On eating

Last night I ate alone.  My son was asleep, my hubby was out, the radio was off, the computer was closed, the dog was quiet and I intentionally didn’t pick up the Sauce Magazine on the table even though I really wanted to. Tonight, I thought, I will really taste my food.

The meal was simple.  A grilled cheese sandwich with thick slices of fresh tomato from the garden, Mangia pesto, Companion Bread and Morningland Dairy sharp cheddar. The sandwich was perfectly browned and the cheese melted just right. 

I cut the sandwich in half and stared at the layers for awhile.  I was happy that I could still see the separateness of each ingredient.  The white of the cheese, the slightly cooked, but still firm tomato, and the pesto which was dripping its aromatic green oil over the rest of the sandwich.  I was ready.

The sandwich met all my expectations. I appreciated how warming it  melded the flavors together into summer goodness. I savored each bite. And at the end of the meal I felt truly satisfied. 

I wish I could say that I took time everyday to really savor  my entire meal.  This little exercise reminded me that I need to put away the newspapers more  often. I need to be more quiet while I eat–perhaps even in the company of others. That I need to finish one bite before I take the next. That I can take time to really enjoy what I’m putting into my mouth.

Yep, the “slow food” movement would be proud.

Yours in taking a minute,

Maddie

 

What is BeerBucha?

This is the true story of a happy accident, the result of which is now available EXCLUSIVELY at Local Harvest Cafe and Catering.

At 12:30am on 1/1/9 I watched my boyfriend’s brother-in-law pour our leftover contribution of Poema Cava (we use this at the Cafe in our mimosas) down the sink. RATS! But, as it was a family affair I thought it would be inappropriate to shout across the room for him to stop wasting our brut that we were planning to have with our black eyed peas and brunch. I spent the rest of the party trying to figure out just what we had in the fridge with which to celebrate in the privacy of our home in the morning. Luckily, family New Year’s Eve parties end early…

The next day while the peas were cooking I took a grim inventory of the fridge. We had exactly two Miller High Lifes and one mango GT’s Kombucha, many flavors of which are available at both the Cafe and Grocery.

I recalled attending a brunch with friends several weeks prior during which we tried and enjoyed “beermosas”–the poor man’s mimosa, a combination of orange juice and lager. Those were surprisingly tasty.

As I peered in the fridge the mango kombucha orangely provided an instant color association with the beermosas, so i thought, “why not give it a try? Here we have the ‘champagne of beers’ and the naturally effervescent fermented goodness of kombucha…” “HEY, Honey,” I said. “How ’bout a miller-mango-mosa to ring in the New Year?” Needless to say, he was game.

The mango variety of GT’s Kombucha is particularly active. I believe this is because it is quite full of tropical fruit enzymes which mingle with the kombucha enzymes in an excitable way. All that enzyme goodness is just itching to get out of the bottle and into your digestive tract. It explodes. We’ve all seen it happen. And cleaned it off ourselves. And it can put a first-timer off, so Local Harvest only stocks it sporadically. It is a good idea to open it over a glass.

So I exploded some into a couple of glasses, added as much beer to each glass, and voila! beerbucha was invented. It was very fizzy and foamy. And it was quite tasty, too.

Since that first beerbucha it has become my drink of choice, and has endlessly piqued my friends’ curiosity. I have been experimenting with flavors and types of beers and ratios. I could go into great detail about all this, but it would be more fun for you to experiment on your own. If you have an adventurous spirit, if your friends only drink Stag beer and you just don’t like it, if you are a light-weight, if you crave some refreshment with your beer, if you’re a Belgian beer fan (which I’m not); whatever the reason, I encourage you to give it a try.

It did take a couple of months for folks to catch on, but the staff tried them at their last meeting and they are now being served at our Cafe, so you can try it in a safe environment…
Enjoy!
–Anne