9/18 Menus:
breakfast: flapjacks (Birkett Mills buckwheat) with chopped apples (Littletree) and maple syrup (Schoolyard Sugarbush)
lunch: barley cakes (Cayuga Pure barley, Greenstar bulk local honey and sunflower oil, raisins from Thornbush grapes), apples, sweet pepper (garden)
dinner: pork chops (Kingbird) with sauerkraut (homemade from Blue Heron cabbage); baby potatoes (Greg's garden) with butter (Meadow Creek) and parsley (garden); maitake mushrooms (Kingbird) with butter, squash oil (Stony Brook), and cooking wine (homemade from arbor grapes)
I do most of the gardening work, but there are a couple foods Greg has taken on, and potatoes are one of them. He's worked for several hours over the past couple days digging up potatoes, cleaning them, and laying them out to cure. All in a day's work for me, but it's not the way Greg usually spends his manual labor budget. So I'm feeling a need to put Greg's name on it. Which makes me realize that I've been treating my own labor as generic ("garden" really means "my garden.") Oops. How feminine of me. Just for the record, I'm the cook, too. And the maker of most of the preserved foods. If the source listed is generic, it's me. Thank you, me. :^)
9/19 Menus (so far):
breakfast: grits (Cayuga Pure) with chopped peaches (Black Diamond) and maple syrup (Schoolyard Sugarbush)
school lunch: sauerkraut with pork (leftover), barley cakes (leftover), apple (Littletree), cucumber (a friend's garden)
We still had some almond milk in the fridge, but when I went to get it for the grits this morning, I discovered it had gone bad. That wasn't a problem when we were eating cold cereal for breakfast every day. But we use a lot less milk with the hot cereals, plus I'm cooking other things more often because the difference in labor isn't as great. Oh well. Time to get going on that homemade granola.
While I'm on the topic of acknowledging people's labor, though, I want to say something about the almond milk. Every time I write it on the menu I feel funny describing its source as "exception." We have a family practice of listing the sources of the foods on our plate before we eat, and the almonds do have a known source, even if it's not local. I've thought about shortening my menu lists on the blog, leaving out the sources of foods we use every day, but that doesn't feel right either. For me, naming those sources is a way of saying grace: we're acknowledging the people and places that provide our sustenance. It also keeps us aware of which foods are anonymous -- we list those as "no idea," or "who knows where."
breakfast: flapjacks (Birkett Mills buckwheat) with chopped apples (Littletree) and maple syrup (Schoolyard Sugarbush)
lunch: barley cakes (Cayuga Pure barley, Greenstar bulk local honey and sunflower oil, raisins from Thornbush grapes), apples, sweet pepper (garden)
dinner: pork chops (Kingbird) with sauerkraut (homemade from Blue Heron cabbage); baby potatoes (Greg's garden) with butter (Meadow Creek) and parsley (garden); maitake mushrooms (Kingbird) with butter, squash oil (Stony Brook), and cooking wine (homemade from arbor grapes)
I do most of the gardening work, but there are a couple foods Greg has taken on, and potatoes are one of them. He's worked for several hours over the past couple days digging up potatoes, cleaning them, and laying them out to cure. All in a day's work for me, but it's not the way Greg usually spends his manual labor budget. So I'm feeling a need to put Greg's name on it. Which makes me realize that I've been treating my own labor as generic ("garden" really means "my garden.") Oops. How feminine of me. Just for the record, I'm the cook, too. And the maker of most of the preserved foods. If the source listed is generic, it's me. Thank you, me. :^)
9/19 Menus (so far):
breakfast: grits (Cayuga Pure) with chopped peaches (Black Diamond) and maple syrup (Schoolyard Sugarbush)
school lunch: sauerkraut with pork (leftover), barley cakes (leftover), apple (Littletree), cucumber (a friend's garden)
We still had some almond milk in the fridge, but when I went to get it for the grits this morning, I discovered it had gone bad. That wasn't a problem when we were eating cold cereal for breakfast every day. But we use a lot less milk with the hot cereals, plus I'm cooking other things more often because the difference in labor isn't as great. Oh well. Time to get going on that homemade granola.
While I'm on the topic of acknowledging people's labor, though, I want to say something about the almond milk. Every time I write it on the menu I feel funny describing its source as "exception." We have a family practice of listing the sources of the foods on our plate before we eat, and the almonds do have a known source, even if it's not local. I've thought about shortening my menu lists on the blog, leaving out the sources of foods we use every day, but that doesn't feel right either. For me, naming those sources is a way of saying grace: we're acknowledging the people and places that provide our sustenance. It also keeps us aware of which foods are anonymous -- we list those as "no idea," or "who knows where."
I direct order raw, unpasteurized organic Carmel almonds (I love the flavor of the Carmels) from Jim Bremner, who runs Bremner Farms in Chico, CA. Almond milk is made from sprouted almonds, and almonds have to be raw/unpasteurized in order to sprout. Direct ordering is the only way to get those now, so I have USDA regulations to thank for driving me to do business with a real person, instead of a plastic bin in the bulk section. I appreciate the opportunity, but I wouldn't have gone there without that little extra push (and Jim Bremner might not have gotten his web site set up for direct sales, either, without the looming prospect of bankruptcy when the new regulations destroyed his market.) I'm glad he hung in there, and I'm glad he got a direct sales exemption. And I'm glad I found his website. I think I will start listing him on my menus.
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