we belong to each other

We used to think that the “South­ern Blend” greens mix from Trader Joe’s was pretty good…

It’s not.

After months with­out a taste of store-bought greens, let alone BAGGED pro­duce, we did not know what we were in for: my god, we had no idea.

After our 10 day song and dance vacay up in the great north­west we were tired and in need of some seri­ous restora­tion. Oh, who am I kid­ding. After the first few days M’s input into the meal dis­cus­sions con­sisted of “soup and salad” accom­pa­nied by a faint and wist­ful, “I just want what we have at home.” It was awk­ward. Our com­pan­ions’ blank stares were no doubt filled with mem­o­ries of the french fry enthu­si­ast of yore.

Any­ways, we got back on Sun­day after­noon, thereby miss­ing our reg­u­lar farmer’s mar­ket. After long delib­er­a­tion, we had decided not to order the CSA box to be picked up at another loca­tion so that we could keep on sched­ule and not waste food (you’ve seen the pic­tures, that’s a lot of pro­duce for two peo­ple to fin­ish in 7 days, let alone 4). We opted to suck it up and shop at the store this week.

DUDE.

No won­der peo­ple aren’t as obsessed with greens as we are!?! Taste­less! Limp! A sham! It was a true dis­grace to the glory of the mus­tard and col­lard. And who could blame them? After being trapped and shipped, those poor lit­tle dudes were – just like our post-travel plane and bus ride selves – no more than a holo­gram. (Don’t even get me started on the apples, but that was no shocker.)

It was a rough week, at least the greens part. All I can say is, thank heaven for soup: the ever hum­ble and always noble dish.

I would like to add that the unbagged pro­duce from a super­mar­ket, as glis­ten­ing and crisp as it may be, bares no mark to the fresh­ness of farmer’s mar­ket jew­els either. Time is every­thing, no?

Not every­one has the lux­ury of a year-round csa or farmer’s mar­kets. But maybe you have access to farm stands or a small area to grow things (win­dowsill, con­tainer, yard, roof, aban­doned pubic area) or areas to forage.

DO IT FOR THE TASTE MY FRIENDS. Do it for the mus­tard green, it deserves to be remem­bered for it’s true spice and vigor. Therein lies the hap­pi­ness and life that you are incor­po­rat­ing it into your self for, don’t waste your chews.