Yum

We are so fortunate to be able to spend money on good, local food. We have a fantastic network of sources in Davis, including our very own community garden plot from which we get the majority of our vegetables. Add to that the Farmer's Market and an expanding, full-service Food Co-op, and I pretty much don't ever set foot in a standard grocery store or have to buy over-processed food from a mega-mart. Trust me, I do count my blessings and consider myself to be very lucky.

Last night, we invited our long-suffering realtor over for dinner and created a mouth-watering feast. I'm so proud of how it turned out, although unfortunately I didn't take pictures. But I thought I'd run down the dishes and the sources of my ingredients, even if it's just so I can remember what a good job Loris and I did.

Bread: I made focaccia and French bread with ingredients from the bulk aisle at the Co-op

Appetizers:

Giardiniera - home-canned pickled vegetables (mostly grown by us, supplemented with local stuff) in tomato sauce

Bruschetta - home-made bread with toppings from our trip to Italy

Prawns - from the Farmer's market served with homemade mayonnaise from my coworker's eggs and lemons from a friend's tree

Stuffed scallops - from the Farmer's Market, stuffed with basil and garlic from our garden (plus local oil, and salt and pepper)

First course:

Home-made tagliatelle pasta with leeks from our garden and butter

Second course:

Local, grass-fed pork from the Farmer's Market cooked in a red wine sauce
Asparagus from the Farmer's Market with butter and Parmesan cheese we brought with us from Italy

Dessert:

Home-made vanilla ice cream, made with local organic milk from Straus Family Creamery
Hazelnut cookies made with a friend's hazelnuts (not sure where they came from), filled with nutella (from my husband's hometown in Italy, although we bought it here) and mascarpone (I should check to see where this comes from)


Things that I'm not sure if they were local or not: Various baking ingredients (like flour, potato starch, and sugar), salt and pepper, butter, vinegar

Things that I know were not local: Some of the olive oil, probably the mascarpone, nutella, wine for the wine sauce