Getting back on schedule, you’re getting TWO csa box posts this week. Today’s new visitors include persimmons (which I’ve wanted to cook ever since seeing a huge persimmon tree at a friend’s house) and a HUGE head of cabbage. I’m not sure what was in the water, but the veggies are all BIG this week. Massive! The picture doesn’t even do justice to that gigantic sweet potato. More to love, right? And now down to business…

Bok choy, lettuce, green beans, zucchini, cabbage, poblano peppers, bell peppers, eggplant, onion, persimmons, Granny Smith apples

This week’s box is extra important because of a Halloween brunch we’re hosting tomorrow morning.  Zucchini bread? Persimmon pudding? Something with sweet potatoes? Apple galette, pancake or tart? Jalapeno (psh jalapeno, how about POBLANO!?!?) and cheddar scones? All of these things are loosely on the menu. Firming up a menu from that long list is up NEXT in my day. I’m also toying with the idea of broiled grapefruit, a sausage stratta, pink pancakes, savory brioche pudding and LORD, what else? Lots of mimosas and a lime/mint fruit salad. We’ve got 19 people coming to our humble abode tomorrow and I better be ready to feed and delight.

Do you have any other ideas for special things to make with other ingredients from today’s mess ‘o veggies? Get at me! Leave a note below or send a digital mail.

Part of maintaining the perfect Hipster Home has much to do with the vibe around the house. What’s playing? Who is jammin’ on the stereo? When not listening to focused work-music (mostly classical), I’ve been lost. The Hipster Home had old vibe!

As a reformed music business professional, it takes a lot for me to admit that I’m out of the new music game nowadays. Questions of “What are you listening to?” get an embarrassed blank stare from me, a quick change of subject or an honest explanation that I just wouldn’t know where to start anymore. My previous ability to download any album I wanted vanished, and henceforth, limited insatiable music curiosity. It’s not for lack of trying, but it takes such incredible EFFORT! TIME! MONEY! PATIENCE! Lately I’ve got a much better answer as to what I’m listening to. I have someone doing the work for me.

Who? Internet buddy and recent San Francisco transplant Ty White started a radtastical music blog called Sum the Greater. For the past couple months, his weekly music mixes have been my only source of music exploration. And they work fantastically. These mixes have introduced me to current favorites, like tUnE-yArDs, La Roux and made me feel like a bad ass when he uses bands I already hold in high opinion; bands like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and White Rabbits. Homeboy has tapped other friends to make mixes but mostly he has his own special style that has songs streaming effortlessly between one another. Besides the mix, he writes up a nice summary track listing that features relevant stories or news about the band. Therein lies my only complaint: if I really like a song, it can be hard to figure out what exactly I’m listening to.

Other than that? He’s a total music discovery bad-ass. You totally want to check it out now, RIGHT NOW, don’t cha? Start with Mix #4. My favzies.

(Side note: everyone is flipping their shit right now for the brand new Spike Jonze mixtape, released today. Go download it! Pretty good from what I’ve heard so far. Capybara and Mulatu Astatke are stand-out tracks. Speaking of Capybara, it’s not just my favorite animal, they’re an awesome band whom I adore. Check out their check-in with THH buddy Matt Rubin over on Rubin Recommends.

Double side-note: HOLY SHIT! I didn’t realize Matt is part of the Where the Wild Things Are‘s artist-blog, We Love You So. Fantastatron 5000! Well that explains a lot.)

There are many reasons why family is great, especially sisters, and I’m constantly reminded of this fact around the holidays. My all-time favorite reason to love ‘em is that sometimes you’ll get a mid-September call asking if you have some random piece of kitchenware. If you say no, chances are a package will arrive holding an early Christmas gift, many months in advance.

My sister C* (the one who instilled in me my bargain-seeking, ruthless-cheapskate desire to get the best deal possible and to take delight in the hunt) struck gold and wanted to send this perfect gift to me as quick as possible.

Say hello to the newest Hipster Home addition, Mildred the Pasta Machine!

I’m no stranger to homemade pasta. It happened once before, like a violent explosion of flour and egg. A newly unearthed blog, The Amateur Gourmet, was making pasta and he said that a pasta machine is your best bet unless you’re an Italian grandmother. Did you just hear him question my abilities? That is a CHALLENGE. As a half Italian lady nowhere near grandma status, I decided, irrationally, that there was something to prove here. I huffed and puffed and rolled that stubborn dough out.  The sweat, grunting, bruises and broken rolling pin were worth it. Fresh pasta, afternoon delight!  I knew that if I could roll out pasta by hand ONCE, that I’d be free to use a machine the rest of my life. Cue new machine.

Mildred and I got working the other night, just to experiment. I’m including no recipes because frankly, I don’t think Mildred and I are on those kind of terms yet. I will say that pasta dough for ravioli was made combining eggs, flour, salt and olive oil. It then rested inside some cuddly plastic wrap while I worked on the filling.

The insides were a freestyle concoction of caramelized onions, toasted pine nuts and some roasted Red Kuri squash (yes, THAT ONE from a month ago!)


After it was seasoned to satisfaction, time to wrangle up some thin sheets of pasta dough! This was also improvised as I had a hard time finding any suggestions as to how thick ravioli pasta should be rolled out too. I was also going to use the ravioli mold but decided to make them irregularly by hand. OH MONSTROUS RAVIOLI!

Hmm, the next question was what should go on the ravioli? The Hipster Home’s own Mr. set out to make another bowl-lickable sauce, that of cream, nutmeg, parmesan reggiano and butter. White Sauce Ahoy! Delicious, hearty, stick to your ribs autumnal meal- Ding!

Lessons learned: the thinnest setting of my pasta machine is TOO THIN FOR ANYTHING. I also tried my hand at some other cut pasta and it was way way too delicate. Also: don’t overfill your ravioli! It messes with the proportion of pasta/filling/sauce. Finally a note-to-self: this was easy, tasty and low-mess. Make it more often, dummy!

Have you made pasta before? Got any pointers or great pasta recipess? DO SHARE!!!!

*P.S. Did I mention my sister has a wicked sense of humor? Look what we got in the box:

(it still makes me laugh, no one has eaten it yet!)

Right. I get it. I slacked off last week. I’m sorry! Seriously guys, lay off. That was the last time. From here on out, it’s two posts per week MINIMUM. You’ve waited patiently, and you shall be amply rewarded for another round of I wwwant that! This week’s homage to internet consumption is a doozy. I wwwant all of it!

Let’s start things off with something that I believe is the EPITOME of an “I wwwant that!” item. Is it pretty? Is it expensive? Is it useful in a silly way? CHECK THREE TIMES! Dear reader-person, meet the Jonathan Adler Butter Holder. It’s in the shape of a man’s shoe. It is $58.00.Thank you Happy Lady Eats for sharing with me something so absurd and ridiculous that I just can’t help myself.

Do you remember how I feel about geometric jewelery? Let me jog your memory: I LOVE IT. Do you know what I love even more? EMBROIDERY FLOSS! You’ll have to imagine what it looked like when my brain melted out of my ears when I set my eyeballs on Mint blog and saw this fantastic jewelery on etsy. I’ve got yet another favorite etsy seller, Spinthread (or is it Maranon?) You can watch her work in progress on Flickr.

This next one I’m admittedly reserved about loving. It’s ALMOST too art teacher for me. But then I see the bits of crocheted neon orange and hot pink and I’m sold all over again. It’s a good bet that if you are coveting something made in Portugal, it’ll put a dent in your wallet.  The crocheted jewelery from Cooler is one such case. If you’d like to oogle her goods, she’s got a set on Flickr. Thanks to bits + bobbins, my admittedly one-sided, color-crazy internet compatriot.

LAST ONE! I don’t even think this counts necessarily because I CAN’T buy it. I can’t buy just the kitchen from a house. I’ve got this one here at The Hipster Home but we are but mere renters! If we COULD buy a house’s kitchn, and money was no object, I JUST MIGHT try to convince the Mr. that a Lego kitchen is the way to go. How does one get turned on to the Lego kitchen island? Apartment Therapy of course! So drool with me now as you check out more pictures. (TRUE STORY: we already own the Lego kitchen timer so I suppose we already have a Lego kitchen.  Also: WHAT IS THAT THING AROUND THE BUST’S NECK!?!? I love.)

Was all of that to much of an overwhelming tease? Here are some FREE things:

• Download the deliciously delectable iPhone wallpaper/food art compliments of The Food in My Beard. (This dude is also nominated for my favorite blog header on the internet. How did I come across this site? Googling Pork belly Macaroni and Cheese. He really is that awesome.)
• Get inspired by the majestic ladies and gentleman of Advanced Style. Whosiewhat is that? Why it’s a blog featuring stylish people who are MUCH older than the typical people on other street style blogs. (Hat tip to Bits + Bobbins for her post. An appropriate find since I’m toying with the idea of going as as Future Me for Halloween.)
• Recreate the sweetness of The Kitcn‘s Sticky Toffee Cakelets in your own kitchen. (Is cakelet not the cutest baked good name ever? Right up there in my book with snack cake and “I brought you this fresh baked _____.”)
• Create a thing a day. You’ve probably got the supplies or camera to create without spending ANYTHING! You can do it with this Flickr group called Make Something Cool Every Day. That’s some downright inspiring shit.

Let’s begin the self-flagellation process. BAD APRIL, BAD! You Haven’t Posted Since Last Tuesday!

Terrible, I know. But I am sorry for keeping you on the EDGE OF YOUR SEAT as to what I got in my box last Wednesday. It started well enough with good intentions. I took pictures right away and even tried a different format! (Let me know what you think.) The wait is over and hurray for fresh! Here’s the booty:

Beets and beet greens, granny smith apples, basil, rose geranium, butternut squash, eggplant, pomegranates, bell peppers, Poblano peppers, onions, red chilies

So what have we used in the last 5 days? We made 5-minute beets (which tasted a LOT like sauerkraut, nomidingdong) and made a wilted green bacon salad with the beet greens. Attempts are being made to sprout the rose geranium for potting and the Mr. took to roasting almost all of our gypsy and bell pepper supply to make a tapenade. He also roasted many of our Poblanos as well but they’re chillin in the fridge. Not sure what to do with those spicy things yet. A single pomegranate has been dissected and enjoyed. Below are the two recipes we used to prepare those massive beets: five-minute beets and wilted green salad.

I don’t know how you feel about beets but my relationship with them borders Intense Dislike. Their strong flavor doesn’t agree with me. I will, however, admit to adoring the strong beety pink color. This first recipe was STANDOUT. Despite the beet greens actually tasting a lot like beets, the ranch-fresh egg  and homemade bacon from our buddy, Ryan Freitas, meant there was NO way this recipe would suck. We were not disappointed!

Warm Spicy Greens with Bacon and Eggs

halved and adapted from How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman

1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 pound of bacon or pancetta, cut into 1/2 cubtes
1 small shallot, chopped
2 cups torn beet greens
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
2 poached eggs

1. Put the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the bacon and cook slowly until it’s crisp all over, 10 minutes or more. Add the shallot and cook until softened, another minute or two. Keep the bacon warm in the skillet.
2. Warm a salad bowl by filling it with hot water and letting it sit for a minute. Dry it and toss in the greens. Add the vinegar and mustard to the skillet and bring just to a boil, stirring. Pour the liquid and the bacon over the greens, toss, and season to taste (it shouldn’t need much salt). Top each portion with an egg and serve immediately.

This second recipe was good because when it was done, the beets didn’t taste much like beets. They tasted a lot like sauerkraut and because they’re white, LOOKED like sauerkraut. We used lemon juice and dill for the herb.

Five-Minute Beets

adapted from the Eatwell Farm newsletter and recipe files, origin unknown

4 beets
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper
1/4 cup water
lemon juice or vinegar to taste
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, tarragon , dill or other herb

Grate beets into coarse shreds. Melt butter in skillet, add beets and toss with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 cup water, then cover the skillet and cook over medium heat until beets are tender (about 5-10 minutes). Remove lid and raise heat to boil off any excess water. Taste for salt, season with lemon juice or vinegar and toss with herbs. A tablespoon yogurt or sour cream is also a good addition.