Hi friends! How is everyone doing? Happy Jewish New Year, everyone!
Yesterday marks the one year anniversary of my return to vegetarianism. It was October 19, 2010. I remember it distinctly because Greg was beginning his whirlwind Comic Con weekend and my lovely cousin, Ellen, came in from Florida for her soap opera weekend so everyone was busy with their fun obsessions while I was busy with mine-cooking (and eating). I had slowly been losing my desire for meat and cooking vegetarian dishes for Greg all the time so it seemed like the natural course to take. Also he has a distinct knowledge of any and all people in the entertainment industry who is either vegetarian or vegan and whenever he would pipe up with "Oh, Olivia Wilde...she's a vegan." I would feel such admiration for the person and I would miss the days when I was a vegetarian. So I gave up meat for good and never looked back. (By the way, my best friend, Caroline, can do the same parlour trick with who's Jewish so I can cross reference the two of them and find out all the Jewish vegans in Hollywood!)
Today I wanted to once again celebrate the beautiful offerings in Connecticut and share a wonderful place I discovered recently. Being a city girl, when Tom and Meaghan invited us to visit a farm I pictured us playing with goats in an open field. They took us to Sunflower Farm in Orange, CT. (767 Derby Milford Road, Orange, CT 06477). There were neither sunflowers nor goats. However, there was an amazing abundance of fresh produce all laid out outside. I didn't know what to grab first, so I immediately got my hands on an acorn squash. Dinner!!! Next I found some perfectly round and firm green tomatoes. I'd never prepared fried green tomatoes but it was the name of one of my favorite films so there was hope for me. I grabbed several other things, while Meaghan's adorable terrier, Shadow, munched on an apple :-) The general store held more treasures. They had fresh eggs and milk which they offered samples of. I had a tiny "shot" of some as I haven't really drunk straight milk since the 9th grade (not without Kahlua in it at least). It was the way milk was supposed to taste. The way it did in my childhood when we used to get it delivered in glass bottles. I purchased four perfect eggs for the morning and a loaf of challah. I then gave the owners a lesson on the proper pronunciation of "challah". They had freshly baked pies so we purchased a small peach one and left happy with our beautiful items. Shadow, meanwhile, made quick work of her apple!
When we came home, I set to work on dinner. I cut our acorn squash in two halves, cleaned out the seeds and rubbed the inside with our favorite butter substitute, Earth Balance. Then I sprinkled them with brown sugar, cinnamon and a little salt and pepper and baked them in the oven for an hour until the flesh was nice and tender. After consulting Epicurious.com, I went ahead and sliced the green tomatoes, dipped them in flour, then egg, then coarse bread crumbs and fried them in vegetable oil until golden brown. I asked Greg, who lived in Atlanta for some time, if they met his approval and he gave me a big thumbs up. I loved that beautiful tomato flavor contrasting with the crispy coating. We had a lovely salad of arugula and big fat cherry tomatoes and roasted eggplant and fresh corn on the cob. It was an amazing feast and everything had been grown locally so the flavors were so intense with very simple preparation. The peach pie was amazing too and we ate the whole thing!
In the morning, I gently scrambled the eggs (two of them had double yokes!!!) with salt, pepper and a touch of milk, cooked them in butter until they were no longer runny but still soft and sprinkled them with fresh chives. We had them with warm challah. The color was such a bright yellow and even the shells felt different from supermarket eggs. They were softer somehow. I was one happy city girl that weekend.
Now I can say welcome to the fall! In my last post, I sat at the computer in shorts and airconditioning writing about the autumn solstice. But I can see the leaves actually beginning to change color now and there are lots of horror movies on tv indicating the approach of Halloween and all the candy in the store that I am NOT buying and wearing a sweater walking through the slightly chilled air. I really am feeling it now and I love this season. Too bad it has to turn into winter....I shiver like a frightened chihuahua in cold weather but that is for another post.
Eat fabulous food, get out the sweaters and snuggle in.
Peace out,
Robina
