Some of you might remember that I was going to write a book; one that was helpful to people new to Community Supported Agriculture. A CSA primer, if you will. Something along the lines of From Asparagus to Zucchini, which is practically the Bible of CSA-dom, except which didn’t read like, well, an encyclopedia.

The other day while searching for books to add to my Amazon.com order in order to meet the minimum required so I wouldn’t have to pay shipping, I accidentally bought it:

Recipes from America’s Small Farms: Fresh Ideas for the Season’s Bounty

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To celebrate our upcoming 4th anniversary (the end of April) and our best friend’s 5th anniversary (March), we decided to splurge on a weekend getaway. We stayed at the Heritage Manor Inn and attended the Fenn Valley winemaker’s dinner. This is the third year that DH and I have gone to a dinner there. Living close to such a great winery makes eating (and drinking) locally a joy!

This is Mike & Christina

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For the past couple of days the stove and refrigerator have been in my living room. DH moved them so he could finish putting the tile in our dining room and kitchen.

On the right is where my refrigerator should be

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I have been thinking a lot about pantries lately. Not necessarilywhat goes in them, but the pantries themselves. Of course we’d all love a huge walk-in pantry, but most of us – at least me – are lucky to make do with the cupboards next to the stove and maybe a closet-sized pantry with shelves for canned goods.

Now that I’ve been cooking at home more, I have found myself getting frustrated with a lack of organization. Even after purging, I have bottles of spices falling every time I open up the cupboard doors, and bags of rice and potatoes getting stuck in the pantry door. Half of my serving platters are stored in the bottom of my bedroom closet.

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This, my friends, is why I love the DINK Foodie lifestyle. I was lucky enough to get in on this class after  some people cancelled last-minute. At $89 a person, it wasn’t cheap, but it was definitely worthwhile. DH and I had a wonderful time.

The evening started with cheese, crackers, and an awesome pomegranate martini (3 C pomegranate juice, 2 C vodka, 1 C triple sec) which I unfortunately didn’t get a picture of, but it tasted great. Then, Chef Amy and Irene got to work cooking and teaching.

Chef Amy and Irene - our instructors and cooks for the evening

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This month I decided to join my local Slow Food Book Club. The selected book was The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine.

But first, I want to tell you that I’m not new to the idea of scavenging. My family, especially the Leep side, has always been a “living off the land” type of family. I remember hearing about them eating all kinds of animals, such as possum, raccoon, and whatnot – because my grandfather insisted that if you kill a living being, you have to eat it. He didn’t want his six boys shooting things just for the heck of it.

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I just have to vent a little. I’m on a weight loss journey, which has its ups and downs. But I am committed to doing this with real food. I’m sick of yo yo dieting. I am convinced that what I need is a  lifestyle change, one that is more natural and includes whole foods. I know it’s not going to happen overnight, but it IS happening. So far since January I’ve lost 9 pounds.

So why am I venting? Because it drives me crazy when, in a weight loss class, they suggest things like rice cakes, egg whites, frozen meals, and powdered doughnuts. Skim milk and soy this and that.

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Part of the purpose of this blog is to explore issues surrounding how what we eat affects those around the world. I received this story recently from a friend in Cambodia. It’s amazing to me how much we can learn from people we think we are serving!

vegetable garden and well

From Esther Matharu, CRWRC-Cambodia:

Health is a big issue in Cambodia. Many people in the remote villages suffer from malnutrition due to lack of knowledge and ability to grow vegetables during the dry season, when the rice has been harvested and the cows and buffaloes are left to roam around the dry fields, searching for food. Vegetable gardens need to be enclosed from the wandering animals, but the main problem is water. It is no use building capacity for vegetable planting if there is no source of water. Hence the integrated approach to development listens to what the villagers say and provides skills on community mobilization, to build wells, for example, with partial funding from those who lovingly donate to our programs, as well as contributions from the villagers in order to ensure sustainability of our programs. But also there is the question of using chemicals. This is often offered as an option to increase yields of vegetables and rapid growth of animals. However, farmers in the villages are increasingly rejecting this option, for a number of reasons.

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One of the reasons that I try to eat at locally owned restaurants, and cook with local ingredients, is to support my local economy. I live in Michigan, a state that has been hit hard by the downturn. Many people think of Michigan as one big overgrown Detroit, but West Michigan has a charm all its own.

Finding locally-owned restaurants is surprisingly easy, especially when you consider that Grand Rapids is not a very large city. I’m always finding new ones, and so excited that so many are making an effort to buy local ingredients. Winchester on Wealthy, where I recently met my friend Holly Bechiri for a brainstorming meeting, is just such a place.

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Today I’d like to introduce what I hope will be come a regular feature, Pantry Essentials. As a new cook, I keep reading that having quality ingredients on hand are necessary. But what does quality mean, and what ingredients do I need?

I’d also like to get more organized. My pantry is in dire straights. It’s a hodgepodge of bulk bags of grains, 4 year old boxes of Hamburger Helper from when DH and I moved in together, and random cans of things I bought intending to use for a recipe but never did. So for me, a first step is to purge all the old stuff to make room for the good stuff. How will I know what to toss?

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