Here's what I did with the Etude Cheese

I made a salad with organic romaine lettuce, organic pear and the local Andante's Etude goat cheese I picked up at the San Rafael Farmer's market. This made a nice starter to a dinner with grilled Wild Pacific Salmon and California medium grained rice. Isn't the weather in Marin just perfect these days?

Use it up!

The potatoes are local, the ones I bought at the Farmer's Market a week ago Sunday last. This dish was inspired by a friend's Mom's Broccoli Cheese Potato Bake. It was made with sliced potatoes and sliced onions, layered with an undiluted can of Campbell's Broccoli Cheese Soup on top and baked. It's been a LONG time since I've seen that Broccoli Cheese Soup anywhere. Since I had a few steamed broccoli spears and asparagus spears left over, I thought I'd improvise. So I peeled and sliced the local potatoes, mixed it up with the leftover vegetables which I chopped into chunks, and sprinkled on a plastic box of diced onion and celery I had in the refrigerator. I had a can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup. This mixture I cooked about an hour in a 350F oven until the potatoes were tender.

I've been reading a lot of stories about the Great Depression lately (funny how a downturn will turn these up everywhere) and having been a late baby of a couple who lived through that era, I internalized a few things. Such as not wasting things. So although I missed on being completely local, this dish did nicely use up things that needed to be used. I think part of the lesson of the challenge is seeing that eating choices need to be integrated in the pattern of your life. If I had been eating consistently local previous to this special challenge, it would not be such a challenge to have a much higher percentage of the food be truly local. Actually, weaving going to the Farmer's Markets and finding local sources of more exotic ingredients is something that can be a kind of meditation and appreciation experienced with all the four senses. A very positive side benefit!

I think that the frugalities learned through the Depression were in many ways a forerunner of being green -- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle has a lot of similarity to a little ditty my mother used to repeat:

Use it Up
Wear it Out
Make it Do
Or do Without

And the improvised bake tasted quite good!

Leave with that glowing look

I didn't intend to stop for dinner at Table Cafe in Larkspur, but if it's that time, you are in the neighborhood and emphasizing eating local, who would pass it up? Table Cafe exclusively uses only organic, local and sustainable produce. And you can taste it.

They've added a nice touch of a fresh pappadum treat for the table.

Dad and I tried their limeade with mint. Although it was hard to pass up the ginger spritzer, or carrot and ginger juice. But we like trying new offerings. I loved how this was refreshing and smooth without being cloyingly sweet.

Seeing Mission figs with fresh ricotta, lavender and honey on the blackboard fresh list, loving figs the way I do, these were not to be resisted. And it was a good call. Dad and I enjoyed these fresh and refreshing bites with the surprise scent of lavender inside.

My entree was the smoked wild salmon with grilled frisee and onions, and aioli. I had a side of apple-ginger-onion salsa with it. It was a wise pairing which was both interesting and satisfying. Unfortunately since this stop was so unscheduled, I had no camera other than my cell phone camera which can sometimes be quite unpredictable for quality. I took six blurry photos of Dad's marinated and grilled chicken breast with wilted spinach and got cheese with his condiment of avocado-orange salsa. It looked good and he liked it. These were both fusion style dosai. If one is inclined to meat, especially lamb, their lamb meatballs with parsley, pickled onions, cabbage and tahini is not to be missed. And one day I'm going to get here for brunch and try the scrambled farm eggs with curry spiced potatoes and spinach, dosai style.

Dad spied the sweets on the counter coming in and really wanted to sample. So we split a fresh creamy strawberry scone and luscious chocolate chip cookie. These were pure yum. All this while eating local, in more ways than one! I'm not sure if the glow when you leave is from all the health-giving foods, or the happiness of being treated to such pure and amazing taste combinations.

Previously reviewed:
March 21, 2008
February 9, 2007
September 10, 2005
June 24, 2005

Eat Local Challenge

San Anselmo Organic Farmstand

E njoy and Indulge in
A ll foods grown close to you~
T rees which thrive nearby...know your name.
L ife energy still runs through that which is freshly harvested and
O ur ancestors planted the beginning seeds which still thrive.
C uz if we don't eat locally- farmers will go out of biz and all foods will all be irradiated and vacuumed out of the earth ..thrown into an ice cold truck by a robot somewhere in Alaska, stamped for approval for human consumption and bugs would not even want to eat it.
Personally, I do not trust any food a bug would not eat!
A pples are happy as they land in the old bin used so many times before
L ove and support that which is all around us
C ook gently the bounty which is our gift
H eartily prepare your Fall and Winter soups
A dmire and smell the scent of the fresh Meyers lemon
L inger a bit longer at the vegetable stand and Farmer's Market
L ook deeper at the local store for the box of Heirloom tomatoes
E njoy and acknowledge each piece as you prepare it
N othing could be fresher than what was grown nearby
G rowers can stay in business and keep producing
E verafter........Happily, everafter.........................

-Jill Casad
Sebastopol, CA

Mystery on the table

What is this? A family friend left this on the table when visiting Dad yesterday. When I saw it, I thought it was vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. Do you know? Our friend cleared up the mystery for me later, and it was an 'oh yea!' moment. My friend Linda grows these in her garden, and has given me these in years past, but it didn't click until I actually heard the name.

P.S. This is very local, from a Point Reyes garden.

To Market, to market

I didn't buy any fat pigs, but I did come home with some wonderful local foods. Zoomie got me going when I read her comment about getting to the Marin Civic Center to the Farmer's Market on Sunday morning. And I read how Cookiecrumb decided to quit the Eat Local Challenge, then didn't. And although my commitment is to be more conscious, not necessarily participate fully, I find myself making more efforts on the local eating front.

My first stop was at my favorite soy place, Hodo Soy Beanery. The person attending the booth remembered me immediately and inquired about my long absence. Since when has that ever happened at a supermarket? It was nice to be remembered, and exciting to pick up some delicious soy puffs! Then I searched for apples. It is fall after all, and the first batch of apple butter is nearly gone! I settled on these Mutsu apples, a marriage of Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples, tart and sweet! And I was enthused about the large size, less peeling for more apple meat! I bought 10 pounds, and that garnered a discount to $1 a pound for these beauties grown on the border between Ripon and Stockton. The air I am breathing as I write this is heavily apple-scented as the mixture cooks down.

I noted as I passed a few booths, that there are green onions still in season locally, but since there are only so many my Dad and I can eat in a week, I didn't buy any. My next purchase stop was under the blue fabric of the "Asparagus & Potatoes" stand. I didn't see any asparagus, but plenty of beautiful potatoes grown on Zuckerman's Farm in Stockton. I picked up two pounds of pretty Yukon Golds.

I definitely felt a pull at "Just Like Grandma's" noticing types of jams that my mother used to make. I had to pick up the Tomato Jam and Orange-Carrot Marmalade made in nearby Petaluma. And there was a very modest and small stand that had a gentleman from Andante Dairy giving goat cheese samples to interested passers by. Andante is located a couple miles out of Petaluma and makes a variety of cheeses. I fell for "Etude" which is a hard cheese that will pair well with fruit and crackers I'm sure. It was a great day at the market, and I have more local foods to eat this week!

Scandahoovian Salad

Growing up in a family with a very vocal branch of Norwegianess, I observed my Aunt and Great-Aunts cooking at family events. I soon figured out that if you take some sour cream, mix in a generous amount of dill weed, and put chopped up seafood of any kind in it you have made a Scandanavian dish. It then can become the basis of a salad if you add some more ingredients, or an appetizer if you add others (or not) and top crackers with it (rye preferably!). Yesterday I took a notion of putting some things I already had in the pantry and refrigerator together for the salad variety. I call it "Scandahoovian" as it is is a little mischievous, and a favorite High School English teacher (Mr. Dale) used to tease us by mixing up Scandinavian and hooligans to come up with this word. Our school was rather an interesting mix, mostly a mix of those of Northern European ethnicity attending with the children from a local Indian reservation, Tulalip.

And this dish is a dismal failure for eating locally. A look at the ingredients:

-Sour Cream: left over 'light' Kraft brand, Illinois
-Dill Weed: Whole Foods brand, no origin listed. Company location - Texas
-Crabtastic: Tsurimi product, 'wild caught' and 'Product of Thailand'.
- Lo Mein Noodles: Bought fresh, leftover in the fridge, so origin unknown
-Green Onions: Yes, those I bought the other day - 'Product of Mexico'
-Water chestnuts: Canned, "Product of China"
-Baby Lettuces: "Product of the USA and Mexico", Processed in USA (uh oh)
-Sweet Millions Tomatoes: Produced on my sunny deck :-)

Maybe I should have called this "International Salad, Scandinavian Mood".

Eating oil

On the eating local theme...

I thought it was 105 miles, but...

when I got the package home, I noticed that as well as saying "San Juan Bautista", it also noted "Product of Mexico". I have not been able to visit the Farmer's Markets these days, so I'm dependent on local supermarkets. I can see that our distribution system needs a shift if we ever want to have eating local be a reality for most people. It takes real planning and dedication to be able to do it for most of your food, especially on a consistent basis given how the system is set up now.

A couple days ago I had lunch out, and it wasn't at a place that made a point of local ingredients. It is a place that I enjoy that has good food, and it was convenient. I thought at least I could ask about the crab in the dish. The response to my query about whether the crab was local garnered the response, "Oh, I think it's canned.", followed by a sheepish look like he might get in trouble somehow and then a "I really don't know". As for me, well I didn't even look up whether crab was in season at the moment. I have to say the crab didn't taste canned and the dish was quite tasty. I was quite surprised to find that the 83% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported (2006 data). Growing up in a place known for its seafood (Seattle), this really shocks me. Aside from importing, it makes me wonder how fish are considered in this eat local challenge. Even if not imported, a lot of fishing is done rather far from the shore... probably outside the 100 mile zone?

North by Northwest

This evening we had a pantry dinner. My Dad loves the Spirals and White Cheddar (Organic), and I always jazz it up a bit with some protein and vegetables. Tonight's picks were Chicken of the Sea Wild Alaskan Salmon, and Cascadian Farms organic frozen mixed vegetables.

Not particularly 'local', but what I had on hand. I checked the labels to see just how 'bad' I am being. The problem is, the labels don't really tell you where the ingredients come from. "Distributed by" is not an indicator, and USDA Certified organic, certainly isn't as farms from around the world carry this designation. All I could determine was that the Spirals and White Cheddar were distributed from Madison, Wisconsin, the frozen vegetables from Sedro Wooley, Washington, and the 'Alaskan' salmon said it was a 'Product of Thailand'!

"Premium Wild-Caught Alaskan" pink salmon a product of Thailand? Was it processed on a boat in Alaskan waters bearing a Thai flag? Or held frozen and shipped to Thailand for processing? If so, how could I get it for 10 for $10? I checked on Chicken of the Sea's website, and it has a nice description of processing, but is silent as to where... Or is it because Chicken of the Sea is a subsidiary of a Thai company, though distributed via San Diego, CA? From what I can read about Cascadian Farms, if the product is grown outside the US they stamp the package with the country. Mine was unstamped, so I assume it is from the Pacific Northwest. The Back to Nature site keeps talking about Pasadena, CA, but the spirals are clearly marked distributed by a Madison, Wisconsin address. And of course there is no mention of product origins. So it looks like we had a North by Northwest dinner (if it really was Alaskan salmon), although certainly out of the 100 mile range.

Local-er

We food bloggers often get ideas and inspiration from each other. I was happening by Sam's Blog, Becks & Posh, and noticed she was challenging us to take the Eat Local Challenge. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it through a month, but there is a 'Many Ways to Participate' section made just for people like me.

I'm pledging to be more conscious this month of where my food is coming from, and endeavor to buy locally more often than not. Then there are those inevitable trade offs. Tonight I felt like some roasted butternut squash. Considering that I don't want to add fuel miles by looking several places for the item, I stop by Mollie Stone's on the way home from work, which is right on the way. Ah.. there is some organic butternut squash available, and I have no idea where Tres Pinos, CA is, but I chance it as it is the only organic butternut squash, and at least it's from California. After Googling the place and checking how far it is from Mill Valley, I find it's 118 miles away. Hmm.. out of bounds of the 100 miles. But at least I didn't drive hither and yon adding fuel miles to find one within 100 miles. I wonder if I can average out my meal, the little red tomatoes I'm going to eat with it were grown on my deck, that should bring the meal miles a lot closer!

Technically, the challenge starts tomorrow, so it's not too late to join the challenge in a major or minor way - check it out!