chef's block

I haven't posted in 2 1/2 weeks, and I think it's because of something new for me: I'm tired of cooking. Well, not tired, really, just not cooking anything new or exciting. The last few weeks my main goals in cooking have been to use the ingredients we already have and get dinner on the table as quickly as possible. Thus, a lot of pasta and rice dishes, and nothing with any really exciting ingredients. My husband has been doing all the inventive stuff recently--including some great experimentation with Gorgonzola cheese.
Anyway, the end of my chef's block may be in sight due to a new development: tonight was the first vegetable pickup for our CSA share. And what happiness--leeks, carrots, watercress, lettuce, garlic scallions and asparagus, all ours to eat! I came home and right away made leek soup with watercress to celebrate. Such a fresh taste in the mouth.
Speaking of CSA, I wanted to mention a new term I heard recently in the New York Times Style Magazine: locavores, defined as "a coinage combining "local" and "omnivores"; a subset of activists who eat not just politically, sustainably and seasonally, but extremely locally--all the foods they consume should be sourced within a 100-mile radius of where they live." Of course this movement was started by people in Berkeley, California, where it's much easier to eat locally than, say, in western New York. But check out the website anyway for inspiration: www.locavores.com.