ELC Days Sixteen and Seventeen

Yesterday I had leftover hamburger casserole for lunch, and I finished it off today at lunch. Good comfort food, and I seem to need that this week. It's just been stressful all the way round, but not necessarily awful.

Yesterday afternoon a friend called to wish us a happy anniversary. "Oh my God," I said. "Thank you for reminding me."

Sandy came in from work.

"Honey, did you forget that it was our anniversary?" I asked.

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Oh my God. I'm sorry," he said.

I could've had some fun with this, but I decided to be kind.

So we went to Bert's to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. We usually go to Bert's for special occasions, although we did not for the last two birthdays. My only problem with Bert's is that it is so hard to choose from the huge menu of seafood dishes. And they have other entrees now, like elk.

I had remembered that Bert's had a card on the tables about a farm that they bought their veggies from, but I'm not sure of my memory now, because the waiter did not know. I asked him what seafood came from either North Carolina, South Carolina, or Virginia - I was ready for some shellfish. But I was disappointed, because he came back with the answer flounder and grouper, fishes that I don't particularly care for. I ordered the grilled feta cheese and leek grouper with a roasted red pepper relish, and I chose sides that I thought might have a chance of being local - green salad, collard greens, and cheesy grits.

I wrote Bert's an email today and I hope that they will send me some information about their local and regional buying connections, now or in the near future. I'll write about it if they answer my questions. Bert's is a favorite of mine and I suspect that maybe the waiter was wrong or there's a reason for them not having local food right now.

Tonight, it is another late dinner. I am waiting for my baked lemon chicken breasts to cool down. Remember that lemons were one of my exemptions. I used the leftover olive oil and honey wine vinegar salad dressing from the first week over the chicken, plus lemon juice, lemon zest, and dried basil. Side dish is navy beans and lamb's quarters again. Not very original, but damn, they were good and I was ready for them again.

Sources:
Chicken - Back Woods Family Farm
Honey Wine Vinegar - Quaker Acres Apiaries
Olive Oil and Lemon - Deep Roots Market
Basil - My back yard
Navy Beans - Faucette Farms
Lamb's Quarters - "weeds" from the community garden