With the Eat Local Challenge coming up in just over a week, I know I'll be making most of my meals at home during May. I have a few restaurants in mind for those times when I shed my self-righteous robe of purity and pop out for a bite now and then (and they all try to source their foods locally).But it's such fun to have a project and the enthusiasm to stick with it. That means I'll be buying lots of local goods and inventing all kinds of dishes which won't need pasta from Italy or soy sauce from Japan or...
OK, that said, I am planning to eat both locally and probably not very locally tonight. Cranky and I joined the Jewish Community Center in our neighborhood, and it has a great little cafe catered by Robert Meyer. This is hands-down the closest dining establishment to our house.
So, even if the food comes from Salinas or Iowa or worse, well, we have a great, local eatery. Corned-beef sandwiches, soups and chili, smoked salmon, roast beef, braised lamb shanks. Eat at the cafe (I think that's where I caught my cold, however; the kiddies from daycare swarm the joint when school lets out, begging their moms for frozen treats from the case).
Or take your food away with you. It would be a super place to stock up for a picnic.
And today, since we're not up to cooking, we're microwaving Meyer's stuffed cabbage rolls. $1.50 each. I sampled one earlier: It's made with ground turkey (leftover from Passover?) and rice, and topped with a bright, well-spiced, unsweetened tomato sauce.
I'm looking forward to supper.
(Update: Cranky plated this meal like the true artist he is. The cabbage rolls sit atop some leftover poppyseed noodles, and are topped with some sour cream that just happened to be in the fridge. Man!)
Psst: I'm also way looking forward to May.
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8 comments:
This is going to be easy. I've been eating local my entire life. There's NO WAY I'd drive over a 100 miles to buy a darned pork leg or bean sprout.
Personally, I think people should shoot a little higher by not eating anything farther away than maybe 200 feet from their home. Now THAT would be a challenge.
Biggles
There's NO WAY I'd drive over a 100 miles to buy a darned pork leg or bean sprout.
Yes you would! Aren't you gonna make a roadtrip with Chilebrown to Oregon for some special bacon? ;)
But you do get it, right? About not relying on foods that have to be driven so far to our local markets.
Anyway, if it weren't for my dinky patio, I could probably do fine eating from within 200 feet. Tomatoes. Lemons. Turnips. Lettuce. (Oops, that's all the room I've got.)
Outside the patio, I've got my choice of rabbit, deer, turkey (need a silencer on my Remington Sportsman 12-gauge, though).
Hmmm... the neighbors have chickens. I should get out a tape measure and see if the coop's within 200 feet.
The JCC is awesome - great pools!
Jeez, how do I reset this thing? That comment above was from me, not from the reclusive (but talented) Cranky. OK, I'm workin' on it.
Great plating Cranky! And also, I love the fact you two are now a blogging couple! It is so fun to read your blogs and see how you two make a great match! Personalities definitely shine through the writing styles.
Hopefully, all the rain will make eating locally unchallenging. More rain means more produce!
Airmail a couple of those cabbage rolls to Escondido. My stomach has been growling ever since I read about them
Hi Dad: I knew you'd flip for the cabbage rolls. So simple, basic, evocative... I cleaned my plate!
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