Try this "local" dinner at home

Image by Anne With An "E" via Flickr

We started with Alaskan king crab and corn chowder.

The entree was ravioli stuffed with smoked mozzarella and artichokes, and I dressed two salads of organic mixed greens with organic extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I put a pan with more than two dozen Little Neck clams (photo) on the table. All but two had opened after I steamed them in  sake and a little sweet cooking wine.

The ravioli were in marinara sauce and I would have loved some bread to soak it up, but didn't put any out.

I drank wine. Then, I looked at the food and mentioned to my wife and son that soup, salad, olive oil, clams and ravioli had come from Costco, less than two miles from home.

While my wife was washing the pots, I drank the salty clam broth-sake mixture straight from the pan. A nice dinner.

My usual Monday run to Costco

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I usually make my weekly visits to Costco in Hackensack on Mondays. This is what I picked up today:

1. Two pounds of U.S.-grown strawberries, $5.99
2. Three pounds of Amy Lu preservative-free
    andouille chicken sausage, $13.99
3. Three pounds of Kirkland wild sockeye
     salmon fillets, $25.89
4. Two loaves of  Kirkland 100% whole grain bread, $3.99
5. Wild-caught Little Neck clams, $2.99 a pound
6. Six pounds of frozen broccoli, carrots and cauliflower, $6.59
7. Two pounds of Finlandia thin-sliced, lactose-free
    Swiss cheese, $8.99

Last Friday, I again went in search of Kirkland preservative-free smoked wild sockeye salmon from Alaska -- missing from the refrigerated case for two Mondays in a row -- and found some at $14.79 a pound.

Costco Wholesale, 80 S. River St., Hackensack; 
(201) 487-5471; open seven days, www.costco.com

Image via Wikipedia