Artichoke Regrets

So here we are, in the midst of week two.  I realize that Sunday evening is a bit late to start dishing about what I had in my CSA share this week, but I will totally blame my procrastination on my sweet friend Beth.  She blatantly sabotaged my blog time this week by hosting a most fabulous wine club overnight at her family's spa-like summer house in Manomet.  It was too fabulous for words.  Each month, one person from the club hosts, which means that they choose a theme for new wines to try, then go shopping for a bunch (around 8 or so) of wines fitting that theme.  Everyone else comes, with either an app or a dessert for the group to sample.  This month I got to sample a great variety of summer-y wines and so much food that I needed to be rolled out of bed the next morning.  It was so much fun.  I don't know why everyone doesn't start a club like this.  Good wines, amazing food, and seriously fabulous company.  Mad props to Beth who made some roasted peppers with goat cheese and proscuitto that were perfection.  I may have had some the next morning at breakfast.  And to Linda and Jan, the tres leche cake was positively sublime.  So there you go.  As you can see, I was way too busy chatting about this week's veggies because I was being held against my will and forcefed app after app. 

So, when I arrived to pick up my share this week (red basket in hand), here's what I found:

-asparagus
-2 bunches of beet greens
-lettuce
-spinach
-strawberries


On Wednesday, I made roasted balsamic radishes with their greens, and served them with swiss turkey mushroom burgers with red onion and roasted red pepper.  If you look at the picture below, yes-  this would be the meal served on the ever gourmet "fish bread".  What can I say?  When you have a picky four year-old, that's life.  Try not to be too jealous.  anyways, the radishes were really yummy.  They stayed crisp in the middle and softened a little on the outside.  But the radish greens were by far the best.  The leaves roasted until they got nice and crispy, and the sweet vinegar added some awesome flavor.  Total win! 

On Thursday I sauteed the spinach with some fresh garlic and olive oil.  It was excellent.  Savory, and meaty, and satisfying.  But note to self:  the  instructions on your shampoo bottle also apply to cooking (very) fresh spinach.  Lather, rinse, REPEAT.  I was confident enough to think that one thorough soak and rinse was sufficient enough to remove every last bit of sand.  But not quite.  Oh well (as my Mom would say!).  My loss is your gain. 
 
Finally, here we are at Sunday. Father's Day.  I asked Walter what he'd like to have tonight.  I could have predicted that he'd choose scallops, but that's fine with me.  They're easy.  They're never bad.  I opted for seared sea scallops with parmesan cous cous (Kuzco, as Amelia now calls it- as in "The Emperor's New Groove") and a warm goat cheese salad.  I still don't know what species of lettuce it was, but if that wasn't the most spectacular lettuce I've ever tasted.   Small-ish leaves, crispy and green at the bottom, soft and wine-colored at the top edges, lots of tender grooves to catch the goat cheese and viniagrette.  Amazing.  I will have to ask when I go back this week. 

So today was a hard day.  Maybe the hardest yet.  Maybe I just wasn't prepared.  For a week, I've been telling myself that Father's Day was just another day.  But today did feel different.  Sadder, somehow.  I found myself thinking about my Dad constantly today.  Tony loved good food.  Yesterday I made Walt mushrooms stuffed with sausage, panko crumbs and marscapone cheese.  My Dad loved those.  I'm pretty sure he would have been pleased with tonight's dinner too.  Tony was a great cook as well.  He had a number of specialties, some coming directly from his Italian lineage.  Dad made stuffed artichokes like no one else.  They were big, and salty, and garlicky and so tender.  And on special occasions, they were always there-  a few hours after dessert, when you were starting to feel like you might have the tiniest bit of room in your belly again.  For years I've had the thought, every time I've torn into one of Dad's artichokes, that I really wanted to learn how to make them.  And then when Dad was diagnosed with cancer, it went to the top of my list.  But I was always afraid to ask him to show me.  It just felt like asking him to pass on 'artichokes' to me was like indirectly saying that he wasn't going to make it though his illness, and I guess I was never willing to go there.  When he went into the hospital this last time, at the beginning of May, I remember thinking; "That's it.  As soon as he goes home this time, I'm having him show me the artichokes no matter what."  As it turns out, that was not to be.  But someday, I will figure these things out.  I can't predict how many batches it will take to get them as fabulous as Dad did, but it will happen.  And I will channel Tony to do it.  I really want my kids to be able to taste these someday and appreciate a bite of where they came from and how they got here. 


Walt and I are capping off our day with fresh strawberries dipped in warm, melted white chocolate.  Hug the people you love and tell them often how special they are to you.  Share memories and traditions and stories through food, and please please please don't wait for anything (except your next meal) to start doing it.  Cheers to Walt, and Tony, and all the dads out there today.