Farmstand Quality

I had a serious taste for string beans today...not just any string beans but the string beans from RSK farm. Not all string beans are created equal, not even from the farm stands...just like not all potatoes or salad or corn etc. are created equal. Some farm stands are ones that mass produce bushels and bushels of vegetables which are of good quality but not the best. Other farm stands such as RSK which is a tiny farm stand that hand picks everything, plant the best quality vegetables of heirloom variety, which might cost a little more, but the flavor is so superior that it's more than worth it.

There is really a difference when a farm is very small, the level of care and attention to detail comes through in the end product. The string beans at RSK are almost as thin as haricot verts and extremely crisp and tasty. The heirloom grape tomatoes really taste like candy, and the potatoes are so incredibly creamy that I will do a blog on those another day. When you go to the farm stands don't be afraid to taste the vegetables in their raw state. If they are a song on your palate raw then the flavor will only intensify when it's cooked.

The Dog Peed On My Basil!!!!

This weekend I had an epiphany that if I really wanted to be a "farm to table" cook I needed to start doing some farming. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew so I decided to start small. I purchased a basil plant, in part because it's finally tomato season (and I will only eat tomatoes in season and had a vision of a tomato basil and mozzarella salad) and in part because Bob at RSK farm (where I purchased the basil) told me that basil is an annual so it will die at the end of the summer and won't come back next year. So the basil will expire without my killing it by my lack of preservation techniques over the winter and therefore making me discouraged about my farming ability (which is what happened with one of my mint plants from last year).

So I purchased this basil, and since it's not going to come back next year I made a conscious decision not to put it into the soil around my house because I figured the plant would be safer on the porch than in the ground below where it could be ravaged by deer. I didn't figure into my equation Tucker, our next door neighbor Annette's (who also happens to be a really close family friend) dog.

Let me start off by saying that I love Tucker, my mom loves Tucker and most of all Spoon (our girl cat) really loves Tucker. Tucker is Spoons dog boyfriend (which upsets Grant, my cat who is her husband but that's another story). So Tucker, who is really an extended member of our four legged family is welcomed on our porch and yard and we leave all of the windows and doors open (screened in) so that Spoon can communicate with him. She would have it no other way. This morning Tucker came over to serenade Spoon, and found my basil plant sitting on the floor of the porch. Well I guess it was unfamiliar territory to him so before I could stop him he lifted his leg and the rest was history. Bob said the plant needed to be watered everyday but I don't think that's what he meant LOL!!!!! So my early morning job wasn't that of farmer it was that of janitor. I had to soap off the porch, and wash off the basil. I considered throwing out the whole basil plant (clearly showing my Bronx roots and that I'm not a country farmer girl after all), but my mother who spent her summers in the gardens of rural South Carolina as a child shook her head and said "you will not be throwing out that basil, what do you think those animals in the woods do to the vegetables that you eat??? They pee on them!!!" Oh yeah, that makes sense. So I rinsed the basil and it seems no worse for wear...and Tucker isn't going anywhere because Spoon would have it no other way, basil vs. Spoon and Tuckers happiness? Spoon and Tucker win hands down...maybe I should leave farming to the farmers, and just concentrate on representing their bounty to the best of my ability as a final product on a plate.