Hot Shots: Ursula's Picks of What's Beautiful This Week

Dear Ones,

This morning I did the poor man’s house warming trick that is cranking the oven and opening it up and fanning the heat around the kitchen with a dishtowel.  Don’t tell my landlord. 

And I looked at my wardrobe while my coffee brewed on the stove.  I knew it’s true that it’s not as cold here as it gets everywhere else in this fine country, but also, it’s not so much that we’re wimps, but more that we are not prepared for any kind of cold snap.  For instance, I don’t have a winter coat, I have a rain coat.  But this other thing I remembered this morning just right before I started to dress in everything I own, is that I also have a pair of silk long underwear.  My Dad sent them to me several years ago.  My Dad lives in Zurich and he makes harpsichords for a living.  I know my Dad because of email as the last time I saw him I was about three and three quarters feet tall and about 50 lbs.    

But he’s here.  In a way, I felt his love from so very far away today, because I slipped into the silk long johns he gave me that I’ve never had cause to don, into a pair of leggings, wrestled my legs into jeans, bundled up and walked to the train.  And holy S*&%!  All y’all needs is a pair of silk long johns! 

I think it’s really neat when a gesture becomes love that is action.  My Dad can’t take care of me, never has been able to, not really, but today, he did.  I’m 26 and my Dad took care of me today.  It’s been more than 20 years since he dressed me up for the cold, but in a sense, he did it again, and he didn’t even know. 

And seriously, enough mushy love stuff, I wanted to say also:  I haven't sent you a note in awhile, now.  It was Christmas, it was New Years, now it's January, 2012.  It is cold and it is clear.  It is so sunny.  I feel like this time we're in right now is like an 'all roads lead to one' kind of time.  I'm not talking about ascension, nor prophesies, nor even our timid want to understand and breathe with the whisper of what a New Year is.  I'm not talking about radical change, but something more along the lines of soft movement.  As Stuart McLean said on the Vinyl Café this weekend: “Be quiet, you might hear things.  Read, you might learn things.  And laugh.”

It’s pretty simple.  I promise you, you’re on the right track.  You always have been.

We haven’t had any romanesco here in so LONG!!!!  I think of this as proof of nature’s perfect design.  You’re a part of that perfect design too, you know.  And here’s a little bit of proof that it exists.

Snow peas to match our Coastal weather.  They’re snappy and sweet and oh so pretty.  So are the sugar snaps.  Both from John Givens, who named his farm: Something Good.  Pretty clever, no?  Q: What would you like? A: Something Good. 

I know that this isn’t a particularly stunning photo.  I know that, I do, but what I’m really trying to show you is a green onion pack out that doesn’t have ICE!!! The green onions are in magic bags that prolong the life of the product and allowing us to have them sent to us without ice.  Shipping sans ice from as far away as Mexico makes for smaller boxes, so more product per skid and so, less of a carbon footprint for this product we have to bring in from so far away.  This is the avant garde of food logistics, a new wave of wondering how best to move food around.  And it’s working.  Its’ it great when there’s a good idea, and then you do it, and then it works?  2012, Bitches.  2012. 

Bigger green onions from Washington: also known as ‘Leeks’.  Lisa who works in the warehouse told me a trick for a Potato Leek Soup.  You ‘sweat’ the vegetables, and then add stock.  That means you chop up the following: 1 yellow onion, a bunch of Ralph’s Leeks (say, 4 or 5), a bunch of spuds (whatever kind you like, the sweeter the better) and a whack of celery.  You toss them around in a pot with a lid and as much butter as you think is sort of reasonable, and you let them sweat.  And then you add stock.  And then you blend it all up.  And that is how you make one damn fine soup.  Lisa said so anyway, and it worked for me.

Green butter lettuce.  This stuff is super beautiful and super fresh and just really damn cute.  Butter lettuce is stunning when it’s nice, and I promise you, this stuff is really nice.

Red radishes from Boskovich.  They’re huge, they’re bright red.  I have lipstick and nailpolish this colour.  I’m into the nail polish, but the lipstick’s a bit much.  I put it on one day for a fancy bike ride and it was so awesome.  But that’s about it.  That’s the end of the lipstick story.  Not much of a story, I guess.

Tumeric.  You should be eating this is you have an injury.  You should be eating this if you menstruate and want to recover quickly from your cycle.  You should be eating this if you have a hangover.  You should be eating this is if you want to not get cervical cancer.  Just sayin’.  You should be eating this.  And you should be eating it fresh and with a fat.

If you were wondering what’s ‘jumbo’ about our ‘jumbo’ white button mushrooms, this is them.  They’re big.  They’re really big.  Also, just in case you were wondering, and I know you weren’t, but I still think it’s funny to write down ‘jumbo white butts’, you know, as an abbreviation.  I’m super mature, you see.

Bacon avocadoes, fatty and yummy and super uber flavourful. 

Cherry bomb peppers.  We don’t have these very often and they’re a colour explosion, a light it up kind of specialty item that’s only around so often.  And they’re called “Cherry Bomb”.  I don’t know why anyone would not want to buy a thing called a “Cherry Bomb.”  In fact, if you don’t mind, I’d prefer if my new nickname could be “Cherry Bomb”.   

Tomatillos.  If you put these on your shelf with a green salsa recipe folks will buy even more of the beautiful produce you’re selling.  They just will.  That’s what happens when there’s a pretty item with an awesome word for a name and an easy fresh recipe right there.

I’m off to meet with Valerie and Annie about el Dream Team.  This week is Little Annie’s last week and we’ve got a new member of the Goddess Squadron starting on Friday.  We’re shuffling desks and saying ‘Hello,” and “Goodbye,” all at the same time.  It’s weird.  It’s weird and wonderful.

Keep it on the Good Foot, and let Little Annie know how much you’re gonna miss her.  Don’t worry.  We’ve all decided to try to be at least half as friendly as she is - you know, at least one day a week. 

Big Love,

Ursula Twiss