Sunday, July 27, 2008

One Local Summer, Week 8

Our week was chopped up again since I went to Manzanita for three days. I brought some of our backyard greens and some leftovers, so not much exciting to report on there. And, I have no idea of what Grady ate here on his own.
But, we had a lovely breakfast one morning:

Probably the last picking (sigh) of our raspberries and loganberries in the backyard.
I combined them with some Oregon Blueberries to make a Summer Fruit Compote (Art of Slow Food, Alice Waters). We had it on top of multi-grain pancakes. I have not yet investigated the source of the grains that I buy in bulk at the grocery store, so I can't designate them as local. But, the butter, eggs and buttermilk used with them to make the pancakes were all local. The berries in the compote soaked nicely into the pancakes and made for a delicious combination.

Today, I needed to make something to take to a neighborhood potluck picnic down at Ladd Circle. I started out looking for something in which to use the fennel from our CSA share since it was probably more than we would be likely to use during the week on our own. I think fennel is something of an acquired taste and I'd have to say that Grady has not yet made the acquisition. I found a recipe for Fennel Slaw on Epicurious and took this to the potluck.Fennel - CSA share
Cabbage - from Washington, not really local, but close
Carrot - grown in Oregon
Walla Walla scallions substituted for the onions - CSA share

It's hard to believe we are already at week 8. We've settled into some routines with our local eating. I haven't been to a farmer's market in a while - keep missing them because of being out of town. But, between the little bit we get from our tiny garden and the small share we have from Little Frog farm, we're in pretty good shape for vegetables and fruits. And now we have a locally grown chicken available at New Seasons, plus fish, beef and pork. I think it's time for me to pursue more about the grains as we move into week 9 - or when we run out of the flours that we have on hand.

1 comment:

Dale said...

Oh! I love fennel. Not that I know how to make anything with it, now. Seems like back in prehistoric times, when I used to cook, I put it in dark rye bread. Or was that aniseed? Anyway, it was delicious. (Maybe a misspent youth drinking ouzo accustoms you to that range of flavors? I like licorice too.)