I read this word recently. Locavore. Even though I love to play with words, this kind of thing can make me a tiny bit crazy, in my earlier post I could have said, Christmukkah to describe our family holiday but I didn't. It's like chocoholic, cute, but necessary?
As it turns out, I can dislike the word as much as I like but I am one. A locavore! Because I don't have to try, it just happens.
I live in wine country and I am, as such, a locadrinker (sorry, I couldn't resist.) Locally sourced wine. My wine comes from just over there, about three miles that way and it may well be made with the grapes picked off the vineyard across the street, just over there.
Wine country does mean wine but it also means tourists and when you live in a tourist town you must adapt. You learn to remain calm when the driver in front of you is poking along, checking out the sites and you try to stay calm when you see the people who are standing in the middle of the street having their picture taken in front of the Christmas store. In July. Because that picture needs to be in the family album. I only want to run those guys over a little bit. And then there are the times you can't remain calm, the driver in front of you suddenly decides to turn into this antique store or that winery. Brakes on, no signals, dead stop while they get their bearings and then make their turn. Those tourists make me yell out loud. We have names for our beloved tourists, but I won't share them here, come visit and we'll drive around a bit, you'll hear them.
We have to love our tourists too though, because without them, we couldn't live here year round. And so, we have to look at the things that make it all worthwhile. Number one, the wine, yes the wine is definitely a benefit. It is a beautiful part of the world, people travel from far and wide to visit here. We have one of the seven natural wonders just twenty minutes away. Theatre, art, music, dining!.
Dining. We are lucky to have some of the most amazing restaurants around and those restaurants have chefs who insist on quality and embrace the local food movement.
Our local farmers market was started by one of the chef/restaurant owners and it opened this week. Last summer, Chef guy decided that he wanted everything in one place. Locally grown food available in one easy location. When I lived in the same city as my sister, I lived a block away from a
farmer's market and when we moved here, I missed it. Last year when
they announced this local market, I vowed to support it and went
faithfully every Saturday morning where I discovered an array of foods
I had never cooked with before. This was no standard farmer's market,
this was one catering to chefs. So I challenged myself to buy
something different every week.
This year the market is open on Wednesday nights as well as Saturday mornings.
Last night's purchase?
Sorrel
It tastes citrusy and strong. Very acidic. I did some research and found out that it is an herb, it can be paired with eggs and potatoes in a soup or quiche. A little bit can go a long way when it is fresh and when it is cooked, the colour becomes very drab so it is best to add some spinach or peas if you want to keep the vibrant green colour.
I think what I'm going to do is make pesto using almonds instead of pine nuts.
I am taking my inspiration from this recipe and this one.
It will be lovely with pasta and salmon.
