Loca-voracious

When we decided to get together for dinner with our neighbors Sally and Dan last weekend, I’d say the general sense of things is that we would have a nice time relaxing on the brick terrace, grilling some steaks and enjoying some of Dan’s home brew. Essentially, that’s what we did – rib-eyes from Mr. Burner and some produce from Public House (http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-ate-mr-burners-cow.html) and Dan’s latest IPA (http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2009/07/home-grown-hops.html ) - his best yet, by his own assessment, and I would have to agree with him.

Reflecting on our meal the next day, I realized that although some ingredients that went into the meal came from further away, all of the produce and even the steaks were produced within about ten miles of the Hawksbill Cabin. Don’t think of us simply as some silly yuppies succumbing to the latest trend in local organic cooking. In the valley, this was just something that happened; elsewhere, you might really have to make a fuss to accomplish it – and I am going to tell you all about it.

A fine meal it was:

· Cucumber-yogurt soup
· Organic tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and fresh basil
· Ratatouille of garden-grown squash, peppers, tomatoes and garlic
· Grilled sweet corn on the cob
· Beer-marinated rib-eye steaks
· Concord grape pie

We went to the farmers’ market in Luray for some of the produce we used, but a lot of it actually came from Sally and Dan’s garden. They have about a half acre that is organically cultivated for vegetables, and there is an old arbor of concord grapes that volunteers a good harvest most years. And then of course, as described in several past blog posts, Dan has nine vines producing Willamette, Centennial, and Cascade hops.

For beverages, we started with Dark and Stormys on the terrace while I grilled, moved on to sampling the new “Beaver Run Flat Tale IPA,” and finally had a couple of nice reds with dinner. Sally and Dan had found one of the reds the previous night, when they were out for a reggae concert at Clementine’s, and I had a spare bottle of “Big House Red” to supplement that one.

As part of the logistics, I had to break down for a larger kettle grill; I found this Kingsford grill at Food Lion on an end-of-season sale for $35. Not too shabby.

Of course, I have to end this post with a reference to our seasonal and organic cookbooks - Simply in Season and The New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking)