A Year of Eating Seasonally, Day 1

Happy new year!

And now I'm going to attempt to eat only what's in season somewhere near me, or in places with climates like mine. I have a blog about the experience here, and I'm planning on writing a book after it's done and I can make some sense of it.

But here is where I'm posting the actual food info. 

Breakfast:

Sharp White Cheddar and Red Delicious Apple Sandwich -- There's some american cheese in there, too, but it totally wasn't needed. The Cabot cheddar melted way better than I expected, and made the whole thing gushy and wonderful. I made it thusly: on one slice of bread, I put the cheese, and on the other, a slice of american, the thinly-slices apples, salt and pepper, then I toasted the sides indipendently in the toaster oven so the insides would all be cooked. I squashed them together when they came out and voila! Winter-season sammich. American cheese has no season, but cheddar is a late-in-the-year cheese traditionally, because it's aged, and cheeses are available year-round anyway, as their purpose is to preserve milk. Apples are in season now, and even this red delicious, which is a kind of apple I generally consider kind of mealy and dull, was more sprigtly and interesting than usual, and held up against the sharp cheddar very well, as well as talking the savory flavors of salt and pepper well. A great breakfast, and it only took about seven minutes to make, including the slicing and arranging and toasting. I think I'll leave off the proccessed-cheesefood next time, and maybe made my own bread so it's denser and toasts better, but even squishy sandwich bread is good like this.

I ate another apple for lunch, and then dinner was sushi, and after a little research, joy of all joys, I discovered that eel is winter-seasonal, the harvest beginning around the holidays in all the countries it's eaten in, so I didn't have to give up my favorite rolls! I had one YinYang, which is eel and cream cheese (which is one of the cheeses that's traditionally home-made every day, and not really seasonal), and the Banzai, which is eel with avocado, which is in season in Florida this time of year. To round it out, I had steamed edamame, which I know for a fact come into the restaurant frozen, anc which grow most of the year anyway, and two bowls of miso, which is year-round. Ginger tea is recommended for winter because it's warming, and preserved ginger has no season.

All in all, not a bad start to my project! The first day out, we ate out, and while there isn't much else on the menu I could have eaten (the tepanyaki veggies and the tempura veggies are both full of zucchini and other off-seasn things, and at least half the noodle dishes are a mix of seasons), these two rolls were fine, as were smoked salmon and tuna and oily white fishes like grouper, if I'd chosen to go that way.

Leftovers: Ham Salad

In leftover news, since I still don't have the pictures of the actual foods, I have this to offer: ham salad. Like turkey or chicken salad, but with ham.

We had a huge and lovely home-smoked ham, so that's what we started with, and the fact that it got a little dry in the fridge only helped it not be slushy. Chop up said ham and drop it in a food processor. Add mayo or, in this case, miracle whip. Add sweet relish, or, in this case, some dill relish and a few chopped sweet gherkins. Blenderize until it's a nice chunky spread for a sandwich, and eat it as such. You can add lettuce and tomato, maybe some onion if you have it, and I think a nice smoky cheese like gouda might be nice. Best on thick crusty wheat bread, which stands up to bold flavors and thicker consistencies better than white.

Usually, H makes this with regular deli ham, and it's good like that, too, but the smoked-ness of it being made from the leftovers added alot of depth of flavor and a really neat saltiness that's different from the pre-packaged saltiness of deli meats.

If you try this out, lemme know how you do it?