On Sundays I waitress at a local diner, which is a job I love. After we close, the owner/cook feeds us all a huge breakfast/lunch which keeps me full all day. Yesterday I had a Greek omelet with American fries and toast. It was strange to eat the meal and think about how every single ingredient could have been local, but wasn't at all. If you can't eat locally, at least eat at a locally owned place. That was Sunday.
I got an email from Lexy proclaiming the virtues of lard. Seriously. Turns out, real lard (which Lexy asked for and found at the Dane County Farmers' Market) is actually better for you than butter, all-around. Considering the size of my fridge & freezer, I might hold-off on such a purchase (must be purchased in at least 5 pound quantities), however it was refreshing to hear such statistics.
Today (Monday) I had a huge breakfast of pancakes, made with all local ingredients. I simply replaced the sugar with honey and topped them off with maple syrup and homemade whipped cream -- which was a delight to make! I was in the mood for something sweet, and this breakfast totally delivered!
Lunch and dinner were potato-leek soup, which took over 3 hours to make. Martha called for bundling some sage, parsley and bay leaves into cheesecloth in order to form a "bouquet garni." Too much for me; I just tossed the herbs in the pot and all was well. I also don't own the requisite food mill, so I used my blender which was easy and made a nice puree. I didn't plan to eat this for dinner as well, but I made way too much and cream-based soups don't keep we
ll in the fridge in my experience.
Another week begins and I have learned a lot so far. Mainly, that I was too ambitious. Not with the local eating -- which has proved to be only a very minor challenge at best (I miss dark chocolate!). But I realized I just plain don't have the time to cook an entire new Martha recipe/meal three times a day. Leftovers and restaurants are a way of life for busy people. I appreciate so much more now the fact that my mom made a huge sit-down dinner every night of my childhood.
Monday, October 1, 2007
days seven & eight: sunday realities and another week
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2 comments:
Hi Amanda,
I made potato-leek soup too. Yours looks like it turned out much better than mine.
You are right about not being equipped to do the local thing all the time by yourself. I think of my grandmother in NY in the 1930s. She cooked all day and took lunch to my grandfather at noon each day. The shopping, the cooking, the clean-up, the imagination. It was a full-time job.
Maybe cooking co-ops will be the wave of the future.
Although they were out of it a few weeks ago, Willow Creek sells their lard in 2 lb packages (they are really tubs, but I was a pudgy kid and I have bad memories of the phrase "tub of lard").
They told me they would try to have some in the coming weeks, so maybe give them a try.
And with fall pie season upon us, you'd be surprised how fast you can go through a large quantity of the stuff. You can bake for friends and give the pies away. When they freak out over the crust you can totally sandbag them by telling them it's lard!
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