For the last two years, we’ve participated in Zephyr Farm’s CSA.  If you’re not familiar with a CSA, it stands for “Community Supported Agriculture” and is basically a vegetable subscription.   Ours started mid-June and ran through the end of October.

Pickups from the beginning of the season (6/22/2010) and end of the season (9.15.09)

I looked forward to my Tuesday pickups, when I’d walk down the street with my IKEA bag and come back with an Iron Chef-like challenge to imagine a week of dishes with the bag’s contents.  Every second week, we got the most delicious assortment of multi-colored eggs.

This year, we won’t be doing the CSA.  We moved to a new neighborhood, and since J works late and I take the bus, it would be very hard for us to pick up our weekly allotment.  Instead, we’ll be putting aside money to spend at the Saturday farmers’ market, which is luckily in walking distance.  I’ll miss it – maybe one day we’ll be able to join again.

• Zephyr Farm’s blog:
• Farm Fresh RI’s CSA directory:
• Photos from my visit to the farm

Just got back from a 5 day trip to Kansas, a brother-in-law richer (J’s sister got married).

While we were there, we ate more than our share of fried food.  I ate donuts three times, chili cheese fries twice, and two hot dogs (three if you count the A&W corndog bites).  That’s not to mention the nachos, jalapeno poppers…the list goes on.

The donuts above are from The Donut Whole in Wichita.  It’s a cute shop with an Austin vibe.  Our flavors: triple chocolate, caramel sea salt, peanut butter cup, Homer J (mixed berries and sprinkles), chocolate cherry cordial, key lime pie.  The caramel was my favorite, and not only for the icing – the fresh, wholesome dough stood out.  Even though we ate almost three donuts a piece, these were almost healthy tasting and not heartburn-inducing like most of their fat-laden cousins.  According to the Donut Whole website, they’re made with Kansas buttermilk, flour and eggs.

• http://www.thedonutwhole.com
  

Earlier in our trip, we had these donuts from Daylight Donuts in Wellington, KS, a medium sized chain with 900 franchises.  My husband’s favorites are the chocolate Long John, the eclair-like creation on the left (but unlike an eclair, it’s not filled).  I had the pine cone, a clever creation which maximizes the donut surface area.  The giant strawberry fritter just right of center is apparently made from four smashed donuts – it’s a dense challenge to finish.  Except for the fritter, these donuts were sweet and fluffy.

• http://www.daylightdonuts.com

For the last five years, I’ve admired the Washington Post Peeps diorama contest and its colorful entries.  This year, I wanted to give it a try.

I decided to tackle the convenient pun “WikiPeeps”.   A few sketches came to mind, but ultimately, it was the image of Julian Assange interviewed while on house arrest at Ellingham Hall that seemed the most iconic and timely.

I started with a small shoebox which I lined with paper, felt, and a cutout of the mansion.  The mug and camera are made of polymer clay, and I wove the scarf out of embroidery floss on a tiny makeshift cardboard loom.   I recreated the December 2010 Time magazine cover and sewed a miniature version.

Is this a bit silly? Maybe.  Was it fun to make? Definitely.  But I wasn’t just trying to be absurd; for me, WikiLeaks has been one of the most thought provoking things to happen in years.  And what better way to immortalize a moment than with marshmallow?

• See my WikiPeeps gallery on Flickr
• Washington Post Peeps contest winners 2010

After a long break from blogging, I feel like I have so much to say, and I want to say it in more than 140 characters (sorry, Twitter).

In the photo above, my husband and I are the ones with our heads turned.

Our episode of Kitchen Nightmares aired last week – we were diners on the show at DownCity in Providence.   Filming was a fun experience.  We dined on re-opening night, so we didn’t experience quite as much drama as diners on earlier nights.  

You can watch the episode on Hulu – most of our footage was about 37 minutes in.

We celebrated the airing last Friday with a little viewing party. A few of us brought food inspired by DownCity’s menu – we chose to recreate the truffled goat cheese dip, probably my favorite dish of the night.  Ours was tasty too but sadly lacked the homemade potato chips for dipping.

My interview with Abby (the co-owner of DownCity) can be found in the latest Providence Monthly.