The Silence of the Yams

You may remember from a summer post called FRESH PICKS that one of the best discoveries we have made in Chicago is Irv & Shelly's weekly delivery of local, seasonal, and organic produce.  Every Friday afternoon I hurry home to find a new gray cooler by my front door.  With the eagerness of a child on Christmas morning, I tear into my new delivery with expectant glee.  It is such a satisfying feeling to get to Thursday night, see an empty refrigerator,  and know that the four of us have consumed all that fresh goodness.  This week's delivery (picture above and below) included

Cremini Mushrooms, Spinach, Purple Kale, Radishes, Arugula, Sweet Potatoes, Celeriac, Romanesco (that pointy veggie which is a cross between broccoli and cauliflower with a more nutty and subtle flavor), Fennel, and Red Leaf Lettuce

Last week included

Green Beans, Yukina Savoy (a green), Sweet Potatoes, Daikon, Sunchokes, Parsnips, Salad Mix, & Garlic

Sunchokes might be one of my new favorite vegetables.  Also known as a Jerusalem Artichoke, these root vegetables taste like buttered apples when roasted with olive oil, salt & pepper in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.  They didn't even make it off the cookie sheet before Jason and I snacked them into oblivion.

And in the spirit of good food...
 I grabbed Michael Pollen's book Food Rules off the library shelf last week.  Food Rules is a handy little pocket book in which the chapters of In Defense of Food (which I HIGHLY recommend) are summed up into 64 bullet points for easy potty reading.  Here are some of my favorites:

7 Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.

12 Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle

13 Eat only foods that will eventually rot.

20 It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car (I know, I'm a hypocrite on this one)

25 Eat your colors.

43 Have a glass of wine with dinner.

44 Pay more, eat less.

51 Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.

57 Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.

64 Break the rules once in a while 

"All things in moderation...including moderation." - Oscar Wilde

*The title of this post is taken from Section 8 "Avoid food products that make health claims."  Pollen writes, "Don't take the silence of the yams as a sign they have nothing valuable to say about your health."