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One thing about a regular, and more importantly, self-directed, non-client-based project, is that life sometimes gets in the way of getting it done. Life, in this case, was cross-country travel, getting walloped by a flu while on travel and attempting to steal moments to get this month’s produce log designed and posted. A laptop with a mouse pad next to it (I have trouble with a track pad for detailed work) does not fit on cramped airplane tray table.
Download September Fresh Eat log in high-resolution. Below are links to previous month’s logs.
Why Eating Healthily Can Be a Challenge
Life gets in the way of a lot of things while we’re living it. Eating is one of them. Or eating well, as in healthily, not fancily. In a recent New York Times article “Even Benefits Don’t Tempt Us to Vegetables,” the author reminds us what a serving is: half a cup of cut-up or cooked vegetables, one cup of fresh greens, half a cup of cooked dried beans, or, if you must, six ounces of vegetable juice.
June required several new drawings as more and more produce is becoming available. The color palette is opening up, which, in addition to beautiful meals, also means a larger variety of vitamins and minerals. An Eat the Rainbow post is soon to come that explores the range of antioxidants in the many colors of foods, and their benefits.
One way I added to that rainbow was to pick 10 pounds of strawberries—practically a required summer activity in Oregon. Read the rest of this entry »
In April, I posted my first month tracking fresh produce expenditures—comparing local versus non-local produce. See May below or download a high-res PDF of May. To paraphrase a saying, eat the colors of the rainbow and you’ll be fine. May is already looking more colorful.
Two things I’m struggling with:
• Defining local: If I were to use the 100-mile radius rule, then I would have to find out if the Washington apple I buy at grocery store is from a farm within 100 miles. My very loose definition of local is Oregon and Washington. Given that a big percentage of my local produce costs are from the farmers market, I’m fine with my definition.
• Including garden costs: This project isn’t about tracking garden costs. Here is an example of a couple who tracked all input costs, labor and output from their garden. This is far too ambitious for me. An excellent read is Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Her family existed for a year on what they grew or could buy within a 50-mile radius. I am only tracking what I harvest (visually) and the cost of seeds or starts, but not compost or fertilizer. However, I haven’t devised a strategy for tracking every sprig of thyme! I’m a big proponent of having an herb garden. Given the cost of fresh herbs and the flavor boost your cooking, herb gardening is where I would put my effort if I had very little space. See this culinary herb primer on Culinate.com.
Maybe you’re wondering what I do with all this. Here are a few links or suggestions:
• Radishes and Fennel went into a Radish, Fennel, Orange Salad. The watermelon radish, if you can find it, is a visual delight—white on the outside, hot pink on the inside. Radishes make my stomach burn but my mother loves them. It was Mother’s Day. What can you do? The sweetness of the fennel and orange balance the peppery radishes. Plus the salad looks kick ass.
• In an earlier post, I wrote about Rabes (Raabs), and offer up a quick way to cook broccoli rabe. You can also download a recipe for Orecchiette con Cime di Rapa, a signature dish of the Puglia region in Italy.
• May continues to give us rhubarb. If you missed April, here’s another chance to download a recipe for a Rosemary Rhubarb Galette. Top with goat cheese and serve with a salad for a lovely spring lunch.
• Chef in the Market, Jeremy Eckel of Bar Avignon in Portland, OR, made a wonderful farro (This has become my favorite grain. Stay tuned for another post.) salad with grilled asparagus and spring sweet onions. Add some olive oil, fresh lemon juice and zest, and chopped hazelnuts for a great Spring BBQ salad.
• New Seasons market has a nice kale and carrot salad that I’ve recreated at home. It uses an Asian-inspired dressing of cumin, canola oil, fresh ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesami oil. No need to cook the kale first; the vinegar breaks it down so make it a little ahead. I also use the Italian kale in minestrone soup. Sadly, it is still soup season in Portland!
If you have any questions and comments, let me know! Share some of your favorite seasonal recipe ideas. Cheers!
Having wondered where my food dollars go, specifically local fresh fruits and vegetables, I decided to log a year’s worth of purchases—from the farmers market, local produce at stores and non-local at stores. Starting with April, at the end of each month I’ll post a new log, and plan to include information on how I used what I bought.
Numbers on a page don’t appeal to me the way visuals do, so I decided to do a visual log. I have no goal other than to see if I put my money where my mouth is. As a big supporter of our local farmers markets and as a volunteer at Portland Farmers Market, I want a better idea of how my food dollars shake out.
For the sake of simplicity, I’m only logging fresh produce even though bread, eggs, grains, dried beans and nuts can be purchased at the farmers market. Maybe next year! I will log expenses on seed packets and plant starts because what comes out of the vegetable garden is a reflection of what I eat. I might track what I reap from the garden, but I anticipate that tracking every sprig of thyme will be a challenge. As my garden is organic, so will this process be.
April was the month for buying seeds, consuming lots of greens, enjoying the long-awaited asparagus, and the tang of rhubarb. Download a Rosemary Rhubarb Galette (rustic tart) recipe. One of my favorite things to do with asparagus is make risotto. There are endless combinations but here is an Asparagus Shiitake Risotto recipe.
You can download April as a high-res PDF. I expect future months to be a bit more colorful!
>> Go to May
I couldn’t help but notice how retro cool these shallot slices were as I was chopping them for soup the other day. A great pattern on sheets or fabric. Thanks to the allium family for giving us great patterns, like the leek below.
Designers have always used existing colors in photographs to create swatches for headlines, text and other graphic elements. This is easily done by using an eyedropper tool in any graphics program.
Feeling a bit cut off these days from soul-feeding exposure to nature, I revisited some of my favorite images to create some color palettes. River rocks, fruits and vegetables, wild mushrooms, plants…these have always been sources of inspiration for me. Nature always provides a wealth of ideas in the form of texture, repeating patterns, color schemes and shapes. I’m never quite sure how my exposure to natural forms will wend its way into my design work. I just have faith that it will.
Enjoy.
Artichokes from the Portland Farmers Market.
My friend Jo’s gumbo spices for Lovejoy Food.
Frozen leaves on a cold September morning at Breitenbush Hot Springs.
Many designers have a fetish for rocks. Perhaps this is one reason why.
Poppy heads after the petals fell off.
Tidepools hold endless fascination for me. The colors and shapes and textures are so varied. The banner for this blog is a montage of images from closeup areas inside tidepools.
