food.

there's obviously a lot that can be said about food
(but it's likely that i won't be addressing many of those things).
mainly i just want to write about all of the delicious food that we cook and eat in this house.
i have to warn you that by the end of reading this post,
you will likely be hungry
and kicking yourself that you did not apply to be an intern at the abundant table farm project.
consider yourselves warned.

last monday at our house meeting, we decided that each intern would have a night every week where she cooked dinner for the house.
sarah cooked tuesday.
i cooked wednesday.
erynn thursday,
and katerina finished the week off on sunday.
oh, and boy did we cook.
we dined like international royalty.

on sarah's night,
she decided to use the ample amounts of peanut butter that we had in the house
to make an indonesian peanut curry sauce (known as "gado gado"),
which she mixed with brown rice, sesame seeds, green beans, carrots, and chunks of fresh apple.
...
i don't really have words to describe how good that meal was.
maybe "otherworldly" or "heavenly" or "divine" or something along those lines.

then for my night, i decided to rummage through the good ol' vegan cookbooks,
take a cue from my bolivian friends,
and tackle a cold quinoa salad with tomatoes, basil, scallions, and yellow bell pepper.
then i stumbled upon another recipe to use up some excess vegetables
that involved a citrus-ginger marinade, 

which i threw on some sauteed asparagus, green beans, and carrots.
i sliced a few apples to finish it off,
and i would like to think that all left the table with satisfied bellies and smiles on their faces.

on thursday, erynn prepared a meal that was as good as sarah's tuesday concoction,
which is high praise indeed!
she spent all afternoon in the kitchen,
and ended-up presenting us with ecuadorian cheese breads called "pan de yucca" (much like bolivian cuñapes),
as well as some delicious mexican-inspired lentils,
and a fresh arugula salad with beets and goat cheese.
uh, yum.
(am i right?)

oh, and you know, friday, saturday, and sunday afternoon were filled with cold cucumber dill soup, homemade hummus, left-overs(!), delicious yogurt/fruit/nut breakfast combinations, freshly-picked produce at farmers market, zucchini pupusas...
clearly, life was pretty rough.

but then came katerina to save the day!
she started preparing her minestrone sometime friday night (if i'm not mistaken),
and had finished a double batch by the time our potluck came around sunday evening.
and. this. minestrone.
it had spaghetti squash, zucchini, golden squash, onions, garlic, tomatoes, lima beans (that she shucked herself!)...
ah it was so good!
then some of our guests brought over chicken molé, elaborate fruit salad, tortellini salad with sun-dried tomatoes, and vegan cookies.
balance was once again restored.

and life was truly good.

if these descriptions don't make you want to visit our home and share a meal with us,
i worry for you.
but if they do sound intriguing to you (if not absolutely mouth-watering),
then please come over!
sarah's cooking again tonight, and she hasn't let me down once.
you still have time.
so stand up, run away from your computer screen, out to your car/bike/roller skates,
and make your way to our table as fast as you possibly can!
i can almost guarantee that it will be one of the best meals you've ever had.