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How to Use Your CSA Veggies in One Dish
Image by Paul Grant Yesterday I picked up my bi-weekly CSA basket, weighed down with beautiful, fresh veggies from Vermont Valley Community Farm. I’m going on vacation soon, though, and needed to think of a way to use them all quickly. The answer? Pasta salad. It’s one of those “kitchen sink” dishes that allows you to toss a lot of ingredients into it without much thought. I made a boatload of it–enough for 16 friends with whom I’ll be renting cabins over the Labor Day weekend. Here’s what went into it–these items just happened to be what I had around the house, but can easily be substituted with other, similar…
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Who’s Afraid of Experimental Theater?
When I hear the words “experimental theater” I picture this scene in David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day: I’m slicing this pineapple now, I thought. Next I’ll just rip apart these sock monkeys and pour the stuffing into this tall rubber boot. Good, that’s good. Nobody pours stuffing like you do, my friend. Now I’ll snip off of my hair with these garden shears, place the bottlecaps over my eyes, and we’re almost home…A week after my drugs ran out, I left my bed to perform at the college, deciding at the last minute to skip both the doughnut toss and the march of the headless plush toys. Instead,…
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Tomato Season is Here
Yesterday our CSA box included an abundance of heirloom tomatoes. I love the way they look, the poetic names they have, and–most importantly–how they taste. Here are some of the varieties we received: From top left, going clockwise: Black Krim, Garden Peach, Red Zebra, Green Zebra, Roman Candle, Sun Gold Savor this last bit of summer.
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Trash Shopping on Hippie Christmas
August 15 is moving day in Madison, otherwise known as “Hippie Christmas.” Most leases here begin on August 15, so it’s common to see boxes stacked on porches, moving trucks in driveways, and trash piled on lawns. Combined with the August heat, it can be a pretty disgusting sight. If you’re willing to look beyond the stained mattresses and broken desk chairs, though, sometimes you can find a treasure or two. Yesterday, I picked up Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein in hardcover, as well as Henry Roth’s 1934 novel, Call It Sleep from a pile of discarded belongings near the curb. Both will make excellent, no-cost additions to my book…
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Go Ahead, Call Me a Cheesehead
A new food magazine, Edible Madison, threw its launch party on Saturday. Edible Madison is a quarterly publication that celebrates the local foods of Southern Wisconsin and the people who grow, produce, and prepare them. Free copies of the debut issue can be found at various locations around town, including Ground Zero Coffee and Fromagination cheese shop, which is where the launch party was held. While chatting with writers, farmers, and small business owners, we snacked on a delectable variety of Wisconsin cheeses. Some of my favorites were the soft lavender and honey Driftless sheep’s milk cheese from Hidden Springs Creamery, Spanish Manchego-style Gran Queso from Roth Käse in Monroe,…
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A Piece of Music History
If you ever find yourself at Madison’s Essen Haus for German beer consumed from a glass boot, you’d do well to wander to the empty lot next door. There you can pay homage to a piece of music history. There’s nothing but a sign left, but 504 East Wilson Street was once the site of O’Cayz Corral–a bar and music venue that’s been called the CBGB of the Midwest. Nirvana and Soundgarden played there. So did Smashing Pumpkins. And the White Stripes, before they were big. O’Cayz came to an end when the club burned down on January 1, 2001, but its love affair with music lives on at the…
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Yard Sale Steals
I love yard sales for two reasons. First, there’s something voyeuristic about people inviting you onto their lawns or into their garages to rifle through their stuff. The second reason I love yard sales is because you just never know when you’re going to hit the junkyard jackpot. This past weekend, a friend and I went to a few sales in my neighborhood. At side-by-side houses on Williamson Street, I scored some fantastic finds. I paid less than $20, total, for this vintage American Tourister carry-on bag, silk Chanel scarf, and–the pièce de résistance–a sparkling, vintage Dior evening bag complete with the original tags. Since I don’t have many occasions…
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Pairing Chocolate and Beer
I first discovered that chocolate and beer taste good together at a Notre Dame football tailgate. I was a college student, and happened to pop a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup into my mouth, followed by a sip of Milwaukee’s Best Light. I’m happy to report that I’ve moved up in the world. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a chocolate and beer tasting led by chocolatier extraordinaire Gail Ambrosius. We tasted single-origin chocolate from different parts of Central and South America, paired with microbrews from Ale Asylum, Lake Louie, Furthermore, and New Holland Brewery. Midwestern craft beer and chocolate from the tropics may seem like an unlikely combination,…
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Get Yelled at While You’re Shopping
I generally don’t like getting yelled at while I’m shopping, but I’ll put up with it if it means I can buy 4 shirts for $15 at Maxwell Street Days, State Street’s annual sidewalk sale. Even if you have no patience to paw through racks of bargain-priced goods, at least go for the entertainment. At Urban Outfitters, for example, people shout at you with megaphones while you elbow past hipsters to find Silence+Noise tank tops for $5. My favorite moment? While I perused the housewares, a college girl in leggings screamed from her ladder, “You KNOW you’ve always wanted that pizza cutter in the shape of a saw! BUY IT.”…
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World’s Best Farmers’ Markets
Saveur magazine has named the Dane County Farmers’ Market (DCFM) as one of the World’s 30 Best Farmers’ Markets. The market that takes place on Madison’s capitol square every Saturday is right up there with Paris’ Rungis Wholesale Market and Kyoto’s Nishiki Market. So here’s a big, bright bouquet of sunflowers (from, of course, the DCFM) in celebration of such an honor.
a blog on fiction, fashion, food + family