Yikes - what have I done lately?

This week I did not buy any produce, preserve any lovely local foods, or in any other way plan for my winter of slow eating. I did eat one of my packets of frozen corn with some corn-loving friends (the verdict - the texture isn't the same as the explosion of sweet corn right off the cob but the flavor was summer all the way!), and eat a lot of the blueberries I picked two weeks ago (they've kept unwashed in the fridge beautifully).

The yummy corn went like this: I went to Cullipher Farm and purchased five dozen ears of corn. I bought the Avalon variety but I'd pretty much buy anything from Cullipher. I shucked all of the ears, brought water to a boil in my second largest pan and cooked the corn for exactly seven minutes. I should then have plunged the ears into an ice bath; however, since we don't have any extra ice around here and the tap water is warm in summer, I simply removed the corn from the boiling water, put the ears into plastic grocery bags (I have the reusable ones but I still have a collection of the other kind) and flung the bags into the garage fridge. A couple of days later I cut the corn off the cobs and sealed two cups at a time into food saver vacuum bags. I did not IQF each kernel so the bags do not have all of the air removed but I can usually get most of it out before the juice wrecks the seal. Then, when we were wanting corn and didn't have any handy, I brought some water to a boil, tossed the bag in, and cooked it for ten minutes. Opened the bag, added some farm made butter, and we had summer corn.

Note: Photos of the process and my adorable helper are not available since I broke the laptop. Heavy sigh.

New Blog, New Post

I became very interested in eating local foods a couple of years ago when I read, actually listened to, Animal Vegetable Miracle by Baraba Kingsolver, et. al. I am not in a position to grow all my own food, or even to eat only things that are produced within 30 miles of where are I live, but I am in a position to do what I can to eat locally.

Eating locally for me means to try to buy produce from local farms, preserve as much of this local produce as I can to continue to enjoy it over the winter, and to grow as much of my own food as my very limited garden space allows. I didn't say I have a small yard. I have a fairly large back yard. However, I am not permitted to interfere with my DH's (that's PC to anyone who knows me from my other blog) lawn. He loves that lawn. He babies it, he waters it by hand, he fertilizes it... We are hardly even from the same planet. That is not news to anyone who knows us - if you don't know us just let me say that I am from California and he is from Texas. That should tell you everything you need to know. Anyway, my current gardening space consists of two raised beds and three pots. (I plan to increase this space by adding three more raised beds - possibly next week when PC is out of town.)

Also, although I've been intrigued by the idea of local eating I didn't do anything about it until this summer. I lost my job in February and while the job hunt continues I have the time to think about and actually do something about eating locally.

So far my local eating extravaganza includes picking blackberries (and eating almost all of the pickings - leaving me with four freezer bags containing two cups each), picking peaches and apples (10 pounds of apples still in their own drawer in the garage fridge - 25 pounds of peaches in one quart bags in the freezer), buying a LOT of "second quality" tomatoes (17 quarts of pasta sauce - canned no less - and 15 pints of yummy spicy salsa), buying a couple of quarts of cherry and/or grape tomatoes whenever I see them at a farm stand or farmer's market (one full gallon of dried tomatoes), buying four dozen "extra" ears of corn (then shucking, cooking, cutting the kernels off the cob, and freezing two cup quantities in freezer bags).

None of this is enough to get us through the winter but it is better than I've ever done before. In addition to storing this summer bounty I am going to plant cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower) in one or two of my new beds and onions and garlic (won't be ready until next June) in my two existing beds. One full (new) bed will be given over to lettuce and spinach. I'm told that with some cover I can grow lettuce here in Virginia Beach all winter long. I'm really excited to try this experiment.

I am not, at present, doing much at all about keeping our meats local. I could do it. Full Quiver Farm in Suffolk could supply all my meat eating needs but it is a little too expensive to contemplate just now. I do buy my Thanksgiving turkey from them and it has been fabulous (plus its a very good time for my Pumpkin to go out to the farm - they let us wander all around and look at the animals).

I also have one particularly non-local vice which also involves my freezer. Every year since we moved to Virginia (six years ago) I have ordered green chiles from Hatch, New Mexico. If you've never tasted the food from New Mexico I probably can't adequately explain the incredible flavor of these chiles. They are SO GOOD. So, I order forty pounds every year for a horrendous cost of $250. But guess what they have the chiles at Harris Teeter for $.79 per pound. I picked up 20 pounds yesterday and will be allowed to have 30 more pounds on Saturday!!! Once the chiles arrive I roast them on the grill, put them in freezer bags, and install them in the bottom basket of my freezer. Last year's batch is nearly gone and I am very happy about the 20 pound burlap sack in my kitchen.

One side note about all this preserving - I find myself forgetting to enjoy the foods now - while they're fresh and fabulous. I didn't want to let that happen with the chiles so tonight we had chile rellenos with our dinner. Real chile rellenos - they're such a mess to make and so much work that I usually only make a really good chile relleno casserole; however, the real thing was fabulous. Perfect and puffy and not too hot except close to the stem. Rolled in a tortilla tomorrow morning a leftover relleno will be the best breakfast ever.

Just a little more about me... I blog about my personal life at Not Exactly a Princess, I am a huge fan of Ree Drummond, and I'll be posting some recipes on her Tasty Kitchen site soon.