My second post and I'm going to talk about food again. I'll need to post more regularly so you can be convinced I'm not a total foodie. There really are more things that happen in my life. I promise!
I am about to get ready to go to Laura's house for our monthly bookclub meeting. This month, we read Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon. I haven't finished it. It's a really slow read for me, as non-fiction often is. It's weird because I LOVE reality tv and movies based on true stories. I even admit to watching marathons of true crime stories on tv. But I can't seem to parallel that enthusiasm when it comes to written true stories. Anyway, I digress.
"Plenty" was a challenge a couple in Vancouver, Canada took on to eat locally for one year. That means they ate only things grown locally (they chose this to mean within a 100-mile radius of their home) for one year. That meant no bananas or tomatoes in the wintertime or bread. Yikes! I love the concept: lowering your carbon footprint, supporting local agriculture, generally eating healthier. BUT. I was depressed by how little there was to eat in our area. Vancouver obviously has a different 100-mile radius than Seattle, but what is grown here is largely the same as what is grown there. Also, our radiuses overlap quite a bit between our two cities. I could actually eat many foods from the same farms they did and still be eating within my 100-mile radius. Reading the book even thus far has really made me much more conscious of what we buy at the store. I have always thought that eating organically ans shopping at the local co-op is very environmentally conscious of us. In fact, since beginning to read the book I've realized much of our food, while grown organically, is grown as far away as Chile and New Zealand. Even the corn I've been buying us, which is in-season here, is grown in California. Disappointing! I was shocked to discover how many miles our food has to travel to reach our mouths. And we reduce that heads and tails compared to the average American! I realize we'll have to do more shopping at the weekly neighborhood Farmer's Market if I want to support local farms and reduce the amount of fuel that goes into the food we eat.
At Laura's tonight, as is our custom, we'll each be bringing something for dinner that relates to our latest read. In this case, it means bringing something using only "local" ingredients. Luckily, I was able to find a website dedicated to local eating for my area. I got a few recipes from that site and took them to PCC in pursuit of ingredients. I was disappointed to discover none of the recipes I brought could be accomplished with all local ingredients from PCC. Still, driving to Ballard for the market today would really only defeat the purpose of reducing my miles for preparing this dish. So, I cheated. I got as many local ingredients as I could and then I used others from as local as I could.
Here's the recipe I used:
Marinated Cucumber Salad in Honey-Cider Vinegar
from Farmer John’s Cookbook by John Peterson and Angelic Organics
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar *Michigan :(
- 2 T water *the tap! then filtered using the BRITA
- 2 T honey *High Country Honey - Darrington, WA (PCC)
- 2 sprigs chopped fresh dill *Duvall, WA (PCC)
- 4 medium cucumbers, peeled, thinly sliced *Northwest (PCC)
- 6 thin slices onion *Phinney Farmer's Market, WA
- Mix the vinegar, water, honey to taste, and dill in a glass mixing bowl. Add the cucumber and onion; toss until well combined.
- Marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate overnight. Serve cold or at room temperature.
I also bought a bag of local (Chelan) cherries. My jaw dropped when I saw the price when she rang them up ($11) considering they were not a hefty bagfull. In fact, I could easily eat them all myself in one sitting. Hm. This is the other downside: eating locally isn't cheap! I'm excited to see what others made. I'm taking the leftover desserts from my birthday beach bonfire yesterday. None of them are locally sourced, but I'd like to get rid of them. Josh would happily eat all of the cookies, cupcakes, and rice krispies treats for the next week, but I had other ideas for the next 5 dinners.
