End of (Dark) Days

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I’m sad to say that I’m ending the Dark Days Challenge not with a bang, but with a whimper.  I managed one local meal last weekend, but nothing this week: my first dragon boat team practice was on Wednesday and I had a Board meeting for work in Baltimore this weekend, leaving me no time to cook.  Happily, I made my last meal of the challenge count by trying something new: yellow ball turnips.

The yellow ball (or golden ball) turnip (from Tuscarora Organic Growers Coop) is a great storage vegetables.  It has both yellow skin and yellow flesh, but basically tastes just like a regular purple top turnip.  I really love grilled turnips, so I turned this into an entirely grilled meal (even though it was kind of cold outside).  The pork chops (from Country Time Farm) were slathered in buckwheat honey from the honey guy at Reading Terminal Market, and the turnips were brushed in olive oil before grilling.

There were other “firsts” for me during the challenge this year.  lots of new recipes (particularly for soup) and trying Vrapple.  There were also lessons learned: that roasting cauliflower makes for a better puree, that frozen asparagus sucks, and that I can make a kick-ass turkey gravy the day before Thanksgiving.  Thanks to Laura for organizing the Dark Days challenge again this year - I had fun!

And now…on to the 2009 One Local Summer challenge, which will once again be hosted here at Farm to Philly!