I must have too much time on my hands these days because when I had a full time job and had to cook dinner, I was never struck by the beauty of what I was actually cooking. These are beet green stems. In a bowl of cool water shimmering in the late afternoon light they were amazing. People say that you eat with your eyes - I now I believe them. We also made some grilled strip steaks along with fried zucchini blossoms dusted with Pecorino Romano cheese. Unfortunately we ate the steak and zucchini so fast that I didn't get a shot of them. Just trust me - it would have made Mario Batali weep. Yeah - you wish you were at my house tonight. I am officially obsessed with cooking fun, seasonal stuff. It was so great to see my family devour what I made tonight. I can't think of anything that gives me a bigger kick than watching the people I love enjoying a dinner I prepared for them. It's my Italian heritage - I love to feed people.
Dinner tonight (and many nights) required me to go to my local butcher and my local farm. I'm just so jazzed to be living in a place where I have access to such things. People are so in tune with what's in season and what's good to eat right now. I suspect it's because there are working farms in the area that actually grow stuff - not just give pony rides. People around here really respect where their food comes from and that has profoundly affected the way I cook. Maybe we shouldn't be eating peaches and plums in the middle of winter. Asparagus is in season? - let's think of new ways to prepare it. I'm sure Chile is a beautiful country but why do we need to ship their fruit here? Maybe if we ate more seasonally we'd all be better off - the earth and us. I'm just sayin' - let's respect the ingredients people. Listen to Mother Nature - she talks a lot of sense.
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