So I'd like to talk about how without the precision of a moyle, it can get really easy to steer off the traceability tracks. Sure, week one was easy.  All gung ho. But as life happens and I'm in the restaurant business, as easy as that can make it, it also makes it tricky.

I went out to grab a bit to eat the other night. I sat at the bar at Telepan and had a salad and a glass of wine. Bill Telepan is one of the chefs that has been championing sustainability and farmers since the beginning of his career. So eating there was a no brainer. And then he sent out desserts.  I didn't eat them all. I shared actually and they were far from finished when we stopped eating them. I can't tell you the hangover I had the next day.  Headache I couldn't get rid of and just damn tired.

I should point out that before I started this project I was having a problem with headaches.  And this week I found out that if I turn down the sugar, the headaches go away.

Really.

Key thing I've learned this week:

It's hard to find traceable anything at

1. children's birthday parties

and

2. a rest stop on the Garden State parkway.

I'm sure that will get a big "duh" out of you but I happen to find myself at each of those locations this weekend and without my usual arsenal of traceable snacks. Not only was I a bit stuck, but at the rest stop I was starving and really there's nothing even falsely labeled "organic".  I was in the black hole of bad, bad food.

On the other hand, I'm getting alot of support from those close to me. Check out these photos of the lunch that Sherwin made for me when I went to his shore house to finish up some voiceovers.

 Gorgeous Caprese Salad and greens with cherry tomatoes from Sherwin and Chris' gardenThe whole shebang right out of the oven.Za'atar chicken. Gorgeous, no?

Roasted squash and brussels sprouts

And I've been catching up on cooking all the ingredients I've bought over the last week:  

Blue corn tortilla being trasformed into tortilla with Cabot clothbound cheddar

The tortillas for this quesadilla are from Hot Bread Kitchen, a great organization that teaches immigrant women to use the cooking skills they have and teach them how to make marketable products. It's filled with Cabot Clothbound cheddar.  Which is crazy good.

Here are my groceries I picked up today from www.newamsterdammarket.org 

Today's groceries. It's all in the pricing.

It ran me about $20.  Suprising thing is that the eggs cost $5.  Cheap compared to other farmer's market stands.  I'm making mushroom barley soup right now with the shiitakes and the purple barley I got from Timeless food last week.

I think my next post will be a barrage of recipes.

I'll do my best.

By the way, I'm going to Le Bernardin tomorrow for lunch. Iffy, but they do have a green initiative now so I'll let you know how that goes. Michael Laiskonis, the pastry chef and good buddy is leaving his post there after 8 years so I'll be having a bite of dessert.

Guess I'll have to take one for the team.

I'm hitting an official week of eating traceably today since I actually started a couple of days before the start date. It's been interesting.  It makes me see how easy it is to just throw something in your mouth without caring about it's origin. It's very much brought to light that really, in my heart of hearts, what the government departments say to be clean, healthy food doesn't work for me. Why should pesticides and herbicides be okay for humans if it kills other living beings?  We may live through it but what does it and will it do to us in the long run? Food is more political than we shed light on....I think I'll get to that in another post. I've had to be very selective about what I eat and therefore more careful about cooking and storing all of the ingredients I bring home.  In this country, we waste so much food. (Big schill: if you're a gardener and have even one extra tomato to share or tons or just a pot of chives on your window sill, find a food pantry in your neighborhood (REALLY in your neighborhood) go to www.ampleharvest.org  OR if you need fresh food, that's who it's there for.  Feed people, feed your family, feed yourself.) In my want/need to do this project, I've started mail ordering from people who grow/cook/mine great traceable ingredients. Remember, I'm not shooting for local (well, in veggies,yes) but also to bring light to those places and products that might be usefulif you have the means. My first package came last night from Timeless Natural Foods.  They sell dried beans, legumes and grains.I ordered yellow lentils, black chickpeas and purple barley. I've been hankering for mushroom barley soup these days. It's rainy and grey and I've heard a rumor of snow. The whole order cost me $36.07. This will probably make about 8-10 quarts of soup, stews or other foods to freeze with perhaps $8 worth of other ingredients.This could take up to 3 weeks to consume. Mind you, I can easily eat traceably at the restaurant or in other places in the city but really, I'm about eating at home and seeing how to accomodate habits like traceability into the everyday.  Going completely traceable is not very realistic for most of us. Today, I'll be cooking the kidney beans I bought at the Union Square farmer's market on Wednesday.They'll make their way into Rajmah Chawal. Indian rice and beans. It's my favorite way to have kidney beans.

Recipe: 

Rajmah Chawal

2 cups dry red kidney beans

½ onion- finely chopped

1 T ginger- grated

1 T garlic- chopped

2 large tomatoes- chopped

2 chilis

1T cumin seeds

4 tsp salt

1tsp paprika

1tsp garam masala

½  tsp turmeric

½  tsp ground coriander

4tsp cilantro- chopped

In stock pot, cover beans with 2” salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until beans are soft/tender, adding water as needed.

Cook cumin seeds in canola oil until they sizzle. Add onions and caramelize. Add chilis, garlic and ginger. Add tomatoes and let cook about 15 minutes, until they have softened. Puree in blender and return to pan.

Combine salt, paprika, garam masala, turmeric and coriander and stir into tomato.

Add beans and let cook through.

Finish with cilantro, adjust seasoning.