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26.07.11
After reading Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma in quick succession, I went to shop at my local farmer’s market for the first time. Michael Pollan made me do it.
Actually, he didn’t. I’ve been meaning to go for months (or the month and a half it’s been on at least). Still, you do feel a bit more amenable to ponying up the extra cash after being mentally primed. Part of the appeal was just the variety and quality of the produce, I couldn’t pass up the polychrome of heirloom tomatoes with cultivar names I wish I could remember (Black Prince is all that stuck; a combo of red and green that mixed into complementary depth and tasted amazing). The mushroom growers brought in red and yellow oyster mushrooms. The berries were being snapped up as fast as they could lay them out. I ended up spending about twice what I normally spend on produce for a week, and this haul only lasted a few days. Some call it the true cost of food, with fair compensation to people who did the work, without the hidden price of environmental damage. Others point at the elitism of trying to eat this way.
In any event, my goal was to create a meal with only local food, either purchased at the market or grown on my deck. The ingredients went thus:
Market:
-mixed mushrooms
-nugget potatoes
-organic baby greens
-heirloom tomatoes
Homegrown:
-basil
-rosemary
-chives
-nasturtiums (flowers and greens)
Cheats:
-oil
-vinegar
-butter
-salt
The mushrooms went into a dry pan, until their water evaporated and they got some colour, then in went the rosemary and a healthy (or unhealthy) amount of butter. The steamed potatoes joined the party in the pan, with chives added at the last minute. Nothing else was cooked, just cleaned, cut, and dressed.
It tasted great. The tomatoes were the standout, having never seen a refrigerator, and full of all the reasons people bother to grow heirloom varieties. The salad could have used a background of lettuce (readily available at the market and inexpensive), the greens being a bit intense on their own. The mushrooms were meaty and rich, the little golf-ball-sized, texture-of-brains one (a young Sparassis?) was yummy, though the flavours were probably less distinct due to being cooked together. The potatoes had a welcome warmth and bulk in the meal. Would I do this everyday? No, not yet. I’ve already hit the regular produce store to stock up on cheap fruit and veg. I have been incorporating the remaining ingredients into my less conceptual meals, which is perhaps a good foot-in-the-door progression. Am I going back to the market again? Heck, yes. I got my eye on some garlic scapes.
Bike update: I went to the Bike Kitchen and used their pump (freely available, thanks) to actually get up to the proper tire pressure. I also realized I could change one of the front gears if I pushed the gear shifter to its extreme end and left it there for a while. It's not the most reliable method, but it does the trick more often than not. Given these upgrades, and an inevitable physical improvement (scary fact: I seem to be eating more), I've shaved 25% off my best time to work.
I'm still hesitant, however, to go whole-hog into gearing up. Firstly, I'm going back to the bus as soon as the rains set in. Secondly, I feel I can be excused from any kind of performance measure as long as I still appear to be a casual cyclist. I did sort of mess up this last point as I just purchased two new biking shirts. Previously I had two polyester long-sleeve units, obtained for my trip to the rainforest, at a cost of about $35 each. Biking to work everyday in something that didn't either leave my arms bare and cold or leave me soaked and clammy required at least two mid-week handwashes. This wasn't going to last long.
This past weekend, while out doing other things, I hit a couple thrift stores. I picked up a plain black, new-looking, crew-neck polyester shirt for $8. I also came across a bright blue v-neck biking shirt of the kind usually seen on people wearing armour and full motorcycle-style helmets while plastered in mud. There are biking logos on the front, back, both sides of the neck, down both sleeves, and on the mesh that makes up both sides and the underarms. This seemed to go too far into the "I look like I should know what I'm doing" category, and I left it on the rack. Then someone else picked it up and I instantly regretted leaving it. I hung around an adjacent aisle (who wears double-breasted sport coats?), and watched as he tucked it under his arm, looked at something else, then went and put it back on the hanger.
Trying not to run, I took the long way back, grabbed the shirt and headed for the cashier. The shirt still had its quality control sticker on the inside, and cost me $7. I happily forked over the cash and made off with my poseur spoils.
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©d.tan  |
