No Grocery Store, Days 92 and 93 April 5, 2010

By now, not going to the grocery store is just normal to me.  I don’t even think about it.  I find that odd.  Saturday was a hectic day, following the article in the Statesman.  I finally made it to the downtown farmer’s market around 11:30, but didn’t really have time to shop.  I picked up some rabbit rillettes from the Kocureks and some roasted vegetables from Fete Accompli.  I had my mom in tow, and she wanted a burger from Nau’s for lunch, so that’s what we had.  After the Funky Chicken Coop Tour, Kristi and I went to Vino Vino for their wine tasting, and had snacks there and champagne to celebrate.  When I got home, I had the roasted vegetables over some whole wheat pasta from another market day, with my own pesto.

Day 93 was Easter, and we had brunch at the Driskill.  I stuck with low carb stuff and no dessert.  For dinner, I made a garden salad and had some more brisket from my freezer.  I’ll be eating from the freezer all week, since I missed most of my market shopping last week.

New Farmer’s Market in Cedar Park April 2, 2010

There is a new Saturday Farmer’s Market in Cedar Park that has been getting good reviews for being well organized and well attended, and lots of fun.   Cedar Mark Farms to Market, debuted last week and already has made a good impression, garnering nearly 1,700 fans on Facebook as of this post.  Wow!  This week, Swede Farm Dairy will have goat milk, yogurt and cheese, Way Back When Dairy will have cow’s whole milk, 2% milk, skim, cream, butter and eggs, as well as a new cow’s milk cheese vendor from San Antonio on Saturday.   Plantucopia will bring flowering plants, herb transplants.  There will be local honey, locally made soaps,  local produce from Hairston Creek Farms and local grass fed beef from Indian Hills Organics.  Sweetish Hill Bakery will be there with bread and baked goods.   There also will be live music.  Here is their Facebook page.  Check them out and report back on whatever goodies you find, so we can support this market.

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at the 1890 Ranch Shopping Center near the intersection of U.S. 183A and RM 1431.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cedar-Park-TX/Cedar-Park-Farms-to-Market/327245517264

Truck Farm Farmer’s Market Today March 4, 2010

There is a new Farmer’s Market, starting today at the corner of Loop 360 and Bee Caves at Pots and Plants, also known as the Flamingo Nursery.  Here is the list of vendors for this market.

Truck Farm Farmers Market

@ Flamingo Corner

Confirmed Vendors:

1. Hillside Farms                 Produce

2. Bella Verde                      Lettuce

3. Green Valley                   Produce

4. Cypress Valley              Produce

5. 6J Ranch                          Grass fed Beef, Pork, Chicken, eggs

6. CKC Farm                        Goat cheese, Ice cream

7. Blue House Flower        Cut flowers, Seasonal produce

8. Renee Hillse                    Orchids

9. Texas Lavender             Lavender Products

10. Watson Farms             Organic Nursery

11. Design Your Dine        Entrees, Canned goods, Seasonal produce

12. Aunt Nita                        Prepared foods

13. Taco Deli                        Tacos

14. Kelly Jo Salsa             Salsa’s

15. Kalas Kuisine               Vegetarian food, hot sauce

16. Pillar Bluff Vineyard    Wine

17. Piece of Cake               Cupcakes

18. Hot Rockin Corn          Kettle Corn

19. Lori Hartman                                Produce & eggs

20. Kocurek Charcuterie Local meats, bacon, sausages

21. Texas Olive

22. Bastrop Cattle Co.       Beef

Pretty sure about these:

Flat Creek Estate               Wine

K Dubbs                                BBQ

Plum Creek Farm               Eggs, Honey

Spicewood Vineyard

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 50 February 21, 2010

Ahhh, finally Saturday.    The rain made it easy to stay in bed longer than normal, which I desparately needed.  It was a crazy week.

For brunch, I had some Kocurek Family jalapeno bacon.  I made an omelette from chicken eggs given to me by a client with lots of chickens, and some Full Quiver cheddar.  I crumbled the bacon in the omelette.  Pretty basic, but nice and warm on a coolish morning.   Too full to consider lunch.

At the Downtown Farmer’s Market, I got some cow’s milk, from Way Back When Farms, 6 grapefruits, (didn’t see a sign for this vendor, but probably overlooked it) bibb lettuce and basil from Bella Verdi Farms, Texas Coffee Traders coffee, and a loaf of rosemary ciabatta from Texas French Bread.  I put the bread in the freezer, since I’ve been not loving my homemade 100% Whole Wheat bread.  This way, if I have a craving for a sandwich, it is a possibility, without violating the challenge.  I restrained myself on proteins, because my freezer is pretty full, and I have lots of cheese still from Full Quiver and Antonelli’s.  I should have gotten some turnips and carrots, but just didn’t think about it.  I also met and talked to Aaron Sanchez, at the market.  He does “Best thing I ever Ate” and “Chef vs. City” on the Food Network.  What a cool and friendly guy.  He was taking pictures of the charcuterie at the Kocurek’s booth.

I was generously gifted tickets to the Viva Las Vegas bash at the Austin Music Hall.  We didn’t eat dinner, thinking we’d pig out there, but it was so crowded, and there was so much to watch,  we didn’t really eat.

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 43 February 13, 2010

What an amazing day!  I enjoyed being out in the sun most of the day, in spite of the cold.  The Austin Farmer’s Market was great, and I was happy to be with so many friends there.    Larry Kocurek was back, after the birth of their son, and had some amazing new charcuterie items.  The new sausage I am most interested to try, is called a Farmer’s Sausage, and has bacon in it.  Please.  I got some ribeyes from Fredericksburg Farms, some new basalmic vinegar called True Love, that is infused with honey and rose, from Texas Olive Ranch.  I got Texas Coffee Trader’s Coffee, and some chicken and mushroom sausage from Dai Due.  I have lots of veggies still from last week and in the garden.

For brunch, my friend Kristi of http://www.austinfarmtotable.com fame, and I split Dai Due Gumbo, and the Dai Due chorizo and duck egg torta.  Dai Due uses all locally sourced products in their amazing food.  I couldn’t decide which I liked better, they were both so good.

So then I stopped by Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in Hyde Park, to witness their amazing success on Day 3 of being open.  I’m very proud of, and happy for them.  When I got home, I had some of the Brazos Valley parmesan I got a couple of days ago for a mid afternoon snack.

For dinner I had a wonderful Cuban Sandwich at Habana on South Congress with my friend Cecilia.  I had never been there, and was truly impressed.  Great sandwich and delicious Sangria.  I’ve got lots of menu planning to do tomorrow for my week ahead, and I plan to solve the lazy breakfast problem.  But, I’ve got one more restaurant meal this weekend, Fino tomorrow for brunch.  I’m happy that Fino sources locally when possible, so that will be good, and I’ll have a homemade local dinner.

Friends at the Farmer's Market

Food Blogger/farmer pow wow

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 29 January 31, 2010

For a nice hot hearty breakfast this morning, I had some of the bulk pork sausage from Richardson Farms and 2 duck eggs scrambled with market tomatoes.  Then I layered up and headed to the Downtown Farmer’s Market in Republic Square Park, which was to debut its new layout and deck under a huge oak tree, with tables and chairs and live music.    I’ll post some pictures later, I just realized I haven’t downloaded them yet.  It was great!  That venue is perfect for the growing market, and I ran into so many friends there, grocery shopping has never been more enjoyable.  I got home with the Kocurek torchons and andouille I bought Wednesday and forgot to bring home, as well as some Texas Hot Sausage and molassas bacon.  I bought pepper jack and cheddar cheese from Full Quiver, butter lettuce from Bella Verdi, (and he gave me some microgreens to try) an enormous Napa cabbage and shallots, and Texas Coffee Trader’s coffee.  Oh, and more pasta from Texas Pasta Company.  I need to make my own from local wheat, but haven’t gotten to that yet.)  It was a really fun farmer’s market today.

For a late lunch, I had a Whole Wheat tortilla made from scratch with Richardson’s wheat, with some full quiver cheese folded over into a quesadilla.  I need to work on the tortilla recipe a bit to give it more flavor.  Today was the first time to try that recipe.   I used an electric tortilla press, which allowed me to get it thinner than I could have otherwise, I think.  It was pretty good.  The recipe called for cooking it in oil, which would have added flavor, but I was trying to keep the calories down, with the dinner I had in mind.

Dinner, was a bit odd.  Trying to adapt existing recipes to what I have on hand,  is not as smart as trying to come up with new recipes to highlight what I do have.  Lesson learned.  I had watched Tyler Florence make Stroganoff, with pasta, mushrooms, garlic, sour cream and cream, and the beef was short ribs.  I had thawed Bastrop Cattle Company short ribs and cooked them in the oven at 300 for 2.5 hours.  They were great, with lots of olive oil, my garden thyme and rosemary.    I had the rest of the wheat pasta from the downtown market a couple of weeks ago, and cooked that.  I sauteed market mushrooms and the shallots I got today in Kocurek duck fat, thyme and red wine.  (The absence of garlic in everything was noticible.)  Then for the cream sauce, I attempted to make one from goat milk thickened with chevre.  The result was an oddly purple colored (from the wine) thin sauce that didn’t taste bad, but wasn’t really that good either.  I wish I had just stuck to my homemade pesto that the freezer is full of.    Oh well. Now I know.

So today was interesting.  I’m full of good, healthful, local food, it just wasn’t the triumph I had hoped for.  I do have wheat tortillas that are ready to go, in the fridge now, which is a bonus.  Pizza crust is next.  Tortillas and pizza are not on my regular menu, I just seem to need to know they are available.  More hoarding mentality I guess.

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 24 January 27, 2010

I woke up yesterday feeling like I had the worst flu ever, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop sneezing, joints hurt, eyeballs hurt, teeth hurt, hair hurt.  It was a bad cedar allergy day and knocked down by the evil pollen, I lost my moral compass.  Well, that’s a bit of exaggeration.  I had a piece of bacon for breakfast, then wanted my mommy, so she and I went to Hula Hut and I had shrimp tacos.  I had planned to make myself a salad, but that didn’t happen.  I spent most of the afternoon under the covers, scared to go outside into the dangerous air, then made an axis deer bunless burger with some salad for dinner.  I didn’t even go outside to check on the seedlings, which is hard to believe.

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 15 January 17, 2010

Yesterday was a crazy day.  I helped Lee Ann Kocurek man their first charcuterie booth at the Down Town Farmer’s market.  It was a very busy market day and succesful for them, which is great!  It does make for a long day though.  I was able to get some shopping in and bought some lettuce, (my garden lettuce is between plantings and I have very little) some shrimp, some pasta from the pasta company on Kerby Lane, coffee from Texas Coffee Traders, some Texas Olive Ranch Fig Basalmic Vinegar, Pomegranite Basalmic Vinegar, Orange and White Basalmic Vinegar and olive oil.  These vinegars are amazing, and are going to add so much flavor to my boring salads.   Kristi from http://www.austinfarmtotable.com was sweet enough to snag me some meyer lemons from the Sunset Valley market, which is great because their season is about over.

For my food yesterday, I ate a sandwich that Lee Ann brought from home.  Dinner was market salad, half of a huge ribeye, from Richardson Farms, grilled on the Big Green Egg, with Walnut Pappardelle pasta from the downtown market, and pesto from my huge basil harvest this Fall.  This was one of the best dinners I’ve had at home in a while.  My freezer is full of pesto, which is a good thing.

Today I will fire up the smoker and slow smoke the huge racks of baby back ribs I got from Richardson Farms last week.  I’m also going to try a bread recipe using 100% whole wheat flour.  2 experiments in one day.  Once the smoker is going, I’ll make some duck eggs for breakfast, and plan my meals for the next few days.  My freezer is full of charcuterie from the Kocureks, and lots of stuff from Richardson Farms that needs to be eaten.  I think the odd need to hoard food has subsided, thankfully.

My Eat Only Local Challenge-Day 1 January 2, 2010

Last night I was pondering whether I could go a year without buying anything from a grocery store.  I have a large garden and I frequent farmer’s markets on a weekly basis.  Several folks chimed in on Twitter, that it could be done.  Today, I decided to try it and see how it goes.  I have a freezer full of Thunderheart Bison, Richardson Farms beef and pork, Kocurek Family sausages, stock, and gumbo, and in the fridge are local eggs, chicken and duck, Pure Luck cheese, a pitcher of hibiscus tea from the farmer’s market, tomatoes and radishes from the farmer’s market, and my own lettuce and broccoli.  I have olives, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar from the market and today I bought tangerines, mushrooms and green onions at the market.  So, I think I’m good to go.

What I’m not going to do:  I’m not going to only drink Texas wine.  Just not going to.  I’m not stop using toothpaste, shampoo, or my favorite soap, although I could get soap at the farmer’s market.  And, I’m going to continue to eat out, because that’s not part of this challenge.  I’m not going to be overly concerned with where the restaurants get their food either, that is a challenge for someone else.  I will say that most of the places I eat out, get their meat and vegetables from local sources, but not all do.  I already know that I could not go a year without eating salmon, and I can’t get that at the farmer’s market, although I can get shrimp and fish.

So, this morning I had fresh tangerine juice, I had lunch at a local mexican food restaurant with my mom, and dinner will be grilled Thunderheart bison steaks, local mushrooms cooked in local duck fat and basalmic vinegar, my own broccoli and a salad with my lettuce, market tomatoes, Pure Luck Farms Chevre, and local olive oil and vinegar.  I’m already anticipating what I’m going to miss, sandwiches at Fresh Plus, lots of things from Central Market and Whole Foods prepared items.  I just bought a smoker, in anticipation of missing the smoked brisket from Whole Foods.

Resolve to Eat Local in Austin in 2010 December 31, 2009

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, because they usually are too grandios for success.  My future goals include growing more of my own food, supplementing my home grown produce with produce from the farmer’s market, and eating no meat of unknown origin.  I admitted to a friend today, that I have not stuck to the latter, buying only locally sourced, humanely raised, hormone free meats, 100%.  If a local grocery store sends me an email advertising ribeyes for $8.99 per pound, I have stocked up, without asking the source.  I am going to commit to eat healthier, and stick to my goal of buying from local farmers, so that I can control what I consume.    Food, Inc., the movie, still looms in my conscience every day and I highly recommend it to everyone.  I don’t want salmonella or E coli, but I don’t want hamburger that has been washed in bleach, or chicken breasts from chickens who were bred to have such large breasts they couldn’t stand up.    That’s just me.

In that vain, I spent much of the day amongst local farmers.  See previous posts about Boggy Creek Farms.  Below are pictures from this afternoon’s Farmer’s Market held at the Triangle Development, every Wednesday from 3:00 to 7:00.  What an amazing array of beautiful, organic, humane food.  This market, like the Downtown Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings, is sponsored by the Sustainable Food Center, an organization committed to helping folks eat local, healthy organic food, and supporting local farms.  I’m not a photographer, so I hope the pictures are OK.

Local Honey

Engel Farms Produce

Richardson Farms

Today's offerings from Kocurek Family Artisinal Charcuterie

Sustainable Food Center demonstration table, cooking shrimp