‘Eat Local Challenge’ Archives

Changes afoot.

Last week, I was in the middle of writing my final analysis of the Eat Local Challenge when I heard the key turn in the door. It was midday on Wednesday. Before my husband even got all the way in the door, I knew what was up: his magazine folded.

After a minute or two of hyperventilating panic, I realized we’ll actually be okay. Belts will be tightened and pennies will be pinched, but we’ll make it. As a result, things may get a little… boring around here, as I scale back the amount we spend on groceries and eating out.

To keep things interesting, I’m thinking of starting a Cat and Girl-style Donation Derby, except I’d post an entry with photos about it instead. Unlike Cat and Girl, I think I’m open to suggestions of what to buy with the donations, provided they’re not crazy.

Anyway, that’s the state of Maison Gezellig. I’m about to hit the grocery store with my new food budget in mind — I’m sure there’ll more about this later.

Meanwhile, here’s the aforementioned final analysis of ELC I was writing last week:

(more…)

Category Eat Local Challenge, Life in Maison Gezellig |

ELC Day 6: I go to Key Food.

I finally broke down and bought some decidedly un-local food. I don’t know whether to count this towards my totals or not because, well, you’ll see what I bought in a minute:

- microwave popcorn ($2.99)
- microwave kettle corn ($2.89)
- all-natural Skippy ($2.69)¹
- Goldfish crackers ($1.99)
- Amish Country Farms organic milk ($4.59 for a half-gallon)

Grand total: $15.15

So, of this shopping excursion, how much should go towards my ELC total? Just the local stuff? Just the stuff that isn’t snack food? All of it?

1. You could tell me this peanut butter is shipped in from Mars and I would still buy it. I have ruined more than my share of shirts by stirring that fucking oil slick back into the jar of all-natural peanut butter. This stuff doesn’t need to be stirred or refrigerated and it doesn’t have a bunch of crap in it. I love it. [↩]

Category Eat Local Challenge |

ELC Day… something… 5?

Went to the Union Square Greenmarket today. Maybe I’m just tired of going there or maybe there were less farmers there because it’s the Friday before a long weekend, but I just didn’t see a damn thing I wanted. I still bought the following:

- apples ($3.00 for 3 lbs)¹
- gai lohn ($3.00)²
- 1/4 lb of cheddar and slightly more than 1/4 lb of… some other cheese ($11.00 total)³

Grand total: $17.00

Grand total to date: $80.28

Then I went across the street and filled a veritable trough at Whole Foods’ salad bars because it was an absolutely magnificent 80-something degree evening outside, so we went back across the street and ate, sitting in the grass in the park.

I won’t lie; I took no small amount of glee in filling my plastic take-away bin with whatever the freakin’ hell I felt like. Thai mango slaw! Tomatoes of unknown origin! Some kind of icebergy lettuce salad with bacon!⁴

My patience is really wearing thin for this whole experiment. I actually found myself standing in my kitchen, plotting all the non-local foods I was going to eat on Monday: French cheeses, cherries from California, a piece of steak that costs less than a car.

I’m going to save my final conclusions for Monday, but so far, they’re not the conclusions I would have expected.

1. Good god, I could really go without eating another damned apple for a good six months at least. [↩]
2. The same stand was selling “broccoli rapp” and that just cracked me up. [↩]
3. I will never complain about cheese prices again after this week. I still can’t believe I just paid $11.00 for two wee bricks of cheese. [↩]
4. BAAAAAACONNNNNNN! That is all. [↩]

Category Eat Local Challenge, Greenmarket Grub |

ELC Day 4: notes on the halfway point

For lunch today, I ate most of the cheese I bought yesterday. I wish I had noted where I bought it from, because it’s heavenly; creamy and studded with caraway seeds, I had to force myself to tuck the rest away for later.

And why do I need to do that? Because I feel like I’m almost out of food yet again. I have some spinach in the fridge (more on the yesterday’s dandelion greens in a moment), two eggs, half a pint of tomatoes (which the kid and I are slowly polishing off) turkey sausage, almost a whole loaf of bread, milk, and one apple. (And a little bit of cheese, which I may or may not eat an hour from now.)

Here’s what I’ve cooked so far:

Monday: turkey adobo with rice and a pineapple-jack fruit relish-type-thing; turkey thighs from the Greenmarket, the rest came from my cupboards

Tuesday: scrambled eggs with toast and roasted asparagus; all from the Greenmarket

Wednesday: turkey thighs poached in red wine (like a really half-assed coq au vin) with dandelion greens; almost all from the Greenmarket, except the wine and an onion

And ugh, the dandelion greens. Look, I’m no stranger to dandelion greens; I ate them in salads at my grandparents’ table every spring. I knew these big ones would be tougher and more bitter than the small ones, so I cooked them like kale, but they were so bitter, they were actually inedible. I can’t even remember the last time I cooked something inedible.

So, yeah. I’ll cook the sausage (in some as-yet unknown fashion) and the spinach tonight, we’ll eat the rest of the tomatoes and the last apple… and then I’m going to need to go the Union Square Greenmarket again tomorrow.

I’m getting a little pissed at how much of my time this is taking, seeing as it takes the better part of an hour to get to Union Square. I could go to a slightly closer Greenmarket at 97th and Columbus, but a new market is such a crap shoot. They might have everything I want/need; they might have nothing I want/need.

More later.

Category Eat Local Challenge |

ELC Day 3

I have just returned home from the Union Square Greenmarket with the following:

- another Fizzy Lizzy soda ($1.69 at Whole Foods)
- a loaf of bread ($4.00)
- dandelion greens and spinach ($5.00)
- turkey sausage because the turkey thighs were so good ($9.20 for about 1.5 lbs)
- grape tomatoes ($3.50)
- cheese (about .3 lbs for $7.00)
- a quart of milk and a yogurt drink ($5.00)

Grand total: $35.49

Grand total to date: $63.28

Getting back to that quart of milk and yogurt drink I picked up at Ronnybrook Farm Dairy… now, the pollen count here is high, and in the course of my transaction, my kid sneezed. “Bless you,” said the guy behind the table. My kid said nothing and inched behind me slightly. We continued our transaction. My kid sneezed again, the dude said “bless you” again, my kid inched further behind me.

Then, the guy turns to me and says, “Teachin’ her not to say ‘thank you,’ huh?”

Here’s what I didn’t say: “Why, yes, we’re hoping to raise a smug, irritating jackass who will one day be as astute as you. Wish us luck!”

Instead, I gritted my teeth, opted against punching him in the neck, and said, “She’s shy.”

“Oh, shy; well, I guess that’s okay then,” he said.

Gee, thanks, paragon of appropriate human interaction; I’m glad to know shyness is acceptable to you.

So, in closing, Ronnybrook Farm Dairy, y’all be sure to invest my five dollars wisely. Don’t spend it all in one place, ’cause I ain’t coming back to pay any part of that guy’s salary ever again.

Category Eat Local Challenge, Greenmarket Grub, Not Gezellig! |