My time at home this week is very short. I had to hop down to Georgia for a board meeting on Sunday. Tomorrow I leave for Missouri to visit my mother, who is ill. I spent yesterday running around and doing everything that needed to be done in the week in one day.
I fretted over what I could make in a short time and what I could find local at the grocery store. We generally do our local meal on the weekend - when there's time to prepare and savor it all. We are all scattered this week. Charlie had a meeting last night. Monkey wasn't finished with camp until 5:00. I was settling on hamburgers when out of the corner of my eye I saw, on the the refrigerated shelf next to the smoked trout (local), pasta! I've been wanting to make pasta, but let's face it, it takes time to prepare. I found it fresh and made in Charlotte. While I can't verify that the ingredients are all from the Carolinas, I can say that it's made here. So here was our meal. And it was fast to prepare - about 45 minutes from the first chop of garlic to the plate. Active time was closer to 15 minutes. Monkey and I dined like queens.
Linguine Bolognese
Linguine - from Pasta & Provisions, Charlotte, NC - 131 miles
Ground Beef - Spring House Meats, Fairview, NC - 17 miles
Tomatoes - the garden - o miles
Garlic - the garden - 0 miles
Carrots - the garden - 0 miles
Basil, Bay, Oregano - the garden - 0 miles
not local - salt, pepper, milk
Let's not forget dessert!
We don't generally do dessert around here, but it was Monkey's first day of Art Camp and I'm going to be gone for awhile, so we stopped at our favorite local ice cream shop, Ultimate Ice Cream (5 miles from our front door), and picked up a pint of Lemon-Lime Sorbet and Black Mocha Stout Ice Cream. I'm glad that we've instilled in the Monkey an appreciation for small local businesses, where things are crafted with care and are better for it. She even requests the sorbet over Oreo or Bubble Gum. The Black Mocha Stout Ice Cream is made with Black Mocha Stout (duh...) from Highland Brewery. I have to say, that it is one of the best mocha ice creams I have ever tasted.
Dinner was fresh and local and fast.
Da-rooo-hooo-hoooool! I like showing people the quick things you can do, too. It's not all going to be fancy schmancy all the time.
ReplyDeleteI'll confess, never heard of icecream made from beer... but it sounds tasty. I stumbled onto your page from 10 signs like this, and I'm glad I did. I figure I'll be wandering back... granted, to shamelessly pirate dinner ideas, but still!
ReplyDeleteI second your conclusions about the Mocha Stout ice cream --- it might be the best ice cream I ever have eaten, which is saying a lot.
ReplyDeleteAnd why isn't there local salt here? Wasn't the place lousy with salt during the Civil War? Hmmm.
Give our best to your mother, and say hello to JC, MO for us.
JA
Way to show how local can be quick and easy! :)
ReplyDeleteOne of our favorite things to have is a "beer float": vanilla ice cream in Murphy's Irish Stout. MMMMM.
Stew - it only sounds fancy schmancy if you call it bolognese instead of meat sauce! :)
ReplyDeleteJenna - welcome. He also makes a mean moonpie ice cream.
James - glad to hear from you! Speaking of local, I had Arris' pizza last night and washed it down with a bud light...
Liz, I knew there was a reason I liked you. I actually thought a beer float could work with the icecream. Now I'm going to have a go at one.