Zombie Blog

Question: how long must a blogger be away from his or her blog before said blog becomes officially dead? One month? One year? Well, in my case, I'll take my three-month hiatus and call it a temporary death of my blog. Work, play, and the increasingly beautiful San Francisco weather drew me away from my blog, and its youth was not enough to sustain it. Now that I've returned, I'm going to classify my blog as coming back to life, which would make a zombie. Sure, I know that zombies are all hip and stuff now, but I was totally into them before they became popular. Anyway.

My husband and I recently joined Eatwell Farms, a Bay Area-based CSA, or community-supported agriculture. Every week, we receive a box from the Sacramento farm containing a variety of fruit, vegetables, eggs from happy chickens, and the occasional bunch of lavender. For less than the price of a Safeway produce run, we get to experience fresh, organic produce from only a few miles away. For anyone who knows me and my affection for animals that can border on the absurd, it's important to me to only eat eggs that come from "happy" chickens. If I were a chicken, I wouldn't be happy being cooped up (pun actually not intended) in a sad little wire cage, cannibalisticly eating the remnants of my other fellow chickens (it's true, look it up).

The Eatwell chickens get to hang out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine, breeze, and fresh water as they commune with their brothers and sisters. Basically, they get to enjoy a 24/7 free-range chicken party. Knowing this makes me feel pretty darn good about buying their eggs and therefore fighting for the chicken's right to party. But I digress.

Each week, I'm going to find and post a recipe that I've never tried before that incorporates some of the produce that we receive. Some of the items I'm pretty familiar with (squash, strawberries), some I'm familiar with but haven't cooked with much before (beets, basil), and some I've never eaten or didn't even know you could cook (lavender, turnips). I'll stretch my culinary knowledge and share any triumphs (or failures) in the process.

So, I hope you enjoy this resurrection.