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The 3rd installment of EAT is the last before I relocate to Amsterdam, NL and begin photographing my food excursions from abroad. At the top of my list is finding a friendly neighborhood farmers market that sells organic veggies and a bio-market for bulk-food items. This is next to acquiring my dream Dutch bike of course.
This set of photographs features many meals with salads and vegetable stir-fries, all acquired for free or through a bartering system. Since July 4 I have been working for a small organic vegetable farm every Sunday at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market. This is in addition to working for a stand that sells crab cakes and empanadas at farmers markets on Wednesdays and Thursdays. By working at the farmers market, I am able to buy food items from other vendors at a discount and trade for things like bread, yogurt, and carrot cake. I’m also able to take home as many veggies as I want from the farm I work for on Sundays. This past week I brought home 4 bunches of purple basil, 2 bunches of parsley, a bunch of collards and chard, and pounds of carrots, zucchini, salad mix, tomatoes, and romano beans—a wide and flat, but tender green bean that is my latest obsession. Last week we had so much arugula and basil that we had to make 2 batches of pesto with it. Overall, it has been a great summer because of my job at the market. We have cut down our grocery bill immensely and been able to gorge on peaches, nectarines, watermelons, cantaloupes, plums, cucumbers, summer squash, eggplant, corn, okra, and best of all, heirloom tomatoes. There were weeks when I’d bring home bags full of slightly over-ripe tomato “seconds” to mush up into a fresh marinara sauce. There were also weeks when I’d bring home dozens of peaches that were slightly dented to puree and freeze for a compote or sweet sauce later in the week.
Also included in this 3rd set of photographs are food shots from road trips and travels. Of note is the road trip Mike and I took with his grandma and mom up to Maine to visit his aunt and uncle’s organic farm. During the day we would hike in Acadia National Park with an un-fancy lunch of pb&j sandwiches and trail mix, but for dinner we were able to go right into Uncle Chuck’s fields and pick what we wanted to cook. One night I wanted to make a stir-fry with kale, eggplant, zucchini and onions, so we went around to various areas of the farm to harvest our dinner right then and there—a truly emotionally satisfying experience. Not only is eating and cooking food a good place for art and life to commingle, it is also a place to find inspiration and well-being. When asked what I will miss most about my 4.5+ years in Washington, DC, one of the items at the top of the list is fresh organic galanga ginger grown by Next Step Produce that is only available once a year at the Dupont market in the end of October and into November.
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