I had such a fun day Saturday with Amy. But towards the end of the day I started feeling as though my cold had hit overdrive. I've spent most of today in bed wanting comfort food. Luckily I had some sweet potatoes left over from my fall garden. Baked and mashed sweet potatoes filled the bill.
I was so please to have purchased some grapefruit and oranges from a gardener at the Palafox Market Saturday. My first instinct with this cold is to run to the grocery store and pick up some bottled juice and canned soup. This, however, has made me savor the fruit I've obtained locally even more. I've made a single grapefruit last all day.
So I was particularly pleased to find fruit included in a gift of veggies from Joe and Amy. When Amy came over yesterday, she not only brought local wine but also a huge bag of veggies. I went through the bag today and found several excellent surprises.
The greens are beet greens. Joe and Amy know this is one of my favorites. Joe is great at growing beets, I've only had success once. If you think fresh beets are anything like that yucky stuff in the canned food isle - please try them out for yourself. They are ultra sweet and yummy. Even the greens of beets are slightly sweet. There were also more sweet potatoes (always welcome) but the real standouts were the Japanese Plums (loquats) and serrano peppers. These are real treats in the winter. Joe built an amazing greenhouse a few years ago and I suspect the pepper plants have been hanging out in there. These will be great to spice up some dishes. The loquats have been a great fresh addition as well.
There are few fruits available in the winter. Most of our fruits in the supermarket right now are imported from Central and South America. We are just started to get fruits from south Florida. None of those could be considered local. But what I've started figuring out from less than a week into this is that sometimes not having certain items makes you appreciate them all the more. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to strawberries coming in from local growers in the next few weeks. I may even try to go to a u-pick place and get my own.
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