You've got to break a few eggs....

I knew today would come; I was biding time against the inevitable. Still, I was crushed and shocked when I drove to Pete's Produce on my weekly run and found it boarded up tight for winter. No bright chrysanthemums lining the porch, no piles of sunny pumpkins along the entrances. It was like going to visit a friend and finding she's moved, the house dark and furnitureless and eerie.

I had seen the writing on the wall: a dwindling number of late summer vegetables like zucchini, spinach and green beans, the end of October raspberries, a domination of winter squash in the bins. But now, nothing.

What will I do now? There is a great produce market about 20 minutes away, but I don't know how much of what they sell is local and/or organic. Plus, it is not on my regular path. Is it worth the gas to make a special trip there?

The nearby grocery stores have organic sections, of course, but few organic items come from local farms. If the foods have traveled a long distance from farm to store, the fossil fuels used in transit diminish my efforts at carbon-footprint reduction. And a lot of the organic items are very expensive.

I'm certainly not denigrating the organic offerings in conventional markets. We are lucky to have more and more organic foods available to us, reducing the pesticides and chemicals in our diets. I'm a believer, I promise. However, as a practical matter, few shoppers I know can afford all organic items all the time. The dilemma: where is the line of cost-effectiveness?

In the weeks to come, I will attempt an informal analysis of organic foods available to me. What is worth it for the money? What works in my budget? Stay tuned.

There is one happy note to offset my mourning over Pete's hibernation. A sign at the road advertises "Self serve eggs, 9-4 Monday through Friday." Local eggs, which I have been looking for! Outside the desolate market stands an old refrigerator. You put your four dollars in a box, honor system style, and take a carton of organic, local, fresh, perfect eggs!

In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollen describes an organic egg farmer selling his wares to fascinated chefs. He cracks an egg into one hand and tosses it from hand to hand, illustrating its firmness and integrity. They cook it, noting the beautiful intense orange yolk, which sits up rounder and taller than any grocery store egg. The rich flavor thrilled the finicky chefs. My farm fresh organic egg was equally impressive (although I skipped the hand-to-hand test). I will let that be my sunshine, my consolation prize left by Pete's, to remind me of the benefits and delights of local foods until spring.

These eggs cost twice as much as grocery store eggs. But they are special enough to make an omelet or baked eggs seem like a special dinner. So use your easiest, simplest recipe for scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, or quiche, and appreciate the flavor or some fine, local, organic eggs.

Apples for America

You can't help but feel extremely patriotic today, the day before election day. I have been volunteering making phone calls for the Barack Obama Campaign for Change here in West Chester and feeling extremely inspired by the scores of fellow volunteers and the excitement I hear in the voices of the strangers I call. College students voting for the first time, so thrilled to be part of this historic election. 70- and 80-year olds living in the nearby retirement village re-energized by their chance to help redirect the country they love so dearly.

My friend Margaret has been volunteering in Ohio even though she works full time. My Aunt Mary in Albany has carved time out of her busy schedule as a doctor. In my lifetime, I have never seen a candidate motivate and enliven so many people. I was a staunch Hillary supporter (and still am!), but Barack Obama has won me over. I've never felt so hopeful for America.


It seems fitting to mark the day with apples, America's iconic fruit, which served as the simple and fitting decoration at a recent fundraiser I attended. The varieties available at Pete's Produce last week tempted me into buying an array from Mutsus to Honey Crisps. Every year my sister and I love to bake Grandma Smyth's apple cake (recipe below).

Monday is a crazy afternoon here every week: we have a cello lesson, two orchestra rehearsals, and a Boy Scout Venture Crew meeting. I always need to make a dinner that can be prepared before 3:00 and eaten later. So tonight will be a quick spinach and tortellini soup from Sarah Lee Chase's Cold Weather Cooking.

Apple cake after school, a warm filling soup tonight, and a good night's sleep from feeling so hopeful for America's future, beginning tomorrow.

Grandma Smyth's Apple Cake

5 apples, peeled, cored, chopped 1/2"
2 c. sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. salt
1 c. melted shortening
2 eggs
1 c. raisins
1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the apples with 1/2 c. of the sugar and let stand 10 minutes. Sift dry ingredients together. Blend shortening, eggs, and rest of sugar into apples. Add dry ingredients. Add nuts and raisins. Turn into a greased 13x9x2 pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with more granulated sugar. Freezes beautifully.

The Struggle of the Green

It's Sunday, so I have more time than usual to plan a family dinner while I watch the Jets and the Giants play football. We ate a spread of antipasto and Italian bread for lunch while our Jets struggled against the Bills. Bad plays and passes may be frustrating, but I love the fall for the produce that's in season now and all the colors and warmth of the autumn market.

Ah, the lowly Brussels Sprout. It is the perfect vegetable to illustrate the tension between healthful, local produce and finicky family members' taste buds. Although this petite member of the cabbage family has long been a favorite of mine (and of my sister Sheila who shares most of my food-related feelings), it is a much maligned food. My husband used to call them "little green balls of death." But a few recipes I rely on have converted my kids and even him to brussels sprouts' good qualities.

I am fortunate to live near a wonderful farm market, Pete's Produce. Fall fills Pete's with the expected panoply of pumpkins and gourds, apples galore picked fresh each day, and a host of other wonderful local veggies. On my weekly trip there this week, I noticed the brussels sprouts looking plump and dark green, not wilted, yellowing, or dehydrated as they can be in some grocery stores.

Alice Waters, the national expert on sustainable food and fine cooking, and my personal idol, describes them as delicate, sweet and nutty. Their most simple preparation is found in Waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables: After removing the loose leaves, trimming the stems, and rinsing them off, you cut the sprouts in half length-wise, boil or steam them for 4 minutes, and toss them with butter, salt and pepper. For really perfect, fresh brussels sprouts like the ones I found at Pete's this week, this recipe is the purest and will satisfy any fan of the vegetable.

But to win over more reluctant palates, I recommend one of my favorite vegetable recipes, one that entirely disguises the little green sprouts people love to hate. Even though Brett Farve just threw ANOTHER interception for a touchdown, at least I know dinner will be a comfort.

Shredded Parmesan Brussels Sprouts
from Food and Wine magazine
8 servings
3 lbs. brussels sprouts, trimmed
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425. In a food processor fitted with a slicing blade, coarsely shred the brussels sprouts. On 2 large rimmed baking sheets, toss the sprouts with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and spread in an even layer. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, until the brussels sprouts are tender and browned in spots; rotate the pans and still the brussels sprouts halfway through roasting. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese, toss and bake 1 more minute, or until the cheese is melted. Transfer to a bowl and serve. These can be baked up to 2 hours ahead. Rewarm before serving.

Balance

I'm just trying to strike a healthy balance here. I love to cook, but there are only so many hours in a day and even fewer minutes at dinner prep time when you are the mother of a 16 year old and a 12 year old. I want to feed my family healthy foods, but if there were too much whole grain in the menu and no butter or sugar, meals would feel a lot less comforting and fun. I want to sustain the earth, to buy locally and support organic farming, but sometimes that means spending a lot more money and time. And while cooking is probably my biggest hobby, there are a lot of other things I like to spend time on and think about, like politics, education, the environment, parenting, exercise, gardening, travel, and of course, work!


Some days I feel quite successful at finding that middle ground. Other days, I feel defeated. In typical female multi-tasking fashion, for a good portion of my waking minutes, I am thinking about what's for dinner, what's the next recipe to try, what ingredients I need to shop for. But like the rest of you, most days I need to be more satisfied with a compromise, to focus on the whole point of cooking: sharing food with loved ones. Gathering for a meal is what really sustains us. That's a healthy balance.