This week has been a celebration, consisting of one wonderful meal after the next at my parents’ small farm in northwest NJ. Lots of people talk about how to add more vegetables to their meals, but here at the farm my folks are walking the walk. Eating vegetables is what they do. Our dear friend and neighbor Grace waxes about where to get the best green beans, broccoli, or early corn. The asparagus and strawberries are gone now, she reminds us wistfully, until next year.

Late last night we made our ultimate “summer in NJ” celebration, and here’s a sampling of vegetables and fruit that were on the table:

1) Onions and tomatoes, sliced in half horizontally, rubbed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper and thyme, and baked until softening.

2) Red plus white quinoa mixed with a generous amount of stir-fried onions and a sprinkling of corn kernels.

3) Bok choy braised with minced garlic until tender, sprinkled with white wine and sesame oil.

4) Grace’s green beans, with herbs and potatoes. Grace learned to make green beans this way from her mother and mother-in-law. She calls it “Midwestern style,” and it is, by a long shot, my favorite way to eat green beans. To start, you should either grow an herb garden or have a neighbor who does. Then drive down Rte. 31 past Clinton to pick up a generous amount of fresh green beans at the farmers market. Trim the ends of the green beans, and soak them, along with 2 large potatoes, in cold water for 1-2 hrs prior to cooking. This cleans, plumps and freshens the beans and potatoes. Chop the potatoes into quarters, and set to boil. Add 2-3 bay leaves to the potatoes. Grace calls this “an old Grandma trick to enhance the flavor.” When the potatoes are almost cooked through, add the green beans and cook until bright green. Dump the water immediately, and remove the bay leaves. Melt 2 T. butter or olive oil (or you can use a vegan spread, as Grace does) into the vegetables, along with 2 T. each fresh chives, parsley, dill, and oregano. Salt & pepper to taste. With a fork, coarsely break up some of the potatoes into 1-2 inch chunks, which allows some of the potato to coat the green beans. Feeds a family or an army.

5) Cherries for dessert, along with fig cookies from the local Italian bakery.

Some of us, myself included, happily shared a bottle of Crane Lake Sauvignon Blanc, while others popped open bottles of Sam Adams. Dad’s generous and deeply flavorful contribution was a rib roast from one of last year’s steers. Thank you, steer. And thank you, Dad.