The Family Table: Mud puddles and cheese curds
We have a calendar hanging in the kitchen to keep track of everyone’s school, work and personal obligations.
With five of us, as you can imagine, days fill up quickly.
May 21 was one we marked with anticipation (as opposed to with a question about how we were going to coordinate our schedules to get children places) because it marked the beginning of the farmers market near our home.
As fresh crops start to come in, the market is a welcome destination. We supplement what we don’t already grow with purchases there, and in the days before our gardens start producing, it’s the best place for us the buy the freshest and most seasonal produce we can.
We also take advantage of the fresh meats, delicious cheeses (one vendor sells cheese curds that I could totally make an entire meal on), and occasionally, some new-to-us wines. While the market is buying to create food for me and Mike, Gabe looks at it as a way to gorge.
Armed with cash and the appetite of a 15-year-old boy, he goes from food vendor to food vendor, getting his usual iced coffee and eating breakfasts of Bratwurst and banana-stuffed crepes. It’s almost always a given that he’ll pick himself up snacks — hand pies and cinnamon rolls — for later.
The market operates rain or shine, as most do, and while being rained on doesn’t generally bother me, it certainly makes for added laundry.
On Saturday, Mike and I, along with Gabe and his girlfriend (on a what, at 15, was a date for them), headed there bright and early. The rain had mostly stopped by the time we arrived, but the puddles that it produced remained.
Mike and I walked around in rubber boots, oblivious to the mud. It wasn’t until we were heading to the car that I glanced at everyone and realized that I was going to be washing clothes when we got home — and breathed a sigh of relief that we took Mike’s car instead of mine. Both teenagers had sopping wet shoes, and were muddy from the knees down. Gabe managed to get mud on his shirt, which I’m still trying to figure out.
I shouldn’t be too critical — we adults didn’t fare much better. While the boots kept our feet dry and cozy, we both had mud on our pants, too.
At home, I loaned Gabe’s girlfriend a pair of my yoga pants, and went about laundering clothes, drying shoes and making lunch for everyone.
My kiddo, of course, didn’t eat much.
Cheese stuffed meatballs
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 pound lean ground chicken
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh chives
Couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce
Salt/pepper
Panko breadcrumbs (about 1/3 cup)
Cheese curds (or cheese of your choice for stuffing)
In a small pan, sautee the onions for about 2 minutes, and then pour about 1/2 cup broth on them. (I do this to increase the moisture content, and to get some color on the onions without having to stand at the stove and stir over low heat for 30 minutes.) Turn the heat up to high, and let them cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is evaporated. In those last few seconds before the liquid is gone, pay close attention. The onions can go from browned to scorched quickly. After the onions cool, add the remaining ingredients except for the cheese into a bowl, and mix together. Put the cheese into a formed ball, making sure that the meat is sealed around the cheese. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy.