eating locally

I just finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and while this is an experiment I would not want to do myself (not even living here in Southern California where I just tore out my zucchini plants, and not because they had stopped producing), the idea of supporting local growers as much as possible - certainly more than we do - appeals. I used to be much better about going to the farmer's market and here there is really no excuse, I know of local farmers markets both days of the weekend and Thursday evenings. I'm sure that we'll never give up all of our conveniences, but know that as we become accustomed to making things ourselves, convenient alternatives often pale in comparison.

Take pizza dough, for instance. Over time I've developed a recipe that I start the evening before - whether with a quarter teaspoon of yeast or a cup of starter saved in the fridge - with a sponge that develops overnight and with the addition of salt and flour and kneading in the morning gets turned into dough that will rise much of the day before being punched down and stretched or rolled into pizzas. We usually add some whole wheat flour and cornmeal, sometimes rosemary or another herb and there's just no comparison to refrigerated dough or worse one of those Boboli crust things.

This week I'm going to get started learning to make a good squash soup. It'll have to be something I can make in small batches as my husband won't touch winter squash and of late the only way I've gotten the daughter to eat it is to sneak some mashed stuff into her macaroni and cheese, but I hear that's possible.