Airing of Grievences: Just Because Its Local Doesn't Mean Its Good

We’re not waiting until Festivus -We've got a lot of problems with people, and now, you're going to hear about it.

So Gretchen and I are going to start regularly posting things that annoy us or don’t make any sense.  Let’s face it, you’re going to see a lot more from me in this category. 

I try to buy everything at the greenmarket and through my CSA.  We’re talking about products that need to be consumed fresh so the quality is going to be better if they haven’t been transported from California or Florida in a truck; and in a lot of cases the greenmarket vendors are no more expensive than the supermarket and you get to spend your shopping time outside.  

These are great reasons to get your product from the greenmarket. It doesn’t necessarily mean you can just show up at your local farmers market, co-op, or store and buy something labeled ‘local’, ‘organic’, or ‘artisanal’ and expect it to be good.  In a lot of cases you're going to pay way too much for food that isn't as good as it should be.

With this in mind I’m going on the record about food that I think doesn’t live up to its billing. 

Weekend Evaluation: In Theory and Practice

I'm not sure if I cook a lot on the weekend; it seems like it, but it's all about having a basic plan of when you're going to do things, and then sticking to it.

I just like to spend my time away from work doing what I enjoy, being productive, and swearing at inanimate objects.  Not that I'm above doing that at work too; I'm pretty sure I've told a computer, phone and copier all to f-off on company time.  Is that stealing time?

Here's a couple observations from this weekend's cooking. 

Cook's Complaints: Duck Confit w/ rhubarb gastrique over mint/coriander israeli couscous, peas, and lentils

What I hate about blogs is that the writer's tend to make their lives sound perfect, or how they were always thrilled with how great they are a something.  I am not a great cook, I'm not even good - I'd like to think working at something daily and striving for a higher level will make you better, but I make the same mistakes over and over.  In the interest of improvement, I think that writing them down will keep me from repeating them.  So this is where I'll complain about the food, and follow that by a brief description by how I prepared it.

The biggest problem here was timing....