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I’m sorry, but I’m calling disillusioned bullshit on the Farm Bureau’s announcement today that Thanksgiving for 10 people will cost $44.61 this year. They are obviously (see below) willing to see people eat crap to make that number work. You’d thing that the farm bureau would be more interested in the real cost of such food when bought from real farms and made with whole ingredients… But obviously I’m still too naive for the political side of eating locally…

The cost of a 16-pound turkey, at $19.09 or roughly $1.19 per pound, reflects an increase of 9 cents per pound, or a total of $1.46 per turkey compared to 2007. This is the largest contributor to the overall increase in the cost of the 2008 Thanksgiving dinner… Other items showing a price increase this year were: a 12-oz. package of brown-n-serve rolls, $2.20; a 12-oz. package of fresh cranberries, $2.46; a 30-oz. can of pumpkin pie mix, $2.34; two 9-inch pie shells, $2.26; a 14-oz. package of cubed bread stuffing, $2.57; a relish tray of carrots and celery, 82 cents; a half-pint of whipping cream, $1.70; a pound of green peas, $1.58; and three pounds of sweet potatoes, $3.12.

I’m only responsible for the turkey, pies and squash this year and they alone cost more than that… Thoughts? What are you spending on Thanksgiving?

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Twitter is one of those things you should only try if you’re willing to pick up yet another online addiction. We’ll see if I really have time for yet another online commitment…

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Two restaurants committed to local, organic, sustainable food have been tried since my arrival in Sacramento. Both are noteworthy, but reviews will have to wait until tomorrow.

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It seems that I should have had my food philosophy nailed down long ago. And I did, in my own mind. But I’ve never really liked the SOLE way of stating it, and Michael Pollan’s easy phrase seemed too simple. This one however, I can really get behind.

So how could a trip to San Francisco have been complete without take home treats?

Now really? The chocolate sables from Miette and the satsumas from a farm I can’t recall are to sustain me through the next few days of work conference in Sacramento. I hoped that the sesame glazed walnuts would make it home to top the Thanksgiving  salad, but now that the bag is open and I’ve remembered the taste, I’m not holding my breath.

The thing I’m most excited about though? The four pounds of Rancho Gordo beans that I picked up. I might have been tempted to buy more, but they didn’t have a couple of the varieties I was most interested in (mail order will be my friend). As it is, I’ve easily filled up the space vacated by the chicken, eggs, jam and dilly beans that went to Anita and Cameron with Yellow Eye, Black Calypso, Pebble and Anasazi beans. I can’t wait to get my copy of Steve’s book and start serving beans with every meal (remember the stinky rhyme?).

All the pictures from my trip are also on Flickr if you’re having trouble with the slide shows. 

Over the past 3 days they showed me how to eat my way through San Francisco and gave me a taste of what the city is really like. From dinner at Range (excellent), to breakfast at the market, to strolling The Mission, to salted caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite, to pie with Jen, Jennifer and Mark (all fantastic!), to a meal that did Dark Days proud, to brunch this morning, to Cameron’s Black Arkansas apple on the train to Sacramento, every bite was wonderful.

Last night Cameron grilled Marin Sun Farms pork ribs while Anita made Rancho Gordo beans and shredded Brussels sprouts. Mmmm. Paired with a California wine (didn’t catch the label), it was the perfect way to start the winter eating season off. Then we topped it off this morning with hash and poached eggs a la Cameron. The eggs, BTW, made it all the way to San Fran uncracked in my checked bag! Anita captured the ingredients and steps that I missed.

In true foodie fashion, we spent 20 minutes pressed to the window at Lucca’s yesterday watching them make ravioli. You know you’re among friends when you can all happily hang out and watch live pasta making for entertainment…

Lest you think it was all, and only about the food, here are some photos to prove that we saw a bit of the city as well. I really enjoyed all of it that I saw, and realized as I sorted photos that I was often too busy experiencing to remember to take a picture. Check out Anita’s photos (and post), as she caught a lot of the bits that I missed.

There are all kinds of things to share and pass along, but it’s been quite the day. So instead I leave you with the photos of our morning at the Ferry Plaza market. All I have to say is WOW, that’s the biggest farmer’s market I’ve ever been to in the states. The quality and quantity of vendors was awe inspiring. Not to mention breakfast, meeting Steve, listening to Jen interview Tomas and eating my way through it all.

We had a fabulously local dinner tonight to kick things off, more dark days style than expected, and of course there will be mounds of photos coming your way soon. Plus a list of all the new dark days participants - yep I’ve got all the emails, I’ve just been too busy eating to do anything with them…

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If you can’t see the photos, they’re on flickr as well.

We’re almost there, the official kick-off of the 08/09 Dark Days of Winter Eat Local Challenge, and I can hardly wait!

We’ve got 33 participants, which might be the same number as last year, weird. Anyway, we have 33 participants who are hopefully getting excited too! The challenge officially starts on Saturday, November 15th and runs through March 15th.

Ramblings of a Student Wife (Tasmania) • Michelle Ellis (Richland, WA) • Cat’s Fiber Adventures (Lebanon, OR) • Hendrick Homestead (Lakebay, WA) • Crafty Kim (Nashville, TN) • The Palmyra Silver (Monroe, NY) • Music & Cats (Seattle, WA) • Soccer Moms & Single Chicks (Vancouver, BC) • Yankee Food (Central NH) • Old Dog, New Tricks (Portland, OR) • Green Leanings (Columbus, OH) • Married with Dinner (San Francisco, CA) • Maybe Local Vegan (Seattle, WA) • Eighth of an Acre Bounty (Seattle, WA) • Home Grown Me (Lake County, CA) • Farm to Philly (Philly, PA) • Late Bloomers Farm (Newtown, CT) • Keeping up with K (Herndon, VA) • Ramping up the Garden (Reading, PA) • Battle of the Ants (Pullman, WA) • Our Greener Pastures (Valdese, NC) • Homeschooling by Heart (York, PA) • Something that Won’t Compute (Alabama) • Z’s Organic Everything (LaPlata, MD) • Toteleeding (Des Moines, IA) • Blue Skies Urban Farm (Oregon) • Fifth Flavor (Seattle, WA) • Katie (Ontario) • Mangochild (Connecticut) • Kevin (Washington DC) • Melissa (Washington) • Ashley (Vermont) • Stephanie (Seattle)

If you’ve been holding off, this is your chance for a last minute sign up. Just head on over and register and I’ll add you to the list.

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I’m personally very excited, not least because I’m kicking off the challenge with my first visit to San Francisco, ever! Anita and Cameron are kindly putting me up, and showing me around!, this weekend before I head to Sacramento for work. I can hardly wait for dinner at Range, wandering the Ferry Plaza market, and generally seeing a bit of the city both by street car and foot!

Yeah, sometimes you should decide to do so slowly, not dive in whole hog the first go round after almost 11 years. Hmph.

Yesterday I played soccer for the first time since I was nineteen years old and a sophomore in college. And instead of taking it easy, I ran my ass off. In the process I got hit in the face with the ball, tripped on the astroturf twice and had a hell of a good time.

Unfortunately, soccer apparently takes very different muscles than running, nordic walking, biking or gardening. Today I’m so sore that I can barely climb the stairs. I’m so sore that I feel like I’m ninety and Mike is making fun of me. I’m so sore that I can hardly wait to do it again next week.

Yay for the indoor soccer facility across the street from work. And double yay for the fact that there are PUD pick up games on Mondays and Wednesdays from noon to 1 pm. Maybe next time I’ll be able to actually control the ball and walk the next day…

Am I going to share the recipe? No, because there isn’t one. It’s all about combining top notch fresh pasta with best of the season ingredients. Simmering them until the flavors all meld together, tossing with the pasta, topping with parmesan, and mmmm, mmmm, mmmming your way to the end.

Tonight’s version started with a small sliced leek and the last of the chantrelles sauteed in a bit of olive oil. Add a couple cloves of pressed garlic and a homemade jar of diced tomatoes and it smells like heaven. A touch of herbs like sage, parsley and thyme, some salt and pepper and off you go. So good.

Not to mention that I bought the most beautiful spinach riccioli pasta from Lavita e Bella at the Ballard market on Sunday. Worth every single penny - not only for the pasta but the chance to chat about Liguria and practice my limited Italian with the cute young vendor.

Delizioso!

What’s going on you ask? Well, lots! But I’m still having trouble figuring out what to write. So I leave you with some photos of last weekend.

My parents were here last weekend for 4 nights. Since we worked them the last time they visited we decided to take a mini vacation this time. We headed out to Orcas Island for the weekend. We might not have gotten the best weather, but we still managed a hike up Mt Constitution with the dogs as well as a wander around Eastsound.

And the food - wow, the food! On Saturday night we surf and turfed it with grilled oysters on the half shell, chilled Dungeness crab and kalbi style flank steak with brussels sprouts, salad and roasted Russian Fingerlings on the side - all local! Sunday night we enjoyed our first chicken, roasted in the oven and served with leek mushroom wild rice and a salad of spring greens from the polytunnels and the last of the tomatoes and cucumbers.

These are a mix of pics taken by me and by my mom (hi mom!) - if you have trouble viewing them, they’re also on Flickr.

It’s hard to believe, but November 15 is just around the corner! If you haven’t already signed up for this year’s Dark Days challenge you’ve got 10 more days to do so. Last year we had more than 30 participants, this year we’ve already got 23!

Ramblings of a Student Wife • Michelle Ellis • Cat’s Fiber Adventures • Hendrick Homestead • Crafty Kim • The Palmyra Silver • Music & Cats • Soccer Moms & Single Chicks • Yankee Food • Old Dog, New Tricks • Green Leanings • Married with Dinner • Maybe Local Vegan • Eighth of an Acre Bounty • Home Grown Me • Farm to Philly • Late Bloomers Farm • Keeping up with K • Ramping up the Garden • Katie (Ontario) • Mangochild (Connecticut) • Kevin (Washington DC) • Melissa (Washington)

So if you’ve been thinking about joining in but haven’t done so yet, now is the time to do it! I’ll be emailing full recap plans and details to participants later this weekend.