Sunday, July 6, 2008

One Local Summer- Week 5



Local salad with window box herbs


Mojitos with window box mint

Instead of one full meal of all local ingredients, I tried to work local ingredients into most of my meals. This meant a few things. The first is that when I grocery shopped I needed to buy as many local ingredients as possible. The second was the two huge plates of left overs that I had from two local meals. And the third is that our "garden" is growing.

Shopping and refilling my pantry with local ingredients has been relatively easy. Between Fairway and Union Market there is a lot of locally grown products from the basics like eggs to the more interesting, pickles, there is a lot to be found within a few minutes from our home. I also noticed that the Union Market on 12th often carries the same farmers that I see at the Farmers Market (but of course at higher prices). Both also label local products. I also stocked up on local beer at Bierkraft and wine at Big Nose Full Body so most of what we've drank has been local as well.

For lunches this week I was able to eat both my local lasagna and corn pudding with chorizo. I ate them so much that I never want to see them again. Local left overs meant that I ate local meals (often with a salad of local greens and basil or mint) for almost the entire week. Breakfast is a little trickier since I love the imported Greek yogurt. I did have eggs a few mornings this week (eggs laid in PA) but I haven't made the transition to local yogurt (even though its in my fridge).

Finally, our garden continues to make lots of basil, mint, and parsley which makes a great salad and we're close to having tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and green beans. These will all be in pretty small amounts but enough to inspire a meal. There is something very satisfying to growing your own food.

Two comments: I ate two dinners at Applewood, a nearby restaurant that specializes in local, organic, and biodynamic ingredients. Its no Blue Hill but its pretty darn close. I was surprised that they didn't have more local wines on their menu but they seem to have stronger relationships with cheesemakers so I think that really inspires their menu. We also have a bumper crop of mint. I wanted to do a mint and lamb dish but got distracted by the mojitos. Aside from the mint they are about as non-local as a drink could come (run, orange juice, lime, sugar) but they were in response to the wild and crazy mint plant on my fire escape.

So this week I'm going to try to work with as many local ingredients as I can. I just stocked up on chicken from NY, corn from NJ, and a lot of other ingredients that are starting to come in. I am also taking a lot more pictures of stuff in an attempt to keep myself busy. I hope the improved quality of the pictures makes up for the somewhat lazy week.

No comments: