Verjus

good morning,

yesterday I woke early to no real local food in the house, so, hungrily, but sadly for my conscience, went to Breugger's bagels with maggie Delphine while it was still dark for a peanut butter sandwich. It did taste so good with my dog close at my side out in the chilly air.

At the wonderful Shaker Square market,my favorite farmer, Monica, convinced me to buy a box of her tomato seconds by telling me how she'd made tomato soup. She sauteed onions in butter, and added chopped tomatoes. After cooking them until soft, she put them through a food mill (or a sieve), returned them to the heat. cooked for a while, then added cream. "A taste of heaven," she said. So, in the evening, I made some tomato soup (though I used skim milk and chopped some parsley from the bottom of my back door steps). Nice and hot, it tasted lovely.

In the middle of the day, I had stopped by Ripe! at the Botannical Garden. A friend was in front of the Slow Food booth, so I stopped to talk. I met Carrie, who, as it so happened, is the woman who mentioned the use of unripe grapes as a lemon substitute. Seems it is a relatively well known thing....it's bottled and usually made in Europe. My friend Leslie buys it at the Miles market. She finds it right by the vinegar.

I wandered around in the good aroma of food cooking, talking with some folks. The woman in the Olive and the Grape booth had heard of verjus. She said that it would probably be difficult to become certified to make it, as she has to go through a process of being certified for each food she creates. She did say that local wineries are certified to make wine and wine products, so they would be the best bet to make a local verjus. She gave me the name of some of the more progressive wineries .

This all felt good to me. And I think I'll look into it, with happiness.

But first, next month, out to the Miles market.

happy grey day.