and let it begin...

Of course I waited until I left Berkeley, the mecca of all things local and delicious, to embark on this journey of eating local. I set out initially to do exactly what Barbara Kingsolver did in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Her family ate completely local for one whole year with the exception of coffee, olive oil, capers, flour, and pasta. I thought if I set my mind to it I could do it, but unfortunately, after making an initial meal using a recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I was disheartened. It was horrible--completely flavorless and not fresh at all. I am a foodie, and admittedly a food snob. Unfortunately, this snobbery has become an unconscious reaction to food placed in front of me. I'm working on eating it politely. When it is something that I made and it doesn't live up to my wildest expectations, I do not eat it politely and the entire conversation revolves around just that. So I have amended our journey.

The amendments:
I will eat local to the best of my ability hoping to create meals that are delicious in the process. I also cannot end my lifelong love affair with avocados.

Without further ado...
This is what I have left from the farmer's market after the really yucky chicken dish:
1 bunch carrots
yellow beets
rainbow chard
1 large tomato
1 basket cherry tomatoes
blueberries
peaches
green garlic
uncured onion
milk
1 carton eggs
2 chicken breasts
lettuce

Tomorrow I will go to the grocery store and pick up a few essentials:
white wine vinegar
flour
dry pasta
dried beans
rice
(avocados)
butter (I refuse to make my own butter)

I forgot to mention that I planned and planted an entire garden with heirloom everything ordered from the seeds of change catalog and it refuses to grow. I used the lasagna gardening method and it did not work. I am about to till the whole thing and start over. It will definitely be a very late harvest.

From now on, I'm sticking to Alice Waters!