Saturday, November 14, 2009

Local Food is Good

We are now enjoying a scaled down version of the market for the rest of the winter. We take orders and show up at Ikenberry's and Grandin middle of the morning to drop off breads and meats. I hope the bread sales will remain steady over the winter as we depend on all that great business. Every week I am rather amazed at the generous support of our customers. Amazed and grateful.

Today I bartered some granola and breads and pizza crusts for some more of our favorite trout.

Philip and most of the kids went bowling this evening with a church group but Patrick, my market salesman, and I were tired from all the social interaction. We stayed home. I went to the garden, ogled the turkeys, then picked us a nice bunch of colorful lettuce. Patrick brought up some potatoes from the basement. We cubed up some seedy loaf and Patrick made croutons. He also fried up the potatoes. I ground up some almonds and garlic and made a crust for the trout fillets. We cooked them in a heavy skillet, tossed the salad with some french vinaigrette, added the croutons, and served our plates. Patrick lit the candles in the dining room (thanks, Stewart!) and we put on music and dined.

What delicious local food. So simple. We chatted as we worked and in moments our dinner was complete. Patrick spoke about how he used to hate fish and how now he loves it. He and I marveled at the delightful way the nutty trout interacted with the creamy potatoes and tart salad. We cleared our plates and felt very happy we spent the extra time to make dinner for the two of us. It was a very nice date. We missed Philip and the other kids, but I am certain they are having a blast. They will get their turn some other night. But tonight it was nice sharing a meal and barn chores with Patrick. He is my partner and I truly appreciate his hard work selling for me on the weekends while many of his peers are still in bed or watching tv or playing computer games.

I hope everyone out there can find some locally grown food. Cook it up. You won't regret it!

1 comment:

Jeff said...

I bought some "almost local" golden delicious and red delicious apples while I was in Floyd recently. They were from Franklin County and I was surprised when I learned that the red apples that I bought were red delicious. The store bought ones are much redder but these were much, much tastier!! And a friend brought me some Pippins, an apple that I've never eaten before. I still have two of them - should have gotten more of them, though!