Matthew and Alison have a “veg” box from Riverford Farm delivered every Thursday. The organic vegetables and fruit come in a reusable cardboard box and are accompanied by seasonal recipes and news from the farm. The “veg” box, augmented with a bit of meat or fish, milk, cheese and eggs and miscellaneous items like fresh ginger and hot peppers from the grocer at the train station, is the center of their healthy and sustainable diet. This week’s box had leeks, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, parsnips, fennel, potatoes, onions and baby bok choy.

On Thursday, we had “veg” box stir-fry and bok choy with black beans for dinner. Here’s how Matthew did it:

“Veg” Box Stir-Fry

He washed and sliced enough leeks, carrots, cabbage and broccoli to fill a medium bowl, about four cups. For the sauce, he combined a tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of white wine vinegar, a heaping teaspoon of cornstarch, two teaspoons of hoi sin sauce, a tablespoon of toasted sesame seed oil and a tablespoon of sugar in a small bowl. He heated two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pot, added three small, whole, dried chili peppers, two cloves of garlic and a one-inch knob of ginger root, both minced. As soon as we could smell the garlic and ginger, he added the vegetables. After the vegetables had cooked for five minutes, he added the sauce and cooked the vegetables for two more minutes.

It took less time for Matthew to cook the bok choy than it took for me to set the table and serve the stir fried vegetables.

Bok Choy with Chinese Black Beans

He rinsed and quartered three heads of baby bok choy, put a splash of vegetable oil, about two teaspoons, one clove of minced garlic and a tablespoon of rinsed, salted Chinese black beans and the bok choy into a cast-iron frying pan over medium-high heat. After the bok choy had cooked for a minute, he added a tablespoon of white wine, turned the bok choy over and cooked it for another minute.

We evaluated dinner as we ate it. The texture of the crisp bok choy and the sweet/sour sauce on the stir fried vegetables were pluses, forgetting to remove the whole chili peppers before serving the stir fry was a negative. We awarded dinner four-stars.

On Saturday, I bought a pint of strawberries and a small container of double cream, (heavy cream in Vermont), at the train station market so that I could make strawberries and cream French toast for Sunday breakfast. Here’s how:

Strawberries & Cream French Toast

I rinsed the strawberries, removed their leafy caps, sliced them and combined them with a tablespoon of sugar. I toasted four pieces of sunflower seed, whole-wheat bread. I combined two eggs, two tablespoons of cream, a teaspoon of sugar and a quarter of a teaspoon of nutmeg in a shallow bowl. I put the toasted bread into the egg mixture, set it aside for ten minutes, turned the slices over, waited ten minutes more so that the bread would absorb the eggy mixture, and then sauteed the bread in butter in a medium cast iron frying pan over low heat.

I found a whisk and recruited Matthew to whip half a cup of the cream. When the French toast was golden, I sprinkled each serving with a teaspoon of sugar, added a generous helping of strawberries and a scoop of whipped cream to each plate. We sat in the sun, enjoyed our breakfast and tried to decide what we should make for dinner.

Here’s a link to the Riverford Farm website. If you live in the UK you may be able to arrange to have a Riverford box delivered. Whether or not you have a veg box delivered, the Riverford site has a great variety of recipes here.

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Watercolor painting by Carol Egbert

Often the choice is water, either still, fizzy or flavored, from a plastic bottle. Perhaps some of my non-alcoholic drink combinations will inspire you and at your next party you will ask your guests, “Red, white, spicy, fruity, sweet, minty, on the rocks or straight up?”

Label for your Ginger Syrup

Ginger ale made by the glass has a bright flavor and the ginger zing can be adjusted to suit the sipper. Not only do I use ginger syrup to make ginger ale, I also use it instead of sugar or honey to add zip to hot or iced tea. A pitcher of lime/ginger fizz along with the bottles of reds and whites makes every guest feel well taken care of. Ginger and clove syrups keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. I have created labels for both that can be downloaded and printed by clicking here. I use the home brewers’ trick of using milk as the glue to stick the label to the bottle.Here’s how I make it:

Ginger Syrup

I combine half a cup, about six ounces, of finely diced of fresh ginger root, three cups of water and two cups of granulated sugar in a saucepan, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer the mixture for about twenty minutes or until it has thickened slightly and the volume has reduced by half. I strain the syrup and store it in a bottle in the fridge.

Ginger Ale by the Glass

Add two tablespoons of ginger syrup to a tall glass of soda water, add ice and stir.

Download and print ginger syrup and ginger ale recipes with ingredients lists here.

Lime/Ginger Fizz

I make this festive drink in the crystal pitcher that my Nana used for iced tea. I combine one and a half cups of ginger syrup, three-quarters of a cup of freshly squeezed lime juice, one liter of seltzer or sparkling water, ice and one thinly sliced lime.

I tasted clove-flavored lemonade at the farmers’ market and loved it. The cloves imparted a flavor that made the lemonade even more refreshing on a muggy day. I am particularly fond of serving clove lemonade with a curry dinner.

Clove Lemonade

I simmer two cups of water, two cups of sugar and one teaspoon of whole cloves over medium low heat for five minutes. I add one and a half cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the cooled and strained syrup. I make clove lemonade, by the glass, by combining three tablespoons of syrup with eight ounces of cold water and a couple of ice cubes.

With berries and concentrated orange juice, lemonade or limeade in the freezer, I can make a citrus berry drink in less time than it takes Charles to find the cork screw and uncork the wine.

Berry Citrus Sparklers

I use a wooden spoon to combine a cup and a half of frozen blueberries with a twelve ounce can of frozen orange juice concentrate, thirty six ounces of soda water and a cup of crushed ice to make blueberry orange sparklers. For strawberry lemonade, I replace the blueberries with frozen strawberries, the orange juice with frozen lemonade and use ice water rather than soda water. Next time I make this drink, I’m planning on using blackberries and limeade and adding couple of tablespoons of ginger syrup.

The most stylish drinks at the moment are infused water drinks. Infused water has virtually no calories and takes only a minute to put together but is best if made at least two hours before being served. The ingredients vary but the procedure doesn’t. You put your choice of sliced fruit, cucumbers and herbs into a pitcher, fill the pitcher two thirds full with filtered or spring water, top it off with ice and wait at least two hours and serve on the rocks. Here are some combinations to get you started; the suggested quantities are for a three-quart pitcher:

Pineapple Mint

One quarter of a fresh pineapple, peeled and cut into triangles, and two sprigs of fresh mint leaves.

Raspberry Basil

Two thirds of a cup of chopped fresh or frozen raspberries and a dozen whole basil leaves.

Cucumber Lemon Rosemary

Twelve thin slices of cucumber, six thin slices of lemon, two three-inch sprigs of fresh rosemary that has been slightly crushed.

Citrus Cilantro

This sunny lemon lime orange drink reminds me of Mexico. I pour spring water over slices of one lemon, one lime and one orange and a quarter of a cup of cilantro leaves.

Large metal tea balls, nylon infusers or pitchers with infusion cores can be used to make infused water, but I like “lumps” in my water and just put everything into a pitcher,  a blue and white ceramic one for weekday drinks and Nana’s crystal one for parties. Cheers!

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It was important to eat the watermelon before sunset because we needed to be able to see who could spit seeds the farthest. Even the grown-ups enjoyed the contest and so, spitting, limited to seeds at picnics, was exempt from the general prohibition against spitting.

The distance-spitting competition usually deteriorated into a melee of targeting siblings, rivals and unsuspecting pets.

Late in the afternoon, on July third, my dad would bring home a block of ice. He used an awe inspiring ice pick to break up the ice for the food cooler, the drink cooler and the metal tub that held the watermelon. For many years, I ate watermelon plain, not even dusted with salt. Watermelon juice dripped off my chin and down my arms.  It was sweet, pink, crisp, cool organized water.

Watermelon is an inexpensive fruit that is loaded with Vitamins C and A and also a source of the anti-oxidant, lycopene. Historians believe that it originated in Africa, and today China is the world’s largest producer of watermelon.  When I was traveling in Shanghai in the summer of 1985, the garbage collectors were on strike and watermelon rinds were piled high in empty lots across the city. There are more than a thousand varieties of watermelon ranging from under a pound softball size to gigantic fruits that weigh more than two hundred pounds.  Watermelon flesh may be red, orange, yellow or white.

I still love watermelon even though it rarely has the necessary ammunition for a distance competition or even target practice. I have progressed from serving plain chunks of watermelon to serving it sliced and dusted with smoky herbs, and have used it in salads, salsas, and drinks.  A sprinkle of seasoning and a squeeze of citrus made slices of watermelon sing.  Here’s how I made Spicy Watermelon Slices, Watermelon Salsa and Watermelon Coolers:

Spicy Watermelon Slices

I trimmed all of the green and most of the white rind from a wedge of watermelon before I cut it into quarter inch slices. I sprinkled a combination of one teaspoon of chili powder and a quarter of a teaspoon of kosher salt onto the watermelon that was arranged in one layer on a platter.  A generous squeeze of fresh lime juice on top added a finishing zing.

On a warm evening last week, I served colorful watermelon salsa made with both red and yellow watermelon as a cool side dish with grilled chicken. Here’s how I made it:

Watermelon Salsa

I cut two cups of watermelon into half inch dice and combined it with two tablespoons of thinly sliced scallions, one finely diced jalapeno pepper without its seeds, a handful of cilantro leaves, a quarter of a teaspoon of kosher salt, a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and a tablespoon of vegetable oil. This salsa is easy to put together and best eaten the day it is made. When I have a red onion in the pantry, I use it instead of the scallions.

Cooling lemonade with frozen watermelon cubes gives pink lemonade a new look without diluting the flavor. Here’s how:

Watermelon Cooler

I put a single layer of watermelon chunks on a foil lined cookie sheet and froze them.  I used the watermelon cubes instead of ice cubes to chill my favorite lemonade. I have also used watermelon cubes to chill fruit punch and seltzer water. I store frozen watermelon cubes in a plastic freezer bag and like to add one to a glass of orange juice at breakfast.

Watermelon has been cultivated since the second century BC and is eaten in many countries around the world. Although watermelon is not depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphics, many watermelon seeds were recovered from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen. I wonder if he got to be pharaoh because he could spit seeds further than anyone else.Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

The fields outside of Siracusa are filled with citrus groves. The distinctive dark green, round trees that grow in orderly rows were visible when my plane circled Mt. Etna. Some of trees are so full of uniformly yellow fruit that it is possible to identify them as lemon trees from the air. Although Arabs are creditedwith bringing lemons and bitter oranges to Sicily sweet oranges were brought to Sicily in the15th century by Portuguese crusaders.

I have been taking full advantage of the possibilities that fresh lemons and oranges in the market offer.

Today, I am celebrating the blood oranges that fill the market.

I eat a blood orange before my morning cappuccino, I drink blood orange juice at lunch.

Insalata Fantasia di Arance is what I order if I want a salad of blood orange segments simply dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper at dinner. It may be topped with onion, anchovy or olives but however it comes, it is delicious.

Freshly squeezed, pink, blood orange juice, with or without a splash of vodka, is toast worthy. Salute!

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Here’s how I made them:

Spicy Hot Chocolate Spoons

I used a double boiler to melt eight ounces of semi-sweet chocolate over simmering water. While the chocolate melted, I sifted together a quarter of a cup of cocoa powder, half a cup of confectioners’ sugar, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and a quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. I omit cayenne pepper when I’m giving these spoons to friends who prefer food without a spicy kick.

When the chocolate was melted, I added two teaspoons of unflavored vegetable oil, anything but olive oil will do, and used a spatula to stir in the sugar/cocoa mixture.

I put one tablespoon of chocolate into the bowls of eight Chinese porcelain spoons that I found in an Asian market. I added a tag to each spoon with the these simple directions: To make a sublime mug of spicy hot chocolate, put six ounces of very hot milk in a mug and stir with this spoon until the chocolate has melted.

I used the remaining chocolate to make chocolate cubes with cinnamon stick stirrers by spooning  the chocolate into plastic ice cube trays and poking a cinnamon stick into each cube before the chocolate hardened. Regardless of how they are packaged, it is important to include directions or the hot chocolate cube will be mistaken for a piece of spicy fudge or a chocolate lollipop.

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Spicy Hot Chocolate List

• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 1/4 c cocoa powder
• 1/2 c  confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• a pinch of salt

Charles and I are flying to Sicily for our son’s wedding. Matthew and Alison will be married in Siracusa. Sicily is known for its lemons and also for Limoncello – a lemon flavored liquor server over crushed ice.

I met a woman at the farmers’ market last week and she said the most difficult part of making Limoncello is the waiting. It takes at least two weeks between step one and step two. A perfect recipe for me since I will be far away from my kitchen for two weeks. Here’s the first step.

Limoncello – Part 1

I put the zest of eight lemons into a fifth of cheap 100 proof vodka. Her recipe specified ‘cheap’ vodka because it would have no flavor. I used a micro plane to grate the lemon zest and poured two tablespoon of the vodka down the drain so that there would be space for the zest in the bottle. The zest and vodka need to wait in the dark for at least two weeks before the mixture is strained and sweetened. I’ll post the second part of her recipe when I have returned from Sicily where I will have done some Limoncello tasting.

This is the post that finishes the story.

The wedding was perfect.  The bride radiant, the groom beamed, Ho-hee friends smiled, family delighted, children gorgeous, food amazing, Siracusa gorgeous!

Rather than two weeks, the vodka and zest waited two months. Here’s how I did it:

Limoncello – Part 2

I used a fine strainer to remove all of the zest from the vodka.  To transform the liquid from lemon vodka to limoncello I added a simple syrup that consisted of 350 ml/ 1 1/2 cups water and 400 g/ 2 cups of sugar that had been simmered together for five minutes and then cooled to room temperature.

Decanted into an old fashioned bottle with a leak-proof  stopper, the limoncello is waiting in the freezer until the newlyweds arrive.

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Limoncello List

• 8 lemons
• fifth 100 proof vodka
• 2 c sugar

Limoncello

I put the zest of eight lemons into a fifth of cheap  100 proof vodka. Her recipe specified ‘cheap’ vodka because it would have no flavor. I used a micro plane to grate the lemon zest and poured two tablespoon of the vodka down the drain so that there would be space for the zest in the bottle. The zest and vodka need to wait in the dark for at least two weeks before the mixture is strained and sweetened. I’ll post the second part of her  recipe when I have returned from Sicily where I will have done some Limoncello tasting.

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