Tuesday: Local leftovers to the rescue

I awoke this morning after our weekend social extravaganza a rather tired person. The routine at my house is that I have breakfast with my daughter, we pack lunches together, and then I drop her off at school on my way to work – if we get going early enough, we go on foot, but today was definitely a car day.

Breakfast for her was piece of toast (from homemade bread), a sliced pear – my grandmother used to tell me a pear always tastes better when someone else slices it for you, and I agree, so that’s how I fixed it – and a glass of milk.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m not a breakfast person: just coffee is usually enough. Sometimes the coffee for me happens at home, sometimes I stop at somewhere for a non-fat latte. Luckily for me my local coffee stand, Crossroads, has recently changed hands, and the friendly new owners are committed to sustainable choices. Their milk is Umpqua, the only practical local option here for dairy, and their coffee is from Noble roasters, a small Talent-based operation that works with shade-grown, fair-trade beans. So I was able to enjoy as guilt-free a coffee experience as possible.

The idea of packing lunch was not too exciting after all the time I spent in the kitchen over the weekend. But this is what I do, and it works for me. I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I’ve gone out to lunch from work – partly it’s the nature of my job (I prefer to stick around and keep an eye on things), but I’m certain it’s what I would do anyway.

One benefit is I get a chance to touch bases with my co-worker Jan, who also is a brown-bagger. Additionally, I know I make healthier eating choices by packing the food in the morning when I’m not really hungry instead of choosing whatever sounds good off a fast-food menu when it’s lunchtime and I’m feeling starved. Not to mention the money saved!

I talk to people who tell me their husbands or children won’t eat leftovers, or that they prefer not to face them themselves. I find this somewhat mystifying: if it was good last night, it’s even better later when I haven’t just stood over a hot stove smelling it for the last two hours. Leftovers are like going to a restaurant where someone else has done the cooking. And I don’t have to wash the pots. Today I took the leftover ratatouille – that’s a dish that definitely improves after a day or two – some crispy crackers I made from yesterday’s bread and a few slices of some really yummy Rogue Creamery rosemary cheddar. I also packed a local peach for a mid-morning snack and a handful of homegrown raisins in case I got hungry in the afternoon.

Then my daughter and I packed her lunch. She is 11 and usually has pretty good ideas about food, but I’m not holding her to the eat-local standard this week. She did get a local carrot and peach today, but the slices of Trader Joe sopressata that she loves and the chocolate-chip cookie had further-flung origins. At least the cookie was homemade by her hands yesterday. If you want cookies around my house, the rule is you have to learn to make them from scratch. She learned early!

After work, I was even more exhausted and therefore relieved that there were still things to eat in the fridge. Andreas stopped at the Co-op on the way home to replenish our supply of salad greens, and he also picked up two more Emerald Hills sirloins to cook on the grill pan. I baked today’s bread loaf and made a little pot of mashed potatoes. Andreas blanched a bunch of mustard greens and also the tops I’d saved from some beets I roasted on Saturday. I reheated the little dish of ratatouille, sliced the last heirloom tomato and pulled the jars of homemade vinaigrette and chimichurri out of the fridge; at 7:30 we had a very pleasant, mostly leftover and entirely local dinner for four.

The cupboard is looking a little bare now. I’m sure I can still find a few things to bag up for lunch, but I’ll have to come up with a fresh dinner menu for tomorrow. I’m tired of beef and lamb and also just plain tired – I’ll have to wait for tomorrow for some new inspiration.