Weekly Local Booty 12/7-12/13/08 and A Very Special Guest (Proof that Republicans CAN have a sense of humor - if they want)

Before I introduce our very special guest for this week's Local Booty Update, I want to make a note. I noticed when I was at The Root Cellar that more "non-locals" were arriving (the Cellar brings in out of state organic produce over the winter to supplement), and the "locals" - at least in terms of fresh produce - are declining. I will likely start buying a few of these non-locals from the Cellar each week and I'll try not to feel too bad about it. But hey - we've got to eat this winter, don't we? (And we have come pretty far in terms of food miles compared to, say, even last year.) I'm also not sure one can really be a true (non-dairy eating vegetarian) locavore either, at least not in the Midwest, where I call home. Anywho, you might not be able to tell from the photos below - we still managed to get a lot of good loot this week - I think it might be the last week for some of it, like the tomatoes, peppers, and onions.

Anyways, enough of that. We have a very special guest on this humble blog. None other than everyone's favorite president:















That's right ladies and gentlemen, Mr. George W. Bushy himself.

Why, you may ask, do I have a framed picture of George W. Bush, in what appears to be a handmade frame in our apartment? The answer is simple: protection. If the thought police come 'a knockin' on our door any time between now and January 20th, we've got "the big guns" - how could we be anything other than good, upstanding Americans with a picture of GW? (If we added a couple of NRA memberships and a crucifix, I think we'd really be set.)















Here he is feeling very festive, quite fitting for fall wouldn't you say?

In all seriousness, we had a White Elephant gift exchange at our office holiday party and this was the contribution by the graduate assistant in our office (studying political science), who happens to be a staunch conservative. As noted in the title to this post, proof that the dark side can, indeed, still have a sense of humor. I enjoyed this gift so much that I "stole" it from the lucky initial recipient. Too bad we couldn't have swapped gifts - my White Elephant gift, two hideously beautiful "peace garden stones" for his beloved GWB portrait - I think it would have been a fitting exchange, don't you? (The "Peace" garden stones were given to us by a very interesting person we met while doing some activism.)

I did question for a moment though how he came to have a framed picture of GWB. I figured he probably put it together for the event, but for a brief moment, I did wonder...

Onto the local booty, featuring, of course, our guest of honor.

I made two trips to The Root Cellar this week, there is only so much one person can carry (especially when I try not to take up two seats on the bus).

This is trip one (and no, we don't plan on eating this all this week, we were stocking up on a few things):















Starting from the bottom center this week: Missouri grown pecans (!!!!!), yellow potatoes, Zia's pasta sauce, a pie pumpkin, GWB, 3 small buttercup squash, another pie pumpkin, East Wind almond butter, East Wind peanut butter, and a not-so-pretty-but-still-perfectly-fine spaghetti squash.

And the second trip to the Cellar, I paid attention to this one, it ran $40:















Starting from the bottom left: a bar of locally produced Patric 67% cacao dark chocolate (a serious treat), yellow onions, bell peppers, Anaheim peppers, leeks, garlic, apples, tomatoes, dried cilantro, organic vanilla extract (not local), spinach, GWB (not local, thankfully), shiitake mushrooms, and eggs.

And of course, our weekly trip to Uprise Bakery:















In addition to our special guest, we have the "usual" - ciabatta and a half pound of whole bean fair trade organic coffee. This week we got "Midnight Sun", a dark roast.

So, I'm sure anyone who reads this blog for any period of time would infer that I have a weird sense of humor - you would be right. GWB: case in point. Anyways, I noticed something interesting about the dried cilantro I got from The Root Cellar. Tell me, wise bloggers, what is wrong with this picture?















This tickles me in the same way that the local news gets me (or Democracy Now! when Juan Gonzalez is on the show), I love it when they mess up (or get confused, or something goes wrong with the feed or camera).

I don't think this will surprise anyone (especially if you've met me in person) but I could never tell an actual joke in real life - I guess I am too monotone and not very good at delivery because people can't often tell when I'm joking :-), so I have to go with a different angle (aka questionably funny) - which helps I suppose, since I have a different sort of sense of humor.

Have a great weekend everyone!

'Til next time.