...Act Locally.
Today I took a much anticipated trip to my local Farmer's Market. Almost every Sunday I mean to go, and nearly every Sunday something comes up. The fact that I have a real Farmer's Market within a two block radius of my apartment is something that comforts me after I read The Omnivore's Dilemma and realize that yet again I missed the sign up date for my local CSA. Yet the fact that I take such little advantage of it does bother me.
Within the past year since I've moved to this neighborhood, the Farmer's Market has improved tenfold. A few more vendors have shown up, including an amazing fish monger and a couple more vegetable vendors. This morning I convinced my husband to take a walk over with me to pick up some groceries and breakfast to start our Sunday. Due to this visit (with our adorable new puppy, Cayman), I developed a meal based around seasonal, local foods (plus picked up some local eggs). It was delicious.
My meal tonight consisted of pan seared local scallops dressed with local sweet corn salsa (local tomatoes, canned black beans). As a side note, it is interesting to note that "sweet corn" is what we normally eat. The corn that you usually see out your car window driving down the road is "feed corn". That is fed to steer and other livestock, not to humans- it's harder, tougher and less "sweet" (though my "farmer's daughter" aunt told me once that she thinks that it would probably be pretty edible when it's young). As a friend of mine found out too late, farmers usually grow sweet corn closer to their homes, which makes it much harder to filch on road trips (shout out to JJ!).
On the side, I prepared fingerling potatoes, and snap peas from Fresh Direct (which is my love because it means that I no longer have to drag my butt to the store or groceries up flights of stairs; and my husband gets all the seltzer his heart desires). The entire meal felt really light and fresh. The scallops had a nice buttery crust while remaining sweet, and the salsa tasted crisp and bright. I'm hoping it will be a bit more complex tomorrow after the flavors have a chance to "marry" a bit more.
We also shared a great bottle of wine, which was one of a trio that I bought for my husband for our second anniversary. It is a mixed red from Napa Valley called "The Prisoner" out of Orin Swift Cellars. I felt it smelled vaguely of cinnamon and wood with a lightly oak-y blueberry and cherry taste. It had a dry-ish ending and a beautiful deep red color. The other two wines will be drunk through the course of our marriage (one at 5 years and one at 7 years), and if they're as good as this wine, I'm greatly looking forward to them.
As a side note, our puppy remains the cutest that we have ever seen. It's hard to believe that it's only been a week since he's been in our lives. I am beginning to fear we will be the most obnoxious parents. Today we headed over to Astoria Park with him. There's a dog-run by Shore Towers that he got to hang out in, and the rest of the time was spent lazing around/running on the "great lawn" area. We had a few visitors, did some crosswords, and generally had a great afternoon. As far as Sundays go, this was a great one to almost-end my summer on.
Today I took a much anticipated trip to my local Farmer's Market. Almost every Sunday I mean to go, and nearly every Sunday something comes up. The fact that I have a real Farmer's Market within a two block radius of my apartment is something that comforts me after I read The Omnivore's Dilemma and realize that yet again I missed the sign up date for my local CSA. Yet the fact that I take such little advantage of it does bother me.
Within the past year since I've moved to this neighborhood, the Farmer's Market has improved tenfold. A few more vendors have shown up, including an amazing fish monger and a couple more vegetable vendors. This morning I convinced my husband to take a walk over with me to pick up some groceries and breakfast to start our Sunday. Due to this visit (with our adorable new puppy, Cayman), I developed a meal based around seasonal, local foods (plus picked up some local eggs). It was delicious.
My meal tonight consisted of pan seared local scallops dressed with local sweet corn salsa (local tomatoes, canned black beans). As a side note, it is interesting to note that "sweet corn" is what we normally eat. The corn that you usually see out your car window driving down the road is "feed corn". That is fed to steer and other livestock, not to humans- it's harder, tougher and less "sweet" (though my "farmer's daughter" aunt told me once that she thinks that it would probably be pretty edible when it's young). As a friend of mine found out too late, farmers usually grow sweet corn closer to their homes, which makes it much harder to filch on road trips (shout out to JJ!).
On the side, I prepared fingerling potatoes, and snap peas from Fresh Direct (which is my love because it means that I no longer have to drag my butt to the store or groceries up flights of stairs; and my husband gets all the seltzer his heart desires). The entire meal felt really light and fresh. The scallops had a nice buttery crust while remaining sweet, and the salsa tasted crisp and bright. I'm hoping it will be a bit more complex tomorrow after the flavors have a chance to "marry" a bit more.
We also shared a great bottle of wine, which was one of a trio that I bought for my husband for our second anniversary. It is a mixed red from Napa Valley called "The Prisoner" out of Orin Swift Cellars. I felt it smelled vaguely of cinnamon and wood with a lightly oak-y blueberry and cherry taste. It had a dry-ish ending and a beautiful deep red color. The other two wines will be drunk through the course of our marriage (one at 5 years and one at 7 years), and if they're as good as this wine, I'm greatly looking forward to them.
As a side note, our puppy remains the cutest that we have ever seen. It's hard to believe that it's only been a week since he's been in our lives. I am beginning to fear we will be the most obnoxious parents. Today we headed over to Astoria Park with him. There's a dog-run by Shore Towers that he got to hang out in, and the rest of the time was spent lazing around/running on the "great lawn" area. We had a few visitors, did some crosswords, and generally had a great afternoon. As far as Sundays go, this was a great one to almost-end my summer on.
No comments:
Post a Comment