Transfiguration Follow Up

My friends have a great bumper sticker that says something to the effect of "Love People/Make Them Good Food". The bumper sticker neatly sums up how I approach life. I love food. I love the people I love (to borrow a turn of phrase from my husband). So you know I REALLY like you when I cook for you. You won't go hungry under my watch.

I was excited for the Tiny's Organic All Fruit bag deal we got on Living Social. We were not disappointed and it neatly coincided with my Dormition Fast proposal: we eat food that is locally grown.

Look at all that fruit! We had 4 pounds of cherries, several pounds of pluots, peaches, and nectarines. Given that I live with two fruit bats, this bag was PERFECT. We eat the entire contents in about a week.

With regard to produce, I found some difficulty in keeping totally local. I did OK the first week. I came up with a list of dishes I wanted to make and then shopped the farmer's market for inspiration. It worked out pretty well -- out of a list of seven possible dishes, I was able to make three from totally local produce. I would have made vegetable sandwiches, but didn't find mushrooms that I liked.

I also couldn't find citrus. I remember when I was younger and we would get walnuts, apples, and oranges in our stockings. My cousins and I would be aghast as to why produce would be where toys should. I then began reading more books about frontier life and living on the prairie and discovered how precious citrus and fresh produce can be. It then made sense that my grandmother, who grew up on a farm, was simply keeping that tradition of holding fresh fruit as important. It made me respect her gift that much more. Of course, a few years later one could not find the mesh stockings stuffed with oranges, apples, and walnuts since the tradition died with my materialistic generation.

A recipe I wanted to make called for lemon zest and juice. So, I had to be creative and decided that red wine vinegar would give the necessary sweet tartness to the dish.

Martha Stewart's minions certainly know what they are doing. This is a dish of blanched local green beans, sweet red onion, tomatoes, and parsley tossed with canned chickpeas. There is some olive oil and red wine vinegar as well as salt and pepper involved. I could have topped it with the required feta cheese, but it was Dormition Fast, so Nina and I had cheese on the side.

Nina is wondering when I will stop taking pictures and we can start eating.

Then came Transfiguration after the annual blueberry picking. It was a great experience as always to pick one's own berries and pay next to nothing for them. It does make you appreciate the hard work that goes into it...especially when the priest's daughter keeps grabbing handfuls of your berries and putting them in her own bucket. "But you have so many," she said when I told her to knock it off. It is the only time I have given a moderately-conservative reply: "Then get busy picking your own!"

The second week of the fast we were going to the Methow Valley with friends. I had missed the farmer's market the week prior because of Transfiguration, so I had to make due with other farmer's markets that were not as good. Then I just got frustrated not being able to use the ingredients I wanted to use. So, I hiked down to Pike Place Market, with Nina strapped on, to find produce that was coming from local farmers as well as local vendors. I found some good looking citrus and an organic watermelon that looked small but felt so heavy by the time I got back up the hill. I had bruises on my shoulders from hoisting child and produce and was thankful this was not a permanent lifestyle choice.

We are so spoiled with our clean grocery stores and cheap food. I tend to be anti-corporations not because of my natural socialist tendencies, but because I believe that companies are so much bigger than the individual and it would be difficult for anyone to negotiate a better price for a product with a large entity behind it. So, I am saddened that I have gone back to the Trader Joe lifestyle after the fast.

Still, it has given me resolve that I as a consumer can control the market by only buying produce that is seasonal and trying to buy items that are locally grown. It will cost more money, but it will be money well spent if I can support local farmers. It is also so much better for my need to cultivate patience and moderation. While I may want to eat zucchini in the dead winter, the amount of fuel it took to get to me is not worth it to the earth which God gave man.