Day Six: Bounty of Grace

Weight: 200.1

I've beaten myself up in a few recent posts. I've been cheating on the plan in minor ways. And though I think that getting gifts of vegetable garden surplus from friends might be considered cheating, since I didn't grow it, today I am contemplating grace, and thinking of gift food thus. This morning, I had no time, once again, to prepare a lunch or breakfast. I was racing from place to place to get ready for a meeting off-site at a hotel for coffee. I drank coffee, but, since it was a 10AM meeting, I was not socially obligated to eat, as I was yesterday. Unfortunately, the gent sitting across from me ordered a delicious looking eggs Benedict. As he ate, I couldn't control my belly as it growled; fortunately the ambient noise masked my gut sounds. The bigger frustration was that I had no lunch to look forward to.

Here's the grace: when I arrived at my office, a co-worker had a full reusable grocery bag full of garden harvest. I feel like I owe a great Friday to my first BFF from the northwest, Dr. Caroline. It was delicious and full of things I've not yet tried. I was so grateful that I think the lesson on grace and unreserved gift giving justifies my indulgence. Thus ...

Lunch: nasturtium (I'm now addicted to this great flower, that it turns out was growing in my front yard. Didn't know it was edible till now), a garden tomato eaten like an apple, a super sweet onion also eaten like an apple, chocolate mint (the mint tastes like chocolate somewhat) and spearmint to mask the onion breath.

I am in love with the nasturtium for several reasons: it can reseed itself, is beautiful, is entirely edible, much better tasting than anything else growing in my flower garden (it was there when we got to the house), attracts predatory insects to fend off the bad ones, and repel other bad pests. I am grateful for the grace found in creation: this plant is glorious.

Dinner: fried green tomatoes (small), sweet onion, dandelion leaves, nasturtium leaves, garlic from my back yard garden, using just a drop of olive oil (sorry) and a shake of turmeric. I enjoyed this so much that I made a rash vow to continue this another month after the experiment but only to add an occasional Thai rice noodle to what I cooked above. Desert was my last ugly apple found in Japanese gulch.

My kids found some snails. I will be researching their edibility and if I can consume them, I can kill two birds with one stone: disposing of the pests that are eating my garden lettuce and gaining much needed protein. There are a lot of huge banana slugs out here, but I'm not even interested in researching their edibility. I doubt they are any good because they must have a secretion that protects them from predators--if I'm wrong I don't want to know because they are disgusting to behold.

[Later addendum: I know found a source of protein more plentiful, environmentally advantageous, and probably safer--garden escargots. See http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1993-06-01/Escargots-in-Your-Garden.aspx If nothing else emerges from my experiment, this gold mine of gourmet food and pest control will be the thing that made it all worth it. ]

Another cheat: one bottle of Kikokoman plum wine split between me and my wife. I figure, since I know how to make wine, it is the closest thing to what I could have had tonight, had I planned ahead or had time to ferment. Unfortunately, I taste quite a bit of sugar in it and I'm worried, after such a good veggie meal that I might have gained a bit of weight today.

Note: the Internet is invaluable in my experiment. Should some crisis lead to a failed web access, I would not be able to survive very easily. I need to get on the ball and go fishing tomorrow morning.