Turkey time!

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching: have you made plans to secure your turkey yet?? Well, if you are into local, organic turkey, I have just the place for you.

In Del Valle, a small family farm is located right down the street from yours truly. The Alexander Family Farm is raising two types of turkey this year: Broad Breasted White and Bourbon Red Turkeys. The Bourbons are heritage turkeys and primarily brown meat while the Broad Breasted Whites are...well, white! The price is a premium of $3.75/lb for the white and $5.00/lb for the red but sizes range from 10-20 lbs for the white and 6-14 lbs for the reds. Lest you think that these turkeys are not worth it, just look at them:

Happy, healthy, cage-free, only eating stuff from the ground, and very loud. They also think I have food or something else of turkey interest when I pass by them. If you are interested in reserving a turkey, drop me a line and I will forward the email that they sent me. It's worth it, I think. We ordered two turkeys last year and they were quite good. They come dressed and fresh (no feathers and cleaned/gutted) in a plastic bag from a big vat of bloody ice water.

If you are interested in the Alexander Family Farm, local foods, small farms, or just about anything about where your food comes from, you might enjoy this short documentary on the farm. We get most of our meat from them and pretty much all of our eggs. Their prices for eggs is about $.50 cheaper than buying the organic eggs at HEB. It really works out for us but I can see where, if you don't live down the road from them, it wouldn't work out for you. However, check out Local Harvest to locate your nearest local food source!

Pic of the day: my little turkey

Update from the Booklahver

I have seriously neglected this blog as well as all blogs. What can I say?? I'm lazy.

So here's an update on Booklahver and Mr. Wonderful life:

*Today I ate a meal I entirely prepared myself!! Yeah! It's Shake'n'Bake and I hay-lped!
Seriously, I did make all the things I'm eating with the exception of the chocolate-covered cherry and the free snacks that were calling my name from the breakroom. What was my magnificent lunch feast? I had cabbage and potatoes (the potatoes were scalloped from a box but the cabbage was from the CSA), kohlrabi with honey, butter, and carrots, and 2.5 tea-soaked eggs. The kohlrabi and carrots were from the CSA and the eggs were from our very local family farm. It was pretty good. Next time I make the kohlrabi, I'm going to treat them like carrots. I'm not a big fan of sweet veggies.

*The CSA and my perception of it has gotten a lot better. Mr. Wonderful and I had a heart to heart about the CSA and we are taking it one session at a time. It helps that we are getting more things that I know what to do with (beets, carrots, lettuce, cabbage and the like). I'm not a big fan of greens so we have been feeding wilted greens to the horses that sometimes border our fence. I suppose we can feed the cows the greens too.

*I tried to make sauerkraut. It was not successful. The problem: I did not use a good seal. I used a plate with a rock on it but I should have used a bag with water. So yeast or other bacteria got in it and made it smell funk-eee!! I may have not used enough water for the brine either.

*Complete the analogy: Booklahver loves purple.
Beets and red cabbage are purple.
Therefore, Booklahver loves _______ and _________.

Beets have become my new favorite veggie! My favorite part, besides the eating, is the beautiful color of them. I like staining my cutting board, my hands, my pans, everything with purple. It's just makes me think of the beauty in nature...man, I want some beets!

*I had a salad the other day from the salad bar at the local cafeteria. You know, it was o.k. But I missed the flavors I'm used to. And I have to say, it's because I eat locally grown food. Everything just tastes so flavorful. The salad bar food tasted alot like water, crunchy water. I know that this may sound like I'm biased but I could really taste a difference. After I drowned it in bleu cheese, not too much :)

*We are remodeling our kitchen and I am BEYOND excited! Magnolia Blossom cabinets with Yellow Brick Road trim, white tile with blues, greens, and yellows...pure heaven. Mr. Wonderful is going to install frosted glass in our cabinets to break up the monotony of the wood. Also: I pulled off half the wallpaper already. Our brown wallpaper revealed a "straight from the 80s small roses floral". In strips, no less. I also bought fabric for curtains. Triciathered and Tiny Robot helped me seal my decision. Thanks ladies!!

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

New foods, same ol' faces

Hello Friends!

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I would update people on what I've been eating. Mostly it's been the same old, same old but I have tried two new things I wanted to talk about.

The first: bison.

From Thunderheart Bison, a local grower from the San Antonio region. They are profiled in the current version of Edible Austin and the company has been at every farmer's market I have been to. I think, when I first bought my bison, I actually talked to the guy in the article (the owner) so that was pretty cool. He was friendly, personable, and he seemed to like me (he was joking with me about buying stuff for my brother, not knowing he was my brother. Good times for all!).

Anyway, we bought a pound of ground bison and it was yum! I didn't notice a huge difference between it and beef. But the bison guy gave me a list of bison facts and, if they are all true, bison is 10 times healthier for you than just about any meat. Even chicken! Mr. Wonderful and I went back to the Farmer's Market after a hiatus and bought another pound of ground and some stew meat. Thunderheart is reasonably priced (although I'm not splurging on strip steaks) and the meat tastes great! The article in Edible Austin talks about the humane way of killing (basically shooting them with a gun from a reasonable distance) because bison guy said that you could taste the adrenaline when the bison went through a conventional slaughter. I heartily endorse bison!

The next interesting thing of an eating variety: prickly pear. HEB was selling a bag of prickly pear for $3.00 so I thought I would give it a whirl. The prickly pear is good but full and I mean FULL of seeds. Like you can't take a bite without eating ten seeds which are too hard to chew. So Mr. Wonderful and I spent the majority of the time eating a small bit of flesh and the rest of the time spitting out seeds. For the record: these prickly pear were skinned and looked to be green, not like this picture of prickly pear that I got when I googled "edible prickly pear."

This prickly pear actually looks really good and easy to eat. So maybe I can find something to do with my pears??

On an HEB downer note: HEB had one of their "buy this, get that free" and it was for organic apple slices and Central Market greens. Hm....that's healthy and I was going to buy apples anyway....why not??

Well, I haven't eaten the greens yet but the apple slices are disappointing. First: they are packaged in four individual bags. Ick! Just pack them together! And the four individual bags are packaged in a larger plastic bag. They taste like watery air and retain very little of the incredibly juicy flavor that I have tasted of other organic apples (store bought and farmer bought). Not doing this one again.

On a happier note: my CSA starts this weekend!!! Community supported agriculture that is. Edible Austin, again, provided a great article on the CSA I joined (I was happy about that because I got to know a little more about them before venturing onto their farm). The CSA is with Johnson's Backyard Garden and I am hoping that it will be a wonderful experience (I think it will be). I'm boning* up on all sorts of preservation methods...well, canning and freezing. Methinks I need to purchase canning equipment? Si.

And on a sad note: The Bull and Boar is closed. :( It was great while it lasted, I hope it comes back, and in the mean time, you can purchase yummmmy meat from Peach Creek Farm at the Austin farmer's market or online (I think). Check these guys out: they're great!

Today's Pic:

Doesn't "Local Lucy" sound like a strumpet name?

*Principal Skinner: "And bone I will!"

New Magazine

I have been checking out edible Austin, the paper version, for its past two issues now, and must say that I am quite pleased. They're in Issue 2 now, but Issue 1 was where I learned about the Ethiopian restaurant here in Austin, Aster's, and more about Ethiopian food that I knew before--particularly, how difficult it is to make authentic injera outside of Ethiopia. I wish I could give a review of the restaurant right here and now, but going to Aster's currently still sits prominently on my list of need-to-do's.

For all you kids really into local and/or organic food, edible Austin does seems like a good resource. I believe it's published quarterly, and it includes a list of what's in season--a useful list, even if it does double as a Central Market ad. Issue 1 had a great article about local vs. organic food, and the current issue outlines how to make a full-fledged local Thanksgiving feast as well as a feature on Austin street food vendors. The issues are free and there are stands all over town. I'd recommend picking one up, if you haven't already.

You live, you learn

How appropriate this song is on right now!

This weekend, my family visited me. This installment of family consisted of my parents and my two brothers (plus hubby, of course). I planned on serving a dish made from a family cookbook (that Tricia the Red crafted for me as a wedding present and that I will forever cherish) called Texas Hash which consisted of ground beef, onion, bell pepper, and a few spices like salt and pepper. I also bought new potatoes from the Co-op and squash. I had a cucumber but the night before, when peeling it, noticed that it was beyond saving. So long little cuke!

I thought I would make the hash, new potatoes, and cuke. Well, that was out. So I planned on the squash but when presented with that, my parents balked. Eh......did I mention that I was extremely hungover from the night before, when drinking cachaca and staying up until 5:00 am seemed like a good idea? Well, it was because I got to hang out with great old friends.

Anyway, on to the meal. My parents were urging me, in my hungover state, to just pick up some BBQ but I stood firm. The squash was out so I went for the next best thing: biscuits. Sure, our meal would be full of starch but what the heck?

I mixed the biscuit batter and it was very runny. I added some more mix and it still was runny. Or not firm enough to put on the pan. So I thought: "I'll put it in a muffin tin." And I did. And it worked! My bi-muffins were a hit! So was the hash!! A hugely simple recipe that everyone gobbled up with the new potatoes (except my dad who doesn't like onions. He got barbecued chicken from the farm that we had made the week before).

Best of all: everything was local or organic!!! Yeah me!

Now, before I pat myself on the back, I shall speak of the remainder of the weekend. Admittedly, we did not have concrete plans of who would be where and I didn't have enough local food to supply endless amounts of wonderful goodness. So that night, my brothers stuck around and we had frozen pizzas and chips and queso.

The next day, my mom, hubby, and I went to the Bull and Boar for Sunday brunch while my brothers and dad made fantasy football picks (don't ask). After brunch, we took advantage of the Labor Day sales and drove around looking for housing for my mom (they eventually want to move down here). We stopped at HEB for some sandwich fixins for later on that day since the boys and my dad were coming back to watch Sci-Fi's greatest and play games.

Nothing about either one of these two meals was organic or local. My mom was desperate for lettuce and we bought a head of iceberg, which I have been eating off of all week. Chips, queso, sandwiches with watery air crunch, frozen pizza....all of these left me feeling very guilty and bloated. I used to work in a store very much like Wheatsville but it wasn't a Co-op or particularly local. It was like a very small version of Whole Foods. Anyway, I worked in Supplements and Health and Beauty and, despite working there for only three weeks, I learned a lot. Many times, people would ask about detoxers or whole body cleansers. These cleansers flushed out your whole systems, freeing you from toxins in your body and allowing you to start with a clean slate. I have also heard they leave you kind of sick since your body is ridding itself of all that stuff.

So Monday, I was a blob. I think I poisoned myself with all of that stuff. Not necessarily becauase it wasn't organic or local but because I had fallen into a small pattern of eating more fruits and veggies and instead, I went to completely processed materials for a 24-hour period. It was awful!! I blobbed around all day, playing with the kittens and just felt like a slug. I couldn't bring myself to do anything. It was awful but call it poetic justice. Now I just have to remember what I felt like as a blob, poisoned by my own devices.

It made sense though, after learning about supplements. You can poison your body with food, and while that doesn't sound like anything new, I think it's hard for people to recognize it. I certainly never had. One could argue it was my late night/bad sleep, but I think it was the food. I've been hungover before, but I've never felt so useless as I did on Monday.

On a brighter note: I was able to feed my family one meal of local and/or organic food. So it is possible!

Too bad these stamps came out when I didn't know who she was :( Ayn Rand is coming to get you!

Strawberries and Tomatoes

Last night at HEB I tried to be a "local" produce buyer, but I found only Californian tomatoes and strawberries. Yes, I admit August is a little late to be expecting local strawberries, but for Pete's sake, Texas tomatoes are surely still around! The strawberries smelled so damned good I couldn't not buy them.

I had promised the kids a homemade Tomato Pie for dinner tonight, so I bought the West Coast tomatoes anyway. I honestly tried to buy local, but it just didn't pan out. Looks like I'll have to head to the farmer's market for actual Texan produce.

Organics vs. Locals vs. Engineered foods

Ideal Bite provides a daily newsletter that gives tips and hawks products for the greenie in all of us. I like some of the tips which I keep in an "Ideal Bite Keepers" folder in my email. The rest are tossed in the trash. It's a daily dose of greenery that keeps me informed and on my toes. And sometimes I get a nice eye roll when I read about buying organic *insert product here* that I don't use anyway. But some of the time, they hit the nail on the head. Errr...the organic nail?
Anyway, today's Ideal Bite tip was all about genetically engineered food that suspiciously finds their way into our pantries, fridges, and freezers. A list of these foods, along with their non-engineered alternative, is available here.
I enjoyed, and was disturbed, by reading the list. But my main question, and I have to admit that I did not read the other information on the True Food website very fully*, is this: about five Weight Watchers meals are listed as genetically engineered. Does that mean only those five are GE'ed (how funny!) or does it mean that they all are?? If all of them are GE'ed, why not list them all?? Just curious.
Disturbing as the list is, and I have to admit that I have quite a lot of the GE'ed foods, I was also skeptical about their meaning of organic. For example, the beef and chicken we get from the local farm, just a bike ride away, is not organic. I don't remember exactly why but they don't use hormones in their meat. They are free-range animals (and very cute, I might add) but they are still not organic. I have also listened/read from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that some farmers can't afford to purchase the permit that makes them organic. Small farms especially.
So that launches into the debate of buy locally or buy organically. Personally: I'm all about the local people. Here's why:
I develop a relationship with them. They see me, I can tell them that there food is freakin' awesome, we develop a relationship. Honestly, have you ever intentionally poisoned your friends? Lied to them? Plus I got really good fertility advice from the farmstand lady, advice on cooking shallots (which are excellent!) from another, and I got to pick up a very hefty chicken! What's there to lose?

*I sure am a great librarian, right?? :)