Tuesdays Still Rolling On

These Tuesdays sure do roll around fast and furious. For us and for you, I’m sure. I just happened to stop at a garage sale today in Hawthorne (looking for a table to put the coffee grinder on – yes, this week is a new Coffee Share (unfortunately, I still have not gotten a coffee share (though I heard that the first batch was awesome) or fruit share (again, I’m hearing how delectable the fruit is) much to my husband’s chagrin on top of not cooking these vegetables as much as we could/should). “Lisa, why are we doing all this if we’re not going to eat it?” And he’s absolutely right. So, this weekend I cooked up a bunch. Youchoy. Onions. Garlic. Grass-fed beef and pork burgers on the grill. With organic relish (new this week) and organic homemade ketchup (also new and very tasty). With a slice of Udderly Hot cheese. And. Broccoli (I think we may have over planted). A “Big” Seinfeld salad. Eggs scrambled in Leggio’s dipping oil. New black dirt potatoes (they always make me melt at the knees). Yogurt and ricotta cheese with blueberries. Diced cucumbers and feta cheese in a vinaigrette. Cilantro-cashew pesto. Sauteed onions, Portobello mushrooms and zucchini with shredded organic rustic cheddar cheese (aged 5 years). I’m in bliss. And so is my family. We love to eat. And it’s really pretty simple. Good food doesn’t really need much. (Just a little washing and preparation, then it can fly on its own).

So, at this garage sale I happened on an exquisite table built by hand. The proportions were perfect. The woodgrain beautiful. So simple sitting on that sidewalk. With just a little lamp. And a shoeshine kit. It knew, this simple, little table, it’s beauty. It screamed. For all it had. What am I worth? And I shot it down. (For this I blame my mother, the Queen of Cheap). And just by chance (is there anything by chance? I think not. Not even picking one blueberry or one weed) he introduced himself. Dan. (No, not the Fruit Man). He is a part of the CSA. He built it by hand. It sat in front of a dozen snow boards and boots. Those he is ready to leave behind. The table...well, not so much. I think he knows there is a future in this. But, like us, he’s not sure how. It’s a labor of love. In an ideal world (if there were such a thing), he would gladly create one (because it is a work of art...like all of these vegetables that we put in the shares each week! or so I would like to think) and just give it away. But we live in a world Ruled by the Federal Reserve, a private group of henchmen who simply do nothing but feed paper into the Federal laser-jet printer and charge us and the government lots and lots and lots of money for it. He must pay the bills. And he does. He has figured out some way to do that. But in his heart of hearts, he knows. And creates. These masterpieces. Because it is. That table. A Picasso. Would we even know one today?

And so, here’s to an exquisite table full of beautiful vegetables. (I know I do give them away too cheaply...but I would still prefer free and $1000 for a bunch of kale – the most nutritious of all vegetables (shouldn’t the most nutritious also be the most expensive food on the planet?)