Thursday, September 20, 2012

CHEATERS!

Ok, we cheated.  This is my confession.  Forgive us.

But first, check out the lunch that Dan and I ended up making yesterday.  Jonnycakes with a fresh salsa of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatillos, topped with a sprinkle of sea salt.  Delicious.



But then there was the wine tasting.  Mmmmmm, the wine tasting.  We headed up to Mill River Winery around 4:30, since they close at 6.  We arrived just before five to find a really cozy, semi-rustic and totally inviting tasting room attached to a small gourmet food-themed gift shop.  There are old exposed beams original to the building, and a cool bar top made from rough cut lumber.  In the gift shop, they carry some local products and some imported things like olive oils and vinegars.  Everything looked good, and we decided to pick up some local cheese from them to enjoy while we sampled the wine.  Chris in the tasting room was friendly and knowledgeable, guiding us through a few different tastes.  They have only just planted their own vines this season, so they are not yet producing their own grapes and mostly still use grapes from California.  Our first cheat!  But oh so worth it.  We agreed that our favorite was the barrel-aged Chardonnay, and I don't even like chardonnays so that's saying something!  I could have spent an entire afternoon relaxing in the tasting room.  Oh, and Chris also gave us some crackers to accompany our cheese.  Our second cheat!  All in all though, we were happy to be patrons at a local place doing something relatively new around here, and we think they're going to be pretty successful.  I'm sure we'll be back before long, and you can bet that once they get their local grapes up and going, we'll be their best customers!

Next, it was off to my in-laws' house to have a birthday dinner for dear hubby.  We weren't about to impose our crazy hippy diet on the extended family, so we were prepared for anything but as it turns out, it was a mostly local meal!  My mother in law appreciates quality local food so she had made a shepherd's pie using local meat and potatoes.  We also had local green beans on the side and a caprese salad that was all homegrown with the exception of the mozzarella.  It was all delicious and serves as another example of a menu that could be done entirely on local foods.  Dessert was a different story with frozen homemade raspberry mousse and lemon cake.  Another cheat!  But again, what could we do other than indulge??

This morning we are back to business, though, and I am regretting not running the errands I should have run yesterday (might have something to do with the wine tasting . . . . )  One small hassle of local eating that will take some getting used to is that you cannot just run out and pick up a random grocery here or there.  We are all out of eggs and almost out of butter and milk.  Luckily, dear hubby's mother randomly gifted us some more local bacon last night which totally saved me for the actual birthday breakfast this morning.  Dear hubby wanted eggs and drove twice to the house where we've sourced out good farm eggs at a great price ($2.50/doz!!) but they had not yet put the cooler out by the road.  I still managed to pull off a great birthday breakfast, I think.


Local bacon with jonnycakes and blueberry syrup.  I had frozen the blueberries early in the summer so in that regard I was fortunate.  I mixed them with a little local maple syrup and heated until they were plump and ready to burst.  

Jonnycakes are seriously versatile.  I'm sure I'll get sick of them soon, but I'm also getting better at cooking them, frying them in bacon fat until the outside has a satisfying crunch and the inside is soft but not mushy.  

Not to be left out, little grommet enjoyed a few cheats of his own.  At playgroup yesterday they handed out a snack of little graham cracker bunnies and, not wanting to be that weirdo mom who imposes bizarre diets on her infant, I let him indulge.  He also had a banana at playgroup earlier in the week.  This morning, though, he was back it right along side us, enjoying a jonnycake, bacon, and plenty of homemade applesauce.

On today's lunch menu is chicken soup made with stock made from Monday night's roasted chicken.  Perfect for a fall day.  Tonight will be a surf n turf celebration for dear hubby's birthday.  

Veggies ready to go into our chicken soup:

And, the finished product:


The broth was super dark and rich from cracking open the bones and roasting them in a hot oven.


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