Home on Leave

Sometimes to eat local you need to come home from your Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan. My girl, 1st Lieutenant Becca, is home on leave for a spell from flying Medivac Black Hawks for the US Army.

1st Lieutenant Sanderson with Apollo the Stress Dog.
His job is to be a Big Love, to be next to soldiers who need to feel safe for just a moment. 

We met for dinner at her mom's home. She says she misses fresh fruit, good Italian food, and green growing things.

Once a month, her unit gathers for a barbecue. They collectively save up their breakfast hard boiled eggs for a few days and turn them into deviled eggs. They have turned an oil can into a smoker/grill that does a decent job. Once a month, everyone takes a moment, gathers around, and they touch base.

As a Food Blogging community, we talk a lot about ideal ingredients, turning up our noses at HFC and conventionally grown fair. I would put forth that the idea of a medivac team saving their breakfast eggs in order for a chance at a taste from home is a more powerful testament to the power of food to transport and sustain that any diatribe on Certified Naturally Grown. And I'm telling you that the best meal I had this week was the Simple Goodness at Bec's mom's home with Bec safe at the table with us.