Watermelon, peppers and dogs from a week by the beach
August 11, 2020
Now, we had the rare and remarkable privilege of swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding and sailing last week, a few hours drive north of New York but a million miles away. Learning to paddleboard seems to be 99% spectacular fun and 1% terror (e.g. when you fall flat on your face from a wave and cut your thumb on a tiny strap loop, ouch). That 1% terror increases to 5-20% when you place an inexperienced pandemic-neurotic and curious dog on board. But so, so, so worth it.
Back from the beach we made a DIY summer pitcher drink by whizzing up big chunks off a watermelon with tequila, lime, a little sugar, and a salt-and-jalapeno rim. Garnish with mint (dammit we're sold out), or some cinnamon basil, or nothing if you have nothing! Sip while watching osprey dive for fish, or out your own apartment window where you might see one of NYC’s red-tailed hawks. We guessed ospreys were successful in one out of seven dives - turns out it’s closer to one in four. Good on them.
On Thursday, the farm team were given a virtual tour by our friend Alicia at Herban Produce, on the West side of Chicago. Wow! The way they’ve conquered so many adjacent city lots with their hydroponics and row crops makes me think they’d win hands down at Risk. If you live there, or near to there, consider supporting them by buying produce, bread, delights of that nature. In the Spring, I’ve heard they may even offer a way to stay on the farm itself. Go Herban!
The week was dogs, dogs and more dogs. We were introduced to Bari, a black lab who spends about 12 hours every summer day in a continuous loop: running onto the dock, peering into the water to look for fish, leaping in with a deep splash, missing the fish, swimming back to the shore, trotting over to the dock again, to dive and rinse and repeat. Occasionally interspersed with coming as near as possible to humans, for a well-timed wet shake and splatter. There’s a lesson there I’m sure, of finding something simple to be contented by, and being OK with a routine. A lesson in still enjoying a Paloma after it’s been spiked with a little seawater fresh from Bari’s back. Helps if it has a little fresh basil, still lovely if not. Time after to nap.
Later, a surprise evening’s Jamaican dinner on a visit to Coonamessett Farm, with yams, a great mango salad, meaty stuff for those folks that like it, as the light faded just past 8:30pm. There we also picked a heavy haul of green bell and cubanelle peppers for the grill, half of which we blackened and threw into another DIY idea - a saucy dip loosely inspired by the Vitamix dressings that veteran food-trucker Roy Choi seems to toss together on the regular in The Chef Show: blackened green peppers, blackened jalapenos, avocado, lime juice, fresh greek oregano (but you could use summer savory), some over-long and not-tender-anymore garlic scapes, more salt than you’d think. Try something approximating it, no need to be precise, just taste and adapt. For new-biz food-truck advice, EatOkra, the great app to find Black-owned restaurants near you, has a cool-looking webinar coming up which you must recommend to your entrepreneurial friends.
That green pepper sauce is fun for grilled vegetables (we had local turnips, beets, home-grown zucchini, a dying broccoli, cauliflower, tiny eggplant) perhaps on a bed of micro broccoli or something easygoing, young, not too chewy. An expertly-made quinoa tabbouleh is a great accompaniment, for which you’ll need more of that mint perhaps, but to sub cilantro for parsley, or something else entirely works too.
For spicier sauces, requiring no work, to continue the Korean theme, we dollop our buddy Eric’s fragrant GÄN Hot Sauce (and now, Hotter Sauce) made in NYC from these habaneros above. Word of mouth only. DM them for bottles. Private sales to friends. Hush hush.
Back in New York, Paige and crew have been filming for Farm.One tour re-openings - lots of face masks and shields and sanitizer and gloves and slo-mo prosecco pourings, none gone to waste I hope. If you’d like to be one of the first small private groups (no stranger danger!) to visit the farm with our new protocols, please join our waiting list.
Not ready to visit? We’re now trialling same-day contactless pickups of our microgreens, herbs and other delights, and soon, same-day delivery on our store. Bug Marissa daily to be included.
Watermelon, peppers and dogs from a week by the beach
Rob
August 11, 2020
Now, we had the rare and remarkable privilege of swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding and sailing last week, a few hours drive north of New York but a million miles away. Learning to paddleboard seems to be 99% spectacular fun and 1% terror (e.g. when you fall flat on your face from a wave and cut your thumb on a tiny strap loop, ouch). That 1% terror increases to 5-20% when you place an inexperienced pandemic-neurotic and curious dog on board. But so, so, so worth it.
Back from the beach we made a DIY summer pitcher drink by whizzing up big chunks off a watermelon with tequila, lime, a little sugar, and a salt-and-jalapeno rim. Garnish with mint (dammit we're sold out), or some cinnamon basil, or nothing if you have nothing! Sip while watching osprey dive for fish, or out your own apartment window where you might see one of NYC’s red-tailed hawks. We guessed ospreys were successful in one out of seven dives - turns out it’s closer to one in four. Good on them.
On Thursday, the farm team were given a virtual tour by our friend Alicia at Herban Produce, on the West side of Chicago. Wow! The way they’ve conquered so many adjacent city lots with their hydroponics and row crops makes me think they’d win hands down at Risk. If you live there, or near to there, consider supporting them by buying produce, bread, delights of that nature. In the Spring, I’ve heard they may even offer a way to stay on the farm itself. Go Herban!
The week was dogs, dogs and more dogs. We were introduced to Bari, a black lab who spends about 12 hours every summer day in a continuous loop: running onto the dock, peering into the water to look for fish, leaping in with a deep splash, missing the fish, swimming back to the shore, trotting over to the dock again, to dive and rinse and repeat. Occasionally interspersed with coming as near as possible to humans, for a well-timed wet shake and splatter. There’s a lesson there I’m sure, of finding something simple to be contented by, and being OK with a routine. A lesson in still enjoying a Paloma after it’s been spiked with a little seawater fresh from Bari’s back. Helps if it has a little fresh basil, still lovely if not. Time after to nap.
Later, a surprise evening’s Jamaican dinner on a visit to Coonamessett Farm, with yams, a great mango salad, meaty stuff for those folks that like it, as the light faded just past 8:30pm. There we also picked a heavy haul of green bell and cubanelle peppers for the grill, half of which we blackened and threw into another DIY idea - a saucy dip loosely inspired by the Vitamix dressings that veteran food-trucker Roy Choi seems to toss together on the regular in The Chef Show: blackened green peppers, blackened jalapenos, avocado, lime juice, fresh greek oregano (but you could use summer savory), some over-long and not-tender-anymore garlic scapes, more salt than you’d think. Try something approximating it, no need to be precise, just taste and adapt. For new-biz food-truck advice, EatOkra, the great app to find Black-owned restaurants near you, has a cool-looking webinar coming up which you must recommend to your entrepreneurial friends.
That green pepper sauce is fun for grilled vegetables (we had local turnips, beets, home-grown zucchini, a dying broccoli, cauliflower, tiny eggplant) perhaps on a bed of micro broccoli or something easygoing, young, not too chewy. An expertly-made quinoa tabbouleh is a great accompaniment, for which you’ll need more of that mint perhaps, but to sub cilantro for parsley, or something else entirely works too.
For spicier sauces, requiring no work, to continue the Korean theme, we dollop our buddy Eric’s fragrant GÄN Hot Sauce (and now, Hotter Sauce) made in NYC from these habaneros above. Word of mouth only. DM them for bottles. Private sales to friends. Hush hush.
Back in New York, Paige and crew have been filming for Farm.One tour re-openings - lots of face masks and shields and sanitizer and gloves and slo-mo prosecco pourings, none gone to waste I hope. If you’d like to be one of the first small private groups (no stranger danger!) to visit the farm with our new protocols, please join our waiting list.
Not ready to visit? We’re now trialling same-day contactless pickups of our microgreens, herbs and other delights, and soon, same-day delivery on our store. Bug Marissa daily to be included.
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Watermelon, peppers and dogs from a week by the beach
Rob
Rob Laing
August 11, 2020
Now, we had the rare and remarkable privilege of swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding and sailing last week, a few hours drive north of New York but a million miles away. Learning to paddleboard seems to be 99% spectacular fun and 1% terror (e.g. when you fall flat on your face from a wave and cut your thumb on a tiny strap loop, ouch). That 1% terror increases to 5-20% when you place an inexperienced pandemic-neurotic and curious dog on board. But so, so, so worth it.
Back from the beach we made a DIY summer pitcher drink by whizzing up big chunks off a watermelon with tequila, lime, a little sugar, and a salt-and-jalapeno rim. Garnish with mint (dammit we're sold out), or some cinnamon basil, or nothing if you have nothing! Sip while watching osprey dive for fish, or out your own apartment window where you might see one of NYC’s red-tailed hawks. We guessed ospreys were successful in one out of seven dives - turns out it’s closer to one in four. Good on them.
On Thursday, the farm team were given a virtual tour by our friend Alicia at Herban Produce, on the West side of Chicago. Wow! The way they’ve conquered so many adjacent city lots with their hydroponics and row crops makes me think they’d win hands down at Risk. If you live there, or near to there, consider supporting them by buying produce, bread, delights of that nature. In the Spring, I’ve heard they may even offer a way to stay on the farm itself. Go Herban!
The week was dogs, dogs and more dogs. We were introduced to Bari, a black lab who spends about 12 hours every summer day in a continuous loop: running onto the dock, peering into the water to look for fish, leaping in with a deep splash, missing the fish, swimming back to the shore, trotting over to the dock again, to dive and rinse and repeat. Occasionally interspersed with coming as near as possible to humans, for a well-timed wet shake and splatter. There’s a lesson there I’m sure, of finding something simple to be contented by, and being OK with a routine. A lesson in still enjoying a Paloma after it’s been spiked with a little seawater fresh from Bari’s back. Helps if it has a little fresh basil, still lovely if not. Time after to nap.
Later, a surprise evening’s Jamaican dinner on a visit to Coonamessett Farm, with yams, a great mango salad, meaty stuff for those folks that like it, as the light faded just past 8:30pm. There we also picked a heavy haul of green bell and cubanelle peppers for the grill, half of which we blackened and threw into another DIY idea - a saucy dip loosely inspired by the Vitamix dressings that veteran food-trucker Roy Choi seems to toss together on the regular in The Chef Show: blackened green peppers, blackened jalapenos, avocado, lime juice, fresh greek oregano (but you could use summer savory), some over-long and not-tender-anymore garlic scapes, more salt than you’d think. Try something approximating it, no need to be precise, just taste and adapt. For new-biz food-truck advice, EatOkra, the great app to find Black-owned restaurants near you, has a cool-looking webinar coming up which you must recommend to your entrepreneurial friends.
That green pepper sauce is fun for grilled vegetables (we had local turnips, beets, home-grown zucchini, a dying broccoli, cauliflower, tiny eggplant) perhaps on a bed of micro broccoli or something easygoing, young, not too chewy. An expertly-made quinoa tabbouleh is a great accompaniment, for which you’ll need more of that mint perhaps, but to sub cilantro for parsley, or something else entirely works too.
For spicier sauces, requiring no work, to continue the Korean theme, we dollop our buddy Eric’s fragrant GÄN Hot Sauce (and now, Hotter Sauce) made in NYC from these habaneros above. Word of mouth only. DM them for bottles. Private sales to friends. Hush hush.
Back in New York, Paige and crew have been filming for Farm.One tour re-openings - lots of face masks and shields and sanitizer and gloves and slo-mo prosecco pourings, none gone to waste I hope. If you’d like to be one of the first small private groups (no stranger danger!) to visit the farm with our new protocols, please join our waiting list.
Not ready to visit? We’re now trialling same-day contactless pickups of our microgreens, herbs and other delights, and soon, same-day delivery on our store. Bug Marissa daily to be included.
