Ina, let's do the Hamptons

I have always firmly believed that Ina Garten and I would be fast friends. Particularly when visiting her Hamptons home, eating whatever she made me for dinner. So, in an effort to be closer to Ina, I felt that joining a CSA would be somewhat Ina-esque, like that episode where Ina joins a CSA. Whether she would be proud of my accomplishments this week, I don't know. It was my first week. However, her spirit of not working very hard, not really knowing how to use a knife, incorporating bizarre liqueurs (is that how you spell that? there are so many "u's") and sparing no expense, I most certainly embodied. Things I need to work on remain-- using a stand mixer for all recipes being one of my most immediate goals. Starting off, after picking up the CSA contents, I determined that a trip to Costco, union square, and a fresh direct delivery were all in order. I went to sur la table twice. I also ordered takeout twice and went out to dinner once. Note, I currently live only with a small dog who eats dog food exclusively. Then I set about my business of making food. I tried desperately to figure out some kind of super-meal that would incorporate all the vegetables simultaneously with a liqueur, but didn't come up with anything. It was my first week so maybe I have to build to that. I started out easy-- mostly eating leftovers on top of vegetables. Steak fajita on romaine. Chicken shish kabob on romaine. Throwing away arugula. Two down. The best I got was a two ingredient combo. I made a chicken spinach soup with garlic scape pesto. Dirt was a key ingredient here, and I would recommend washing your spinach for upwards of 45 minutes. I made a greek inspired swiss chard and mint in tomatoes thing halfway between this: NY TIMES Stewed greens and mint and this: Barefoot Contessa Shrimp and Feta Where the nytimes recipes for health omits alcohol and a large pile of cheese topping, the Barefoot Contessa does not. And with my current mantra of WWID, obviously I opted for both. And it was not wrong, because no one wanted to eat swiss chard this week unless there were some more persuasive factors. I wont bore you with the zucchini story like I just bored myself with dinner. I dont want Ina to Google me and have something stupid come up. So I will just finish with this in case she does-- remember that time we ran into each other at Grace's and nothing happened? I do. Also I stood next to your friend TR on the subway and asked Eli Zabar what kind of soup he recommended at Zabars. Ah we have so much in common.