Musings

On Monday, I met a college friend, Chip, for lunch.  He lives in Arizona now, but was back east visiting his parents ("Why is everyone complaining about the weather?  This is nothing!").  We were supposed to meet at Pistachio Bar & Grille in Allentown at 11:30.  I got there a few minutes late, but knowing Chip, figured I'd be waiting a while.  So I hung outside waiting for him to show up.  Long story short, after a half-hour of bad cell phone connections, I figured out that he was sitting inside waiting for me.  Jeez.  Decent lunch there--he got some sort of chicken sandwich.  I got a Cuban Pressed Sandwich.  Fairly tasty.  A good place for a casual meal.  They have good hummus for an appetizer.

We walked around our alma mater, Muhlenberg, to see what's changed.  A lot has.  Someone's giving to them--they're not doing all that renovation on my $25 a year!

Boy, the fields must be celebrating with the rain we've been getting.  Pretty humid for us, but for the veggies, it's great.

Went to the Caboose Grille in Souderton yesterday with MB & Jake for lunch.  The menu was pretty nice--sandwiches, wraps, salads & burgers.  The food was fine--nothing exceptional, but good.  MB got a buffalo burger.  I got a special--turkey, sun-dried tomato, fresh mozzarella on a rosemary foccacia.  Jake got a burger & fries--nice size for a children's portion.  The restaurant is housed in an old train station and that gives a neat feel to the place.  It's one of those places that's good, but if they did a few little things food-wise, it would be very good. 

The other night I made a stir-fry with Jake's Chinese long beans.  Pretty much like regular green beans except they do taste a little different.  You can taste the difference more raw than when they're cooked.  I'd say they have a little more "herbal" taste to them as opposed to the "grassy" taste of a raw green bean.  They're pretty cool, though.  We've been eating a lot from our garden: squash (of course), eggplant, beans, broccoli.  A few grape tomatoes have ripened, but we're waiting for the loads of other tomatoes to do the same.  They're going to hit all at the same time.  There are a few watermelons growing bigger and bigger.  Peppers aren't doing so well this year for some reason.

Getting ready for my cooking demo at the Ottsville Farmers' Market on Friday from 3-7PM and the Plumsteadville Grange Farmers' Market on Saturday from 9AM-12PM.  I'll be cooking up some nice dishes using the great things offered by the vendors at the markets.  Stop in, say hi and try some samples!

I'll also be cooking at Blooming Glen Farm on Tuesday afternoon.  So if you're a member there and pick up your shares that day, check out some of the dishes I'll be making using the things you'll be taking home.

Surprise!

As you may know, part of our garden this year is a "Jacob Garden" where Jake is growing some of his favorites--mint, beans, broccoli, some flowers that he started at school, a cactus that he got from somewhere (I forget where).  Things are doing well, except the beans, which were climbing like crazy up the bunch of sticks that we set up for them.  But there weren't any beans on them...or so we thought.

Last night I was watering and noticed something hanging on the plant--sort of hidden in the leaves.  Then I realized what they were--beans.  But not just regular old green beans.  These were Chinese long beans (also known as yard-long beans, asparagus beans and snake beans among other things).  We had no idea that was the kind of beans we bought.  I had seen them used before, but never saw them "in person". 

As you can see from the pictures, they're really long (thus the name).  That's a regular sized yellow wax bean in the picture below for comparison.  They're used in much the same way that a green bean is used.  They're from Asia, so they're often used in stir-fry or fried slowly as a side dish.  They're also sometimes eaten raw.

They are incredibly nutritious, too.  According to the USDA, they are a good source of protein, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus, and potassium, and a very good source for vitamin C, folate, magnesium, and manganese.  In fact, one serving gives you 31% of your recommended daily amount of vitamin C.  Pretty amazing.

Supposedly, they are vigorous climbers (which we have seen) and should be harvested daily because the beans grow so quickly.  Hmmm...I wonder what long bean/squash recipes I can come up with!