Sunday, May 11, 2008

Announcement of Cucumber Week


This is the much ballyhooed (well okay, barely ballyhooed) interim post that I promised a few weeks ago. Its been a hectic few weeks, but I should be back up and running soon. I haven't tried too much crazy vegetable goodness, but I have been keeping up with previously friended vegetables. I've been souping veggies like mad trying to get them out of my refrigerator.

In the world of fried vegetables, I discovered that ordering vegetable tempura is a good idea but only in small amounts. How soon one becomes over tempura-ed! It does make for a fun game of "try to guess what vegetable is under the fried bit." Broccoli flowerlets are pretty easy to guess, but yams and squashes require biting into and, in some cases, chewing for a bit before identity can really be verified. At the festival last weekend I was able to tried some fried green tomatoes which were delicious. There's something I'll miss about living in the South. Unfortunately, they didn't have fried okra at the festival as I'd assumed, but I did have some this morning at brunch. (Apparently fried okra is a brunch food?) Not bad, though I feel I'd be wary of okra in other contexts.

Now for the excitement of the coming week. I had some cucumber in a salad at a dinner party last week, and it seemed innocuous enough. Thus I thought I'd go ahead and make the announcement that cucumber week cometh in case anyone has any good recipes. Hopefully, I didn't lose too many readers with the hiatus!

6 comments:

Barbora said...

Susan, I'm still reading, although I'm probably the only reader who isn't offering you any recipes... :) I love cucumbers, though, their smell reminds me of summer, don't know why, so I'm here to encourage you. :)

Cody Cobb said...

I would eat cucumbers straight as a child. True story.

You really can't go wrong cucumbers coated with honey mustard dressing.

Susan Custodio said...

Personally, if I eat cucumbers I like them peeled and sliced really thin. The honey mustard dressing sounds delicious.

I know I've had a wonderful salad at Home Town Buffet (aka "The Trough") but I can't quite remember all the ingredients. It was fairly simple, I think just consisting of cucumber, tomatoes, and red onions with some kind of oil and vinegar dressing, but not just standard Italian dressing. It seemed more vinegary and tangy. Also, I think the salad sits and marinates for awhile. Wish I had the details. If I find out later I'll add another comment.

Melody said...

One of my old roommates did this thing where you peel and slice the cucumber and douse it in lemon juice and chili powder. It's pretty good.

Susan Custodio said...

Well I thought I would pop in and mention that I just tried a dip called tzatziki, which is made from yogurt, cucumbers, and garlic. I found it in the deli section of the supermarket. It was good. I think it's very similar to the dressing on a gyro sandwich.

Susan T.

fafner said...

Oh yeah, I've had tzatziki! Cucumber week would be the perfect excuse to try my hand at Greek food. We'll see how this goes...