Well, it looks like the spammers have found this site. 393 comments on the last post, none of them real. How unfortunate. I guess I'm going to be adding some more filters on the comments to try and automatically block them. It's a never ending battle.

Our CSA share is really starting to pick up. While we've always been thrilled with the quality of the produce we've gotten, the quantity hasn't always been what we had hoped for. The farm had some flooding issues and lost 75% of their crop. At this point, though, they've replanted, and it's now harvest season. Today we got (among many other things) 8 beautiful ears of perfectly sweet corn, and an 11 pound cantaloupe. Yea, that's right. 11 pounds. It's the size of a watermelon. And tastes sooo good. We may not be enjoying the 90+ degree weather, but there are some definite advantages to August!

Today was my birthday! Katy made the evening special by taking me to Skillet, my favorite restaurant in Columbus, for dinner. Skillet's just a little hole in the wall; it's outside of German Village, has maybe ten tables tops, no alcohol license of any kind, and only recently got table service. It started out as a brunch place, quickly expanded to weekday lunch, and a week or so ago added limited dinner hours. Their food is not fancy, not expensive, and not complicated. But, the chef is not afraid to let ingredients express their best flavors. So many places add salt, sugar, and vinegar to simulate real flavor; at Skillet, they use top quality local ingredients - free range chicken and eggs, grass-finished beef, etc, and let them do their own talking. Katy had a burger with arugula and house-made tomato jam, and I had a brisket sandwich topped with horseradish slaw. We split a side order of potatoes sauteed in pork fat. Simple flavors, done right. For dessert, we visited the new Mouton. Mouton definitely panders to current food trends, but that's OK with us, as we kind of like where those trends are going right now. Mouton serves cheese, charcuterie, wine, espresso, and cocktails. It's tough to get a good drink in this town; for whatever reason, many people don't expect (or even want!) the same level of artistry in a bartender that they do a chef. Mouton is clearly attempting to change that. Little on their liquor menu is adventurous or innovative; instead, they do the classics right. They're very thoughtful about the particular ingredients they use, exacting in their proportions, and caring in their preparation. The result is a line of cocktails that are pretty close to perfect. I think we'll be returning!

So it came to my attention today that I am (again) negligent about updating this blog. Part of the problem is that I'm on summer vacation - not a whole lot going on. However, there have been a few standout events.

Last Saturday evening, Dena and Dustin hosted a backyard grill party, and Katy and I got to meet their baby Evan. He was remarkably well behaved all night, I was very impressed with his temperament. Also, Lauren was there, and I haven't seen her since we graduated from high school. Who needs a formal ten year high school reunion when you can create your own reunions with the people you're interested in seeing? It was a real pleasure to chat with her and see how the last decade has treated us.

Tonight, my parents came up to Columbus for dinner. Being the overachiever I am, I decided to serve five plated courses plus a few extra mouthfuls. Every one of the dishes (except Katy's exquisite dessert, of course) could have been executed better had I focused on it individually, but hopefully nothing I served was actually bad, and I appreciated the opportunity to show a little bit of a range of things I like to do in the kitchen. And, it was great to spend the evening with my parents and a couple bottles of wine.

Well, it looks like I was just in time scheduling my last recital at Bexley's Monk. After staying in business for 26 years and being my parents' go-to date night venue, the restaurant is closing. Capital University, whose campus is located across the street, is in contract to expand across Main Street into Bexley Square, and the Monk is moving out. We're very sad to see it go; the Monk had a great atmosphere, and we have many positive memories associated with the restaurant. Best wishes to Remo and the rest of the Monk's staff as they continue on to new pursuits.

It's CSA day!

Today I went to pick up our first CSA. We have chosen to join Wayward Seed Farms' program, and it has been a terrific experience for us so far.

We signed up back in February, and agreed to have monthly payments withdrawn over a period of months. In exchange, we get two "shares" (I don't know why I put it in quotes, that is actually what they are called...but it's a vocabulary word of sorts too) each week of whatever the farm is producing.

Here's week 1:

Radishes, peas, chard, sage. In quantitiy.

We also got some recpies, and a very (very) cute tote bag:

The idea is that we'll bring the tote bag every week, thus elminating one-time use shopping bags.

Wayward Seed lets you choose your pick up spot from a variety of places across town. We chose to get ours every Saturday morning from the Clintonville Farmers Market. It was my first time visiting this market as well, and I was impressed! Lots of cheese and meat, and some really wonderful looking produce. Best of all, it's right up the street from our new apartment!

And yes, we move to the new place on Tuesday. I am currently still sticking to my plan of burying my head in the sand about that. Hopefully sometime in the next few hours I'll decide to reality-check myself and start packing.