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the galley grows a garden

Well, sort of. I was inspired by this girl to finally get off my butt and plant something in our yard. I mean, if a 15 year-old can dedicate her summer to growing and selling produce, surely I can muster up the motivation to throw some tomato seeds in a pot. And so today I did. Not tomatoes, actually, but broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, rosemary, dill, basil (mmmmm...pesto...), and catnip, for my fine four-legged furry friends.

ooooh...fertile

my little herby soldiers

I opted to start my vegetables indoors because it's effing hot out right now, and crouching in the dirt under the blazing Texas sun in August just doesn't appeal to me right now. I hope that by the time my seedlings are ready to be transplanted the weather will have cooled just a bit.

I love the idea of a CSA, though I've never subscribed to one. To me they embody the best parts of communal food: supporting small local farms, eating ultra fresh yummy produce, and being ever-so-gently prodded into using ingredients that you may never have tried otherwise. It's really a great scenario, and Austin is chock full of CSAs. I have never subscribed because that up-front cost--sometimes as much as $650--always stings just a little too much. So, I'm starting my own personal one-family CSA. The up-front cost is minimal, and I get to grow exactly what I want.

And who knows? Maybe this time next year I'll be running my own CSA.
 

one perfect empanada

I've had pupusas on the brain. A few months ago I was bullied by Big Masa into buying a five-pound bag of Maseca even though I only needed two tablespoons for a recipe. Ever since then, it's been sitting in my cupboard, taunting me. "Hey!" it shouts. "Why don't you just let me sit here until I get all moldy and gross, thus being a total waste of however much I cost you!" The bag of Maseca is sarcastic and cruel.

I dug up some recipes using masa so I can finally shut that voice up. I had some leftover refried beans in the fridge so I thought I'd try my hand at pupusas--little stuffed corn tortillas. Heck, I've seen them made on tv dozens of times. I just had to channel my inner Central American grandmother and go to it.

Pupusas are hard to make. Oh sure, the Central American grandmothers make it look easy, deftly tossing the filled dough patties from hand to hand, quick as lightning, dropping them onto a well-seasoned cast iron skillet and cooking them until crisp and hot. Oh sure. It *looks* easy.

I tried to make a pupusa. Then I gave up and decided empanadas were more my style anyway. I rolled out a ball of dough, added a spoonful of bean filling, closed it all up, and fried that sucker until it looked done. And it worked. It wasn't pretty, but it sure tasted good.

I made four empanadas before giving up and calling it a night. But the important thing is, I never gave up. Oh, except I did. Twice. Whatever.

Here is a pic of the one empanada I made that looked pretty nice. It also happened to be empanada #4. I like to quit while I'm ahead.

Note the flaky golden crust. Irresistible, no?