Between the Teeth...

I've been flossing a lot more often lately and that can only mean two things. Sweet corn, and blackberries!

I've just returned to the Palouse from a trip to the Midwest, where the sweet corn was abundant. The farmer next door to my parents' invited my dad to come pick sweet corn and Dad brought home a feed sack full, so we ate it for many a meal. Remember, the trick to good sweet corn is not to over cook it. FIVE MINUTES in boiling water is enough!!

Then, we arrived home Friday evening, just in time for me to hit the farmer's market at 8 am sharp Saturday morning, where I found sweet corn as well. Even better, the blueberries and blackberries are in, too. I bought a flat of blueberries for $24 which all went straight into the freezer in freezer bags, to use throughout the winter. I bought 2 pints of blackberries that I baked into a pie this morning. The juice overflowed into my oven, making a mess, as usual, but it just added to the mess from the last pie I baked that overflowed. There is no way around it I think.

Company for Saturday lunch and the sheer bounty of it all inspired some other purchases: new potatoes, green beans, lettuce, heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, parsley, carrots, and of course, two loaves of Panhandle Artisan multigrain bread. It's my new favorite and I think I'll be going through several loaves of that each week. Affinity Farm provided most of my veggies as usual. Our lunch menu (vegetarian and gluten free for our guests) included a vegetable gratin, green beans with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and shallots, a quinoa salad with grapes and pecans, and for dessert, Cowgirl Chocolates mild chocolate truffles. We loved all of them but my favorite was the double dark chocolate in the aqua wrapper. Second favorite was the one that tastes like Creamsicles. YUM!

Dinner later was sweet corn with salad and roasted chicken. No dessert - just a tiny glass of Kahlua w/ cream. Not local but oh so delicious. :)

I've been doing a LOT of reading this summer about local vs. organic, organic vs. conventional, sustainability and so on, and what I've learned is that it's too complex to think I know what's right and what's wrong. There are no pat answers. No one can just say, this thing is always better than that thing, or everyone should eat like this, or farmers ought all to do this. It's all very dependent upon the particular conditions in a particular place. I encourage anyone who is interested in food and farming and eating well to keep an open mind and most of all to seek out what is the best food for you in your place, and to enjoy it fully, with friends and family.