Mystery Thursdays – Piccino

A funny thing happened during our Mystery Thursdays pickup –

I’m just getting into this blogging thing of my own, but I’ve been reading food blogs for quite some time. I remember one of the first food blogs I started reading, 101 Cookbooks, and being quite inspired by how fresh, quick and healthy the food looked and the fantastic photography on the site. From there, I started adding more and more food blogs to my Google Reader and now, I’m probably sharing so many food articles from so many different blogs that my friends are (silently) screaming, “Enough already with the food!” (Or maybe you guys are just drooling too much on your keyboard that you’ve short circuited your computer?)

Last Thursday’s pickup was a bit on the crazy side – T picked me up from the airport (flying home from the client site) and we dashed over to Piccino. Granted, it was a short flight, but after working until 9 or 10 each night, I’d seen better days. We noticed some people video taping people picking up their boxes, but didn’t think too much of it. Mystery box, avocados and cherries in hand, we headed back to the car and were approached by the video people. They asked if we knew what we were going to cook with our newly acquired bounty and if we minded being interviewed. Frazzled, tired and hungry, the last thing I wanted to do was be video recorded (it brings back horrible memories of Communications class having to watch yourself on video in front of the entire class after embaressing yourself presenting in the first place), but I was pretty sure T would take the opportunity. I think they picked up more on my state of mind than T’s eagerness to talk and left us alone.

Bummer. Because then I recognized her as Heidi from 101 Cookbooks. Ok, so I was a little star struck and regretting we hadn’t said anything. After all, at least a part of this blog’s existence can be attributed to her and her blog. (Speaking of star struck, we saw Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs at the bar on Thursday. So maybe Dirty Jobs isn’t quite the tv show you want to talk about on a food blog. But, the Discovery Channel is ranked up there with the Food Network in my mind, so sorry readers!).

I digress – We ended up making a fabulous meal with our Mystery Box ingredients, which I’ll have to post later this week, and had we given it any thought before we picked up the box, we would have had a nice little blurb for the camera.

Since the last Mystery Thursday, I’ve been asked a good number of times, “So what’d you get in your mystery box this week, ChuThis?” Granted, I’ve only actually bought a Mystery box a few times now, but it REALLY excites me to see friends and family getting into the fresh, local vegetables idea, or at least curious enough to ask me about it. And, I’m in the middle of reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I’m sure I’ll wholeheartedly recommend to everyone who asks.

So, to answer your question, this is what we received at Piccinio:

(Click on photo to see larger size)

In addition, our Mystery Box also contained Little Gem Lettuces, Genovese Basil, Gallegan Kale, Cauliflower, Cilantro, and English Peas. Plus, our 10 pounds of cherries, which disappeared faster than I could acquire a cherry pitter to make cherry pie.