Mother's Day Brunch

I must be the only mother in America who not only volunteers to cook her own Mother's Day Brunch, but revels in the opportunity. After a few years of going out to restaurants with my mother and grandmother, dealing with my very un-restaurant-friendly toddlers and various relatives complaining about the cost of the restaurants I'd choose (sorry, you leave the choice up to me, we ain't eating at Perkin's...) I said, heck with this, I'm doing it my way. I put on my micro-manager hat and laid out a gorgeous brunch on our porch last year.

This year I did it again, and I used it as a proving ground for my new localvore efforts. Although I've been trying to eat more locally for a couple of years now, I've only gotten serious about it in the very recent past. I was far from perfect, for instance, I was all out of tomato sauce from last summer because I wasn't thinking in terms of freezing or canning an entire year's worth at that point in time. Nevertheless, I think I did a pretty good job. Just thinking the meal through in terms of "local" was a cool exercise.

Here's the low-down:

Soup: Cream of (was supposed to be sorrel, but there was none to be had so I used a spicy mesclun mix). The mesclun mix was from my own garden. The cream and eggs were from Leroy Miller's farm in Bird-in-Hand. I was out of my own chicken stock, so I tried to buy some from Mountain View Poultry at the Phoenixville Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. Alas, they were all out - poor planning on my part, I should have called ahead and ordered it. I wound up using Imagine brand organic. Shallots were of unknown origen, bought at Kimberton Whole Foods. If I'd planned better for the stock, this would have been entirely local but for the shallots.

Salad: Baby greens from my garden. Strawberries from Willow Creek Orchard in Collegeville. Chicken from Mountain View Poultry, poached with lemons (obviously not local in PA) and dill (from Willow Creek). Nuts (not local). Homemade orange viniagrette (not local, except for some herbs).

Main course: Summer vegetable egg bake. Eggs were from Leroy Miller. Bison sausage from Backyard Bison in Coopersburg. Asparagus from my own garden and from Willow Creek. Basil from Lavender Hill in Hockessin, DE. Tomato sauce was organic canned. Onions, garlic, red peppers were all from unknown sources, bought at Kimberton Whole Foods.

Dessert: Strawberry rhubarb clafoutis. Strawberries were from Willow Creek. Rhubarb was bought at Kimberton Whole Foods, don't know if it was local. Cream and eggs from Leroy Miller. I would have used locally milled flour, but I had to make it gluten free which made things a little more difficult - I used Arrowhead Mills All-Purpose Baking Mix.

Scones: I bought regular ones from Great Harvest Bread Company at the Phoenixville Farmer's Market, and made my own gluten free ones (local butter and honey, but otherwise not local ingredients). Jam was from Tait Farms in Center Hall, PA. Butter was from Leroy Miller.



My analysis: I wish I'd thought to call ahead for the chicken stock. That failure shames me... This year, I hope to put up enough tomato sauce to get me through the entire year. The scones were an impulse purchase - I had been thinking of making some, but nixed the idea when I realized I wouldn't have time. When I saw them at the market, they looked so lovely; I figured, they were locally made at least, even if all the ingredients weren't locally sourced.

Here are two great frustrations.

First, although I can find locally grown wheat, barley, rye and oats, most gluten free grains and other starch crops just aren't grown in Pennsylvania. Rice, quinoa, amaranth, tapioca, arrowroot. Corn and potatoes are grown here, but what are my chances of finding corn or potato starch that happens to be sourced from locally grown corn or potatoes? And, god knows where (geographically) xanthan gum comes from, but I don't think I can plant those little microbes in my garden. So, unless I want to go completely grain-free, I've got a problem. I take a little comfort in the fact that I eat far less grain than most people do.

Second, how do I dress my salads? Eating dry lettuce... well, I can't do it. I've tried. I could try making my own vinegar - does anyone know if a vinegar mother is the same from one variety of vinegar to another? Can I capture one from a bottle of unfiltered apple cider vinegar and throw it into some wine, or is there something more complicated to it? Then, what do I do about oil? Where do I get locally produced oils, particularly oils that are NT friendly? (i.e. good = olive oil, coconut oil, flax seed oil, sesame oil, nut oils. Bad = canola, corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower seed oil.) Clearly, most of the "good" oils just don't come from Pennsylvania. Am I worrying this too much, when you consider what a small percentage of my diet this is? I guess it just bugs me because it's a place where I cannot come up with another option. I mean, I haven't given up bananas. But, if they became unavailable, I could readily make due with strawberries and peaches and apples and other things that are local. But, what would I do if olive oil disappeared from the store shelves?