I figure Darin will have a pretty good idea I’ll have gone ’round the bend when I start musing about going to cooking school or becoming a personal chef, making a week’s worth of food for a variety of clients. He was slightly concerned, for example, that I spent last night going through the entire archives of Chocolate & Zucchini, making notes about what I was going to cook. Well, I have an excuse: they looked tasty!
He was concerned to learn that I had signed us up for a biweekly half-order (vegetables and fruits) mixed box from Organic Express. I was all set to sign up to Planet Organic, which my brother-in-law subscribes to, but they don’t deliver to my area and I’d have to drive to pick up my box every week. I don’t think so. So when I saw an Organic Express truck going by my house, I logged on to their site and decided to give it a whirl. Advertising works, people. Advertising works.
When setting up the account, I said no cucumbers and cabbage. They are pointless foods and I won’t cook them, let alone eat them. There are other foods, such as spinach, that I have not as yet come to appreciate, but I’m working on it, okay? Pretty much everything else I can find some use for or Darin will eat (same difference).
Today was the first shipment, and I got:
- 10 small oranges
- 4 bananas
- 5 Fuji apples
- 2 Bosc pears
- 2 Anjou pears
- a gigantic head of broccoli
- 2 yams
- 5 or 6 red potatoes
- a head of carrots on the wee side (bigger than babies, much smaller than usual store carrots)
- a box of tiny cherry tomatoes
My first thought on looking at those tomatoes was, Darin will sure enjoy these! Then I remember: hey, I eat tomatoes now! I can eat these too. I have the feeling I’m missing an item or two on this list, but that’s a pretty good haul, I think. I will probably need to whip up a few fruit desserts (since I already had a kitchen full of recently-bought fruit), but I’m pretty sure I can make do with all these vegetables in the next week, let alone next two weeks.
Maybe I’ll have to go to a weekly shipment. And if that seems to be too much food, I can start a personal chef biz on the side…
Later: I see Derrick on his site (hey Derrick: add a Search function!) mentions some other, smaller CSAs in the area. So maybe I will have to check those out.
I’ve been using Westside Organics for weekly produce delivery for several years now and heartily recommend them. Their options for customizing your own box are quite extensive and they now offer a growing list of organic groceries (including fish and meats and dairy) and some earth-friendly housewares. Yay, CSAs!