MIA.

Whatever happened to that "Seasonally Seattle?" you may be wondering. Did she disappear? Did she lose her computer? Did she...give up?

I'm happy to say that I'm still alive and still in Seattle. And I haven't given up...exactly. But it's been an interesting journey in the last month since our 100% local Turkey Day.

First, I got a job. I'm now working at the American Lung Association, managing two large events...a 5K that happens in May, and a stair climb event that happens in October. I'm so excited to be back in the work force again, but with my weeks filling up with appointments and logistical planning, my blog has suffered...as has Seasonally Seattle, slightly.

We are still locally focused eaters. All of our dairy, meat, eggs and flour are still local. Our tomatoes are still local. I'm still burning through our back stock of dehydrated fruits. And our greens and most of our veggies and fruits are still local. But here's where our journey has taken a turn, and here's why.

Dan and I reached a point where we began questioning the healthiness of this little experiment.  While we were eating nearly 100% local, most of our dinners consisted of meat and potatoes. I had originally romanticized the concept of doing this, thinking about how connected I was to my forefathers. The thing is, my forefathers actually worked the land 10 hours a day, affording them a 1500 calorie dinner. Me, not so much. Dan and I both gained even more weight, despite going to the gym or running regularly. 

We found that we were missing things like salmon (from Alaska) and tofu (with soybeans from the midwest). Our dinners were so heavy that all we wanted was a little Quinoa (from Bolivia) with veggies. And the fact that I now have a job makes my spare time so much more valuable... and baking bread every weekend, soaking beans and defrosting meat was nearly a full time job. Being able to buy a loaf of whole wheat bread for $2.99 is a God send when you have a jam packed schedule. And we missed cereal, the simplest breakfast ever.

And so here are. About 60% local. Still decent, but not really what I set out to do. Though I will say, the whole point of this experiment was just that--to see if it was a feasible lifestyle change for an urban couple. Here is what I've come up with.

It is feasible, in the spring, summer and fall. While I think it's possible to do 100% local, there are things I must have in my life to feel healthy. I will continue to eat locally, and shop locally, and there are other things I've picked up in the last 6 months that I will continue to do as well.

I'll still can my own tomatoes. I'll still dehydrate fruit for the winter months. And I'll still make pasta from scratch on occasion.

And most importantly, I'll still keep this blog. While I'll be scaling it back from a few times a week to probably once a week, I'll still give recipes and how-to's that I think are important to eating as locally as possible (and logical).

In the mean time, I hope all you Seattleites will come to my 5K on May 1st at Magnuson Park. You can become a fan on Facebook to learn more about it. And I hope you will all stop by once in awhile to read Seasonally Seattle.

Day 53: Thanksgiving Planning - or, OH CRAP, what day is it?

This last week we found ourselves in Manhattan, after booking a last-minute trip for the launch of the product Dan has been working on (The Boxee Box). It was a whirlwind of shopping, events and museums. While it was on my mind to try to eat locally, I knew the amount of planning and effort (and use of a good kitchen) that goes into eating within a 250 mile radius. And so the decision was quickly made: do what we can.

I'll be the first to admit, it wasn't very locally focused. We ate pizza at Lombardi's (the first pizzaria in the United States). We scarfed soup dumplings. We had Pastrami at Carnegie Deli.  While it was all very yummy, I left New York feeling bloated and unhealthy.

Even though we eat heartier foods at home, there is such an overwhelming "clean" feeling to everything we eat. Yes, I use an obscene amount of butter in everything that I bake and cook, but the little processing involved leaves the meal feeling light. And those stews are so filling, I generally eat less. I truly believe that the lack of preservatives in my food leads to feeling fuller longer, eating less in general, and lack in cravings for sweets and salty snacks.

So we were heading back to Seattle full of excitement to get back to eating locally, when I bolted awake from a middle-seat doze, panicked.

What day is it? Is Thanksgiving THIS week? Oh NO!

Thanksgiving normally takes a large amount of planning, but this year, it's even worse. There is no room for mistakes. If we plan on something and forget to pick it up, we run the risk of not having it at all. Not enough potatoes? Well, hopefully PCC still has some that are local.

And if they don't? No mashed potatoes.

I realize that there are 2 weeks before T-Day, but I know that planning begins NOW. With 12 people to feed and entertain, this is no small dinner party for me. And when I began sketching out our menu, I quickly realized there would be unique challenges.

For instance, the Turkey alone, which had to be ordered months ago. We just got an email from the farm we ordered it from, and after reading the fine print, we realized that we missed the pick-up day today. Ouch. One more delivery day next weekend, and if we miss that, we might be in bigger trouble than expected.

Or take the Stuffing.

Oh man, that's a lot of bread crumbs! Where do we get those crumbs from again? That's right. My bread. Which means baking at least two loaves of bread the week before Thanksgiving just for the bread crumb use.

Rolls for dinner?  More baking.

Let's not forget about the 2 Apple Pies - more baking, slicing and peeling... I guess do this the day before? And 2 Pumpkin Pies... pre-baking sugar pumpkins for the mixture...and baking the day before... the Rutabaga Puree...assuming the Farmer's Market will have some...sure hope so! Greens - depends on what's in season.

And what about the pre-dinner festivities? Football and snacks? I had originally planned on making a melted cheese dip in a pumpkin, but have since scaled even this back to "cheese and bread". Hope our guests won't be too disappointed.

At least there will be a lot of pie....

Recipe: Pizza

Before we started eating locally, our grocery shopping was very routine, as was our weekly meal plans. Stir-fry on Monday. Quinoa and Chicken on Tuesday. Curry on Wednesday. Pizza on Thursday. The days would sometimes vary, and sometimes I would attempt a new recipe, but usually, this was our norm.

This project has taught me to think on my feet, be flexible, and experiment wildly in the kitchen. While our weekly routine has changed considerably, there is one thing we tend to miss: Pizza.

We used to buy the dough from Trader Joe's, spread it out on our pizza stone, and fill it up with cheese and veggies. I thought I might be able to emulate this process from our local flour with local toppings....and boy was I right! We ended up with a delicious pie, fantastic dough and a finished product that left us feeling full but not stuffed.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com.

Step 1 > After adding yeast mixture to flour, salt, sugar and oil, mix until a stiff dough has been formed. I used our mixer, because it's fast and easy.

Step 2 > Sprinkle work surface with flour.

Step 3 >  Pat dough out, flip it so both sides are covered in flour.

Step 4 > Start rolling out the dough, rotating every so often for an even pie.

Step 5 > Once it's the size and thickness you want, slide it onto your stone or pan.

Step 6 > Once you realize you forgot to pre-heat your stone, slide it onto the pan and shape it into a square.

Here's where many pizza purists will disagree, but this is how we like it.

Spread with olive oil, including on the crust. I am liberal with the oil.

Step 7 > Sprinkle ingredients. Here is what we used (all local):

* 3 Cloves of garlic
* Basil
* Spinach
* Anaheim Pepper
* Yellow Bell Pepper
* Extra sharp cheese from Golden Glen Creamery

I like to layer it, finishing with spinach and cheese.

The best part... topping it with little clumps of "Fromage Blanc" - Truffle flavored, ricotta-textured cheese from Mt. Townsend Creamery 


Bake in a pre-heated oven (350 degrees) for 20-25 minutes.

Day 43: Rediscovering Pike Place Market

Today my cousin and I attempted to attend the Picasso exhibit in Seattle. There were a few motivating factors for going on a Thursday--more specifically, the First Thursday of the month--as admission dropped by half and we assumed a mid-week day would be less crowded than other days. 

When we arrived, the line was insane...snaking in and out of those guidance ropes about three lanes deep. Think airport security with a dash of DMV. As we both live in Seattle, we knew we could come back, so we decided to skip the exhibit all together and instead head to Pike Place Market. 

It was rumored by a tipster (thanks, Paula!) that there were local Hazelnuts to be had, and once I checked out the link, I discovered they have a year-round booth at Pike Place.

Now, I've logged my hours at Pike Place.  My grandmother, who is 91, used to shop there and my mom has memories of shopping there throughout her life. When I lived in Pioneer Square and SoDo Areas, I did a good bulk of my grocery shopping there. When my husband and I lived in Capitol Hill, we'd come down regularly for fresh produce, and there is nothing more convenient than buying freshly made pasta noodles from the Italian Market "DeLaurenti's".

Despite my knowledge of the in's and out's of this market, I still manage to tune out many vendors. Jams, nuts, honey...they all look nice, but knowing that I can find them cheaper somewhere else usually deterred me from really stopping at one of these booths.

Today I had a fresh perspective, though, suddenly aware that the all of those "expensive" products are actually locally grown and locally made. Our first stop yielded something that has been eluding Dan and I since the start: Oats.

I can probably count on one hand the number of times Dan and I have had oat bars, but since the start of this project, he has talked of nothing else. "I want to make Oat Bars!" "How will we live without Oat Bars!" "If only I can find oats to make Oat Bars!" When I find him researching local companies, usually in his Google search has something to do with "Oats - Seattle - Locally Grown" or something to that effect.

And so when I stumbled on a local booth that I've passed probably 100 times before and saw right there, right on the table, was a bag of rolled oats, I nearly fainted. Turns out, they are technically "Rolled Spelt Flakes", but I knew they would be a good substitute for Rolled Oats. Dan, you are welcome. 

Next stop, we thought, would be the nut place, until we passed a large table full of pickles. Local Pickles. Spicy Local Pickles. At this point, it didn't even matter the price, I bought them without a second thought.

 

Once we finally found Holmquist Hazelnuts, I'll admit, I went a little crazy. Local nuts are hard to find, and getting down to Pike Place is sometimes a challenge.  I bought a bag of roasted Hazelnuts, a bag of Lemon Honey, and of course, Hazelnut Butter. 

Hooray for Pike Place Market, an ancient local source I had completely forgotten about.

Day 37: Sheep In Wolves Clothing

Since discovering the wonders of PCC as a viable option for local products, we've been relying more and more on their convenience and hours. You will still find us on a weekly basis at the farmer's markets, but the convenience of popping into PCC is hard to ignore.

Granted, we are pretty dedicated locavores. We keep to our exception list (I am proud to announce that I have not had a single piece of Halloween candy, even though we have plenty awaiting trick-or-treaters), and have completely deleted normal things like Quinoa, Rice, and Chocolate from our diet.

Still, it's starting to feel...too easy. 


But isn't that the goal? To show the world that the average urban couple can go local, and that it doesn't suck? Or that it won't bleed your bank account dry? I know I'm only a month in, but I'm surprised to say... it's not as hard as I expected.

Yes, the leg work involved to get us to this point was definitely time consuming. We spent the entire summer canning and planning and getting us ready for this exact moment. Since securing our meat, bean and tomato needs, everything else has actually been pretty easy.

I still bake any bread we consume, and I make all of our meals from scratch. But I've also discovered some shortcuts, so cooking isn't as time consuming as it was before. Lunch is always a challenge, as I'm still hard-pressed to find local shaved meat for sandwiches, but this is more of a hiccup than a road block, and with a little creativity, we're still eating lunch on a daily basis.

Once you add in the big PCC stores, it feels even easier. Now that we've found "local" products from big name companies, it not only feels easy, it feels......... WRONG.

For instance, yogurt and cheese. I love my local dairy farmers, Golden Glen being my favorite for milk and butter. However, I have yet to find a dairy that produces a yogurt that doesn't taste like... the barn.

In that vain, I have contacted nearly a half dozen big name yogurt companies that claim the Pacific Northwest as their stomping ground to find out where their dairy actually comes from. This search has led to some surprising discoveries.

For instance, "Greek Gods" yogurt gets most of their milk from Washington State, but they do get some of it from Wisconsin, and there is no way to tell what batch comes from what. "Cascade Fresh", the yogurt company that brags about being a local "Northwest" company, gets their dairy from a plant in Southern California.

When a savvy tipster (thanks Jen!) left me a comment that Yami was locally based, I was skeptical at first. And so I did what I always do--I called Yami directly. (It amazes me that all of these dairies answer on the first ring and are more than happy to tell you where their stuff comes from). My tipster was RIGHT...it turns out their dairy comes from a co-op, all of which comes from Washington cows. Their dairy is Organic to boot, which is a nice bonus. The best part? It doesn't taste like the farm. 

This led me to start researching other big names like Tillamook (230 miles from Seattle!) . Turns out, all of their dairy comes from cows in the Tillamook Valley. In addition to being growth hormone free and getting their milk from small, family owned farms, they have stringent regulations on antibiotics. If a batch of milk shows up and has any trace of antibiotics in it, they will dispose of it, rather than put it into their product. Pretty awesome.

While I'm selfishly happy to have a few more yogurt options, I can't help but be torn. On the one hand, I really want to support big companies doing good things, especially when they are supporting small farmers. On the other hand, I feel like I'm cheating, even though these products fall within our guidelines.

And relying on PCC is both good and bad. We're still shopping at the farmer's market on a weekly basis (supporting the little guy), and getting only a few things at PCC (supporting the bigger guy). And I'm sure that my constant pestering of the PCC employees is having some impact ("where is THIS from? And this?"), because the more we demand local products, the more local products we'll see in our stores. 

Even PCC has a ways to go. There are rows and rows of tea on the shelf, and none are from Washington, even though there is a local Green Tea grower here. Thanks to another tipster (thanks, Paula!), turns out there is also local popcorn to be had. It'd be pretty awesome if this was an option at most stores.

PCC is still a great resource, and it's nice to know there are options for those of us who don't have the time or need something in a pinch. It's also pretty nice to know that going local can actually be quite accessible, even for those who haven't made this year long commitment. 

Day 24 : Dining Out

Our commitment to eating locally and seasonally has been steadfast. Each week, we prepare, freeze, bake or dehydrate for the days ahead, and frankly, I've been cooking up a storm.

When we laid out the ground rules for this project, we first turned to other locavores, to see how they handled "exceptions". There were the obvious exceptions, such as olive oil, salt and spices, and the not so obvious, like "junk food".

Our year long experiment meant that we could live without a lot for just one year. So while olive oil, salt and spices made the cut, things like chocolate simply did not. But one exception by Leda Meredith, an author on the subject, really grabbed our attention, and we clung to it like barnacles: dining out.

We LOVE to dine out. We have taken vacations that revolve around nothing more than food. We would finish one meal, only to look at each other and say "well, we've got a few hours to kill until our next meal, what should we do?"

It seemed like a natural exception, then, to allow ourselves the little luxury of eating out a few times a month. But when we decided that we wanted to cash in on our exception, something peculiar happened. Nothing sounded good. Delicious Italian? Yeah, but where does all that flour come from? Japanese? Hmmm, that fish might be questionable. As we become closer to our food sources, we find that the questionable sources sound less and less appetizing.



So on Thursday night, we braved the rain and found ourselves in Upper Queen Anne, at the darling and delicious restaurant Emmer & Rye, a locally focused restaurant that specializes in serving food that is regional and seasonal.



This place is LEGIT. While enjoying the cheese plate and a Vodka Soda (the Vodka was from Dry Fly, made from Washington Wheat), I drilled our waitress with questions.

How long have you been in business? (Since January) How local is local? (90-95%) Oh yeah? What about these crackers? (I thought I busted her, turns out, they are made by their pastry chef from Bluebird emmer flour. Wow.) I continued asking questions about every morsel of food brought to our table, to which our waitress graciously answered where it was from. The night continued with plate after plate of locally raised meats, locally grown vegetables, and of course, wine from local vines.  It was a fabulous evening, and a great way to eat without any of the guilt.

DIY : Freezing Tomatoes

After burning through a significant amount of our canned tomatoes, we started to worry again that we wouldn't get through the winter without running out. Not wanting to can another round without my mom's supervision, I decided to try freezing them. It was actually really easy, and if you are in Seattle, we found a 20lb box of #2 heirloom tomatoes for $25, which is a steal. I would highly recommend this to people short on time--what a great way to enjoy fresh, local and organic tomatoes throughout the winter without canning!

Step 1.

Buy your tomatoes! Now is a great time to find them at your local farmer's market on the cheap...be sure to ask if they have #2's!

Step 2.
Set up two pots. Boil one, put ice in the other.

Step 3.


Set up your work space for after the tomatoes come out of the water.

Step 4.


Once the water is boiling, drop the tomatoes in for 2 minutes. For larger tomatoes or heirlooms with quite a few rough patches on them, I'd leave them in for 4 minutes. You can tell they are ready to come out of the water when the skins crack or start to peel off.

 Step 5.


With a slotted spoon, transfer them into the pan with ice water. This makes the skins come off easier, and makes them easier to handle as well.

Step 6.


Put the iced tomatoes in a bowl, move them to your work space. For tough stems, I simply cut off the tops of the tomatoes and peel from there. Some stems will come right off. Cut off rough patches, and the rest of the skin should slip right off.

Step 7. 


After peeling, dice into large chunks, and transfer into freezer quality ziploc bags.


FREEZE! They will keep in your freezer for up to a year.

Days 1, 2 and 3

Planning ahead only works when life doesn't throw curve balls at you.

The first week of this project, we planned on taking it easy. We imagined quiet dinners at home with plenty of leftovers for quick lunches. We had also planned on the arrival of a very special baby September 12th, but this little boy had other plans.

Instead he came on September 23rd, meaning the first night of Seasonally Seattle we were at the hospital and watching his older sister. Plus, my dad came into town on short notice, meaning a house full of guests and lots of running around.

Going local isn't all that hard if you have time to prepare meals, but when you run out of time / entertain / run errands all day and return to a fridge full of raw ingredients, most of which are vegetables, frustration is sure to set in.

So was the case the first day of this well thought out adventure, when my dad and I returned after a morning of driving lots of miles and running a bunch of errands. I arrived home famished, with nothing to serve outside of some kale, eggs, flour and dehydrated beans.

In my desperation, I served my dad and I some large slabs of defrosted zucchini bread, then quickly moved onto my dinner plans, knowing that if this continued into dinner, our next year would begin looking really bleak.

I decided we needed something special to mark the start of this journey. And so I made my very first rack of lamb. I quickly learned that "Frenching" the lamb is an important step that you should ask your butcher to do for you. I didn't know that. And so I unwrapped the racks and found two large slabs of fat, of which I had NO idea what to do with. So after a quick search and watching a You Tube video in French , I earned my merits in Frenching.



Along with the lamb, I made yukon gold mashed potatoes and wilted rainbow chard, and the meal was paired wonderfully with some delicious wine my dad had brought from the Okanogan county.





Day one was a marginal success, but I had another plan to contend with as well...Dan's surprise birthday party on the 24th.

Friday came around, and I prepared chili from scratch, filled with fresh, local veggies, beans from our stash, tomatoes I had canned over the summer, and polenta from Bluebird Grains to thicken it up a bit. I also baked two loaves of bread, my first for this experiment, and set out cheese from local farmers.

I thought I had all my bases covered on the local front, until I remembered one key element to birthday celebrations: cake.

I ran all of the options through my head. I could make a crisp. I could make a pie. But could I make pie without sugar? What about cake? Suddenly, I felt very foolish. There is no replacement for sugar. Honey will do as a reasonable substitution in many cases, but there is no substitution for birthday cake.

And so another exception was added to the list. Sugar. Call me a chicken, call me a cheater, but I think it's pretty reasonable. I'll still use honey instead of sugar when possible, but I refuse to check out of birthdays and celebrations for a year. I'm only human. Besides, all of our core ingredients are local, and everything that you can get local, we will. We are still under our 10 exceptions we slotted for ourselves, and sugar seems pretty reasonable.

With everything that was going on with the babies arrival and my dad visiting, I decided to call on other resources. Cupcake Royale, an amazing cupcake shop, was happy to oblige, and I rested easy knowing that all of their eggs, milk, flour (!!!), and berries come from local farms.

The party went off without a hitch. I admit, I indulged on a lovely gift of whiskey from Japan, but otherwise, the night remained local and mighty delicious, if I do say so myself.

Expensivo

After picking up a zucchini the size of a whiffle ball bat from my mom's garden, I thought it would be great to trial run zucchini bread. I created it using all local ingredients, save the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt (none of which I've been able to find locally). In lieu of sugar, I used local honey, which is available locally.

It takes roughly 2 1/3 cups of honey to equal that of 3 1/2 cups of sugar. Or so google told me. I obediently poured out two containers of honey to equal 2 1/3 cup, and it was like watching our money drip away slowly. Local honey is EXPENSIVE. We did some math, and realized that for each batch of zucchini bread, our cost in honey alone is around $8, not to mention the gorgeous flour we bought from Nash's, and of course farmer's market eggs. But is the cost worth it?



Before, I would take it for granted, maybe even throw parts of it away after letting it sit on the counter for a week. Now, I'll freeze one loaf for later, and let me tell you, the taste is so much sweeter.

Our commitment to this experiment remains. We officially begin next week, on the 22nd with the Fall Equinox. It seemed natural to transition with the season and frankly, more challenging to begin in fall when things are less available. It's been fascinating throughout our "prep" period, but the reality of what lies ahead is unnerving.

We are trying to keep true to eating as closely to 100% local as possible, but find that our list of "exceptions" is growing out of necessity. Essentially, anything that *can* be purchased/grown locally will be, but a life without cumin or turmeric is not the life for me.

And so our exception list goes:

* Salt
* Spices (this is new)
* Oils
* Balsamic Vinegar
* Lemons

Which means we buy locally:

* Produce
* Flour
* Grains
* Eggs
* Milk
* Yogurt
* Meats
* Butter
* Wine
* Cheese
* Snacks
* Ice cream
* Honey

Now, our whole purpose has been to determine if it's less expensive or more expensive to eat 100% locally. Throughout the summer of our preparation and planning, it has seemed that it would be cheaper. While writing our grocery list for next week, I started to doubt that. Honey. Flour. War stock of veggies. War stock of fruits. 2 Dozen eggs (at $5 a dozen). It started getting very real, very quickly how expensive our little experiment might actually become.

We will keep track of our weekly grocery expenses, to allow 100% visibility into our little economic foodie adventure. We've already listed many of the things we've bought in preparation.

And at the end of the year we will all know, is it cheaper to live locally than buying at big box grocers?

Playing in the dirt

No rest for the weary! After three full days of moving, hauling, lifting, unpacking, breaking down boxes, climbing stairs and more lifting, the home we moved into is really starting to feel like home.

With the main level complete, cooking and relaxing are now feasible. Relaxing was the furthest thing from my mind when the sun came out today, when I took advantage of the fall air and the warm sunshine to plant my first two "winter crops", which really breaks down to a cauliflower plant, a lettuce plant, rosemary, thyme and sage. It seems very small scale compared to that of my mom, who has the most natural green thumb of anyone I've ever met, but still... it was just another way to "move in" and bank on eating some of the local-est lettuce I can find this winter.



Of course, nothing in our new home compares to our pantry, where jars upon jars of tomatoes are lined up like little soldiers, waiting for their call to service. Three giant bags of beans are lined up next to the tomatoes, and next to that my dried fruit. For some reason, it feels so gratifying to have everything stockpiled in my pantry. I feel like I've prepped for winter, and all I have to do is hold on.

What exactly is..."Local"

Yesterday we were in the thick of moving, and decided to stop off at Whole Foods for lunch. We were discussing our Thanksgiving plans when we realized this was shaping up to be the easiest local meal we'll make this year.

Local turkey, apple pie (from the apples I lovingly peeled and sliced a few weeks ago), pumpkin pie (not canned--the real deal from a local pumpkin patch), some root veggies and probably a crisp Kale salad. And let's not forget fresh baked bread from local flour we get from Nash's Organic Produce!

There is a tradition, however, that I feared wouldn't be the same. That tradition is simple: sitting on the couch while the turkey is cooking, watching football and eating...chips. That's right. Chips. The saltiest, greasiest chips that provide a great amount of crunch and crumb.

When I mentioned this to Dan, we started brainstorming...We could make our own! We could make them out of sweet potatoes! We could try baked versus fried! Yes!

But that also sounded like a whole lotta work, and so while at Whole Foods, I wandered through the chip aisle, just to see what is already out there.

Stickers lined the shelves - "LOCAL!" - pointing out local products. I picked up a bag. "Organic Corn Tortilla chips, made with loving care in Washington..."

Yes...

"...with Organic Corn from the American Southwest". Damn.

I turned over bag after bag labeled by Whole Foods as "LOCAL", and couldn't find a single product actually from Washington.

Now, I appreciate local businesses. I think supporting local businesses is important. But Washington has lots of corn. Why couldn't they get their corn from a grower in Washington State?

I guess when it comes down to it, to truly support the little guy, or support the local farmers, you need to do just that. There is only one way to truly know where your food is coming from.

Buy direct.

More Guides

Here are a few more guides for what's seasonal in the fall months in Seattle. I'll do this for every season, so check back for winter months, too!

The Plan.

We are trying to narrow down what kind of local eating we are going to do. We are starting to wonder--is this process possible for how we eat? I mean, we both expect things to change a little, but what about our stand-by recipes that we make on a weekly basis?

For instance, is it possible to get brown rice, bulgur wheat, or other grains from a local source? What about flour? And what about olive oil? Do we throw out our war stock of organic extra-virgin olive oils because it came from a truck and imported from Italy?

Our scope of what we *can* eat is narrowing, and everything now seems off-limits. The question is beginning to form--do we really WANT to do this?

In “The Locavore’s Handbook” by Leda Meredith, she suggests allowing 10 exceptions. As I read this, I let a HUGE sigh of relief. Aha! I’m not the only one who has troubles imagining living a life without olive oil and lemons.

Some of her exceptions did include olive oil and coffee (to which I wholeheartedly agree—Dan and I would dissolve fairly quickly without a cup of coffee in the morning), while her other exceptions had to do with how to handle friends and family.

For instance, she allows herself the luxury of eating out or at friend’s houses twice a month. This makes a lot of sense to me, and living in Seattle where there is fantastic food all around, I find it really hard to resist the occasional dinner out.

With that being said, I think our plan is finally taking shape.

We are going to go as local as possible.
This means:

> Produce
> Flour
> Grains
> Eggs
> Milk
> Yogurt
> Meats
> Tofu
> Butter
> Body products (goodbye make-up? Sniff, sniff)
> Wine
> Cheese
> Crackers/Snacks
> Ice Cream


We will also have a few exceptions, making us about 99% local:

> Lemons (this is one of my main cooking staples)
> Eating out will be allowed twice a month
> Olive Oil (but we will opt for Extra-Virgin and Organic)
> Balsamic Vinegar (until/IF I can find local)
> Salt (again, until we can find local)

Which really means NO:

> Diners
> Bakeries (a tear just slipped down my cheek)
> Bars (unless we go to a wine bar and drink local, Washington wine)
> Big-Box Grocery Stores (Sorry, Costco)
> Big-Chain Grocery Stores
> Candy Bars


We will try to stay within a 250 mile radius of Seattle, and provide a guide to how to eat seasonally and locally in Seattle year round (on a budget).

We'll provide recipes for what's in season, and give you the unfiltered truth as to whether or not it's a better way than just shopping at Safeway.

We'll also keep a running tally as to how much we spend each week on groceries. This way it's transparent how expensive a process like this is.