A Job, A Birthday, A Cooking Blitz, and, My Valentine

What a week! The short of it is that I accepted a job. It seems like it is going to be a good one and while part-time right now has good growth potential both in hours and responsibilities.

My first day was Thursday, February 13th which also happened to be my 41st birthday. Somehow I hope that is a good omen. The last couple of years especially have been incredibly challenging and I can use all the good omens I can get.

My friend keeps reminding me that it is the Chinese New Year for the year of the horse and now is a good time to pile on the wishes!

Nim has put up with a lot of crazy energy from me over the past few weeks. He is a good boy.

Today I was supposed to be working my second day of the new job but they weren't ready with the computers which means I finally could get the plumber out that I kept having the cancel for interviews.

With my faucet fixed it was time to take care of a huge situation: two weeks worth of CSA boxes from Jubilee Farm:

The cabbage I shredded as well of as one of the bags of carrots. I dumped boiling water over both follow by cold water and then tossed with a Miso Tahini sauce. This was one of the favorite things I made.

Next up I decided to experiment with a new recipe for celery root and basically made a Celery Root Remoulade which apparently is a common use of celery root. I actually don't mind the end result, however I find it too heavy on the mayonnaise (vegan). The celery taste is strong! But I don't mind that.

I have no idea what these dry beans are, but when I cooked them they were like lima beans which I love.

I combined them with the two bags of kale I had (both were right on the edge of going bad), 2 red onions, and a couple of cans of fire roasted tomatoes. It came out really well. It is pretty much a variation on this recipe for good luck I have made before.

The parsnips I had a special idea for and that recipe did not let me down. These Parsnips Fries are really nothing like your standard french fries but it is a considerable improvement to a boring roasted veggies.

And lastly the rutabaga was basically mashed. I used this Creamy, Smoky, Whipped Rutabaga recipe for my ideas, but really didn't include anything other than garlic and almond milk.

This should help keep me fed for the rest of the week and more importantly keep things from rotting before I have a chance to use them all up. I like doing the winter CSA because it gets me out of an eating rut, but you really do have to be on top of it or it is a lot of waste.

My Valentine:

Happy Valentine's Day!