Recent Food

I'm about a third of the way through my current read: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. It's been on my wish list for a while, and I absolutely love it! The Kingsolver Family decided to "live off the land" and grow their food and only eat local, seasonal food for an entire year. The book is a narrative of that experience. I highly recommend it!

That book, along with one I just finished reading, The Accidental Farmers, and the food inspiration spurred by Veganomicon, have helped me get back in the kitchen this week and to the farmers market yesterday, and I have to say it's about darn time!

The stuff I made from Veganomicon was good and easy, and I'm anxious to try more recipes from it. Today though, I decided to give my poor, neglected dehydrator some love, so I whipped up a double batch of raw sesame sunflower bread and then a triple batch of my famous hummus. Can't wait to slather some of the bread with hummus and then top it off with the fresh tomatoes and cucumbers I picked up at the farmers market yesterday. I'll sprout something to add to the mix if I get really motivated.

The best part of the farmers market yesterday was . . . fresh figs! My coworker Becca introduced me to the dried variety a few months ago, but until yesterday, the fresh version had eluded me. Not anymore, and I have a newfound favorite food. I'm hoping and wishing for a fig tree as a gift for some occasion. Any occasion will do. Birthday, housewarming gift, baby shower gift, or a welcome to the neighborhood cutting from a neighbor. I'm dreaming of a bountiful supply of fresh figs while in season, with enough extra bounty to dehydrate and/or turn into fig preserves while not in season.

Aside from the cheap but mouthwatering organic blueberries I got from a local farming family, the other highlight of the market were the dried tops of garlic plants I bought. I was so excited about the blueberries and liked the family so much, that I was suckered into buying four dried garlic tops (but at $0.25 each it wasn't such a big deal), even though I had no use for them. But, when I got home last night, I spray painted them turquoise and added them to my tillandsia tree! It was just the extra color it needed and will now forever be a reminder of the Forsyth Farmers Market since my chances for going are steadily decreasing as we get closer and closer to our move. Here's a (really bad) photo of it. What do you think?