Loving the local

Readers of this blog know the firm commitment we have here to food.  Good quality food in generous quantities.  The more time I spend cooking and thinking about food, the more important things like provenance become to me.

We are blessed in Canberra with an outstanding Farmers Market.  If you live in Canberra and haven't ever been, don't wait.  I'll happily take you and show you around.  There you will find everything you need to make a decent meal, all sourced within a few hours drive - certainly less than 10.

So one evening, when I found myself blessedly alone, in a quiet, tidy, empty house. I rejoiced.  Dinner could be my choice, and I was fortunate to have a kitchen full of local ingredients to work with.  A simple meal of mushrooms on toast but my goodness it was nice.

Mushrooms from Li-Sun exotic mushrooms.  A mix of chestnuts, enoki and king browns.  Grown by Noel Arrold in the railway tunnels near Mittagong.  The garlic from some organic boy who's name I can't remember, but I bought it from the Southside markets one Sunday morning.  The olive oil from under Mick's counter (Glendino's produce).  A little slurp of Country Valley Cream that comes from Picton, the toast was from a loaf of Dom's bread from Queanbeyan, the thyme came from my garden and the wine was a local Canberra semillon sauvignon blanc.  The one exception was some Victorian butter.

Local produce, with pleasure in every mouthful.  Plus Mad Men on DVD.  What more could a girl want?