Ahhhh Kampachi. If you look rather attentively through my latest posts, that fish crops up a little bit ago. A couple of weeks ago I made a few skewers, and one of them held some wonderful Kona Kampachi fish.
Well, god knows why, I decided to send a link to the photos and blog entry to Kona Blue, the people that raise the Kampachi fish, in Hawaii. The delightful bunch of people there decided that they wanted to send me a Kampachi to try a variety of preparations with – mostly cooked.
Danika and I have been thinking a lot about food costs of late. We all know that food costs are on the rise – mainly due to the cost of petrol these days (just another reason to eat local).
To try and cut our food bills down, which are pretty high, we decided to do some completely un-scientific research into where is the cheapest place to buy decent quality, local (when possible) organic produce.
We made notes at a range of grocery stores here in Seattle – PCC, Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Central Market (Shoreline) to be exact. We even thought about doing the same for farmers markets – but then realized that was pointless – the price difference between stalls would have completely thrown the results.
So, trying to be organized I put all this into a spreadsheet, so we could clearly see where works out cheaper. Out of those grocery stores listed, if you can find it at Trader Joes, it is cheaper there. By far. Problem is, the produce at TJs can be pretty sucky to say to least, and they don’t carry Organic Valley milk which we like (its organic, grass fed milk, at an OK price). In the battle of the "organic" grocery stores – PCC comes out tops.
I thought I would share the spreadsheet – some local folks might find it interesting. This has saved us gas miles too – we used to drive up to Central Market, thinking it was cheaper. It ain’t. So, here it is – it only covers the stuff we by most of, but hopefully someone will find it useful.
Seattle Organics cost spreadsheet (Excel)
More food posts to be coming shortly – Been a really hectic couple of weeks. Some great dishes on the way. I promise!
This was a quite a surprise I have to tell you. Last Saturday we had a “clear out the fridge” dinner. Anything that was left over from the week of shopping got cooked up. Well, pretty much everything.
I had some small carrots left over, and a big old bunch of radishes, that I hadn’t even used. I have a hard time with radishes. I never quite know what to do them. God knows why I bought them actually to be honest. A while back I did a recipe with them in, which had a great little marinade, and some beef. It was good, I liked it. Apart from that, I usually just toss them in salads. Their slightly bitter note with a decent peppery flavor.
Blimey.. A bit of a posting week this one.
So, clam linguine. I reckon pretty much everyone has eaten some form of this dish, somewhere. Clams and pasta, in a wine broth. To be honest, there isn’t really much there that can go wrong!!
Ahhhh Pimm’s. Nothing quite says a lazy day on a river bank, watching a bunch of toff’s row boats down a river. This drink doesn’t quite have the best of images in England. It is quintessentially British, but also has a reputation as a drink for toff’s (posh people with more money than sense). God knows why to be honest – it tastes bloody great, and really isn’t expensive at all.
Whenever the sun comes out, I always end up making this great little cocktail. There are few drinks as honestly refreshing as this one. Pimm’s No.1 is gin that has been infused with herbs and spices. The recipe is a closely guarded secret apparently, so god knows what really goes into it. If you drink it straight, it has quite a herbal note, that is refreshing and somewhat sweet.
It’s been a pretty bloody great weekend to be honest. Yep, I am back on saying bloody. A post isn’t quite the same without it.
We spent most of yesterday outside, goofing around with Drake (16month old son) – it was the first really nice day of the year, and it was fantastic. Thinking of course, that the whole weekend would be that way, I decided that I would grill a variety of skewers today.
“You say bloody hell a lot in your blog posts” said my father in a recent IM conversation with me. “Well, it is better than saying f***, I suppose” was the reply.. something I generally wouldn’t say to his face! He is a bright bloke, with an annoyingly large vocabulary – I haven’t often heard him swear, but when he did it would normally be some pretty minor words.
So, I am going to try and make it through this whole blog post without saying bloody hell, or any other swear word for that matter.
This is going to be tough, because this really sodding tasty. (sodding doesn’t count, right?)
Fiddleheads, fava beans, fresh shelled peas and asparagus are all sauteed in some butter and oil, with slices of garlic. The addition of basil right at the end really lightens the dish, and kicks it forwards towards the sun of summer.
The last week I have been thinking a bit about really light, clean, crisp flavors, but still with a little earthiness.
I must admit that I am a big time blogging newbie. Yes, Wrightfood is coming up to be a year old, but I am still not really with the program. I don’t know much about what tagging is, all I really know is that I have to answer a few questions, and then pass the tag on. Sounds like fun.
So Brittany, over at The Pie Lady passed on her "Droolworthy Blogger Award" to me. Thankfully she also explained what that meant, and what I had to do. If you haven’t checked out her blog yet, shame on you. She is the pastry chef over at Crow, and also Betty – Crow is one of my favorite places in Seattle to eat. She is talented, and her food looks great. Go visit. Now.
Seems like I have answer a few questions, and pass the deal on too. So without further ado, and without a drum roll, here are the questions and answers:
1) What were you doing 10 years ago?
Lets see… I was just leaving university, and starting a computer graphics business with a friend. This led me on to working on feature film visual effects, creating sets and environments on computer. All in the space of a year. Funny though, I still see it as only a year ago.. How time flies.
2) What were you doing 1 year ago?
Rocking a new baby to sleep, and trying to work out how to sleep more, and balance this new life I have with a baby, a wife, and a job, and my love of cooking.
3) What are 5 snacks you enjoy?
Tough this one, and in no particular order..
Cheese and crackers
Cake
Toast
Biscuits – proper English shortbread and so forth
A perfectly ripe tomato and buffalo mozzarella
More cake
4) What are the 5 things you would do if you were a millionaire?
Cook for people that need food
Quit my job, and just cook, photograph and travel
Spend way more time with my family
Start a bed and breakfast with my wife Danika, and have a small side restaurant, where I would offer special dinners for the weekend
Work at restoring old Seattle properties, and stopping evil developers tearing them down, and building condo’s.
5) What are you 5 bad habits?
Bad language. Somehow I am drawn to a few select 4 letter words. It isn’t smart or clever, and I cannot break the habit.
Saying "oh Dani, this dish will only take 30minutes".. when I kinda know it is a two hour job.
Occasionally I am apparently moody. If you ask me, it is the rest of the world 
Food snob, but in my defense I don’t preach.
Staying up too late on this darn computer
6) What are 5 things you would never wear again?
Ugly sweaters
Uncomfortable shoes
Stonewash jeans – even if they do come back into fashion
Aviator sunglasses
Bicycle clips
7) What are your 5 favorite toys?
My son, Drake
Japanese slicer (kitchen tool)
Anything involving fire (I think that must be a bloke thing)
My camera – an old Canon 10D, but I love it
Swings. Having Drake, I have rediscovered them. They are awesome.
So who shall I pass it on to? That is dead easy. Lara over at CookandEat. I am sure most people know her blog, and it needs no introduction, but here goes anyhow. She takes amazing food photographs. She is local to Seattle, in fact just down the street from me. She has put up with a barrage of pathetic food photography questions from me, and always done it with a smile. She has even given me a photography lesson. Her work is an inspiration for me. To make matters even more annoying, her blog is incredibly well written. So, go check out CookandEat.
Bloody hell, Spring has finally come. About time if you ask me. Today has been non-stop sunshine, which makes me even happier since I was working from home today. Since Drake was born I skip the office on a Wednesday and work from home instead. I am lucky enough to have a job that allows me to do that, and also thankful that I have the self motivation to actually get work done, especially on a day like this!
