http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1143/baconflowchartvj8.jpg

I recognize the cider, but don’t know where it’s from. Musgrave? And the Vermont maple syrup — we’ve had a jug of that around for years. Not much occasion for low-carbers to use syrup. Is the bread from Natural Ovens of Manitowoc?

Wow, looks great!! Unfortunately I’ll lose the quiz, but will guess at a few…

Peanut butter from the Cereal Barn?
Musgrave Orchards apple cider
Traders Point milk (or yogurt)
Sugarbush Maple Syrup(?)
Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse Bread

Great stuff, in any case!

By the way — for local chicken, I highly recommend Schacht Farms, just south of Bloomington. They have free-range chickens, Icelandic lamb, and heritage-variety turkeys (though they are out of lambs and turkeys for the season). We have a couple of heritage turkeys (Bourbon Reds) on-order for our first attempt at an all-local Thanksgiving this year (well, mostly local — I can’t survive without cranberry sauce, and have been unable to find a cranberry bog in the area!).

Just for fun, here are some photos from our last visit to Schacht:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mckimg/sets/72157602423421481/

Cheers!

Good enough for me—so, Geoff, we’ve gotta lunch date pending anyhow! The lifespan of a pin-the-tail entry is only about 24 hours so this quiz is closed now!

Good try ErictheBlue! (Peanut butter & bacon are two favorite food categories…probably the favorite of many Americans!) Those two items have complicated ramifications as suitable for my display of local-regional foods, but that’s a topic for later (peanuts aren’t grown in Indiana and Indiana Packers is owned by Mitsubishi…and the slaughtering practices are on an industrial scale.) But I included those items for their local connections and to come clean (I’m human, I love a good BLT & PBJ!!)

Sooo…here are the foods that are featured in the snapshot:

Cereal Barn fresh roasted peanut butter, Bloomington, IN
Indiana Packer bacon from the Butcher’s Block, Bloomington, IN

from Bloomingfoods:
Trader’s Point Creamery 100% Grass-fed Cow Whole Milk
locally grown oyster mushrooms
local slicing tomatoes
Eden Farm living plant Basil from Lebanon, Indiana
Sugarbush Maple Syrup, Salem, Indiana
Shagbark Hickory Syrup, Nashville, IN
Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse Bread
Musgrave Orchard Apple Cider

Tricky items:
local blackberry preserves, homemade wedding favor
local blackberry preserves, seedless, hostess gift from friend

Probably most difficult, in the zip-loc bag, an item from local Farmer’s Market:
Stone Ground “Praire Gold Soft White” Wheat Flour, ground at Ewenique Icelandic Sheep Farm, Seymour, Indiana.

And, just for fun:
a non-food item is the pair of kitchen scissors with a handle shaped like the Indiana state bird, the Cardinal…from Inner Chef!

About local Thanksgiving dinners’ regional ingredients: last year blogger Christine Barbour published an article about local ingredients for the festivity…you’ll definitely not have one iota of trouble going on an expedition for your own inspirational produce, ingredients, etc.! Still, a visit to Barbour’s “My Plate or Yours” has loads of detailed information…by a “serious” gourmet— (never, ever a hint of the pedestrian gourmand) shared generously by a local expert on food.

Okay, Geoff, you will set the date…and then we’ll talk food, politics, nutrition!!
(p.s. chutney made from local berries-apples might be a nice feature to try— in addition to renegade cranberry sauce?)

Oh, and for anyone who’s curious, the stir-fry laden with ginger, garlic, basil seems to be working on that common cold that’s going around!

For me, remembering The Tao is not so much about the food (the memory of a pate appetizer is nice…) but recalling that I had finally “arrived”…I felt grown-up going out to a groovy restaurant as a college student! Funny to think now about saving my tips as a counter girl at the Village Deli to go to The Tao! It closed soon after I arrived.

Were the Oyster Mushrooms from Homestead? They make a great Mushroom Burger.

It didn’t say “Homestead” on the little sign announcing the “local oyster mushrooms” in the basket at the co-op; I was so curious about how they are grown. They were as good as a savory carnivorous ingredient…

Is Homestead the place referred to here on the “Homestead-growers blog?”