I’m a little behind on the end-of-the-year roundups. But it was a good year for my tastebuds, and there are several unforgettable occasions that I feel deserve a little reflective love: 1. Thanksgiving in July, year two.
Hands down the best meal of the year. Hands down the best experience of the year.
TIJ (it’s pretty self explanatory–you gather a bunch of friends together to celebrate Thanksgiving in the middle of July) was brilliantly invented in 2006, and 2007 by far proved bigger and better. This was admittedly an exercise in excess, and one that proved that at least once a year, excess should be fully embraced (as long as you commit to attacking the leftovers the next day). Festivities not only included an astonishing meal–a turducken from Iowa Meat Farms was accompanied by a pot luck of dishes running the gamut from traditional green bean casserole to a recreation of Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving meal–but also pilgrim and indian name tags, a rented table for 25 set in a semi-public space, and a specially purchased electronic turkey carver. Oh, and then there were the post-dinner moonbounce, masseuses, and hummer limo. (When you make a policy that every guest has to contribute something, those disinclined to the kitchen can get pretty creative).
2. One Local Summer Week #1
This summer I committed to participating in an exercise called One Local Summer, where you commit to preparing one entirely local meal once a week all summer long. The first meal of the summer required the most thought and reflection, as I took stock of what was truly available around me and realized that my options were way more limited than I thought. The culmination of a three hour afternoon that began with a counter full of fresh produce and resulted in a slow-cooked vegetable terraine was an eye-opening experience in terms of what food I was actually connected to.
3. One Local Summer Week #9
Nine weeks into the local summer exercise, I found a local meat source (well, it was on a trip to LA, and the source was California’s central coast. Still, it was the first time I purchased meat from the farmer who raised the animals. Coming home and cooking two pork chops the next day, I had an up close realization of the difference in quality and taste. The combination of fresh figs and tender pork still lingers in my mind…
4. Sharing a local meal with my parents
After a summer of driving myself to eat more and more locally, I finally had the chance to share the pleasures of the experience with my family. Back on the east coast for Thanksgiving, I hit up the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC and later the Dupont Circle farmers’ market in DC, and spun together a meal with the treasures I found. One of the resulting dishes–polenta, pear, and sausage stuffing–was so good I reprised it later in Italy, where I was able to find almost all of the ingredients locally, even though I was half a world away.
5. Christmas Eve Italian Feast
The only reason this meal comes last in the list is because it was the most recent. Hopefully a full post will follow!