A few things before bed

[mousme]

I went shopping at Loblaws yesterday.

1- Food is becoming stupidly expensive. I categorically refuse to spend $6.00 on American broccoli. Broccoli is not worth $6.00. I am going to go to my local fruit & veggies store and see if theirs is cheaper (and hopefully locally-grown!).

I am looking at the food I eat lately, in terms of how far it's had to travel to get to me, and it makes the mind boggle. Does anyone out there know of a good book which can tell me what kind of fruits (apart from apples) are grown locally? What the hell did people do before oranges and lemons were consistently available in cold climates?

Anyway.

2- I brought my two eco-bags with me, and am pleased to report that all my shopping fit in them, apart from potatoes, cat litter and cat food, for which I didn't use bags at all. Normally that would have taken at least six or seven plastic bags (and if I'd put the big stuff in bags too, it'd be more like twenty bags!).

More on this later. I am working out a plan in my head to get my grocery shopping done entirely without the use of a gasoline-dependent machine. However, I'm not there yet.

3- People are, fundamentally, pretty okay. I was trying to get the cat litter off a high shelf, and since it was almost all gone, the containers were wedged way at the back of the shelf. I am not short (5'7" which is the national average for women my age), but my fingers didn't *quite* reach that far. So I asked a woman taller than I if she could bring down a container for me, and she complied, although she looked a bit bemused. It was nice. :)

4- I bought a pot roast. They were on sale for something like $1.99 a pound. Tomorrow I shall stick it in my slow-cooker, or something like that, and have a lovely meal. Several lovely meals, more like.

Now I am off to bed. I've been getting to sleep far too late, these days.

Comments

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Dude, you should meet my friends: lots of them are getting more and more hardcore into eating locally. (Love the term "locavore" btw: is it one of your invention?) I am trying to find local stuff as much as I can, but since I'm just starting out in this, I'm finding it a little difficult to locate the places that sell local food.

I've been reading your posts (I just realized yesterday that LJ never accepted my request to add you to my flist for whatever reason), and I am very interested by that hot-pot thing you have in one of your entries (the one in which you made that delicious-looking bread). What is that, and where can I get one? :)

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'm so glad you like my pot! I am absurdly fond of it. It's a Le Creuset goose pot that is older than I am - it was my mother's. Le Creuset still makes them, but they are not as shapely as they used to be, plus they now have plastic knobs. I bet you can get one from Caplan-Duval.

I wish I could claim the word "locavore", which is a truly great word, but I believe it was actually coined by the California foodies at locavore.com. I don't think I could be manage to eat as locally as I do if I bought my produce at grocery stores; I rely on organic co-operatives and CSAs.

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

er, make that, www.locavores.com.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Oh, Le Creuset! Say no more. :)

Too bad about the plastic knob. Why would one put that in an oven, anyway? Maybe (one day, when I have money), I'll find an older one on eBay. I don't know what Caplan-Duval is, but I shall keep an eye open.

So, if I understand rightly, it's kind of like a pot that keeps the heat long enough that one can cook an entire goose in it?

Also, what's a CSA?

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

CSA stands for "community supported agriculture". Most Canadian cities have at least one, but they often only operate in the summer when the local harvest is big enough.

Caplan-Duval is a Quebec mail-order firm for china, glass, and cookware.

A goose pot is really just a dutch oven that is large and rectangular enough to hide a goose in. :)

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I shall keep an eye out for a good dutch oven, then. Since I have no credit card (partially by choice), ordering stuff off the internet is mostly a no-go for me.

I was disappointed to learn that my mother's pot is not a goose pot, but just an ordinary stew pot. Why yes, I did call her this morning to ask if her "big orange pot" was a dutch oven, why do you ask? ;)

I am *very* intrigued by this no-knead bread you described. I am going to investigate making it as soon as I can, but I suspect it will be tricky without a dutch oven...

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

It's an old-fashioned mail-order company; they take cheques. But a goose pot is a big hairy investment. Sorry I caused you some Le Creuset lust!

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I saw. *sigh* So expensive. Maybe after I get a bed, I'll think of a goose pot. ;)

I also hear IKEA has some less-expensive ones for those of us with small pocketbooks. I don't know if I like the idea of a cheap IKEA goose pot, though.

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

I just remembered something that I thought I'd add. When I was in college I got a cast-iron pot with a lid that was basically a Le Creuset pot without the enamel - except that it cost $10 and I got it from a camping store for cooking in a campfire. I don't know if Montreal-area camping stores would also have such a thing (Manitoba is more of a huntin' and fishin' kinda place than Montreal, or so I assume), but if they do, I bet anything it would work perfectly well for this recipe. It might be worth a try.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're in Manitoba? Neat. :)

I shall check out the camping stores when I get the chance. We're not as huntin' and fishin' as out where you are, I shouldn't think, but we have some decent camping places. At least, so fearsclave tells me. ;)

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I just looked up the goose pot (yay Google!), and I think my mother has something similar, though smaller. With the plastic knob, unfortunately.

My mother has always sworn by Le Creuset, and I have to say that their older stuff is practically indestructible. It's great. :)