The best part of waking up

Full disclosure time: During my local eating, I have never given up coffee. Not like, I really tried and just couldn't do it - I just never even tried. I'm not one of those 5 cup-per-day habit folks...I just need my one, perfect, black, cup per morning. Plus, I don't think I could resist the smell of coffee brewing at work - or anywhere else for that matter.

I think I may love the smell of coffee even more than I love the coffee itself. There's something entirely seductive about the smell of freshly ground coffee that just takes over my olfactory system. To me, it's the crispness of early morning, the laziness of a rainy day, the comfort of routine, the company of friends - and the nostalgia of my grandfather. So, I'm not giving up coffee. That's all there is to it.

Well, not really. I mean, if I'm going to keep on with the coffee habit, I can at least make a better choice than the giant tub of Folger's we've been buying. A little social responsibility is in order, perhaps? Anyone want to devise a way to grow coffee beans in the greater Wilmington area? No? Alrighty then, I started by ditching the Folger's (once we were out of course) and headed over to Folks Cafe on Market Street to get me some socially responsible coffee. Now apparently, I can get Folks coffee cheaper at Tidal Creek, which I may do in the future, but since I was on my way to Centro Latino anyway, I went straight to the source.

Folks serves/sells only Organic and Fair Trade coffees and teas. That's important because there are lots of choices to fuel my coffee drinking habit, without making me feel too guilty for the non-localness of my morning beverage. This go-round I chose a half pound of Bolivia coffee which was roasted that morning and ground for me on the spot. As a bonus, I left the package in my car while I went to my Spanish class, and now my car still smells like coffee. So much more effective than one of those hanging tree air freshener thingies.

Photo: No, this coffee is not from Bolivia, North Carolina.

The way to a man's heart

One of the things that has been slightly challenging about a local diet has been making sure that meals are filling enough for Sal. I could easily make a meal out of a tomato and piece of bread, whereas I'm married to a man who once ate a 3 lb. cheeseburger in under 30 minutes (it's a long story). Not to say that I'm not an eater - case in point: I once finished an entree at Carrabba's and was told by the waiter that he had never (his emphasis) seen anyone finish it before....which made me simultaneously feel like popping him in the face, and also, a bit proud. But typically, I can get by on a small meal and feel adequately satisfied. Not so much for Sal.

So I feel kind of bad on evenings like tonight. I came home from Spanish class and found the guys next door grilling out Bratwurst - very manly, and one of Sal's favorites. However, I had different plans for dinner...

we were having crepes.

Just saying the word crepes probably makes some men feel a little girly, but whatever. I had been planning on making them for weeks, and after being inspired by Trace's sourdough pancakes over at Cricketbread, I decided that tonight would be as good as any to give them a go. Sal, in his good natured way (and probably unaware of the Bratfest happening under his nose), had made up the batter while I was gone - but the making and flipping was up to me. Apparently I have some sort of French gene that has gone undetected until now, because I flipped the heck out of those crepes and didn't break a one.

We each ended up with four crepes, which turned out to be an amazingly filling meal for both of us. This go around we filled them with some Herbs d'Provence spreadable goat's cheese from Nature's Way and some sliced tomatoes - but the possibilities are endless. I actually saved one of mine to use as dessert - I filled it with peanut butter from the Farmers' Market and some contraband chocolate chips we've had in the freezer for awhile. Holy delicious goodness. They're super easy to make, so when you're in a bind for a filling, delicious, and dare I say - manly - meal, go on and make yourself some crepes.

Goat Cheese and Tomato Crepes

You can substitute pretty much anything you want for the tomatoes and goat cheese. Get creative wittcha bad self.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour

3 large eggs

1 cup milk

1 Tbs. olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

Butter

Whisk together the flour and eggs until they form a smooth paste. Gradually whisk in the milk, olive oil and salt.

Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add a little butter and spread it around the pan. Add 1/4 cup of batter in the middle of the pan, like a pancake. Let it cook, untouched until the edges start to firm and brown. Then, use your chef skills to flip the crepe, using a plastic spatula. Cook on the other side about 30 seconds, then slide it onto a plate. Add a little more butter to the pan and repeat. Crepes can be stacked on each other as you make them - it may help to put a paper towel between stacks to soak up any excess butter.

Lay the crepes out on a plate and spread your favorite filling over the whole crepe. Roll it up and enjoy!

Makes about 8 crepes.

Technical difficulties

Hey there. I was having some computer issues last week before I went out of town, but I think I'm back on track now. I won't tell you the cause of my technical difficulties, but will simply say that it was embarrassingly simple to fix. So no Local Producer spotlight this week because of the aforementioned issues, as well as the fact that my travel caused me to miss the past two Farmers' Markets, which is where I hound the friendly folks for information. I'm making up for it with several posts for today, including a way to use up any lingering zucchini laying around. You're welcome.

Up North again

I was away again this past weekend - one last hurrah before the year gets really crazy. I got to see some longtime friends, which was fabulous. Amidst all of the catching up, I managed to fit in some local eating, which as I've mentioned before, is really easy to do in Pennsylvania. Among this weekend's bounty was some (okay, a lot of) locally produced wine - including some made by the parents of a friend, tomatoes from my friend Laura's garden, some seriously delicious raspberries from a roadside stand, and of course, the must have - sweet corn. I also got to bring home some Amish-produced cow's milk cheddar cheese as a gift for Sal, which he used in the Zucchini Quiche recipe below. Oh, and also...I stocked up on a regional (though of course, not really local) delicacy that my sisters love: Tastykakes. Lord above those things are delicious and nostalgia inspiring. My great grandmother always had Butterscotch Krimpets on hand, and I pretty much ate a pack of Kandy Kakes every day in 7th and 8th grade. Charming, I know. Anyway, it was an excellent weekend overall - here are some photos to prove it.

Roadside produce stand


Some PA produce offerings


I couldn't resist this anatomically correct eggplant! :)


Laura's yummy tomatoes

Zucchini Quiche Casserole

I first tasted this super easy dish in California when my coworker, Maria, brought some leftovers to work. Her sister had gotten the recipe from a magazine and added some of her own flair - the results were to die for. I then proceeded to pester Maria for the recipe until she finally handed it over - it's been part of our repertoire ever since.

Ingredients:
3 cups finely shredded zucchini (patted dry with a paper towel)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cups Bisquick
1 cup Gruyere or Swiss cheese (or whatever you have), shredded)
1/4 cup cooking oil
4 green onions, chopped (or substitute other onions, depending on season)
2 Tbs. chopped fresh dill or 1.5 tsp dry dill

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Pour into a greased 9 inch round casserole.

Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. The consistency should be like a bready quiche.

Getting on track

In an effort to bring some sort of structure to this website, I'm going to attempt to post information about a local producer every Monday. Here you go:

Local Producer: Tarheel Beef Co.

One of my favorite people at the Farmers' Market is Ron Koster of Tarheel Beef. To be honest, for the first month or so of my regular FM shopping trips, I basically ignored him. Not maliciously, it's just that I'm not a beef eater myself, and since I make the menu, I pretty much just passed him on by in search of some veggies. That all changed when we had out-of-town company, and Sal wanted to cook up something "special." Special to Sal almost always means meat - when I'm out of town I suspect that his diet consists mostly of ribs, burgers and chicken wings. Anyway, once we stopped by Tarheel Beef and got to know Ron, Sal makes it a point to drop by every week and at least check out what he's got on special.

Since I'm pretty clueless about different kinds of beef, I asked Ron to answer a couple of questions for me about his company, and how the beef is raised. Like I said, I don't eat beef, but I don't have a social objection to eating it, if the cow has been given a humane and decent life to live while it's on the earth. Unlike Tarheel Beef's product, most, if not all, of the meat that is available at the larger chain grocery stores is from CAFOs (or CFOs) - Confined Animal Feeding Operations, also known as Factory Farms. There are thousands of people out there who could explain a CAFO better than me, so I'll let them. You can get a head start on Farm Aid's website.

Here are Ron's answers to my questions - I'm a far cry from a journalist, but he was a good sport and humored me anyway. Stop by and say hi to Ron next time you're at the Market - he's a great storyteller...

1. You seem to know a LOT about beef! When did you get into the cattle business?

I got into the cattle business by accident a hobby that grew and got out of hand. Seven years ago my son called me up and said he had leased some land near Commerce Texas and had purchased 4 bovine pairs ( a pair is a cow with a calf at her side), giving us 8 animals. He said he knew I enjoyed riding and knew I had always wanted to have a small ranch. He said, "How about it?" and I said "I'm in." So I started a hobby. We attended Auction Barn sales in the area and acquired more animals that we thought were good, young stock and moreover were pregnant and ready to deliver calves in a relatively short period of time.

We had acquired by this time some 1000+ acres of scrub range land and pasture where the animals were set free after receiving the required vaccinations, ear tags, branding, etc. We have 6 ponds on our property that supply the animals with plenty of clean water.

2. What's different about the way that you raise your cows as compared to larger CAFOs?

We have cleared about half the land and planted crops of rye grass, oats, clover etc. Unlike the CFO's we do not confine our animals in large dirt pens and feed them regimented grains, growth hormones fillers etc. Every late winter I select and bring aprrox. 15 to 18 weaned Angus cross-breed calf's weighing approx 300 to 375 lbs to some leased pastureland in the Greensboro area. We put them out to pasture for approximately a year on fresh green grass and water. For the last approx 120 days we grain feed the animal to create the marbling effect in the meat (which gives you the flavor and taste you desire in a good cut of meat.)

We now after seven years have what is called a commercial cow calf operation. We no longer buy unknown stock and now have on our ranch some registered Angus breeding stock with superior blood lines and endeavor to raise the best cross breed animals we can. We have on average about two hundred and fifty cows and calves on the three different locations at any one time.

3. How often do you process meat? Where is the processing done?

We process no more than one or two animals a month and only one at a time. They are processed at a Federal monitored USDA plant in Siler City. NC. The split carcasses are hung in a controlled atmosphere of 33 to 38 degrees at low humidity for a minuim of 21 days to a maximum of 35 days. During this period known as the dry aging process the meat begins to break down the cell walls naturally tenderizing the meat and forming a jerky type covering on the meat. After the aging process is complete the meat is cut to specifications and the hard jerky coating is discarded which approx.results in a 20% loss of yield because of shrinkage. You sacrifice yield or volume for tenderness and taste.

4. If you were stranded on a desert island with only a grill, what type of beef would you want to have with you?

If I was stranded on a desert Island and only had a grill I would take any steak cut (filet, t-bone, porthouse, rib-eye, NY Strip etc.) Sirloin Tip, eye round or London broil for that matter would make a great roast on a spit, and nothing beats a Cowboy Steak (Rib-eye with the bone-in)!

5. Anything else you'd like us to know about Tarheel Beef?

Tar Heel Beef is a family run business. As of now we only sell at the Riverfront Farmers Market on Saturdays between 8:00 AM and 12:30PM and Poplar Grove Market on RT17 on Wednesdays Between 8:00AM and 1:00PM. We also deliver for free in the Greater Wilmington Area for orders over $125.00. We use no Hormones, additives, fillers, dyes or preservatives. Our meat is all natural.

Photo: Ron Koster and one of his handy little helpers at the Riverfront Farmers Market.

You say Tomato, I say shmomato

Here are some things Sal and I did not register for when we got married: a food mill, pressure canner, dehydrator, giant stockpot and cheesemaking supplies. Silly us. Turns out we've had a need for all of those things in the past few months, and have slowly started acquiring what we can from various sources. My loving husband bought me a dehydrator for our anniversary (and jewelry as well, folks - he knows what's up) and we scored a pressure canner and food mill from my dad on our trip to PA. (Thanks, dad! I know - I'm just "borrowing" them.)

I was really excited to use the food mill and pressure canner for the first time today in processing 20 lbs. of delicious, perfect tomatoes. The food mill is this awesome industrial sized contraption that you attach to the counter. You can press the tomatoes through raw, so it should have been super easy. Wellll, far be it from me to just do something the easy way. I got the bright idea to cook the tomatoes first so the skins would come off easier - not a bad idea in itself, I just decided to use our junky old stockpot to do it. Everything was lovely until the last minute of cooking when a terrible stench filled the kitchen - apparently the bottom of the pot reached its maximum temperature and burnt chunks of black scorching stuff into the sauce. Needless to say - 20 pounds of tomatoes down the tube. I'm still irritated about it to say the least. sigh. I hate wasting food. We didn't even get to use the pressure canner, which is sure to be another adventure. I'm going to put on a happy face, though, and give it a go again next week with a brand-spankin'-new stockpot.

Lucky me

Let me just say for the record that my husband is fabulous. It's been a long summer for me, going to work while he gets to sleep in, but he has totally stepped up to take care of lots of the household stupid chore stuff, including cooking. (Okay, cooking isn't a stupid chore, but it does take time.)

Last night I came home from my Spanish class to the delicious smell of simmering Aloo Gobi. Bless that man. There's nothing better than coming home from a long day to something yummy being cooked for you by someone else. If you haven't been fortunate enough to try Aloo Gobi at your local Indian restaurant, I hate to inform you that you have totally missed out. It's a simple but delicious combination of cauliflower, potatoes and tomatoes cooked in spices. Sal made a modified version of the recipe in The Everything Vegetarian Cookbook, and it was faaantastic. We just ate ours plain, but it's equally delicious served over rice.

I'm also including the recipe for the Dill Zucchini-Potato patties I made tonight, adapted from a Black River Organic Farms recipe. We used the fresh dill we brought back from Pittsburgh, and they were amazing - if I may say so myself.

Aloo Gobi

Adapted from The Everything Vegetarian Cookbook by Jay Weinstein.

Ingredients:

1 large head cauliflower

2 lbs. potatoes

3 Tbs. olive oil

2 large onions

3 chili peppers

1 tsp. dried ginger

3 tomatoes, finely chopped

1 1/4 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. coriander

2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. garam masala (or 1 tsp. of each of ground cardamom, cumin seed, cloves, black pepper and cinnamon, or whatevery you've got)

Cilantro or parsley, chopped (if in season)

Cut the cauliflower and potatoes into large chunks. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the onions, chilies and ginger until brown, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, and salt; cook 5 minutes more, until spices are fragrant and evenly disbursed. Mix in the potatoes and cauliflower, plus enough water to come halfway up the vegetables.

Cover the pan and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes and cauliflower are very tender. Add the garam masala powder; cook 5 minutes more. Serve garnished with cilantro.

Serves 8

Dill Zucchini-Potato Patties

This recipe was adapted from the Zucchini Patty recipe that's posted on Black River Organic Farms website. I added potatoes, substituted dill for oregano and changed the topping.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup grated raw zucchini

2 tablespoons minced onion

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

2 tablespoon mayonnaise

1/4 teaspoon fresh dill

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Press excess moisture out of grated zucchini between paper towels. Mix together everything but olive oil to make the batter. Heat 2 tbs. olive oil over medium heat. Spoon batter (about 2 heaping tablespoons per patty) into skillet. Flatten lightly with spatula. Cook over medium heat until nicely browned on both sides. Continue adding olive oil and making patties until batter is gone. Makes about 8 patties. Serve plain or topped with sour cream, dill and tomatoes.

Food vs. Energy

We've gotten to the point in our freezer where something's got to give - we're pushing capacity here. We've canned as much stuff as possible, but some things are just much better in the frozen form - eggplant for instance. Besides everything we've got stuffed in there already, there's our new batch of produce from PA that's got to fit in there as well. What's a local eater to do?

I've been contemplating the idea of getting a small chest freezer for the garage. I went back and forth on it for awhile - is the amount of additional energy expended to run the freezer worth the amount of food that we're putting away for the winter? It would be kind of stupid to try to use up all of the energy we've saved from buying local produce on storing it for a couple of months. Plus those freezers aren't exactly cheap, so we would have to factor that cost in.

To complicate things, I was looking for no-refrigeration food ideas for a three day canoe trip we had planned, and came across Little Blog in the Big Woods. This guy and his family don't even have a refrigerator, and haven't had one for 30 years. Hmmm. That really got me thinking about the possibilities of living totally green and how much further we could take it. Don't get me wrong - we're not getting rid of our fridge - it's just that the thought had never even occurred to me. Ever. It really does make a lot of sense, though, especially for people who live in cities and can walk on down to their local market to pick up fresh food every day. It's a little different if you're in a rural or suburban area and have to drive into "town" to get your food, or if you rely on the twice a week Farmers' Market. I wonder if the fuel you'd use driving around to get all that food every day would negate the energy expense of the refrigerator. It's an interesting thing to ponder, and that's just what I plan to do - you can do so as well by reading his post.

As a side note to my "To Freeze, or Not to Freeze" dilemma:
I was mid-deliberation the week before we left for PA, when our neighbor called and wanted to know if we wanted the free freezer her friend is giving away. I kind of took that as a sign, since she didn't know we were thinking of getting a freezer, just thought maybe we'd want it. And it's free. So we've decided to go for it - Sal's picking it up this week and we're going to work on packing it full, since a full freezer actually uses less energy than a kind-of-full one. I'm going to do some research on the energy use and let you know how it goes...

Flour and Polenta

One of the greatest aspects of eating locally has been making connections with others who are doing the same thing. I've been able to learn a lot from so many people, and have had the opportunity to pass on some of my connections as well. My brain has been completely fried lately, but I wanted to share a recent discovery that was shared with me through the local grapevine. It's not earthshattering, per se, but useful nonetheless.

I've been using Southern Biscuit All Purpose Flour since we started eating a local diet. I didn't have a lot of information about it, but I did know that it's processed by Midstate Mills, located in Newton, NC, about 300 miles away. Not necessarily local, but a heck of a lot closer than say, Montana.

I had been wondering about where they got their wheat, but always seemed to think to call them when they were closed. This week Trace clued me into the blog of another NC local eater, "Stew", who has apparently mastered the use of a wonderful technology called "email" that she utilized to contact Midstate Mills and get the lowdown on their wheat. This is her response from Midstate - you can link to the One Local Summer entry where she posted it (The South, Week 6 Take 2) on the sidebar to the right.

Most of this wheat comes from North Carolina and South Carolina. Since there is not enough wheat grown in Catawba County to last us a month we also need to get wheat from eastern North Carolina around Greenville, Wilson, Plymouth and Washington...Sometimes we buy soft red wheat from Ohio and Indiana but because freight costs get so high, that is limited.

Contrary to what I was told by several folks around here, wheat can be grown in NC, and if I had just done a little investigation, I would have found out how much. According to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, about 25,000 bushels of wheat were harvested in 2006. Not too shabby.

Stew also found out that the Old Mill of Guilford, located in...Guilford, uses all local corn in their cornmeal and polenta. So thanks to Stew and her handy technology, I can rest easier knowing I've got options for flour, cornmeal and polenta. That opens up a world of recipes for me and makes the Autumn months look that much more promising.

The 'burgh

We're back settling in to NC, but I wanted to give a quick recap of our Pittsburgh visit:

On Saturday we went down to the Strip District, one of my favorite areas in the heart of Pittsburgh. The Strip is a glorious mish mash of cheap Steelers merchandise, handcrafted art, flowers, panhandlers, and tons of ethnic and local foods. First stop for us, as always, was to pick up a couple of Mung Bean pancakes from the stand outside Sam-Bok. Those guys are out there year round - in the winter you can warm your hands on the little foil packaging.

This summer was somehow the first time in all my years that I've gone to the Farmers' Market there. I was like a kid in a candy store - people definitely looked at me weird when I was like "OOOOH, Cauliflower!" at the first stand. There was just such a variety of produce that we either can't get in Wilmington or is out of season: dill, cauliflower, broccoli, apples, portabello mushrooms, shallots, and greenhouse-grown lemongrass of all things. Slow Food had a stand there and were giving out some tasty bite sized portions of a salmon panzanilla type salad, and a sausage something-or-other - honestly with all the little samples and tidbits you can pick up in a stroll through the Strip, there's really no reason to get lunch - but with all the delicious options, who could pass it up? We somehow resisted Primanti's and opted instead for pizza at Sunseri's Bella Notte. We finished our Strip visit by picking up 20 ears of perfect peak-season corn for $5.00 from the Amish farmers down by Wholeys.

From there we headed to a farm owned by Mike, a friend of my father-in-law. My F.I.L works for him during the winter, helping out in the greenhouses and whatnot, so Mike gives him produce and plants in the summer. He was generous enough to extend his free-picking offer to us, so we went off into the fields to stock up on eggplant, squash, zucchini and banana peppers. Mike sells most of his vegetables wholesale to grocery stores around Pittsburgh. I was actually extremely impressed with how much local produce you could get in the grocery stores around there - they put us to shame. We ended up getting 20 lbs. of local tomatoes from Kuhn's for .89/pound - are you kidding me? No way you're getting that deal at Harris Teeter.

When it was all said and done, we came home from Pennsylvania with shallots, apples, cauliflower, dill, corn, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, eggplant, banana peppers, peaches, blueberries, potatoes, jam and venison. It was fun to shop local somewhere other than Wilmington, and even better to be able to pick a lot of it ourselves.

Some photos from Pittsburgh:

The Strip District

The Farmers' Market


Slow Food Pittsburgh


Sal and Sal go picking


Mike's farm

One of the fruits of our labor

Dreaming of Creamery

We left Elimsport this morning with our car packed full of local veggies and our sights set on Pittsburgh. We left ourselves enough time to stop by Sal's alma mater, Penn State, to see how it's changed since he was there last. Honestly, my main goal was just to get to the Berkey Creamery on campus.

The Creamery has been a Penn State tradition since 1865. According to their website, approximately 4.5 million pounds of milk pass through the Creamery's stainless steel holding tanks each year . About half comes from a 225-cow herd at the University's Dairy Production Research Center, and the rest is purchased from an independent milk producer.

Either way, the result is heavenly. I had my first Creamery cone back in 4th grade on a field trip, and have taken the opportunity to devour one whenever I get the chance - which luckily for my waistline is only once every couple of years. Today's Wicked Caramel Sundae was just the ticket.

Photo: Sal enjoys his "Peach Paterno" cone.

The view

What you can see from my house in PA:

Family trees

Monday:
We had what I consider to be a perfect day today. I got up before the sun to have some coffee with my dad before he headed off to work, then got busy planning what to do with the next 15 hours or so.

First on the agenda was a little tour of my hometown. It takes all of about 5 minutes to drive the whole thing, but I wanted to see what was new - and whether we could find any Amish farmstands open. No luck on the fresh produce, but we did see an old friend working on his farm and stopped to chat for a couple of minutes.

From there we headed on to my grandparents house for some quality time, and picked up some juicy yellow plums at a farmstand on the way. Then to my cousin's new farmhouse just outside town - which was like hitting the local food jackpot. My cousin Mikey was able to purchase the circa 1930s house and 2 acres from his grandparents about a year ago, and he and his family got busy planting a couple gardens. They were generous enough to send us off loaded down with fruit and vegetables: blueberries off the wild trees behind the house, tomatoes, peaches from the farmer next door, onions and potatoes from their garden, some homemade blackberry jam, and most notably, canned venison from last hunting season, courtesy of my cousin Marc.

We left with our arms and hearts overflowing with the fruits of my family's kindness. Not a bad way to spend a day.

A couple of photos from Monday...

Energy efficient Amish clothesline

Farmstand plums

Michel picking blueberries

Homeward bound

I'm heading home for the first time in about three years. Home is a somewhat fluid term for me, since most of my family, myself included, leans slightly to the nomadic side. Home for me, though, is where I spent the first 18 years of my life - in a tiny town in north-central PA.

I've got several reasons for being northbound, and just as many for having stayed away so long. It wasn't until recently that I really began to appreciate the beauty and bounty of where I was raised. Growing up, I couldn't wait to escape - I had much bigger plans for my life, which in my teenage mind, could not possibly be achieved in the little podunk town to which I was confined.

In some ways I was right - and also incredibly wrong. In becoming a city girl, I've also realized what a country girl I am, and how much my little town had to offer in terms of community and agriculture. As I seek to simplify more and more aspects of my life, I find myself nostalgic for the little town I call home.

So, Elimsport, here I come. I'm looking forward to catching up.

A helping hand

Thank goodness for friends! This weekend we had a visit from our delightful and easy-going main-man from Charlotte. It's always great to have Steve in town, because, among a thousand other reasons, he's fun to cook for, and will pretty much be up for whatever. Lucky for me, then, to have him here for canning 35 more pounds of tomatoes. We got an amazing deal on some second tomatoes from Black River, which had to be processed that day. Plus, Steve brought some peaches that he picked up for us on the way, which needed canned ASAP.

While many guests may shrug off the kitchen for the beach on a 90 degree day, not Steve - like champs, he and Sal helped blanch, core and can the tomatoes. It may have helped that we were all fueled by mojitos made with fresh mint and some renegade rum, graciously gifted by Steve. Meanwhile, Sal and I put up the peaches and used some spares to make a peach pie. After our marathon canning episode, we finished off the day with fish tacos and more of the aformentioned mojitos.

Fish tacos were one of our favorite meals pre-local eating, and we were worried we'd have to give them up. Not so, what with our local fish bounty and the lovely folks at the Tortilleria next to Elizabeth's Pizza. We picked up 1/2 lb. of fresh, homemade tortillas for $0.65, plus I got to practice speaking Spanish - that's a true bargain folks.

Our previous recipe for fish tacos used battered tilapia, black bean mango salsa with cilantro, cabbage, and queso fresco. We've managed to create an equally delicious version using local mahi, peaches instead of mango, dried black beans from the stash, gouda from Nature's Way, and homemade sour cream. We tried to get some cabbage from Mr. Gilbert because we had seen some there last week, but no luck - he's totally out now. If you make this recipe when cabbage and cilantro are still in, it will be even more fabulous. I'll include them in the recipe just for good measure. You can also make a spicy salsa if you want, with tomatoes, red pepper, jalapeno and cucumber, but that's up to you. Es muy delicioso!

Fish Tacos (Serves 4)

Ingredients:
Local mahi or your favorite fish
8 tortillas or more
2 cups cooked black beans
1 -2 peaches, peeled and chopped
2 Tbs. chopped cilantro
1 Tomato, chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup gouda, shredded or in small cubes
Cabbage, shredded (if you have it)

For the fish rub:
2 tsp Old Bay
1 Tbs. Chili powder
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper

For the sauce:
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. cumin (or more to taste)

Rinse the fish and pat it dry. Sprinkle the rub over the fish on oth sides to coat. Grill the fish on medium to low heat for about 5-6 minutes per side, or until no longer translucent. Meanwhile, combine the black beans, peaches, onion and cilantro in a small bowl and set aside. Mix the cumin into the sour cream and set aside.
When the fish is done, break off a bit onto a tortilla, top with black bean mix, tomatoes, gouda, cabbage and sour cream. Fold and enjoy! Should make at least 2 tacos per person.