Hey! I bet you thought I forgot about you? Nah. But in these gorgeous late spring days that feel like summer, I find that I just can't stay inside. Of course, that means when I do come in, I have a ton of inside work to get done. You know the drill.I thought I'd mention a couple of projects this morning before I run off to today's list of stuff to accomplish. First is my swanky new sandbox for Buttercup. It's not quite finished since I still have to put on the corner seats, but yesterday was so beautiful that it seemed a shame not to set it up.
This project can be found at Bob Villa's website. It's super simple to knock together and for my very first woodworking project, I'm quite pleased.
Buttercup likes it too.
The second project that I can share today is a local food thing. Now, I support the slow food/locavore movements and love the idea of eating foods in season when they are at their best, but I'm not ready (nor will I ever be) to give up my coffee, chocolate, spice rack, olive oil, lemons, and all those other things that don't grow here in Maine. Still, by eating even one meal a week (or parts of several meals), from local sources, I feel like participating. I enjoy the How Many Meals Will These Local Ingredients Make? game. Easier in the summer when there's a lot of variety. Harder right now in the early part of our growing season.
The Portland Farmer's Market is one of the top 10 in the country according to Travel & Leasure and this year, I'm making it the first stop in my grocery shopping each week. It's tricky, however, to make a menu for the week when you have no idea what you're going to find at the market. I took some notes last Saturday and I'm posting both a list of available products and things to do with them. My goal is to do this every few weeks, as produce changes, so that next year, I know what to expect.
TOTAL SIDEBAR NOTE: Forbes ran an interesting article on the Myth of the Locavore. While the points made are valid, it still doesn't change the fact that food picked yesterday afternoon and sold this morning at the Farmer's Market tastes amazing and that it's pretty cool to talk to the people who grow what you're going to eat. Plus, eating local helps keep food production in your "neighborhood".
Farmer's Market Products - May 15, 2010
- Chicken
- Beef
- Pork
- Goat
- Mutton
- Eggs
- Cheeses
- Yogurt
- Honey
- Rhubarb
- Fiddleheads
- Parsnip
- Greens (Spinach, Arugula, Lettuce)
- Scallions
- Tomatoes
- Garlic
This is not even close to a complete list of ideas for what to do with these ingredients, but it is a list of some of the things I made this week. Also, for convenience I've included links to recipes so you can get an idea of what I did, but these are not necessarily the recipes I used.
- Roasted garlic (which has a ton of uses. Everything from spread it on bread to add it to sauces and mashed veg)
- Hamburgers with feta and spinach, Parsnip fries
- Rhubarb crumble
- Rhubarb leather (without the Kool-Aide)
- Salad of mixed greens, tempura fiddleheads, sliced hardboiled egg, and spicy peanut sauce
- Roast chicken
- Roast chicken salad
- Chicken stock
- Spanikopita (spinach and feta pastry)
- Fritatta
