June 2008


…so one of the rules to the RI 100 mile diet is that if were are going to eat out, the restaurant that we are going to eat at must use ingredients and food that is within the 100 mile radius. If someone else invites us out to a restaurant that rule does not apply. For our final non-local meal, we ate at Clio in Boston on Friday before the Josh Ritter show at Symphony Hall. Ingrid was up in Waterville Valley all week at a conference, so I met her in Westboro and we drove into Boston for our 6 o’clock reservation (the dining spot was unbeknownst to her). All I can say about the experience is that Chef Kenneth Oringer is my new culinary hero!! He tends to lean towards the Molecular Gastronomy end of the culinary spectrum and was invited to the 2006 Madrid Fusion Summit for Molecular Gastronomy. We did not have enough time to do the tasting menu (they offer a 9 and 14 course), so we made selections from the menu:

Surprise from Chef: We both recieved a “Green Tomato Martini” which was the juice from green tomatoes, finely diced shallot and large caper berry served in a martini glass with a red tomato “Popsicle” served on the side.

Ingrid:
Beverage:”Frozen Hot Chocolate” cocktail- prepared tableside with liquid nitrogen as the freezing agent.
App: 5 cheese plate with accoutrements.
Main: Soft shelled crab tempura.
Dessert: Chocolate Bon-bons.

Josh:
Beverage: Gogi berry and elderflower cocktail.
App: Lacquered foie gras with bourbon foam.
Main: Veal scallopine with sweetbreads.
Dessert: Peach “Capsule”- picture a hockey puck of frozen peach goodness with more liquid peach goodness inside!

This meal was quite exquisite- everything was outstanding…the “Capsule” is driving me crazy because I can’t figure out how he did it…now if Ingrid will just let me get a tank of liquid nitrogen…

When I was living up in Portsmouth, NH, Josh and I were addicted to the fabulous Portsmouth Farmers’Market – though Josh didn’t love the time it started – 8 am. It was a great market – lots of things to choose from and friendly vendors who we got to know. We liked chatting – me more than Josh until he had his cup of coffee – with the vendors about their produce or meat like lamb and chicken.
However, last year we moved to Rhode Island – away from our favorite farmers’market, away from everyone we loved buying the best peaches, lamb, salad greens from. But we started hitting all the RI markets in the area and have found vendors similar to those in NH. In addition, soon after we moved to RI, Josh and I read the book Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. We both thought about eating locally…though maybe not for a year, would be a challenge we’d like to tackle. About a year ago, we chose July 2008 as the first month of our experiment and July 1st, 2008 is approximately 28 hours away.
So Josh and I have spent the last year searching out farms, farm stands, and markets that have foods and beverages (thank goodness there are so many RI vineyards). In the last week I have picked over 21 pounds of strawberries (those are the berries I picked), Josh has been experimenting with corn meal (the only “grain” grown within 100 miles that we have found so far), we planted tomatoes, squash, eggplant, leeks (they look like green hairs right now) and multiple other edibles and we think (and hope). We are ready to go!?!…

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