grub fest

looking for werk in all the right places...

2012-01-18T09:04:00.005-04:00

I'm a free agent America.

This morning I applied for three pastry positions on opposing sides of the country. They all sprang up together this morning on goodfoodjobs.com and my Mother always said not to put all my eggs in one basket. It's going to be a free for all for the next couple months, so hold on.

More food to come...

book by its cover

2012-01-15T09:59:00.004-04:00

I don't own this Michael Pollan book, in fact I'm not sure I've even read it. Maira Kalman's version of the cover is reason enough to make the purchase.

Turnip Gratin

2012-01-12T12:23:00.007-04:00

I'm staring at my computer screen and dreaming about this creamy turnip gratin featured on the NY times Dinning/Wine site. Although I'm on a tight budget these days some turnips and a bit of milk couldn't break the bank could they and how much could 4oz of grated gruyere really cost?

I found out eight hours later...

Shit ain't cheap.
So it turned out to cost more then I thought. whatever. I'm committed.Lucky for me the lady at earthfare shredded the Gruyère for me so I saved the trouble of shredding it all myself, which would have proved difficult due to the shape of my kitchen and my lack of a cheese shredder. The whole process took about an hour of prep and and hour to cook. It's the first gratin I've ever had, and dang if it will be the last.

I brought home roughly 22$ worth of ingredients and made a fantastic dinner for myself and fed the three hungry men downstairs. It's easy enough so go try yourself.

Start here:

olive oil for the baking dish

1 garlic clove, cut in half

2 pounds turnips, small ones, peeled and sliced thin and round

Salt and freshly ground pepper

4 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (about 1 cup nicely packed)

2 1/2 cups low-fat milk

1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. oil your baking dish and Rub the sides and bottom with the cut clove of garlic.

2. Place the sliced turnips in a bowl and season generously with salt and pepper and thyme. Add half the cheese and toss together, then transfer the mixture to the gratin dish and pour on the milk. It should just cover the turnips.

3. Put er' back in the oven and bake 30 minutes. Push the turnips down into the milk with the back of a large spoon. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and return to the oven. Bake another 40 to 50 minutes, until all of the milk is absorbed, the turnips are soft and the dish is nicely browned on top and around the edges.

you'll love it.

xo pully

that type of year

2012-01-12T08:59:00.003-04:00

I'm going to cut to the chase, because its been awhile and there's most likely no one out there anymore.

Twenty twelve is upon us, and I'm falling rather behind in the resolution department. I had one major personal goal to be accomplished pre 2012 and now that its over I'm kind of stumped. So I'm going to try to make a go again at this food writing thing.

For right now I'm going to sit and drink my coffee and let the thought marinate. But I'll be back around shortly.

still going

2010-11-09T15:01:00.002-04:00

I mixed and baked 99lbs of white french bread this morning before the sun came up. As a result I am sleeping all day.

enter the civilized kitchen...

2010-10-18T16:09:00.012-03:00

My first double yolker came this weekend with a crack against an 8inch cast iron pan. A double yolked egg appears when one yolk somehow gets “lost” and is joined by the next yolk. I added two more eggs to the pan and turned my attention back to the biscuits I preparing for lunch and back to the pages of my copy of Artisan Bread Everyday by Peter Reinhardt.

The last time I made biscuits I was a little less prepared. I used a recipe from the 1970’s Tassajara Bread Book , a remnant of the heath craze of the area it is full of recipes for whole grain yeasted breads that tend to be heavy, very heavy. It was no surprise to me when my biscuits turned out more like cow-pies then the buttery biscuits I had envisioned.

Even with Peter’s guidance my biscuits weren’t perfect, but they were a vast improvement. Feeling satisfied and full of buttery goodness I retired myself to the hammock and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in the sun.

self indulgent harvest photo

2010-10-14T09:55:00.004-03:00

dear friends,

come on over.

i'll cook and bake for you.

love, pully

pesto

2010-10-14T09:44:00.003-03:00

I've made a few batches of pesto this season. It's just about the easiest food I've ever made and it takes no time at all. Gather and clean basil, add pepper, oil, garlic and some cayenne pepper and you've got yourself some pesto.

a pie crust

2010-09-23T21:26:00.005-03:00

chelsea and pully. trash buddies. lovers of good food.

"I perfected my pie crust this weekend" my friend Chelsea exclaimed.

She shared the procedure with me, and here it is for you

1 cup flour
1/2 cup chilled butter
1/4 cup ice water

stick everything in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, remove and shape.

I usually use the pate sucree that I learned in Montana, but knowing Chelsea this will work well.

Fresh Ideas

2010-09-23T21:04:00.004-03:00

An Elsewhere artist in residence came to the community table at the bcc this week. She was talking about a community exchange project that will take place right here in greensboro. Her objective is to bring people together from different pieces of the community to share with and learn from one another. It is my understanding that what is being shared can be of a wide range of things/emotions/skills but the idea is to create movement within the community. Unfortunately I misplaced her card, and cannot find her on the Elsewhere site.

I do remember her mentioning managing waffle shop project in Pittsburgh,Pa. Their site is definitely worth a look.

More to come...

http://www.waffleshop.org/

samantha and jason

2010-09-23T20:31:00.006-03:00

This is Samantha, she is my neighbor. She comes over for chats.
Samantha has kitty cat leukemia .
She never complains.

This is Jason. He is the garden intern.
He enjoys carft-brews, live music and short shorts (on himself).
Ladies, he's available.

chestnut street.

2010-09-21T16:19:00.003-03:00

kitchen, bedroom, and transportation.

photos from the farm.

2010-09-21T16:14:00.003-03:00

farm photographs by ms. allie s

BCC Garden

2010-09-17T14:17:00.004-03:00

a photo from behind a row of okra.

Factory Hog Farm Kick Off Meeting

2010-09-16T23:02:00.000-03:00

Tonight I went to the first meeting of the Greensboro chapter of this nation campaign facilitated by Food and Water Watch. It was well organized and attended by some very passionate local justice minded folk.

Here's a blurb from the meeting announcement:

"In North Carolina, factory hog farms are dumping over 40 million gallons of untreated hog waste a day into unlined manure lagoons, as well as spraying the waste over fields within 75 feet of people's homes and schools. This toxic waste is destroying ecosystems and creating major health hazards for our fellow North Carolinians."

Check out their web-site if you get a chance and learn more about their campaign. Or if you have questions contact Cloe at cloe@greencorps.org

delivery

2010-09-16T16:44:00.004-03:00

received just in time for a post baking shoot- my new pentax camera!

I finished two loaves of Pain a l'Ancienne- Rustic Ciabatta this morning. I used the cold-ferment process for this very wet dough (a method I prefer), and I'm quite pleased with the results.

Busy Bee

2010-09-14T10:03:00.002-03:00

By 7.15 every morning I'm out the door. By 7.30 I'm in the garden, turning on our watering system and harvesting the days okra and peppers. There will be a greater variety of cultivars later this fall- but for now it's okra and peppers okra and peppers. I'm planting and prepping beds, talking to folks who pass by the garden and urging them to come in and work beside me.

Life's been busy and I'm doing less artisan baking and more subsistence cooking. Preserving pesto for the winter, making loads of hummus for lunches and pound after pound of granola.

extending my visa...

2010-07-22T14:34:00.003-03:00

cousin jesse once told me that i was in the south on a temporary visa. being a northerner i suppose i have yet to fully integrate myself in the culture or marry into it.

today that will all change. this evening the garden is having an open house. for my part i will be making fried okra. my only previous experience with this southern delicacy has been at the K&W... so i have high expectations.

woman at work

2010-07-11T15:14:00.004-03:00

"Ain't nothing gonna break my stride
Nobody's gonna slow me down
Oh no, I've got to keep on moving"

in the past week i have moved from spartanburg,sc (aka poot city, aka sparkle city) to my new home in greensboro, nc. this should not surprise the reader since, chances are we have met and spoken in the past 6 months.

in moving i left my full size oven behind for the smaller model i'm currently working with. so this weekend i put it to the test. i tried a recipe from peter reinharts book of whole wheat recipes to start with. i had been previously advised to lower the required temp in certain recipes to compensate for the size of the oven- and when i did this my ciabatta turned out quite well. no burning- nothing. how wonderful!

workin' it

2010-06-24T11:23:00.007-03:00

at my count i have 15 calendar days, 9 working days and 2 hot-rocksana classes left in sparkle-city.

i'm going to try the Babka again for a potluck. and luckily enough i got a direct response to the lack of flaky-ness. by direct i mean direct from peter reinhart himself! so here we go with peter's suggestion:

before I forget, you are right about the babka and here's the reason why
: there was a typo and they forgot to add to the ingredient list for the
dough 1 oz. (2 tablespoons) of vegetable oil, any kind,
(this is in addition to the butter).

i'll try the recipe again with the vegetable oil and we'll see how it goes.

Thanks Peter!

summer heat

2010-06-15T14:33:00.003-03:00

it's pretty dang hot here in poot city. the other day i was in the final 15 minutes of my ciabatta prep and i discovered my oven wasn't working! imagine my shock and panic, i called a neighbor whose tiny oven promptly burnt the underside of my loaves.

in other news:

i had been posting things on the farmers website. but oops i posted a poem with a curse word in it and now since we had sooooo many complaints i have to pass my entries to be edited by heir director which means any post i send never see's the light of day! my bad. looking through the underbelly of the blog template i did find out people posted lovely comments about my other posts (which she declined to share with me) so it wasn't a total loss.

i'll survive (on summer squash and garlic) with ease and joy.

back to the books

2010-06-03T10:57:00.004-03:00

i made the Babka from peter reinhart's new book this past weekend. it came out slightly less flaky then i would have liked but the result was chocolaty and enjoyable none the less. i also made the lean bread, most all of his recipes all for cold ferments that last over night.

most of the bread i bake calls for overnight cold fermenting, this works well for my schedule allowing me to stretch out the work over a few days. this new book explains the delights of the cold ferment technique as well alternative methods for people who like me don't own standing mixers.

my second amazon purchase was "the bread builders", i've heard good things about this text and after pouring over the library copy i ordered one for myself. its pretty good reading for anyone who plans to build a masonry oven or bake bread in one.

My Extended Time Away

2010-05-28T10:35:00.005-03:00

i recently returned from excursions to w.palm beach, detroit, and reidsville. this was my first visit to detroit- as i have extensive experience in both w.palm and reidsville i'll spare the details.

i attended the first FoodCorps summit, and i dare say it was the most fun i've ever had at a food/ag conference. first of all rather then the normal smattering of foodsystems folks one runs across at CFSA for example this event was FULL of folks who like to talk about, thinking about, grow and cook food. sheer joy.

almost everyone there seemed to have experience working with or participating with the AmeriCorps VISTA program. there were other current VISTA's there working with extension agencies, community gardens in maine and iowa among other places.

during the summit participants presented their agencies work to the group, many of them addressed issues/barriers they encountered in their work and i found that many of them (or actually ALL of them) i had experienced here in sparkle city. these issues ranged from isolation to the lack of communication and exposure to community members who are doing work in similar or related fields. this experience has helped me to identify these issues as systemic and not completely personal... it's good to know that others face the same issues.

sea of broken dreams

2010-05-05T11:18:00.005-03:00

so things aren't that bad, but some days i feel like i may have sold myself down the river.

weekend back up:

saturday i managed a pie. it was a chocolate number with a deep chocolate ganache buried inside. the strawberries i topped it with were the inspiration for this culinary adventure, the berries themselves were bland and not very palatable, they needed the chocolate.

sunday i was treated to bunch by "nat" a friend of a friend. his black bean cakes were better then anything i've made for myself in weeks. he inspired my to pick up Judith Jones book "the pleasure of cooking for one". i'd like to devote sometime to making some of these meals.

and:

i've given up reading anna karenina for now. not for any good reason. instead im reading "it must've been something i ate" the follow up text to "the man who ate everything" by jeffery steingarten, a true culinary adventurer.

new and old images

2010-04-21T19:44:00.002-03:00

Bet your booty this is what I'll be doing later:

2010-04-15T13:21:00.001-03:00

Popovers!

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

4 large eggs

2 cups milk

Preheat your oven (and popover pan-secret number 1) to 400 F degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine flour and salt. In a pot whisk together eggs and milk, cook over medium heat until slightly warmer than room temperature (this is another secret!). Now combine egg mixture to the flour mixture, stir until just combined-do not over stir. Lightly grease your now warm popover pan if using spray butter (if using stick butter you may want to grease the pan before heating it). Fill pan cups until just under 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 400 F degrees for 20 minutes, then decrease heat to 350 F degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. Do not open the oven to check on them in between, this can cause them to deflate (secret number 3!). Makes 12 medium size popovers.

art mart

2010-04-11T14:31:00.006-03:00

thanks to mr. jonas i was able to snap some pictures at the art mart. most people who walked by where more interested in checking out my vintage eyeglass collection (used for decoration) then bringing home home-made bagels. i was able to peddle almost all the bread but only one greeting card. i love sending mail and thought that pre-stamped hand drawn cards would be a sell, guess that shows why USPS wants to cut down to M-F delivery.

check out more art mart images (and other terrible pictures of me) on the hub-bub flicker account http://www.flickr.com/photos/hub-bub/

take a picture

2010-04-07T19:25:00.003-03:00

if i had a camera i would take a picture of all the amazing things happening in my kitchen. bagels and bread galore. below a recipe i used for Pain De Provence. It makes 1 LARGE loaf.

in other news i'm working on getting some monies for our/my/bobby's summer interns. no, i do not get to tell them what to do. but i get to writing the program for it.

also, worth says he got some cows today, not his very own but one's he's going to manage and graze for a farmer down the way.

i'm off to my second hot yoga class. fit as fuck, yo.

Pain De Provence

Poolish:
1 cup bread or all-purpose unbleached flour
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough:
All of the poolish
2 cups bread or all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 cup Herbes de Provence
1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup liqueur such as Beauchant, Grand Marnier, or orange Curaçao
1/4-1/2 cup water, as necessary

The night before baking, make the poolish by mixing together 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of water, and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast to make a batter. Cover the container with plastic wrap and set aside for 8 to 16 hours until you are ready to make the final dough.

To make the dough, combine the remaining flour with the remaining yeast, salt, and herbs. Add the poolish, the liqueur, and 1/4 cup of the additional water. Mix the ingredients, and, if necessary, add more water or flour until the proper consistency is reached (tacky but not so sticky that the dough sticks to your hands).

Knead by hand for 10 to 15 minutes or in a mixer for 5 to 10 minutes. Place the dough in a well-greased bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside to rise until doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes. Remove it from the bowl and gently degas it, then return it to the bowl, cover it, and allow it to double in size again.

Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a ball or long loaf. Cover the loaf with a damp towel and allow it to rise again until doubled in size, which takes between 60 and 90 more minutes.

While the loaf is in its final rise, preheat the oven and baking stone, if you have one, to 450. I also preheat a brownie pan into which I poured a cup of hot water just after placing the loaf in the oven. This creates steam in the oven which increases the crunchiness of the crust.

Just before placing the loaf in the oven, score the top of it with a sharp knife or razor blade.

Place the loaf in the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 450, then rotate it 180 degrees and reduce the oven temperature to 375 and baked it another 25 minutes. en.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least a half an hour before serving, if you can resist.

love. pully

talking trash and baking bread

2010-04-06T00:12:00.005-03:00

All of my vessels contain a doughy matter. i have two dozen bagels and two loaves of bread going,all in the works for the art mart this Saturday at the hub-bub.

talk 2o talk-back- a woman from the sanitation department told me my trash presentation spoke to her heart. amazing. worthy was here, which of course made it all the more enjoyable.

Chelsea belle came from Blacksburg this past weekend and we tired to make it to the senior show at WWC, but got held back due a fuel pump . instead i helped her build a sketch book while i contemplated by baking strategy. belle talked a lot about a tracking class she is taking- creating a desire in me to study ornithology...or at least get to know my feathered neighbors.

love at first bite.

2010-03-22T13:36:00.000-03:00

sweet spinach.
i adore thee.

chicago deep dish

2010-03-21T14:20:00.003-03:00

this weekend i attempted to create the "chicago style deep dish pie" lifted from the pages of "cooks illustrated". i started friday night, but the recipe was a little confusing and what i thought was going to take 2 hours quickly started to look like four. i tossed the dough after the final butter lamination at 10.30pm and decided i wasn't hungry enough to wait up for this pizza.

with the sauce and dough pre-made i jumped back into the project last night. i took the two doughs out of the fridge, let them sit half and hour and warmed up my oven to the 425* that the recipe called for. i sliced up some mozzarella from live oak farm that i've been itching to use and tossed those babies in the oven.

low and behold they came out great. i think it might have been my best pizza ever. i'll be sure to bring a copy of it next time i visit the farm.

meanwhile:

tonight i'll bring one of the two pizza's i made to the yoga-licious pot luck.

my next baking projects are going to be focused on getting myself ready for the art-mart, i'll be selling bagels and loaves.

right now- i have to tackle my talk 20 project.
yikes!

breads.

2010-03-21T13:56:00.009-03:00

last weeks report.

transitional whole wheat sandwich loaf.
-peter reinharts "whole grain breads"

this loaf used a 50/50 blend of ap and whole wheat flour. i wanted a morning toast loaf to go with the nutritional yeast i acquired on my trip to the greenville earth fare. i consider nut yeast to be somewhat of a guilty pleasure since i'm not sure of its purposes/usefullness. i do know that i aquired a taste for it sprinkled over lightly buttered toast.

the loaf took two days and turned out well enough. sometimes my baking projects keep me up past my normal sleeping hour- and you can find me in the kitchen crouching besides the oven with a copy of "cooks illustrated". this is a typical saturday night for me in spartanburg.

i also used the scone recipe from rose levy beranbaum's "pie and pastry bible" to create a modified flaky pastry.

Saving for a car VS. desire for standing mixer.

2010-03-12T11:22:00.004-04:00

standing mixer.

dang, thats a good looking feller. who could resist? I think most cars are esthetically undesirable and owning one will surely drain my pocketbook. A standing mixer on the other hand is sleek and rhythmic creating culinary opportunity around every bend.

Blog Slacker

2010-03-11T10:20:00.004-04:00

So I've been slacking a little. Sorry about that.

Last week i did the unspeakable, I used a recipe from the Tassajara Bread Book. Im of the opinion that the book is poorly organized and boring... though I hear the recipes are solid enough. I spent the weekend at the farm- and when i couldn't find the butter I needed to make biscuits i turned to the cookbook shelf, and bit my tongue. I made molasses walnut muffins (a variation from the recipe on page 60).

In the mean time I started some bagels and used garlic salt and onion powder to give them some extra flavor- the outcome of both projects were well recieved.

more to come!

return to the bagel.

2010-02-25T22:27:00.004-04:00

Now that my bagel dough is loving tucked under my 2 down blankets I can bestow the rest of the recipe on you.

Day 3.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let sit 30 minutes at room temperature before shaping.

Shape the dough and let it rise for 20 minutes. Set a sheet of parchment paper or lightly floured towel on a counter top near the stove top.

Transfer the dough to an unfloured surface. cut it in half and place one piece covered in the fridge. Cut the dough into 5 equal pieces and allow to rest for about 10 minutes.

there are two methods you can use for shaping
a. form each piece of dough into a tight ball. turn the ball over so the seam is at the bottom, stick your index finger all the way thought the center of the ball, to make a hole. hook the bagel over your thumb and insert the finger of your other hand into the hole, stretching and rotating it to make a hole about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

b. for slightly more chewiness, roll each piece of dough on an unfloured surface into a 12 inch long rope. make a ring over lapping the ends by 2inches and joining them by pressing down and rolling on the overlap until you have the same thickness as the rest of the dough ring. there will be a one inch hole in the center. this method produces rounder higher bagels with smaller holes.

* i always use method b.

working with once piece at a time keep the remaining pieces covered (with plastic wrap). place each as you shape it on the parchment or floured towel, and cover gently with oiled plastic wrap or a second towel.

Preheat your oven to 500* F 30 minutes before baking. use the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating.

Water Bath and Topping
molasses 2 tbs
baking soda 1 tsp

Glaze and Topping
2 Large egg whites
cold water 1 tsp
your choice of bagel toppings 3-4 tbs

Boil the Bagels.
Bring a large pot to boil. stir in the molasses and baking soda until dissolved. with a slotted spoon transfer the bagels one at a time into the boiling water, without crowding them; cook in batches of 2 or 3 so they can swim around without touching each other. boil for 30 seconds to 2 minutes on each side, gently flipping over with the slotted spoon. remove boiled bagel shaking off excess water and set onto the parchment paper or unfloured towel to drain. half a minute later using a pancake flipper move them to the prepared baking sheet.

whisk together the egg whites and cold water to break up the whites and brush each bagel with the glaze. brush with second coat and sprinkle the toppings on top.

Baking
Lower your oven temp to 450* and bake for 20 minutes. Turn off the oven (with out opening it) and let the bagels remain for 5 minutes. Then open the oven door and leave the bagels in for another 5 minutes.

Cool.
Remove your bagels and set them on a wire rack to cool. Bring the oven back up to 500* and shape, boil, top and bake your second batch.

These bagels will keep for 1-4 days, but in my experience they go quickly.

Levy's Bagels

2010-02-25T20:23:00.003-04:00

Oven fresh bagels. If you ask me, there's really nothing better. Not on your life. I was born and bread in the great bagel state of NJ home of HOT BAGELS & MORE. Nothing makes me happier then salmon, a bit of butter, avocado and red onion on an everything bagel. nothing.

I started my bagel quest in June and in four-five short months later, I believe I've got it down
I've tried a variety of recipes in my search but the best I've found is Rose Levy Beranbaum recipe for Levy's Bagels in The Bread Bible its easier then it looks.

this is how i make 12 bagels using her recipe.

day 1/3

Dough Started (Sponge)

instant yeast 1 tsp
water at room temp 2 1/4 liquid cups
King Arthur bread or high gluten flour 3 cups

Whisk together in a mixing bowl 2 minutes, until very smooth; scrape down the sides. the sponge will be very thick. cover with plastic wrap. set aside.

Flour Mixture
King Arthur bread of High Gluten Flour 2 1/3 cups
instant yeast 1 tsp
sugar 1 tbs
salt 1 tbs
black pepper 1 tbs

combine and add the ingredients for the flour mixture. sprinkle the mixture over the sponge; do not stir. cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 1 to 4 hours at room temperature, or, for the best flavor development 1 hour at room temp and refrigerate over night ( i ALWAYS refrigerate), or up to 24 hours.

day 2.
take the sponge/flour mixture out of the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
with a wooden spoon or your hand, stir the flour mixture into the sponge until it becomes too stiff to mix. Knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together, then scrape it onto a lightly floured counter. Knead the dough for 5 mintues just to begin to develop the gluten structure; scrape and gather the dough as you knead it. At this point it will be sticky. Cover it with teh inverted bowl and allow it to rest for 20 minutes. (This rest will make the dough less sticky.)

Knead the dough for another 10 to 15 minutes or until it is very smooth and elastic. It should be barely tacky ( slightly sticky) to the touch.

Let the dough rise.
Place the dough in a 4 quart lightly greased bowl. Press the dough down and lightly coat. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise for 1 -2 hours ( ideally at 75-80*) or until doubled.

Deflate the dough by firmly pushing it down. Give it a envelope turn and set it back in the container. Oil the top of the dough, cover it, and refridgerate for atleast 4 hours or overnight.

if you want to make the bagels later, at this point the dough can be wrapped and chilled for two days.

im gettin started on day 2's steps right now, so there's more to come.

did you hear that?

2010-02-22T18:21:00.003-04:00

it turns out that a big food company in Britain is patenting a substitute snack for the not so healthy potato chip. the patent is for a meat based chip that is high in protein and has less calories then the standard potato.

tasty.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123962280

volunteer in service

2010-02-22T17:55:00.003-04:00

hub city farmers market.

today i continued working on some of the in-class material we will be providing for the arcadia school garden project. im working on a set of cards that will reflect the rasied beds located in the schools yard. this isn't the first school garden hcfm has put together, and it seems they have a pattern.

i have create control (so far) over the cards, and im having fun. So far i have completed side b of all of the cards. they contains various bits of information like planting, growing and harvesting information as well overall temperment of each cultivar. its been fun putting these out. i sit and type, and plant little garden in my mind.

one day i'll figure out how to use the office scanner, then i can draw a garden for you.

thrills

2010-02-22T14:22:00.003-04:00

in an exciting bit of culinary news i'll be heading to asheville this weekend, ali and i are attending the ASAP marketing conference being held at my alma mater.

craft brews, mimosas, literature readings, friends and farmers here we come!

the right bacon muffin

2010-02-21T21:49:00.004-04:00

last week i took the week off from the kitchen. cooking for one was feeling a little grey, so i ate beans, avocados, rice, eggs and german pumpernickel bread for most of the week. i did spruce up the beans with garlic, onion, cayenne pepper and (mistakenly) cloves*.

*i was talking to my friend amy [about eating beans] and i swear she mentioned using cloves- it sounded weird but i figured "she's the expert", so i went with it. the cloves didn't ruin the beans but i did have to compensate with extra cayenne. yow za.

other then that my culinary escapades where meager.

friday night before the hacienda generationals and floating action played at the hub-bub i completed my long awaited bacon muffins. i used a basic recipe with a few special things in tow.

2 cups AP flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1tbs sugar

3/4 slices bacon

1 cup milk

2 eggs well beaten

those special ingredients i used were both south carolina bacon (caw caw creek pastured pork) and raw milk.

when i took the muffins to the bub, folks didn't really seem to be as excited as i was that these ingredients where locally produced. maybe it was because the muffins could have used more bacon (i only have 2 pieces0.

in retrospect i should have waited to add the bacon until i had spooned out 1/2 the mix into the tins- that way 6 of the 12 would have been more bacon-y.

oh well.

bagels coming up soon.

get ready...

if i were a grad student/lived in CT

2010-02-12T23:57:00.000-04:00

maybe somehow i could be part of this agrarian studies program at yale. luckly we can look through the syllabus!

stalking the wild muffin

2010-02-12T21:56:00.001-04:00

im listening to duncan sheik on nrp. he's playing songs from his album whisper house. outside a white blanket covers the roofs of the cars, and i plan my morning walk.

i've been thinking about muffins since mark bittman posted a recipe on his minimalist blog. i want something savory- a bacon, maple syrup something. if kat where here, she would know what to do.

she let them eat cake

2010-02-12T14:08:00.000-04:00

this is not the king cake i enjoyed this mardi gras season, but you get the idea.

mrs. blanchards cake was deliciously flaky, and perfectly sugary. she made five or six cakes all with traditional green, gold and purple, some were filled with apple, others had berry and cream cheese.

the next day i cursed myself for not bringing more left-overs home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/dining/10cake.html?ref=dining

workin' for my room and board

2010-02-12T11:30:00.000-04:00

in the past few years i have grown accustom to the warmth of the mountains and the wood, to birds, long walks, firewood, and home cooked meals. these were the greatest riches of my life. now eating my meals alone in a city, i am faced with other theories of value and wonder when i will be able to actualize my own.

i will create a life centered around the home, purchase only what i need and make or do without the rest.

its a difficult reality to create now, but im working on it.

good morning

2010-02-11T10:45:00.000-04:00

if you have some time check out the greenhorns project blog this morning http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/. the greenhorns is a film project whose mission is promote, recruit and support young farmers in america. they're on the ball.

return of the naan

2010-02-09T23:05:00.000-04:00

were you waiting for this? have you been hanging on the edge of your seat. well i apologize i got a little caught up.

day 2

after you take your naan out of the oven transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, divide it into 5-7 pieces and form each into a tight ball. place the balls on a sheet of parchment pan lined with parchment paper-cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for 45-60 minutes at room temp.

preheat the oven to its highest setting. roll out each piece of dough into flat disks 4-5 inches in diameter. dust the disks with flour and return them to the baking sheet (you can stack them if necessary), cover with a cloth and let rest for 5 minutes.

starting back with the first disk hand stretch the dough like pizza out untill they are 8 inches in diameter and no thinner then 1/4 inches. dust the disks again and let sit cover again for 5 minutes.

flour a baking peel and stretch the dough further to 10 inches and about 1/8 an inch thing. transfer them to the baking peel and poke the surface with a fork.

load your fully shaped and forked naan into the oven. they shouldn't take more then 3-4 mintues to cook.

after removing them from the oven i brushed mine with olive oil-

serve warm & enjoy

oh no!

2010-02-08T23:04:00.000-04:00

ok. the most terrible terrible thing just happened. i was trying to eat dinner and poach some garlic for my naan and something went wrong! my garlic turned black and burned and popped and i sprang up from my table dropped a bowl worth gave me and it shattered.... and my garlic is ruined!

luckily i still have my eyebrows.

naan

2010-02-08T12:12:00.000-04:00

if you open my refrigerator you'll find a big hunk of dough. it's supposed to be stretched, flattened and baked into naan later today...but i'm skeptical.

the recipe comes from peter reinharts whole grain cookbook and the first day goes like this

you'll need

3.5 cups of whole wheat flour

1 2/8 tsp salt

1 tsp instant yeast

1.5 cups plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk (yogurt or melted unsalted butter also works)

olive oil and garlic for topping

combine the flour, salt, yeast and buttermilk in a bowl. stir vigorously with a mixing spoon or knead with wet hands for about two minutes- until all ingredients are evenly integrated and distributed into the dough. the dough should be soft and slightly sticky. if not add some extra flour or milk as needed.

dust a work surface and roll the dough in the flour to coat. knead the dough by hand for 3-4 minutes, incorporating only as much extra flour as needed, until the dough feels soft and tacky, but not sticky. form the dough into a ball and let it rest for 5 minutes. prepare a clean, lightly oiled bowl.

resume kneading the dough for 2 minutes, place the dough in the prepared bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

i'll get back to you later today with the results. -----------------------------------------------

to tide you over i'd like to share this little jem from maira kalman.

http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/back-to-the-land/

what im reading right now

2010-02-06T21:42:00.000-04:00

"the man who ate everything" by jeffrey steingarten

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/steingarten-everything.html

back tracking

2010-02-05T19:04:00.000-04:00

recent food highlights you may have missed- listed as they come to mind

jameelahs homemade pasta at Air+Elizabeth invitational dinner
gregs bacon bacon wrappy things at same
my garlic loaf see above
discovery of spiral cauliflower, much to the horror of the kimmel family
amazing bread-book selection at spartanburg public library conveniently located across the street
food stamps
parchment paper haul from vista trip to gifts in kind
perfecting levy's bagel recipe from the bread bible
venison sandwiches
pizza (venus pie) in bed with worth

where i want to be

2010-02-05T15:25:00.000-04:00

with no car and no prospects of a ride to the market in sight, my thoughts turn to the wonderful products that inhabit the shelves of the Live Oak Farm Store in wooddruff.

last weekend worthy came for a visit in the midst of our only snow day, and with the help of my keen sense of direction i got us there. allison schaum the lovely proprietor of the store was kind enough to open up for us (she had just closed up shop). we (or at least i) "oo'ed and ah'ed" over their selection. settling up with basil goat cheese, ground lamb, a gallon of raw milk, chocolate milk (my personal favorite from Happy Cow Dairy), tomato basil cheddar and a bit goat milk fudge. all products fresh from the palmetto state.

boy did we have some good eats. i have to think back and try and put it together for you.

sample breakfasts (not all at once): poached eggs from Live Oak(with my fancy poacher), delicate greens from Susan, fig jam from Hap, butter from Happy Cow

raw buttermilk pancakes, and that crazy german bread nina got us all hooked on.

lunch/dinner: lamb patties with spiral cauliflower, beets from Parsons Produce, and peanut curry sauce. burgers with home made bread, and grass fed beef from Moss Hill Farms (which i won last week at the Heritage Corridor Conference!) with melted tomato basil cheddar ontop.

we snacked on the goat cheese and goat milk/peanut butter fudge.

now with worthy gone and buckets of rain outside i just gulped down the last of my Happy Cow chocolate milk im itching for another visit.

you've never been?

you should or do you really like your eggs whiter then white?

http://www.liveoakfarmsllc.com/

biscuit day

2010-02-04T14:10:00.000-04:00

"pretty good biscuit, for a northerner" - ali revan

this morning, instead of going into work at 9am i stayed home. in the midst of working on garden diagrams for grade-school children i rolled out, laminated, folded then baked buttermilk biscuits. the recipe came from peter reinharts "crust and crumb", i've made biscuits using a lamination/fold method before but this was my first experience with a "quick" recipe. it only took about an hour to complete all the steps, and before long i had soft, flaky biscuits out the ying yang.

for my recipe i used raw buttermilk, and butter from happy cow. 75% local biscuits!

3.5 cups AP flour- (i recommend king arthur)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1.5 cups cups butter cold

1.5 buttermilk cold

sift together the salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.

chop the butter into pieces about the size of a quarter. toss them into the flour and mix with your hands, lightly rubbing the flour and butter into each other between your fingers (DO NOT let your fingertips touch or else the friction will melt the butter) work the dough until the butter pieces are down to the size of a dime and are covered by the flour mixture.

stir in the buttermilk until the ingredients are gathered and form a dough ball.

flour your counter and roll the dough into a rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. (be sure to keep the surface under your dough floured). once rolled out fold the dough like a letter into 3rds, give it a 1/3th turn and roll it out again (keep it floured) to a 3/4 inch thick rectangle. peel it up and fold it again into thirds.

now, transfer it into a prepared pan and cover- or stick it in a zip-loc and refrigerate for 20minutes.

remove the down and roll it out again to that 3/4inch thick rectangle, fold in 3rds once more and then roll it out for the last time- into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle.

now cut the dough into 2x2x2 inch triangular pieces or use a cookie cutter to cut into rounds. place the biscuts on the parchment paper, cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

preheat your oven to 500*F, and brush the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk or melted butter. place them in the oven and reduce the heat to 365*F

Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned and golden all around. cool and share with your neighbors!

cracking the egg

2010-02-03T10:55:00.000-04:00

most mornings my alarm goes off at 7.15am. not to early not too late, leaving me enough time for my habitual two cups of coffee and a little radio broadcast to send me on my way. I usually walk the five blocks to work- I usually have an hour or so in the office before anyone else shows up.

this morning i was checking out the island institute for sustainable living.

http://www.artmeetsearth.org/index.html

you might want to check it out if your in to DIY things such as shiitake logs, welding and root cellars.

if your into it.