Free Lemons and Hints of Spring

Someone dropped a small brown paper bag full of lemons on our porch the other day. Who? I have no idea. There wasn't a name or a note. Just a bag of lemons. I'm guessing it was one of our neighbors but I'm not positive. Anyway, it was a nice thing to do, and it was a nice surprise to find a bag of local Alameda lemons on the porch. 

It made me wish I had a lemon tree and I could drop bags of lemons on unsuspecting neighbors. It also got me thinking about all the fruit and vegetables it would be possible to grow in the city of Alameda (or any city really). What if every yard had a fruit tree or two and some rows of vegetables? Oh to dream...

I swear I am seeing more and more vegetables being grown. I have noticed many houses in Alameda with little vegetable plots tucked into their front yard. Who knows how many countless houses have them in the back yard. 

I was riding my bike the other week when I noticed a house that had chard and kale growing right in the front yard. No formal beds or anything, just chard and kale growing with other plants. They even had a large artichoke plant right there in their front yard. All the other houses on the block had tidy little lawns and hedges, but here was this one house just growing some vegetables in the front yard. Very cool.

As far as my own backyard growing goes, the Santa Rosa plum tree has exploded with delicate white blossoms and I've been weeding the vegetable boxes. I have some lettuce, spinach and chard that I'm going to put in the ground soon. 

Vegetarian Farmer's Market Curry

Curry isn't something I make often. In fact, I don't remember the last time I made it. Actually, I'm not sure I've ever made it! ha. Well, I had a lot of veggies from the farmer's market the other day, so I adapted a recipe to what I had:

Carrots, cauliflower, onions, garlic, broccoli and spinach

The recipe was from the cookbook Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin. It's a decent cookbook that I use on occasion. This Vegetable Curry started out with a flavor base of onions, garlic, and ginger sauteed until golden brown in butter. I then added the many spices. A minute or so later I put in one can of coconut milk, chick-peas and the assorted vegetables from the farmer's market. I later added some raisins and I thought it made the curry a lot better (I usually taste food often while I am cooking). The curry made a delicious dinner over a bed of rice and there were lots of leftovers so I got multiple meals out of it!

Up close 

 

The final dish

Ode to the Watermelon Radish

At the farmer's market there was a small box of odd vegetables sitting prettily between all the others at this vegetable booth. The box of tennis ball sized, pale green orbs with rosy pink centers (a few had been cut open to demonstrate the inner color) caught my eye as I wandered through the booths. I was drawn to them like a honey bee to a lavender bush. There was a small hand-written sign above the little box that read, "Watermelon Radish". I had seen these radishes before at another farmer's market, but I didn't buy any because I am not a huge radish fan. Well today I thought I would give it a go.  They were definitely unique looking... maybe they would taste better too... only one way to find out... So along with the other vegetables I bought from this booth, I bought a watermelon radish. Yes, a watermelon radish. I bought one. 

When I got home, I immediately took out my one watermelon radish, and cut it. Just like the ones that had been cut open at the market, this one had the same stunning pink center. The person who decided to call this variety of radish a "watermelon radish" didn't have to think very hard to come up with the name for upon opening it you immediately think, "Aha! This thing resembles a watermelon."

Enough about how it looks. How does it taste? It turns out that it tastes quite good, at least in my opinion. Unlike the radishes with a red outside and white inside that have a sort of earthy and simultaneously peppery taste, this radish was much milder. Less pepper and less dirt (there, I said it. I think radishes sort of taste like dirt and "earthy" is just a nice way of saying it). 

As for what I did with these nice slices of watermelon radish... I made a sandwich. Yes, a radish and butter sandwich. I had also bought a sourdough baguette at the farmer's market. I cut off a nice sized piece of that, cut it in half, spread a thin layer of organic butter on each side, layered thin slices of radish, sprinkled some course salt on it, and voilá! A radish butter sandwich. 

I actually didn't come up with this combination myself. I remembered reading something about it in Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. In fact, I just looked up the little recipe for it, and she doesn't call them sandwiches, she calls them "canapés," which according to her book are:

 "old-fashioned cocktail or tea sandwiches of bread buttered or covered with a spread and topped with fresh vegetables like cucumbers and radishes, sprigs of herbs, or grated vegetable salads. Despite their fifties image, canapés achieve a contemporary feeling of freshness and flavor without being filling."

It was indeed fresh tasting and delicious. In fact, I had it for lunch two days in a row. I think next time I come across them I will definitely be buying more than one watermelon radish.