Forgive us our culinary sins...

So, here's the story...

A little over a week ago, the Lenten Locavore went on a vacation to a sub-tropical island far, far away. Of course, I tried to eat as many local foods as possible while there - lots of fish and tropical fruits, hot peppers, sweet potatoes, fried plantains, conch chowder...rum. Certainly a lot of foods are shipped into the Caribbean, but I did my best to try to eat foodstuffs from the region. What a hardship. You know.

I must say, my body was very, very happy with the fruits in particular. Locally available New England fruits in winter pretty much means apples - applesauce, apple cider - when you haven't prepared way in advance and either canned or frozen your own more varied fruits and berries. And let's face it, I'm a big banana eater who was missing my bananas.

Anyway, that's all well and good. The problem came when I returned home 2 days ago STILL craving tropical fruits. In fact, I'm now dreaming of one day opening a little Caribbean grill up here in New England. If I can get my Beloved to move closer to the tropics, this will not be the locavorian dilemma that it is today. But here we are. Today is today. Yesterday I went to a regular old grocery store and bought all sorts of anti-local foods...coconut milk, shaved coconut, mango, kiwi, banana, plantain (green and chips), pineapple (fresh, canned, juice), orange juice, peppers (red, green, and hot), and pigeon peas.

Last night I made us some pigeon peas and rice to accompany our most delicious coconut pork chops (really, really yummy) and our rum punch. Right at this minute I'm baking 2 loaves of banana daquiri bread from a Caribbean cookbook that I bought while down in the Virgin Islands. This is a terribly sinful situation. Clearly, I've fallen off the wagon. And so, to at least partially redeem myself, I also baked a loaf of (almost) completely Local New England Whole Wheat Quick Bread. I first made this the week before my trip and it was absolutely delicious...even my Baking Chef thought so when I offered her a slice...and now she wants the recipe from me. Imagine that!

Here it is...adapted from Mark Bittman's (Boston Globe) "Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread":

Butter for greasing the pan (or oil)
1 2/3 cup buttermilk (or plain yogurt)
2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of cornmeal
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup of maple syrup (Bittman suggests molasses, but that would be more Caribbean than New England, wouldn't it.)

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x4 or 9x5 loaf pan.
2. Mix together the flour, cornmeal, salt and baking soda. Mix the syrup with the buttermilk.
3. Stir liquid ingredients into dry ingredients just enough to combine. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean....45 minutes to an hour.
5. Cool on rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool completely.

Very simple to make. Very nutritious. Very delicious. And now that I've found local sources for the whole wheat flour and the cornmeal, (almost) completely local (except for the salt and the soda, of course.)

I'll eat up these breads this week, keep putting tropical fruits on my locally grown and rolled oats, maybe even try some soldier beans and oat groat "peas and rice," and we'll just see how long this Caribbean Cooking Fad will last...how many days 'til Easter?