thoughtful consumption

• blueberries
• cabbage
• Nutty Girl exotic nuts
• onions
• cantaloupe
• Asian eggplant
• lemongrass, sage, and rosemary
• tomatoes
• green beans
• hyssop and spearmint
• half-dozen eggs (I forgot to put them on the table, but you know what they look like, right?)

Here’s a close-up of the nuts. They’re really good. We’ve just been snacking on them, but I bet you could add them to some rice for a side dish, too.

More blueberries was a great surprise. I thought they were all gone. We’ll put these to good use – probably in pancakes. Add a slice of cantaloupe, and we’ll call it brunch.

Onions are always good to get. They’re useful and keep for a while in a cool dark place.

I’m going to fry the Asian eggplant. I tried to make baba ghaoush with some Asian eggplant last time, and it didn’t really work. There’s not enough stuff to scoop out once you’ve roasted them.

Lemongrass

I ate a lot of Vietnamese food in college and I remember liking chicken with lemongrass. So I looked around and found this recipe, as well as some other lemongrass ideas, at oldfashionedliving.com.

Lemongrass Marinade

Ingredients:

• 3 fresh lemongrass stalks, chopped
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped green onion (include white)
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried hot pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp. fish sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Mix together and marinate 2-4 pounds of chicken. Marinate 4 hours or overnight. Grill or broil until done. You can also use a cut up chicken and roast it in a roasting pan.

So I’ll chop up the stalks, and I’ll tie the blades of lemongrass together to put in the marinade but not for eating.

Other herbs

The sage and rosemary will be useful for quick pasta dishes or possibly roasted chicken. They’re sitting in my refrigerator vase, so they should last a while.

I’m going to try to make herbal tea with the hyssop and the spearmint tonight before bed.

I think I’m out of tea bags, but I’ll find something. Or I might try making syrup again. I prefer regular tea with herbal additions rather than plain herbals.

Online store order

Our baby butternut squash is so cute! We’ll eat him tonight sliced and broiled with a little maple syrup. I’m excited to have zucchini, too. Maybe I’ll make a tiny tian dish out of one of the zucchini.

I’m getting hungry!