Fresh Food Frenzy

Two weeks ago, I played a trio gig at an amazing little bistro down near the city. We've played there a few times before, and without a doubt, the best part about playing there is getting a free meal. James, the head chef and owner, is a thoughtful, creative maker of all things delicious. My meal was a ravioli dish.. there was spinach, garlic, and perhaps mushrooms, and I swear I tasted goat cheese... heaven! Stevo had an oven baked flat bread with pesto, roasted garlic, sliced tomatoes, basil, brie and bacon.. Jess ordered a ratatouille grilled veggie dish with goat cheese and watercress and all that yummy in the tummy flavor... as well as a bean soup daily special with more amazing flavors. We all sampled from each others plates and I loved that I could taste the freshness in the locally purchased produce and foods. Inspiring, indeed.

I could not get the joy of the goat cheese out my mind, so earlier this week I splurged on a small amount, determined to toss it with something.. but what? I pulled down a couple of natural food cookbooks we have here (good ol' trusty well-worn Jane Brody's "Good Food Book" and the new Whole Foods Market cookbook, given to Don recently by our "foodie" friend JJ), and I was disheartened to find nothing with goat cheese in the Jane Brody and four options in the WFM book... but nothing caught my eye or seemed simple enough, so I may just eat the goat cheese with crackers! Always an option.

My windowsill is overflowing with funny shaped, ripening garden tomatoes, my barn hooks are brimming with dirty yellow onions drying out in bunches, the six leeks are ready to be pulled, and there are a few acorn squashes getting larger by the day out in the dirt.  Getting very excited for winter/comfort food meals, but this week we are experiencing very hot days and nights, so for now we grill outside and nibble on shrimp or chicken and the last of the beans or zucchini from the garden (though for last night's meal, I broke down and bought some local corn on the cob.. at 19 cents an ear, it was too painful to pass up fresh Maine grown corn!)

For this evening, we've decided to splurge again and go to see some friends play at a "smokehouse" in the next town over. We went there for the first time two weeks ago, and the food was very tasty indeed. I need to get to know their menu better!

*Edit: Have you all seen this awesome food site? Type in what you have on hand, and it finds recipes for you! Goat cheese recipe of my dreams, here I come!