A Derby Day dinner

I love a challenge. And I love two challenges even more.

As we participate in the learning process that is the Eat Local Challenge, we are also continuing with our everyday lives. And in the South, the Kentucky Derby is a special day--a day that deserves a special spread of food.

Here's the all-local menu:

• Our own homemade brawn (AKA head cheese) on locally made bread with Sauer's mustard

• Our own asparagus baked with Duke's mayonnaise and the only un-Southern ingredient, a bit of Parmesan cheese

• Individual shortcakes (made with Logan Turnpike Mill whole wheat flour, Southern Biscuit flour, and organic N.C. milk) with local strawberries and Georgia whipped cream.

And of course it wouldn't be the Kentucky Derby without mint juleps! I harvested some sprigs of mint from our herb garden, and we scared up a bottle of Tennessee-distilled George Dickel whisky.

But what else is that in the picture? It's a four-pack of Wake N' Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout from Terrapin Beer Co., Athens, Ga. It's brewed with locally roasted Jittery Joe's coffee. I don't know what it's going to taste like, but I thought we'd better sock some away for later on this weekend.