Recently, I’ve been reflecting on the direction I want to take in 2025. What focuses do I want to keep? Where can I expand? The highest degrees of impact, I thought, would be right here at home: to care for my neighbors, support their businesses, reduce my carbon output and seek community connection.
One tangible resolution is to buy local whenever possible.
Would it be doable? Within the realm of sanity? To test this, I hosted a dinner party where the entire menu was local: sea salt from San Juan Island, cornmeal from Fairhaven Mill, salmon from Lummi Seafood Market in Ferndale, hazelnuts from Lynden’s Holmquist orchards and vinegar from Apple State Vinegar in Bellingham.
It took time to craft a menu and source every ingredient from within roughly 100 miles of home, but it was also so easy to find everything I needed to prepare a meal for family and friends. I started a database for these finds, and now have an extensive list of foods across categories that I can buy from my neighbors.
Local didn’t mean pricey, and it didn’t mean limited. It did mean a couple more errands, but almost everything on the menu was available at large grocery stores, making it easy to incorporate local shopping into my regular weekly grocery run.
So I’m expanding the scope of this column to include not just locally grown, in-season produce but locally grown and made ingredients and prepared foods as well. Each month, I’ll have a recipe for you that highlights these backyard ingredients and products.
We have a wealth of resources in Whatcom County, and I can’t wait to share in the bounty with all of you.
Affogato with a twist
To show how easy staying local can be, the recipe for my February column has only two ingredients with multiple local sources available. Affogato is a classic Italian dessert of ice cream and espresso. This is the best of two worlds: impressive and so simple it takes almost no time to make.
The basic recipe is this: add one or two scoops of ice cream to a dish. Pour over a hot shot of espresso (or strong coffee). Enjoy. But there are a couple of ways to take this simple treat from enjoyable to unforgettable, too. Consider upping your game — perhaps this Valentine’s Day.
I taste-tested several affogato variations with gelato from Chocolate Necessities, ice cream from Mallard Ice Cream and a few extra-special ingredients from Chuckanut Bay Distillery. (Coffee is so ubiquitous in Whatcom County I didn’t have to track down specifically local brews; you can find local coffee at any grocery store, farmer’s market or pantry.)

For a 21-plus crowd, add a shot of Chuckanut Bay Distillery Old Busker Coffee Liqueur, poured right over the ice cream along with the espresso or coffee. Old Busker is made from locally roasted and brewed Tony’s Coffee, real cane sugar, whole vanilla beans, and of course, Chuckanut Bay Distillery’s own spirits.
For a new taste experience suitable for all ages, add a few drops (maybe 1/8 teaspoon total) of the distillery’s Bourbon Barrel-Aged Soy Sauce to your ice cream dish as well. Soy sauce with ice cream? Yes. It is, in fact, “a thing.” A good sweet-and-salty combo has always been popular. Soy sauce on ice cream is a logical progression, as long as you keep a steady hand while pouring. In fact, the soy sauce was the dark horse of the tasting.
Coconut gelato from Chocolate Necessities went from delicious to spectacular. Lavender gelato (also from Chocolate Necessities) was fantastic, with the perfumed floral notes tempered by the sweet-salty
soy sauce.
Mallard is currently scooping Buu Chan Sesame Chili Crisp, a Lunar New Year collaboration with Buu Chan, a Bellingham company that makes fermented hot sauce, miso, kimchi, and my all-time favorite chili crisp. This flavor, while not my favorite with coffee, was definitely a stand-out with soy sauce. For diehard fans of sweet/savory, this is the move.
I even tested a few combinations with Chuckanut Distillery’s Bourbon Barrel-Aged Tamari Soy Sauce as well. This gluten-free elixir was almost too rich to pair with any of the ice cream and gelato flavors I served it with. One flavor worked best with the tamari: Mallard’s Super Vanilla, a blend of Tahitian and Madagascar vanilla. Here, the richer and more complex tamari was exactly right.
If you’re on the fence about soy sauce and ice cream, get a small spoonful of your favorite flavor, add a drop of soy sauce, and give it a whirl. You might find a surprising new favorite combination. And at the end of the day, you still have ice cream, coffee and a sense of adventure right here at home.
Hannah Green's Rooted Recipes column appears monthly.