Localvores - Day Six

DAY SIX - SATURDAY

Two days left and little produce left in the house, I drove to work wondering about what to pull together for tonight's local dinner. Sean wasn't working so I asked if he could spend some time going to the Brattleboro Co-Op to see what they have to offer. Never a man to avoid a challenge, he said sure. What I didn't realize was that his plan was to include our daughters in his quest, turning their privileged adolescent perspective into a new kind of work ethic. As I walked through our front door that evening, the girls excitedly greeted me with "Look what we found!" Before I could take my coat off, all three of them were pulling items out of the refrigerator and off the countertop explaining where they were from, how much they cost and how many stores they went to in their search. Truly, and I'm not making any of this up, they were excited. They found sole (the fish not the shoe) from Massachusetts; rutabagas, eggs, venison sausage, pumpkin butter, a whole chicken, a variety of dairy products and Ben & Jerry's red velvet cake ice cream, all locally made in Vermont. They recounted their 'Portlandia-esque' conversation with the man behind the fish counter at the Brattleboro Co-op (if you have never seen Portlandia, check out the episode where a couple goes into a restaurant and asks typical localvore questions and ends up living on a farm commune for 25 years). The fish ombudsman apparently was more open-minded to our localvore project than the woman in Shaw's, but still presented as a little guarded by the fact that even the Co-op buys the majority of their fish from distant shores. Finally, we can have our fish tacos! The only ingredient still nowhere to be found was garlic. Incredible! Sean decided to use garlic powder and adobo as substitutes. Good thing I planted a whole bunch of garlic cloves in our garden last autumn for next winter's feasts!

Menu for Day Six:

Grilled Sole Tacos

Sole - Gloucester, MA

Tortilla - same above

Cabbage - Harlow Farm, Westminster VT

Sour Cream - Cabot, Cabot, VT

Guacamole - onions, apple cider vinegar, avocadoes

Rutabaga au gratin

Rutabaga - Harlow Farm, Westminster, VT)

Onion - Riverhead, NY

Cheddar - Cabot, Cabot, VT

Whipping Cream - Thomas Dairy, Rutland, VT Milk - Thomas Dairy, Rutland, VT