juice from unripe grapes!

Yesterday, on the radio, I heard a woman involved here with local food talking about a restaurant she worked in in, I think it was, Seattle. The chef, while turning out delicious french food, only used local food. Instead of lemons, he used the juice from unripe grapes. Wow. How this has stuck in my head.

Saturday at the Shaker Square market I ran into Hank Haberman. Hank cooked during Kathleen and my permaculture course. He's a lovely person, and a very wise cook. I was telling him about this challenge, remembering that he makes breads from local grains. He said he made a sourdough starter from plums (somehow) which he was using instead of yeast. Because of the starter, he has to make 4 loaves a wek. I'm hoping to catch up with him, and enjoy 1 of the loaves.

I was telling him what a surprise it is to miss peanut butter so much. He has his own grinder. He's thinking about where the closest place to get peanuts is. At the wonderful little store I go to in Chesterland, there are peanuts from Virginia. Pretty close, he thought. So, yesterday I bought some, and will happily trade the peanuts for the bread.

You know, it might be fun to have him come talk to a group at some point.

I did bake some pears in a crisp made with honey....a much gentler taste.

This morning, as I was walking Maggie delphine, an old recipe for oatcakes came to me. Just looked it up. Oats bended into oat 'flour', water and salt..(and baking soda, but the recipe said you can leave it out..changes the texture, but..) The cakes are wonderful, I remember, with butter and jam. I'm going to try them later today, and will send along the recipe if they're edible.

happy day