local foods, a tad overdone
Thursday, September 15 Last Sunday I prepared a delicious meal which we ate out on the deck while our laying hens pecked about the yard and we gazed at the happy sunflowers in full bloom inside the garden.
At one point, Shawn realized that everything we’d prepared was not only local, but harvested with our own hands. And because much of the meal was my doing (Shawn hunts and cooks the meat), I was a *tiny* bit in love with myself.
On the menu that night:
Fresh grated beet and carrot salad with dill and white wine vinaigrette
Yukon gold potatoes
Sezchuan green beans, pan-seared with fresh garlic
Roasted grouse with cracked pepper
Deer steaks
Dessert: Apple-cherry pie
In any case, I told my buddy Erik, who now sits next to me at work in A-Hole’s old desk (A-Hole —an amazing photographer — quit to work for himself. It had nothing to do with sitting next to me every day for the past six years. I’ll bet he HATES being his own boss…) all about our meal. I thought he might like to file it away under one of his Megan files, the one that likely says, Thing Are Awesome at Megan’s House and I’ll Probably Never be as Groovy as Her.
Coincidentally, or maybe not coincidentally at all, right after I told Erik about our dinner I opened an email from a friend with a link to the video above. And no, the subject line in the email didn’t say Message From the Universe.
But after I got off my horse I did laugh pretty hard.
And then just to make sure I got over myself, I watched it again.
END NOTE: Has anyone out there ever watched this show, Portlandia? I’m intrigued now and want to watch.
Reader Comments (10)
I, too, am now intrigued to watch the show. It looks painful, but hilarious! Hey, good for you with all the home grown goody goodness! Sounds delightful!
I'm sure your chickens are also fed sheep's milk, soy and hazelnuts! Thing is, I know these people, and yeah, at times I know I've been these people.
Marshmallow Krispies for the after school crowd!
The best thing I've heard about growing food at home and organically is "organic food tastes better because it has to work harder." It's about creating and taking care and being connected to the earth. Goodness.
After watching that clip and reading the post, for some reason the "Smug Alert" episode of South Park came to mind (another amazing coincidence I'm sure). Don't know if you partake, but here's a clip:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155193/thanks
Just the same, I'm more than a bit jealous that you're growing all of that stuff in your yard, raising chickens and bees, etc. I'd like to do the same, but I have the hardest time giving two craps about gardening. If I could plant something, put in minimal effort, and harvest the results a week later, it'd be much more interesting. (I'm not the most patient of fishermen either)
Sheep's milk for chickens? Does that make their eggs cheesy?
Funny funny clip. Jerry - I'm with you on the gardening thing. I would love to have fresh food from my backyard but there's all that care and feeding and waiting for things to grow. I'm going to check out that South Park clip now.
We did watch the whole first episode of Portlandia and laughed our butts off...but realized very quickly that the jokes were pretty much all the same. One episode probably gives you just enough. We've got A--hole with us this week at our conference and are loving it! But you're right, he does seem miserable working for himself. ;)
Laurie: So do you watch South Park with the hubs? Shawn loves it, and I occasionally partake (just to keep him company, of course) and inevitably find myself laughing my butt off.
Kim: Amen, sistah. More connection, more keeping it real, and for sure the occasional marshmallow krispie, double thickness, please. (Duh.)
Jerry: South Park. So wrong. So right. My god, it's funny — I can't help but watch, usually with my hand over my mouth trying not to wake the boys when I occasionally watch after 10. I loved the clip! You could always take up playing Farmville — my mom claims "now that's real farmin'!"
FaveAuntie: Did you watch the SP clip? Don't you drive a hybrid? (Ahem.)
Nicole: A reader/friend sent me this link to The Bloggess' post about Portandia. Have you read it? Interesting...(And pretty funny, too.)
http://thebloggess.com/2011/09/dear-portlandia-really/
Ahem. Yes, I did have a hybrid. However, I decided to put the comfort of my ass over the good of the planet and now have a regular ole vehicle which gets half the mileage of the hybrid but is much more fun to drive.
Your post was the same thing RRD and I say as we survey our table every day. I admit it's more like, "Wow, these leaves and these brown things and those crunchy things all came from our place!" and RRD looks determinedly delighted and says, "Yes! Wonderful! What the hell is it that we have raised and are eating here, anyway?" Applause for you for turning your harvest to a gourmet direction. I share the smug satisfaction, regardless of the slapdash look of my grub.
That clip was hilarious, even though Colin was a hen according to the photos. But funny!
FaveAuntie: Oh right, I remember now :)
NLw.D: Nice Lady with a Dog! You're back! Welcome home! I'm excited to hear how Scotland was. But obviously, you came home to some veggies still alive and delicious from your garden. I'm always amazed at what you can still get from a garden despite a bit of neglect...And I'm guessing you let the hens stay in your house while you were gone, right?
That's so exciting about getting all of your food from your own garden/hunting. I remember thinking how great that felt when working on a farm in Wales and everything we were eating for lunch was from the farm. It was that much more delicious. :)
As a Seattle resident, I laugh extra hard at Portlandia because people in Portland/Seattle/Vancouver are really like that. And because we in Seattle think we're just a little bit better than Portlanders and it's nice to see that others think that, too. :)