Day One of the 250-Mile Diet
I just finished my first dinner since starting the 250 today. The main course was a hamburger. It was made of local, pastured beef that I was told would taste especially delicious because the cow had lived a stress-free life. That must have been one happy cow because it was quite possibly the best burger I’ve ever had. With it I had a salad (CSA greens) and a slice of garlic-tomato bruschetta. The bread was homemade but not with local flour-I’m still using up what I have on hand (see Rule No. 2). The tomato and the garlic, however, came from my garden. Dinner was accompanied by a glass of Main Road Red from North Fork, Long Island.
I thought I’d make some popcorn later and watch a movie, except that I am out of popcorn. Popcorn does grow locally, but it won’t appear at the farmers markets until the fall. Despite being a local foods enthusiast for many years, I have to admit I’ve never given much thought to when popcorn is in season. Anyway, when it does finally show up at the farmers markets I won’t buy a cute mini bag of it like I did last year. I’ll be stocking up enough to last till the next harvest (what my dad calls “the Costco school of eating locally”).
Oooh, that tomato and garlic bruschetta sounds wonderful. Care to share a recipe? I do make my own bread but have no idea what kind of bread to make for a bruschetta… Thanks for any help/ recipes/ links.
Ideally you’d use a chewy, crusty peasant loaf such as a sourdough. In practice, anything that isn’t too crumbly will work. Toast a slice of bread till golden. Peel a clove of garlic and cut in half. Rub the cut side on one side of the toast-the garlic will sort of disappear into it. Then either put a thin slice of beautifully ripe tomato on top or (Catalonian style) rub a cut piece of tomato on the garlic toast so that it, too, disappears into the bread. Drizzle with your best olive oil if you can, and sprinkle with salt.
We also purchase meat that is locally grown. It definitely has a different taste to it and sometimes requires an adjustment in cookery methods sometimes. As for the popcorn. The texture is so different that the microwave store bought stuff. We do not have a popcorn popper and so must use the stove top which means it won’t get popped unless I do it as the spouse prefers the convenience of the store bought packets and the for safety reasons I prefer the children not to engage in stove top poppery. We have used quite a bit of the old fashioned popcorn in the last few months. The kernels are purple and red before they are popped and when popped they are the most amazing shade of white.