Sunday, July 22, 2012

22 July 2012






It has been a very fun weekend! On Friday night, we had Mexican with John and Cory, and then we went to Canton Lanes to bowl a few games with our friends Jennifer, Abraham and Carmen. It was a lot of fun!

On Saturday, Jeff and I went to the Canton Farmers Market and found sound great produce: lettuce, lady peas, okra, heirloom tomatoes and watermelon. We also picked up a couple of the t-shirts that Grant Design Collaborative designed for the farmers market. Afterward, we had some great pancakes at the Soul Food Market! Saturday turned into a rainy day, so we drove up to Ellijay to stock up on some local grass fed beef and heritage pork from Mountain Valley Farm! It's always great to see Suzy, and we have offered to bring several of our friends along the next time we visit. Last night, we stayed home and played Monopoly with the guys: Cory, John, TJ and Matt. The game lasted about six hours, and my upscale hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place delivered a win for me!

This morning, I made homemade buttermilk pancakes from scratch, and we cooked some sausage from Mountain Valley. It was, by far, the best sausage I have ever tasted! After a late breakfast, our friends Jennifer, Abraham and Erin came over and floated in the pool with us for a while. For tonight's Sunday Supper, I used all of the local produce and cooked a local grass fed pot roast from Mountain Valley. It is so great to know the people who grow and raise your food! Cory and John joined us for pot roast, fried okra, fresh lady peas and tomatoes and basil from the garden at One Britt. It was delicious and extremely satisfying!

Here's to a great weekend, good food and a busy week ahead.

The Menu:

- Georgia Grass Fed Pot Roast from Mountain Valley Farm

- Southern Fried Okra

- Fresh Lady Peas with Mountain Valley Bacon

- Heirloom Tomatoes and Basil from the Garden at One Britt

Sunday, July 8, 2012

08 July 2012

Well, it has been a few weeks since my last post, but it has been a busy summer so far. I spent a week in Chicago for work, and we managed to sneak in a long weekend at the beach with friends a few weeks ago. The past two weeks have simply been too hot to fire up the Viking! Today, however, I had to get back in the kitchen to prepare the fresh local vegetables I found at the Canton Farmers Market on Saturday! The produce is really beginning to come in, and I am excited about the rest of the summer. Hopefully, it will cool off and rain soon.

Today, most of my family came down for our annual We Are The Grants pool party! We had a great time, and it was especially fun to watch my twin grand nephews, Pierce and Reagan, enjoy the pool. We had a great day and missed those that could not make it, as well as the others who are no longer with us.

For tonight's Sunday Supper, I went with all locally grown vegetables. I bought some of the season's first okra and silver queen corn on Saturday, and both were delicious. I also cooked some Lady Peas and cornbread. We had the first heirloom tomatoes from the garden, small yellow Virginia Sweets. They are like candy, and I am looking forward to the other varieties. The fig tree is bountiful this year, but it will be at least a couple of more weeks until they are ripe.

So, that's about it for this week. Stay cool out there, and eat your vegetables!

The Menu:

- Fried Young Okra

- Silver Queen Corn with Truffle Oil

- Fresh Lady Peas

- Virginia Sweet Tomatoes with Basil, Balsamic Vinegar
   and Crunchy Salt

- Iron Skillet Cornbread