Dark Days of Winter Week 5: Wine and Cheese

I'm a little behind on this post--Week 5 was the week between Christmas and New Year's, and my diet that week consisted of dessert, butter, gravy, dessert, and meat with a few starchy vegetables thrown in for good measure. And I also had dessert.

Before I talk about my local meal, I have to mention the amazing dessert that my in-laws always serve at holiday meals. It's called a Smith Island cake. This cake is typical of Smith Island, Maryland, and is characterized by multiple thin layers of cake separated by frosting. It's pretty awesome. The cake comes in many different flavors (vanilla with chocolate frosting, carrot, mint chocolate, etc.), but this Christmas the in-laws served this beautiful red velvet cake. As a former resident of the Deep South, I am very particular about my red velvet. This cake gets a thumbs-up. I'm not sure if the bakery used local ingredients, but the cake itself is definitely local to the area where my in-laws lived.

Back to the Eat Local Challenge--I haven't been able to go to the farmers' market because it is open on Sundays, and Christmas and New Year's Day fell on Sunday this year. And I didn't feel like defrosting any of the locally-sourced foods I have stored. I also just wanted to find a light meal after all the holiday excess. So this all-local meal consisted of VA wine, cheese, and apples. This was a new cheese that I tried--it's called Piedmont from the Everona Diary in Virginia, and is soft in texture and sharp in taste. I can't wait to go buy more from this dairy .

Here's wishing everyone a prosperous 2012! I think this is going to be the best year ever.

p.s. Interesting post about the story behind good luck foods that people eat on New Year's Day.