Sharing a Local Feast

What happens when you offer an impromptu dinner invitation at the last minute to a fellow blogger whose major focus is sustainable living? I'll tell you what happens: first you panic over whether you can pull it off, then you calm down and start thinking about options, and finally you realize how important food preservation is to eating locally.

Let me back up a bit. Sharon Astyk came into town for her speaking engagement and we planned to have lunch on Friday. It turned out that she had more time available so she got to explore Tucson a bit with me. We started with a nice walk along 4th Avenue where we checked out a thrift store (I found more canning jars!), the Food Conspiracy co-op which sells some local produce, and Native Seeds/SEARCH which offers seeds from indigenous crops, great books, and local food products. We checked out the rainwater harvesting cisterns and gardens at the UA Visitor Center and then headed to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. After a very nice walk through their grounds, chatting about the adaptations of plants to desert life and comparing our respective climates, it was time for lunch at a local Mexican restaurant.

Next up was the tour of my home. Here was someone who could appreciate the stacks of canning jars, the food pantry, and the extra quilts, without thinking I was paranoid or crazy! I think she was envious of the citrus trees in the back yard, but the bag of grapefruit and tangerines should help temper the envy. I'd been pondering what kind of dessert I could provide that would showcase local foods and finally came up with a prickly pear smoothie. There was still some pureed Sharlyn melon (from the CSA) in my freezer and prickly pear syrup from fruit I collected and processed myself.


I put both in the Vortex blender, which I still use on occasion despite the problems with it, and let Sharon do the cranking. Each glass was garnished with a bit of the prickly pear leather I made with the same ingredients. It was yummy!


Sharon toasted to tasty local food but, all too soon, it was time for me to drop her back at her hotel so that I could do my volunteer stint at the CSA. However, I had her talk to look forward to at the Expo, so it was not a sad parting.

This afternoon, my sweetie and I biked down to the Expo, wandered around the booths, and settled in for the Sustainable Living Speakers. "Mrs. Green" hosted the panel which included Sharon, John Neville from Sustainable Arizona, and Deron Beal, the founder of Freecycle (yes, it was "born" in Tucson!) They all had interesting talks but it was rather disappointing to see only about 50 people in attendance for this panel. Sharon soft-pedaled her message but I still think some members of the audience were a bit freaked out by the thought that technology might not solve all our environmental problems and cutting back would be a really good idea. (It's time to join the Riot for Austerity!)

This brings us up to the time of the impromptu dinner invitation: 3:30 pm. When I asked Sharon if she'd like to come for dinner, she accepted but requested we have an early meal since she needs to head to the airport at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning. We pedaled our bikes home as fast as we could, with my mind racing about what kind of meal I could pull together in an hour or so. I really wanted it to be mostly local foods and was quite relieved I'd just brought home my CSA share the previous evening. By the time I walked in my front door, I had the menu figured out. My pressure cookers really came in handy!

Without further ado, here is what I prepared with notes about the source of the ingredients.


(Click to enlarge.)
Tossed salad

• Mixed spicy greens - CSA
• Spinach - CSA
• Red cabbage - CSA
• Carrots - CSA
• Hakurei turnips - CSA
• Cilantro - CSA
• Olives - wild harvested; home-cured

Prickly Pear Vinaigrette

• Prickly pear syrup - local; homemade
• Lemon juice - local from friend's neighbor's tree
• Juice from olive jar (water, vinegar, wine, olive oil, oregano, bay leaves, garlic) - the water and garlic were local
• Salt & pepper to taste

Beverage

• Water - local filtered
• Lemon slices - local

(Dishes listed left to right - click to enlarge.)
Pressure-cooked Beans

• Mayocoba beans - CSA. Our farmer gets many of his seeds from Native Seeds.
• Dried red chile peppers - fresh from CSA; I dried them in ristras.
• Dash of Liquid Smoke for flavor

Vegan cheese sauce

• Recipe from Jo Stepaniak's great Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook

Pressure-cooked Chicos

• Chicos - CSA corn that I roasted and then air-dried (like the picture in this post but with ears of corn instead of onions)
• Dried green chile peppers - fresh from the CSA; dried in a food dehydrator (to prevent rotting)
• Salt & pepper to taste

Potato & Vegetables

• Red Lasoda Potatoes - CSA
• Fajita vegetables - leftover from our lunch on Friday (I always get a doggie bag!)
• Chorizo seasoning - homemade spice mix

I put a jar of my pickled guero peppers (peppers and onions from the CSA) on the table and was impressed when Sharon ate two whole peppers, seeds and all. Those suckers are HOT! I can eat tiny portions and my sweetie avoids them entirely. After dinner, she got to sample my pomegranate liqueur (more details here on the process of making it from local fruit). Everyone is always amazed at the flavor this liqueur packs and she was no exception.

The evening came to an end too soon. I am thrilled to pieces that I got to meet and spend some time with such an important part of the blogosphere that I call home. If you ever have the chance to meet bloggers from your own area or ones traveling through, do it. Meeting the person behind the words is a great experience!