Advice to the Young
by Miriam Waddington
1
Keep bees and
grow asparagus,
watch the tides
and listen to the
wind instead of
the politicians
make up your own
stories and believe
them if you want to
live the good life.
2
All rituals
are instincts
never fully
trust them but
study to im-
prove biology
with reason.
3
Digging trenches
for asparagus
is good for the
muscles and
waiting for the
plants to settle
teaches patience
to those who are
usually in too
much of a hurry.
4
There is morality
in bee-keeping
it teaches how
not to be afraid
of the bee swarm
it teaches how
not to be afraid of
finding new places
and building in them
all over again.
photograph by Joi
The most exciting thing that I have done in the last few weeks has been to sign up for my local CSA; the list of past box contents was partially in Spanish, which is equally exciting — language and food are two of my great loves, and the prospect of getting to brush up on my Spanish vocabulary, cook with delicious food, meet people who care about sustainable food policy and practice, and support something in which I believe….well. I am not overstating the case when I say this was the best part of my last few weeks. Although the asparagus, ramps, and rhubarb showing up in the farmer’s market was up there, too.
Asparagus scrambled eggs! Rhubarb and dumplings! Ramp biscuits! Pasta with sautéed asparagus and ramps! And I have fallen in love with sunflower shoots; they hold their crisp texture so well in the wok and are such a cute shape. (Yes, aesthetics are an important part of my kitchen considerations.)
And today we got strawberries for the first time all year!
I may just lie on my bed and eat strawberries and stare out the window at the sliver of the Hudson I can see. Or maybe I will tell you about the saffron orzo with asparagus & bacon I made recently. Yeah. That sounds like a plan.
Because it was the most amazing color. Saffron looks unassuming, but when cooked, it is sheer alchemy.
photograph by courtneyBolton
Just for the color, I would make the recipe again. It was a little bland, but that can be fixed next time by adding more bacon. (Or more Parmesan! It is hard to go wrong with more cheese.)
Crisp slivers of bacon in a saucepan over medium-high heat; remove and drain on paper towels. In the melted fat in the saucepan, toss a heaping cup of orzo for a minute, and then pour in three cups of stock and a half-teaspoon of crushed saffron threads. Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium, and cover. Stir occasionally. When almost all the liquid is absorbed, which shouldn’t take more than ten minutes or so, add half-inch pieces of fresh asparagus (I don’t have a scale, so I don’t know how much it was, maybe a pound of so? two bunches from the market stall) and cover for a minute or two longer. (I like my vegetables really crisp, so you may want to add the asparagus earlier.) Stir in the bacon and a half-cup to a cup of grated Parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
I suspect this will adapt when asparagus leaves the market, as it always does; peas would be good to replace the asparagus, and I bet broccoli stems will be good in the winter. I really like the texture, even if the flavoring was a little muted when I paid attention to the original recipe at epicurious.
