Blueberries in Winter

The wind whipped through our neighborhood last night so strongly we lost power for a few hours. Luckily the extra down comforters and fireplace kept us toasty as the first proper winter chill plunged the temperature to 16. When the thermostat kicked back on, I reached into the fridge for a piece of blueberry greek yogurt banana bread. Again, mad props to Daily Garnish.

There's something immensely satisfying about this recipe. Moist and full of the familiar banana bread taste, the fresh blueberries put this baked treat over the top. I certainly can't claim they are locally sourced in January, but they are organic and fair trade (baby steps). The recipe says frozen would work as well.

I'm rather particular about my banana bread you may recall, so to say this one is worth making is high praise.

Ode to Summer Fruit-Wish You Were Local

Peaches, cherries, watermelon. How I have missed you. True summer fruits, you never taste the same in other seasons or plucked from the freezer. Nothing seduces me into summer-style cooking like cherries. Suddenly, my interest in the oven wanes. I want to subsist on caprese and fruit for pretty much every meal. Throw in grilling just about anything and everything and I'm good to go.

Since diving head long into summer eating in the last week or so, I've been noting where the fruit is coming from... news flash, eating local is hard.

We didn't get into a CSA for the summer (too much travel to know that the food would always be used), so local farmers markets and stores are my go-to sources. In DC, we have wealth of markets to choose from, so its more about effort and organization to take advantage of them.

Exploration of the markets (new and familiar) is still to come, but for now I'm debating Whole Foods and how "local" they really are. As I searched for peaches yesterday, I noted they had two sources, South Carolina and Mexico, $1.99/lb. and 2.99/lb. respectively. I opted for a blend of both based on my need for really ripe fruit, but wondered if the price difference was a reflection of the longer distance the peaches traveled or something else. Of course, peaches don't grow right around DC, so there's no true "local" source for me. So should I not buy them at all?

But what about cherries? Whole Foods and Trader Joes both are carrying "USA" cherries, but when you inspect the packaging they both come from California. Now, I have nothing against farmers and orchards in CA, but it's not exactly even close to local. Should I skip until Michigan or Pennsylvania cherries arrive?

What about blueberries? They're not from Maine, not even close.

So what am I willing to NOT eat because it comes from too far away? And what's too far? The Mississippi? The Mid-Atlantic? The eastern time zone? I'm torn. What's local to you?

Fetching Organic for Fido

Woof. Owning a dog, a large dog in particular, introduces you to a whole series of products and choices you really didn't care to ponder previously. Up front, let me clarify that our dog (all 75 lbs.+ of him) does not wear clothing, get massages, or ride in a stroller. He's a dog. We love him and his long, blue ears, but we are not trying to turn him into a toddler. (Not sure what toddler goes to the spa, but somewhere, someone is totally thinking about this.)

However, our four-legged friend has continuously presented us with a series of challenges as it relates to his diet over the past few years. During one of his training classes we were guilted into changing his food from Iams to Nutro because it was a healthier choice. He lost all of his hair along his back a week later. Turns out after a frantic trip to the vet, he's allergic to lamb. Awesome. After special pulverized, centrifuge food- the kind you can only buy from the vet, we eventually settled on Blue and Mason's been enjoying the sweet potato and fish for a couple of years now and still has all his hair.

Now, there are far more organic choices out there, including the raw food diet that I flat out refuse to entertain for my dog. By some accounts, this makes me a bad owner. I'm willing to deal with that. I don't think the pup is deprived.

Separate from food, I've recently begun evaluating the other products we buy for him. Take treats for example, if the product has too much excessive packaging, it's off the list. If it contains artificial coloring or superfluous processing forget-about-it. And then there's the dog bed. The reason I thought this post was worth writing at all.

We've been perfectly happy with his dog bed from L.L. Bean for the past four+ years (I can't speak for the dog, but he seems agreeable). We even ordered a replacement cover at one point. But a few months of listening to the dog turn, and turn, and turn, to try and nest in the bed made us realize maybe the stuffing is a bit worn out.

But what to buy? Crazy daisy, there are a lot of beds out there. We were inspired by our hip friends in KC to look at eco beds. We ended up with a West Paw Organic Bumper Bed that is 100 percent recycled plastic soda bottles. It is currently en route from Montana to our door step. Was it worth it?

Does my buying organic dog products really matter? How large can that supply chain be anyway? Well, at least I know our weim won't be poisoned by his own bed. Now his polyester chew toy that he can't live without is a whole other matter.