oh. So fun.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Farm Bill
My swell friend Aaron sent me a link to this NY Times article. The article offers interesting insight as to why junk food is cheap food: most of it is wheat, corn and soy--three of the five commodities (add rice and cotton) that 92% of the 2002 Farm Bill spends $25 billion a year subsidizing.
Wheat, corn and soy! Two of the most common allergies recognized by the FDA, and soy, which has a super sketchy history with the government and which, well, messes people up.
The article cites a study revealing that one can buy 1,200 calories of cookies or chips for $1, but only 250 calories of carrots.
Dang.
No wonder people can't afford to eat well.... and no wonder farmers can't afford to farm :(
what are we going to do about it?
Farm Bill expires in 2008.
Wheat, corn and soy! Two of the most common allergies recognized by the FDA, and soy, which has a super sketchy history with the government and which, well, messes people up.
The article cites a study revealing that one can buy 1,200 calories of cookies or chips for $1, but only 250 calories of carrots.
Dang.
No wonder people can't afford to eat well.... and no wonder farmers can't afford to farm :(
what are we going to do about it?
Farm Bill expires in 2008.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
To Market, To Market or, My Laughing Place
Ha Ha Ha Ha
Ho Ho Ho
Boy are we in luck (yahoo).
We're visiting the laughing place
Yuk Yuk Yuk
Hoo Hoo Hoo.
The Portland Farmer's Market opened on Saturday, April 7th. I'd had that date on my calendar since the market closed last December. Pyramids of lettuce (five different kinds), piles of carrots, mounds of onions. Artichokes, asparagus, leeks, radishes, herbs; wild gathered mushrooms, fresh caught salmon, 100% grass fed beef--and buffalo, elk, venison and boar as steaks, patties, ground or tasty sausages; berries by the flat as the days get longer; apples by the barrel when the cool air comes again. Cartons of eggs from pasture raised chickens; blocks of yellow butter from cows feeding on growing grass; goat cheese (oh, the goat cheese) and sheep cheese and jellies and jams. Row upon row of leafy greens which morph color, shape and heft as the seasons change. This is my happy place.
I didn't make it to the market on April 7th. I woke up to heavy rain on the roof on the first Saturday in months without an early alarm to drag me out of bed....and promptly rolled over for more sleep. (It was glorious; sometimes you need to feed the soul like that.) Next weekend, I'd told myself. But, the next weekend was a seminar weekend, spent indoors in cramped chairs learning wonderful and amazing things. I didn't make it to the market.
Today, though: Armed with reusable bags, pockets of cash, and cappuccinos in our tummies, my friend Joel and I went to the market.
The bok choy was so brilliantly green, it glowed in the daylight (like Nickelodeon gak a la 1995). Leeks and rhubarb covered tables or stood in baskets next to mountains of butter lettuce. Lettuce. Not chard, not kale: lettuce. Sweet, tender, verdant lettuce, so new it almost melts on the tongue. We bought a bunch. A bunch of bunches. Then we went home and made a salad.
Right now, most of the market stands are selling plants. Lettuce starts, cilantro starts, tomato starts. Plants I would take home and kill and feel terrible about. Soon, though, they'll be selling vegetables. More vegetables than I will know what to do with. I can't wait!
Ho Ho Ho
Boy are we in luck (yahoo).
We're visiting the laughing place
Yuk Yuk Yuk
Hoo Hoo Hoo.
The Portland Farmer's Market opened on Saturday, April 7th. I'd had that date on my calendar since the market closed last December. Pyramids of lettuce (five different kinds), piles of carrots, mounds of onions. Artichokes, asparagus, leeks, radishes, herbs; wild gathered mushrooms, fresh caught salmon, 100% grass fed beef--and buffalo, elk, venison and boar as steaks, patties, ground or tasty sausages; berries by the flat as the days get longer; apples by the barrel when the cool air comes again. Cartons of eggs from pasture raised chickens; blocks of yellow butter from cows feeding on growing grass; goat cheese (oh, the goat cheese) and sheep cheese and jellies and jams. Row upon row of leafy greens which morph color, shape and heft as the seasons change. This is my happy place.
I didn't make it to the market on April 7th. I woke up to heavy rain on the roof on the first Saturday in months without an early alarm to drag me out of bed....and promptly rolled over for more sleep. (It was glorious; sometimes you need to feed the soul like that.) Next weekend, I'd told myself. But, the next weekend was a seminar weekend, spent indoors in cramped chairs learning wonderful and amazing things. I didn't make it to the market.
Today, though: Armed with reusable bags, pockets of cash, and cappuccinos in our tummies, my friend Joel and I went to the market.
The bok choy was so brilliantly green, it glowed in the daylight (like Nickelodeon gak a la 1995). Leeks and rhubarb covered tables or stood in baskets next to mountains of butter lettuce. Lettuce. Not chard, not kale: lettuce. Sweet, tender, verdant lettuce, so new it almost melts on the tongue. We bought a bunch. A bunch of bunches. Then we went home and made a salad.
Spring Salad, the First of the Year
Respect the lettuce... go easy on the dressing!
Respect the lettuce... go easy on the dressing!
Butter lettuce, dandelion greens, baby spinach
Spring onions, pulled from Joel's garden, thinly sliced
A small handful of cilantro, freshly cut, coarsely chopped
Four Pasture-Raised, Farm-fresh eggs, hardboiled softly, broken into pieces
Fraga Farm's Farmhouse cheese, crumbled
Fresh olive oil
Touch of balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Combine in one large wooden bowl. Dress lightly. Very lightly.
Add two forks.
Indulge.
Spring onions, pulled from Joel's garden, thinly sliced
A small handful of cilantro, freshly cut, coarsely chopped
Four Pasture-Raised, Farm-fresh eggs, hardboiled softly, broken into pieces
Fraga Farm's Farmhouse cheese, crumbled
Fresh olive oil
Touch of balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Combine in one large wooden bowl. Dress lightly. Very lightly.
Add two forks.
Indulge.
Right now, most of the market stands are selling plants. Lettuce starts, cilantro starts, tomato starts. Plants I would take home and kill and feel terrible about. Soon, though, they'll be selling vegetables. More vegetables than I will know what to do with. I can't wait!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Egg-cellent
Some truths about me:
I'm addicted to this blog.
I eat two eggs for breakfast at least 5 times per week.
My egg this morning, though cold and eaten at my desk at work, was the best I've ever tasted.
Read Shauna's blog here for more. I skipped the parts about sliding the egg from a saucer into a pan, and pouring melted butter on top of the cooked eggy goodness. I used two eggs, instead of one, and I flipped mine before I pulled them off the heat. Still, between Shauna's delightful description and Fernand Point's perfectionist inspiration, my breakfast achieved greatness.
I'm addicted to this blog.
I eat two eggs for breakfast at least 5 times per week.
My egg this morning, though cold and eaten at my desk at work, was the best I've ever tasted.
Read Shauna's blog here for more. I skipped the parts about sliding the egg from a saucer into a pan, and pouring melted butter on top of the cooked eggy goodness. I used two eggs, instead of one, and I flipped mine before I pulled them off the heat. Still, between Shauna's delightful description and Fernand Point's perfectionist inspiration, my breakfast achieved greatness.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Pasta AK-Style or, Chicken a Zillion Ways
Hooray for Spring, for asparagus, farmer's markets, baseball and Spring kickball!
I'm on the best kickball team EVER
"What's the difference between a chicken and a naturopath?"
"One 'bocks' the other 'quacks'"
(Now, we all know that's not true. What is true, though, is that for the first year of me showing an interest in natural medicine, my mom made wings with her arms and quacked at me every time the subject came up.)
Chicken is one of the easiest, most affordable meats to find free ranging and organic. As long as you're not requiring boneless skinless breasts ($6.99/lb), these meats come cheap and easy. A whole organic bird--whether intact or in parts--runs between $1.69-$2.99/lb. Bone in, skin-on legs and thighs run about the same. Now that is some affordable protein.
I get tired of eating hunks of meat all the time. This is when it's chicken to the rescue. Boiled in some salty water, chicken parts become moist meaty bits ready to be disguised 1000 ways.
My favorite way of the day?
(Some of my mentors warn against eating chicken. They cite that fowl contains high amounts of adrenal hormones from the stressful lives the fowl lead. They will concede that free range chicken is better, but have gone so far as to say that we--women especially--should avoid the birds all together. I haven't researched these doctors' claims. When I eat conventional chicken, my pulse races. I don't seem to have this problem with free range/organic chicks. I figure, if I'm off of wheat, dairy, sugar and soy... my body can probably handle the bird.)
I'm on the best kickball team EVER"What's the difference between a chicken and a naturopath?"
"One 'bocks' the other 'quacks'"
(Now, we all know that's not true. What is true, though, is that for the first year of me showing an interest in natural medicine, my mom made wings with her arms and quacked at me every time the subject came up.)
Chicken is one of the easiest, most affordable meats to find free ranging and organic. As long as you're not requiring boneless skinless breasts ($6.99/lb), these meats come cheap and easy. A whole organic bird--whether intact or in parts--runs between $1.69-$2.99/lb. Bone in, skin-on legs and thighs run about the same. Now that is some affordable protein.
I get tired of eating hunks of meat all the time. This is when it's chicken to the rescue. Boiled in some salty water, chicken parts become moist meaty bits ready to be disguised 1000 ways.
My favorite way of the day?
Quiona Pasta with Chicken and Fresh Arugula Pasta
It's really so much easier than all the steps below make it seem.
Especially so if you're in the habit, as I am, of cooking up
chicken in batches for easy access all week long.
Poached Chicken (kinda)
Desired amount of chicken pieces and parts
I'll poach between 1.5-2lbs at a time, and use it a gazillion ways.
Breasts can go in bone-in, or can be peeled off the bone,
then bones and breasts can be added separately
Salted water
Put chicken pieces in a saucepan, and cover with water. My kitchen resources have been severely limited as of late, so I have been poaching whole birds (as broken pieces and parts) in frying pans. It's a little bit pathetic, but it gets the job done. I usually can't add enough water to cover the meat, but I do the best I can and flip the pieces as I go. Crank up the heat. Let it rip. Allow the water to boil rapidly and your chicken will transform from pinky sticky to white (or dark) and tender. The pieces are ready when the bones slip right out. Depending on time and how I'm feeling, I'll remove the meat, then return broken bones, skin (organic meat=no hormones or pesticides in the fat; eat it up!) and joint tissue to the pan to simmer. This water, poured into jars and stuck in the fridge, makes a tasty broth for breakfast egg-drop soup, or for steaming veggies, cooking grains...
Fresh Arugula Pesto
bunch of arugula, washed and torn
pine nuts (about 1/3 cup?), toasted until their warm smell permeates the kitchen
the deli near my work makes this pesto with hazlenuts,
which is delicious. Walnuts could work too. I had pine nuts
in the freezer, so I went wtih it.
2-5 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper
lemon juice (optional)
Toss 1/3 of the arugula into the bowl of your food processor. I work in batches, so that the final product has a chunkier, more interesting consistency than uniform paste. Add as much garlic as your heart desires. Drizzle in a bit--one or two teaspoons--of olive oil. Pulse away. Add most of the nuts and another third of the arugula. Add more olive oil if the mixture seems dry; I prefer a less oily pesto and might use a tablespoon of oil for the whole production. Salt, pepper, pulse, pulse, pulse. I taste here, and add more salt or pepper, garlic, lemon juice...whatever it screams like it needs. If I'd had romano (sheep's milk) cheese in the house, I'd have added 1/2-3/4 of a cup of that, now. Pulse again, perhaps, then add the last of the arugula and nuts and blend to desired consistency. Store in a glass jar in the fridge.
Quinoa Pasta
this stuff is tasty. Prepare according to the directions on the box.
Put it all together
This is where my little secret comes in: chop up your chicken well. Chop it up into teeny tiny bits, running the knife one way and then the other, until the meat is more like chicken rice than anything else. These chickeny bits can be thrown into virtually anything--soups, salads, stews, scrambles, dips, pasta--without adding more than a protein boost.
Blend chicken with pesto, and pesto with pasta. Finally, a "pasta" dish that doesn't leave me feeling overstuffed and bloated.
It's really so much easier than all the steps below make it seem.
Especially so if you're in the habit, as I am, of cooking up
chicken in batches for easy access all week long.
Poached Chicken (kinda)
Desired amount of chicken pieces and parts
I'll poach between 1.5-2lbs at a time, and use it a gazillion ways.
Breasts can go in bone-in, or can be peeled off the bone,
then bones and breasts can be added separately
Salted water
Put chicken pieces in a saucepan, and cover with water. My kitchen resources have been severely limited as of late, so I have been poaching whole birds (as broken pieces and parts) in frying pans. It's a little bit pathetic, but it gets the job done. I usually can't add enough water to cover the meat, but I do the best I can and flip the pieces as I go. Crank up the heat. Let it rip. Allow the water to boil rapidly and your chicken will transform from pinky sticky to white (or dark) and tender. The pieces are ready when the bones slip right out. Depending on time and how I'm feeling, I'll remove the meat, then return broken bones, skin (organic meat=no hormones or pesticides in the fat; eat it up!) and joint tissue to the pan to simmer. This water, poured into jars and stuck in the fridge, makes a tasty broth for breakfast egg-drop soup, or for steaming veggies, cooking grains...
Fresh Arugula Pesto
bunch of arugula, washed and torn
pine nuts (about 1/3 cup?), toasted until their warm smell permeates the kitchen
the deli near my work makes this pesto with hazlenuts,
which is delicious. Walnuts could work too. I had pine nuts
in the freezer, so I went wtih it.
2-5 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper
lemon juice (optional)
Toss 1/3 of the arugula into the bowl of your food processor. I work in batches, so that the final product has a chunkier, more interesting consistency than uniform paste. Add as much garlic as your heart desires. Drizzle in a bit--one or two teaspoons--of olive oil. Pulse away. Add most of the nuts and another third of the arugula. Add more olive oil if the mixture seems dry; I prefer a less oily pesto and might use a tablespoon of oil for the whole production. Salt, pepper, pulse, pulse, pulse. I taste here, and add more salt or pepper, garlic, lemon juice...whatever it screams like it needs. If I'd had romano (sheep's milk) cheese in the house, I'd have added 1/2-3/4 of a cup of that, now. Pulse again, perhaps, then add the last of the arugula and nuts and blend to desired consistency. Store in a glass jar in the fridge.
Quinoa Pasta
this stuff is tasty. Prepare according to the directions on the box.
Put it all together
This is where my little secret comes in: chop up your chicken well. Chop it up into teeny tiny bits, running the knife one way and then the other, until the meat is more like chicken rice than anything else. These chickeny bits can be thrown into virtually anything--soups, salads, stews, scrambles, dips, pasta--without adding more than a protein boost.
Blend chicken with pesto, and pesto with pasta. Finally, a "pasta" dish that doesn't leave me feeling overstuffed and bloated.
(Some of my mentors warn against eating chicken. They cite that fowl contains high amounts of adrenal hormones from the stressful lives the fowl lead. They will concede that free range chicken is better, but have gone so far as to say that we--women especially--should avoid the birds all together. I haven't researched these doctors' claims. When I eat conventional chicken, my pulse races. I don't seem to have this problem with free range/organic chicks. I figure, if I'm off of wheat, dairy, sugar and soy... my body can probably handle the bird.)
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Rabbit Ears
There are no rules on holidays.
That's what "Dr. T", my Applied Kinesiology teacher, says.
And so, this weekend, I eat Cadbury Creme Eggs and marshmallow bunnies. Flipping through the colored drugstore ads from the newspaper, my housemate and I reminisce about Easter baskets gone-by: speckled pastel malt balls; brightly colored, egg-shaped gum; melty, creamy foil-covered chocolate medallions with peanut butter or crispy rice; marshmallow peeps: fresh, or left out to stale a few days; tall skinny corn-syrup bunnies that taste like circus peanuts candies; jelly beans galore; one tall, hollow, waxy chocolate rabbit with sugar eyes and a little ribbon bow tie.
Oh my goodness, the sugar.
I understand and love the Christian meaning of Easter. It and its traditions have been with me since I was a baby. This weekend, all of my family will be together in Southern California. After church, they will eat honey baked ham, asparagus, white rolls, jello jigglers, molded into round eggs. They'll eat some green salad, some fruit salad, perhaps some lamb and I really can't remember what else. This is my second Easter without them. It's a little bit sad!
Last year, we had an AK-friendly brunch: Italian frittata, vanilla bean fruit salad, wheat-free pancakes, bacon, mimosas. For one morning, five housemates and one friend sat over a lazy breakfast, eating well and loving eachother. I love how food brings people together.
That's what "Dr. T", my Applied Kinesiology teacher, says.
And so, this weekend, I eat Cadbury Creme Eggs and marshmallow bunnies. Flipping through the colored drugstore ads from the newspaper, my housemate and I reminisce about Easter baskets gone-by: speckled pastel malt balls; brightly colored, egg-shaped gum; melty, creamy foil-covered chocolate medallions with peanut butter or crispy rice; marshmallow peeps: fresh, or left out to stale a few days; tall skinny corn-syrup bunnies that taste like circus peanuts candies; jelly beans galore; one tall, hollow, waxy chocolate rabbit with sugar eyes and a little ribbon bow tie.
Oh my goodness, the sugar.
I understand and love the Christian meaning of Easter. It and its traditions have been with me since I was a baby. This weekend, all of my family will be together in Southern California. After church, they will eat honey baked ham, asparagus, white rolls, jello jigglers, molded into round eggs. They'll eat some green salad, some fruit salad, perhaps some lamb and I really can't remember what else. This is my second Easter without them. It's a little bit sad!
Last year, we had an AK-friendly brunch: Italian frittata, vanilla bean fruit salad, wheat-free pancakes, bacon, mimosas. For one morning, five housemates and one friend sat over a lazy breakfast, eating well and loving eachother. I love how food brings people together.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Girlfriends
The three days I spent in Ithaca this weekend might as well have been a week in the Caribbean. What a vacation! Just me and my besty and nothing to do.
We shopped at the local co-op.
We cooked sausages, scallops, kale, barbecue chicken, zucchini, eggs, yum.
We hiked to waterfalls, flowing heavily with snowmelt.
We napped. I napped. A lot.
We danced in college town, toured Cornell's old and beautiful libraries, gazed at art installations and out panoramic windows over farmland expanses.
We sat on the couch, for a full hour, watching the Food Network (oh, Alton Brown) and "What Not to Wear", consuming two entire pints of Good Karma Organic Rice Divine frozen dessert. Carrot Cake used to be my favorite, but this weekend I discovered Mud Pie. It's not sugar free, and it probably contains some soy, but it's mostly rice. Rice milk, rice syrup, rice flour, rice solids. And, it's delicious. From start to finish. In one sitting. On the couch next to my best friend, with two pints between us and cable (cable TV?? It's been a while) in front of us... We're disgusting. It was wonderful.
As much as I love food, I can't think of anything more nourishing than spending time with someone who knows me so well, and loves me so much, as a dear old friend.
We shopped at the local co-op.
We cooked sausages, scallops, kale, barbecue chicken, zucchini, eggs, yum.
We hiked to waterfalls, flowing heavily with snowmelt.
We napped. I napped. A lot.
We danced in college town, toured Cornell's old and beautiful libraries, gazed at art installations and out panoramic windows over farmland expanses.
We sat on the couch, for a full hour, watching the Food Network (oh, Alton Brown) and "What Not to Wear", consuming two entire pints of Good Karma Organic Rice Divine frozen dessert. Carrot Cake used to be my favorite, but this weekend I discovered Mud Pie. It's not sugar free, and it probably contains some soy, but it's mostly rice. Rice milk, rice syrup, rice flour, rice solids. And, it's delicious. From start to finish. In one sitting. On the couch next to my best friend, with two pints between us and cable (cable TV?? It's been a while) in front of us... We're disgusting. It was wonderful.
As much as I love food, I can't think of anything more nourishing than spending time with someone who knows me so well, and loves me so much, as a dear old friend.
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