A Busy Day in the Crunchy Kitchen

Myo Than in from of the partially
finished green house. 

       Phew! I am tired!


I spent some time with the  Hope Urban Gardening project this morning, helping to photograph the building of a green house. The structure is meant to be used by the Burmese refugee community in Buffalo. This exciting project is one part of many that is allowing refugees and low income families to begin growing healthy food for their families. For refugees, this means the ability to grow some food unfamiliar to nationals, reminders of home. I love it! From agrarian communities, the move to Buffalo has meant losing independence and being forced to rely on food stamps and WIC at least initially, but this gardening effort is an empowering step.

On the way home, I checked out the Bidwell Market, which was as swell as ever.  I have never loved another market the same way.

Then, upon arriving home, the adventures truly began.

I tend to be one of those women who goes on cooking rampages, a force to be reckoned with when I attempt food creation at my near manic pace. So today, with the moments I had free after and in between a few work responsibilities, I attempted granola, yogurt, and english muffins. After days like this, with this much cooking intensity- I'll be honest- I'm actually sore.

Now empty, cool jar of oats. 

I have to brag about these endeavors. The yogurt is 100% local. The granola and english muffins used ingredients from Five Points. Five Points is an amazing place focused on bringing local food back to Erie County by making bread from local grain. Their website uses the phrase "reclaiming our food heritage", a huge but important job. I am happy to be their patron. Plus, their butter is the only butter that I know that can make one believe in a higher power.

Before cheese and baking. 

For dinner we also had emmer pasta from Five Points, with a sauce made from all things purchased at the market today. We used the recipe for baked pasta from The Wednesday Chef, and added some fresh basil. Serendipitous that garlic, tomatoes, and basil all come into season at the same time!
These tomatoes are cut, covered in garlic, olive oil, a pinch of salt, and cheese (we used a blend of pecorino romano and parmesan). After baking between 30-45 minutes, we took it out and smooshed it with one of those fancy potato mashers. Mark's response was, appropriately, Good GOD!

It was truly amazing, the kind of meal where after your first bite, you put down your fork to chew in gratitude.

Why share all this? Only to say, with three hours, you can change your eating, your home, your city.

You can promote local farmers, local food production, to eat safer and better.  And to be honest, seasonal organic eating from local sources is just as inexpensive as a stop to your grocery store mid-January for tomatoes. Except more delicious.

Try it with us!

We're off to Mohawk Place to watch a friend's band play. After,  maybe to Sound lab for dancing. Let's see if we make it. Either way, PBR is in order. After all, we are still crunchy.