tidbits

I used to think that adding a mango to any dish automatically makes it wonderful.

So. Not. True.

I tried cooking my wonderful Greek lamb sausage from Chestnut Farms with some mango...and swiss chard. I thought it would be pretty. Instead it turned the mango flesh brown and the whole thing tasted like chard. Blech. I like chard, but context is important. So on the flavor combos to never use list: Swiss chard and mangoes.

I made a field greens risotto from a Food Project recipe the other day, to bring to the wild edibles potluck. Sadly, most people didn't stick around to participate. The dish came out the way I wanted it to, but I don't think most people agreed with me :-). According to Elena it wasn't a "real" risotto because it used brown rice. Hey, it was what the recipe called for. It used scallions, garlic, ginger, and a whole head of escarole and a bag of mizuna. So you ended up with a very green rice dish. A bit of asagio cheese and we're done. I never had asagio, and I found out that it's good on Chestnut Farm burgers too. I can has cheezburger!

I went to Victoria's Secret the other day, and if you get something from their Pink collection, you get a free tote bag. It's a huge bag, and it folds up tiny, so it looks like a good thing to bring to Whole Foods or the farm. I heard a rumor that plastic bags are going away in Massachusetts, but I can't find anything to confirm it. But they can go away in your own life. I found a Reusable Bags site, which has some interesting statistics on the amount of energy and waste caused by plastic bags. It also has information on who has done what to save energy. I did a research project in 2001 entitled "Paper or Plastic?" The clear answer was: neither! Use canvas bags. Plastic takes forever to break down naturally, and the process for making paper bags, or paper in general, is totally disgusting and expensive and smelly. The trick for me is remembering my canvas bags. The best solution so far is to hang them on my doorknob at night. It's difficult to miss it in the morning. Difficult...yet not impossible...