Day 2 - I can Buy Something!

I marched off to the supermarket with a fistful of cash, a whole $1.66 to drool around with. I had my eye on a potato sale at Ralph's. I almost didn't know where to look, since I hadn't been in the store for over a year and they did a complete renovation. It looked pretty nice and I am sure they will save on energy used to light up the place.
I bought a 10 pound bag of Idaho potatoes for 99 cents. While I was at the store, I checked a couple of other prices, and ended up in the packaged potato aisle. Turns out for the amount of money I spent on my spuds, I could have purchased half a package of Betty Crocker dehydrated potato dish. Who can afford to buy this stuff? I also ran into a trading partner, which is always nice.
Here's what I had for lunch:
Lettuce with garden radishes, snow peas and parsley, topped with rice salad made with the olive oil dressing, beet and parsley, and of course, my favorite olive brine. I had a few homegrown sunflower seeds, washed down with grape and lime juice from Danielle and Matthew. For dessert, I had a tootsie pop from partner Paula.

Day 2 - Berries for breakfast

I did a fair amount of cooking early this morning, waiting to see if we would have additional weeks of winter. (The sun finally did come out.) I cooked (and tasted) some basmati rice medley from partner Matthew in some vegetable broth I made from yesterday's scraps. Then I pressure-cooked some wheat berries from partner Nichole that I had soaked the night before. I haven't cooked wheat berries in awhile, and these were much better than the bland and watery concoction I had tried right after I went macrobiotic. Maybe I am just more used to bland food, or just really hungry after yesterday's light eating.
I thought the berries needed a hint more sweetness, so I put a dab of honey from partner Alex on top. I also enjoyed a mix of tangerine, lime and aloe juice. The aloe comes from my own garden. I finished breakfast off with a dish of greens, seasoned with a dash of olive brine, with a mug of tea from partner Otto.

Locavore Lite 2010

Please stop by the locavore lite 2010 site to learn more about it.
When I told my friends about the Localvore Lite 2010 challenge, they said they didn't have the time or energy to do it, but I mentioned that many of us are already doing it! At least everybody who knows me personally and will accept zucchini doesn't have to worry, even if they don't have time to shop at the farmer's market.
Join us!

Day 1 - Afternoon and Beyond

Flush with harvesting success, I set about to dehydrate half a tray of parsley. This parsley preservation is going to get old quickly, I can already tell. Here's what I had for an afternoon snack:

Vegetable stew.
Chayote squash from partner Julia
Turnip and carrots from partner Colin
Tikka masala simmer sauce from partner Karl
Celery, leek, parsley, golden chard stalks and fennel bulb from the garden.
I had expected that the jar of masala would be terribly salty, but it was not. The sauce was a bit too bland for the amount that I used. I have to make this jar last, at least until I have enough money saved up for some seasoning, so I used only a couple spoonfuls.

Here's what I ate for dinner:
Handful of almonds from Igor (home grown!)
Leftover vegetable stew, this time with fresh cilantro from the garden. The cilantro really made all the difference!
Garden Rhubarb chard, Siberian kale and garlic sauteed in oil left over in a pan from dinner last night, and a dash of olive brine.
Sliced beets from the garden
The other half of the meal replacement shake
I made a large cup of tea, from herbs I grow in my garden.

I had planned to cook beans for dinner, but their tough skins made soaking difficult, and after a full day on the kitchen counter they were still shriveled and tiny. I pulled out the almonds instead. I don't really want to use all the almonds up in these first few days, since they are so expensive to purchase.
We sat down in the evening to watch House while I snacked on a Lychee jelly cup from partner Lisa, a couple of almonds and a few slices of apple. I thought it was Lupus for sure.
I didn't buy any food today, so I have an 83 cent surplus.

Day 1 - Lunch

I stopped by the garden and many of my friends/trading partners were there. Since it is getting warmer, the gardens are overrun with winter greens. It is time to rip some older plants out and get ready for spring planting.
After spending waaay too much time gabbing and piddling around with compost, I harvested a large container of veggies for the rest of today and early tomorrow. So here's lunch:
Juice made from a blood orange from partner Danielle and a tangerine from partner Earl
Arugala from partner Fiona
Lettuce from the garden and partner Gaston.
Radishes, mache and snow peas from the garden
Broccoli from partner Hermine
Salad dressing from Alex
1/2 packet meal replacement shake from partner Igor
The lettuce was nice and crispy, and a blend of several varieties. I grew the Freckles and Red Romaine and Gaston grew the Bronze Mignonette and Four Seasons from some seed that I had grown out myself two years ago.

Day 1 - Mid-morning snack

I stopped by Trader Joe's on my way to errandland. I haven't given TJ's a hurricane name since it is already a trader and it already has a nautical theme. I am not sure if they should be counted as a real trading partner, since I do exchange money with them from time to time. But I did not do so today. The samples were free.
I stopped by the sample table, where they had laid out some very large pieces of toasted raisin bread with butter. I also had a small coffee with cream and sugar. Later, when I walked by, they had put out curried chicken salad. The lone piece of highly-yellow chicken rested on a tiny bed of leaves. The chicken was very cold, and also terribly hot. I hadn't expected all the pepper, and had a coughing fit, so I dashed into the pet aisle so I wouldn't cough all over everybody else's food.
I stopped by TJ's to check on the availability of grass-fed beef. This time, they had it in stock, but it was 6 dollars for a package, and it would take me over a week to save up enough money to buy it. I also checked the raisins. 3.6 days. I have some old home-canned grape juice in the pantry. It's not very sweet, but it will have to do for awhile.

Day 1 - Breakfast

I realize that if I want a fair account of the first day, I had better start now. It does take some time to write down all I eat. So here's breakfast:
Radishes and buttercrunch lettuce from the garden.
Olive oil and local lime dressing from trading partner Alex.
Dried apple slices from trading partner Bonnie.
Dried apple slices from partner Colin. (Colin's apples are much sweeter so I mix the two.) Both varieties were drenched in lemon juice from Danielle before dehydration.
Yes, the radishes really were the French Breakfast variety. Despite the name, I had never eaten them for breakfast before. I picked them yesterday but forgot to bring them inside. I usually don't eat this type of breakfast, especially in the winter, but the radishes called out to me, for some reason.