Your Strawberry Fields open thread

by Doctor Science

It's the first week of distribution for the organic farm CSA, and here are some of the results:

Obviously I'm going to be experimenting with camera angles, but this was too delicious to pass up foodblogging.

My recipe is based on Bon Appetit's Lemon Shortcakes with Strawberries. My changes:

• replace buttermilk with a mixture of 1/3 plain yogurt, 2/3 milk. Include any whey that may have formed on yogurt.
• do not do anything with the perfectly ripe organic strawberries, which I picked myself, except slice them.
• top with heavy cream, whipped with vanilla and a small amount of sugar -- like, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 2 Tb sugar for a pint of cream.

Served with champagne, and blessed with the Shehecheyanu:

Blessed art Thou, O Lord
our God, Creator of the universe,
Who has blessed us, sustained us,
and brought us to this season.

We generally recite the Shehecheyanu for the first time in the crop year we had an "important" local food: asparagus (the first local crop to come in), strawberries, the CSA in general, cherries, sweet corn, tomatoes, peaches. Not every vegetable or even every fruit, but the ones we eat (or in the case of tomatoes and cherries, eat fresh) only when they're in season. The ones we look forward to. We often add another food blessing, but not consistently.

Talk about where you are in your seasons, or whatever.

Comments

[wj]

Ah, the blessings of living in California, which we so often lose track of. In this case, that organic produce is available year around. Not every variety, of course. But the organic farms are at the local farmers' market every week. And their tables are loaded with a variety of stuff.

Glad you are getting a chance to try some new stuff. Isn't it amazing how much more flavor the organic vegetables and (especially) fruits have than the commercially grown ones?

[russell]

Up here in coastal New England, we've had asparagus, but that's about it.

Farmer's market starts in about two weeks, though, so good greens are on the way.

[Ugh]

I keep thinking of putting up a Snowden thread but can't seem to find the time. I suppose I could just put up a thread.

[thompson]

wj:

But the organic farms are at the local farmers' market every week.

Not just the farmer's market. I live within a few miles of two year round local produce stands that aggregate from the central valley and coast. All my local grocery stores, even the safeway, have prominent locally/organically grown options.

I visited friends in seattle recently and they were all aflutter over some overpriced and sad looking heirloom tomatoes. It made me realize how lucky I am living near the central valley.

I'm moving to the northeast soon. There are many things I won't miss about CA. But ready access to cheap produce is something I will miss sorely. I'm concerned my diet is going to shift more towards processed crap.

Although I love asparagus, so thanks for the heads up, russell :)

[cleek]

there's fresh produce in the NE! apples, especially.

[thompson]

I do love good apples! Something which actually is a little harder to find in CA. Wrong climate I guess.

I suppose its a matter of adjusting my diet to whats locally available.

[dr ngo]

snow peas, pea shoots, shitaki mushrooms and locally grown bok choi, all from the durham farmer's market, in last night's stirfry. peaches ripening on the counter. local corn coming in soon (we're getting it from a little farther south now).

but what we're waiting for primarily is really good tomatoes, which is the cue for my outstanding spaghettini estivi, not worth making unless you have *really* good tomatoes. but worth waiting for.

[wj]

In my experience at least, while most vegetables have more flavor when produced organically, the difference it makes in tomatoes is the largest. Some of that may be due to picking them green, so they don't spoil on the way to market. But even getting locally produced ones at the farmers' market, the difference is huge.

[byomtov]

Speaking of blessings, was I the only Jewish kid who was mystified by the "hamotzi?'

(Note for the goyim: This traditional prayer blessess the lord who "brings forth bread from the earth")

For me, bread came from the bakery, not the earth. I was well into my teenage years before I realized it was all about wheat.

[wj]

I remember growing up and having friends over. They refused to drink our milk because "it came from a cow!" -- we had our own cow, and they could watch my mother milking it. When asked where they thought milk came from, the response was "from the store." Clearly no clue at all.

[Model62]

Yeah but kids are finicky, difficult eaters. Or they can be. I was.

When I was a kid most of the neighbors raised pigs and cattle for slaughter and from time to time I'd be over for dinner (maybe 'cause I was spending the night, or just got a late start home and the moms had worked it out over the phone), and too often it was a cut from one of those home grown steers or pigs and rarely did I enjoy it. Texture was wrong, flavor was wrong, color was wrong. I'd been raised on store bought and that was what I knew and liked.

Unfortunately, I'd also been raised to "clean my plate," (especially when visiting someone else's home) and that registered with the hosts as my deep satisfaction with the dish, which sometimes resulted in an extra helping, and usually meant more of the same the next time I happened to be over for dinner.

[russell]

But ready access to cheap produce is something I will miss sorely.

get to know and love your root vegetables, and bob's your uncle.

[thompson]

open thread, so just thought I would point this out:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/05/30/georgia-toddler-critically-injured-by-polices-flash-grenade/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/05/30/drug-task-force-that-burned-a-toddler-this-week-also-killed-an-innocent-pastor-in-2009/

If your drug cops conduct a raid that ends up putting a child in the hospital with critical burns, and they did nothing that violates your department’s policy, then there’s something wrong with your policy.

Yeah, I couldn't say it better myself. No-knock night raid to take care of a low level meth dealer and they couldn't even be bothered to learn if there were kids in the house.

[Marty]

"No-knock night raid to take care of a low level meth dealer and they couldn't even be bothered to learn if there were kids in the house."

meth dealer should be charged with child endangerment and battery.

[thompson]

Marty:

It's completely possible the parents were endangering the child. Perhaps we could collect evidence on those charges, and, if warranted, arrest and try the defendant.

In the meantime, we should be less aggressive about the use of lethal force and no-knock raids. Because those also endanger lives.

[CharlesWT]

"meth dealer should be charged with child endangerment and battery."

The meth dealer is being charged for the injury to the kid. Even though he wasn't there at the time. Nice bit of blame shifting, the way I see it.

The police really like dressing up, hauling out the cool toys and engaging in these high risk operations. And then, when things go wrong, blaming everyone but themselves.

[thompson]

The meth dealer is being charged for the injury to the kid. Even though he wasn't there at the time. Nice bit of blame shifting, the way I see it.

It's a sadly a far too common story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/nyregion/unarmed-man-is-charged-with-wounding-bystanders-shot-by-police-near-times-square.html?_r=1&

[Marty]

I'm ok with that if he's guilty of dealing meth or making it or doing it.

[Nombrilisme Vide]

The problem with that is that it externalizes the consequences of recklessness behavior from police officers. Or to phrase it in a more button-pushing manner, it relieves them of personal responsibility for their conduct.

The meth dealer is guilty of dealing meth; that's illegal and he can rightly be charged with it (I'll assume the War on Drugs is totally legit to simplify the discussion here). But saying the dealer is guilty of assault or whatever is straight-up stacking charges. If you wanna say the meth dealer should be punished more harshly for being a meth dealer, strengthen the penalties on the books for that. But don't let the police engage in reckless behavior or even misconduct and then assign responsibility for the consequences of such to someone who had nothing to do with planning or executing said actions. Nothing good can (or does) come of that.

[grackle]

but but but... why did you replace the buttermilk??

[Marty]

I se what the meth dealer did as guilty with"special circumstances". You have a child, you don't do things that put them at risk. Every drug dealer knows the risk of getting rolled out with a flash bang and a gun in your face. You don't take that risk if you have a child. No matter what you think the police should or shouldn't do.

[CharlesWT]

The problem is that quite a few people have come to harm for merely being guilty of owning a house and living in it.

[Doctor Science]

grackle:

I replace buttermilk with yogurt/milk because I always have yogurt and milk in the house, and this way I don't have to buy an ingredient I probably won't use up before it goes bad.

Also, a lot of commercial buttermilk is salted, which is ick.

[Nombrilisme Vide]

What Charles said, and moreso, the problem isn't even so much that the dealer is getting hit with the endangerment charge (though that is a problem) - it's that the LEOs conducting the raid get qualified immunity. If you want to hit the dealer with endangerment charges for having children, fine (well, no, not even close, but still) - there's no reason, however, that the officers cannot simultaneously face reckless endangerment charges for their, well, reckless and dangerous conduct. Instead, they'll get to hide behind grants of qualified immunity despite the fact that their SOP is the proximate cause of the alleged crime, and not any action taken by the dealer besides sleeping in the same residence as a child.

[thompson]

Marty:

In addition to the excellent comments by NomVide and charles, there is the further problem of this man's guilt.

He might be a meth dealer, I don't know and neither do you. We have a trial system to sort that out (and let's assume, for the sake of argument, that it has integrity). Or maybe, the house was misidentified by a CI or just the wrong address.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95475

http://www.click2houston.com/news/cops-bust-into-raid-wrong-house/26238706

The problem is, when you flashbang a house and kick down a door guns drawn without knowing who is inside, people are at risk.

Suspects. Bystanders. Children.

Collateral damage is already too common in military action. We shouldn't shrug our shoulders at it in police action.

I return to: there's something wrong with your policy

Someone threw an incendiary device without knowing where it would land and who was there. And a child was severely burned.

If it was anyone except a police officer, people would be outraged. But it was police, throwing a flashbang without knowing where it would land or who was there, so we don't care.

There is something wrong with our policy.

[byomtov]

I do love good apples!

If you think you love them now, wait until you try a Macoun. Bliss!!

[hairshirthedonist]

I'm pretty sure, when I was a kid, we had the same set of flatware the fork in photo is from.

[CharlesWT]

[...]
Despite an avowed policy of not using flash-bang grenades when children are present, it seems that neither Terrell's office nor the Cornelia Police Department did anything to investigate that possibility aside from asking the informant, who obviously was wrong. Beyond the lack of due diligence on that point, there is the question of whether tossing an exploding, potentially incendiary device into a home that may be full of innocent people in the middle of the night is A-OK as long as you are reasonably sure all those people are 18 or older. And beyond that question, of course, is the issue of whether violence is ever a morally acceptable response to peaceful, consensual transactions between adults.
[...]
Why Did Baby-Burning Drug Warriors Think There Were No Children in the Home They Attacked?

[Slartibartfast]

We're moving to southern Indiana in August. Probably won't have time to get anything in the ground before winter, but next year should rock in terms of fresh fruits and vegetables.

We don't like to spray, excepting Dipel, so all of our food will be organic by definition.

Fruit trees are in the ground already and mature. We may have to add some different varieties, but we're going to have enough blackberries, for instance, to feed us and the neighbors.