Not Quite Ready For Food

Yesterday I picked up the second to last farm share of the season. The area I picked up at was still mostly out of power. The pickup location was running on a generator and the street was littered with out of town utility workers who, two weeks later, were still working around the clock to restore power to the area. This is a comparatively wealthy part of a very wealthy town so I'm guessing if they hadn't restored power yet things were probably pretty serious.


This week we got two pounds of beets (which ended up being one giant beet), carrots, two Brussels sprouts stalks, a bunch of kale, garlic, sage, boc choi, celeriac, turnips, pop corn cobs, Winesap Stamen Apples, Golden Delicious Apples, Bosc Pears, and a jug of apple cider.


The doctor said to monitor the babies for interest in solid food. She said once they showed interest we could start feeding them solids. We started putting them onto the dinner table in their Bumbos while we eat dinner. At this point they have shown less interest in solid food than just about anything else we've ever exposed them to.


Martin, however, did enjoy sucking on my finger after I ate short ribs the other night. He enjoyed it so much that he has since tried sucking on me and Jen's fingers a few times only to give us a look of skepticism and disappointment when he has discovered a distinct lack of short rib flavor.


For salad tonight I made this salad with leftover Boston Bibb lettuce, avocado, red onion, sesame oil, lime juice, and soy sauce.

After getting the Wombats home from daycare and dealing with their post-daycare freak out (well, mostly Martin's) there isn't a lot of time to cook dinner these days. I have started a daily routine whereby I put them into a dimly lit room and play soothing music.

This does nothing.

So while they freak out I jump into the kitchen, hastily chop up some vegetables, and then throw it in a pot to simmer while I tend to them.


Tonight I chopped up some onion, carrot, ginger, turnip, bok choy, and ground pork and threw them unceremoniously into a pan with some sesame oil, soy sauce, and the remainder of the short rib braising liquid from the other night. I cooked up some soba noodles which I served the dish over with some sliced radishes and freshly squeezed lime juice.


For beer we ended our 2012 pumpkin beer season with this beer called The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale from Flying Dog Brewery. This was the most unique of the batch for sure. It was dark and had a coffee and chocolate bitterness to it, something unlike anything I've experienced in a pumpkin beer before. I hesitate to list it with the rest of the beers because I feel like it was in a glass all by itself. However, in terms of how much I enjoyed it I can slot it in below.

It's misleading though because I'd highly recommend this beer if you're looking to try something very different from your standard pumpkin ale.

2012 Pumpkin Beer Standings (Final Results)

1. River Horse Brewing Company Hipp-O-Lantern Imperial Pumpkin - subtle flavors, perfect balance
   
2. Shipyard Brewing Company Smashed Pumpkin - more pumpkin than spice
   
3. Samuel Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin Ale - rich maltiness
   
4. Southern Tier Brewing Company Pumking - fresh pumpkin muffin batter
   
5. Long Trail Brewmasters Series Imperial Pumpkin - dubbel-style malt
   
6. Harpoon UFO Unfiltered Pumpkin - wheaty and balanced
   
7. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale - good malt, heavy spice
   
8. Flying Dog The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale - coffee bitterness and spice
   
9. Saranac Brewery Pumpkin Ale - light vanilla finish
   
10. Uinta Brewing Company Punk'n - nicely balanced
    
11. Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale - creamy head and molasses
    
12. New Holland Brewing Company Ichabod Ale - heavy spice
    
13. Captain Lawrence Brewing Company Pumpkin Ale - slightly sour
    
14. Fire Island Beer Company Pumpkin Barrel Ale - too much cinnamon
    

One thing I learned this year is that imperial pumpkin ales are far more enjoyable for me than regular pumpkin ales. For 2013 I think I will stick exclusively with the imperial variety. After dinner we split a single cupcake from Sugarrush which was voted the best cupcakes in New Jersey! It was an extra bonus for me since Jen doesn't like M&Ms and I got to eat all of hers. Except for the ones she spit out, that would be a little gross. After dinner we enjoyed some quiet family time where I got to share a beer with Elliott. He seemed to really enjoy it. Note: Before any buttinsky parenting experts chime in, no babies were actually fed any beer in the making of this blog entry.