Food; Week 10

As this was my final full week at home, I felt once again motivated to don the apron (figuratively...I don't actually have an apron, but perhaps Father's Day will change that) and make a big mess in the kitchen. I came out with a few good meals--new ones, at that--helping me get a sense of continuity and closure for this new project.

Monday featured pasta primavera (zucchini, summer squash, shallots, tomatoes) and on Tuesday I made lentil soup. I had wanted to make lentil soup for a while and figured this was really my last chance for a while, so although the temperature keeps rising outside, I had lentils simmering on my stove. Both of these recipes came out of The North End Italian Cookbook and formed many meals during the week.

Later in the week I reprised this recipe for spice-blackened tilapia. Although I had intended to purchase only US-raised/farmed tilapia, it is proving hard to find at local stores...Hannaford imports their tilapia from China, and even Whole Foods brings theirs in from foreign shores (Scandinavia or Chile, if I remember correctly). And although I was assured by a Whole Foods pamphlet that they maintain the highest standards for all of their fish whether US, foreign, or third-party in origin, I'd like to keep searching for vendors of domestic tilapia, mainly to see if I can find any.

On Saturday we welcomed friends John and Meghan (and their 1-year old boy in tow) over to the house for a small cookout. It was my first grilling event of the season and required me to clean the grill, purchase a new charcoal chimney (yes I can build a fire without one, but sometimes it's nice to just throw the briquets in and not have to worry about it), and then stress out for the better part of the day. I also had to buy some food to throw on the grill so it was off to Whole Foods again to grab a few steaks.

I had read somewhere that Whole Foods actually carries grass-fed beef, and I was curious to see what this looked like in practice--how much they had, what cuts they had, how much it was, and where it was in their deli case. Some answers: they had it, mainly rib-eye cuts, $20/pound. Yes--$20/pound.

At this point I had to make a decision. Did I really care that much about eating grass-fed steak that I was willing to shell out a premium price for it, or would I compromise my eating morals a bit and go with the less-pricey (but still not Walmart "steak on rollback" less-pricey) vegetarian-fed beef that they were selling behind the counter? Well, for $8 less a pound, the decision was fairly easy to make; the grass-fed stayed on the shelf, and the vegetarian-fed went on my grill. And in doing so I behaved the eact same way that well-intentioned people all across the country do...I knew what I should eat, and I made a calculated decision not to buy it because it was too expensive.

That being said, the steak was really good. I was a bit overzealous in heating the grill so I accidentally blackened one side, but the meat was tender and juicy nonetheless. I also made a roasted pepper salsa as an accompaniment; this was fun to make and provided a great addition to the meal. Grilled corn on the cob (in husk; soaked in water before going on the grill) and steamed veggies (in tinfoil; mushrooms, onions, etc. dressed with olive oil), provided by John, rounded out the offerings. Altogether a great Saturday evening meal with friends and family--and Natalia offered to do the cleanup afterwards, so I was a happy camper.