Monthly Archives: March 2016

Blue Apron and Purple Carrot

Posted on by

I first heard about Blue Apron from a Stuff You Should Know podcast (they’re one of the commercial sponsors) and then decided to try it when I received an invitation from a friend.  I signed up for the vegetarian “3 meals for two people” plan and within a week, I had received my first box of groceries and had started cooking.  All along I imagined it would be like a trial period, and after 4 weeks and 12 meals, I put my subscription on hold.

The meals I made were mostly good (though not great and skewed toward dairy as the protein source), so I searched the web for alternatives.  That’s how I found The Purple Carrot and decided to try their service, which is strictly vegan cooking.  I signed up for the “2 meals for four people” plan and soon received my first box.  I’ve just now completed 6 weeks and 12 meals and have put my subscription on hold in order to evaluate this service.

For people who are unfamiliar with these companies, they are basically meal delivery services without the meal.  Each week you get a box of pre-measured ingredients and an instruction sheet on how to prepare the dish.  Although I’m set in my ways and not necessarily eager to experiment in the kitchen, I’m not a novice cook and did not have any difficulty following the recipes.  The ingredients were always fresh and of good quality, and I did not have any problems with deliveries or with billing or anything like that.

If I were to pick one reason that I’m not going to continue, it would probably be that I didn’t like all of the meals.  It doesn’t matter that I liked most of them; when I’m paying $10 per meal and making it myself, I want all of them to be memorable (that’s probably a lot to ask).  The problem with vegetarian dishes is that often they are bland and tasteless; this was certainly the case with the meals I did not care for, which I’ve marked with “no” below.  I’ll also add that this style of cooking doesn’t really fit with my lifestyle.  I’m a single person cooking only for myself, and during the work week, I often don’t get home until 8 pm or even later, which means I only cook on the weekends and then eat leftovers.  Some meals just don’t work as well when stored in containers and then re-heated.

Blue Apron meals

  • Summer Ratatouille & Parmesan Polenta  – no
  • Summer Squash & Fennel Salad – no
  • Cool Summer Vegetable Ramen
  • Heirloom Tomato & Fontina Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
  • Cool Long Bean & Tofu Salad
  • Rigatoni Puttanesca
  • Heirloom Tomato & Stone Fruit Salad – no
  • Spiced Lentil Stew – no
  • Whole Grain Spaghetti – no
  • Tomato & Goat Cheese Pie
  • Summer Eggplant & Pepper Tostadas
  • Fresh Lemon Linguine – no

Purple Carrot meals

  • Whole Wheat Fusilli with Mushrooms, Fennel, and Pecans – no
  • Aloo Paratha with Mustard Seed-Scented Eggplant
  • Catalan Vegetable Stew with Crisp Fideos – no
  • Slow-Baked Broccoli Frittata with Mesclun Salad
  • Shakshuka with Tofu Dumplings over Kasha
  • Garlicky Greens Curry
  • Spiced Citrus Lentils with Rainbow Chard and Cranberries
  • Kabocha-Apple Shawarma with Cliantro-Parsley Zhoug
  • Winter Nicoise Salad with Cashew-Split Pea Pate – no
  • Miso-Chili Meatballs over Spaghetti and Carrot Noodles
  • Caramelized Onion Crepes with Warm Spinach-Mushroom Salad
  • Potato Korma with Golden Raisin Pilaf

I did enjoy trying new ingredients.  These are some I had never cooked with before:  polenta, freekeh, squash blossoms, fennel, amaranth leaves, Persian cucumber, mizuna, mascarpone, lemon linguine, mustard seeds, fava beans, caper berries, chickpea flour, kasha, curry leaves, mustard greens, oat groats, kabocha squash, jalapeno chiles, basmati rice, turmeric, garam masala, collard greens.

Now that I’m thinking about it: maybe the number one reason I don’t care to continue with either service is the packaging.  Of course I appreciate that these companies source their ingredients locally and a lot of the produce is organic.  However, I think it’s a bit disingenuous for them to claim that the packaging has zero environmental impact.  The cardboard boxes I could handle, as well as the #2 plastic.  But I don’t think there’s anything I can do with the insulated bags and the cold-packs now piled in a heap in the outdoor closet.  The same goes for the plastic bags, of which there are many; I’ve begun using the larger ones for pet waste, because I don’t know of any recycling station that takes them.  At first I washed all of them, intending to use them for something or other, but there’s only so much re-using one can do.  I think each company should address whether the packing materials are recyclable, non-toxic, or biodegradable.  The three concepts are not equivalent.

I also felt that the meals left something to be desired in terms of proportions and nutrition.  In other words, if a recipe structured for two could have served four, or for four could have served eight — that seems wildly disproportionate.  For example, one Blue Apron meal came with 4 oz of goat cheese; the package was clearly labeled “No of servings: 4” but it was meant for two.  Likewise, one Purple Carrot meal included two cans of fava beans; the can was clearly labeled “Servings per container: 3.5” which means that the dish should have served 7 and not 4.  The recipes for both companies included calorie counts; Purple Carrot recipes also listed grams of fat, carbohydrate, and protein.  The Blue Apron average calories/meal was 639; the Purple Carrot average calories/meal was 653 (average fat grams was 33).  These numbers seem high to me, and they are certainly not acceptable for anyone on a weight management program.

Overall, I have to say that I don’t see much difference between the two services, even with respect to price.  In fact, I’m sure that as competitors, they are very aware of what each other is doing.  I also don’t really have any complaints about either company, though for various reasons, I don’t think I’ll continue doing this.  However, I would not discourage anyone from trying either service — you just have to keep in mind what they are.  In other words, if you don’t like to cook and have no interest in doing so, this is not for you.

Learning the Ukulele

Posted on by

I grew up in Hawaii, and we almost took for granted that as island children we would own ukuleles, and that those of us blessed to live in West Kauai would take lessons with Charlie Kaneyama.  And so it happened in my childhood.  Inevitably, as I grew up, over the succeeding years I traveled thousands of miles from home and moved umpteen times, and eventually my ukulele disappeared.  When I think back to those years, I’m sure I enjoyed the instrument.  But I’m not a musician and never thought much more about the ukulele, until today.

julie-ukuleleAt 6 pm, about twenty of us gathered in North Brookfield’s Haston Free Public Library for a first lesson in playing the ukulele.  Originally from Nebraska, our teacher Julie, a lovely and vibrant young musician, came to us from her home in Shutesbury with twenty ukuleles, so we each took one and sat down.  She began by showing us the parts of the ukulele and how to hold it. (I apologize for the photo quality.)

The basic parts of the ukulele are the following:

  • hollow body with sound hole
  • neck with frets and metal fret dividers – each fret is a half tone
  • nylons strings, tuned to C, G, E, A (facing the instrument)

Ukuleles, like all musical instruments, need to be tuned; a tuner can be purchased for around $10.

Because the ukulele is small and doesn’t weigh much, you don’t need a strap to hold it. Keep it near your body, holding it in place with your right arm.  Open your left palm and grasp the neck near the top, as  if you were clutching a soda can.   There are different techniques for strumming and no one right way.  You could try to move your right hand as if it were wet and you were flicking water.  Strum the strings a little above the sound hole.  In order to form a chord, curve your four fingers around the neck and press the tips, not the pads, on the frets.

Chords are defined for the western harmonic scale; these include the major, minor, and seventh chords.  Using Julie’s fingering charts, we learned:

  • C
  • G7
  • F
  • Am

Then we began to sing and play!  Over the course of the evening, we played these songs:

2-chord songs:

  • Frere Jacques
  • Locomotion
  • Singing in the Rain
  • Doggie in the Window
  • Ain’t No Bugs on Me

3-chord songs:

  • You Are My Sunshine
  • Oh Susanna
  • Good Night Irene

Julie stressed that you ought to enjoy playing.  Fortunately, she said, the ukulele is much lighter in weight than the guitar and doesn’t have steel strings that will cut your fingers.  If you play for even ten minutes a day, perhaps adding a new chord every so often, you can quickly add literally hundreds of songs to your repertoire.

Toward the end of the lesson, Julie introduced the Australian comedy group called the Axis of Awesome; this group created a hit song using the basic chord sequence C, G, Am, and F, which they demonstrated was the basis of many popular songs.

I had so much fun singing and playing that I asked Julie where I could buy a ukulele.  She talked a bit about cost and advised against paying less than $50 for an instrument (of course, you could easily spend hundreds).  Some of the currently popular brands for beginners include Lanikai Ukulele and Makala Ukulele (the one I used tonight was a Kala).  When I’m next in Northampton, I might stop in at Downtown Sounds to check out their selection, as they are local and would be available to help with tuning or any other problems I might run into.