This Week's Food

This week we have three little updates for you.

We were so thrilled to be back on the TEDx Natick stage this Spring to talk about navigating the pandemic, fighting food insecurity and crying like a baby in your overalls. The wonderful TEDx Natick team published these talks this week and we are thrilled. (Note: I had just overcome a delightful case of bronchitis so please forgive me for sounding like a squeak toy.)

We were instantly drawn to this soup recipe from yesterday's New York Times, it feels like an open armed hug for so many of the early fall Family Dinner items. It is infinitely riff-able. If you hate mushrooms, skip 'em. Want to add leftover pork or chicken or a poached white fish, why the heck not?

This week (and next week for ME/NH folks), we're excited to get you all something a lil' unfamiliar: beautiful brussels sprout tops from Riverland Farm in Western MA!

Just as garlic scapes are a harbinger of spring, these leafy green bundles just scream "FALL" to us. And in both cases, they're harvested so the plant can then direct its energy into the growth of the crop that's coming down the pike.

It is entirely fitting that the photo here is of fresh cheese on a spoon, because that is just one of the myriad ways we like to enjoy it.

Whether part of a late summer caprese, as the final touch to your favorite pizza or straight from the tub at midnight in your pajamas (no judgement allowed) the Mozzarella House in Peabody, MA has some of the absolute best product around.

Cambridge, MA is something of a magical place. It's a rich stew of history meeting innovation, fresh faced newbies colliding and collaborating with folks who have been there for decades.

The Cambridge root system was small, family owned businesses that worked and tended to it for generations. The fruit is one of most high tech hubs in the world that seeks to solve society's great problems.

For the title of this email did I just make a mash up of a bright. leafy summer green and the 1998 teen classic "Can't Hardly Wait"? Sure did.

Two reasons for this groan worthy turn of phrase:
First, Jennifer Love Hewitt dishes out an incredibly compelling performance as deeply pensive high school student searching for love in all the totally expected places while Third Eye Blind croons their 90's banger to end all bangers "How's it gonna be".

They say that variety is the spice of life. But maybe in cooking, spice is the spice of life. Oh wait. Maybe it's that a variety of spices is the spice of life... We may be overthinking this.

We are thrilled to launch a new collaboration with Curio Spice Co to zhuzh up your spice drawer with a zephyr of fresh, sustainable aromas and flavors. We're launching a Spice of the Month offering curated by Curio to bring one beautifully blended spice into your shares each month. The spices are thoughtfully chosen to be approachable and a good match for the seasonal produce and proteins that arrive in your shares.

I’ve been a New Englander long enough now to have an itch that needs to be scratched. One that I think is generally pretty dang useless to scratch but here we are: What’s up with this weather?! Not only has it greatly reduced our beach days, bike rides and hikes, it has also thrown summer eating off quite a bit. Tomatoes have been late and less abundant, lettuce has been reluctant to grow, plans to grill that beautiful hunk of seafood have been thwarted... and where’re our local peaches, plums and other stone fruit?

This week marks the start of the Brookford Farm Sunflower Soirée. This flower filled fête Goes from August 12th to August 20th at Brookford Farm in Canterbury, NH.

On the weekends you can expect music, hayrides, pick your own flowers, food and cow parades. Did you hear me? I said COW PARADES. Take a moment out of your your wild morning filled with emails, laundry and eating crumbs off your keyboard and picture that. A cow parade. It just makes the udders all warm and fuzzy.

This wonderful soul is Julie Baer, long time member and supporter of Family Dinner. She's a writer, an artist, and inventive cook. Julie is always thoughtful and thought provoking, sharing interesting articles and events about food, local ecosystems and food justice. She's a gem of this community and we asked her to share a bit with all of you.

Friends, meet Sarah, a wonderful chef that will be working with Family Dinner this week. She has crafted the vegetarian proteins (eggplant meatballs) and the mezze (green goddess dressing) for MA-customers this week and ME/NH folks next week.

Sarah is the chef owner of Two Knives and a Pan and man, are we in for a treat!

ANOTHER book review, Erin? Two weeks in a row?

Yes. Another book review because I am still 8 year old me, plowing through books in the summer so I can win silly posters from the Scholastic Book Club or personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut. I'm rather a fast reader so there were a few summers in the early 90's where I was basically a personal pan pizza.

I digress. The book "Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women who Revolutionized Food In America" is a delight.

Historic flooding of the Connecticut River and others has left local farmers reeling and caused millions of dollars in damages in the state.

Fields with late adolescent corn, or hay ready to be rolled are under lakes of muddy water, unrecoverable and unsellable.