My group of teenagers with San Diego skyline
It’s Mary–I’m back from San Diego and Michelle is off to Florida to help with her sister’s new baby. We’re kind of tag-teaming it for a few weeks here. I am SO grateful to have a partner like Michelle and a reliable team of workers who made it possible for me to go away for a week without any worries. Everything went really well while I was gone, from what I hear, and that’s terrific.
San Diego was wonderful, but traveling with a big group of teens didn’t give me much opportunity to eat REAL food. I am so happy to be back in the Kitchen (though when I thought about my busy day today I kind of wanted to hide.). Some highlights of the trip included visiting the desert at Anza-Borrego Desert State
Beets and Carrots
Park, seeing pandas at the zoo, a beautiful communion service on Sunset Cliffs, and getting to know these amazing teenagers even better than before. My biggest challenge was managing all of our bus connections. 
Since Michelle and I have become ships passing in the night, Peter and Lotus picked up our shares at the Farm. What they got and what I’m going to do with it is after the jump.
At the Farm, each whole share got:
Sugar Snap Peas 1 lb.
Leaf Celery 1 bunch
Beets/Carrots 1 bunch
A lovely basket of thyme
Lettuce 4 heads
Green Onions 16
Greens 1.5 lbs
Garlic Scapes 6 (actually, we got a lot more than this. Peter says Farmer Anne gave us a whole extra box of scapes, so now we have (in his words): 1 metric shit-ton)
SO, reading between the lines, we’re going to continue to enjoy that beautiful lettuce for a while now!
Here’s the menu:
Beet and Carrot Burgers – This recipe from Farmer John’s Cookbook has always been popular in the Kitchen. I actually think some people may have returned just hoping to get more of them. Get ready for the taste explosion!
Garlic Scape Pesto – We’ve got to do something with that metric shit-ton of scapes– fortunately garlic scape pesto is the new “it” food of the season (if you don’t know this, you have clearly not been talking to the same people we have!). We were actually ahead of the curve, making this tasty dish last season.
Chard Chickpea Balti – from The Boxing Clever Cookbook p. 47 This British interpretation of Pakistani food has been popular for the past two summers–I guess it’s becoming a HK classic. (read about what Balti is here)
Cajun Green Onion Dressing – According to our sources, you all have been enjoying the dressings we’ve been
Enormous pots in the kitchen of the USS Midway (an aircraft carrier that is now a museum in San Diego)
making. Hopefully this one will be just as good!
Summer Days Salad – Another beautiful, huge green salad with lettuce and green onions. Mmmm.
Thanks for your support, everyone. See you tomorrow.
Mary
PS. Sometimes I think we need pots like these ones I saw on the USS Midway…!
Mary, I have kitchen envy!