everything organic

organic. it’s the biggest buzz word these days. in fact, i think it’s topped low-carb. organic this. organic that. no matter what you put in front of people, if you tell them it’s organic they think they’re eating well. have some more pork rinds—they’re organic!

just recently i had the pleasure of having REAL organic food. it was fresh; it was easy; it was fast. i helped host an event this past weekend at the fairfield theatre company (http://www.fairfieldtheatre.org/), fondly known as the ftc. the food was all donated by health in a hurry, a local organic food shop. they make and prepare only organic foods and all of it served on the go.

if you’d like to check out their web site, as i hope you do, it can be found at http://www.healthinahurry.net/. the owner, sue cadwell, started out as an environmental activist and ended up a vegetarian chef with her own shop and catering business. it opened four years ago as the vegetarian answer to fast food. it’s the culinary idea of a sleeper movie—you don’t really know about it until you try it and realize it’s a gold mine.

for the event this past weekend, we wanted food that fit with the overall atmosphere. the ftc hosts a farmer’s market in their parking lot every sunday. our event would overlap it. so obviously, a lunchtime offering of corn dogs on a stick was out of the question.

the food we had was delicious—organic or not. in fact, the label doesn’t even matter. good food is good food. she offered a grainless tabouleh salad with cucumber and tomato. there was a lemon curry rice salad with just enough curry to give it a kick, but not so much it was overpowering. even tofu—and i’m not big on tofu—was breaded and served as a pseudo-mozzarella stick with homemade ketchup. the kids gobbled ‘em up!

there were mini-health burgers made with lentils and brown rice with carmelized onions gently spooned on top. ordinarily, i probably would have turned up my nose at them. i have to confess: i’m a meat eater. i don’t want to think about what happened to the animal before it came to the butcher shop. ignorance IS bliss—and i’d like to keep it that way. that said, these are little burgers i wouldn’t mind eating any time.

organic food has found its place in the mainstream and i think it’s here to stay. this is one fad that may not be so bad. although, i wish i could say that for mood rings…

garden?

i’ve been thinking about starting a garden. ok, maybe not right this minute, as we’re on the heels of summer and heading toward colder weather. but maybe i can start planning on what i’d like to put in a garden for spring.

i love the concept of having things that bloom regardless of the season. it’s almost like doing the wave at a baseball game—something’s always popping up. but that takes planning—and a little know-how. my time for planning is spare. and the know-how part…well, let’s just say i’m a little lacking.

i wish i were one of those people who had a knack for it. frankly, i’m lucky i don’t kill my basil. and i can never get my cilantro to grow. could it be that i don’t have a green thumb to save my life or is it just that cilantro is a really finicky plant? i think i’ll go with the latter. it doesn’t crush my self-esteem as much.

i have a couple of neighbors who have small gardens in their backyards. they don’t yield much—it’s not like they’re supporting themselves financially on the fruits of their labor. but it’s certainly enough to make a good dinner.

my father grew a garden in our backyard when i was growing up. i loved being able to wander in on a hot summer day and grab a snack. fresh sugar snap peas. sun-warmed cherry tomatoes on the vine that would just pop in your mouth. baby lettuces. zucchini. peppers. chives. the list goes on.

when we wanted to make dinner, we picked what was ripe, threw it into a pot, and that was dinner. it was also one of the best parts of summer for me as a kid. it may be the very reason why i love food and cooking so much. i grew up on the fresh stuff. no pesticides, just a little elbow grease.

so for now, i will fantasize about a garden and wait for spring again…