Sunday, Monday...

Sunday, well, Sunday was my birthday. I'm getting closer to 40 every year. No stoppin' this train.

Rules - even Lenten Locavore Rules - are for breakin' on birthdays. I started the day with coffee and donuts from Dunkin Donuts, which my Beloved went out to get for me so that I could eat, drink, and read the NY Times in bed.

For lunch I had a sandwich on my Pita bread - thin slices of smoked gouda (MA), my leftover sauteed chard (MA) with goat cheese (MA), and gingered carrots (MA/VT). It may sound like a strange combination, but when you're eating local foods during Lent, you become one of those "beggars" who can't be "choosers." And actually, it was a surprisingly delicious sandwich. I washed it down with apple cider (MA).

Dinner undid all the lunchtime goodness. We went to my in-laws for a blow-out bash where we celebrated all the late-December through late-March family birthdays. There were 16 of us. Between us we consumed 6 large pizzas from Bertucci's. Then we had our cake and ate it, too. Nothing local going on for dinner.

This morning, still full, I had only 1/2 of a small yogurt (VT) for breakfast. For lunch, I had a reprise of Sunday's sandwich, minus the chard, which was gone, and plus some fresh mesclun from the same farm.

Tonight we went out with friends to celebrate my birthday. If you've been following along this week, you already know what a challenge it can be to get local food while dining away from home. You have to be thoughtful and intentional in your planning and do a little research. I took a look at the website of The Chefs' Collaborative - an organization that supports sustainable, local, and artisanal food production and helps to build relationships between farmers and chefs. Listed on their site were some of their member restaurants. And so, voila!

Tonight we dined at The Fireplace Restaurant in Brookline. I started with a glass of sparkling wine from Westport, MA, and a salad of arugula and beets, which, along with the rest of my meal - all of our meals - I presumed to be local...or at least as local as possible. As my entree, I had some of the most delicious lamb chops I've ever eaten, with roasted fingerling potatoes and a home-made sauerkraut. All good. For dessert, a cheeseplate featuring a cheddar from Vermont, a Tome from...somewhere in New England, and a Trappist-style cheese, Bridgid's Abbey, from Colchester, CT.

It was not an inexpensive dinner, but it was incredibly tasty and worthwhile paying someone else not only to prepare my food, but to concern himself with procuring it locally. My compliments to the chef!