So. Perhaps not surprisingly (Nature having quite the sense of humour), we woke up to snow this morning. It’s rapidly melting – as the snow has turned to a hard rain that shows no sign of letting up – but still. Waking up and going “Oh, for fuck’s sakes. Really??” Which is not to say that snow in late April is all that unusual around here. None the less, I was hoping I’d seen the back of Winter already.
Oh, well. Soon enough. (Snow on green leaves looks about as weird as hot summer sun does coming through bare branches, so… maybe this is just balancing things out a little bit).
Anyway. I’ve been working on layout (and content) for My Eventual Cookbook this morning. Probably because gardening season is getting to be upon us (I haven’t done anything like starting seeds indoors, mind you) and – thank the gods – produce other than mushrooms, cabbage, beets, and parsnips is now available locally. YAY! 😀
There are hothouse baby tomatoes from Quebec at my grocery store. They’re pricey as hell, so we’re not grabbing them very often, but they’re there! (I made a tomato-basil-mozerella salad the other day that just made me want to sing! All sharp flavours and bright colours. It was glorious!)
There’s also fresh herbs, hydroponic boston lettuce (the kind you get in a dome, with the roots still on) and rhubarb (I see it coming up in people’s yards, and I want to go hunting). Some folks may be able to find greenhouse cucumbers and spinach, though I haven’t got my hands on any yet. There are also wild dandelions coming up all over – and probably stinging nettles and fiddlehead greens, too – if you’re up for pulling on your gloves and going hunting.
The Parkdale maket and the Ottawa (Landsdown) Farmer’s Market have both just opened, but most of the local farmer’s markets (including my Local, in Little Italy) don’t kick in until the beginning of May (CSAs can run all year, or else start any time between mid-April and mid-June and run for 15-20 weeks from that point).
It’s funny. I have a really good idea of what’s available (and long-keeping) locally, during Winter – partially because we’re just past Winter (and 2/3 of Spring, for that matter), but also because that’s when I actually worry about availability. Whereas the stuff that’s available in Summer (and, to a lesser extent, Autumn) is… kind of foggy for me. I find this Availability Guide from Foodland Ontario is helpful in terms of sorting out what to bother looking for when I’m in my (not-so-locally-focused) grocery store.
Anyway. Back to recipe-planning. 🙂
TTFN,
Meliad the Birch Maiden.
Urban Meliad 