1st pickup scheduled for June 4! I'm really excited because the weather just turned super hot, which means I'm veering away from heavy comfort foods and searching for lighter summery noms. The first few shares last year were full of salad greens, green things, leafy greens, green... And green things are wonderfully light and refreshing, so I'm pretty happy.
Just got back from a trip to Madison to see the family and while we were there, we stopped by the farmer's market. Amazing! Madison might be smaller than New York, but it sure does have a farmer's market that can rival the best of New York's farmer's markets. There's a great sense of community, a history of farming, and UW Madison, which is a land-grant university and therefore maintains a strong focus and commitment to agriculture. Kind of like Cornell, but located right in Madison, instead of somewhere far away upstate.
Anyways, it was really great to see another food ecosystem all up close and personal. It's fun to see the commitment to local food in Madison. I was mostly struck by the sense of community and it was pleasantly surprising to see such visible ties between all the small farmers, producers, consumers, and restaurants. Also, we got to eat at L'Etoile, which I've been dying to do, and it was everything I hoped it would be!
The food was nothing groundbreaking, but it was well prepared and comfortable, in line with New York's locavore offerings and devoid of all the gimmicks and downright rude service that you sometimes get in the city (Rosemary's I'm looking at you). Stars of the menu included asparagus and morel mushrooms, as well as the last of the last batch of chevre from a local producer who had decided to retire. Apparently this is the best goat cheese in the region, so L'Etoile bought up all of the remaining stock once they caught wind that the woman who makes the cheese was going to retire. I sampled a little of my brother's plate and I have to say...I agree. Madison is practically synonymous with cheese, so I guess I should stop being so surprised by the quality of the cheese every time I visit.
The highlight of the meal for me was the amuse bouche, which was a lovely creme fraiche preparation with roasted asparagus, pepitas, and a drizzling of some sort of savory reduction, topped with a little tiny edible viola. I was so excited by the amuse bouche because that morning, I had stopped at a booth in the farmer's market, completely taken in by the little boxes of fingernail-sized edible violas that were on display. I gazed wistfully at them, snapped a photo, and grabbed a bunch of salad turnips instead. I thought they'd be fun to sprinkle over a salad for a whimsical summery touch, but I didn't know how my family would react to eating flowers for dinner. I was already pushing the envelope by picking up several greens they'd never seen before and I didn't want to scare them with too many new things all at once. So I gently closed the door on the idea of seeing those violas appear in my food...and then like magic, they reappeared as a delicate little garnish in the amuse bouche! L'Etoile is literally right in front of the farmer's market and I could identify so many items on my plate that I had seen just that morning, just one block away, which was all sorts of awesome. Fun times! Added bonus - my parents are now fans of farmer's markets and have decided they'd like to go every Saturday morning! I'd be jealous if I wasn't so happy :)
Showing posts with label local sourcing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local sourcing. Show all posts
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
2013 CSA Season
I signed up last night! I know, I know. It's already mid-March. Hey, at least I eventually got around to doing it right?
I signed up for a partial vegetable share, a poultry share, and a farm visit. I'll be splitting part of the vegetables and poultry with my friend and roommate. I plan on eating the bulk of the produce and I'll be doing the volunteer shift and picking up the produce, which is perfectly fine with me if it means more people are exploring the CSA experience. The whole concept of a CSA is fantastic, but I honestly don't think it's for everyone. I would rather see someone have a fulfilling CSA experience by piggybacking and "just trying it out" instead of seeing a dissatisfied customer walk out of a CSA from a clash in expectations and what can sometimes be an overwhelming amount of produce (remember the deathbylettuce episode last summer?)
I'd like to get more involved in my CSA this summer, but I'm not quite sure how. Perhaps I'll email Cara and see if there's something I can do to help out the team.
Also, I've been doing a lot of reading and research on topics like sustainable agriculture, small to mid-size family farms in the U.S., programs that focus on supporting agriculture, soil enrichment and care, methane pollution (especially from dairy farms), monoculture crops, permaculture, biodiversity, conservation of the environment, fertilizer runoff, pesticide/hormone/antibiotic use, the involvement of government and large corporations in next-step R&D, technology in agriculture, the trend towards local eating, and American attitudes towards food and the consumption/production of food. It has been fascinating to see the different opinions and views people have across the country in regards to all of these topics. I don't know that anyone is wrong, exactly, but there'a lot of people who see the world through opposite lens, and that is making the discussion of America's food supply awfully polarizing.
I brought up the whole idea of local, sustainable agriculture to my dad last night and my goodness. I realized we see it completely differently. He's an engineering professor and believes wholeheartedly in scale and efficiency. For him, concepts like organic or local sound warm and fuzzy and make people happy. But it's only a matter of time before it scales into mass production, which is the most sensible and cost-effective way to feed people. My dad is not at all a romantic idealist and believes very much in the pragmatic, the quantifiable, and the efficiency of science and research.
I inherited my practical side from dad, no doubt about it. But between my day to day job, which affords me the opportunity to examine myriad businesses and their structures and modus operandi; my years in college; and my experience as a young consumer living in New York (one of the most food forward environments I've come across)...
I see a very different picture. While I do not believe that small family farms are the ONLY solution to feeding America, I do think they should play an important role in the food ecosytem. There's nothing wrong with having multiple ways of growing, processing, and distributing food to Americans. What I do believe is that the ecosystem has room for improvement. I do believe that America should pay closer attention to how it eats and where its food comes from. I do believe that consumers, farms, conservationists, shareholders/investors, corporations, and restaurants all have different responsibilities to each other. And I do think we all need to do our part to ensure we have a competitive, cooperative, secure, and healthy food ecosystem in the U.S.
The part of this equation I'm most interested in right now is increasing awareness of and advocating for programs like CSA's, farm-to-table, sustainable agriculture, and paying closer attention to what we put in our bodies. So in my own way, I try to do my part. I educate myself and do my own research, I spread the word, I sign up for a CSA, and I continue to look for ways to help balance the equation. I've helped introduce the concept of a CSA to a few of my friends and I'm fully prepared to hold their hand through their first season with a CSA to ensure they have a wonderful and enjoyable experience. It may not be much, but I like to think every drop in the bucket counts.
More than anything, I think awareness is key. As we were signing up for a share last night, my roommate turned to me and said, "You know, they should market this better. I never heard of this until I saw you with your shares and neither did my friends until you told them about it." The inherent problem with a local CSA is that it's local and it's small. Marketing is obviously going to be less polished than a company like Whole Foods or Gristedes. CSA's rely more on word of mouth from farmers' markets and happy customers than anything else. Feeding America cannot be solved through a one-size-fits-all approach and I think people should be free to decide what they want to eat when they want to eat it. Having said that, I do think people cannot be expected to make a good decision if they are uninformed or can't see all the pieces of the puzzle (or don't even have all the puzzle pieces to begin with!) If we educate people, market various approaches to eating, help adjust attitudes towards food, I rather suspect interest in CSA's would skyrocket.
I signed up for a partial vegetable share, a poultry share, and a farm visit. I'll be splitting part of the vegetables and poultry with my friend and roommate. I plan on eating the bulk of the produce and I'll be doing the volunteer shift and picking up the produce, which is perfectly fine with me if it means more people are exploring the CSA experience. The whole concept of a CSA is fantastic, but I honestly don't think it's for everyone. I would rather see someone have a fulfilling CSA experience by piggybacking and "just trying it out" instead of seeing a dissatisfied customer walk out of a CSA from a clash in expectations and what can sometimes be an overwhelming amount of produce (remember the deathbylettuce episode last summer?)
I'd like to get more involved in my CSA this summer, but I'm not quite sure how. Perhaps I'll email Cara and see if there's something I can do to help out the team.
Also, I've been doing a lot of reading and research on topics like sustainable agriculture, small to mid-size family farms in the U.S., programs that focus on supporting agriculture, soil enrichment and care, methane pollution (especially from dairy farms), monoculture crops, permaculture, biodiversity, conservation of the environment, fertilizer runoff, pesticide/hormone/antibiotic use, the involvement of government and large corporations in next-step R&D, technology in agriculture, the trend towards local eating, and American attitudes towards food and the consumption/production of food. It has been fascinating to see the different opinions and views people have across the country in regards to all of these topics. I don't know that anyone is wrong, exactly, but there'a lot of people who see the world through opposite lens, and that is making the discussion of America's food supply awfully polarizing.
I brought up the whole idea of local, sustainable agriculture to my dad last night and my goodness. I realized we see it completely differently. He's an engineering professor and believes wholeheartedly in scale and efficiency. For him, concepts like organic or local sound warm and fuzzy and make people happy. But it's only a matter of time before it scales into mass production, which is the most sensible and cost-effective way to feed people. My dad is not at all a romantic idealist and believes very much in the pragmatic, the quantifiable, and the efficiency of science and research.
I inherited my practical side from dad, no doubt about it. But between my day to day job, which affords me the opportunity to examine myriad businesses and their structures and modus operandi; my years in college; and my experience as a young consumer living in New York (one of the most food forward environments I've come across)...
I see a very different picture. While I do not believe that small family farms are the ONLY solution to feeding America, I do think they should play an important role in the food ecosytem. There's nothing wrong with having multiple ways of growing, processing, and distributing food to Americans. What I do believe is that the ecosystem has room for improvement. I do believe that America should pay closer attention to how it eats and where its food comes from. I do believe that consumers, farms, conservationists, shareholders/investors, corporations, and restaurants all have different responsibilities to each other. And I do think we all need to do our part to ensure we have a competitive, cooperative, secure, and healthy food ecosystem in the U.S.
The part of this equation I'm most interested in right now is increasing awareness of and advocating for programs like CSA's, farm-to-table, sustainable agriculture, and paying closer attention to what we put in our bodies. So in my own way, I try to do my part. I educate myself and do my own research, I spread the word, I sign up for a CSA, and I continue to look for ways to help balance the equation. I've helped introduce the concept of a CSA to a few of my friends and I'm fully prepared to hold their hand through their first season with a CSA to ensure they have a wonderful and enjoyable experience. It may not be much, but I like to think every drop in the bucket counts.
More than anything, I think awareness is key. As we were signing up for a share last night, my roommate turned to me and said, "You know, they should market this better. I never heard of this until I saw you with your shares and neither did my friends until you told them about it." The inherent problem with a local CSA is that it's local and it's small. Marketing is obviously going to be less polished than a company like Whole Foods or Gristedes. CSA's rely more on word of mouth from farmers' markets and happy customers than anything else. Feeding America cannot be solved through a one-size-fits-all approach and I think people should be free to decide what they want to eat when they want to eat it. Having said that, I do think people cannot be expected to make a good decision if they are uninformed or can't see all the pieces of the puzzle (or don't even have all the puzzle pieces to begin with!) If we educate people, market various approaches to eating, help adjust attitudes towards food, I rather suspect interest in CSA's would skyrocket.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
FRIENDS! and chickens and eggs
I can now claim to have convinced not one, but TWO people to sign up for a CSA because of me! One in California and one here in New York. I am so pleased, I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat.
I'm worried, of course, that they won't like it. That I've been hyping it up to everyone. But honestly, I'll just let the produce do the talking, and I'm sure it'll be fine.
I was hoping to pull my roommate into sharing my CSA with me this year, but it looks like my roommate may or may not be with us this summer. So...I've decided that instead of being overly ambitious, I'm going to sign up for just one partial share ($375 for 22 weeks of a larger-than-half-of-a-regular-share) of vegetables. I wanted to try the eggs, fruit, or chicken because it looks so good and I want to support Free Bird Farms. But I didn't know what the best option would be and I was scared being overwhelmed by Foodmageddon again.
I can polish off fruit quite happily and easily on my own, but I like the idea of free range, organic (not certified, but raised organically) chickens and eggs, and I wanted to give it a go at home, rather than relying on super duper expensive fancy places that I like to think about eating at because heaven knows I'd never be able to take myself there without feeling awfully guilty about how I'm prioritizing my spending. T_T
I digress. I ended up deciding on the chicken share. Why? Eggs are perishable but these chickens are frozen. Plus, they seemed like a slightly better deal. $90 for a dozen eggs a week comes out to a whopping $4.09 per dozen eggs. That's a lot and I am not quite sure the difference in taste and quality would be worth it. I snooped around and the prices for free range, organic eggs are anywhere from $3.50 to $5.50 per dozen in NYC. Regular eggs are $$2.00 - $3.00 a dozen. While it would be nice to have eggs with beautiful, rich, nutritious orange yolks, I just don't want to commit to a full season right now. I guess the humane treatment of chickens is another factor, but on this point, I'm indifferent, since chickens raised for meat also face the same issue of humane treatment. The deciding factor for me was just that I don't eat a lot of eggs to begin with and they are fairly perishable.
On the other hand, I can get 12 chickens for $180, which comes out to about $15 a chicken, or $3.75 a pound. Although pricey, I did some investigating online and in stores, and this is actually fairly reasonable for a free-range, organic chicken. Normal chickens go for a lot less - something like $4 to $8 per whole 4lb chicken. The price markup for free range and organic chicken is a lot higher than it is for eggs. Why do I bother buying free range and organic then? It freaks me out that I'm eating chicken meat laced with antibiotics and hormones. I don't know. I don't like it. Plus, I've seen the chickens being raised for meat and eggs at Free Bird Farm and I can definitively say these chickens were raised happily. I can't say the same for the chickens I buy at the store, free range and organic or not. Finally, chickens can be frozen. They will keep for up to a year in my freezer. This gives them a significant advantage over eggs.
And I know $15 per chicken is a lot, but I know how to stretch my chickens. I can easily, easily, make at least 5 or 6 meals out of one chicken. Roast chicken for two meals with a side of veg, chicken over rice or chicken with pasta or even chicken salad sandwiches can make another two meals, and the leftover chicken bits and bones makes for at least two meals of chicken soup. I can add noodles, rice, or potatoes to the soup to instantly make it more filling. The price breakdown comes to about $2 to $3 per meal for the chicken. Rice, vegetables, noodles, potatoes, and pasta are super cheap, so the total cost of a full meal would break down to less than $5. That's a price I'm willing to live with, especially since I don't actually eat meat that much anymore, meaning my other meals are much cheaper than that. And I can rest easy, knowing what I'm putting into my body, how the chickens were raised, and who I'm supporting with my $. This makes me happy.
*Caveat: I don't know how "green" or local my chicken is, since I presume Free Bird Farm had to take the birds to be processed and frozen at a butcher plant, and I have no idea how far away that plant is, but I'm okay with that. This is a better option to me than what I can find in my supermarkets.
Why didn't I opt for both chickens and eggs? Quite simply: I can't eat that much. I think it's better to buy only what you need than to oversupply and waste food. Less food, more quality. In fact, I think 12 chickens is more than I can handle, so I convinced my friend to share some of the chickens with me. In exchange for buying 3-6 chickens off of me, I've agreed to teach him how to cook the chickens and pass along any excess produce, which I'm more than happy to do. Community building with CSA food! :)
All this thinking about local, organic, free-range, etc. made me wonder about all the other food I eat. I want to live better and I am considering kicking off a month of clean eating, where I restrict myself to only eating sustainably produced/harvested food, with an emphasis on organic produce, free range and hormone/antibiotic free meats, and wild-caught fish. And, of course, trying to support local farmers where and when I can.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of restaurants and grocery stores that are quietly (or not so quietly) sourcing local, free-range, sustainable foods. I think it would be fairly easy to pull off a month of clean eating in the city. I'll chew on this idea a little longer, but it's definitely something I want to pursue.
I'm worried, of course, that they won't like it. That I've been hyping it up to everyone. But honestly, I'll just let the produce do the talking, and I'm sure it'll be fine.
I was hoping to pull my roommate into sharing my CSA with me this year, but it looks like my roommate may or may not be with us this summer. So...I've decided that instead of being overly ambitious, I'm going to sign up for just one partial share ($375 for 22 weeks of a larger-than-half-of-a-regular-share) of vegetables. I wanted to try the eggs, fruit, or chicken because it looks so good and I want to support Free Bird Farms. But I didn't know what the best option would be and I was scared being overwhelmed by Foodmageddon again.
I can polish off fruit quite happily and easily on my own, but I like the idea of free range, organic (not certified, but raised organically) chickens and eggs, and I wanted to give it a go at home, rather than relying on super duper expensive fancy places that I like to think about eating at because heaven knows I'd never be able to take myself there without feeling awfully guilty about how I'm prioritizing my spending. T_T
I digress. I ended up deciding on the chicken share. Why? Eggs are perishable but these chickens are frozen. Plus, they seemed like a slightly better deal. $90 for a dozen eggs a week comes out to a whopping $4.09 per dozen eggs. That's a lot and I am not quite sure the difference in taste and quality would be worth it. I snooped around and the prices for free range, organic eggs are anywhere from $3.50 to $5.50 per dozen in NYC. Regular eggs are $$2.00 - $3.00 a dozen. While it would be nice to have eggs with beautiful, rich, nutritious orange yolks, I just don't want to commit to a full season right now. I guess the humane treatment of chickens is another factor, but on this point, I'm indifferent, since chickens raised for meat also face the same issue of humane treatment. The deciding factor for me was just that I don't eat a lot of eggs to begin with and they are fairly perishable.
On the other hand, I can get 12 chickens for $180, which comes out to about $15 a chicken, or $3.75 a pound. Although pricey, I did some investigating online and in stores, and this is actually fairly reasonable for a free-range, organic chicken. Normal chickens go for a lot less - something like $4 to $8 per whole 4lb chicken. The price markup for free range and organic chicken is a lot higher than it is for eggs. Why do I bother buying free range and organic then? It freaks me out that I'm eating chicken meat laced with antibiotics and hormones. I don't know. I don't like it. Plus, I've seen the chickens being raised for meat and eggs at Free Bird Farm and I can definitively say these chickens were raised happily. I can't say the same for the chickens I buy at the store, free range and organic or not. Finally, chickens can be frozen. They will keep for up to a year in my freezer. This gives them a significant advantage over eggs.
And I know $15 per chicken is a lot, but I know how to stretch my chickens. I can easily, easily, make at least 5 or 6 meals out of one chicken. Roast chicken for two meals with a side of veg, chicken over rice or chicken with pasta or even chicken salad sandwiches can make another two meals, and the leftover chicken bits and bones makes for at least two meals of chicken soup. I can add noodles, rice, or potatoes to the soup to instantly make it more filling. The price breakdown comes to about $2 to $3 per meal for the chicken. Rice, vegetables, noodles, potatoes, and pasta are super cheap, so the total cost of a full meal would break down to less than $5. That's a price I'm willing to live with, especially since I don't actually eat meat that much anymore, meaning my other meals are much cheaper than that. And I can rest easy, knowing what I'm putting into my body, how the chickens were raised, and who I'm supporting with my $. This makes me happy.
*Caveat: I don't know how "green" or local my chicken is, since I presume Free Bird Farm had to take the birds to be processed and frozen at a butcher plant, and I have no idea how far away that plant is, but I'm okay with that. This is a better option to me than what I can find in my supermarkets.
Why didn't I opt for both chickens and eggs? Quite simply: I can't eat that much. I think it's better to buy only what you need than to oversupply and waste food. Less food, more quality. In fact, I think 12 chickens is more than I can handle, so I convinced my friend to share some of the chickens with me. In exchange for buying 3-6 chickens off of me, I've agreed to teach him how to cook the chickens and pass along any excess produce, which I'm more than happy to do. Community building with CSA food! :)
All this thinking about local, organic, free-range, etc. made me wonder about all the other food I eat. I want to live better and I am considering kicking off a month of clean eating, where I restrict myself to only eating sustainably produced/harvested food, with an emphasis on organic produce, free range and hormone/antibiotic free meats, and wild-caught fish. And, of course, trying to support local farmers where and when I can.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of restaurants and grocery stores that are quietly (or not so quietly) sourcing local, free-range, sustainable foods. I think it would be fairly easy to pull off a month of clean eating in the city. I'll chew on this idea a little longer, but it's definitely something I want to pursue.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Evolution of the CSA?
Huh. Interesting.
I'm a huge fan of local and sustainable food efforts, which is a big part of why I signed up for a CSA in the first place, but this is taking it to a whole new level. I like.
I can see this "pay someone to garden your plot" idea being especially helpful for restaurants.
Brief excerpt:
In Lincolnshire, another farm has, since January, been taking provenance to extremes online. At i-Grow, Harry Loweth, 26, who farms with his family at Abbey Parks Farm near East Heckington, had the riveting idea of dividing ground into six-metre-square allotments for hands-off vegetable-growers.
From £125 a year, clean-fingered customers choose their vegetables or herbs and Harry will then grow them organically, harvest them and even deliver them to their door.
“It appeals to time-poor city-dwellers with no gardens, to schools who want to teach children where their food comes from, to restaurant chefs who want a reliable supply and to senior gardeners who can’t manage anymore,” he says.
“They’re not a virtual concept, they’re real and so far, we’ve sold 42 plots. You can even arrange to come and visit or you can watch how your crops are performing on the website.”
Source: Food Provenance (Telegraph)
And another (equally as interesting) article with more detail on Harry Loweth's farm + other creative ventures from UK farmers:
The Trend: Click Your Own (FT)
I'm a huge fan of local and sustainable food efforts, which is a big part of why I signed up for a CSA in the first place, but this is taking it to a whole new level. I like.
I can see this "pay someone to garden your plot" idea being especially helpful for restaurants.
Brief excerpt:
In Lincolnshire, another farm has, since January, been taking provenance to extremes online. At i-Grow, Harry Loweth, 26, who farms with his family at Abbey Parks Farm near East Heckington, had the riveting idea of dividing ground into six-metre-square allotments for hands-off vegetable-growers.
From £125 a year, clean-fingered customers choose their vegetables or herbs and Harry will then grow them organically, harvest them and even deliver them to their door.
“It appeals to time-poor city-dwellers with no gardens, to schools who want to teach children where their food comes from, to restaurant chefs who want a reliable supply and to senior gardeners who can’t manage anymore,” he says.
“They’re not a virtual concept, they’re real and so far, we’ve sold 42 plots. You can even arrange to come and visit or you can watch how your crops are performing on the website.”
Source: Food Provenance (Telegraph)
And another (equally as interesting) article with more detail on Harry Loweth's farm + other creative ventures from UK farmers:
The Trend: Click Your Own (FT)
Monday, August 20, 2012
Fennel and Red Cabbage Salad
I've been holding on to a small head of red cabbage from CSA share #7 for a few weeks now, so I thought this might be a good time to try and use it up. Red cabbage is a great source of vitamins and minerals, including the antioxidant, Vitamin C. The thing about cabbage is that once it's cut, Vitamin C starts to disappear right away. Plus, it starts to wilt. So it's a good idea to use up the entire head of cabbage when possible, in order to maximize the health (and flavor!) benefits.
I had a bunch of oranges, pineapple, and apples stored in the fridge for sangria-making purposes (yum!), so when I happened upon a recipe for fennel and red cabbage salad with oranges, I decided to sacrifice a few of my sangria oranges for salad. Glad I did, because the salad turned out quite nicely. The original recipe called for things like pepitas, tamari, hemp seeds, and cilantro, none of which I had on hand, so I made a few modifications and tried to use up the random things I had lying around my kitchen. I also like keeping things simple and quick, to save time.
Ladies and gentlemen, behold my dumbed down fennel and red cabbage salad.
Fennel and Red Cabbage Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 small head of red cabbage
- 2 small fennel bulbs
- 2 oranges
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- salt
Recipe:
1. Wash and trim fennel bulbs. Reserve fronds and stalks for soup stock (stalk stock teehee) and garnish.
2. Wash and core red cabbage. If you're hungry, you could microwave the cores for a minute or two and eat them as a snack. Nom nom.
3. Slice the cabbage and fennel into thin strips, coleslaw style.
4. Drizzle the fennel strips with olive oil, lemon juice (I used the juice from a third of a lemon), and salt.
5. Slice orange segments into bite size pieces and add to the fennel mix.
6. If you're not eating the salad right away, store in the fridge and mix everything together just before serving/eating*. Keep the cabbage separate from the fennel so the red coloring doesn't leach into the fennel slices. Or the oranges. I imagine purple and orange in combination would turn a rather unappetizing shade of brown.
7. Toss the cabbage with the fennel/orange mix and then drizzle a bit of balsamic vinegar on top. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Garnish with a few fennel fronds.
9. Enjoy.
* If you're making lunch for work and you're short on tupperware (like me), you can wrap up the red cabbage in some saran wrap to keep it separate from the rest of the salad and put it on top of the fennel. Don't use foil, as the acid from the lemon juice might do funny things to your lunch :(
I had way too much red cabbage, so I just brought in the extra cabbage to work the next day, microwaved it, and added salt and pepper. Pretty tasty but it smelled pretty strongly of sulfur. Fortunately, my coworkers are accustomed to far more offensive smells, like fish and kimchi (we sit right by the microwave and the Korilla truck stops by every now and then), so I think I'm still on good terms with them. I hope.
CSA Share #11 is coming in tomorrow! I have a crapton of vegetables, but they're pretty storage-friendly, so I'll probably wait and see what I get in tomorrow's share before I cook any of the CSA leftovers. My inventory consists mostly of onions, garlic, jalapenos, and fennel stalks. I have a pint of frozen chicken consomme, so I might make some soup this weekend and freeze portions for later use.
On a somewhat (not really) related note, I had brunch with my friends at Clinton St Bakery down in the LES. Chocolate chunk pancakes with maple butterscotch syrup. I die. Haha. And the icing on the cake? When I walked in the door, I immediately noticed a sign hanging on the wall with a list of local farms that Clinton St. Bakery sources their fresh ingredients from. I excitedly pointed it out to my brunch friends, but I think my enthusiasm was a little one-sided. #foreveralone
I had a bunch of oranges, pineapple, and apples stored in the fridge for sangria-making purposes (yum!), so when I happened upon a recipe for fennel and red cabbage salad with oranges, I decided to sacrifice a few of my sangria oranges for salad. Glad I did, because the salad turned out quite nicely. The original recipe called for things like pepitas, tamari, hemp seeds, and cilantro, none of which I had on hand, so I made a few modifications and tried to use up the random things I had lying around my kitchen. I also like keeping things simple and quick, to save time.
Ladies and gentlemen, behold my dumbed down fennel and red cabbage salad.
Fennel and Red Cabbage Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 small head of red cabbage
- 2 small fennel bulbs
- 2 oranges
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- salt
Recipe:
1. Wash and trim fennel bulbs. Reserve fronds and stalks for soup stock (stalk stock teehee) and garnish.
2. Wash and core red cabbage. If you're hungry, you could microwave the cores for a minute or two and eat them as a snack. Nom nom.
3. Slice the cabbage and fennel into thin strips, coleslaw style.
4. Drizzle the fennel strips with olive oil, lemon juice (I used the juice from a third of a lemon), and salt.
5. Slice orange segments into bite size pieces and add to the fennel mix.
6. If you're not eating the salad right away, store in the fridge and mix everything together just before serving/eating*. Keep the cabbage separate from the fennel so the red coloring doesn't leach into the fennel slices. Or the oranges. I imagine purple and orange in combination would turn a rather unappetizing shade of brown.
7. Toss the cabbage with the fennel/orange mix and then drizzle a bit of balsamic vinegar on top. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Garnish with a few fennel fronds.
9. Enjoy.
* If you're making lunch for work and you're short on tupperware (like me), you can wrap up the red cabbage in some saran wrap to keep it separate from the rest of the salad and put it on top of the fennel. Don't use foil, as the acid from the lemon juice might do funny things to your lunch :(
I had way too much red cabbage, so I just brought in the extra cabbage to work the next day, microwaved it, and added salt and pepper. Pretty tasty but it smelled pretty strongly of sulfur. Fortunately, my coworkers are accustomed to far more offensive smells, like fish and kimchi (we sit right by the microwave and the Korilla truck stops by every now and then), so I think I'm still on good terms with them. I hope.
CSA Share #11 is coming in tomorrow! I have a crapton of vegetables, but they're pretty storage-friendly, so I'll probably wait and see what I get in tomorrow's share before I cook any of the CSA leftovers. My inventory consists mostly of onions, garlic, jalapenos, and fennel stalks. I have a pint of frozen chicken consomme, so I might make some soup this weekend and freeze portions for later use.
On a somewhat (not really) related note, I had brunch with my friends at Clinton St Bakery down in the LES. Chocolate chunk pancakes with maple butterscotch syrup. I die. Haha. And the icing on the cake? When I walked in the door, I immediately noticed a sign hanging on the wall with a list of local farms that Clinton St. Bakery sources their fresh ingredients from. I excitedly pointed it out to my brunch friends, but I think my enthusiasm was a little one-sided. #foreveralone
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Success! oh SNAP!
YES! Snap food truck successfully raised its goal of $10,000 on March 12. I think it's really touching that the final donation came from another small food business owner who just wanted to pay it forward. This is why communities are amazing things. You can go it alone, but it's nice to have company.
Now I just have to wait for my coworker to pop up again and announce that Snap is right around the corner and would I like to join the expedition...
Nice work Liz and Zeph. Can't wait for a summer with Chicago dogs.
Full story here:
Snap Truck Success!
Now I just have to wait for my coworker to pop up again and announce that Snap is right around the corner and would I like to join the expedition...
Nice work Liz and Zeph. Can't wait for a summer with Chicago dogs.
Full story here:
Snap Truck Success!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Chicago in NY: Snap Food Truck
My group at work loves food trucks. Loves. I was a bit wary at first. After all, who knows where that street meat's been? Or how long it's been there? Or where it's even from...? I wasn't so squeamish when I was younger and traveling around in places like rural Mexico (tacos de menudo) or the streets of Korea (boshintang), but now that I'm older, I know better. I know exactly why my food from a cart is so cheap: it's using cheap cuts of meat and cutting corners for the uneducated or simply indifferent consumer.
I resisted at first, but 8 months later, I have to admit I'm a convert. Food trucks are effing amazing! From Korilla to Luke's Lobster Rolls to grasshopper tacos and Coolhaus, there's no shortage of fun foods I want to try*. Still trying to save $$$ so I can do something cool later in my life, so my food truck expeditions are limited, but every now and then, a super cool truck comes along and I simply can't say no...
Earlier this week, one of my most die-hard food truck enthusiast coworkers yelled at me across the desk rows, "HEY! There's a truck with Chicago style hot dogs!"
Now, as you all know, I spent four years in the beautiful Windy City. Famous for all sorts of gut-busting noms like deep dish pizza, Chicago-style dogs, and steaks.
Sadly, deep dish pizza never quite did it for me. In my defense, I tried, I really did. I dutifully took all my out-of-towners to Uno's, Lou Malnati's and Giordano's. I always felt like I had an unpleasant cheese baby kicking its way through my stomach. No thanks - I'll take L'Asso over Giordano's any day.
However, Portillo's hot dogs are something else. Chicago-style dogs with the works (hold the onions)are so good, I wouldn't care if they were made with questionable meat cuts (which is good, since they probably are).
So when my coworker popped up gopher-style from behind her computer announcing Chicago-style dogs, my ears perked up right away.
Snap Food Truck. Coming soon to a city block near me. !!!
Interestingly, the owners (a married couple) are working to fuel their truck with biofuel (aka leftover french fry oil). Very cool. They haven't quite gotten off the ground yet, but when they do, I'll be the first in line.
Even more interesting - they source locally. Can't be easy. I admire their dedication and I can't wait to see and taste the end result.
For those of you who are curious, Snap is partnering with Dickson's Farmstand Meats and Karl Ehmer in Brooklyn for their grass-fed beef and all-beef hot dogs. (Yay! now I know where the mystery meat is coming from! +5 points for this alone). As for their pickles and cheese? The Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn and artisanal pickles from Rick's Picks. Mmm.
I really hope Snap tastes as good as the picture above looks. Bonus points for cucumbers. If there's ketchup, I will smack someone on the head. You wouldn't put ketchup on your drunk chicken'n'rice would you!? So why the F would you put it on your perfectly good Chicago dog?! Yeah. What I thought. Omg...I'm getting hungry. Go support Snap on Kickstarter so they can launch their truck and drive it to a street corner nearby. I want my food!!!
Fueled by Fries: Kickstarter page for Snap
*Also helps a lot that some of my favorite NY restaurants get reviews from yelpers like "roaches in rice!" Still eat there, so can't really be elitist and snobby about food trucks anymore. Especially since the trucks look a lot cleaner. I also belatedly recalled that my favorite taco shop in Tucson had roach and rat issues too. Maybe roaches secrete MSG and we just didn't realize it yet? ERUGH.
I resisted at first, but 8 months later, I have to admit I'm a convert. Food trucks are effing amazing! From Korilla to Luke's Lobster Rolls to grasshopper tacos and Coolhaus, there's no shortage of fun foods I want to try*. Still trying to save $$$ so I can do something cool later in my life, so my food truck expeditions are limited, but every now and then, a super cool truck comes along and I simply can't say no...
Earlier this week, one of my most die-hard food truck enthusiast coworkers yelled at me across the desk rows, "HEY! There's a truck with Chicago style hot dogs!"
Now, as you all know, I spent four years in the beautiful Windy City. Famous for all sorts of gut-busting noms like deep dish pizza, Chicago-style dogs, and steaks.
Sadly, deep dish pizza never quite did it for me. In my defense, I tried, I really did. I dutifully took all my out-of-towners to Uno's, Lou Malnati's and Giordano's. I always felt like I had an unpleasant cheese baby kicking its way through my stomach. No thanks - I'll take L'Asso over Giordano's any day.
However, Portillo's hot dogs are something else. Chicago-style dogs with the works (hold the onions)are so good, I wouldn't care if they were made with questionable meat cuts (which is good, since they probably are).
So when my coworker popped up gopher-style from behind her computer announcing Chicago-style dogs, my ears perked up right away.
Snap Food Truck. Coming soon to a city block near me. !!!
Interestingly, the owners (a married couple) are working to fuel their truck with biofuel (aka leftover french fry oil). Very cool. They haven't quite gotten off the ground yet, but when they do, I'll be the first in line.
Even more interesting - they source locally. Can't be easy. I admire their dedication and I can't wait to see and taste the end result.
For those of you who are curious, Snap is partnering with Dickson's Farmstand Meats and Karl Ehmer in Brooklyn for their grass-fed beef and all-beef hot dogs. (Yay! now I know where the mystery meat is coming from! +5 points for this alone). As for their pickles and cheese? The Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn and artisanal pickles from Rick's Picks. Mmm.
I really hope Snap tastes as good as the picture above looks. Bonus points for cucumbers. If there's ketchup, I will smack someone on the head. You wouldn't put ketchup on your drunk chicken'n'rice would you!? So why the F would you put it on your perfectly good Chicago dog?! Yeah. What I thought. Omg...I'm getting hungry. Go support Snap on Kickstarter so they can launch their truck and drive it to a street corner nearby. I want my food!!!
Fueled by Fries: Kickstarter page for Snap
*Also helps a lot that some of my favorite NY restaurants get reviews from yelpers like "roaches in rice!" Still eat there, so can't really be elitist and snobby about food trucks anymore. Especially since the trucks look a lot cleaner. I also belatedly recalled that my favorite taco shop in Tucson had roach and rat issues too. Maybe roaches secrete MSG and we just didn't realize it yet? ERUGH.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Why CSA?
First blog post!
I guess it would be appropriate to use my first post to touch on why I started this blog in the first place.
While I've never really been a picky eater, I’ve always been picky about my produce. If it's not fresh, I generally won't touch it. Lately, I’ve become ever more interested in local sourcing, as I’ve long maintained that local produce tends to be fresher and taste better. Farmer’s markets, apple picking trips, and diligent searching through grocery store produce aisles usually worked for me, but after moving to NY and starting a job, I realized that these are time-luxuries that I just can’t afford any more.
Farmer’s markets are generally held during my work hours and they’re not exactly conveniently located either*. The grocery stores and delis near my apartment offer an acceptable collection of produce, but after biting into one too many mealy apples, I gave up on that as well. In my search for a viable alternative, I stumbled upon the world of CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture). The more I read, the more intriguing I found the whole CSA concept. I decided to give it a try.
However, as I signed up for a CSA, it dawned on me how difficult it had been for me to pull the information I was looking for. Compared to finding a local grocery store, finding a good source of local food was definitely more of a challenge. Plus, not a lot of people know what a CSA even is. I imagine there’s a lot of people out there who would be interested in CSA’s and locally sourced food for a variety of reasons, so I set out to chronicle my own adventures in an attempt to gather more information and put it in a format that might come in handy to someone someday.
In addition, the whole dialogue around local sourcing and CSA’s is fascinating and ever-evolving. I wanted to have a place where I could muse out loud and sort through my own opinions on the many discussions being held in the local food space.
So there it is in a nutshell: this blog is really just my place to ruminate on CSA’s and serve as a place for me to collect information so that I can pass it on to my friends and family should they ever decide they want to know more.
*Or I'm lazy?
I guess it would be appropriate to use my first post to touch on why I started this blog in the first place.
While I've never really been a picky eater, I’ve always been picky about my produce. If it's not fresh, I generally won't touch it. Lately, I’ve become ever more interested in local sourcing, as I’ve long maintained that local produce tends to be fresher and taste better. Farmer’s markets, apple picking trips, and diligent searching through grocery store produce aisles usually worked for me, but after moving to NY and starting a job, I realized that these are time-luxuries that I just can’t afford any more.
Farmer’s markets are generally held during my work hours and they’re not exactly conveniently located either*. The grocery stores and delis near my apartment offer an acceptable collection of produce, but after biting into one too many mealy apples, I gave up on that as well. In my search for a viable alternative, I stumbled upon the world of CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture). The more I read, the more intriguing I found the whole CSA concept. I decided to give it a try.
However, as I signed up for a CSA, it dawned on me how difficult it had been for me to pull the information I was looking for. Compared to finding a local grocery store, finding a good source of local food was definitely more of a challenge. Plus, not a lot of people know what a CSA even is. I imagine there’s a lot of people out there who would be interested in CSA’s and locally sourced food for a variety of reasons, so I set out to chronicle my own adventures in an attempt to gather more information and put it in a format that might come in handy to someone someday.
In addition, the whole dialogue around local sourcing and CSA’s is fascinating and ever-evolving. I wanted to have a place where I could muse out loud and sort through my own opinions on the many discussions being held in the local food space.
So there it is in a nutshell: this blog is really just my place to ruminate on CSA’s and serve as a place for me to collect information so that I can pass it on to my friends and family should they ever decide they want to know more.
*Or I'm lazy?
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