Picker

I went blueberry picking today at my favorite farm with some friends. I didn't get any pictures unfortunately as it's hard to hold a baby and pick berries. I also didn't get very many berries, as the baby was eating them out of the container as fast as I could put them in (that's going to be a really fun diaper change later).

So why am I babbling on about spending a morning out in the sun, bugs, and briars? Because that's what berries are all about. Summer berries aren't hard little underripe nuggets picked up at your local market. They're ripe, bright, juicy fruits hanging in bunches from trees and bushes ready for picking. Berries to me are summer mornings spent listening to kids laughing, eating as much as you pick, and chins and fingers sticky with juice. They're about long drives in the country with the windows down and sunroof open, arms in the wind and sun, and children asleep in the back seat.

Or at least that's what they are to me.

Shut up and eat your greens

So the government has decided to allow irradiation of your food. OMG! What should you do?

Hysteria!?

Mass pandemonium!?

Riots!?

Hmmm....Too much effort, too little return.

Maybe instead..

Urban homesteading? Buying local? Joining a CSA?

Better...but still requires actual thought and effort. I like to sit on my bum in front of the computer.

Whatever could you do?

How about exercising your constitutional right to do what we do best... Complain! The FDA is currently allowing a 30 day comment period on its new ruling to allow irradiation of commercially grown leafy greens (to begin in September). The information is out there - educate yourself and let the man know what you think.

(Hey, I'm biased, but I'm not against freedom of information. Check out this info too.
Yummy radiation
Shut up and eat your toxic greens
But we promise it's safe (winkwink)
I'm no robot
More shit disturbing

Oh, and BTW, the reason we have to fry our food is because commercial production is in short, nasty. Any wonder why this requirement was suggested by commercial food producers??

As American as...

I am not a baker. I'm not exact, I'm not measured and I'm definitely not predictable. I'm not that great at following directions, and I believe someones got to be different (and that's usually me).

But weirdly enough I want to be a baker. I dream of fresh loves of bread, with perfectly chewy interiors and crisp, crunchy crusts. I imagine holidays filled with savory, sweet pies, the house perfumed by wonderful, homey aromas of cinnamon and nutmeg. I buy book after book on baking, desserts and breadmaking and stare longingly at the pages. But I believe in change and growth and chances.

So I baked a pie.

It's not perfect; the crust didn't brown as much as I would have liked, and pastry is not my specialty, but it's a pie. And it'll taste fine.

And that's enough.

Feeding Frenzy

Unfortunately this post isn't about a feeding frenzy on anything I cooked, but instead on a feeding frenzy happening outside my house. Apparently tired of black walnuts and stolen birdfood my neighborhood squirrels have moved on to the next feasting fad; decorative pumpkins. This little guy was happily nestled in with my mums to create a lovely and welcoming fall front doorscape but instead became the centerpiece for a squirrel banquet (along with 2 of his friends). It seems when they tried to steal this guy he got his just dues however - the got stuck in the fence as they were trying to take him away. Resourceful creatures they are however - they gnawed away until they could fit him through and then dragged him up a tree to safely feast. This picture was taken shortly before they got him through.

How Bout Them Apples?

What's a better way to spend a fall day than shoveling down donuts and traipsing all over squishy fallen apples?

Yummilicious - and on the way to being even more so

I love food. Everything about it is exciting to me - it's origin, where it comes from, how it grows, the different ways it can be prepared, preserved and presented. One of my favorite places to shop is the grocery store, and I beeline for any store selling kitchen or food related products. I'm a weekly (and often more often) shopper at the farmer's market, and I buy my apples and pumpkins from a farm or orchard (not a parking lot stand). I'm so excited to serve food grown in my garden. I've even found great local wine!

Previous to this year I didn't give much thought to where my food was coming from. I lived in consumeristic bliss, happily making the bulk of my food purchases from the local Meijer, preparing my meals with little concern for the seasonality of my food.

I'm not sure where my transformation started. Maybe it was Fast Food Nation. It progressed to the Omnivorous Dilemma, and Animal Vegetable Miracle. It moved to Local Harvest, Fair Food Matters and Eat Local. And somewhere along the line, my feelings about food and concern for where it comes from started to change.

My first real personal change concerned the origin of my meat products. I'm an animal lover, a foster "mother" and a often guilty feeling omnivore. (I've tried vegetarianism but I love a good bologenese sauce way too much). So if I can't change my taste at least I can change where and how I get my meat. I stopped buying meat from the grocery store and started making my purchases from a local butcher, Quality Meats. I lost my squeamishness for venison and started adding it to more and more recipes. Recently I located an organic farm offering a meat csa and I'm currently plotting my purchases to store in my freezer.

Next I reconsidered my veggie choices. With the Farmer's Market open 3 days/week I've been really successful in limiting most of my vegetables to locally grown, but I've been troubled about my options for the winter, and still getting my out of range produce (i.e. lemons) from my local megamart. I was so excited to learn there are several local growers offering winter csas.

I'm really interested in finding more sources for local food. I'm not sure I could ever limit myself to living totally local - there are some things I just couldn't give up. Recently I read somewhere that even those who eat local allow themselves 12 items outside their food shed they just can't live without. So I started thinking - what couldn't I give up? Let's see..
1. Real Parmesan cheese (and maybe all cheese in general. I did find a local producer of ricotta cheese, and keep perusing the how to make cheese website - which may soon be another blog!)
2. Olive oil
3. Cocoa power/chocolate
4. Vanilla
5. Flour
6. Spices (can I make this one entry?)
7. Salt
8. Milk/soymilk (though I'm doing some research on local options)
9. Rice/cornmeal/couscous
(I'm actually surprised to find that at this point it's getting hard to think of other things I couldn't live without or find a local source for.)
10. Coffee
11. Soda
12. Fish

Update: I stopped at Centre Street Market today and found a flyer for a local cheese producer, which led me to a website listing several local producers. I'll continue to post my food finds in my blogroll for those of you interesting in pursuing other food options as well.

Ramblin

I'm finally done painting and very glad to be - I was getting so tired of it I was starting to slosh paint other places than just all over me (well, and the walls, floor and animals of course). The tape has been pulled off, the furniture put back in places and most of the decor put back up, so now starts the really hard part: deciding what fabric to use for curtains. Last night I stopped at Field's after dinner with my lady friends and 8 samples later was almost chased out the door by the sales clerk (I would have kept going but they were closing). There are just too many choices! That and they have an entire section of Amy Butler prints that I can't get enough of. Any advice on good decision making tactics (than iny meany miny mo)?

I met with a gentleman from SCORE this morning (they offer small business counseling) and Sarah and I are slowly making our way to getting our catering business underway...as soon as we register our name, register for a Federal Tax ID, register for a MI tax ID, get approval from the Health Dept, submit our paperwork for the LLC, meet with a lawyer to draw up and operating agreement....so sometime around 2112 we'll be able to cater your event.

I also spent some time helping out in the Growing Matters garden this morning doing some harvesting with the garden manager...seeing someone else's garden always gives me lots of inspiration. And makes me want a bigger yard.

Love - an update

Monday night I was hit with a wild craving for turkey burgers on the grill - and what goes better with a grill than squash.


They were fantastic - very similar in flavor to yellow summer squash but with a few more seeds and a slightly thicker skin. I dressed them with a little olive oil and sea salt - delish!

I'm in love

Aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen? I saw them at the Bank Street Farmer's Market this afternoon and just couldn't resist them. I have no idea how I'm going to prepare them but I'll keep you updated.

I'm super excited for the upcoming Harvest Fest - it's being held at Tillers and features great great entertainment, exhibitions and a celebration of local food and farming. There's even a week long celebration of local food called Eat Local, Kalamazoo! I'm definitely going to be checking the events out - including the book signing at KPS by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon for their book "PLENTY: One Man, One Woman and a Raucous Year of Eating".

Also on my horizon - the Master Gardener class beginning early September. I dropped off my soil samples today and am looking forward to getting the results.

Girlie Food

Let's say your husband is working the night shift on a big project, it's hot as a griddle outside and your local farmer's market had the most beautiful beets on display...what would you do?

Well I don't know what you'd do, but I'd make bortsch.

Alright, I'll admit, I was a little skeptical at first too. I'd seen it on a rerun of Barefoot Contessa and was intrigued by it's vivid color and ability to be served cold. It's been so humid here and I've been craving lighter suppers and drinking everything in sight. But is that weird pink soup is actually going to taste good? Ina was in character and excited about it. What the heck? I'm culinarily adventurous.

I was thankfully pleasantly surprised (a good thing because my backup plan was hotdogs at the Rootbeer Stand, and you know how good those things are for you). The soup is sweet, with a thin broth and mild tang from the vinegar and lemon juice. The sour cream adds a richness and creaminess and the cucumbers add a slight nice crunch. I even had seconds.

A quick warning note: Beet juice stains turns everything it touches a rich pinkpurple color, so dress accordingly for preparation.

Recipe adapted from the Barefoot Contessa.

Bortsch
5 medium beets
salt/pepper
2 cups chicken stock (I used homemade)
16 oz sour cream + extra for garishing (I used lowfat)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons champange vinegar
2 cups diced cucumber, seeds removed
1/2 cup chopped scallions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill + extra for garnishing (I used ~ 1 tablespoon dried)

Bring beets to a boil in salted water. Boil for 30 - 40 minutes until beets can be pierced easily by a knife. Remove beets from cooking liquid (reserve cooking liquid) and cool beets until they're comfortable to handle (I stuck them in the freezer for a few minutes), then peel off skins. Cut into medium dice and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine chicken stock, ~ 1 1/2 cups of the reserved cooking liquid, sour cream, sugar, vinegar and dill. Whisk to combine. Add chopped beets, cucumber, scallions and stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and additional chopped dill before serving.

Hell's kitchen and for a good time...

See that above? That's the devil's handiwork. I've put up a fence, let the dog hang out in the backyard and mercilessly chased every small critter I can find out of the yard but nothing is keeping whatever it is from eating my beautiful bounty. Grrr.....

On a much happier and less murderous note, I took my friend Stella to Jungle Joe's .
I've been hearing what a great place it is and after checking it out for myself - I believe every word of it. It's only an extra $2 for adults to play too - and I recommend it. Along with some headache medicine.

Local produce

Since we've been out of town the past few weekends, I haven't been getting my weekly fix of local produce, plants and flowers, so Saturday morning bright and early I dragged the hubby to our local farmers' market. Blueberries are everywhere, along with cucumbers, zucchini and squash, tomatoes, greens, and flowers. There was a yum-a-licious pie recipe in one of my magazines this month, so I picked up some blueberries, got a screaming deal on some pickling cucumbers and picked up bunches of autumn colored sunflowers and pink gladiolus.

Quick Pickles
About 5 Kirby cucumbers, sliced
2 cups distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
red pepper flakes
salt
pickling spice*

*Usually contains mustard seeds, dill, bay leaf, peppercorns, and then additional spices depending on the brand. Mine is from Penzey's but any one of your choice will do.

Place cucumbers in mason jar. Heat vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and pickling spice in a saucepan and heat while stirring until salt and sugar have dissolved. Ladle vinegar into jars and let cool, uncovered. Refrigerate pickles until ready to serve (wait at least 24 hours to allow flavors to meld).