Great Friends Give Fresh Vegetables

You might have heard that I have not had any luck with growing fresh vegetables or that I crave them something fierce. What you may not know is that I was really worried that Boston would not have the variety of fresh vegetables I have become accustomed to and that they would be hard to come by, was I ever wrong! I also happen to have some great friends and colleagues who keep me in my habit and supply me with fresh veggies.

Last Wednesday, I was given a first batch of veggies from a colleague as part of a trade I have arranged. MG, who read about my lettuce woes and promptly rubbed it in that he has a beautiful garden, brought me summer squash and cucumbers. We have made an arrangement that he will keep me in tomatoes and other vegetables this summer, in exchange for a batch of my BBQ sauce.


That same day, I picked up H&CK’s farm share from Red Fire Farm. They are on vacation this week weren’t going to be able to eat all the veggies. So for 2 WHOLE WEEKS they are letting us pick their share. This past week we got, tomatoes, beets, blueberries, lettuce, kale, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, green beans, potatoes, peppers, fresh basil and broccoli! Today I picked up garlic, lettuce, tomatoes, basil, eggplant, watermelon, blueberries, squash, peppers, carrots and corn.


It’s beautiful and tasty and I didn’t even tell JR about half of it so I could horde it all for myself to eat in beautiful salads for lunch. I got home from picking it up last Wednesday and promptly made myself a tomato, basil and mozzarella salad that was delicious.

Then on Saturday, I picked JB up at 10AM and we went up to the farmers marketing in Somerville. We have been doing this pretty much every weekend we are both in the city and it’s been awesome.


The market keeps getting better and better. Since I had so many vegetables from the farm share, I didn’t let myself get too much and settled for photos. I did buy some bok choy for salads and a couple tomatoes, I couldn’t help myself!


It turns out finding fresh veggies isn't so difficult! I am thinking about joining the farm share next year and will keep enjoying the farmers market as long as I can.

The Way to a Girl's Heart is Through Her Stomach

JR and I met during the last couple months of college. On our graduation day, I told my mother I wasn't sure where the relationship was going to go, then Lobster Bowl 2004 happened and I was hooked.

Lobster Bowl is a golf tournament that JR's father plays in each year. It's actually called the Adams Bowl, but I have officially renamed it, because at the end of each tournament they serve the most amazing feast. I went that first summer back in 2004 and I was sold, I knew right then I had to marry JR so that I could come to the Lobster Bowl each and every year and eat enough lobster and shrimp to stuff me full. I am not exaggerating when I say it's tables full of lobster, shrimp and oysters and other amazing goodies.



After showing me this wealthy of goodness, JR didn't bring me back for 3 whole summers! I thought I had been cheated, until today when he finally returned me to the Lobster Bowl, and it was all I remembered.

I stuck to the seafood for plate number 1, and was not disappointed.


I branched out for plate number 2 and included some meat. When I brought this back to the table, my MIL (mother-in-law) said "You go girl!"


When I brought back plate number three, she said "Oh, I think I need to visit the desert table...."


It was amazing, and I am so lucky that my wonderful in-laws were willing to share the lobster and bring me back to the Lobster Bowl.

Making up lost time

JR and I are clearly making up for all grill time we lost while living in NY. This is a pretty standard meal for us these day (as in pretty much every night!) We grill up some meat (chicken, steak, burgers, sausages etc) and some vegetables (corn, peppers, onions, asparagus etc) and then I make up a salad. It's amazing, and I love it. I will never live without a grill again.

A DENT!

One of the things I loved about living in NY was not having a car. Not only was it financially fantastic, it made so many things in life less stressful. At the same time, when we moved to Boston I was really excited to get a car. I pictured spontaneous weekend road trips, driving through the New England hills with my hair blowing in the wind, and having the luxury of easily carting BIG things around.

We were here 6 weeks and we went out a purchased a beautiful Pacific Blue 2008 Rav 4. She has pep and she looks cool, she got us through snow to NH this winter and was everything I hoped for in a car. I had even gotten to the point, where I forgot that not having a car was pretty sweet, and then...


A DENT!

It just appeared one morning. JR noticed it on his way to work. The rear left fender is all crunched in, we expect from one of our neighbors backing up a little too quickly. They say the first ones the hardest, I hope they are right!

Pizza or....

A couple of Sunday's ago we headed over to our friend's place for pizza and to hang out. When we got there, we sure were happily surprised to find their apartment filled with wonderful non-pizza like smells. It turns out HP had a change of heart and decided to make us a home cooked Bosnian feast!

She had two kinds of sausages on the grill, a casserole called Pita that was all fluffy and cheesy, a great salad and a dip, the name of which I cannot remember, but I know it had eggplant in it and it was delicious. It was a feast and everyone was super excited to try all the great food.

I forced HP into a photo of her with the pita because it was so beautiful and golden brown when it came out of the oven, and because she had been making fun of my "house wife" blog. Hopefully I can get her to share some recipes with me!

Beer & chicken...what could be better?

Last weekend my good friend JB sent me a link to this video on how to make Beer Can Chicken. She was hoping to make it some time this summer, I am not that patient so I invited her and her husband over on Sunday to make it. I kept talking about the recipe at work all week, because I was really excited, and apparently everyone has heard of this but me.

Essentially, you take a chicken and rub it all over with spices. We used the spice rub mix in the video and AB did the rubbing. You then drink down about a quarter of a can of beer, and insert the can between the chickens…legs (no comment).


Then you place the chicken in a heat proof pan on the grill. This video does it over charcoal, we did it over the gas and it worked fine. The only controversy was how to determine if it was done. I pulled out the good ol' Better Homes & Gardens cook book and it said 180 degrees. We left it on for an hour and half and then took its temperature and it was perfect!


Then came the extraction. We weren’t sure how to maneuver this without either dumping out the beer or getting the oven mitts all dirty. This is definitely a job for four. 2 cooks, 1 cheerleader and 1 photographer.


We carved that birdie up and served it with a fantastic meal of Tzatziki Potato salad (a great low fat alternative,) fresh pepper, tomato and basil salad (a la JB,) and cold peach soup (from my Aunt). It was a wonderful summer meal. Too bad it was 50 degrees outside!