A Fresh Start

On Day 13 of the Ice Harvest, we have decided it's all right to return to normal.
The freezer doesn't look much better than it did at the beginning of our plan to eat up all of its lurking, languishing, hoary, gelid contents.
But we're OK with that. Most of the fresh produce remaining in the refrigerator is manageable: a little cauliflower to roast for some soup (Hm! That would work well with the leftover vegetable broth) and some jalapeños that simply make brilliant ad-hoc additions almost anywhere (cauliflower soup, say?).
Besides. It was farmers' market day at the Civic Center today. In this incessant, horrid, rainy weather, Cranky and I feel some obligation to go and buy from the stolid farmers who set up their stations, rain or shine. They do fine when the sun's out, as it was the Sunday before last (and what a zoo it was, according to reliable reports). But on miserable days like this, the poor farmers need some support.
We chatted with Chris Zuckerman of Zuckerman's Farms in the Delta. He has some gorgeous asparagus, and we bought a bundle. Chris said the San Rafael market is known for its loyal customers (!), and he told us Thursday is the big restaurant pick-up day for local chefs. How cool. (Obviously the chefs are there a lot earlier than I can bother to wake up for... I didn't run into any of them.)
Chris also told us he has darn-well imprinted on his brain the fact that the drive from his farm to Marin is 95 miles. So he's perfectly within the 100-mile radius of the food-provisioning limit for the Eat Local Challenge, coming up in May. (And he said there will still be asparagus in May. Apricots, too! Boy, spring — what a head-twisting season.) I told him about the Challenge, and he thought that was neat. Chris reads blogs, I learned. (Not food blogs, but...)
So. We have the dual disciplines of Clean Out the Freezer and the upcoming Eat Local Challenge.
I am so happy to let the one fall away, as I prepare for the next.