Have you seen this month's edition of Sunset magazine?

The staff, inspired by the eat-local movement, embarked on what it called a one-block diet, meaning just about everything it ate originated within one block of the magazine's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters. Staffers planted and harvested vegetables, made beer and wine, raised bees to produce honey and mixed up a batch of sea salt. (Did you know it takes three quarts of Pacific Ocean water for a ½ cup salt?)

I devoured the issue while I was on vacation, sitting on the beach at Lake Tahoe, munching Ritz crackers probably shipped from goodness knows where. Everyone should eat local, I thought. And how hard could it be in Modesto, the center of California's Central Valley agriculture?

Harder than I thought, it turned out.

I started by picking this week's recipe, a panzanella salad, figuring that most of the ingredients _ at least the tomatoes, bread, peppers and olive oil _ should be available at the farmers market. I asked our recipe testers to seek out local ingredients, too.

In my quest to be a good steward of the earth, I walked from my house to the market _ eight long blocks in the hot sun. The kids whined so much that I relented and let them ride in the stroller.

Ever push a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old in a double stroller? In the same blazing heat that makes the Central Valley an agricultural hub? Talk about killing my enthusiasm for eating local.

I didn't bring a shopping list, so I forgot a couple of key ingredients, including the peppers. But I did pick up most of what I needed, including local olive oil and some perfect red-ripe tomatoes that somehow survived the trip home in the stroller. The rest I bought on my weekly trip to the grocery store.

Preparing the recipe was time-consuming. There was a lot of chopping, and it took a fair bit of time to brown the bread in the frying pan (more than the 10 minutes the recipe specifies). But all that didn't take as much time as, say, making sea salt, so I ended up purchasing it.

Another thing: I ate a few bread cubes as they were browning. OK, so I ate more than a few. Who can resist sizzling cubes of crusty bread drenched in olive oil? So, by the time I tossed the salad together, it was heavy on tomatoes and light on bread.

Still, it was wonderful. A bowlful of summer. The tomatoes were juicy and flavorful, the basil was sweet, and the capers, vinegar and mustard combined to add just the right tang. I'd make it again despite the hassle.

But you'll never catch me making my own sea salt.

___

PANZANELLA

This recipe is from "Barefoot Contessa Parties!" by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter, $35).

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons good olive oil

1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced ½-inch thick

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

½ red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced

20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons capers, drained

For the vinaigrette:

1 teaspoon finely minced garlic

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar

½ cup good olive oil

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.