So Fresh & So Yum YUM! + Rule 31

This week's past rule was a piece of cake. Sadly, it's almost too boring to write about. And I have no pictures. I think this boring-ness is a positive thing, however, because it means that following all the previous food rules has helped us to eat better without even really having to focus on it. We lived off of our CSA fruit and veggie bin, the 3 (I repeat 3!) cartons of fresh farm eggs that Ryan brought home from his friend at work, and made our own pasta and soups. The only question was the flour. We buy the flour that says it is organic but I am not sure where it comes from.

Next week we are moving on to Rule #31: Eat wild foods when you can. When I read this all I can think about are expensive mushrooms. After discussing with Ryan we have decided we can get wild fish and wild elk. Any other ideas???? Help!

One Word: Kohlrabi (& Rule #30)

This past week we attempted to eat like omnivores. We tried to mix it up by eating foods that we would otherwise look at and think, "What the heck is that?!?!" Here are just a few pictures so you get the idea:







It was pretty fun to stroll down the grocery aisles and throw weird looking things into the shopping cart. We had no idea what we were going to do with these food items (but that is what the Internet is for, right?!). When we went to pay for our goods the grocery checker looked at our food selection, looked back at us, looked at the food again and must have been thinking, "What in the name are these kids doing???" She even inquired as to our plans with the kohlrabi and Ryan responded, "We have no idea."

Well, to answer the grocery checker's question, we did something great with the kohlrabi. We made a curry. The funny part is that the recipe called for tamarind, which I thought we had. Sadly, I was thinking of turmeric. When we discovered my mistake I remembered that we had a piece of turmeric candy, one of the many pieces of candy that Ryan brings home from work (don't ask). Well, between the kohlrabi and the turmeric candy we made one heck of a curry (see pictures below). In case you are wondering, kohlrabi tastes a lot like the stalk of broccoli. Ryan thought it also tasted like artichoke. I encourage everyone to go cook some up so you can taste it for yourself.....except you might want to peel the hard skin off (thanks for telling us AFTER we tried to eat it mom!). But hey, we got a little extra fiber.







Ryan also tried his first guava this week. I have only eaten guava when I was in India and they were amazing. Sadly, these guavas were dry and lacked any real flavor. Ryan was unimpressed and now holds the belief that he does not like guava....No, you like guava, trust me, because the Indian guavas I ate were one trillion times more delicious.

This week for Rule #30: Eat well-grown food from healthy soil, we are sticking to organic items. Yes, eating organic does not necessarily protect you and can be misleading, but between this and eating locally we are hoping to follow this rule the best we can.

Fondue for Two!

Happy Valentine's Day (just a little late)! With all of the engagement excitement I didn't have time to post, but I promise we did not forget about our blog. Our new freezer should be here this weekend and we are currently following Rule 29: Eat like an omnivore.

The idea behind eating like an omnivore is not necessarily to eat both meat and veggies. Instead, he is talking about eating a wide variety of foods. I think we already do a pretty good job of this but to celebrate this week's food rule we are going to try some food items we have never cooked with before. Stay tuned to see what these will be (because I am not sure what they will be yet...).

To celebrate Valentine's Day Ryan's mom sent us a chocolate "fondue for two" gift set (see picture below). It was amazingly delicious and we have left-overs for tonight!

A Love Story Over Food

There once was a boy and girl who became good friends due to a Monday Night Dinner group. Every Monday it would be another person’s turn to cook. The girl loved the elk prochuitto meatloaf the boy made. The boy loved anything and everything the girl made (can you tell who is writing this story?). Over the course of many Monday meals the boy and girl discovered they had more in common than their love for food. They also both enjoyed outdoor adventures, traveling, and playing games. They realized they could talk to one another for hours after hours....after hours and hours and hours.....without getting bored. Their favorite thing remained putting on “home clothes,” splitting a bottle of wine, cooking a gourmet fabulous meal, and watching West Wing/Monk/Etc. This boy courted this girl for many years, unsuccessfully. But this is not a tragic love story (!) because eventually this girl realized she also loved this boy. They salsa-danced in Mexico, braved the wild waters of the Colorado River, and made a home together complete with a vegetable garden and a “love tree.”

One dreary Saturday the boy asked the girl to go on a hike. He stated that they should celebrate Valentine’s Day early because the girl was busy the actual night of Valentine’s day. The boy also planned to take the girl to dinner followed by a play. While on the hike the boy and girl walked underneath a waterfall. It was there that the boy turned to the girl and stated, “I have a question.” The boy’s voice tone was oddly serious and the girl grew concerned. The boy then reached in his pocket and pulled out the most beautiful ring the girl had ever seen and asked, “Will you marry me?” The girl was so surprised and overcome with the beauty of the ring that she forgot to say “Yes” and instead said, “Thank you.” The boy gave the girl the ring but asked for clarification on the whole marriage part. “YES, OF COURSE!” the girl proclaimed and this is just the happy beginning of many years (and meals) to come........

Freezer Luck

Ryan cleaned out the garage last night. It looks great and a spot is all cleared out for the new freezer. Ryan needed to know how much room to save for the freezer so he got back online to view the measurments AND guess what?!?!!? The freezer went on sale!!!! How weird that the day after we bought a freezer it gets marked down! We called the store and they refunded us the difference. Amazing freezer luck!

Go Big or Go Home (with a Light)!

We bought our freezer!!! Just about 34 minutes ago Ryan entered in his credit card information and hit the purchase button. Prior to this we spent time researching different brands and deciding what special features we would need. We quickly realized we wanted a chest freezer because they tend to be more energy efficient. The next question was size. I have no idea how much meat we are going to have and even when I try to estimate I still cannot comprehend what we will need. For example, how much room do you need to store half a cow, or a lamb, or a pig? I am completely clueless. We ended up calling Ryan's dad and he convinced us to go big or go home. He has a separate freezer and sometimes wishes he had more space. Ryan stated he could store his meat in our new freezer if he paid an occasional fee (kidding). We then wanted something with a drain.....Ryan says drains are a must. And something with a light....Ryan says lights are a must. I could see needing a drain but a light? Can't we just use a flashlight? Will the light in the garage not be enough? Ryan insisted that a chest freezer without a light would be a total deal breaker. "You will see and thank me later," said Ryan. AND, I will see because our freezer will be delivered in two weeks!

The next step is cleaning out a space in the garage for the new freezer. Ryan made us go out there this evening despite my many protests. It was about 32 degrees outside and I was so cozy next to the living room fire. I put on every piece of clothing I owned and joined Ryan to start cleaning out the garage at 7:45pm. We spent a few minutes discussing where we were going to move things and the next thing I know Ryan wanted to go back inside. Was Ryan too cold? Nope. Ryan decided having me help clean the garage meant that he would have to listen to my opinionated ideas about where things in "his" garage should go. We were back inside at 7:50 pm and I resumed my position next to the fire. Ryan will be cleaning the garage tomorrow. By himself. And I will be drinking hot chocolate, reading a book, and dreaming about the new freezer.

Going to the Farm and Rule #28

The Super Bowl was today and everyone knows that part of the tradition of this day is eating all the crappy food you can cram down your throat. What an experience it was to have to limit this free-for-all. Ryan was seriously about to die when the Costco chicken wings came out of the oven and he could not have one because there is no way that those former-chickens met the criteria of this week's food rule.

Luckily for Ryan we went to the farm yesterday morning and got some meat he could have. Despite being a little hung-over Saturday morning I was pretty ecstatic to check out this farm located a fairly short drive from our house. I woke up early in hopes that we would be one of the first customers there because I was concerned they would sell out of products. I also woke up singing (literally, yes, I was singing) "We're gggoooooooing to the farm!" over and over and over again (my poor boyfriend). We arrived at the farm's store that is open to the public six days per week and it was just how I pictured it from reading the online description. The door was unlocked, we walked in, and we were the only one's there. There was a fridge full of eggs, meat (lamb and goat), and goat milk. They appeared to be out of the goat cheese. There was a wall full of yarn from the sheep. Some blankets. They were out of honey, which was sad because we really wanted to buy some. They had goat milk soap and some other various products. We took what we wanted, calculated the total cost and left the money in the jar. They operate on the honor system, which I thought was pretty cool. From the little farm store we could view the sheep roaming freely, the goats playing near the barn, and the chickens pecking another area. All the animals looked happy and healthy.

When we got home I was excited to try out a recipe called Vietnamese Aromatic Lamb Chops. I started marinating the meat in soy sauce, garlic and spices. As the chops marinated in the fridge, I knew it was the one thing that Ryan and I would have to look forward to after watching everyone else at our friend's Super Bowl party chow down on all sorts of meat products from undisclosed locations.

This week's rule was challenging and made me realize how much meat I have been eating without really knowing anything about it (especially while shopping at Costco and being forced to have to pass up all sorts of samples involving meat products). Ryan reminded me that it's not just meat because really most all food that we eat we don't really know much about. Ignorance is bliss.

We have already started to anticipate this upcoming week's rule, Rule #28: If you have the space, buy a freezer. Ryan has been researching freezers the last few days. We are going to clear out space in our garage and we are excited to start going in on buying animals with our friends and family. This will help us be able to always know more about the quality of the meat we are choosing to eat. It also seems necessary because it will help cut costs and because it seems not many small farms sell regular grocery-sized portions of meat to the public. We are not guaranteeing we will be able to get a freezer in the next week but we are certainly going to try!

Here are pictures from our farm adventure:

Now, What was the Chicken's Name Again?

This week we are trying to only eat animals that have eaten well themselves. Margot hit it square on the nose with this clip from the new Portlandia show:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/208808/portlandia-ordering-the-chicken-part-1

Hilarious. And that is exactly who we were supposed to become this week. The one problem is that Ryan and I are not that gutsy (or insane). So, instead we have basically turned into vegetarians this week. Ryan went to get a sandwich for lunch and instead of asking the server where the meat came from, he opted for a vegetarian sandwich. I got a text reading: I got my very first veggie sandwich.

Well, we are going to break our vegetarianism tomorrow morning. We have researched local farms in our area using the link provided on our "Important Links" section of our website. Click on the "Eat Well Guide" and you can find a local farm near you. I am so excited to go visit a farm and pick up some yummy meat. We will get to see where the animals are raised and who knows what other farm treasures we will bring home (I'm thinking fresh produce, flowers, honey, eggs, etc.!). Pictures and story of the adventure coming soon.