When all else fails, add bacon

We joined a CSA this year, in an attempt to try some new things, maybe save some money, and mostly to support local agriculture. This week was a "come meet us and try out some stuff for free" week, so Dex and I went - first to the playground near there, and then to the farm.

The playground was at Nottingham County Park, which is pretty awesome. Huge trees. Shaded playgrounds. Ten trillion pavilions. A pond with geese and a little covered bridge. But, alas, no basketball hoops. Dex was a bit dismayed. What park, I ask, has NO basketball hoops? Insanity. I think the baby geese were a decent consolation prize, though.

After driving the whole park in search of basketball hoops, we cruised off to the farm. And the farm had CHICKENS! And HORSES! And kids playing with toy dump trucks, which Dex could steal and play with! And - AND!! A HOT FIREPLACE! That was ON! And had ORANGE COMING OUT! Which led to teaching moment of the day - yes, fire is orange. Yes, fire is hot. NO, we do not touch the hot fire. We only look. We managed to escape unscathed.

So I came home with two bags of a whole bunch of greens that I 1) have no idea the names of and 2) have no idea what to do with. And some asparagus, green onion, spinach, and radish. I at least can identify those, and can do something with them. Except radish. What the hell does one do with 10 radishes?

The basic instructions from the nice CSA woman who picked all these greens for me, fresh from the garden, was to chop them up and saute them in olive oil and some garlic. I went one step further, added a bunch of green onions, and sauted the stuff up in bacon grease. Because if you have no idea what you're eating, you at least know it tastes awesome in some bacon grease, right? I do believe that, in similar fashion to M&M's, bacon grease makes everything all better. As does bacon. On some yummy burgers. With some cheese. Hold the bun.

So how was it, you're asking? I know you're DYING to know how the unidentified chopped up green stuff cooked in bacon grease turned out. And, you know? It was pretty tasty. I kept trying it as I was cooking it, and was unimpressed. So I added salt and pepper. And balsamic vinegar. And, finally, parmesan cheese. That. That right there was what took it from edible to downright good. John even went back for seconds, and said it was really good. Which, I dunno. He says that about everything I make. I think he just wants to be sure I don't stop cooking for him...

PS - Animal Kingdom just lost the Preakness by a length. To the horse he just barely beat in the Derby. Dex and I went to Fair Hill Training Center last week to see him train. Somewhere, in someone's archive, there's video of that horse galloping last Friday, with my son in the background chattering away: "Horses go REALLY fast! Watch horses go past that train crossing. Go over there and watch horses go past THAT train crossing. Horses go REALLY REALLY fast." I'm sure the owner of the horse, who somehow ended up on the rail directly next to us, was impressed with Dexter's color commentary...

There's Animal Kingdom, checking out the scenery before his gallop. He's the chestnut horse all the way to the right. And WAY over to the right is the "train crossing" that Dexter was so excited about.

There's the owner dude, right next to us. Hi, owner dude! My child never stops talking!

And there's Animal Kingdom walking back to the barn after his gallop. Yeah, the scenery sucks at Fair Hill, eh? You'd think I'd have a picture or two of the horse actually galloping but, no. I thought I was actually video taping it, in which case you could hear the chatter box commentary. But I got home and, nope. No video on the camera. I must not have pushed the button.

And here's some photos from this morning:

Dex shows Daddy how to make a fuzzy F

It's the old "What hand is the ball in" game. That Daddy is one hell of a magician...