I’ve written before about all the romaine lettuce we’ve been eating (and continue to eat). It’s delicious lettuce, with beautiful, unblemished leaves and a gorgeous spring green color. We’ve enjoyed salads almost every night, and last night I made a good grilled chicken Caesar with a spectacular homemade dressing. But what we were really excited about was the side dish.

Last evening when we came home from work, we harvested our first two zucchini! I can’t even begin to describe how exciting it was. We knew a day or so beforehand that Monday would be the day — one zucchini was certainly ready to be picked, and its cousin on the vine looked to be growing quickly. Several days of very warm weather and sunshine (a real change from what we’ve been experiencing so far) really accelerated everything in the garden this week, and sure enough, by the time we got home from work, we had two zucchini ready for picking.

We discussed how best to prepare them — I think we really wanted to experience them fairly simply just to see if they tasted different from store bought — so we settled on lightly steaming them and adding a bit of butter and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground pepper. They were sublime. I steamed them for a scant three minutes so they still had a bit of crunch left to them, and wow — they were delicious.

I had no idea a vegetable garden could be this satisfying — as I looked at my very green dinner plate last night and realized we grew most of what was on the dish, I felt a little sense of pride and accomplishment.

In the meantime, more garden plans are afoot.

This evening we ate our first garden produce. I went out shortly before dinner and picked some romaine lettuce from our garden — the first stuff that’s all grown up and ready to sacrifice itself for my dinner. Currently there are six tiny tomatoes on the vines, and there are perhaps three zucchini blossoms ready to spring forth. The peppers and eggplant are (I hope) waiting for warmer weather, but the lettuce is ready to eat.

Eating stuff we planted and grew ourselves was more exciting than I expected it to be. There was something amazingly satisfying about wandering out to the garden, colander in hand, and coming back in with fresh-picked lettuce, still warm from the sun and the earth. Wearing only a light dressing of extra virgin olive oil and our 18-year-old balsamic vinegar, it was joined in the salad bowl by fresh radishes from Stephe and Ritu at Someday Farm. I know exactly what fertilized it, I know exactly what kind of pest repellent was used on it. It’s organic, it’s beautiful, and it’s ours.

We left the house to do some errands late this morning. First we stopped at Home Depot, where we picked up a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet for the inside of the POD. Then we headed back toward home to do the grocery shopping. We were forced off I-95 by weekend beach traffic (what a surprise), and as we wound our way through Branford, Jim remembered that we had talked about getting lobster rolls this weekend.

So we ducked through the center of town and headed down to the river, to a little place that makes what might be the best lobster rolls on the planet. I know, I exaggerate — or do I? It’s called The Lobster Shack, and it’s on the industrial waterfront of the Branford River, in other words, the place where the commercial fishermen in town tie up their boats. There’s a lobster wholesaler there, and last season, or maybe the year before, they were inspired to set up a little take-out trailer in the parking lot. They’ve put some tables out by the docks and they serve the basics: lobster rolls, chowder, clams on the half-shell, hot dogs, and sausage and peppers on a roll. There are soft drinks and bottled water to be had (help yourself from the appropriately marked cooler) and a freezer with ice cream bars in it.

The folks who dish out the food couldn’t be friendlier. The place, for a parking lot, is immaculately clean. The lobster rolls are, in a word, perfect. These are elemental lobster rolls — nothing but warm lobster, butter, and a New England style (split-top) hot dog bun. In the ongoing debate between hot lobster rolls (with butter) and cold ones (with mayonnaise and sometimes a bit of chopped celery and the like), hot wins hands down every time with me, and these are superb. They’re also a decent size, and well worth the $14 they cost. Oh, and bring cash, ’cause they don’t do the plastic.

So we parked the van and strolled up to the order window. They had music on — a bit of Springsteen. I can’t think of anything better for the day. We got lobster rolls and a couple of bottles of water and parked ourselves at a picnic table by the river and watched a clamming boat come in and dock. I love this place.

Another week of healthy lunches successfully negotiated. This week I made a salad that consists of chick peas, green beans, tomatoes and feta cheese. It’s dressed lightly with a red wine vinaigrette, and it’s quite tasty. I borrowed the inspiration from the nice folks at La Cuisine, where we tried some of their chick peas and feta with Friday night’s takeout. I packed our chick pea salad lunches on a bed of mixed greens and accompanied mine with a small bag of red grapes.

Tonight is tai chi, which means quick dinner — leftover corn chowder from last week, and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Last week I made my first batch of homemade granola. I’m not sure what the hell took me so long — it’s not like it’s difficult. But as it happens, the Morning Glory Farm cookbook that Jim picked up on the Vineyard had a great recipe in it. I followed it more or less faithfully the first time, although I cut it in half (and thank goodness I did, because half a recipe made more than plenty for two people for an entire week).

But this week I strayed off the beaten path. Having a recipe for something like this is a good idea because it gives you a sense of what proportions of ingredients you should have, so with that as a base, I developed this recipe. We’ll be enjoying this for breakfast this week.

Apple-Cinnamon Granola

Ingredients

• 5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup wheat germ (I used Kretschmer’s toasted wheat germ)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (Please only use 100% maple syrup — ever. On anything.)
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup dried apples, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl except for the almonds and the dried apples.

3. Add the vanilla to the maple syrup and stir. Add maple syrup/vanilla mixture and canola oil to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly so that the syrup and oil are evenly distributed throughout the mixture. Pour into one or two roasting pans or onto two baking sheets with sides. You’ll need to be able to stir throughout the baking process, but you want the granola to be spread in a reasonably thin layer, so choose your vessels accordingly.

4. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees and continue to bake for another hour or so, until mixture is golden brown. Stir frequently.

5. Add sliced almonds to pan, and stir thoroughly. Continue to bake for another 30 minutes. Remove pan(s) from oven and stir in apples. Cool mixture completely and then store in airtight container.

This granola is wonderful — it’s not too sweet, which I like. You can enjoy this as a cereal with milk poured on top, or you can mix it with yogurt. We’ve been enjoying ours with yogurt and fresh fruit, and of course it makes a nice snack for eating out of hand.

Variations on a theme: The wonderful thing about a basic granola recipe is that you can make whatever kind of granola suits your fancy. Substitute whatever kind of seeds and nuts you like, or add them in addition to what’s here. Just try to keep the proportions the same (you want more oats than anything else). Use whatever kind of nuts and dried fruits you like. Omit the cinnamon. Think of other things to add. Enjoy.

A vacation without some memorable food experiences isn’t much of a trip. We have some favorite places we like to visit every year, and this year we expanded our horizons a bit. In no particular order, these are some of the edible moments I loved about this trip:

• The clam chowder at The Net Result in Vineyard Haven.
• The zucchini ravioli at Lattanzi’s Pizzeria in Edgartown.
• The chiles rellenos in Oak Bluffs at Zapotec.
• The fried seafood and clam chowder from The Bite in Menemsha.
• The ribs at Smoke ‘n’ Bones in Oak Bluffs.
• The superb meal we enjoyed at The Oyster Bar Grill on our last night, also in Oak Bluffs.

There’s more to talk about, and I’ll be writing some more on this in the next few days.

One of the good things about vacation is the lack of rules. Food rules vanish in an anarchic haze.

This morning we feasted on banana bread, croissants, muffins, and apple fritters. The coffee was ground from fresh beans. After a morning of reading and chatting, we wandered into Vineyard Haven for some shopping. I bought an amazing bottle of 18-year-old balsamic vinegar imported from Italy.

When we got home we opened a bottle of sparkling wine and enjoyed it with some Boursin cheese and crackers. Tonight we’re heading to Edgartown for some casual Italian food.

I love vacation.

Down to the wire, and I really had nothing left in the house to cook. While doing errands this afternoon, I picked up a lovely bunch of broccolini at the supermarket, and on the way home from work we stopped at the fish market and brought home a nice piece of Atlantic salmon.

So dinner: salmon, brushed lightly with melted butter, seasoned with salt, pepper, and dill weed, and then roasted in a 425 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes. The broccolini was cooked the only way I ever cook it, which is to say I sauteed it in a wee bit of olive oil, along with some thinly sliced garlic. I cook the broccolini until it begins to caramelize a bit, and oh, yum. There were some ciabatta rolls in the freezer, so out came a couple, which I thawed and then heated in the oven for a few minutes.

Washed it all down with some Sam. Vacation, here we come.

Still on a campaign not to stock the fridge with much of anything, I made a really good dinner tonight out of stuff that was hanging around: a half box of rotini, some milk, some cheese. Enough green and growing things to make a nice salad.

The Recipe

• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs flour
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 4 oz sharp cheddar, grated
• 4 oz pepper jack cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 lb pasta (I used rotini — you use whatever you like, but short tubular or curly pastas work best with this)

Spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the pasta boils, make the cheese sauce.

Melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, cook until soft, stirring frequently. Add flour and stir thoroughly with whisk; cook for a couple of minutes. Add milk, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk until sauce thickens and bubbles. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper. Add grated cheeses, whisking until cheese melts.

Drain pasta and combine with sauce. Pour into baking dish, and bake for 20 minutes or so, until pasta is browned a bit on top and sauce is bubbling.

I served this with a salad made of greens dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, yellow and red pepper strips, and kalamata olives.

Nice dinner, and the fridge is really almost empty now. One more night to go before vacation.

I’m lunching like a gourmand today. The little bit of leftover roasted chicken breast with duxelles and jambon from Saturday night’s dinner, and then the spinach-feta patties from last night’s takeout.
Looking forward to lunch hour for sure.