Mostly Local?

Okay, I'm trying to classify this meal. Perhaps I should say conscientiously cooked?


The bread is homemade sourdough (and totally delicious). I put a second loaf in the upright freezer, which is filling up nicely. I used King Arthur's flour (produced in New York within a 500 mile radius of here), Florida Sugar Chrystals, Sea Salt (from who knows where) and a wee bit of corn starch (to brown the top). So, mostly local.

The Rainbow Chard was grown in my garden, but I made a red wine sauce for it...from a bottle of wine from Chile. Whoops, there went my local. With large distribution of the wine though, perhaps the carbon cost isn't as bad as it sounds (but I'm probably just justifying the use of a pretty tasty red).

The mustard, not local.

The butter, made by hand by my fabulous husband. He used leftover whipping cream from our last batch of strawberry ice cream (I love homemade ice cream). It was organic, but not necessarily local (I've yet to find a truly local source of milk/cream that's CONVENIENT to get...this is probably my own laziness for not finding a milk buying club).

The Brats are from Trader Joe's. They're not local, but they are raised organically and hormone free, or so the package says. They sure tasted good.

While I didn't get through the whole meal (eyes are always bigger than my stomach) it was a nice way to end the day. I was debating a frozen dinner but while watering the garden I realized I needed to do something with the overgrown chard. I've frozen a lot more chard, and I have no idea how it will taste when thawed. Any storage thoughts for Rainbow Chard? It's never my favorite meal, but it is pretty healthy. The plants are nowhere near done producing yet, so I've got more time to think of chard alternatives...



Other tidbits of the day:

* I finally got the junk hauled from our yard! Yeay!!! He missed a few things, so I called him back and left a message (which he told me to do if he didn't get everything). So it's not quite over yet, but it's a lot better.
* My father, Mr. Antisocial, just asked to friend me on Facebook. That's not fair, my father isn't antisocial, he's just a loner who doesn't seek social circumstances, which makes Facebook an unexpected move on his part. I'm wondering if I have any old posts I should delete!
* I finally realized that my email church bulletins have been going to my bulk email account. I sent myself pictures and could only find them in the bulk mailbox and happened to notice an email from my minister sandwiched between an ad for viagra and a breast enhancement offer. No wonder I never knew when choir was canceled
* I just began my first experiment in paper making! More on that later...if it turns out like paper.