This Week's Food

Hoodies and tomatoes!

That's right folks. Somehow it's hoodie season and tomato season at the very same time. That liminal space in the calendar between sundresses and fleece onesies with feet.

You've sent your children, precious little goblins that they are, mercifully back to school. You swell with pride to see them on the bus and sing psalms of relief as their ferocious little faces ride off into the distance, into the capable caring arms of teachers who are certainly not paid enough.

Posted on September 06, 2024

Joe Grotto

Where's the Beef

Boy oh boy, we're unleashing some beefiness this morning...

We've been buying whole, grass fed cows from our buds Gabe and Molly, owners/operators of Cold Spring Ranch in New Portland, Maine for a couple of years now. And a fresh one just came in last week so we're adding some amazing steaks back to the store.

Just in time for your Labor Day cookout, we've got a fresh batch of filet mignon and New York strip steaks alongside the ribeyes and porterhouses. And we've got a couple whopper New York sirloin steaks. Oh... and Gabe came up out west and has been training his butcher in the art of cutting Santa Maria-style tri-tip so here's your chance to get the real deal. Not familiar? Check this magic out. All are priced to move.

Posted on August 30, 2024

Joe Grotto

Prune Plum fairies

Good Morning!

I fully intended to write a serious newsletter profiling the prune plums that are in this week's share from our friends at Kimball Fruit Farm.

Upon further reflection it makes more sense to focus on Professor Plum, my favorite character from the 1985 cult classic "Clue". If you have not seen this absolute gem of a cinematic opus, may I suggest you lock yourself inside like a Hobbit on this beautiful day and catch the hell on up? Like the childhood game the film chronicles 6 strangers invited to a dinner party that turns murderous in a creepy New England mansion (redundant.)

Posted on August 23, 2024

Joe Grotto

A new holiday

Good morning friends,

Today we decided to write the newsletter about our own Joe Grotto, Family Dinner GM extraordinaire. There's no particular cause for writing about Joe today, other than we took a hike yesterday and my tiny squirrel brain can only think so far back at 6am on a Friday. So, we're making up a reason. August 16th shall henceforth be known as Joe Grotto Day, JGD if you're into the whole brevity thing.

Posted on August 16, 2024

Joe Grotto

Keep it Simple, Silly 😘

We love the simplicity of a perfect ingredient and summer is a wonderful showcase of that.

Corn that can be enjoyed with just a touch of butter, berries you can pop into your mouth like candy and of course, the belle of the ball, the ripest of tomatoes.

Posted on August 09, 2024

Joe Grotto

New Items!

Good Morning Friends,

We are always snooping around for new items to put into the store for you. We want the shopping experience with Fam Din to be exciting and new, and we're aiming to meet more and more of your grocery needs everyday.

Now, we're not going all willy nilly; the Family Dinner store isn't going to end up looking like the checkout line at TJ Maxx with rows of random uselessness. (Does anyone need a dog themed cold brew cup that reads "Live, Laugh, Pug"? Like, really need?)

Posted on August 02, 2024

Joe Grotto

Beach Reads

Hello Family Dinner Diners,

Geez... what dreamy weather we're looking at this weekend. Pretty dang perfect for laying around outside with a good book. We've got some recos.

First up, a repost from this time last year of an amazing book Erin got her mitts on:

Posted on July 26, 2024

Joe Grotto

Dog Days of Summer

Happy Friday Everyone-

The dog days of summer are upon us!

I only recently got curious enough about the etymology of that term to actually look it up and I kinda fell in love with the backstory.

In the Northern Hemisphere, Sirius, The Dog Star, starts to rise in our skies along with the temperature. It burns bright. So bright, in fact, you can often see it during the day, rising and setting alongside the sun. When the term was coined in the 16th century, it was a direct translation of the latin term that the Romans were using when Sirius, which, speaking of hot dogs, literally means "scorching", was believed to have been the source of all that additional heat. Now and forever, whenever I spot Sirius in the day time sky, I'll think of it as the sun's loyal good boy. And crave a hot dog... more than usual. (Thanks, Dictionary.com!)

Posted on July 19, 2024

Joe Grotto

Getting Salty

I find myself craving good news. Lighthearted, feel good news to serve as a chaser for the bitter tastes in the diet of the content we consume. I'm like one of those drug sniffing dogs at the airport, plodding from bag to bag for a whiff of contraband, but instead of heroin, your girl just wants to read stories about bears cooling off in swimming pools.

During the pandemic, John Krasinski (that cutie patootie from The Office) started a show from his home called Some Good News. Man, was it a delight, and so desperately needed. In one episode, they surprise a 9 year old girl named Aubrey with the whole cast of Hamilton (her absolute fave) on a Zoom call and she goes completely bananas. I've watched it like 324 times.

Posted on July 12, 2024

Joe Grotto

A family symphony

We got to spend a few days this week with cherished family members, tucked into an idyllic pocket of Maine, snuggling the ocean on a craggy shore.

There wasn't anything of note on the agenda and we contented ourselves playing with babies, chasing old dogs and doing the delicate, intentional work of weaving familial bonds just a bit tighter.

We don't all get to see each other en masse frequently so there was an effervescence in the air as we arrived, even Frank the Dog knew something special was afoot.

Posted on July 05, 2024

Joe Grotto

A different kind of pancake

I just love summer. It's that time of year where all the veggies are beautiful and abundant and you can make little Muppet noises while cooking with them.

What's that? You don't take the goofy looking scapes and the fennel fronds and talk to them in the Swedish Chef voice until such a point that your friends and loved ones start to fret about your mental health and well-being?

Oh. Well then.

This week we have a beautiful and perfectly Muppet-able veggie on offer. The scallions from Kitchen Garden Farm are tall, spikey and packed with a delicious oniony punch.

Posted on June 28, 2024

Joe Grotto

New grains on the block!

This week we have a new product for our vegetarian shares, bulgar from the folks at Koy Pantry.

The little AI birds whispered this little nugget about bulgar in my ears just now:Bulgur is a whole grain made from cracked wheat berries. It's an ancient grain that was popular in the Mediterranean region and is mentioned in the Old Testament. Bulgur is high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and it can be eaten plain like rice or couscous, or used in many dishes.

Posted on June 21, 2024

Joe Grotto

Calling all bags!

Good morning friends!

A few quick things!

1- Please leave your bags out for the drivers to take! We clean and sanitize them weekly and reuse them - helps us to be a low waste company. And good golly are they expensive! So whether you have 2 or 274, please leave them out (ice packs too!) and we will lovingly take 'em back.

2- Flower season is back! Get your flowers of the week to brighten up your day and bring a smile to that beautiful face of yours.

Posted on June 14, 2024

Joe Grotto