Bean Week 1

As the title will suggest, I have decided to go with the two week bean plan as outlined last week. My reasons for this are threefold:
1) I determined I liked beans well enough to focus on them for another week. And with such wealth of bean diversity, there is still ground left to uncover!
2) I have yet to try the refried bean recipe so highly recommended last week, and I bought all the ingredients for it--so clearly that needs to happen. I also have some uneaten hummus, and have decided chickpeas fall squarely in bean territory.
3) I'm too lazy to think up anything other than "radishes" right now, and its just hard to get psyched up about a week of radishes. You know?

I've been a little busy/distracted this week, and I've been eating beans at random intervals. For that reason, I realize I'm finding it difficult to actually remember what I ate this past week. I worry at forgetting things at such a young age. Sure now its just what bean was in that soup I had last Sunday and the name of those little things at the end of shoelaces (an occasional crossword word), but pretty soon it'll graduate to more important things--the names of pets or the password of this very blog!

Okay, piecing things together slowly...I definitely had some black beans and chicken which was decent. I haven't developed my bean senses enough (or maybe my palette in general) to really tell the difference between beans that readily. Perhaps week two of the bean feast will cure that? At any rate, I suppose black beans go on the good list.

I had some baked beans--the kind with bacon on top--with dinner the other night. That seemed pretty good too. What kind of beans are generally used to baked beans? It again like something I should know. Who knew I was so intellectually unprepared for the rigors of bean week. For all that, the baked beans were decent. I enjoyed the sweetness accompanied with the always enjoyable tell tale taste of bacon grease.

I'm beginning to feel more confident about dubbing the soup beans pinto beans. Of course if my mother (the creator of the soup--as well as most of the bean creations witnessed in this post) comments otherwise, I will print a full retraction. Then henceforth I can refer to this episode as the "pinto bean scandal." As for the potentially pinto soup, it was enjoyable. There was ham in it which lent it a nice flavor. My only complaint is that bean soups are not as easily removed of texture by blending. It seems that even in soup the maintain a certain stoic grittiness. Not unpleasant, per se, but a little damning to my "soup is a panacea for all texture issues" theory.

The other night bean dip was definitely consumed. But again I'm at a loss to determine what kind of beans might have been in it. It was dark, certainly and I instinctively want to say black beans. The dip was delicious and had there not been slightly more delicious spinach dip to its left, I might have eaten a lot more of it than I did.

This is maddening because I know I ate at least two other kinds of beans this week, and I'm at a loss even to remember the species of those I did eat. I know I had a bite of falafel (under the "chick pea as bean" rule posited earlier) yesterday, but then I already liked falafel. Hopefully, I can iron out all these issues in "bean week 2." I can seamlessly add anything from this week that I forgot and no one will have to know that they are secretly part of the somewhat less than illustrious "bean week 1." So yes, welcome to "bean week 2" the week where I learn to write things down.

Next weeek: bean week part deux!

Artichoke Week

Isn't that just lovely? Of course, artichokes don't often get to this beautiful flowering stage because they are picked that they might be sold around the country for $3 a piece. Now is this price too steep for the fun of sucking a small amount of edible "meat" from the leaves in one of the more labor intensive vegetable eating experiences I have encountered? Well, apparently not for some. For my part, the word on artichokes is: I just don't get it.

I don't understand why something costs that much when it is virtually tasteless (mostly just tastes like the butter or mayonnaise you dip it in ) and I'm convinced any slightly slimy thing dipped in butter would taste about the same. And clearly artichokes don't want to be eaten. They stab you with their razor sharp leaf spikes as you descend them into a boiling pot of water. More vicious than lobsters! Artichokes probably assumed (you know, if they were sentient beings) that they were relatively safe for all that. I mean who would look at them and think "Now that looks tasty. I'm going to need to eat one of those right now." My mother, an unabashed artichoke lover, has often mused on the first person to eat an artichoke and how they must have been exceedingly hungry to attempt it. There must have also been a great deal of trial and error involved. I can't imagine eating a leaf, discovering it was bitter, and then thinking "oh I see, you can only eat this tiny milimeter at the bottom; the rest is just compost!"

But enough of a rant on artichoke leaves, which if you couldn't gather, I was not a big fan of. The real reason people outside of my family seem to like artichokes is to buy the hearts, and just the hearts, in little jars of water or oil. The existence of hearts in artichokes has the added benefit of being fodder for many a cloying vegetable joke, the sort published in Reader's Digest, like "Why are artichokes so sweet?" "Because they're all heart!" No really, I think I've read that somewhere. And for the record, artichokes are not sweet at all.

The hearts, in addition to being much easier to eat and a source of questionable humor (yes, even I look down on anthropomorphizing from time to time) are a great deal more versatile. I tried them in salads, on a pizza, and they can also be put in pastas. They were admittedly better in this easier to eat form, but I still don't understand the reason for the extravagance. They don't really seem to taste like much, and their texture reminds me of a hard boiled egg. Eggs are so much cheaper. Overcook one, chop it up, and soak it in olive oil, and I doubt there would really be a difference.

I did try some artichoke dips because I always try to like at least one thing each week and that seemed like my only option. I got two: an artichoke garlic dip and a spinach and artichoke dip. The last one was perhaps a bit of a cheat because I already liked spinach dip, and honestly that was the predominant taste. And because I had the tasty spinach dip as a crutch, I tended to eat less and less of the straight artichoke dip, which without comparison, really wasn't that bad. See? "Not that bad"! There is some end to my artichoke bitterness.

So yes, to sum up: artichokes--just don't get the hype. I think after this week I need something a little easier. I've been thinking I should tackle beans (other than the previously friended "green beans" from many a week ago). I'd thought about dividing this category because there are so many beans to chose from, but the idea of a straight "lima bean" week wasn't particularly appealing. Still, it does seem rather difficult to cover the category in a single seven day period. I thought about maybe making it into two (possibly consecutive) weeks. Right now, my plan is to just start with week one and see how I go from there. So yes, I'm relying on the advice of my commenters on what beans to focus on! Thanks!

Next week: bean (feast) week!

Celery Week

I'll give celery one thing: it certainly lends itself well to cheap puns. Beyond that though, I honestly was looking forward to celery week. When I was younger, I was always jealous of the ants on a log crowd because it seemed like such a good snack (who doesn't want to eat something compared to insects crawling on wood?) but I could never really enjoy it. Thus ants on a log was the first thing I excitedly tried. Turns out though, celery with peanut butter and raisins on it tastes a whole lot like celery and not so much like peanut butter or raisins. This would not necessarily be a bad thing (though it would sort of defeat the purpose) if I didn't also realize I'm not that enthusiastic about celery. I see it as a much less offensive carrot. Oddly, I can't figure out what exactly bothers me about it--the taste is sort of refreshing. I think it might be the slight stringiness which accompanies the crunch.

As another vain hope of recapturing a celery-centric childhood, I wanted to do that thing where you put a stalk of celery in water with food coloring and watch it change color. I like to think this was a staple of elementary school education or at the very least the sister experiment where you use white carnations instead of celery (the color is better, but the vascular tissue is less pronounced). Its a good experiment because it combines the wonder of plant water absorption with the fact that kids love when things turn unnatural colors (something the Koolaid industry has capitalized on). Sadly, this whole last paragraph was something of a nostalgic digression because I didn't actually do the food coloring experiment. Apparently "having a constant supply of food coloring in my cabinet" is another vestiage of childhood I've left behind. As is "remembering to buy some when I'm actually at the store."

I tried celery with ranch dip which at first brought back more painful memories of carrot week, but then it really wasn't too bad. Celery lends itself far more to ranch dipping because it lacks carrot's officious density. A couple of bites and the celery is appropriately chewed without ever losing the ranch dip. I also tried celery with the cream cheese orange juice mixture mentioned in the comments. That seemed to work better still because its thicker than ranch dip. Also it offers a sweet option to vegetable consumption, something which is always appreciated.

I had intended to try a celery soup (my cure-all for texture problems) but found it more difficult a recipe to find than you would think. Apparently the Joy of Cooking does not consider such a thing worthy of publication. They do however, have a juice drink that combines watermelon and celery. It sounded rather good until I read the directions which instructed me matter-of-factly to put the watermelon and celery into my juice extractor. I am unfortunately one of those shortcut-taking modern women who doesn't own a juice extractor. So much for enjoying a delicious watermelon celery breeze on a warm summer's day.

So yes, no soup this week. I did make some dressing with celery in it to be served along side some roast chicken. It wasn't bad at all. I'm a true believer in box stuffing. Its so simple and yet always delicious. Perhaps not a summer food as much, but I enjoyed it thoroughly nevertheless. I think dicing the celery up and cooking away a little of the crunch really went a long way in this instance.

Now onto next week! I've finally been worn down...

Next week: artichoke!

Eggplant Week

Post is a little later today (and will be a little shorter) because I'm out of town right now and my internet's a little spotty. Also, I think blogger was down this morning. However, I'm making up for it with something special and never-before-seen on vegetables are friends, but I'll get to that in a moment.

I'm going to skip the usual vegetable/fruit debate because I feel like we've covered that many a vegetable/fruit ago. That aside, its interesting to note that the eggplant is botanically classified as a berry. I had a lot of fun with eggplants this week. These pendulous, purple friends are so easy to make in a variety of fun and unhealthy ways.

I found that frying eggplants allowed too great a margin of error (if the oil is not the perfect temperature, they absorb too much oil and become inedible); however, baking them in a pan of oil gave a similar effect minus the guess work! I made very thin slices of eggplant and breaded them and baked them on a pan of olive oil for about 25 minutes and ended up with delicious slices of eggplant heaven. As an added tip, I salted them and towel dried them prior to breading. I tried the baking-not-frying method both with these eggplant chips (accompanied by a blue cheese sauce) and then again with thicker slices for some eggplant parmasean. I tried this both with a Chinese eggplant and a regular eggplant and while I couldn't really tell the difference, many friends seemed to prefer the Chinese eggplant.

That's actually all the eggplant cooking I did for myself--as I mentioned, I'm out of town at present--but luckily where I am is chock full of delicious eggplant eating options. The other day I tried eggplant pizza. I'd never even seen that before! I thought it was quite serendipitous. Also, just tonight I stopped by a nearby Greek restaurant and got some moussaka. Its a layered casserole with eggplant, lamb or beef, and bechemal on top. Its impossible not to like anything with bechemal on top, but the eggplants certainly pulled their weight in this delicious dish. Had I not previously liked eggplants this week, moussaka would be reason enough to friend them.

Now for the surprise promised four paragraphs hence. I have always (since the onset of spinach week oh those many posts ago) sought to maintain my anonymity here in the blogosphere. Mostly just for a lark since almost everyone who reads this knows me and/or shares a bloodline with me (with the notable exception of the wonderful susan t!). However, I feel it is difficult to get through eggplant week without posting a picture of myself from last Halloween when I went as an eggplant. Why would I go as an eggplant when I didn't even like them or any vegetables last October, you may wonder. Mostly it was because I had purple tights and no where to wear them. So without further ado:
I wish you could get a better shot of my felt leaf cap with pipe cleaner accent--I really was quite proud of that. Also, apologies to the bear that's with me (who I know reads this faithfully) for an unauthorized picture posting.

Next week: celery!

Cauliflower Week

Much like the photo from mushroom week, this one is more a tribute to the fascinating world of vegetable diversity then, say, something I actually ate. This is actually a fractalish cauliflower, where as the kind I ate were the somewhat less mesmerizing non-fractalish kind. Still, vegetablesarefriends is nothing if not a showcase for our leafy comrades at their most beautiful.

I was a little surprised when talking to people about cauliflower to find a certain degree of anathema for them. On more than one occasion, friends told me they absolutely can't stand the stuff. Where does this latent hatred come from? After actually trying cauliflower, I can't really figure it out. It doesn't seem to have a strong enough taste to really cause a big reaction. In fact, it reminds me of a less obtrusive broccoli, and broccoli seems to receive a much less virulent reception. The only thing I can think of must be an aversion to the texture--it can be almost gritty at times, and really who wants to eat something that offers the sensation that it should be washed again and not stored in a sand box.

I tried it roasted and steamed with cheese sauce and always ran into this texture problem. It wasn't completely off putting, but I never found myself eagerly reaching for a second serving. The cheese sauce did help the most though, as cheese sauce often will. Also, when I had it roasted, I dipped it in a blend of blue cheese, sour cream, and some kind of Greek cheese, and that made it a little better. I hate to say what I'm about to, as I feel I'm like a broken record, but the obvious solution to the texture problem is to turn to souping.

I used my mother's recipe which is essentially the same as for the curry carrot soup you may remember from carrot week. For a refresher, you saute some onions with butter in a pan. When those are cooked you add a head of chopped cauliflower and cover with chicken broth (or vegetable broth). Cook until the cauliflower is soft and add curry paste. Then you pop it in a blender until you get a delicious soup without any grittiness! Easiest way to eat cauliflower, that I found.

I also made some Indian food with tomatoes and cauliflower that turned out nicely. I'll just add the link to the recipe because it came off a blog which deserves credit and because I'm too lazy to write it out: http://indiacuisine.blogspot.com/2006/01/arf-5-cauliflower-tomato-curry.html.
I haven't looked at too much one the site, but it seems to have some good stuff! I wanted to make an aloo gobi, but apparently that is traditionally a combination of cauliflower and potatoes. Those of you who know me, know that I hate potatoes above most things. It seemed a little early to cure that one, so I opted for a less dry curry. Interestingly, cauliflower is apparently often used as a substitute for potatoes in low-carb diets because it has a similar consistency (a gross one) but without the starch. In fact (and this is why I'm telling you this), according to Wikipedia, cauliflower is used to produce a potato substitute known as fauxtato. Isn't that great? I could scarce think of a more enchanting name for a fake spud.

On that note, the end of cauliflower week. Thanks for reading and have a happy Memorial Day!

Next week: eggplant!

Cucumber Week

I'm not really sure who Arthur Cucumber is, but apparently you can buy this "mouse mat" for the only somewhat exorbitant price of £6.50. Of course, this entails going to a website called "Violent Veg" which normally this site would not support, but which seems to be much less about vegetable scare-mongering than the name would suggest. Well now that I've appropriately advertised and assuaged all guilt about swiping this pic, I can move on to the real substance of cucumber week!

I'm certainly glad I saved cucumbers for summer (believe me, where I live May is full on summer), for they're quite a refreshing vegetable. I no longer wonder (not that I really previously did) about the phrase "cool as a cucumber." Well except as regards the switching of meanings of "cool" from the obvious temperature definition "somewhat cold" to the more abstract "calm and collected." Otherwise, its a perfectly apt simile. On the subject, this particular cliche is actually one of the more international ones, as I and a few of my friends will remember learning the phrase "koel soos 'n komkommer" in our Afrikaans class. Where was I? Oh right, the real substance of cucumber week.

I started off with some sweet and sour tuna with a blend of cucumbers and orange bell peppers on top. The tuna wasn't really sweet or sour, proving some recipes to be misleading, but the cucumbers added a refreshing crunch. Once I realized the orange bell peppers weren't carrots (which took a surprisingly long time actually), they weren't bad either.

In order to feature cucumbers more prominently I tried a mix of fresh cucumbers with some soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and garlic. I was not a fan of this combination, but it may be well worth trying for those of you who like rice wine vinegar on things. I wanted to try the chili powder, lemon combination, mentioned last week, on some cucumber as well, but so far I have not gotten around to it. I still have half a cucumber left though, so I may try it today.

I tried not one but two of my old friends, the soups. Nothing says summer like a cold cucumber soup. One of the soups was mostly cucumber with some garlic and dill. The other was a bit fancier and included nuts and possibly raisins. Actually I'm not even really sure what I was eating, but it was tasty. Cucumbers are now approved the join the long list of vegetables that are so nicely souped.

Beyond soup, my two favorite cucumber experiments of the week involved the making of cucumber limeade and the purchasing of tzatziki sauce. I got the idea for cucumber limeade offline, and found it surprisingly enjoyable. The cucumber cuts the sourness of the lime nicely and makes it all the more refreshing for it. Of course, cucumber is also nice just floated in water which has the added bonus of making you feel like you're at a ritzy spa (or is that just me?). As for the tzatziki, I imagine its supposed to go on some delicious shawarma or gyros, but I found it could be just fine as a dipping sauce for plain pitas. Thank you, random Middle Eastern market near my house.

That about wraps up cucumber week. As for next week, I've been getting a lot of outside pressure to tackle artichokes, but I'm resisting it for now. Do I really need to develop a taste for something so extravagant? And what's with only being able to eat part of the leaves? Anyway, I'm going a different way instead.

Next week: cauliflower!

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!