The Color Blue

Have you ever had those days that just make you happy to be. Saturday, Sunday and today were those days for me. The summer has finally said good-bye and warm fall was here for, oh- approximately 2 days, and has now relinquished to cool fall...WELCOME. In the sun it is warm and puts some pink on your cheeks and in the shade its cool, if not a bit cold. So- if you can catch the sun with a breeze, it makes for the prettiest days in the world. They are the days that remind me of my childhood- well, I guess middle school and especially high school- where boyfriends would come pick me up or I would play tennis. It reminds me of my mom putting wire baskets in the shapes of pumpkins and ghosts (maybe ghosts- were there ghosts, jess?...) filled with candy corn and candy pumpkins- though she would only buy like 2 bags per season so we had to make it last...

Then picking out costumes for Halloween when it was this temperature *60-70s* but in actuality Halloween was about 45* that night- so your costume was ruined with your awesome fall coat. I think my favorite Halloween costume was a Minnie Mouse outfit- my sister gave me a picture of me and her in our costumes from that year, framed- I love that picture.

Two years ago when I first moved to Atlanta and had a random Saturday off- it may have been in the early spring- the sky was perfect and me and JB went to Piedmont Park to let Sami play and enjoy the wonderful weather. Like I said, I think it was in the spring- either way, the sky was like this Saturday, Sunday and Monday this weekend and it was so pretty it made my heart hurt.



I also was able to participate in an event on Saturday called "Out Standing in the Field". REALLY COOL!! It is basically a traveling catering gig, which sets up at farms and pairs with a local chef. 2 years ago when I began working at Watershed they participated in this event under Chef Peacock. This year Chef Steven Satterfield *former Watershed Executive Sous Chef* was chosen to partner with Love is Love Farm (based out of the Glover Farm in Douglasville) and Fudge Family Farms (pork farmers out of Birmingham) and Decimal Point Farms (Mary Rigdon (sp) who raises goats and makes the best cheese from them).

It was an AWESOME experience and meal. The company sets up one large table that usually stretched through the fields of the farm for 150 people to enjoy the 5 course meal. This is a rough explanation of our meal:
I.
Chicken liver on crostini with pickled radishes and muscadines and peppercress
Watermelon and Daikon radishes with whipped Decimal Point Farm Feta and Johnson Dairy's Buttermilk
Buckwheat bellinis with whipped DPF Chevre with herbs and country ham, roasted mushrooms and chives
Pickled Shrimp and chili oil
II.
Love is Love farm lettuces and arugula with radishes and pickled LIL beets, soft boiled eggs in a shallot vinaigrette
III.
Oven roasted eggplant, peppers, and red onion
Wood grilled quail, rubbed with an herb butter
IV.
Fudge Farms Pork loin, rubbed with garlic and sage
Sweet potatoes in a brown sugar glaze
Sauteed local greens *sweet potato tops, mustards, kale*
V.
Cast iron apple cakes with vanilla creme anglaisse

Out Standing In the Field was a lot of fun to work, I hope one day I get to enjoy it sitting down. This isn't our table- but just gives you the idea how strong the impact of eating where your food comes from really is.