by Jen Maiser, Editor
It was Wednesday night, the day before Thanksgiving. I looked cute and was having a glass of wine at a hip San Francisco restaurant. And I was being stood up. I was irritated and surprised and resigned. I paid the check and left, determined to take myself out to dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant as revenge for the embarrassment of being stood up for the first time in my life. But as I walked there in my cute red shoes I lost the will, and remembered my budget. So I went home.
Standing in the kitchen starving, I remembered that I had cooked some white alubia beans from Rancho Gordo earlier in the week. At the time, I wasn't sure how I was going to use them, so I just cooked them with garlic and bay leaf and put them in the refrigerator.
I have probably mentioned this enough times to bore you all, but one of my fallback cookbooks is Heidi Swanson's book Super Natural Cooking. Heidi is the goddess behind 101 Cookbooks, and her recipes coax perfect flavors out of whole foods and vegetarian dishes.
One of my favorite recipes from the book is Giant Crusty and Creamy White Beans with Greens, and I make it often. Wednesday, I used dino kale and a delicious sheep cheese from Garden Variety Cheese.
As I made it, I thought a bit about eating local. I know that when you're first starting out eating locally, it can sometimes be a source of stress. I hear from some that they worry about what foods are "allowed" and if they are eating "right."
But I have been eating locally for the better part of six years, and now I do it as a way to relax. Local foods are my comfort foods. It is the easiest thing in the world for me to pull out oil from Stonehouse, garlic from Thomas Family Farm, kale from Dirty Girl, beans from Rancho Gordo and whip up a great meal quickly.
I'm not saying this to brag, rather to encourage. If you stick with eating locally, I guarantee you that it will soon become a great source of nourishment to your belly as well as your soul.
Within an hour of leaving the restaurant, I had my cute shoes off, my sweats on, a gin and tonic poured, and my white beans on my lap and sat down to watch some trashy television. Turns out that there was a miscommunication with the guy, and he had heartily apologized many times over by the end of the evening. But it didn't matter quite so much after my delicious dinner and drink.
