Family Dinner Book Club

Good Morning!

Quick note before we dive into it: it is going to be warm this weekend. If you don't plan on being home, please leave us a cooler, or a cooler bag with ice to keep your items nice and chilly.

Also, please leave any Family Dinner bags and ice packs out for us to take back and reuse. This helps us keep to our goals of minimizing packaging and keeping waste low. Thanks for your help!

We hope you had great week!

Much Love,

Erin + Tim, and the Family Dinner Team

FAMILY DINNER BOOK CLUB

I think it's safe to say that over the past year, we have all seen an uptick in our consumption; be it content, commentary or calories. Uncountable hours of reading, Netflix binging and You Tube tutorials have kept us amused, distracted and, in some cases, well fed.

At Family Dinner, while we pack your shares and listen to "Shoop" by Salt N' Pepa for the 4,000,000th time, we talk about what we're reading, watching and listening to. We share books, puzzles, and bits of dishes we have made. Lots of it has to do with food, making it at least slightly relevant to this newsletter.

We wanted to share a few of these things with you, suggestions from the staff. It's sort of like a book club, only it's not just books, you don't have to see anyone or leave your house and you can still drink all the wine you like while enjoying them.

Here they are, along with a line or two from the team member recommending it and a bit about who they are outside of Family Dinner. Enjoy!

Shannon - Family Dinner Operations Manager, Owner and Farmer at Blossom Brook Farm

"If you haven't picked up on the fact that I often list the etymology of food names or the evolution of how we got our modern day vegetables, you may not know that I am really interested in understanding where things were developed and originated. I am SO EXCITED to watch this series next week, High On the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America!"

"Braiding Sweetgrass is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. For any and all looking for a deeper understanding, connection, or background on the natural world you are a part of, I would highly recommend it! "Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices."

Betsy - Saturday Share packing Wizard and Director of Girl Program for the Girls Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, Mom to Tonks the Dog

"All things Samin Nosrat! From the award winning cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, to the Netflix docu-series of the same name to her podcast Home Cooking, I can't get enough of Samin. She has such a wonderful approach to appreciating foods and the significance of sharing food with others. She also turned me on to the simple pleasure of a thick slice of toast rubbed with a garlic clove, topped with cottage cheese or ricotta and ripe tomatoes.

Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table is a funny and poignant memoir by Ruth Reichl (NY Times Restaurant Critic) that chronicles her early years and is full of captivating characters as well as recipes for the exquisitely described meals in the book!"

Brian - Serious Share Checker (the guy who makes sure you get your treats) and Product Design Engineer/ CEO and Founder of Boundless Design

"I read this book called Entangled Life, all about fungi that I found super interesting, and it does touch on truffles and some other edible fungi. If you've recently been getting acquainted with mushrooms in your diet, this book helps you get acquainted to the entire Fungi kingdom of life! Mushrooms are just the fruiting bodies of oftentimes massive organisms, which are evolutionarily more closely related to animals than they are to plants."

Tim Fu - Co-Founder of Family Dinner, Father to Frank the Dog and VP of Product, Valor Performance, Inc

"I could watch Anthony Bourdain in Parts Unknown on repeat forever, because he tells complex stories of people, food and culture - not just the good stuff, but the underbelly and the difficult parts, too. In watching, you realize that all of us have our good and bad sides, our ups and downs, and that cooking and sharing food with people is one of the few gestures that almost universally brings people together."

Davina- Cooler Packer with the Mostest, Captain of Family Dinner Dance Squad and Self Employed Musician, starting a career path in Accounting (Davina failed MAGICALLY at "give me one sentence about the thing you are recommending".)

"Okay, this s a tough one for me. Historically a lot of my cooking inspo has come from my dad, and I have yet to write a book at him. HOWEVER! Last year I discovered a charming elderly man named Pasquale Sciarappa, who originally hails from Orsara, Italy, but now lives New Jersey with his wife and kids. He has a YouTube channel and I love watching him. It’s basically Old Italian Man ASMR. There’s a whole 15-minute video of him making sauce in his driveway. I could watch it on a loop all day.

Coming from an Italian-American background, there’s some wild stuff in terms of our heritage. In the early 20th century, my ancestors had it all but beaten out of them here in the US, in order to prove that we were white, which is so interesting and messed up. We got to keep the food, though, because the colonizers who were already here before us liked spaghetti. I like learning about food from people who actually come from Italy. It gives me a whole different perspective, as opposed to the Americanized versions of dishes some of my family learned to make. "

So check out Samin, High on the Hog, Mushrooms Galore and the OId Driveway Nonno. We hope you find something in here you love.

WHAT'S IN THE BAG?

Delivery dates: Saturday, 5/22 and Tuesday, 5/25

Note: If you order a "Meat and Fish Share" you will receive just the meats listed, not the "dairy" items (i.e., eggs, yogurt, etc). If you order a "Fish and Seafood Share" you will receive the fish listed, not the dairy items.

Add-on Grain of the Week - Chips from Fox Family Potato Chips
Add-on Bread of the Week - Francese from Iggy's
Add-on Pastry of the Week - Kouign Amann from A&J King
Add-on Fresh Pasta of the Week - Black Pepper Spaghetti from Dave's Fresh Pasta
Add-on Cheese of the Week - Bradbury Mountain Blue Cheese from Winter Hill Farm
Add-on Mezze of the Week - Tahini from Just Hummus

HALF SHARE

Omnivore Protein - Garlic Cheddar Sausage from Brookford Farm; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm
Pescatarian Protein - Scup from Red's Best; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm
Vegetarian Proteins - Piergoi from Jaju; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm
Paleo Proteins - Garlic Cheddar Sausage from Brookford Farm; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm
Fruits and Veggies - Greens from Generation Farm and Langwater Farm; Cucumbers from Jericho Farm; Swiss Chard from Pete's Greens; Carrots from Brookford Farm
Grain - Anadama Bread from A&J King
Special Treat - Palmiers from A&J King

WHOLE SHARE

Omnivore Protein - Garlic Cheddar Sausage from Brookford Farm; Scup from Red's Best; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm; Hummus from Magic Bites
Pescatarian Protein - Scup and Salmon from Red's Best; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm; Hummus from Magic Bites
Vegetarian Proteins - Piergoi from Jaju; Magic Grain Salad from Magic Bites; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm; Hummus from Magic Bites
Paleo Proteins - Garlic Cheddar Sausage from Brookford Farm; Scup from Red's Best; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm; Hummus from Magic Bites
Fruits and Veggies - Greens from Generation Farm and Langwater Farm; Cucumbers from Jericho Farm; Swiss Chard from Pete's Greens; Carrots from Brookford Farm; Radish from Langwater Farm; Asparagus from Brookford Farm
Grain - Anadama Bread from A&J King
Special Treat - Palmiers and Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies from A&J King

DOUBLE SHARE

Omnivore Protein - Garlic Cheddar Sausage from Brookford Farm; Scup from Red's Best; Lamb Sausage from Lilooet Farm; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm; Hummus from Magic Bites; Almond Milk from Nectar and Green
Pescatarian Protein - Scup, Salmon, and Scallops from Red's Best; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm; Hummus from Magic Bites; Almond Milk from Nectar and Green
Vegetarian Proteins - Piergoi from Jaju; Magic Grain Salad from Magic Bites; Empanadas from Buena's; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm; Hummus from Magic Bites; Almond Milk from Nectar and Green
Paleo Proteins - Garlic Cheddar Sausage from Brookford Farm; Scup from Red's Best; Lamb Sausage from Lilooet Farm; Eggs from Feather Brook Farm; Hummus from Magic Bites; Almond Milk from Nectar and Green
Fruits and Veggies - Greens from Generation Farm and Langwater Farm; Cucumbers from Jericho Farm; Swiss Chard from Pete's Greens; Carrots from Brookford Farm; Radish from Langwater Farm; Asparagus from Brookford Farm; Bok Choy from Langwater Farm; Apples from Champlain Orchards
Grain - Anadama Bread from A&J King; Bagels from Iggy's
Special Treat - Palmiers and Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies from A&J King

RECIPES

(from Shannon)

Pan Seared Scup - What's Scup? I think I know what you're having for dinner :)

Stuffed Swiss Chard with Creamy Orzo - Creamy Orzo? More like Dreamy dinzo (dinner...)!

Cucumber Radish Salad - Light and Breezy!

Thai Carrot Salad - I love a good carrot salad, on its own, on top of greens, or in a sammy you can't go wrong!

Sausage and Swiss Chard Pasta Salad - Okay, it's been 3 salad recipes in a row but I'm not upset about it tis the season and I'm doing a happy dance thinking about summer pasta salads.

Perfect French Toast - The sweet molasses and cornmeal from the Anadama Bread will make an incredible french toast if you're able to not eat all of it in the first day that it arrives.

Salmon Bok Choy Green Coconut Curry - Shout out to Candace in Malden for sending in this recipe!! It comes highly recommended!

Asparagus Fries - I feel like after all the salad recipes, this one is only fair!

Want to share recipes that wow'ed you or show off something incredible that is just going to make me hungry while checking emails? (Or send us pics of your dog with your share??) Drop us a line over at recipes@sharefamilydinner.com. We'll be highlighting your recipes and creations in coming weeks! (I am loving all the things you have sent! Stay tuned for highlights coming soon!)

Posted on May 21, 2021

Erin Baumgartner

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