I suppose life is a process. You are constantly evaluating your circumstances, facing different challenges, and trying new things on for size. Well, at the moment I am trying a new place on for size. Yesterday, my one-way flight landed in Washington, DC ... and I say one-way, because it is unclear where I will be come October. This is exciting, because I will be working for an organization that is super-cool, living in a new city (and not at home), and hanging out with friends I have not seen in a couple of years.
That said, picking up and moving, especially without a long-term plan, is stressful and requires a period of adjustment. Besides finding a place to live and a decent bike, I have to completely redevelop my food network! And while I now have an over-abundance of restaurants to try (which, unfortunately, requires a slightly more robust pay-check), I also feel lost without weekly farm interaction and the associated super-fresh produce!
Maybe it is fortuitous that the coming week of August 1st-7th (yes, it's August, stay calm) isNational Farmer's Market Week. And with 22 farmers markets in the greater DC area, I can only hope to find one that suits. So, while Ms. Powell on Grist recommends trying something new and exciting in celebration, I will devote my first week in the city to trying to find my farmers market(s). My new favorite tool is Washington Post's farmers market finder, butLocalharvest is an amazing resource for finding farms and markets in your area.
My Plan:
Sunday - Dupont Circle (9-1pm; notorious for being on the more expensive side, but a very fun market) ... well, I actually went to Eastern Market (7-5pm), which was awesome!!!
Tuesday - New Morning Farmers Market (4-8pm) up near Van Ness
Wednesday - Clarendon (2-7pm), Foggy Bottom (3-7pm), or Georgetown (3-7pm) ... hopefully I will have a bike by then...
Thursday - Penn Quarter (3-7pm)
Saturday - There are a couple that look interesting, so I'll have to make a decision...Eastern Market (7-4pm), Adam's Morgan (8-1pm; my haunt two summers ago), Woodley Place/Cathedral Ave (8:30-12:30pm)
Sorry, no pictures. More adventures to come once I am more settled and life calms down!
California fruit envy...I returned from my four days in the Bay with four pounds of stone fruit! Granted, we have better berries in the PNW.
They say that the third time is a charm, but I must politely disagree this turn around. I dream up fancy ideas for Daring Bakers' challenges all month, but when it comes to putting my plans into action and testing recipes, I come up short. The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.
This time around I started early, when the friend with whom I stayed in San Francisco was overcome by a dreadful urge to use her ice cream maker! For the fourth of July (I know, only three days after announcing the challenge!), we pulled off a beautiful and tasty Red, White, and Blue...trifle. Apparently, the eggs in the Swiss roll cake recipe help hold the whole thing together! This still received rave reviews from all ten eaters involved.
My next attempt was inspired by a honey ice cream recipe in Edible Seattle. With a cornmeal cake and a plum jam filling, this should have been destined for marvels and wonders. Alas, the banana that gave the ice cream its creamy texture, overpowered all the flavors and the cake fell apart in the rolling process, again. Le sigh.
Finally, I decided to take the standard route and go with a chocolate cake (using chia seeds as an egg substitute for the first time) and espresso kahlua almond ice milk. Oh, and did I mention that you are supposed to roll the cake right after removing from the oven, while it is still warm. Yes, reading directions apparently has some merit. While this time actually yielded a dome-shaped ice cream cake dessert, it was far from attractive and not my favorite of the three. Therefore, I will not include a picture or a recipe. I will, however, pass on the outline for creating a scrumptious Patriotic Trifle, as that was truly a crowd pleaser!
Patriotic Trifle
Genoise Cake
½ cup powdered sugar
1 cup granulated
1 cup blanched almonds, ground
1 lemon zested
juice of half a lemon
½ cup almond milk
½ cup water
3 tbs ground flax
1 ½ cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
1. Whisk together flax meal and water. Let stand for a few minutes until it starts to gel. Add sugars, zest, lemon juice, and almond milk. Mix until well-combined.
2. Add all dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Pour batter into a shallow parchment-lined pan in a thin layer. Bake at 350 F for 15-25 minutes, until set and slightly springy.
3. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Blueberry Lemonbalm Ice Cream
14 oz can coconut milk (lite will obviously be less rich)
1 cup almond or other non-dairy milk
2/3 cup sugar or agave
2 cup wild blueberries
1 lemon juiced and zested
handful of lemon balm or verbena roughly chopped
3 tbs arrowroot powder
1. Heat lemon juice, blueberries, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until cooked down. Add lemon balm at the end and let sit while finishing up the milk.
2. In the meantime, heat milks in their own saucepan over medium heat, right to a low boil. Add some milk to the arrowroot to create a paste. Add back to milk in pan, along with blueberries and lemon balm. Heat until starting to thicken. Remove from heat and refrigerate until very cold.
3. Follow directions on your ice-cream churner. Note that adding a few tablespoons of some alcohol will prevent too many ice crystals from forming!
4. In a deep bowl, layer chunks of cake, ice cream, and sliced strawberries. Cut or scoop with a spoon and serve. Perhaps best with a few hours of freezing post-assembly.
S assembles the trifle! Yay collaborative baking effort!
Thus, despite rocky starts, we learn that swiss roll ice cream cake bombs look awesome, but trifles can be equally delectable!
The stars had finally aligned: the sun shone brightly, keeping temperatures at a comfortable 83 F, and both my father and I were free. That could mean only one thing - a bike ride! We set off through Redmond, making our way over Union Hill, and into Carnation Valley. While I have taken this route before, I never felt so moved by the scene of pastoral perfection that greeted me. Only 10 miles from my home, you have entered farm country.
Founded in 1875 or 1876, the town of Carnation (originally Tolt) served as epicenter of the farming and logging communities in the valley. Unbeknownst to me until last night, Carnation actually owes its name (and any past fame) to the founder of Carnation Evaporated Milk, E.A. Stuart! The dairy Stuart owned beginning in 1910 still stands proud, plays host to one of Paul Newman's "Whole in the Wall Camps," and made an appearance on my Saturday bike ride.
While Carnation still holds its own in the farming sphere of the Puget Sound Region (despite seasonal flooding), rural America has experienced severe declines in the past 100 years. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the number of farms in the country has fallen from just over 6 million in 1910 to hovering at around 2 million today. Between outsourcing food production to other countries, condensing the number of farms to form larger operations, and the transition to mechanized cultivation, the need for labor and small farms has decreased dramatically. With such a rich agricultural tradition in our country, I find it sad to see the urbanization of land and communities. Well, perhaps we are experiencing a revival - a USDA report noted the increase in number of farms and diversity of operators between 2002 and 2007! If my own experience, and the wealth of food-related literature and campaigns, is any indication, perhaps we might be on the past to revitalizing this tradition after all.
On that note, it has been too long since I posted a recipe for you all to enjoy! I've drawn upon local ingredients, as usual, with my friend providing the rhubarb and the peaches and blueberries traveling in from just east of the Cascades. Being me, I've taken the gluten-free, vegan route ... and got rave reviews at a friend's bridal shower!
Rhuberry Peach Crumble Pie
Crust:
1 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup tapioca starch
2 tbs sugar (fine, blend raw sugar if needed)
1/3 cup coconut butter (melty)
2 tbs oil
water as needed
pinch of salt
1. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2. Add oils and work with hands until the dough starts coming together.
3. Dribble in water as needed so that dough can form a ball, but not be sticky.
4. Roll out between two sheets of parchment or wax paper. Do not refrigerate, as the dough tenses up. Place in pie dish and start your prep for the filling!
Filling:
1 cup chopped rhubarb
2 peaches, sliced
2/3 cup blueberries
2/3 cup turbinado sugar
2 tbs tapioca starch
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1. Combine all ingredients. Yes, it's that easy. Let sit and marinate for as long as you want...I'd stick it in the fridge if it's more than an hour or so.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F. While preheating, stick in the pie plate with crust, just to set it up a little.
3. Once preheated, add fruit filling and bake for 15 minutes. Make crumble.
Crumble:
1/2 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tbs tapioca starch
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 - 1/2 cup coconut butter, Earth Balance, or combination, melty
1. Combine dry ingredients. Mix in oily goodness. Use hands to incorporate until crumbly and feels like wet sand.
2. Sprinkle evenly on top of fruit. Lower oven to 325 F. Bake for another 15-25 minutes, until fruit it very soft and crusts are starting to brown.
3. ENJOY! Good warm with a nice vegan coconut ice cream!
Ok, I know we’ve been through this before, but chocolate is seriously one of my favorite things on the planet. So it should be no surprise to you that I invited some friends over for a chocolate smorgasbord on the evening of my turning 24. We tasted and tittered over 17 bars of Theobroma cacao (in its processed form, of course).
As I have mentioned in other posts, Theobroma cacao hails from the humid tropics, originally found in only the New World. While consumption of these hefty pods predates both Mayan an Aztec civilizations by a good 1000 or more years, their entrance into the global arena has its roots in Western imperialism. The import of cacao into Spain during the 16th century spurred on the expansion of cocao products from New World royal and ritual comestibles to a luxurious drink for the aristocracy of Europe. Chocolate production is entangled in smallpox epidemics among native South American people, the African slave trade and the spread of cash-crop plantations of the 17th and 18th centuries, and domestication and genetic manipulation of the Theobroma trees. With the advent of cocoa powder in the early 19th century, chocolate penetrated the emerging industrial processing system that would lead us down the road to our current food trends.
The rise in popularity of cocoa, mainly in the form of drinking chocolate but later confections, prompted the use of poorer quality and mixed-source cacao, as well as spreading the crop from its origin to Africa and the Southeast Asian Islands. As with most of our commodity crops today, the history and implications of cultivation are fascinatingly complex (for detailed account, consult The New Taste Of Chocolate by Maricel E. Presilla). With the plethora of cheap, undiscriminating chocolate bars stocking the grocery shelves, many of us have never known or even actively dislike more pure forms of chocolate, especially small batch manufacturers, with higher cacao content and more traditional growing methods (like reverting to canopy-shaded growing operations). Well, I think my palate is becoming more discerning and appreciative of the subtleties of different chocolates.
For the past six months, give or take a couple, I have been accumulating dark chocolate of varying concentrations of cacao and a wide spectrum of brands. All but two are completely dairy-free and most are certified fair-trade or organic (read more about impacts in my earlier post). As Mr. Presilla warns in his tome, you still must be wary when purchasing these labels, as they can be misleading about the actual level of social and environmental responsibility embedded in the chocolate. Seeking out chocolate from farmer cooperatives and legitimate bean-to-bar operations, just as getting to know your local farmer, are probably your best bets for ensuring a clear(er) conscience and a smiling face!
For a bit of chocolate tasting tips check out Chocolate and Zucchini’s suggestions. If you want a bit of help identifying flavor notes as you savor a bar, consult allchocolate.com.
Certified Fair-Trade (TransFair USA) and Organic (Oregon Tilth)
Worker-owned cooperative, features different co-op members on packaging
No soy lecithin!
Source: Panama
Flavor Notes: vanilla, nice melt
14. Theo 84% Dark Chocolate
Source: Ghana
Flavor Notes: dry, balanced
15. Kallari 85%
Source: Ecuadorian Amazon
Flavor Notes: dry, bitter
16. Endangered Species 88% Extreme Dark Chocolate (Black Panther)
Source: Nigeria
Flavor Notes: bitter, nutty, grainy
17. World Market 99%
Flavor Notes: surprisingly not bitter, toasty, smooth
Results:
So which chocolates reigned supreme?
1. Chocolate Santander took the cake. I found this bar at my favorite chocolate shop in Seattle, Chocolopolis on Queen Anne Ave. It was my priciest bar, but also the best!
2. Theo 70% came in second, but did not sit well with everyone. Theo bars have a distinct tone that don’t appeal to milder chocolate lovers.
3. Kallari 70% followed closely, though experienced more uniform approval. One of my friends served as a representative for the company, and passed on this article!
4. Endangered species 72%
5. Theo 74% Madagascar (same caveats – was hit or miss with people)
6. World Market 99% This was a shocking hit! “I’m surprised it’s not more bitter” – L
7. World Market 64% The salt really stole the show on this one!
8. Equal Exchange 80%
9. Whole Foods 52% The mid-point of chocolate enjoyment…
10. Kallari 75% G really didn’t like this one – “dead babies” ok, a bit of an exaggeration!
11. Ghirardelli 72%
12. Theo 84% Ghana “boring” – unanimously
13. Green and Black’s 70% This actually was a hit with several in our group, but my family generally didn’t care for it. Generally considered to be a good brand, and my dad loves the Espresso!
14. Newman’s Own Organic 54% severely disappointed Butch Cassidy…
15. Kallari 85%
16. Dagoba 73% was disliked by all.
17. Endangered Species Black Panther 88% I thought we liked this one more…so maybe give it a shot. It also elicited some Anchorman quoting…Sex Panther, anyone?
"88% of the time, this tastes like a frosted mini-wheat doused in chocolate" - T
By the end of the evening, we had all overdosed on theobromine, caffeine, and chocolatey goodness. We finished up with a round of blind tasting, which resulted in quite different takes on each bar. An indication that 17 different varieties is about three times the recommended quantity! Well, I hope you enjoyed our adventure and try some of the fantastic chocolates we tasted. If you need suggestions of bars with add-ins, let me know. At the same time, if you have read this far and have your own suggestions, feel free to comment below! Or finally, if you want a second opinion, the NY Times did their own tasting a couple of years back.
“I don’t even know where I am anymore” – T, at the end of the evening
* Soy lecithin is used as an emulsifier to bind the ingredients. It is used to replace cocoa butter, which manufacturers often remove to sell for cosmetic uses.
** Rainforest Alliance Certification targets the sustainability of farming practices, including protecting soil quality, clean waterways, and wildlife habitat. It also parallels fair trade ventures by striving for high standards in the welfare of workers, their families, and communities.
*** Single source chocolates have very distinct flavors resulting from growing conditions and the soil properties. This interactive tool will provide some insight into their specific flavors.
This is neither here nor there, but a photo of the delectable strawberry shortcake from the strawberry social I attended.
My alarm goes off at 6:30am. I stretch my arms and legs as the early morning light filters in through my window. How glorious are clear, summer mornings! It’s my birthday (well, yesterday was), and I am only one year off from a quarter of a century. Perhaps it is just me, but birthdays seem to induce a bit of personal reflection and evaluation. Because my life invariably revolves around food at the moment, I can’t help think about how my own approach towards food has altered drastically in the past ten years.
Would it surprise you if I admitted to subsisting largely off of frozen yogurt and clam chowder during my last year of Junior High School? That I stopped eating fish after a video in my 10th grade biology class, but continued to rely on nutrition bars for after-school snacks? That I subsisted largely off of Boca burgers for protein until only a couple of years ago? It baffles me that over the course of ten, or even just five, years my attitude towards the production, processing, and nutrition of the food I put in my body has evolved so much.
Mmm...local strawberries...
There are now so many factors to consider in sourcing food that were not even on my radar growing up, nor mainstream knowledge until recently. If you want to be a conscious consumer, you can probably find a cause about which you are passionate that links to food.
Children’s health and school lunch nutrition has made headlines many times since the Obamas took over the White House. With the First Lady’s campaign against childhood obesity and the resurgence of her backyard garden, not to mention iconic chefs like Jamie Oliver putting in some time, this issue experiences a high level media attention. Grassroots activists in the form of parents and teachers (see Fed Up With School Lunches Blog). And as far as political leverage goes, the reauthorization of the Childhood Nutrition Act this year could very well see some revamping of the lunches available for school-age children.
Links between Climate Change and food production have also gained steam and benefited from additional attention. Agricultural practices impact and at the same time are greatly impacted by climate change. Wow, as I was writing that statement, this video basically captured my words! Our ability to grow food also depends on the availability of water, how extreme our temperatures become, soil degradation, etc. While some regions in northern latitudes might actually fare better, most of the lower latitudes will experience diminishing yields from their lands, particularly in dry regions or areas prone to tropical storms. But agriculture is also part of the problem. Between land conversion, fertilizer and chemical uses, industrial animal production, and the transportation of products, agriculture contributes about 13% of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions worldwide. Though a bit simplistic, this little carbon calculator is a fun way to see which foods in your diet are most carbon-intensive.
You can also approach food from the economic and social side of things. Local Slow Food organizations and farmers markets celebrate the seasonal bounty of produce and promote the support of local producers. I attended Slow Food Seattle’s strawberry social, at which a farmer from the Puyallup Valley educated the attendees about the growing and selling of strawberries within Washington State. So while the season may only last a month or so, the berries in the region put pithy, unripe Californian strawberries to shame. Steven Colbert has even broached the link between farming and the economy by inviting a leader in United Farm Workers onto his show.
But beyond my own personal dietary choices, I have come to realize that the world food system is so complex and convoluted that individual consumers are only part of the solution. Tom Philpott recently expounded upon this topic, noting the need for political action and likening it to our country’s effort to enact climate policy. There seems to be plenty of work whatever approach one chooses to take in our great food challenges, so take your pick!
What greater pleasure exists than popping sweet orbs of green out of their pod and into your mouth? Or even better, crunching through both the case and pea inside? Well, this little legume has a long history of making humans happy. And while no definite center of origin has been determined, dried peas have surfaced in the archeological record a good 12,000 years back! Cultivation probably dates to the time of Romans and Greeks, so we're talking about some pretty darn old crops here. For a more detailed account of the travels and adventures of the pea, check out the Vegetarian Paradise article.
Peas are ridiculously easy to grow, especially in cool and moist climates (Seattle for the win)! They usually appear during the months of June and July - hey, that's right now! As nitrogen fixers, peas and other legumes are involved in a symbiotic relationship with rhyzobium bacteria that convert Nitrogen in the atmosphere to a form usable to the plant - all in exchange for nutrients and protection. This means peas are pretty self-sufficient...and nutritious (mmm, protein...)!
I spent my morning on the farm searching for full-figured shelling peas to grace the CSA boxes. And, Sugar Snap Peas have made their debut this week in my backyard (take note of the photos). It is those sugar snap peas that take the prize for my favorite pod. This cross between a shelling pea and a snowpea is sweet, crunchy, and entirely edible. Personally, I'm a fan of munching these guys raw, but there are plenty of other perfectly delightful uses for peas.
Smitten Kitchen has a fun pickling recipe, and the snap peas with radishes and dill is on the menu tomorrow night. Have a good time with Food and Wine's Quinoa and Snap Peas! I like this simple stir-fry, maybe adding in some pan-fried tofu to the mix. If you are willing to go to the trouble of shelling fava beans, this salad recipe sounds like a keeper. Finally, Food Network has a ton of possibilities, but this sassy pasta dish stands out. If you catch them early enough, pea vines are quite the delicacy in Asian dishes and spring salads!
I thought that after college I would have a clear path to walk down in life. If anything, after five years of coursework, research, and internships and a year to mull it all over, I find myself interested in so many topics. While food (cooking, eating, growing, mulling over the sustainability of it all) seems to encompass my thoughts all my waking moments, my education largely tended towards terrestrial ecology and conservation biology. With a peppering of marine-related experiences in my background, as well, I feel I could apply myself in any of several directions. I mean not to belittle the importance of any one of these issues, as they each hold their own significance – to the planet and to my own life. It is just one of many challenges to find your place in the world...
Just as I have trouble pinpointing exactly what I want to do and be, this baked good faces its own struggle for identity. Not quite a cookie, but falling short of a cake, Madeleines sit in the limbo-land of pastries. While they don’t fit the cake bill for shape and structure, their quick-bready texture rules out the cookie classification. My concoction includes a nut-meal that makes it more of a financier (another scrumptious French pastry), all the while masquerading in the cute shell shape of a Madeleine. These taste best within the first couple of days, and go excellently with some nice tea.
Honeyed Pistachio Financier-esque Madeleines (vegan and gluten free)
2 tbs ground flax
3-4 tbs almond milk
1/3 tapioca flour
½ pistachios
1/3 cup turbinado sugar
½ cup cornmeal
½ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbs honey, chestnut or some other strong-flavored (use blue agave if you don’t consume honey)
1/3 cup oil
1 small lemon, juiced and zested
1.Mix flax and milk together and let stand.
2.Food-process pistachios and sugar until form a meal. Add other dry ingredients and give a few good pulses.
3.Whisk together honey, oil, and lemon. Add flax egg and whisk until smooth. Combine with dry ingredients until batter can form thick ribbons. Add extra liquid if necessary.
4.Grease and flour (with rice flour) Madeleine pan. Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until firm to touch and lightly browned.
I guess I will take this “cookie” for what it is: sweet and satisfying. And perhaps I should accept my own “interdisciplinary” nature – versed in a variety of topics, able to speak relatively intelligently on them, and motivated to make some difference in the world.
Summer has finally arrived! Not that I would wish my life away or anything, but the prospect of summer fruit could compel almost anyone to yearn for July to roll around. Yes, cherry/plum/apricot/raspberry/strawberry season has come, and the bounty has started to emerge. Granted, our cool and damp spring weather has hindered fruit harvest slightly, but I remain optimistic.
One of the fruits I most anticipate is the cherry, preferably dark, firm Bings. Last spring, I had the great fortune of living within easy access of a cherry tree, although by this time in the Bay Area the fruit would be long gone! But here in the PNW, cherries are ripe for the picking.
So this month, Mactweets challenged us to take inspiration from a song when concocting our little almond cookie sandwiches. As a devoted Broadway musical fan, a good portion of my iTunes selection consists of showtunes. During the fall of 2008, I had the great fortune to attend Spring Awakening in San Francisco. Not only was the performance marvelous, but in the preceding weeks leading up to the show I managed to thoroughly addict myself to the soundtrack. It seemed perfectly appropriate to listen to the final song, The Song of Purple Summer, while baking macarons for this challenge.
In the spirit of the song and the recent transition from spring to summer, my sister and I celebrated her return from London by creating Purple Summer macarons. Yes, these little green pistachio gems are filled with a deep amethyst cherry preserve. While slightly undercooked (I admit to being impatient!), the flavors really did complement each other nicely. I highly recommend David Lebovitz's guidelines for No Recipe Cherry Jam to fill your macs!
