I needed to take some time to redefine my relationship with food. I've always had a love of cooking going way back to being a latchkey kid who watched Jacques and Julia after school. And I always had a love of healthy eating. But somewhere along the way I went off in a whole gourmet, overindulging, overdoing it direction. I got bored in life so I focused on the fun and joy in the kitchen. About 2 years ago I got back the joy in my life so food no longer needed to provide me with that level of fulfillment. Oh don't get my wrong, I can still whip up a gourmet meal. They just tend to be lighter and simpler. I still love to cook and eat well but my focus has changed. It's back to healthy first and foremost. We're talking about fueling the human body after all!
Now about that CSA. It has changed my relationship with my food supply. Once you've experienced local, in-season food, year round, you'll never look back! I am thrilled to see the local farmers markets becoming more and more popular even if in the dead of winter the local produce is scarce. But it's hard to have local produce year round in this climate (it's cold people. very cold. and snowy. lots of snow) so I have to supplement a bit at the grocery store and I did freeze a lot this past summer. I have kale, turnip greens, stinging nettles all cooked and frozen, ready to pop into dishes. I also get meat in my CSA. Local, pasture raised, animals that I can go see anytime I want, the farm encourages it's members to stop by anytime. And I have. I've met the pork we're eating. This year's CSA, which starts this week, we're also getting eggs. Happy hen eggs! We go through a lot of eggs in our house, always keeping a couple of boiled eggs in the fridge for quick, healthy snacks.
Ok, I'm going to come clean.... This past weekend I went to boil 4 eggs, my usual Sunday morning chore. I put them in the pot and put the pot on the stove. I always listen carefully because to make the perfect hard boiled egg you should put the eggs and water in the pot, covering the eggs, put the lid on the pot, bring it to a boil and remove it from the burner, set the timer for 15 minutes while letting it sit. Once your timer dings rinse them in cold water. Tada! Perfectly hard boiled eggs. But you need to pull them off the burner as soon as they start to boil. This is what you must listen for. Well this weekend I heard a pop. Did you notice the 3rd line above? I put them in the pot and put the pot on the stove.... I forgot the water. So when you put eggs in the pot with no water they pop and ooze out into the hot pot, cooking right onto said pot. It was a lovely mess.
In keeping with my love of local, I've developed a strong desire to grow more of my own. I've always loved to garden but I really bought the yard for the dogs. I've been watching British Cook and Author Nigel Slater as he his visits to his own garden and also local allotments (why don't we do more of these in Canada??). I'm inspired by how much one can grow in small spaces. So this year I'm going to garden around the dogs. Containers, around deck posts, along the side of my house that's outside the dog yard.... I'm also getting my deck and patio rebuilt and my yard graded so I'm going to be dealing with delays to getting my garden set up. I'm hoping to garden well into the winter. Hoping. We'll see!
My seed order arrived just before Easter. However the weather is not the slightest bit interested in cooperating....
Not a great picture but you get the idea of what my backyard is like at the moment.
How Canadian kids hang out.
It also snowed yesterday. April 7th. I can't even talk about it. But once I get things growing under that snow in cold frames all that snow won't bother me one bit!
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