Alfalfa House

We're members of the local food co-op near our house. You take your own containers (or as Harriet endearingly says - 'containyers') and everything is not only organic, but sourced from ethical producers. We have recently gone gluten free (see here for more info) and they stock a lot of really helpful things for us, like buckwheat flour (which we use for berry pancakes each morning with maple syrup - oh yeah, this gluten free thing is a real chore!).

One thing I want to be mindful of in the new year is to reduce our consumption of packaging, especially packaging that is so transient. A plastic bag to get flour from one place to another and then be thrown away seems so silly when we can go here and stock it directly into the Tupperware/glass container we're going to use at home.

Harriet usually buys a date and coconut roll from here but they weren't stocking any today - boohoo from both of us! So we made do with a tahini, nut and date patty thing. Was so delicious I'm going to scope the ingredients when we go back and try to work out how to make them myself.

We also went to the local pub in the afternoon with friends who live just down the road from us (literally, they're on the same street) and James was most relieved when I asked him if he wanted a cider. Beer has gluten in it (obviously) and he'd forgotten about the much maligned (but in my mind delicious) apple beverage. Was so lovely to sit outside and have dinner; summer afternoons/evenings are the best.