Lenten Practices

So this local eating experiment is part of our Lenten practice. You know, Lent is the time when some Christian faiths encourage the faithful to give up something, take on something, or generally clean up some part of their lives for the 40 days preceding Easter. This is supposed to symbolize the 40 days that Jesus wandered and fasted and prayed in the wilderness before being crucified. (NOTE: I'm no theology student, so cut me some slack if I've gotten that only partially right. We are, after all, Episcopalians and we take these things seriously in a very laid-back kind of way...but I digress).

So this is part of our Lenten practice. And the proposed practice was nearly diverted last week before we even started when Charlie realized that this would mean 40 days without his favorite Louisiana-style hot sauce. He joked, "Can't I have two exceptions, one for ice cream and one for hot sauce?" I asked him if
he thought that Jesus had prayed while out in the wilderness "Dear Heavenly Father, this would all be a lot easier if I only had some hot sauce." Charlie conceded, of course, but I think I could see him rolling his eyes as he turned his back. I can get pretty dramatic when I'm excited about something, and I'm excited about this. It will undoubtedly be part of Charlie's Lenten practice to try to be patient with me until the end of Lent. May God be with him...

As a sort of practice for the practice, we went to the winter farmer's market last Saturday and were encouraged by what we found.

• Squash, of course, including spaghetti which will help fill the pasta void
• walnuts
• frozen blueberries ($6 for a pound and a half, yikes!)
• golden flax (yeah!)
• beets
• potatoes
• onions
• leeks
• garlic
• eggs

I should have grabbed some apples and some greens but I didn't. All this stuff available and it's still the middle of winter! As a practice meal we ate local on Saturday night. I made a frittata of beet greens, onions, garlic, eggs and some hard goat cheese from the First Alternative Co-Op down the street. I used real butter to saute the greens, onions and garlic which is a change from our usual heart-healthy vegetable/olive oil. The flavor (and smell) were distinctively different. Richer, deeper. We may actually be able to make this happen...does it count as a Lenten practice if we enjoy it?