Milwaukee Eat Local Challenge: Getting out of the slump

Local eating is at the heart of what we do here at Burp! Which is why it came as a real surprise when I didn't find myself feeling all aflutter when I read the announcement for the 2009 Milwaukee Eat Local Challenge taking place September 1-15 and the Wisconsin Eat Local Challenge which runs September 27 - October 4th.


Last year, when we started the challenge, we were seriously stoked. And our progress was impressive (we surprised ourselves by buying/eating 74% locally during the challenge). And, thanks to the number of local products/companies we discovered, we found that many of our local eating practices could be sustained over much of the year.

So, why am I not feeling more excited?
After all, THIS YEAR our local eating challenge should totally ROCK.

The fact is, the concept bores me a bit. As you know, I've been feeling a bit slumpy lately when it comes to cooking, and that feeling has begun to extend itself to the concept of local eating.

Being a locavore isn't new and exciting anymore. Just two years ago, "locavore" was the word of the year in the New Oxford American Dictionary. But this year?? The shine has worn off. The excitement has waned. The Eat Local Challenge blog (a great source of inspiration) is dead. And I've hit the danger zone.

I believe they call this sort of thing a "double edged sword". On the one hand, the fact that eating locally has become mundane to me is probably a good thing. That means its become part of my routine, a natural part of my life. On the other hand, there's some danger that allowing something as important as supporting the local food economy to become hum-drum means that it isn't at the forefront of my behavior. If I can't get excited about it, how can I expect others to do so?

So, we decided that something had to change.
This year, our eat local pledge includes the usual:

• We'll be looking for as many food sources within 100 miles of our home as we can find, shopping at the farmer's market, and looking for mechanisms to extend our local eating into the winter months.
  
• However, we'll also concentrate on the (more sustainable) ability to eat regionally -- meaning that we'll focus our eating on products we can procure from the near Midwest (WI, IL, MN, IA, and MI).
  
• We'll also be taking a critical view of what we can do to continue eating locally even after the farmer's markets have closed for the season.

But, I'm including one more bullet point:

• We'll focus on ditching the slump and FINDING THE JOY in local eating.

So, here goes! September 1st is here, and we're starting it off right.

What about you? Do you subscribe to local eating as a habit?
Any sources for inspiration you'd like to share?



©BURP! Where Food Happens

Plain Jane Vanilla Ice Cream Days

I'm in a serious slump.
Despite all the bounty at the farmer's market (and the great food we seem to bring home each week), we've both been working pretty hard and haven't had a whole lot of time for cooking. When we do cook, it's been "nothing to blog about"... or at least that's what I've been telling myself. We throw together salads. And sammiches. And odd assortments of veggies. And we call them dinner.

I haven't even been all that inspired to take pictures of what's out in the garden... although I did get a great shot of this lovely mutant cherry tomato. He's a twin... but (as you can see) he's also not very modest.
Fortunately, David Lebovitz knows just what I'm talking about.
And I know this because he included a recipe just for me in The Perfect Scoop.
Now, I'm from Milwaukee, so I'm a custard girl.
Lebovitz would probably say that I'm really a French custard girl, but I'm going to be true to my local side and stand on principle here. I'm a Milwaukee Custard Girl. And that's final.

If you've never been to Kopp's Frozen Custard (home of the most heavenly frozen treats imaginable), then you might not know what I mean. But, I'll be the first to tell you that you've really been depriving yourself... and it's such a shame... and that you really ought to come out here for a visit... and soon.

Considering all that, I could be a complete snob about things and claim that there's simply NOTHING LIKE a good custard. At that point, I could stand on principle (again) and refuse to make things like Philidelphia style ice cream. But, that would be downright silly. Because, my friends, there is a place and a time for Plain Jane Vanilla Ice Cream that doesn't take hours of effort or complicated recipes. And that time is now.

You will need a bit of stove time for this recipe - but I promise you the effort will be minimal. Just a bit of cream, some sugar, and a split and scraped vanilla bean and you're good to go. Warm the mixture just until the sugar is melted.
Then add some additional cream, a splash of vanilla, and a bit of whole milk.
Technically, that cools things down almost to the point where you could toss the mixture right into your ice cream maker. But, leaving it in the fridge for a while is a good thing. First -- it gives that vanilla bean a bit more time to swim around in the cream and impart his delicious goodness. Secondly, it gives you time for an afternoon nap -- which, as far as I'm concerned, is never a bad thing.
So, pour it into a bowl (with a cover), give it a good stir, and leave it sit in the fridge for a while. We forgot about ours for two whole days (that's how inspired we were) before it ever saw the inside of our ice cream maker.
It could be that the extra-long brew time was the secret to this creamy, dreamy, ultra-vanilla ice cream. But, I doubt it. I'm pretty sure that a couple of hours would do. So, you needn't make up excuses for not trying this.

After all, it makes an excellent root beer float (especially with a locally brewed rootbeer, like the one from Sprecher Brewing Company).
Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style
adapted from David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Place cream, sugar, and salt into a medium saucepan. Carefully scrape seeds from the vanilla bean into the saucepan and add the pod to the pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the cream is warm and the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining cream, milk, and vanilla extract.

Chill the ice cream base thoroughly. Before churning, remove the vanilla bean (you can rinse it and reserve it for another use, if desired) and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.



©BURP! Where Food Happens