Food in the time of a pandemic

[KennethT]

17 minutes ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

You can make passion fruit pulp to freeze to use in recipes. Scoop out the seeds and the gel around them and bump them around in the blender until the pulp separates from the seeds. Strain out the seeds and put in a container for the freezer. You can get a surprising amount of pulp from a modest amount of fruit. Creme brulee, anyone? Personally we just like to eat them, seeds and all. A friend can eat her body weight (a slight exaggeration) in passion fruit. Good thing we have a vine!

If I had access, I could definitely eat my body weight in passion fruit!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Thanks, all, for the passion fruit suggestions.    As a child, I remember eating them off the vine.    Since, away from a source, I have encountered many recipes calling for their interior pulp, but in my area they are very expensive, like $3 a fruit, so I ignored these concepts.    Then, I realized that a local vine had become productive.    Manna from heaven!

[KennethT]

2 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Thanks, all, for the passion fruit suggestions.    As a child, I remember eating them off the vine.    Since, away from a source, I have encountered many recipes calling for their interior pulp, but in my area they are very expensive, like $3 a fruit, so I ignored these concepts.    Then, I realized that a local vine had become productive.    Manna from heaven!

Yeah, here they can be like $5 for a mediocre specimen. I have to wait for the occasional (once a year if I'm lucky) trip to the tropics to feed my addiction.

[heidih]

36 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Thanks, all, for the passion fruit suggestions.    As a child, I remember eating them off the vine.    Since, away from a source, I have encountered many recipes calling for their interior pulp, but in my area they are very expensive, like $3 a fruit, so I ignored these concepts.    Then, I realized that a local vine had become productive.    Manna from heaven!

 

We have the vines like weeds here  (a Gulf Fritillary attractant) but the truly worthy ones are a different type. Best I ever had were from a swap meet in Ventura. The scent was super intoxicating on the drive home. Giant bag for nothin  in money.

https://www.butterfliesathome.com/gulf-fritillary-butterfly.htm#:~:text=Nectar and Host Plants Used,Passion Vine and Passion Flower.

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

10 hours ago, heidih said:

 

We have the vines like weeds here  (a Gulf Fritillary attractant) but the truly worthy ones are a different type. Best I ever had were from a swap meet in Ventura. The scent was super intoxicating on the drive home. Giant bag for nothin  in money.

https://www.butterfliesathome.com/gulf-fritillary-butterfly.htm#:~:text=Nectar and Host Plants Used,Passion Vine and Passion Flower.

Ah--that's the name of the butterfly who lays eggs on our vine. Not being a butterfly expert I didn't know the name. The resulting wormy thing has a big appetite for the leaves. Fortunately there are enough leaves to go around. I especially like to watch the bees as they gather pollen. They have to go up into the flower and get covered with the pollen, and then hover in air while they scrape it off their bodies onto the pollen baskets on their legs. Then they go back for more. One of nature's finer moments. Pollen is baby bee food but nectar makes honey.

[heidih]

1 hour ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

Ah--that's the name of the butterfly who lays eggs on our vine. Not being a butterfly expert I didn't know the name. The resulting wormy thing has a big appetite for the leaves. Fortunately there are enough leaves to go around. I especially like to watch the bees as they gather pollen. They have to go up into the flower and get covered with the pollen, and then hover in air while they scrape it off their bodies onto the pollen baskets on their legs. Then they go back for more. One of nature's finer moments. Pollen is baby bee food but nectar makes honey.

 

I had a vine in my yard once. You could HEAR the caterpillars munching as walked to mailbox! That loud and aggressive. 

[TicTac]

Here I can get the little purple (more tart) passion fruit at the Asian grocery store for $1 a piece.

 

Alternatively when friends/family head to some tropical destination (the latest being Panama) I bribe them to bring me back a jar or water bottle filled with the fruit innards.  Travels very well, no issues at customs (ever - so long as you declare it, which is totally legit as they do not grow in Canada) and I can get dozens of them for a buck or two!

[weinoo]

This box, from Hepworth Farms via Fresh Direct...

 

 

is $30. It's insanely packed in the middle of harvest season. Like enough for both of us for a week. Potatoes, scallions, garlic, shallots, yellow squash, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, kale (why?), eggplant, celery, carrots, lettuce, escarole, chives, dill, basil, blueberries, oy.

 

A few more Thai ingredients arrived at my front door...

 

 

And in my first ever venture to a store since the pandemic began, I walked over on Grand St. to a  Vietnamese-ish greengrocer for more ingredienti...

 

 

Purchasing herbs (and eggplant) which I believe to be, from top left:

Thai basil

Rau răm

Red perilla

Birds eye chilies

 

Fun times ahead!

Edited August 6, 2020 by weinoo (log)

[lemniscate]

45 minutes ago, weinoo said:

kale (why?)

 

When I went for my latest dental visit, the hygienist was talking to me about how much she enjoys making dried kale chips seasoned with nutritional yeast.  She grew very concerned at some of the noises I was making while she was talking and cleaning.  She said "I'm sorry if the cleaning is causing your gagging reflex".  When I could finally could talk after a break in the cleaning I told her I wasn't gagging from the cleaning, it was gagging caused by her talking about eating and enjoying kale!

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by lemniscate
clarity (log)

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

This box, from Hepworth Farms via Fresh Direct...

 

 

is $30. It's insanely packed in the middle of harvest season. Like enough for both of us for a week. Potatoes, scallions, garlic, shallots, yellow squash, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, kale (why?), eggplant, celery, carrots, lettuce, escarole, chives, dill, basil, blueberries, oy.

 

A few more Thai ingredients arrived at my front door...

 

 

And in my first ever venture to a store since the pandemic began, I walked over on Grand St. to a  Vietnamese-ish greengrocer for more ingredienti...

 

 

Purchasing herbs (and eggplant) which I believe to be, from top left:

Thai basil

Rau răm

Red perilla

Birds eye chilies

 

Fun times ahead!

 

What is the name of the grocery? I've never seen rau ram sold in a store in NY before. I'd love to check the place out!

[heidih]

@weinoo that seems incredibly cheap for nice produce. Yes me in Los Angeles and kale is a cultural joke but caldo verde, used like collards in Southern preps. Dial down the hate  - the love may kick in. 

[Smithy]

4 minutes ago, heidih said:

@weinoo that seems incredibly cheap for nice produce. Yes me in Los Angeles and kale is a cultural joke but caldo verde, used like collards in Southern preps. Dial down the hate  - the love may kick in. 

 

In a past life I lived with a man from New Bedford, MA. When we found linguica, the Portuguese answer to chorizo, nothing would do but we had to make kale soup. It was a special memory from his childhood. I liked it too. 30 years ago kale and linguica were difficult to get in our usual haunts. Who knew kale would become so common and reviled?

[chromedome]

9 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

In a past life I lived with a man from New Bedford, MA. When we found linguica, the Portuguese answer to chorizo, nothing would do but we had to make kale soup. It was a special memory from his childhood. I liked it too. 30 years ago kale and linguica were difficult to get in our usual haunts. Who knew kale would become so common and reviled?

I liked it and grew it before it was "discovered," and will continue to do so as it loses popularity. Same with quinoa, as far as that goes, and a lot of other things.

I grow more greens in my garden than anything else, and although it's small I'm bringing home a bit Walmart reusable bag of kale each week and another of chard and beet tops. They're getting blanched and frozen, so I'll have them all winter long (or at least, a goodly chunk of it). I've actually just done a mid-summer planting of kale (Russian red and Tuscan, to complement the existing beds of Siberian) and chard to bump up production. They're quick to grow and cold-tolerant, so there's opportunity to harvest lots before the frost shuts me down.

[weinoo]

8 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

In a past life I lived with a man from New Bedford, MA. When we found linguica, the Portuguese answer to chorizo, nothing would do but we had to make kale soup. It was a special memory from his childhood. I liked it too. 30 years ago kale and linguica were difficult to get in our usual haunts. Who knew kale would become so common and reviled?

Maybe you found that linguica in Fall River, possibly the capital pf Portuguese grocery shopping in the United States, and about a 10-minute drive away from New Bedford. Two great old towns, in my opinion. We pass through them on every drive to Cape Cod. Where you found the kale is anyone's guess.Maybe  @chromedome's?

 

@KennethT - If the store has a name, I'd never know. But it has been there for a long time - it is the first green grocer you encounter if you were to be walking west on Grand St., on the south side of the street, right after you pass the corner of Chrystie Street.

 

It looks like, from this picture, to be the Ken Hing Food Market, at 247 Grand Street.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7182615,-73.9941966,3a,37.5y,197.81h,90.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKZYC6RP9drT3zS979GDEmw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

 

[Smithy]

@weinoo, I believe you're right that we would go to Fall River to get that linguica. I don't remember how easy or difficult it was to find kale in the mid-80's, but I think the Portuguese kale soup was my first inkling that kale existed.

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

@KennethT - If the store has a name, I'd never know. But it has been there for a long time - it is the first green grocer you encounter if you were to be walking west on Grand St., on the south side of the street, right after you pass the corner of Chrystie Street.

 

It looks like, from this picture, to be the Ken Hing Food Market, at 247 Grand Street.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7182615,-73.9941966,3a,37.5y,197.81h,90.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKZYC6RP9drT3zS979GDEmw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

 

Thanks!  I will definitely check it out!!!

[Steve R.]

One of the places I used to get my cans of Cafe du Monde after hitting up the original version of Vanessa's Dumplings up the street.

[weinoo]

57 minutes ago, Steve R. said:

One of the places I used to get my cans of Cafe du Monde after hitting up the original version of Vanessa's Dumplings up the street.

 

Indeed - I was going to do a little more browsing (they have like millions of sauces and stuff), but someone was stocking shelves and my comfort level waned after a few minutes.

[weinoo]

59 minutes ago, Steve R. said:

One of the places I used to get my cans of Cafe du Monde after hitting up the original version of Vanessa's Dumplings up the street.

 

My favorite was the scallion pancake sandwiches - with roast duck!!

[blue_dolphin]

GNS Foods sells the mixed nuts American Airlines offers in their premium cabins and reportedly, Covid-19 caused American to take the warm nuts off the first class tray tables.

The company has quite a surplus and is selling them online where one can choose the traditional 'First Class' mix, or an Aloha Mix that is a combination of almonds, cashews, piña colada-flavored pecans, and dried pineapple.

 

I could heat them up in little ramekins, crank the AC so it's really cold and loud, grab a ratty blanket and settle in on my chaise with my Bose noise-cancelling headphones to watch a movie on my iPad. 

 

[lemniscate]

3 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Aloha Mix

 

IN!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Thanks.  I went with five bags.  It will be interesting to compare these nuts to those from my current favorite nut supplier, nuts.com.

 

It would have been helpful had GNS listed the countries of origin.

 

[weinoo]

I went 4 bags - but I was hoping to see more info about the nuts also, @JoNorvelleWalker.

 

More Thai stuff!

 

 

Don't know how the dried is, but since I have trouble sourcing fresh galangal, I figured I'd give this a try.
 

Now, as far as the next purchases are concerned...

 

 

 

Staying off the computer after dinner, after wine, after other mind-altering substances; well, that might not be a bad idea.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Your last several purchases look like our Grocery Outlet basket if husband strays while I'm reading labels.   

 

[blue_dolphin]

4 hours ago, weinoo said:

Now, as far as the next purchases are concerned...

 

They look like what I buy to give out for Halloween....hoping in part that I won't get many kids so I can eat them myself 🙄