I Lava CSA's

Okay. Let's be frank.

I'm about two Guinness-labeled pint glasses deep into a box of Big House Red wine as I write this, don't judge.  

I kind of sometimes treat my life like a video game, odd for someone who really sucks at video games that don't involve a screen moving forward for you, or a princess that floats for a few seconds when you push the right buttons.  But alas, I'm not actually perfect, I just look the part and so I compensate for this fact by leveling myself up when I do things that I consider major.

Like I leveled up this fall when I commissioned some artwork from Aurora Lady to give to my mom on her birthday.  

And I leveled up by having my hair done by someone professional, not by Feria. 

Well folks, looks like I"ve totally leveled up again.  I finally ordered a produce box from one of the local CSA's.  CSA stands not for Cheese Stands Alone, but instead for Community Supported Agriculture.  CSA's operate based on the people in the -taadaa- community buying in and becoming part of the funding needed to get the deliciously local and organic greens from farm to fridge.  Or frittata.  I didn't really know what "F" word would work there.  Wine, remember?  Look, just be happy I'm not drunk texting anyone this time.  (Lies, I just sent a text that said "speakeasypeasy" to someone.)

ANYWAY.  Like, you know how I was married before?  Well, I wanted to do the whole CSA thing then, but it never happened because I'm pretty sure it was part of the whole "Down, hippie!  Bad hippie for barking at nothing!" movement that was a'happening in our house for a little while and so I just gave up and sneaked in farm stand produce when I could.  Well, now I'm single (Clearly, dear God.  I'd make out with a head of lettuce if it had soft enough lips.) and I can do whatever I want whenever I want and I want my produce to come from a local source that gives a damn about what they're doing and all of that other subversive stuff.    So that lead me to place my order with The Farmer's Daughter CSA.  

The Farmer's Daughter makes weekly deliveries to several places in the Fresno Area, but I'm all about convenience so instead of looking into those other spots I decided to just go with the drop off that happens to take place in my place of employment, Twee Boutique.  OMAHGAWD you guys.  It was gorgeous.  I opened my box up and it was like golden rays came bursting through, and little angels were singing about nutrients and enzymes and shit. And it was only $18.

See: 

 

Obviously I'll be making some serious soup tomorrow.  

I really LAVA a chance to be part of my community by the foods I consume. A tasty step closer to maybe eventually becoming a locavore!

I Lava Beets and Other Roots.

This week I had the absolute pleasure of taking four foreign exchange high school students on a trip to Sacramento to go check out the state capitol and learn a bit more about democracy in action.  As always happens in these situations I ended up taking away more from the experience that I thought I would.

This particular cluster of kids happened to be all Russian-speaking, hailing from Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.  They had heard that Sac has a huge Russian community, so we made part of our trip a search for a taste of home.  This search led us to Stolichniy in North Highlands where we shared a Russian meal.  I went in thinking I'd have no clue what to eat, but as I looked over the menu I recognized several foods that come straight out of my family's cookbook.  I even know how to make Vareniki.  See, we're Volga German and I had always just assumed all of these delicious foods that we have at family gatherings were from the German side of things.  Of course, I never factored in the Russian influence on our plate. So I enjoyed the familiar- Piroshki, Vareniki and Blini- but tried Borscht for the first time as well as Vinaigrette salad.

Oh my flipping goodness.  I never knew how much I love beets.  Seriously.  Majorly.  Madly.

Of course, the things at this restaurant weren't all vegan and I just kinda ignored that to enjoy the experience, but I decided that I'd do what I could to vegan-up a few of the things when I got home.

Enter magenta-stained hands, a purple-splattered kitchen and a delightfully filled belly.

I found this great blog- Natasha's Kitchen, a treasure trove of Russian and Ukrainian yummies.  For the Vinaigrette salad I didn't have to do any work to make it vegan- it's all veggies.  But for the Borscht I switched out the chicken bouillon with veggie bouillon and plopped a dollop of Tofutti cream cheese on top instead of the tradition sour cream.


I love that everything is pink.  This fits in with my cute manifesto well. 

Here are the recipes for Vinaigrette and Borscht, Make them, LAVA them.

Some photos of my finished product:

Vinaigrette. Beets, Potato, Pickles, Sauerkraut, Carrots, Onion.

Borscht. Beets, Potato, Carrots, Onion, Cabbage, White Beans, LAVA.

NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

Purple fingers!  LOVE IT!

The most important part of making soup- sharing it with others.  I'll be making a few deliveries tonight!

My amazing students Kristina- Russia, Daulet- Kazakhstan, Julia- Ukraine, Anastasia-Russia.  They're silly and smart and I love them to pieces.