Camp Waubeeka, Copake, NY to
Elk Neck State Park, North East, MD

I guess I am a post short, even with the day off. I told myself when I started this blog that I would not feel guilty about not posting. I always am giving myself a guilt trip and knew if I started doing that with this blog, I would eventually abandon it. In fact, I have given up posting for a few short periods, but always came back (so far) It’s called perfectionism and it’s a disease. The idea that if I am not doing something perfectly (i.e. posting every single day) than it is a disappointment and should be avoided. Anyway, I am fighting it and here’s is my imperfect post a day late.

So on Sunday I made Denver omelets and roasted potatoes. I used the new technique on the potatoes and they were wonderful. Nothing special about the omelete except for the locally grown veggies and the Vermont Cheddar. If you currently buy big brand cheddar, stop it, you are cheating yourself. Go out and find some cheddar that was made on purpose. For drinks Darren made My Psychosis, a drink of his own authoring including but not limited to Rhum, Sparkling wine, Orange juice, and Amaretto.

After the Steelers, plundered and pillaged the Vikings. Darren fired up the grill and cooked the other rib-eye that he purchased on Friday. This time the steak had been salted and resting in the fridge for two days. A concept I learned from my new Zuni cookbook. It made all the difference, not only did we get the added flavor from the grill, but IMHO the steak was more tender. I had bought a pound of unshelled butter beans and two ears of corn from Athens Locally Grown. During the football game we shelled the beans, taking the advice of a grower at Athens Farmer’s Market and shelling while watching sports. I made succotash, a scrumptious dish that did not reveal itself to me, save through Yosemite Sam, until I moved to the south. I also baked an enormous sweet potato which Darren and I split. Isn’t that steak perfectly cooked? Darren rawks da grill.

Tonight I wanted to use the kale that we got from ALG. In the past I have made a sausage, kale & bean pasta. Since we had lunch at Inoko Sushi Express, we were right next door to Kroger and decided to shop there. I think today I crossed a threshold. I could not bring myself to purchase any type of pork at Kroger. I even tried to rationalize Boar’s Head, but even they don’t make any promises about the way they raise the pork and I have learned if the aren’t bragging about it, they aren’t doing it. So I got some veggie Italian sausages and they were not bad. I will happily substitute them for any weeknight meal or when in a bind.

Just wanted to post how brunch/breakfast (we ate at 10:30 am, you decide) turned out.  Ended up putting a little salsa verde over the eggs, which I placed on top of the pot beans.  As you can see, I also included a couple of strips of bacon (had to, it was Sunday bacon)  The combo tasted pretty good.  I did over-cook the eggs a bit.  I would have preferred lots of runny yolk on the beans.

We also have a birthday in the house.  Everyone wish Chris a Happy Birthday with me.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Got up late so we had to head straight to the Athens Farmer’s Market.

Having finished our shopping,  we stopped at Big City Bread Cafe for brunch. I ordered the Burgundy Mushroom Quiche and Darren had the Meat Omelette, containing soprasetta, arugala & olives.

After putting away our bounty from the market, I began braising oxtails for dinner.  Quite sometime ago I purchased oxtails from Nature’s Harmony Farm through the online market Athens Locally Grown. I had absolutely no idea how to prepare them.   Poking around at some of my favorite locavore food blogs, I discovered Last Night’s Dinner posted a picture of  Braised Oxtails, her significant other had just made.  When we asked for the recipe, we were told that the preparation was based on a recipe from the Zuni Cookbook.  I had not heard of the cookbook.  So I added it to my wish list for our then impending anniversary.  The cookbook is wonderful and the recipe turned out great.  I served the oxtails on Red Mule Polenta de Georgia from Mills Farm