On Saturday’s post (https://blissfullu.com/2026/04/11/synchronicity-in-cooking-spring-2026/), I revealed most of the ingredients for this meal, and asked you to guess what I was making. How many of you guessed I was making an Artemis 2 Celebratory meal?

On Friday I had thought too late that I should have made a celebratory dinner for Artemis 2’s successful landing (which hadn’t happened at that time, but I was thinking positively). But I had been teaching all week and hadn’t had much time for creative meal planning.

But as I was driving home from the Cary Farmers Market Saturday morning with my HUGE tuna collar (see link above), it suddenly struck me. A tuna collar is a perfect embodiment of a crescent moon! That seemed PERFECT for the Greek (and later Roman, although renamed as Diana) goddess of the moon. And I thought the dish that came to me in a dream that night, which was Farro Parmesan, would be a lovely accompaniment, as well as substantial enough for a main dish for my vegetarian son. I pulled into a shopping center as I thought this all through, then went back to the Cary Farmers Market to flesh out an entire meal.

I supplemented my inspiration with some research, which told me:

• The ancient Greeks (Artemis is also the Greek goddess of the hunt) used to have big group hunts for tuna. So tuna represents Artemis in her huntress power, in addition to the cresecent shape of the collar reminding us of the moon.
• Farro is an ancient grain that originated in the Mediterranean. So that is also a reference to the Goddess’s heritage.
• Parmesan cheese is originally from Italy. Parsley (the green shown in the dish above) is also indigenous to the region.
• Ancient Greek texts reference “horta,” or wild greens, as a component of their meals. Research says these were likely bitter greens, including dandelion greens. I couldn’t find those exactly, but I did get arugula from the Farmers Market, which is bitter. I made a salad of it and spring onions with a vinaigrette dressing.
• Another vendor at the Cary Farmers Market, Carthage Fresh, has a variety of locally-prepared Mediterranean foods, including fresh pita bread. Pita bread seemed perfect since it is from the area of Artemis/Diana’s rule, and is round like the full moon.

Yesterday’s pictures just showed the tuna collar in its wrapping. Here is the bony side of the collar (again, my cutting board shows it is a foot long in each direction):

Here is the side with the meat:

Doesn’t that look perfect for the moon goddess? Here it is cooked:

And here is the Farro Parmesan:

So the picture above is the round bowl of farro (full moon) tucked inside the curve of the tuna collar (cresent moon). To round out the meal, I included the salad and pita bread:

Here was my plate:

It was SO GOOD! As you can see, the tuna meat was rich and juicy. It isn’t flaky like a tuna steak. It is more like the texture of lobster or something like that. It was my first experience with tuna collars, but I hope to repeat it. Farro is one of my favorite grains, but I’ve never had it with a cheese-based sauce. We used fresh grated parmesan cheese and some local Boxcarr parmesan-like cheese (from the Farmers Market, of course), so the cheese had a sharp taste, which was a nice contrast to the tuna. The escarole vinegrette cut through the richness of the tuna and the farro, while the fresh pita was tender and a lovely vehicle for scooping up the food and its juices/sauces.

I had a dessert planned, but I was worn out by the end, not to mention full. However, we had a new vendor at the Cary Farmers Market, Carter Farms, that had fresh strawberries, so we ate those for our finishing touch (although I forgot to take a picture). We also ate graced by a spring flower bouquet from Bumblebee Meadows, another new vendor at the market (again, no photo).

Congratulations to everyone involved in the Artemis 2 mission. It provided a wealth of new scientific data about space, as well as a much-needed boost to our American ego. I’ll be writing more about the mission in posts to come. But you were also the inspiration for one of the best and most unusual meals my son and I have had in a long time.