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  Really Now: Food From Here

  Mike Mooers 1:51 pm on September 2, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  Reality Post:

  Anyone notice habits changing? I’m sure I ate more locally produced food than normal, and I know I avoided certain things due to the fact they traveled many miles to get in front of my face. And I was definitely not a 100% Locavore. There’s just some stuff I enjoy too much.

  My diet was pretty local way back in July. We do have it easy here – Nevada County and Northern California are bountifully foodalicious. Plus it’s a time of year when choices are plentiful.

  My big thing? It was fun to notice my food. I mean really notice it – I’ve always been aware and conscious of my eating decisions, even when I’m downing donuts, but the past month made my relationship with the stuff on my plate more personal. That’s my habitual change – a bumped up consciousness and sense of spirit about food that comes from where I live – Food from Here.

   

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  Off the wagon?

  Mike Mooers 1:35 pm on September 2, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  You know, this was easier than I thought – especially due to the meat factor. But yesterday was September 1st. Woo-hoo! Eatin’ anything I wanted to:

  Drove to Roseville to gorge myself at McDonald’s
  Then headed to the nearest Safeway to load up South American fish, Mexican produce, and Canadian Bacon.
  Piled some WalMart food into the tailgate next: Twinkies, Kellog’s Cereal Variety Packs, Vienna Sausages.
  Then went for it big: CHEEZ-WHIZ.

  Kidding.

   
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  Smoke Gets in Your Eyes...

  Mike Mooers 9:34 am on August 17, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  Smoke Gets In Your Eyes…
  So last night we were kicking it on the deck with some out-of-town friends watching flames from the Yuba fire (we spent a LOT of time kicking it on the deck watching flames this weekend with temporal-specific drinks – coffee in the morning, beer in the afternoon, gin & tonics in the evening, wine with dinner. It was sooo tres Chekovian.).

  As the bombers packed it up for the day – it was total Tora! Tora! Tora! action yesterday afternoon – it unfolded:
  Out neighbor walked up the hill to deliver a couple of her chickens. She hung out for drinks and flames.
  Another neighbor that’d evacuated the night before strolled up. More drinks for all.
  Neighbor 1 is cooking a roast, so she goes down to bring it up.
  I roast up a chicken on the barbeque – modified beer-butt recipe.
  We make an apple crisp.
  Neighbor also brings up beans from her garden. We cook beans.
  Out-of-town guests make a Mother Truckers run for the essentials – beer and ice cream.
  We set a nice table, ate, watched the fire line, and rooted for the firefighters and clement winds.

  LOCAL FOOD CHECKLIST:
  Next door chickens (Soleil Farms)
  Green beans from next door.
  Local beef – at least likely local.
  Local beers – Sierra Nevada Torpedos (our friends are from Chico), and Mammoth microbrews.
  Local wine.
  Apples that we picked in Sebastopol (with a North San Juan farmer) and local grains for the crisp.
  Ice Cream from god-knows-where purchased at a locally owned, independent market.

  

  Note glowing hillside upper-left

   
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  Mike Mooers 8:50 pm on August 12, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: recipe local food contest meat union

  Hey there’s some wicked good recipes on here – why not put ‘em in the Union’s contest:

  http://theunion.upickem.net/engine/Welcome.aspx?contestid=8485

  Mine –
  Buy steak from Jim Gates.
  Put meat to the heat.
  Wait.
  Flip.
  Then eat.

   
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  Mike Mooers 2:45 pm on August 12, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  Bloggers – anyone else watching stuff slowly go bad in the fridge due to a rigid need to ride the local train? Is it okay to let it go? What if you say you’re sorry?

  And Kathy – cannot do the coffee/dandy replacement thing. Love the weeds though.

   
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  Mike Mooers 2:42 pm on August 12, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  I’m back in town – fell off of the locavore wagon. Even went to a Whole Foods – but it’s okay, cuz I feel really bad about it.

  I was in Sebastopol and did get to eat some local fare. Brought home a big flat of apples too – thanks to our friend Edy for picking them. Crisp is in the pipeline.

  Robert (left in photo) and I walked up from Sierra Commons to go to Matteo’s for lunch – they’re part of the local restaurant card thing – but they’re closed Mon/Tues and we had to resort to a plan B – as in “Burriito”.

  But back in the groove – local squash with local polenta (thanks for cooking, honey) for dinner the other night. Meatloaf with local beef too. Neighbor’s eggs, regional bread, and stuff from the garden – eggplant, strawberries, tomatoes – I’m back in the groove.

   
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  Mike Mooers 11:45 am on August 5, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: blackberries, eat challenge, eggs, farm (8), Local, locavore

  Hola –

  Robert Trent and I are diving on in. We share office space at Sierra Commons. He lives in town, I live on the Ridge. We’re both committing to eating ALAP – As Local As Possible – and we’re adding an element: we’re gonna see who needs to travel the least to get our already low-traveled food stuffs.

  So on Day One Mike Ate: Eggs from my next door neighbor’s farm. Picked roadside blackberries down the street (I made a crumble with my nephew – most of the grains used were local, butter as well.), meat from Chaffin Farms via the NC Farmers Market, and veggies – corn, beans, arugula – from our Mountain Bounty CSA box which we get right up on Tyler Foote.

  And my LOCAvore article ran in the LOCAL paper.

  Robert – weren’t you on a plane? Any local peanuts in the pretzel snack mix?

  Reality check from Mike: Coffee. I won’t – and haven’t given up coffee. I’ll probably down some peanut butter this month, too. More reality checks as the month progresses…

  Robert?