So far we are loving the CSA experience, although it is a bit stressful trying to use up all of the delicious produce before it goes bad, especially when things like sweet corn need to be cooked within 2 days to get the best flavour.

In this week's box:

1 dozen eggs

1 pound ground beef

1 pound pork sausage

6 ears of corn

4 tomatoes

1 green pepper

1 bag of peas in the pod

9 white Chinese eggplants

1 cucumber

26 baby red potatoes

2 mystery apple/pears

Seriously, does anyone know what these are?

On a tired, lazy Sunday morning nothing beats a basic breakfast:

Over-easy eggs on sourdough toast

with melted cheddar cheese and tomato slices

We decided that the best way to use up a lot of our veggies (and for me to really practice my knife skills AND debut my new apron) was to make a curry. About a month ago we made a red curry that was so good we raved for days about how we would never need to go out for thai food again. Today we made green curry, and the result is something of a mystery: The brand of curry paste is exactly the same, just the green variety, and we did exactly what we did last time (including the addition of The Secret Ingredient not listed on the curry paste tin - fish sauce). But instead of big curry flavour we were left with the taste of "hot"...and that's about it.

Green curry with red, yellow and green bell peppers, yellow beans and potato, served with rice

So the question is, did we do something wrong, forget something critical, or is the red curry paste just that much better?

Only time will tell, although our working hypothesis is too much coconut milk: We aren't positive, but we are pretty sure that last time we only used one can (because that's all we had), and this time - following the directions on the tin - we used two.

Mexican Corn Celebration

Egg yolk quiche with corn, green onion, tomato and cheddar

Egg white omelette with corn, aged Mexican queso, cheddar and green onion

topped with tomato

Monteray jack, green pepper and green onion quesadilla

topped with garlic yellow bean spread

Pasta salad with black olives, red onion, green bell peppers and basil (courtesy of The Dinner A'Fare)

Sweet corn

Lamb and roasted white eggplant hash

Fresh-from-the-oven, home-made cornbread muffin

Garnished with Parmesean and green onions

I really can't stop taking pictures of these tomatoes, it's getting weird.

The best part about farm-fresh tomatoes is how little you have to do to make them taste delicious. The Parmesan on top wasn't even really necessary for me (oh my god, I just said cheese wasn't necessary???), but my boyfriend really wanted to show me his new micro-planer in action.

Bruschetta

Raw and roasted tomatoes with toasted ciabatta,

buttered and sprinkled with aged Gouda.

Seared lamb on top of white eggplant puree

Spicy yellow bean and squash puree

Sweet corn

Seared pork chops

Mashed potatoes with garlic, onions,

buttermilk and brie topped with celery

Roasted squash with garlic and onions

Yellow beans sauteed in a buttermilk garlic sauce

garnished with green onions

Slices of THE REDDEST & MOST DELICIOUS TOMATOES EVER

Seriously, the tomatoes were so wonderful and the colour so incredible (these are no supermarket tomatoes!) that we couldn't resist some solo beauty shots, and these pictures don't even do the gorgeous colour justice:

Our First CSA Box!

We're very excited: this is our first week participating in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Every week we get a box of goodies from a local farm. We are getting fresh produce and eating seasonally, so our food will be healthier, and our meat and eggs come from animals that are grass-fed (also a health benefit) and well-treated (a moral benefit). But most immediately important, we are getting stuff we wouldn't necessarily buy ourselves that now we get to figure out how to cook and eat!

In this week's box:

2 pork chops

1 dozen eggs

4 tomatoes

2 bags of yellow beans

4 ears of corn

10 brown potatoes

1 green pepper

3 white eggplants

We bought the ramekins Wednesday afternoon so we could make molten lava chocolate cake.

Since that was a fail, it was time to use the ramekins for the forces of good: BREAKFAST!

Oven-baked egg-white French toast

infused with cilantro, arugula, onion and mozzarella

Layered with roasted tomatoes and brie

Topped with egg yolk-cheddar cream sauce

Update on the Mole-Fail-Sauce

Only good things happened to the leftover Mole sauce that we had in the fridge. The tomato flavour became more subtle (even the colour of the sauce became less red), and there was more kick to it (although this could be because the first time we tried the sauce we ate it right after the stuffed peppers, so maybe we just couldn't taste any more "hot" at that point).

Moroccan-spice roast beef hash

cheese grits (topped with extra cheddar)

grilled bacon-wrapped roasted red jalapeno stuffed with onions and blue-brie

Italian greens with balsamic vinegrette

Moroccan-spice crusted roast beef

with aged gouda, wasabi mayo, onions,

arugula and radicchio on Italian round.

Top Chef Finale & Premiere Night

We decided to be ambitious for our first meal as bloggers, and what better night to pretend we are Master Chefs than the night of the finale of Top Chef: Masters, and the first episode of Top Chef: Las Vegas.

6 Courses, 3 Hours, 1.75 Fails

First Course: Granny Smith apple slices with blue-brie and a red wine balsamic reduction

Second Course: Shrimp & Grits with monteray jack, sharp cheddar, green onions and bacon

Third Course: Squash quiche with shallots, cream cheese and aged Mexican queso.

(We intended this to be a tart, but it turned out great as a quiche, so no complaints).

Fourth Course: Chile Rellanos - Roasted red and green jalapenos stuffed with brie and aged Mexican queso, respectively, and a roasted poblano lined with roasted banana pepper and stuffed with monteray jack, all topped with some bacon strips

Fifth Course: Steak and home-made potato chips with fried shallots and mole-fail-sauce.

Yeah, that red sauce was supposed to be a mole - too much tomato, not enough chocolate.

Dessert: Molten Lava Chocolate Cake -

Looks good...

...but either over-cooled or under-cooked