come on, people!

aren't you super impressed at the picture below? no? am i the only one who thought that was really weird and cool? oh well. maybe someday i'll cut into a blue potato, and an outline of virgin mother will appear within. that could go for some money on ebay. quick culinary tip: want to freak out your friends with apparitions on toast? try spray-on butter! i would never recommend purchasing spray-on butter (which really sullies the name of butter; i prefer "buttery spray."), but if it's around... the weather was beaaautiful today. a storm blew through yesterday, and took heat and humidity with it. low 80's, low humidity, a nice breeze...perfect for eating lunch outside in the shade. about halfway through my potatoes and vegetables, i realized that i was enjoying a meal comprised of completely local produce. and it was delicious. i especially enjoyed the spinach, knowing it came from my garden. good for me! that's one more successful (if small) harvest from my community garden plot. so far i've grown: lettuce, basil, spinach, and about 2 strawberries that the birds didn't get to first. soon to come: sweet peppers and tomatoes. a couple of the sweet peppers are already about 4 inches long, and i can't wait. red peppers are just too expensive out of season, so i really appreciate their short time here. you know there's going to be some grilling going on. mmmm. roasted red peppers and portobellos, anyone? i haven't done a local food month dinner rundown for a while, so let's do that. we had a green salad with blackberries, then potato and vegetable saute with fake chicken (seitan) potatoes, garlic, zucchini, blackberries, onion: farmer's market spinach, basil, lettuce: garden seitan: made from scratch from bob's red mill vital gluten flour, which would have been local for me 2 years ago. i admit: it's hard to walk around the grocery store and see wonderful, delicious things from oregon that are out of bounds for local food month. but who needs delicious nancy's yogurt when you have homemade yogurt with fresh, sweet, ripe blackberries? my last yogurt batch turned out with an almost firm texture, and it's really delicious. could it be the different brand i used for the culture, maybe? it was lowfat brown cow yogurt, and i used whole milk. really fantastic.