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December 01, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Beet Geodes

beet geodes

The first step in drying beets is cleaning and peeling to reveal the beauty beneath.

July 22, 2009

Wordless Wednesday: From a farmer's hands to yours

artichoke in farmer's hands

July 11, 2008

USDA to release names of stores with recalled meat...sometimes

The US Department of Food and Agriculture has just announced that in the future they will be making public the names of stores with recalled meat and poultry.

"The identity of retail stores with recalled meat and poultry from their suppliers has always been a missing piece of information for the public during a recall," said Schafer. "People want to know if they need to be on the lookout for recalled meat and poultry from their local store and by providing lists of retail outlets during recalls, USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service will improve public health protection by better informing consumers."

Sweet!

Well, sort of...

Continue reading "USDA to release names of stores with recalled meat...sometimes" »

June 23, 2008

Tools: Seasonal Produce Map

Epicurious has a sweet little applet that you just might find useful: an interactive Peak Season Map. It's simple to use, just select a state and a month to display a list of produce that is likely to be available at farmer's markets. (I'm going to check when I go to the market this weekend and see how the list matches up to reality. It says there should still be rhubarb and I haven't seen any in weeks. Then again, maybe it is still growing on the other side of the mountains.)

Each type of produce has links to a description of the ingredient and recipes, some also have preparation and shopping tips. It looks like it could be a handy thing to have bookmarked, particularly when planning for the future or sharing recipes with friends in other places, or to reassure yourself that berry season starts next month and that's really not so long to wait.

April 09, 2008

Quick question for the vegetarians, vegans and the like...

I am in the middle of writing a cookbook and would like to include some tips for parents of children who have declared they will no longer eat food with faces. Whether it's nutrition, the meatless recipe that you cooked 3-4 times a week at first, or the delicate handling a child who seems to be rejecting your lovingly prepared meal, parents need help with this. So, two simple questions:

  • If you could some advice to the parents of a newly vegetarian/vegan child, what would it be?
  • What is the worst thing you can do if your child decides to eat a meatless diet? (Personal experiences from hell are welcome.)

Thanks for your contributions, everyone.

September 17, 2007

What I ate on my summer nonVacation ~ part 2

  baby artichoke in hands Everywhere you look these days, there are lamentations of summer's demise. I know fall is coming, and darned quickly too - but it is still harvest time out there in the fields and the local farm market is still bursting with goodness. Some seasons are just starting - last week's CSA bag was heavy with the first of the Stockhouse's sweet, tender corn. Not the last, mind you, the first.

Besides, summer is eternal in the photo archives.

Herewith, I offer part two of What I ate while I was notBlogging this summer: the farmer's market edition.

Continue reading "What I ate on my summer nonVacation ~ part 2" »

September 11, 2007

What I ate on my summer nonVacation - part 1

All of this lovely food came from over in the next valley where a couple of my friends have spent the last six months toiling away from dusk to dawn, building an organic farm for a new bed and breakfast. How cool of a job is that?

While it is also really hard work, as Dubya might say, Sarah (yes, our lady of the Cookie Lavender) and Connor always seem to glow with the accomplishment of creating a thriving organic farm. And who can blame them, just look at this stuff!

magical purple beans

I just know Alice would love these magical purple beans! What's not to love?

That iridescent purple that cloaks the mundane green bean is absolutely stunning. Yet by the time the bean is served, it has disappeared! It is a special treat just for the cooks, a tiny bit of backstage magic that makes it that much more fun to have a small person, like Alice, helping you in the kitchen and the garden.

Continue reading "What I ate on my summer nonVacation - part 1" »

October 25, 2005

Taming the wily leek

Leeks

I didn't get in much of a garden this past summer, and a bit of what I did manage to get planted was either late or a gift from a generous friend with too many starts—or both. One of the late group of vegetables was leeks; a packet of seeds emerged during the move and, since they were dated for 2002, I tossed them into a bare patch of dirt to see what happened. Well, what do you know, leeks happened!

The leeks are just getting large enough to selectively harvest and, lacking scallions for a recipe the other day, I pulled half a dozen from the soil...along with an awful lot of the soil. Which brings us to the point of today's post. Leeks can be intimidating to the uninitiated, what with all those dirt-collecting layers. Cleaning them can be a challenge: if you cut them up much at all, they fall apart and while you can wash them, cutting is a pain; if you don't cut them up, there's no way to get them clean. What's a cook to do?

Continue reading "Taming the wily leek" »

September 16, 2005

My own private Iron Chef

It all started with an innocent remark, "No, I didn't have time to get in a garden this year, I'd love some stuff from yours." Then I forgot about it for a couple of days, because we were at a wine-tasting and there was an auction going on.

Luckily for me, my friend K. didn't forget. In fact, she remembered in a big way. I now have magic purple beans (they turn green when you cook them), tomatoes, pattypan squash, cukes, rainbow chard, onions (both green and red), and serrano peppers. There's also a bag full of herbs including beautiful rosemary, epazote, and some other herbs I can't remember.

Now the question is what to do with the bounty.

Continue reading "My own private Iron Chef" »

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