Weekend with Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad came for a visit last weekend - a great visit. Mom and I shopped for maternity clothes on Friday; on Saturday we went to the KCCUA Transplant Sale to buy some vegetables, to check out the farm and to admire the transplants.

Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture

Mom, Dad and me at KCCUA

transplants

Dad and his transplant

Even though it would be days before he got back home, Dad decided to buy a tomato plant - a Zapotec Pleated Tomato plant. We will call it the Miracle Zapotec Pleated Tomato plant if it stays healthy all the way back to OKC. I am optimistic it will and I look forward to trying the pleated, ruffled, pink-red flesh of the fruits that it will bear.

Mattie Rhodes

After the transplant sale - where we bought tons of fresh spring vegetables - we went to have crepes for brunch at Chez Elle on the Westside. It was a beautiful, sunny day so we took a walk through the neighborhood stopping in at Mattie Rhodes gallery, taking a gander at the Herb'n Gardner's urban farm, and picking up some agua de jamaica, agua de tamarindo, and diet coke at the Los Alamos market.

spring outside of blue bird bistro

peaking over the wall at the Herb'n Gardener's Urban Farm
(CSA SHARES STILL AVAILABLE for 2010!)

At home that night we made a big stir fry with all our vegetables from KCCUA - turnips (white and red), carrots, pak choi, bok choi, and turnip greens. Plus some well-preserved green beans from my freezer. After dinner we put up the big screen and watched The Botany of Desire - the fabulous PBS film version of Michael Pollan's book - and had popcorn with kale chips (more on the kale chips).

stir fry

Sunday came too soon and the weekend ended. Time to plan the next visit.

My Birthday

Sunday was my birthday - it was the big 3-0. Not that I give too much extra credence to the ages that are divisible by 5; I did celebrate "the big" 2-8 and "the big" 2-9, and next year's prime 31 will surely be big. Nonetheless, this was intended to be "big." So I began celebrating early, to make this birthday as big (long) as could be.

Soup and mimosa at Happy Gillis. And Christy drew me a cake. This "30" begins with an E.

I started last Thursday with happy hour at JP Wine Bar and I got the best gift right off the bat: a book of notes from friends & family, past & present - Sergio has spent months secretly soliciting handwritten messages from so many people, all saying such warm, fuzzy things to and about me. And our dear friends made the whole book so beautiful.

Es - and the book is my favorite shade of blue

Day 2 of birthday - Friday - I had some lovely gifts (an owl and a scarf, some of my favorite things) and wishes from friends. Day 3, my pre-birthday, was lovely - after the farmers market, Pilates, and a great brunch that Christy made (with potatoes in a spicy homemade salsa) - we went to the Tivoli to see a matinée of "In the Loop" - we laughed heartily and were intrigued by the absurd impact of political rhetoric. After that we had snowcones from Fresher than Fresh and in the evening we enjoyed the Farmers Table at Blue Bird Bistro.

Sunday - the "big" day - I went to church and received many happy hellos. Then Sunday brunch was soup, a sandwich on a bialy, and a birthday brownie at Happy Gillis and in the afternoon we saw a great photography exhibit at the library called Red Desert, Blue Sky, Green Prairie - an interesting collection of assorted glimpses into the landscapes and townscapes of the West/Midwest. Dinner Sunday night was a new place called Westside Local (more on that presently).


Then, on Day 5, I figured it was all over - the dreaded August 24, always one of my least favorite days of the year. The day was uneventful (sigh) and I figured today would be, too. And then - just when I thought all the birthday fun was over - I got two gifts two days late: a lovely basket of garden fresh tomatoes from my manager - a welcome sight amidst spreadsheets on my desk.

And from Sergio (who was already carrying a balance in the gift giving column) I got one last great gift tonight: a big, beautiful, powerful pressure canner.

Yes, We Can

The birthday may be over, but this is only the beginning.

Ratatouille

For months I've been wanting to watch Ratatouille again; I hadn't seen it since it was in the theaters. I kept forgetting to add it to the Netflix queue. Then when a two year old moved in with us, we decided not just to rent it but to buy it. We all watched it together the first night. And every night since then, Nina watches it over and over again. We all know the lines so well we could reenact the entire film.

We did reenact one part - the eponymous dish of the film. I had been rooting around Smitten Kitchen and stumbled upon this recipe. It looked simple enough, and we'd just gotten skinny eggplants in our CSA share. So I whipped out the mandoline and we made ratatouille, while Remi was on the screen doing just the same.

zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, pepper, summer squash, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, pepper, zucchini...

The recipe was simple in its ingredients but time-consuming in its preparation. As I put both dishes in the oven (for we had more veggies than would fit one dish) I was tired and decided that this dish just takes too long to put together. But when it came out of the oven nearly an hour later, and we finally tasted it, I decided it was well worth it all.

One dish, Remi style

We served ours with quinoa.

Incorporated

I went to see the new film Food, Inc. tonight (along with many other Green Drinks folk). Having already joined the local food club, I didn't really need any convincing. But I was convinced anyway.

I am usually content enough with the choices I make for my food, but the scope of the matter, as portrayed in this movie, made me discontent about the state of the industry. The industry which shouldn't really be such an industry. I cannot understand why the system that our world operates in could get so off kilter. Why the same regulatory agencies in place to protect consumers from food are the same organizations that are increasing risk; why society has made such high demands on our pocket books and such low demands on our health?

And I can't quite understand how to get out of it. I can afford to buy everything local and organic, but what about the people who can't? I can refuse to eat factory farmed chicken, but what about those who are so down and out that they can't refuse a job at one of those hideous factories? I can refuse anything with genetically modified soybeans in it. But what about those farmers who can't refuse the pollen from GMO seeds that wafts over from neighboring farms and contaminates their fields and gets them sued by Monsanto for patent infringement?

(And - yikes - how did we ever get to this point in the first place?)

Well, we handed out many KC Food Circle fliers and farmer directories after the movie - lots of great info that I hope people were amenable to hearing, especially after the movie. And the website for the film offers suggestions so I guess that's another good place to start, especially on the national level. I guess I already started trying for change by hoppin' on the locavore bandwagon. But perhaps there's something to do to start more or to start anew or to start again.