Why the veg box rocks

A while back I wrote about a friend and my quest to get an organic vegetable box here in Madrid. I thought it might be worthwhile to post a follow-up because both my friend and I are so pleased that we decided to do this. All winter we’ve received boxes of very tasty fresh fruit and vegetables from Recapte and it’s really changed the way both of us eat (and, to some extent, live).

For starters, I’d say that the primary component of most of my meals this year has been vegetables, complemented by a good amount of fruit for dessert or snacks. Secondly, while some vegetables are ready to eat, most take a bit of preparation, which means we have to dedicate more time to getting meals ready and investigating ways to use vegetables that we haven’t cooked with before. I do believe that this is time and energy well-spent. One of the best changes is that I’ve greatly reduced the number of trips I make to the supermarket. In fact, I hardly go. I usually go to NaturaSí for basics like oats, yogurt, rice, and pasta, and to my local panadería for loaves of bread. My cousin taps maple trees in upstate New York and makes syrup, which I always bring back from the States and for the past few months I’ve been using honey from a friend of a friend’s bees and sheep’s cheese from a student’s finca. The time I save by not going to the supermarket is probably reinvested in cooking my vegetables. Fifteen euros a week has really never been more valuable.

All of these experiences were reaffirmed as good things by my reading Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma last November and really starting to think about where my meals come from. It’s good to care (peanut scare: case in point). By no means do I feed myself the perfect diet, but I think the changes brought on by the box are a step in the right direction.

I leave you with highlights from the veg box, October-February:

– Boniatos (sweet potatoes): easily our favorite product of the fall. Mashed or as oven fries, there’s never been such a vast improvement on the potato.

- Granadas (pomegranates): another fall treat, great in salads and out.

- Calabaza (squash/pumpkin): I turned a big one we got into many cups of purée and made two pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving and froze the rest. Last week I defrosted it and made pumpkin soup and three loaves of pumpkin bread.

- Aguacates (avocados): we’ve been getting the most amazing ones for maybe two months and haven’t tired of them yet.

- Chirivías (parsnips): started appearing sometime in January. Love ‘em roasted!

- Acelgas (Swiss chard): a staple for months now and a green I’ve grown to love, steamed or sautéed.

On sincerity

In honor of Valentine’s day, yesterday I gave the students in my English for actors class some romantically themed discussion questions. One of my students asked the group this one: what’s your idea of a romantic evening?

The answer from one of the actresses without skipping a beat:

“Have a dinner and, then, fuck.”

Bici!

Since November I’ve been the proud owner of a bicycle in Madrid. Early on a Sunday morning in that fine month I, along with 4,999 other hardy souls, rode through the center of Madrid in a bright orange t-shirt on a brand new bike. We were part of the “Madrid Bike Tour,” an initiative that originated in Portugal to get people out and riding bikes. Here in Spain the Ministerio de Sanidad joined in as a sponsor and dubbed it “a bike ride against drugs.” Whether or not riding a bike fights drugs, what’s clear is that mola. It’s great. Madrid is not a bike-friendly city, though, and it’s really a shame. But you do see riders out there, especially on Thursday nights when it’s time for Bici Crítica. I haven’t been yet cause it’s when I go to yoga, but I fully intend to participate in La Criticona.

So far, I ride my bike a bit around the city, especially to places that are annoying to walk to and not too too far away. I have invested in a super-cool reflective vest because I figure that looking ridiculous is better than losing my life. In reading some urban cycling sites, I came across this page, which I think is very well done, although in Madrid (and Spain), someone should really create an addendum for how to ride safely with motos, which are all over the place and a bit of a threat cause they can move like bikes but of course are a lot more dangerous. It is slightly risky to ride your bike around the city, mainly because Madrid drivers aren’t used to bikes and there are virtually no roadways, lanes, or other concessions to cycling traffic.

For a while, though, I’ve been meaning to try out Madrid’s one concession to cyclists: the Anillo Verde Ciclista, a bike path that goes the entire way around Madrid in 64 kilometers. Yesterday a friend and I ventured out on it and did about a third of the whole route before catching the metro and heading home (yes, you can bring your bike on the metro at all times on weekends!). We had passed the very northern reaches of the city, way beyond the four ginormous new towers that redefine the city’s skyline, and ended up stopping on literally the other edge of the city (the area doesn’t even make it onto the map of Madrid I have hanging on my wall). The experience was really enjoyable and I’m hoping that next weekend we’ll tackle the last two-thirds of the ring.