Sherwin had a great suggestion about providing you readers out there with a list of things to go by, to make your kitchen more traceable.

Great idea. (hear the clock ticking)

But getting to things during this time of the year is a concept dripping with good intentions. Big 10 carat intentions.

And I'm more into this blog than I thought I'd be.  I dig it.

I like that I have this hanging over my head to make sure that my home kitchen is brimming with traceable, trustworthy food.

I'm a little impressed with myself.

Like most working people with a big NY job and a child, time is worth a lot and money is low. I've found a number of things that make it all worthwhile.

So, I think I'll post a number of these entries and hopefully, we can make a list out of it.

I think the first thing I've realized is that you can't get out of going to the farmers market at least once a week.

Non-negotiable. Okay, I take it back. You can after a few weeks.  After you get your groove down pat. Or at least after you buy a TON of stuff, cook it many different ways and freeze it.

I'm very exited each time I open my freezer and see that I have so many more options than I thought I did.  And one of those options is not shopping for a while. This also goes for keeping great dry goods.  Still have bean, polenta and oatmeal from week one.

Here in NYC, there are farmer's markets going on all week. Now I know where my favorites are, who/what is at each one and I count on this information when planning my shopping for the week.

My heart broke when I went down to the New Amsterdam Market the weekend after Thanksgiving only to find a mess of parked cars and not much else.  Do you know how that set me back????

The nerve.

Mail-order is a beautiful thing.   As I've said repeatedly on this site, traceable doesn't mean local in this case. Local would be great.  But I'm a quinoa addict and unless I'm moving to Peru or Colorado, I'm waiting for my UPS guy.

I love coming home and finding what I've completely forgotten that I've ordered after a long day at work.

OOOhhh, THAT's what that charge was on my credit card.

Beats the Home Shopping Network addiction. Whoa, they should have a traceable food hour.

And yes, I should be the sales lady for it.  The mind reels....

Let yourself change the way you look at how you spend your food money. The initial layout will seem a little heavy.  And I realize that I was heavy handed in my shopping since I was blogging and wanted to get a leg-up on what I was finding and make sure that I could keep the info coming.

All the things I'm making sure I do to keep the good food around and not have to pick up easier but less healthy options, are paying off.   Consistently, I'm spending a little more once every two weeks and much less throughout the week.

Second guess anything packaged. Doesn't matter what it says on it. Organic or otherwise. You can always either make it yourself, make a similar item or do without.

Next time, a few recipes and back with the photo show.

Here's one I found that depicts my new love for growing food on your window sill:

The other day I received a tweet.

It was from @BTTRVentures, the great people that came up with the mushroom kit.

They saw my blog and said they would like to donate a kit to the elementary school of my choice. SO lovely.

I'm new to this wild, wonderful world of tweeting but I must say, if there is brotherhood like that, I'll be tweeting all day.

Well, at least my blog posts.

See you tomorrow. I'm off to holiday party number 1, for Les Dames D'Escoffier and a release dinner for the book Notes from the Kitchen at Aldea.  Traceable food is unlikely at each event, so I'll be keeping to the wine.

Forgive my spelling now, it'll save you time tomorrow.

This sort of urban landscaping is quite popular now in New York City.
Makes me think about what to serve for dinner this evening and perhaps that's the point...

Today we harvested the mushrooms. I could have done it sooner.  They were a little dry by the time I got to them.  The heater in a New York City apartment will do that.

I rehydrated them in a little water, chopped them up and sauteed them.

Destined for the giant quesadilla in the sky

The aim for the evening was quesadillaland.

By the way, my new love is Tonjes mozzerella. The Tonjes  have a farm near my family's house in North Branch, NY in Sullivan County.  This mozzerella is like biting into the most perfect milk ever.

Note the ravaged 1/2 piece of cheese:

Yes..It's THAT good

I made the quesadilla with the Tonjes mozzerella, Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse cheddar and the sauteed mushrooms.  The tortillas are from Hot Bread Kitchen.

Ta-da, the quesadilla.

Unassuming filled tortillas

So good.  You really can't compare the quality of the ingredients.

Proof of family fun with fungi:

I know this looks like a photo straight from some Mommy website, but I'm finding that toddlers come that way.

I've already started soaking the mushroom kit for the second harvest. In the pail, submerged in water, held down with a pyrex lid.

We are high-tech fancy in these parts.

Meanwhile, I'm pulling together the rest of dinner and lunch for the next day.

Potatoes and turnips.

They've been in the fridge a little longer than I like so I've got to get them moving.

Tossed with a little olive oil (Thanks to Cesare Casella, I know where it comes from. A gorgeous farm in Tuscany.  They seem to only have that kind of farm over there.) and salt and pepper.  Treated some local chicken the same way.

An hour or so later, you've got dinner.

and into the oven at 375 degrees.  I'll give it about 45 minutes.

Potatoes and turnips roasting in chicken fat.

How bad can that be?

Other than the running from farmer's market to farmer's market, I'm digging it and I'm thinking this is life long...