Crazy Old Man

Recently, I found myself in Asheville, North Carolina with an old friend. (um, old as in I've known and been friends with her forever.) I've been to Asheville many a time over the years and just love the way they have revialized their downtown community. They have a serious food culture, and arts culture, and a real vibe of "be true to you" with their appreciation of people/critters of all stripes.

In the past, I often ate at the local veggie/pot-smokin'-kids on the balcony type places. This time, we went upscale and dined at a lovely French place.

My friend had the steak au poivre and I had truite grille en salade nicoise. I've tried three times now to upload photos, but effin' blogger is having difficulties with that function. (The steak is on the left, the trout on the right.)

We had a flight of creme brulees for dessert (lavender, rosemary, lime, and grand marnier) that were so perfect and delicious I forgot to take a picture.

Fast forward to this past weekend when I visit the Old People. The Old Man was in a particularly difficult mood. I think he gets cranky when he isn't the center of attention. He has a nasty habit of answering for the Old Woman, which makes me be even more pointed about speaking directly to her and picking subjects I know she appreciates. So, I brought up recent travels and cookery. I mentioned that I was so jealous of communities that can manage to support so many lovely, locally owned restaurants whereas I live in culinary hell. I told her of this particular meal and pointed out that in addition to being a perfect meal, many of the ingredients were from local sources/farms.

The Old Man butted in and remarked that the local sourcing alone was enough for him to not eat there. WTF? I pointed out that supporting the local farmers can only be a good thing, right? (You former farmer yourself you crazy old man . . . that part stayed in my head) He went on to rant that the smaller the production, the lower the attention to quality. Again, WTF?

The Old Man, who avoided being sent to Europe during "the big one" because of the farm he tended, has to be the only person on the planet who thinks local sourcing and supporting local farms/farmers is a bad thing.