because of the wet summer — folks are selling eating/cooking onions but no one wants to say they will store. So I was super excited to find this HUGE bag for $40 (we didn’t weigh it but figure it is ~50 pounds?) that was advertised as storage onions. Now we have onions for the winter!

I like working from home because I get to have a delicious breakfast (Day 19), originally uploaded by laurenipsum.

Like, say, steel-cut oats made with homemade buttermilk, and topped with mom-made raspberry jam.

I couldn’t sell this carrot* in Europe (Day 17), originally uploaded by laurenipsum.

… yet, at least. But the EU has recently overturned regulations that required very specific aesthetics for lots of types of fruits and veggies. The new, wacky-vegetable-supportive laws go into effect in July. (http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/11/outlaw_carrots.html, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7724347.stm, etc.)

Garth picked this carrot for dinner tonight (which was soba noodles with tofu, kale, carrot, and a soy-lemon-sesame dressing) and I made him wait so I could take a picture before it got sliced up and put into the food. Dinner was later but it was still tasty AND I got to take my picture for the day.

* Yep, that’s just one carrot! I love it. Also, that’s an 8.5 inch plate. So it’s not just three carrots in one, it’s three HUGE carrots in one!

Walking fava bean (Day 15), originally uploaded by laurenipsum.

We planted a cover crop of fava beans and crimson clover in the old tomato bed a bit ago and the birds (including the chickens and ducks who escape from their pen and make their way into the garden) have dug up some of the favas from their snug soil homes. Some of them insisted on growing anyway. This one appears to be trying to walk away from its neighbors.

Cop-out picture of veggies in a basket (Day 9), originally uploaded by laurenipsum.

I wanted to take pictures of people, which I haven’t tried yet and which I’m totally scared of, and that was my goal for today. I intended to take some pictures of the audience at one of the sessions, but I was so busy learning and taking notes at all of them that I didn’t manage to.

Then I was going to take pictures of everyone descending on the food sale, where they sell off all the leftover food that wasn’t used for meals during the conference. It is quite popular, as much of the food goes for very cheap, and it’s all organic. I volunteered as a cashier, though, so I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of all the people there either.

So here is a picture of someone else’s vegetable basket, as she was cashing out, towards the end of the sale when it was quieter.

I didn’t even get a chance to take multiple versions, so apologies for the totally lame unfocusedness. Unlike other photos, which are crappy because I am not a very good photographer, this one is just crappy because I was too busy to focus more or play with settings.

Anyway, this lady bought like $75 worth of super cheap food, including this basket showing two centerpiece herb pots (4 herb plants per pot, $5), six kiwi, a bag of grapes, two bunches of scallions, and a big bag of Kettle chips; there are some onions and zucchini underneath too.
She also filled up a big bag with two bottles of wine (good local organic wine, $10 each), beer ($1/bottle), 5 pounds of organic fair-trade coffee ($15), several loaves of good fresh bread, and a few other veggies. Then, she left it sitting next to her car, and sped away through the parking lot while Garth and I were loading our stuff into the truck. We ran after her waving our arms but she didn’t see us. No one still inside had her phone number, so eventually we left her bag at the front desk with her name and instructions to eat the bread before it went bad, etc. I was sad, because it was a lot of delicious food, but the hotel staff put up with a lot from us I am sure so I was OK with leaving it for them. (Even though I wanted the wine.)

So I was deposited at the market, which is always a good deal, even when the market is closed … which it turned out not to be! I was lured in by the buckets of tulips, and found that the tulip vendor was still open, and also found that the pre-assembled bouquets were $4 each, instead of the usual $10. Score two tulip bouquets for Lauren!
The next surprisingly-open place was my favorite veggie stand, Sosio’s, who had local asparagus and spring onions. Plus peaches, which smelled so good I couldn’t resist getting one ripe enough to eat tomorrow. (I have found it to be very valuable to tell the produce chooser when you will be eating your fruits; it helps her to pick good ripenesses, such that you have one good fruit for juicy eating tonight, and one for each of you for lunch tomorrow, and more for later this week … when left to my own devices, I get all the ripest ones and most start to go bad before I can eat them.)

Dinner, then, was grilled balsamic-and-olive-oil soaked spring onions and fresh asparagus, with steak from our pals at Skagit River Ranch. I am so happy about grilling season, but am freaking THRILLED about asparagus season, and the reminder that it is just the beginning of delicious food time.

Man, food is awesome.

(cross-posted to Dropstone Farms blog!)