Of Verdant Thoughts

Food Issue(s)

2009-10-11T10:36:00.013-04:00

I've decided the New York Times Magazine "Food Issue" warranted a brief break from my blogging hibernation. It's autumn, the weather is crisp and cool, farmer's markets abound with the diverse and colorful bounty of this year's harvest (though the summer's dismal weather certainly put a bit of a damper on certain crops): perfect time of year to direct people towards their pantries and cupboards, asking them to reconsider the food they consume and the implications of their dietary habits (which, as we know by now, go well beyond mere nutrition... Anyone remember this whole health care reform? Sucky economy? Energy issues? It's still all related.). I'm living by the same old mantra: eat and purchase local food, supplement with organics, cook at home, support small (local) businesses and fair trade, no meat, but some eco-friendly fish on occasion. I continue to manage this on my skinny budget (with seriously obese debt - yay, capitalism-infected higher education!) and hope that this bug (the healthy and affordable eating bug, not the capitalist or even h1n1 bug) is spreading.

Parting paths with my blog resulted from an inability to keep up a front of promoting anything. I'm not much of a spokesperson. I've already suggested here that I prefer example and quiet means of action, and I had lost my steam in writing here. I did not want to just post recipes, nor did I want to spout ecovore propaganda. I know many a very talented writers and food activists who serve the food-revolution cause much better (hi, Paula!). I am a very tolerant and excessively patient person (generally) and want people to find habits of eating and buying that best suite them -- with the hope that this will involve a certain level of being an "informed" eater. This makes all the difference. Understanding that food relates to so many elements of the lives we live and the world we live in (culture, tradition, environment, health, economy, blah blah blah) could bring so much positive change.

Thus I felt particularly drawn to Jonathan Safran Foer's contribution to the magazine: "Against Meat." Foer traces his twisted road to vegetarianism, highlighting major stops along the road, indicating key factors which supported certain decisions and ultimately re-evaluating the importance of food culture and what traditions and rituals around food mean.

A certain self-reflexive, self-deprecating and humorous yet informative style make the article worth reading. When discussing one moment in his and his wife's quasi-vegetarian history he writes of being vegetarians who sometimes ate meat and fish:

I assumed we’d maintain a diet of conscientious inconsistency. Why should eating be different from any of the other ethical realms of our lives? We were honest people who occasionally told lies, careful friends who sometimes acted clumsily. We were vegetarians who from time to time ate meat.

In the end (or at present) Foer and his wife do decide to be consistently vegetarians, though they are not idealistic or Utopian enough to insist that this indicates a true aversion or dislike of meat. They like meat, but the repercussions of a (western) world that consumes an excessive amount of meat, which for the most part is mass-produced, brutalizing the environment and our bodies, outweighs the taste of good steak -- for them:

I love calamari, I love roasted chicken, I love a good steak. But I don’t love them without limit.
This isn’t animal experimentation, where you can imagine some proportionate good at the other end of the suffering. This is what we feel like eating. Yet taste, the crudest of our senses, has been exempted from the ethical rules that govern our other senses. Why? Why doesn’t a horny person have as strong a claim to raping an animal as a hungry one does to confining, killing and eating it? It’s easy to dismiss that question but hard to respond to it. Try to imagine any end other than taste for which it would be justifiable to do what we do to farmed animals.

I appreciate the realism in the first quote. Eating meat sometimes is, at heart, the best and most universal message. Understand what you are eating, know where ingredients come from, get the fact that what you eat might come to you via a harmful path, and moderate. Some people feel committed to vegetarianism, while others might be unwilling, for a variety of reasons, to make that final step. Then compromise. Of course, the final quote makes a crucial point. Self-satisfying logic really does fuel the human mind in all of its decision making. I respect Foer's point and find it intriguing and think that it rings with truth. But we are human-animals and perversity and self-satisfaction reign. So, once more, balance. Some will devote themselves to vegetarianism on varying levels, others will continue eating meat -- hopefully with a knowledge of the origin of and production-involved in their roast beef sandwich.

Gone Fishing....

2009-08-09T10:07:00.002-04:00

My posts have been few and far between these last few months. The reasons for this are multiple. At this point in time, however, my time and energy for posting are limited to the extent that I would like to officially signal a break in posting. I continue to eat and live eco and avidly follow the wonderful sites listed to the right (amongst others), but right now I personally need to reserve my own (silent) voice for other projects.

I might be back....

Urban Farming!

2009-06-18T16:31:00.007-04:00

Is there anyone out there still? I'm afraid I've lost some steam in my posting here. I continue to live and eat verdantly, but I do not seem to manage writing as much as I initially did. Partly, I am trying to divorce myself from excessive time spent on the computer. I already wreak havoc on my eyes by writing long seminar papers, translating articles, reading pdfs and ... obsessively checking my email (but this is a common obsession, no?). I want to green myself and my eyes (they are actually green!) and enjoy all of my local food sans ordinateur.

Nevertheless, I would like to find a rhythm in my ecovore blogging. I am posting about once a week at Farm to Philly, reporting on my Keystone Farm CSA. So that's something. I have in the back of my mind a fuzzy plan to focus more on budget ecovore living here at "Verdant Thoughts." Money's tight. It always is. And I'm sick of hearing that eating well (ie organically or locally) is only for the elite. If I, who pays more on loan interest than on rent each month, can eat and live as green as I do, than you can too!

For the time being, though, I am going to put in some shameless plugs for my awesome friend, Paula, who is a huge inspiration for both this blog and how I live and eat. Paula (you might remember she is the managing editor of Civil Eats), has really made quite the name for herself in the world of food activism and food politics. Besides regularly contributing on her own site and on the Huffington Post Green Blog, lately she has posted on Mark Bittman's blog "Bitten" about sustainable food blogs, and her roof garden was featured this Wednesday in a New York Times article about urban farms. I was lucky enough to see this roof garden a little over a week ago, and it is impressive! She has a column, "Roof Garden Rookies," where she regularly posts about the progress of her garden over at Civil Eats. Take a look!

I'm gardening again this year too, but sticking to herbs after last years misadventures with raccoons....

Here's what it looked like a few weeks ago (pre never ending rain). Needless to say, the rainforest conditions have made things a bit lusher since then. If the sun ever shines again maybe I'll take another picture!

West Philly: Mecca of Sustainability!

2009-04-05T11:01:00.008-04:00

Michael Dollich of Four Worlds Bakery sent out a link for the following video about the Pedal Co-op in Philly. I've mentioned both the bakery and the pedal co-op before, so I'll spare you the introductions. The video below discusses the ways in which the pedal co-op and Philadelphia (West Philly, especially!) are models of sustainable practices. Check it out!

Yogurt, a love affair... and a fancy schmancy cake!

2009-03-31T00:15:00.008-04:00

I love yogurt. Plain, whole milk yogurt. Local yogurt. Pequea Valley Farm is, hands down, the best. My love, however, goes beyond its creamy texture and tangy flavor as when in a bowl alone or with granola. I find that yogurt is a very versatile ingredient and can be used in any number of cooked items: in curries or soups, in cakes, pancakes, breads (similar to buttermilk), as a replacement for cream or sour cream. Recently, I've been on a real kick, using yogurt in a new quiche recipe, in pumpkin pancakes and, last week, in an amazing chocolate cake recipe. After not posting all month, I finally put up a post at Farm to Philly. Go there to find the pancake and spinach quiche recipe.

Here, however, I'd like to offer pictures and a recipe of the cake I made for a friend's surprise birthday party. My friend generously organized this surprise party for her boyfriend and, with her photoshop talents, created the image that would be placed on the cake (edible paper and ink). I was in charge of baking and frosting. I've never undertaken such a cake before and there's something to be said for beginners luck!

I decided to turn to Smitten Kitchen for the cake recipe and chose a chocolate cake inspired by ding dongs, devil dogs and, in my opinion, whoopie pies (yum): basically a moist chocolate cake with marshmallow (7-minute) frosting. This isn't exactly the most verdant recipe, but the flour, eggs yogurt are all local; the butter, vanilla and evaporated cane sugar organic; the chocolate, coffee and cocoa powder organic and free trade - so not terrible! The adapted recipe will follow.

Chocolate Cake with Marshmallow Frosting
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Cake: (I made a 9x13 rectangular cake, but this batter can also make two 10" round layers)

3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 and 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
2 and 1/2 cups sugar (sucanat/evaporated cane juice)
2 and 1/2 cups flour (I used a local PA white pastry flour)
1 and 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used organic sunflower)
1 and 1/2 cups whole milk plain yogurt (or buttermilk)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 300˚F and grease and dust pan with cocoa powder. Line bottom of 9x13" rectangular cake pan with wax paper and grease paper.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, yogurt, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool completely in pan. Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert rack (or cake plate). Carefully remove wax paper and cool completely. Cake may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

Marshmallow Frosting:

4 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup simple syrup*
4 tablespoons water
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine frosting ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 7-8 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled and forms peaks. Mound frosting on top of cake.

*The recipe originally called for corn syrup. I could not buy or use this ingredient. The sugar syrup worked fine. To make bring to boil 1 and 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice and 3/4 cup of water. Boil until the liquid has reduced and when dropped onto cool plate is of a syrupy consistency.

Seeing Red

2009-03-09T11:30:00.004-04:00

After a busy week that involved an incredible conference on Penn's campus and a lovely weekend filled with local food and good friends (I hosted a local/sustainable potluck this past Saturday and the range of dishes was fantastic!), I awoke to an opinion piece in the the New York Times that makes my blood boil and heart sink. Stanley Fish is, at best, polemical, but really he is curmudgeonly and pig-headed. Last summer he used his status as "public intellectual" to childishly rant about the "inconvenience" of eating organic, recycling and being green. In this previous post, Fish writes, "I resist and resent the demands made on me by environmental imperatives. I don’t want to save the planet. I just want to inhabit it as comfortably as possible for as long as I have." He goes on to whine about toilet paper, gloat over a hidden stock of paper napkins, bemoan the ugliness and dim-lighting of "environmentally approved lightbulbs" and then takes a stab at organic and humanely raised meat.

Meanwhile, by the weak light shed by the virtuous bulbs, I am eating local meat — meat from cows organically raised and humanely slaughtered (what a phrase!). It is of course expensive, but what is worse, it tastes bad. That is, it tastes like real meat, gamy and lean, rather than like the processed, marbled, frozen, supermarket stuff I had grown up on. I’m sure it is a better quality, and that buying it sustains the local community and strikes a blow against agrabusiness, but I just don’t like it. And since I hate vegetables, becoming a vegetarian is not an option.

These opinion pieces supposedly allow for reader responses and commentary. However, they are monitored and not all comments are allowed. Both Paula from Civil Eats and I submitted comments that were rejected. Admittedly, my response was heated, but I had a feeling it would be rejected (Paula's already had been), and I didn't want to tailor my reaction to suit the comment-moderator's conservative filter. Here is my unpublished comment:

Dr. Fish,

I'm afraid your latest blog entry has seriously ruffled me. It angers and saddens me actually. I feel it speaks very directly to "tree-loving rustic wackies who don’t like to have any fun" (with a nod to comment 11), like me. I'm just a "nut-case" environmentalist (ref. comment 4), but ... come on! You write yourself into a disappointing stereotype of western (American) [wo]man: selfish, closed-minded, short-sighted and resistant to change! I am very concerned about the environment and conscientious in my own private life, though I don't generally preach my views and force change on others. I'm certainly a bad environmentalist for this, but I do honestly believe in making an impact on a small scale and inspiring change through example. Outspoken, "popular", read figures who laud their own ignorance and laziness and who clearly reach an audience of like-minded or on-the-fence readers really make me want to grab a jar of my homemade vinegar (made with local honey and local plums -- thank you http://alucidspoonful.blogspot.com/) and toss it into the eyes of those blinded by their own self-importance.

I find no inconvenience in maintaining a low carbon footprint. A true gastronome, I rejoice in my (vegetarian) meals which consist mainly of local and organic ingredients. Living an environmentally conscious life has in no way affected my studies (I am graduate student of literature at UPenn), nor has it cramped my style.

I urge you to use your well-trained mind to read your actions and your here voiced opinions and consider whether or not you want to stand behind a statement which encourages laziness, recklessness and human-elitism.

-- Melanie, a tree loving rustic wacko who doesn't have any fun in Philadelphia

I should mention that some of the comments that were published were nearly as bad as Fish! "Tree-loving rustic wackies who don’t like to have any fun" is a direct quote from a comment, as is the "nut-case" environmentalist.

Moving on to today's opinion piece, Stanley Fish returned to familiar grounds and decided to defend his support of the professionalization of academics and his closed-minded belief that academics should not mix politics and the classroom. Academic freedom, according to Fish, does not extend beyond the wall's of the academy, and a scholar, therefore, should not apply his expertise to the greater questions that trouble the world at large.

There is no denying that the academy is becoming more and more professionalized. Fish himself sums up pretty well the extent to which universities have been affected by neoliberalism:

Faced with this situation universities have responded by (1) raising tuition, in effect passing the burden of costs to the students who now become consumers and debt-holders rather than beneficiaries of enlightenment (2) entering into research partnerships with industry and thus courting the danger of turning the pursuit of truth into the pursuit of profits and (3) hiring a larger and larger number of short-term, part-time adjuncts who as members of a transient and disposable workforce are in no position to challenge the university’s practices or agitate for an academy more committed to the realization of democratic rather than monetary goals. In short, universities have embraced neoliberalism.

At an attempt to be "objective," Fish neither claims to support nor reject this occurence. I, however, am not being objective and will say that this embracing of neoliberalism both depresses me and makes me want to jump up and start a revolution. In their new status as "consumers and debt-holders," students are becoming victimized by higher education. I can personally attest to the burden of excessive student loan debt. Being a graduate student who will eventually enter the job "market" (I find that the farmer's market is starting to be the only kind of market I can stomach) in order to find a position as a professor, the trend to hire more adjuncts and decrease full-time tenured positions is alarming and disgusting. With the commodification of education, instructors are being exploited as cheap labor, hired to "educate" a bunch of kids who are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars.

Again, Fish defines academic freedom to exist only within a given university. Academics should publish in their field and not look to attract controversy. He sums up his opinion on this matter and the counterargument as follows:

By defining academic freedom narrowly, as a concept tied to a guild and responsive only to its interests, I am said to ignore the responsibility academics have to freedom everywhere, not only in the classroom or in the research library but in the society at large and indeed in the entire world. In the view of the critics of the neoliberal university, a limiting definition of academic freedom forfeits the good that academics, highly trained and articulate as they are, might do if they took a stand against injustice and unfreedom wherever they are found.

I, honestly, want nothing to do with an academy that looks like Fish's model. I believe that my training in close reading, criticism and sensitivity to detail and nuance should be applied to the current state of affairs. I hope to train students to learn how to take the skills they have learned in analysing literature and use them to better understand the world they live in. The ability to think critically and to learn to be reflective and thoughtful should not be stifled by greed and professonalization.

Enough about Stanley Fish. His caustic opinion piece turned my verdant thoughts red, and I had to let off some steam. I have a few days off from classes this week. I will be doing a considerable amount of work, but hopefully I will manage to put up a few posts concerning my usual food and environmental concerns.

Being an informed eater

2009-03-04T08:58:00.004-05:00

In today's New York Times there is an article questioning the legitimacy of the "organic stamp," pondering whether organic is really better. Organic peanut butters have been effected by this current salmonella outbreak, just like other commercial products. So why buy organic? There seem to exist the same pitfalls.

I think the emphasis here should be taken away from organic and moved to "commercial." Commercial, large scale, industrial agriculture is detrimental whether organic or not. Organic monocropping will not aid in restoring our environment. A diet of organic cookies and processed foods will not heal our bodies and reduce the obesity epidemic and all of its related ailments. "Organic" is not a magical term that makes birds sing and people thin and happy.

I do buy organic. I supplement my largely local diet with organic products. However, I generally attempt to buy from non-commercial or smaller labels. I try not to support big industry. When buying food (and other products) I make an effort to be informed about its origin. I have a pretty good idea about where the ingredients in the food I cook and eat come from and how they were produced. The growing trend of salmonella or e coli seems proof enough that large scale industrial agriculture and food production is not ideal. I feel confident in my diet: it not only nourishes me, but is also in tune with the environment and supports small industry.

On being an academic environmentalist gastronome...

2009-02-16T10:49:00.000-05:00

I am noticing a trend. Perhaps you have noticed too? I am not keeping up with my blog very well. There was a moment when I was posting multiple times a week. This is no longer the case. I had thought that I would have much more time to devote to my blog this semester, because I am not teaching. I am not teaching, but I am taking reading-intensive seminars and "preparing" for my first comprehensive exam. Of course, up until this point, "preparation" has consisted mainly of writing lists and finding room on my bookshelves for the books I have commandeered from the library. I continue to cook and go to the farmer's market and enjoy in general my eco- and local food resources, but I just do not seem to manage to sit down and write about it all that often.
This is where the "academic" enters the title of this post. You clever readers might have already noted that this title plays with the subtitle of the blog: "Reflections of an Ecovore - or - On Being an Environmentalist Gastronome." Up until now I might occasionally refer to my studies (or cats), but I mainly wanted to focus on ecofood musings. My being a graduate student has thus far played a role in that I eat as well and as environmentally in tune as I do despite living off of a modest stipend (and don't forget my student loan debt!). However, as my studies continue to impede on my blogging time, I thought I might as well share a little bit about what I do. I recently applied for a "Graduate Certificate in the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality," and for this application I needed to submit a brief statement about my research. Paula graciously edited this statement and I was accepted. This was the first time I tried to sum up my research coherently and attempted to project a general idea of what a future dissertation might possibly look like. It's deliciously vague, and yet hits upon the key points of my interests. I though I'd share this with you (leaving out the final bit where I explain why the certificate and the Women's Studies program will play such a central role in my work). When I am not being an ecovore, this is what I do. Or actually -- I do both at the same time.

I am a second year doctoral student in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. My work focuses on the intersection of epistolarity, spatiality and gender in narratives. Specifically, I study the space created by a letter, embedded in a fictional text, and consider the implications of this space particularly as it pertains to gender. Most recently I considered this space as gender neutral when investigating the function of letters in Dorothea Veit Schlegel’s Romantic novel Florentin (1801). The lack of gender within the epistolary space allowed women to shed the restrictions of gendered stereotypes and expectations when picking up the pen (assuming a phallus?) and allowed them to gain authority. Men too would be able to assume a voice outside of the limitations of their gender as it was understood at the time (the pen/phallus then acting as key and not gendering tool). I continue to work on an article about missives in Arthur Schnitzler’s Fräulein Else (1924) and the effect these have on the development of the plot and more specifically the role they play in Else’s demise. I am currently in the stage of establishing a theoretical foundation in epistolarity and in gender. Tentatively, in my dissertation I hope to establish a gendered theory of the letter as it is portrayed in 20th century German and Austrian fictional narratives.

If you come here for seasonal and eco recipes along with pictures of food, these will continue to appear. I offer a picture of a rather delightful winter vegetable soup (turned purple by red cabbage) as a concession prize. You can find the recipe at Farm to Philly.

Making Sweet Treats Local

2009-02-08T14:31:00.001-05:00

I've noticed that other bloggers feel no need to apologize profusely after not having posted in ages. Perhaps because I am relatively new to this game I feel otherwise. Or maybe because it is in my blood to live a life fueled by a guilty conscience (thank you, Oma!). While struggling to do the reading and writing I need to do for grad school and in the process cutting out most contact with the outside world (probably not the best method), I feel a little voice in my head, berating me for neglecting my blog and thus being a failure, unable to get anything done. It's not a friendly voice, no. However, I do continue to eat and cook eco - it's really a no-brainer for me at this point, so I might as well have something to show for it and do my part in helping others see that the locavore or ecovore life isn't one merely for the elite, but also for the stressed out, poor graduate student types (and others!).
If you follow my reading tips, you may have noticed that there has been (or had been, I'm a bit behind the times...) a flurry of posts about the evil that is high fructose corn syrup. I told you from day one that I abhor this sneaky commercial sweetener that pops up in the most unexpected of places. There are many reasons to be suspicious of this government-preferred sweetener, but I am not going to get into it right now. You can look it up yourself, or check out these three posts. The former two were cross posted at Civil Eats, which is always a good place to start to see what is going on in the food and agricultural world these days.
Over at Farm to Philly we have monthly "challenges" which help contributors think creatively about local eating and cooking issues. Because of aforementioned abhorrence and having seen a similar challenge elsewhere on the blog-o-sphere, I recommended an alternative sweetener challenge, with a local twist! So obviously no refined cane sugar or coconut or palm based sweeteners (bummer) or agave, for that matter. But we do have at hand here in the North East (or Mid Atlantic - where is Philly?) honey, maple syrup, molasses (made from sweet beets), and fruit-based sweeteners like apple juice and applesauce. Delicious desserts can be made from local sweeteners.
Experimenting for a potluck I will host in a few weeks and wanting to play around with recipes to make something that uses no sugar, I came up with the following recipe for a honey applesauce cake. Now, I have never really "made" my own recipe. I certainly like to experiment, and this recipe too starts from a really standard recipe for a 1-2-3-4 cake that I alter a lot. Regardless, enough changes were made that this is pretty much a new recipe now, and I am excited about that! The frosting was adapted from a lovely blog, The Nourishing Gourmet, whose author attempts to promote "nourishing," and frugal cooking.

So here is how my Honey Applesauce (Cup)Cake(s) with Honey Vanilla Frosting came together.

Yesterday I made apple cider applesauce with CSA apples and local cider.

Today I started with the cupcakes themselves. I tried to make a recipe that could easily be doubled (or tripled).

Honey Applesauce Cake
preheat oven to 350˚F

1 ½ cups flour (local white pastry flour)
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

½ stick unsalted butter – room temperature (1/4 cup)
1/3 cup honey
1 egg yolk (white to follow)
1 cup applesauce
½ tsp vanilla

½ cup milk

1 beaten egg white (soft peaks)

whisk together dry ingredients and set aside
separate egg
with electric mixer beat butter until creamy (about 1 minute)
add honey, beat for another minute
add egg yolk, beat for one minute (if multiplying the recipe, add egg yolks one at a time, beating for one minute each)
mix in applesauce until well blended and then vanilla

alternately, starting with flour mixture, add in flour and milk. do this by hand so as not to over beat ingredients

mix in half of the beaten egg white. fold in the second half.

divide batter amongst 12 cupcake liners or pour into one 9” cake pan.

bake cupcakes for approx. 20 minutes, cake for approx. 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

You can see in the picture that the cupcakes fell a bit. Oh well.

Then came the very exciting frosting!

Honey Vanilla Seven Minute Frosting
adapted from The Nourishing Gourmet
2 egg whites
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

In a double boiler or in a metal bowl over a pot with hot water, combine egg whites and honey. Beat with electric mixer until water comes to a boil. Continue to beat until soft peaks form (ca 7 minutes). Remove from heat and add vanilla. Beat until it seems substantive enough to frost with (medium peaks).

should be enough to frost 12 cupcakes or one 9” cake (I had some left over and made meringues).

Another first: I spooned the frosting into a plastic storage bag (I have about a trillion of these from the weekly granola I get in my CSA share), cut a hole in the corner and then piped the frosting onto the cupcakes. Don't they look like a delicious little army of local sweetness?!

Green Juice

2009-01-23T11:29:00.004-05:00

Before you say it: no, this juice is not of a green hue. Rather, it is orange. Very orange. But it is actually very green. A few years ago my parents generously gave me a juicer for my birthday, and though I rarely bought juice, I found that freshly squeezed juice was far superior and a true healthy treat. The juice pictured is a favorite of mine: carrot-apple. Sometimes I add beets for extra sweetness and a beautiful ruby color. The carrots and apples are both local and organic (from ... my CSA share, of course!). Now one might might look into the environmental impact of my electric juicer, but I blend only until juice is made and never leave any appliances plugged in when not in use. So for the sake of argument, let's say that the electric juicer is not detracting from the green goodness of my tasty juice.

(Side note: As friends and family know, I have an obsession with never leaving anything plugged in but the bare essentials: alarm clock, fridge and oven. I neurotically unplug every charger, my modem, radio. Lights are not left on. And until it was freeeeeezing out, I gallantly used cold - cool water for hand/face/dish washing -- some hot for dish washing -- and turned off water when not rinsing soap/shampoo in the shower. That being said, it is incredibly cold of late and I have started using more hot water. Oops! This is my attempt at low electricity bills and a delicate carbon footprint.)

Back to the juice. Why post about local, organic, fresh-squeezed carrot-apple juice? It's delicious. Nutritious. And about 1000 times better for the envirnoment than your average commercial orange juice. Starting locally (no pun intended), making anything from scratch is generally better. You know what the ingredients are, where the ingredients come from and know that the waste from the creation of dish, drink, whatever is disposed of properly. So with my juice, I know that the three carrots and three apples are local and organic. I know that the remaining pulp will be composted (yes -- I am composting again: thank you, pedal co-op!). I can feel good about this juice and feel confident that the ingredients were grown in the most environmentally-friendly way possible, because I know the farmer.

Of course, not everyone has a juicer. Not everyone has time to make their own juice. But many people like juice, buy it regularly and drink it daily. I was never one of these people, though I admit to stocking juice at times for others. Bought juice does not always have to be bad for the environment. The farmer's market here sells local apple cider and pear cider too (yum). There are smaller companies that sell organic, small-batch juices which are shipped in eco-friendly ways. This kind of happy, green juice, however, is almost never going to be America's favorite juice: orange juice -- the anti-green juice! (And, yes, this is the juice I stocked for said friend -- I'm such a sucker.) If you live in the midwest or northeast, oranges will never be local. I know! It's horrible. Why should Berkeleyians have lemon trees lining the streets, while I go through major internal conflict every time I consider buying an organic lemon and feel the need to turn a blind eye and repent later when I eat tasty mexican food with lovely limey-zest? It is not fair, but that is life. There is a reason why lucky, good children would receive an orange in their stockings at Christmas: Oranges are exotic!

Yet, it isn't even the shipping or mass production of orange juice that is the worst (though these things don't exactly tread lightly in terms of carbon footprints). Enter my beloved New York Times. Yesterday in the "Business" section of the Times there was an article about the environmental cost of orange juice. PepsiCo, which owns Tropicana, did a study of the environmental impact of orange juice, and its affect on global warming:

PepsiCo hired experts to do the math, measuring the emissions from such energy-intensive tasks as running a factory and transporting heavy juice cartons. But it turned out that the biggest single source of emissions was simply growing oranges. Citrus groves use a lot of nitrogen fertilizer, which requires natural gas to make and can turn into a potent greenhouse gas when it is spread on fields.

PepsiCo finally came up with a number: the equivalent of 3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide are emitted to the atmosphere for each half-gallon carton of orange juice.

Big surprise, commericialized citrus groves use practices that are harmful for the environment. So what is do be done? Stricter regulations of green practices for companies are on the rise, but the results are not always 100% legit. Aiding the environment and commercial success seem to have a way of getting mixed up. Suddenly it is popular to advertise how green you are, and this in turn becomes a marketing ploy -- and who knows the accuracy or reliability of the data shared.

It is a start though. Hopefully with increased awareness, more people will start asking questions and looking to uncover questionable commercial practices.

In the meantime, drink your juice -- but try to make it green!

(And to my orange-juice consuming friends and family: Don't feel personally insulted, just think a little longer about the environmental consequence of your juice of choice. You do not have to stop drinking orange juice altogether, and I bet that when visiting my juice-drinking friend this weekend, I might even have some orange juice myself! And if you do choose to consider phasing out orange juice: You are not going to get scurvy!)

The ChallaMan!

2009-01-15T13:13:00.001-05:00

I have mentioned in the past that I order my bread, flour, sucanat and even grain litter from a West Philly based bakery, Four Worlds Bakery. Along with his goods, customers and community member receive email updates with new, order information and feedback. This week found a video embedded in the email. When Michael Dollich moved his bakery from his own basement to a professional bakery space several blocks north and west, he chose what some might consider an unconventional means to transport the heavy wares: bicycles via the Philadelphia Pedal Co-op.
In the video Michael discusses his aspirations for having a carbon neutral business, serving the community and why he believes being a baker suits him much better than his previous career: law.

Check it out!

Shared Local Meals - even when it's cold!

2009-01-14T12:30:00.000-05:00

In the past I have discussed my desire to cook more with others. I love eating and cooking and realize the benefit of sharing this love with others. But I also crave solitude and quiet. In the new year, however, I am trying to find a balance of these two wants, and I think I am doing alright so far! Later in the month I will attend a sustainable foodie potluck in New York, and I hope to recreate the event in Philadelphia sometime in February. Not all local shared meals have to involve large-scale planning. Sometimes it is nice to just share a home cooked meal between two or three people.

Last night I had a dear friend and neighbor over for a festive meal to celebrate her birthday (happy birthday!). It was an excellent opportunity to use up some of my CSA goodies and make a local meal, despite the limited produce of winter. On the menu was tortilla española, a green salad, marinated beets and for dessert crepes with apple butter and lemon.

A tortilla is a great thing to make in the winter: eggs, potatoes, onions. (A lot of) olive oil and some salt go into this dish, which is not necessarily local (though I harvested sea salt from the Jersey shore this past summer!), but the rest is readily available in the winter and for this meal the ingredients came from my organic, local CSA share. It is easy, filling and delicious, if perhaps a little time intensive for all the chopping and slicing, and perfect for entertaining, because tortilla only gets better the longer it sits (and can be eaten, warm, cool or cold!). I recall picnics in Spain of cold tortilla on bread. The very first time I made my own tortilla I discovered that the left overs were even more delicious than the original meal. The salt and onion flavors settle with time.

Phylann, the Keystone farmer, has started growing lettuce in greenhouses, so I was able to offer a local green salad (in the winter!). I dressed it with a simple vinaigrette. The beets were from a previous share as well. I roasted them, chopped them into inch cubes and tossed them in a little olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

The entire meal was reminiscent of Spain with the tapas-like nature of the individual dishes. My friend contributed a carrot, coconut milk soup, made with carrots, onions and garlic from her CSA share (also Keystone Farm).

Dessert too was local! I get Pennsylvania flour from the Four Worlds Bakery, so I was able to make a totally local batter (minus pinch of salt): flour, egg, water, raw milk. The other day I made apple butter from my backlog of CSA apples. The crepes were delicious with a sprinkle of lemon juice and apple butter. I was always intimidated by crepes, but I've been shown the simplicity of the batter and I think I have mastered them! (No pictures of the crepes, but of the apple butter...)
While in California I fully embraced the local avocados (tears flood my eyes as I think of their ripe, green, luscious availability), fawned over the lemon trees lining the streets and marveled over the variety of local produce available in late December. The average Californian probably eats about 100% better than the average East-coaster. In retrospect, however, I realize that eating well is based totally on convenience and not on awareness or a desire to eat in tune with the environment and season. It would be wonderful if healthy, local ingredients were the norm everywhere, but they are not. I imagine that those who unknowingly consume better quality "eco" foods would eat the same non-seasonal, non-local foods that most other less fortunate eaters do were they to leave food paradise. Here in Philly (and beyond) there is a strong locavore and ecovore movement. People are making efforts to inform themselves about food origin and local food resources. Once the puzzle pieces fall into place, eating local is actually not that difficult.

That being said, being committed to local ingredients ALL year requires some dedication and innovation. It is exactly that dedication and innovation, however, that makes me truly appreciate a largely local diet in a place that does not benefit from the growing season of California or the south. With my CSA share I am faced with ingredients that I had never considered buying at a conventional grocery store. For example, I receive turnips ad nauseum. What on earth am I meant to do with turnips? Soups - check! Roasted root vegetables - check! Mashed turnips with roasted garlic - check! This last dish was a first for me. Never had I mashed a turnip or even roasted garlic. I love cooking new things. The apple butter too was a first. And boy is it good. I have extra too!! Making meals that compliment and respect the environment is incredibly rewarding for me, and I hope it could be for others as well.

Tortilla Española

5 small-medium potatoes (yukon gold or red ones) peeled and sliced thin (1/8 inch)
3 small-medium onions, diced
5 eggs
olive oil
salt
pepper (optional)

While preparing potatoes and onions heat (medium-high) enough olive oil in a pan with high sides or pot so that the potatoes might be submerged totally. This is a lot of oil, (1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cup), but you drain it later and can reserve it for future tortillas. Sprinkle sliced potatoes with salt. Test heat of oil by dropping in one slice of potato, if it sizzles without browning, it is ready. Carefully drop sliced potatoes into oil. Stir occasionally with slotted spoon (try not to break potatoes). After about 8 minutes add the diced onion. Stir occasionally. Cook for another 7 minutes, until potatoes or cooked, but not burnt and onions glassy. Poor potatoes and onions into a colander over a bowl. Meanwhile gently beat 5 eggs and a pinch of salt. Add potatoes and onions to egg and mix together. It is OK if some potatoes break. Heat (medium high) 1 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan until very hot (I use 8 1/2 inch, I prefer a fat tortilla, use a larger pan for a thinner tortilla). Carefully pour egg/potato mix into pan and spread. Let cook for 1 minute at higher eat. You should see the sides set nearly immediately. Lower heat to medium low and cook until halfway set in the center (8-10 minutes). Make sure tortilla is not stuck to the sides (should jiggle freely in the pan; if not use a spatula or knife), and flip it. To do this take a flat plat, place it over the pan and (I do this over the sink) flip over onto plate. Then slide flipped tortilla back onto plate, tucking in sides. Cook another 5-6 minutes until a wooden skewer or toothpick comes out clean without any uncooked egg on it. Flip back onto a plate and let cool at least 10 minutes. Trust me, this tortilla tastes better the longer it sets!

p.s. I have double posted this at Farm to Philly! Hope you don't mind!!

Sunday Repose - and - Three Local Restaurants

2009-01-11T16:32:00.002-05:00

After nearly a month of celebrating, catching up, visiting and more or less constant companionship, I am enjoying a quiet, solitary Sunday. Please do not misunderstand, I thoroughly enjoyed my holidays and was lucky enough to be surrounded by family and friends, all of whom I care for very much. But I am a quiet person and need to remove myself from the world at large from time to time. I have my work, cats and kitchen (and a couple of films) and intend to spend a couple of quiet days at home. There is nothing more relaxing or therapeutic then standing in my pajamas, peeling, coring and chopping something (in this case apples) while listening to the npr or, today, Bach's Goldberg Variations. It is very important to focus on your chopping (if you care to keep all fingers, that is), and I find that cooking allows me to rid my head of other thoughts more than (almost) any other activity. I love yoga, but even then my brain runs ahead of me.

So now I find my mind more peaceful than of late and while my apple sauce cools, readying itself to be pureed and further cooked into apple butter and my lunch of leftover lentils (with carrots, potatoes, onion and garlic from my CSA share) digests, I will finally address those three local restaurants I keep referring to, but not writing about.

By local, I do not mean local Philly restaurants, but rather I refer to three restaurants in three different cities (towns) which organize their menus around the cuisine local to their location and season. My winter break was divided between Woodbury, CT, New York City and San Francisco/Berkeley and in each place I enjoyed delicious locally-influenced cuisine.

One summer after my first year of college, I had the great fortune to work for the catering side of Carol Peck's culinary services. Carol Peck, like Alice Waters (indeed, she has been named the Alice Waters of the East), is world-class chef who focuses on cooking largely organically, seasonally and connecting to local farms in order to create her gastronomic masterpieces. There is a pronounced French influence to her cooking, so dishes are often simple, made to highlight the individual ingredients. That being said, it is not rare to find Asian touches. Her restaurant, Good News Cafe, opened in Woodbury in 1993 and has enjoyed great success ever since. Though not exclusively so, her restaurant is very vegetarian friendly, and there are certainly vegan options as well. She employs excellent local bakers and pastry chefs, which means that I generally tailor my meal around dessert. My latest visit (or two, and I fear I might be combining various visits to this, my favorite restaurant in CT, but I am rather predictable in my order, so...) with my parents found me sticking to my usual plan of salad entree and saving room for dessert. On the daily specials was an incredible salad of shaved fennel, greens, feta cheese, shrimp, scallops, oranges and a citrus dressing. Yum is all I have to say to that. The dessert I saved room for was also a special: chocolate layer cake, with hazelnut buttercream frosting and brandy-poached prunes. I love dessert and these are the best. The greens in my salad very likely came from the greenhouses across the street. I also overheard Carol on the phone, speaking to the fish-monger across the street, looking to find todays fresh fish to feature on the menu. Obviously, such moment-specific ingredient choices can be much more stressful and perhaps risky in terms of cost, but I do greatly appreciate these efforts.

Before heading to San Francisco, I had lunch in New York with my friend and food-activist role model, Paula, at a restaurant I've already mentioned, Angelica Kitchen. As opposed to Good News Cafe, Angelica Kitchen is an entirely vegetarian/vegan restaurant, focusing on "organic plant-based cuisine." Their menu changes daily based on the season, weather and food availability. I love eating at Angelica Kitchen because of their innovative meals, using only plant-based ingredients to make the most satisfying of dishes. There is always a raw option and the daily specials get "recycled" the next day at a lower price. This economical and waste-less-minded reusing of food that might not have been consumed on day one, but is still perfectly edible (and delicious!), is an excellent restaurant model. I shudder to think how much perfectly edible food is thrown away if not eaten by customers. Why not serve the same special two days in a row (and owe up to it!)? For our lunch, Paula and I both partook in the lunch deal, which included kukicha tea, the soup of the day (a "creamy" root vegetable soup), a salad (filled with lots of goodies like sprouts and carrots), a bread (we chose the whole grain sourdough) and a spread (ginger carrot). We also indulged in one of their yummy desserts: a cranberry, hazelnut parfait; in place of yogurt there was a hazelnut cream. Good food, good practices and excellent company.

This meal was good preparation for all of the excellent organic/local/innovative/vegetarian/raw/delicious food that I would enjoy in the Bay Area. Let me tell you -- so good. But for now I am just going to focus on my dreamy, dream come true, meal at Alice Waters' restaurant in Berkeley, Chez Panisse! This was a much anticipated meal and outting and it did not disappoint. Compared to the other two restaurants I mentioned which either cater to or devote themselves entirely to vegetarians, Alice Waters does not. At least not in the restaurant downstairs, where each night's fixed menu features various (local, free-range, organic, etc.) meat courses. The cafe upstairs, however, does offer some vegetarian options and the weeknight fixed menu which accompanies the à la carte menu is (nearly) always vegetarian. That's where we ate! My dear friend gifted me a dinner at the cafe and had made reservations for our first night in Berkeley. I must note though, that while the building is utterly charming and the food delicious, the popularity of Ms. Waters' restaurant leaves the dining room packed to bursting, which makes savoring each and every last bite somewhat strained in the loud and cramped setting. I point this out, as the enjoyment of food is an important element of Slow Food and perhaps fewer diners at any given point should be considered for the return of intimate dining. That being said, it was such a lovely meal and generous gift (and the lights were not bright and the company and food both excellent, which distracted from the commotion in the rest of the place). I opted for the fixed menu: a green salad with avocado dressing and marinated beets, winter vegetable cous cous with harissa and, for dessert, tangerine sherbert with a wafer thin cat tongue cookie (the meyer lemon sherbert originally featured on the fixed menu was out). My friend had a salad that consisted of an unusual relative of the artichoke, potatoes, cauliflower with an anchovy based dressing, an incredible baked steelhead fish (perfectly cooked and unbelievably delicious -- yes, I tasted!) and burnt caramel gelato with chocolate crinkle cookies. Needless to say we split the desserts 50-50, because I could not resist that caramel gelato (my companion graciously ordered it upon my greedy request). So, you see, even the crowd could not prevent this from being a memorable meal. And I am very thankful for having been taken.

You might notice that there are no pictures. I was not a very good photographer during this trip - as in I took next to no pictures, and definitely not of food. Hopefully, you will be able to imagine the beauty of these foods on your own. Use your imagination!

(and while I wrote, my apple sauce was pureed, spices and sucanat were mixed in, and it is slowly bubbling - making incredible noises - its way towards apple butter goodness)

Hold the Presses!

2009-01-09T12:55:00.014-05:00

I finally posted again at Farm to Philly about my winter CSA and a tasty recipe for a winter cabbage salad, and I was just about to sit down to post about three locavore restaurants in three very different cities to be followed up in the coming days by a more general post about the pleasure and ease of eating local in the Bay Area, when Mark Bittman sidetracked me big time. Now, my New York Times obsession has been well-documented and my respect for Mr. Bittman nears that of my adoration for Alice Waters. I am proud to say that I even gave the gift of his updated cookbook, How to Cook Everything, to a worthy omnivore this Christmas. Admittedly, I had already envisioned pointing out that Mark Bittman had also blogged about a cabbage salad in his blog, Bitten, though my salad might be indeed all the tastier for the addition of tart apples, red onion and walnuts. I did not, however, intend to devote this post to Mark Bittman, whom I now hold in even higher regard. But a quick browse through my food and eco links led me to Grist and a post honoring Mr. Bittman, who has a new book, Food Matters. The brief article also included an incredible video clip, which I am (attempting to) embed here.

Mark Bittman held this talk last year (or 2007) at TED. This is an invitation only based conference and covers a plethora of topics. Bittman was, obviously, talking about food. Not only food, though, but the way we eat and how this impacts the environment and our health. Sound familiar? Topics that interest me a tiny bit? Matters that should concern everyone, as this is a global problem that could actually be controlled by simple life style changes? Oh yeah. For some, what Bittmann says here is not news, but he, like Michael Pollan, addresses these issues simply, with great lucidity and with humor. Also, like Pollan, Bittman is not a vegetarian and he is not insisting that the world stop consuming meat, but he does candidly address industrial agriculture and its (massive and horrendous) implications on the environment. He also points to the corruption of the food pyramid and the strong relations between how we are told to eat and the economic desires and greed of agribusiness. In short, take 20 minutes and watch this video. He has some nice visuals, but, if need be you, you could listen while you go about your day.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T23:43:00.008-05:00

I am returning to Philly tomorrow and with that I will be returning to my blog. Get ready for posts about new year's (food) resolutions, eating my way through San Francisco and the East Bay and various restaurants dedicated to local food, as well, of course, to posts concerning environmentally friendly eating in West Philly and beyond. In the meantime I bring you a video introduced to me by my friend Alice. It depicts the history of modern warfare through food. The food shown isn't exactly representative of the Slow Food movement, "ecovorism" or anything close to it. But it does make one (or at least me) stop to consider the role of food culture in relation to larger cultural conflicts.

Enjoy!

Gemütlichkeit

2008-12-20T14:12:00.041-05:00

As of Tuesday afternoon my final papers and grades for my students were all handed in. Phew. That's that for this semester. Now I just need to finish up the spring semester (last spring)...

Wednesday was devoted to running errands, cleaning up and getting ready for the holidays. The snow storm in the northeast put a crimp in my original travel plans, and I had to load up a rental car with things and cats on Thursday instead of Friday, so as to safely drive home. So now I find myself in CT at my parents' home. The cats have settled in, the snow fell and I thought I would finally catch up with "Of Verdant Thoughts" after a week long hiatus.

"Gemütlichkeit" is a classic German word and concept. Literally, it translates as "coziness" or "snugness," but it really means much more. "Gemütlichkeit" represents candle light, good company, warmth, comfort, feeling at ease and not rushed, etc. Germans love to have a strong sense of "Gemütlichkeit" at home, with company and, above all, when they eat. Rushed meals are frowned upon. As are meals lit by neon lights. Though a country like Spain clearly has a food and comfort culture of their own, I recall encountering many brightly lit restaurants while trying new places with my German mother, who visited me while I studied there in college. No no, somehow the meaning and pleasure of eating a meal with loved ones seems diminished by harsh lights.

It might not be difficult to make a connection between my adherence to a calm and relaxing morning ritual and a desire for "Gemütlichkeit." As I already mentioned, my mother is German. My childhood was a German one, though predominantly staged in the U.S. We followed many German traditions, our holidays were always celebrated following (secularized) German rituals (especially Christmas and Easter) and our day-to-day existence was largely influenced by certain German (or European) ideas of "joie de vivre." Life was "gemütlich."

As is often the case, the "Germanness" could largely be seen in food. But I do not mean that we ate "German" food. It is not so much what we ate, but rather how we ate it. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were eaten as a family at the table. (When my brother and I were at school, or my father at work, lunch, obviously, was not a shared, family meal.) Candles were lit, the table set properly, and we sat, ate, manners and civility were observed and conversation enjoyed. No one would have ever considered rushing to get away from the table. Even when we went out for dinner, it was as a family and we never hurried our meal.

This appreciation of food culture and the adherence to etiquette strongly influenced my current opinions of food and food culture. Eating well and with good company has made me more aware of what is actually on the plate. Even while living and often eating alone, I strongly desire to recreate the sense of "Gemütlichkeit" that can be found at my parents' table. As my morning ritual suggests, I try never to eat a rushed meal. I want to savor the food I prepared for myself and enjoy the connection it has to the local community. My beliefs and customs are completely secularized, but they are no less meaningful.
Knowing that a snow storm loomed, I easily envisioned a "gemütlich" evening at home Friday night with my parents. I pictured the snow falling, candles and the lights of the Christmas tree shining in the dimly lit room. With the winter-wonderland theme, I could imagine nothing more appropriate than the hearty, social swiss meal, "Käsefondue" (cheese fondue). Before getting the rental car Thursday morning, I headed to a Philly institution and an excellent source for cheese: DiBruno Brothers. Following the recommendations of a Swiss roommate I had when living in Boston, I bought 300 grams of Gruyere, 150 grams of Appenzeller and 150 grams of Vacherin for the fondue.
Late Friday afternoon I began to grate the 3 cheeses. I then rubbed a fondue pot with a clove of garlic, heated a little more than 1/2 cup of dry white wine with nutmeg and pepper. To the hot but not boiling wine I slowly added the cheese until melted. The final step is adding a shot of Kirschwasser with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch (or another thickening agent) to the cheese and stirring until the right consistency is acheived. While I prepared the fondue, my mother cut up a good, crusty bread into 1-2 inch chunks and prepared a salad.
When eating fondue, it is traditional to first briefly dip the bread in Kirschwasser before dipping it into the cheese. This should only be done with high quality Kirschwasser, however. The local liquor store only had a cheap variation, which was fine for cooking, but not for dipping! So we skipped that first step. The perfect compliment to such a rich meal is a simple green salad and a nice white wine (or prosecco!).

Highlights: Secretary of Food and the Kitchen Cabinet

2008-12-12T10:31:00.004-05:00

I am not done with papers. I have barely started my papers. So I'm not really "posting" today, just offering a couple of highlights that I cannot keep to myself. For a full round up of this week's ecovore news check out Paula's lovely summary at Civil Eats.

Paula mentions this too, but if you have not seen Nicholas Kristof's op-ed, you should really take a look. He writes about the need to re-evaluate the position of Secretary of Agriculture. When the majority of Americans are no longer farming, but all Americans are eating, why are we not looking for a Secretary of Food? Here is the opening of his piece:

As Barack Obama ponders whom to pick as agriculture secretary, he should reframe the question. What he needs is actually a bold reformer in a position renamed “secretary of food.
A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers. In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat.
Renaming the department would signal that Mr. Obama seeks to move away from a bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates climate change and makes Americans unhealthy — all while costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

If you did not already see it coming, he then refers to Michael Pollan. Kristof cites a statement made by Pollan:

As Mr. Pollan told me: “Even if you don’t think agriculture is a high priority, given all the other problems we face, we’re not going to make progress on the issues Obama campaigned on — health care, climate change and energy independence — unless we reform agriculture.”

Would the Secretary of Food be part of Obama's "Kitchen Cabinet"? The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Alice Waters and a letter she wrote President-Elect Obama, offering her services, along with Ruth Reichl and Danny Meyer, to form the initial "Kitchen Cabinet" for the Obamas. She would volunteer her expertise in food-related matters: from gardening to cooking. This is an excerpt from her letter:

At this moment you have a unique opportunity to set the tone for the changes we need to make in the way our country feeds itself. The purity and wholesomeness of your campaign can find a parallel in the purity and wholesomeness of the food at America's most visible and symbolic address: the White House.

The article also writes of her failed attempts to influence Bill Clinton's eating habits. Though she apparently had better luck with Hilary Clinton, who even planted a rooftop tomato garden at the White House!

You all know I love Alice Waters, and in a few weeks I'll even be eating at her restaurant in Berkeley (!!!!), so please take a moment to read this informative and entertaining little article.

Off to the Post Office, then to proctor a make-up exam, meet with a professor, then home to write!

P.S. I made apple sauce last night. It might have been the easiest thing I ever did.

Food for Democracy: Sign this Petition!

2008-12-09T10:59:00.005-05:00

Food for Democracy has composed the following letter to the President Elect Barack Obama, asking him to select a sustainable-minded Secretary of Agriculture. It is a petition, and I encourage you all to sign this petition, which can be found at this link.

Dear President-Elect Obama,

We congratulate you on your historic victory and welcome the change that your election promises to usher in for our nation. As leaders in the sustainable agriculture and rural advocacy community we supported you in record numbers during the caucus, primary and general election because of the family farm-friendly policies that you advocated during your campaign.
As our nation's future president, we hope that you will take our concerns under advisement when nominating our next Secretary of Agriculture because of the crucial role this Secretary will play in revitalizing our rural economies, protecting our nation's food supply and our environment, improving human health and well-being, rescuing the independent family farmer, and creating a sustainable renewable energy future.

We believe that our nation is at a critical juncture in regard to agriculture and its impact on the environment and that our next Secretary of Agriculture must have a broad vision for our collective future that is greater than what past appointments have called for.

Presently, farmers face serious challenges in terms of the high costs of energy, inputs and land, as well as continually having to fight an economic system and legislative policies that undermine their ability to compete in the open market. The current system unnaturally favors economies of scale, consolidation and market concentration and the allocation of massive subsidies for commodities, all of which benefit the interests of corporate agribusiness over the livelihoods of farm families.

In addition, America must come to understand the environmental and human health implications of industrialized agriculture. From rising childhood and adult obesity to issues of food safety, global warming and air and water pollution, we believe our next Secretary of Agriculture must have a vision that calls for: recreating regional food systems, supporting the growth of humane, natural and organic farms, and protecting the environment, biodiversity and the health of our children while implementing policies that place conservation, soil health, animal welfare and worker's rights as well as sustainable renewable energy near the top of their agenda.

Today we have a nutritional and environmental deficit that is as real and as great as that of our national debt and must be addressed with forward thinking and bold, decisive action. To deal with this crisis, our next Secretary of Agriculture must work to advance a new era of sustainability in agriculture, humane husbandry, food and renewable energy production that revitalizes our nation's soil, air and water while stimulating opportunities for new farmers to return to the land.

We believe that a new administration should address our nation's growing health problems by promoting a children's school lunch program that incorporates more healthy food choices, including the creation of opportunities for schools to purchase food from local sources that place a high emphasis on nutrition and sustainable farming practices. We recognize that our children's health is our nation's future and that currently schools are unable to meet these needs because they do not have the financial resources to invest in better food choices. We believe this reflects and is in line with your emphasis on childhood education as a child's health and nutrition are fundamental to their academic success.

We understand that this is a tall order, but one that is consistent with the values and policies that you advocated for in your bid for the White House. We realize that more conventional candidates are likely under consideration; however, we feel strongly that the next head of the USDA should have a significant grassroots background in promoting sustainable agriculture to create a prosperous future for rural America and a healthy future for all of America's citizens.

With this in mind, we are offering a list of leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to the goals that you articulated during your campaign and we encourage you to consider them for the role of Secretary of Agriculture.

The Sustainable Choice for the Next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

Gus Schumacher, Former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Former Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture.
Chuck Hassebrook, Executive Director, Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, NE.
Sarah Vogel, former two-term Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of North Dakota, attorney, Bismarck, ND.
Fred Kirschenmann, organic farmer, Distinguished Fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Ames, IA and President, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Pocantico Hills, NY.
Mark Ritchie, current Minnesota Secretary of State, former policy analyst in Minnesota's Department of Agriculture under Governor Rudy Perpich, co-founder of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
Neil Hamilton, attorney, Dwight D. Opperman Chair of Law and Professor of Law and Director, Agricultural Law Center, Drake University, Des Moines, IA.

School Gardens!

2008-12-08T22:34:00.002-05:00

It is the end of the semester and I should be writing seminar papers! I am writing papers, but thought to take a quick break to address my potential absence this coming week. I am currently working on a paper about the "post" gendered space of letters in a Romantic novel by Dorothea Veit Schlegel. Once this is done (or nearly done), I'll work on a "thought piece" concerning the structure and organization of my ideal German language program.

I did post a recipe at Farm to Philly (take a look), and in my efforts to avoid cross-posting, I will offer you an article from Sunday's New York Times (of course). The article is about the educational benefit of gardening for children. Alice Waters was a pioneer in creating school gardens to allow children to learn about the origin and production of their food. The children grow the food that they then eat in their school cafeteria. The Times' article goes farther and suggests that gardens could lend themselves to almost any subject (math, science, language arts), and not only reinforce knowledge about food and nutrition (which alone is already a wonderful lesson for today's generation of chemical-food-replacement consumers).

German Apple Cake

2008-12-05T08:47:00.001-05:00

A couple of months ago a recipe popped up on Smitten Kitchen (SK) which made my mouth water and stomach growl with excitement. The timing was perfect, as apple season was in full bloom and my CSA share was overflowing with crisp, delicious apples. If you haven't yet clicked on the click and the apple-reference wasn't clue enough: apple cake. Smitten Kitchen's mom's apple cake. Jewish apple cake. German apple cake. All one in the same: cinnamon-kissed apples suspended in moist, cakey goodness.

Some of you might be comparing the date of my post and the date of the SK post and commending my self-control. Don't delude yourselves! I have made this cake three times now. A few days after the post I made a perfectly scrumptious cake which looked like it had come into contact with a bomb (not to be insensitive towards recent world events). In my gluttonous exuberance, I pulled the cake out of the oven and turned that tube pan over and attempted to shake the cake out. For some reason, I did not think to let the cake cool down before forcing it out of the pan. Instead of the intact disc you see in SK's picture, I had cake pieces. But oh was it good. And, yes, I ate it all by myself. How could I share such an ugly cake?
A few weeks after that I went apple picking with friends. A portion of these apples were set aside for take two of "German" apple cake baking. This time I carefully cut out some wax paper to fit the bottom of the form and decided to not shake the cake out right away. I was too good at greasing, flouring and lining the pan, because the cake fell right out of the form (again while it was way too hot) when I attempted to let it cool upside down, and it cracked in the middle. Still, it looked a whole lot better, but I think it could have baked a tad bit longer, as it was TOO moist (in my opinion, though others -- yes, I shared it this time! -- claimed it was fine).
So...take three! I mentioned yesterday that today is my last day of teaching for this academic year. I have been teaching an accelerated German language course (2 semesters of elementary German in one) and tomorrow I am treating my students to some breakfast: local multi-grain bread, organic butter, local swiss cheese, homemade plum-honey preserves, local raw honey and a "German" apple cake. Fingers crossed, I managed to finally make a cake that was both tasty and intact! Miraculous.
Now, you might be wondering why I keep putting German in quotations. The original recipe is sweeter than any cake I have ever eaten in Germany. But fruit cakes abound in Germany, and though this recipe definitely comes from the USA, its origins clearly are German. I have tweaked the recipe (reducing sugar, etc), and I think this final version is just right.

On another note: I am up and posting on Farm to Philly now! The first post is strikingly similar to my maiden post here, but I will attempt to avoid overlap with future posts.

A couple of notes to the recipe: I used sucanat (organic) which I ordered in bulk from Four Worlds Bakery. It's darker than some of the organic cane sugars you get in the store, which lent the cake a nice rich, almost chocolaty color. The flour I used was also ordered in bulk from Four Worlds Bakery: local, organic Pennsylvania white pastry flour. Michael Dollich mills all of his own grains in his bakery, so I know that this is the freshest flour I could ever have access to. The eggs and apples were local and organic, as well. The original recipe calls for orange juice. I used to keep orange juice in the fridge for a friend, but, honestly, I never keep it in the house for myself, though I do like it. I had been using local apple cider instead. Today the co-op was out, so instead I juiced a couple of crispin apples myself. I don't know why I hadn't thought to do this for the other two tries; I always have apples and my juicer sits pretty in a corner on the counter.

German Apple Cake
adapted from the Smitten Kitchen recipe

6 apples (I used york apples this time, but any firm, tart baking apples will do!)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sucanat (or any other, preferably organic, not too refined sugar)

2 3/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil this time, canola and a canola/olive oil mix in the past!)
1 1/4 cups sucanat
1/3-1/2 cup apple juice (start with 1/3, add more if the batter is too too thick)
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan and dust it with flour. Cut out a piece of wax or parchment paper to fit the bottom of the tube, to ensure the cake doesn't stick (If you have your own tricks for this, go ahead and use them -- I'm clearly no expert here!). Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, apple juice, sucanat and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean.

Don't be too greedy and allow the cake to cool before shaking it out of the pan, unless you want to eat the cake crumbles by yourself (which is a valid option, of course!).

Morning Ritual

2008-12-04T14:16:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is my last day teaching this academic year and also my last day waking up at 6:30! I enjoy teaching and have lovely, motivated students, but I must confess to not enjoying waking up so early 5 days a week. There was a time when I voluntarily woke up early every morning. I am not quite certain as to what changed, but those days are long gone. Honestly, my ideal sleep pattern now would be to go to bed early, wake up late and take a nap in the afternoon. This isn't really possible (not always). Perhaps I think too much about sleep. I do not like being tired and know that I am less productive and function not as well on little sleep. The fact that I have been incredibly tired for over a month has done little for my academic work, but things will change soon (I hope).

The earliest I have to be on campus (which is a less than 10 minute bike ride away) is 9am. So, I probably don't need to get up at 6:30. I do not take much time showering or "primping," but despite my busy schedule and dislike of prying my eyes open so early, there are certain rituals I am unwilling to cast aside. Or perhaps precisely because of my busy schedule and my exhaustion, I cling even more to my morning ritual. I wake up, I sweep up after the kitties and their dusty bran litter, I shower, turn on the npr, feed the cats, brush Firlefanz, make my tea, prepare breakfast (granola from the CSA or oatmeal), and then settle down to read the paper (online) and scan my food blogs. Everything leads up to dropping myself down into my comfortable desk chair and catching up on the world. I need time to enjoy, relax and reflect before facing a long day. I cannot imagine having to spend up to 12 hours on campus after a rushed morning; I'd feel frantic all day. And I know the cats appreciate my sloth-like presence. Usually Firlefanz finds repose on my lap (making sure I am extra furry before walking out the door), while I read the New York Times. Getting up extra early in order to have time to wake up and come to terms with the day means a lot to me. The same routine happens on the weekend too, though not quite as early.

This morning while reading the paper I came across quite a few noteworthy articles. One New York Times article in particular dealt with the relationship between meat consumption and high emissions. It is definitely worth taking a look at it. Of course I am an ecovore and vegetarian (of sorts), but neither I nor the article is suggesting that meat consumption must be eliminated altogether. Rather, the article clearly and rightly states that meat consumption should be reduced and that the consumer should make wise choices when considering what kind of meat to eat, taking into account origin and farming practices.
I encourage you to check out the article in full, but here are a couple of highlights:

“It’s an area that’s been largely overlooked,” said Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel Prize-winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He says people should eat less meat to control their carbon footprints. “We haven’t come to grips with agricultural emissions.”
The trillions of farm animals around the world generate 18 percent of the emissions that are raising global temperatures, according to United Nations estimates, more even than from cars, buses and airplanes.

[...]

A sober scientist, [Dr. Pachauri of the United Nations] suggests that “the most attractive” near-term solution is for everyone simply to “reduce meat consumption,” a change he says would have more effect than switching to a hybrid car.

[...]

Producing a pound of beef creates 11 times as much greenhouse gas emission as a pound of chicken and 100 times more than a pound of carrots, according to Lantmannen, the Swedish group.

I believe that many are unaware of the true environmental impact of producing and consuming meat. I too was ignorant for a long time about these facts. Knowing these figures, however, is, for me, incredibly convincing. Again, I do not say that everyone must be a vegetarian, but reducing meat consumption is necessary for the future of our planet.

What's Cooking?

2008-11-30T20:47:00.004-05:00

The sun has set on this rainy Sunday and tomorrow it's back to the daily grind of teaching and seminars. Despite the few extra days off, I must admit to not wanting to return to the old routine. I'd love nothing more than to stay at home, cook read and spend some more quality time with my cats. Only one more week, though, and then I will be done teaching and will only need to focus on writing papers.

Since I last posted, however, I did find some nice time to cook a couple of good, local meals. Friday I had a few friends over for whom I made a butternut squash risotto, served with steamed broccoli glazed in lemon and mustard (like the brussel sprouts I prepared the other day) and a cabbage salad with pomegranate seeds and apple. I slowly heated some local apple cider, as well, with cinnamon sticks and cloves, which we mixed up with some bourbon for some tasty hot toddies!
Tonight I returned to the leftover butternut squash (it was a big squash) and made a butternut squash soup following a recipe my friend Elisha just emailed me and along with it a potato-sweet potato-turnip gratin following an Alice Waters' recipe. I feel a cold lurking somewhere deep inside me, so the soup should hopefully help curb that (along with all the tea I've been drinking), and there's nothing more comforting than potatoes! I imagine I'll be feeding myself off of this CSA meal for a few days...

Butternut Squash Soup
variation of Elisha's recipe

1 2lb butternut squash, peeled and chopped into medium dice
1 tablespoon sucanat
3-4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion chopped
1 qt water
1 cinnamon stick
2 ounces raw milk (the recipe calls for cream and Elisha has used both soy milk and soy creamer in the past with great success, so use what you want!)
salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot sautee the squash, sucanat and some salt in the butter, covered, for 3 mins on a med-low heat. Add onion and sautee for another 10 mins. Add water and the cinnamon stick and simmer covered for 30 mins, or until squash is good and soft. Puree (in batches if necessary) in the blender until smooth (I used my hand blender). Finish with milk/cream/soy milk, salt and pepper to taste.

Potato-Sweet Potato-Turnip Gratin
adapted from Alice Waters' recipe for Potato Gratin in The Art of Simple Food

3 small to medium potatoes (I used red potatoes, but Yukons would be good too)
3 small sweet potatoes
3 small to medium turnips
ca. 1 cup raw milk
3 tbs butter
salt and pepper

Thinly slice potatoes, sweet potatoes and turnips. In a baking dish that has been greased with butter line the various roots in an order you see fit (I had a row of sweet potatoes, then turnip, then potatoes). Overlap the slices like shingles. Salt and pepper this layer, then add another layer. Salt and pepper it and add another layer if you have more slices (you don't want to make more than three layers). Chop the butter into pieces and disperse them over the surface of the gratin. Pour in milk carefully. You want the milk to come to the top of the bottom of the top layer. Adjust milk accordingly. Bake in an oven heated to 35o˚F for 1 hour, or until potatoes are soft and top is golden brown. (yum).

Both recipes could be varied infinitely. I can imagine using coconut milk in the butternut squash soup and perhaps adding a dash of curry. Pure potatoes or any variety of root vegetables could be used in the gratin. I like the combination of the warm, buttery potatoes and how the sweetness of the sweet potatoes is curbed by the spiciness of the turnips.

On another note: What's cooking is that I am going to start contributing posts on the Farm to Philly blog a few times a month! Look for me in the coming days. My bio is being set up, and then I guess I'll start posting. I am very excited to participate in this great Philly blog dedicated to eating local!

Green Gratitude

2008-11-27T16:25:00.005-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are all enjoying/have enjoyed filling, local meals with family and friends. After a lively Friendsgiving this weekend, the cats and I spent a rather quiet day at home today. I had a Thanksgiving breakfast of local cranberry walnut bread, three minute local organic eggs and free trade coffee with a friend while listening to Radio Times on NPR, and then settled in to a peaceful day of reflection, relaxation and studying. I have yet to change out of my pajamas, though I foresee some yoga and a bath in my near future. My "big" meal consisted of pulling out the Four Worlds cranberry walnut bread again (it really is delicious!) and making a heavenly sandwich of local cheddar cheese and crisp local organic apples. Yum! Later I might juice some carrots, beets and apples from my CSA share. Throughout the day I have been indulging in nibbles from a chocolate babka (also from Four Worlds): so tasty! Not a traditional Thanksgiving, but a pleasant day all the same.

While browsing through my usual food/news/eco links I saw that Green Options had a Thanksgiving post posing three "green" questions to be asked at the Thanksgiving table. The cats are sleeping, so I will provide answers for you. And if any of you readers feel like posting your answers to these questions in the comments, I'd love to read your responses!!

1. What new local food did you discover this year?
The Discovery of Michael Dollich's Four Worlds Bakery has certainly rounded out my local diet. Though I have trouble breaking away from his amazing mulit-grain levain, every other bread and treat (babka, croissants, bagels) I have tasted are equally wonderful.

2. What bad food habit did you give up or replace?
Not that it ever was a conscious part of my diet, but I have done a pretty good job of weeding out high fructose corn syrup (yuck!!). That evil ingredient hides in the most unlikely of places. I too have tried to become more conscientious in choosing fish off of the eco-best list (though I am all too often inconsistent in this!).

3. What’s your most memorable meal of 2008?
I find this question nearly impossible to answer! 2008 was a long year and I ate many excellent meals. Pointing out my failure at eating only the most eco-friendly fish or obstaining altogether, I could point out my birthday meal at Philly's Morimoto, where I indulged in the tastiest of sushi and heavenly dessert. Also questionable on the eco-best list could be the out-of-this world fish tacos and guacamole at Jose's Mexican Food (10th and Spring Garden....go now!). Totally not local. I can do better. I could pick any number of Wednesday dinners from the last spring semester. When I lived in Fitler Square I would pick up my Highland Farms CSA Wednesday afternoons from the Metropolitan Bakery and then make a meal based on these rotating ingredients for David and me. Always local, always tasty, always good company. Of course, my most memorable meal of the year might still be to come...I imagine that sometime between December 27 and Jan 2 (well, that would be 2009 then) I will eat many an ecovore dream meals. More about that next month!!

Enjoy the bounty of the season and of your region and take care.

Dragon Bowl Dinner

2008-11-25T19:44:00.000-05:00

My friend Paula introduced me to the most heavenly restaurant in New York: Angelica Kitchen. In their own words, Angelica Kitchen offers "organic plant-based cuisine." The menu feeds largely off of seasonal and local ingredients, everything is organic and vegan. Though vegan, the restaurant does not lean too heavily on typical "meat replacements" and instead lets natural vegetable products shine. I do not intend to blog about this at the moment, but protein and iron do not need to lack in a vegetarian diet, nor must they come from king crops like soy. A diet that consists largely of whole grains, legumes, vegetables (dark leafy greens, etc.) provides all the nutrients one needs, and if you are not a vegan and are throwing in some eggs and yogurt...well, you are eating pretty fine and leading a rather healthy lifestyle.

I think of Angelica Kitchen (and when you read this, Paula, I'm hoping to be able to go with you soon!) this evening as I cook my dinner. My diet is at the whim of the CSA share. I draw inspiration from the content of my share, which varies each week. I love to cook and I love trying out new recipes or experimenting on my own. That being said, vegetables are so delicious as they are and I often keep things simple and delicious. What was that fundamental guideline of Alice Waters'? "Cook simply?" One of my favorite meals is a pretty basic one. It consists simply of an assortment of roasted/sauteed/steamed vegetables, often beans or a poached egg and maybe some brown rice. Angelica Kitchen has an item on their menu called "Dragon Bowl" which combines rice, beans, sea vegetables and a steamed assortment of the day's vegetables. Added to this is a dressing of choice. No tofu on my plate, but I'm sure you can see why my round up of veg combined with rice and beans reminds me of this gem of a dish. It's so beautifully straightforward, healthy and delicious.
Tonight's Dragon Bowl à la Melanie contains a pitiful amount of brown rice (I had not realized I was almost out! I'll have to buy more at the co-op.); red beans I bought at the Farmer's Market that I cooked in water with a couple of fresh, local, organic garlic cloves, sea salt and a bay leaf;
roasted delicata squash, which I halved, scooped out the seeds, thinly sliced (skins and all) and tossed in a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and rosemary;
and steamed brussel sprouts, which I then sauteed in a bit of olive oil and glazed with a fresh lemon juice/dijon mustard mix.
Inexpensive, nutritious, filling, easy, local, organic. What could be better?
To read more about possible variations of the wonderful, budget-friendly rice and bean combo check out this piece from Culinate!

What?

2008-11-24T12:09:00.005-05:00

Absurd tidbit from the web:

Swiss Army bans vegans from military?

Switzerland has mandatory military service, but apparently underweight males or males following a vegan diet are not allowed conscription.

Sure.

Friendsgiving: Cooking and Eating Together

2008-11-23T16:22:00.020-05:00

As this picture suggests, I am still a lousy food-photographer. And I am also bad at actually documenting my cooking. Somehow I manage to take hundreds of delightful photos of my cats, and while they are, admittedly, wonderfully photogenic, the food I make too is rather attractive (sometimes). I'll put it down to less than ideal lighting in my kitchen. Nevertheless, I managed to snap a few pictures of the preparations and results of my contribution for a "Friendsgiving" potluck I attended yesterday.

In her cookbook The Art of Simple Food (a much cherished resource in my kitchen, given to me by an equally cherished friend), Alice Waters outlines 9 fundamental guidelines: eat locally and sustainably; eat seasonally; shop at farmers' markets; plant a garden; conserve, compost and recycle; cook simply; cook together; eat together; and remember food is precious. Now, reading this cookbook (which I did cover to cover) is like reading myself and my personal food beliefs. I admire Alice Waters, her cooking and her slow food ways. Though I respect her unyielding opinions, I do admittedly believe that there comes a point when reading her book that you must say to yourself: I don't live in the Bay area and do not always have access to fresh, local chervil. Bless her, but if food appreciation hinged on year round access to fresh herbs, this would be a sad thing.
Regardless, she is wonderful and I am proud to say how strictly (and effortlessly) I follow her fundamental guidelines. I eat locally and sustainably. I eat seasonally (with special thanks to my CSA being offered all year round!). I shop at farmers' markets (every week). I planted a roof garden this summer (with mixed results). I conserve, would compost (eeeh, more about this sensitive subject at a later date) and recycle. I cook simply. I would like to cook more together and eat more together. I never forget that food is precious.
That bit in bold there is kind of a lifestyle problem. I love to cook. I love to cook with others/for others and enjoy very much sharing great food with great people. I live a bit of a solo-life, however. I am rather quiet and independent, and I greatly appreciate time alone after too much time spent on campus. And I don't exactly have a built-in someone to cook for/with, if you know what I mean. I have some lovely friends though, and when our schedules cooperate we can do this cooking/eating thing together. Sadly, this rarely happens. However, I do sincerely hope to establish a weekly Sunday dinner with food-loving friends in the near future. This idea has been volleyed about for a few months now. New Year's resolution?
New food-loving friends Nate and Rachel hosted the aforementioned "Friendsgiving" potluck yesterday. Bingo: a chance to cook and eat together and to live up to my Alice Waters wannabe status!
I opted to make a Mushroom Pie with Sour Cream Crust, bookmarked in a 2006 Thanksgiving Bon Appetit since ... 2006, and a simple Pumpkin Pie à la Alice Waters. Friday night I prepped the two crusts and roasted and pureed a pumpkin (a CSA gem from a few weeks ago).
Here is the prep for the sour cream crust:
Freshly pureed pumpkin:
Saturday morning I prebaked the pumpkin pie shell (it did not shrink at all, leaving a rather funny ruffle around the end. Aren't pie crusts meant to shrink?!) Later my friend Alex came over so that we could do that cooking together thing I was just going on about. We strolled (in the COLD weather) down to the farmer's market and picked up some local organic broccoli for Alex's contribution. We then strolled further to the co-op to get an organic lemon. Then home to cook. I mixed up the pumpkin pie filling (with Alex assisting with sugar/spice mix) and threw that in the oven. Then I began sauteing onions and mushrooms, which I had prepped before Alex's arrival.
After taking out the slightly funny looking pumpkin pie,
I was able to throw in pie number two (thyme and cream cheese were added to the mushroom filling).
45 minutes later:
Alex steamed some yummy broccoli and poured over it a lemon/butter/garlic sauce (thanks again, Alice Waters). This modestly resides in the yellow Le Creuset pot in the first picture.
Firlefanz thoroughly enjoyed the slightly warmer apartment due to all the cooking, though he still opted to use Alex's coat for extra warmth.
Upon finally arriving at Rachel and Nate's we were greeted by much cheer, warmth and food. There, of course, was a turkey (thank you, Kevin -- I heard it was delicious), gravy, butternut squash soup, an absolutely delicious potato-sweet potato-leek-goat cheese gratin (I'm waiting on that recipe from Rachel and Nate), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, stuffing, vegetarian shepard's pie, cornbread, homemade white bread, green beans, and more. Oh yes, there was dessert too. On top of my pumpkin pie (which might have been a little bit sweeter ... or not, to my taste!) there was sweet potato pie, a pear pie, apple-berry crisp, rum cake, freshly whipped cream, maybe something else. And booze too, of course! Mulled cider with brandy, cranberry and vodka punch, wine, whiskey. As I am able to write this post today, I assure you I did not imbibe in everything. Though I did eat a considerable amount of food! And that cider was tasty.
Assessing the crowd, I am confident that a lot of what was on the table was local and organic. (I know my npr-listening, green, food types). I hardly need mention that my contributions were local and organic (butter, sour cream and cream cheese were organic -- I can't say with total certainty that they were local).
It was a great evening. Coming together to appreciate food is such a special thing.
Speaking of special...it wasn't all serious business at this dinner (not at all). We green foodies like to have some fun too, and what is more fun than rummaging through the unique assortment of items (not all of which belonged to me), which had found their way into my bag. Brooke and Alex model their findings:
Now let me wish you an early happy Thanksgiving. I hope that your meal will be local, organic and delicious and accompanied by lovely friends and family.

Fishy Organic Fish Regulations

2008-11-21T11:58:00.004-05:00

I should be correcting essays right now, but to avoid slipping into non-blogging like I did last week, I am going to throw this out there right now.
The USDA's National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) passed regulation for the definition of "organic" fish which are sub par to say the least. I already referenced Mark Bittman's article about the future of fish in one of yesterday's posts. Yesterday the NOSB seriously compromised the organic standard by allowing the label "organic" to apply to farmed fish which are being fed feed that is only 75% organic and up to 25% from wild fish (remember what Bittman had to say to this unsustainable practice!).
Check out this Washington Post article for an overview of the ruling and this press release from the Center for Food Safety discussing the multiple holes of this regulation.
I am an ecovore, near vegetarian who truly enjoys fish. I am going to consider very carefully the fish that flops onto my plate, however, before I will place my money and stomach in support of such disappointing and detrimental practices. Please think before you eat!

A Model of Efficiency!

2008-11-20T18:04:00.006-05:00

Third and last post of the day, and I think I have now more than made up for my temporary absence!

I referenced the Four Worlds Bakery in an early post. Right in my beloved West Philly neighborhood, Michael Dollich (aka the Challahman) bakes fresh, delicious breads nearly every day, delivering to local pick up spots and to individual homes. I generally order a half-loaf of his incredibly tasty multigrain levain and pick it up at the West Philly site. Sometimes I order bagels or some bulk items, such as Pennsylvania flour or sucanat or even kitty litter. Kitty litter? His story is an inspiring one indeed, but I will allow him to tell it himself through his blog or bakery website. I really want to blog about kitty litter and about waste.
After one month of working in a professional baker's kitchen (the move from Dollich's own kitchen to the new bakery site was all done with the help of the pedal co-op), Four Worlds Bakery produced one single bag of trash. That is remarkable and commendable to say the least. This bakery takes trash and the environment seriously. Much waste is composted, a reusable bag system has been established for regular customers and now the bran that is left after milling (wheat and spelt is milled at the bakery for the freshest flour possible) is being sold for cat litter. I quickly jumped onto this band wagon. There are those who have mocked me for buying expensive wheat litter for my pampered cats, but now for $6.75 I can buy a 25lb bag of wheat and spelt bran that works just as well as any commercial wheat litters. The only downside is that this bran is a bit more powdery than S'wheat Scoop, and my furniture and my black clothes are under constant attack by dusty little paws.
When ordering litter I take advantage of the delivery option (also done by bicycle), so this afternoon I enjoyed the delivery of 25lbs of bran, 1lb of sucanat and a still warm half-loaf of multigrain levain to my doorstep!
If there ever was a model of efficiency and waste reduction it is Four Worlds Bakery. I just hope that other businesses slowly (quickly) consider the steps required to make their practices even half as efficient.
Sosi inspects his bran and approves!

Simple Fall Foods

2008-11-20T17:46:00.011-05:00

Moments later, another post! I'll try to better disperse posts over multiple days in the future.

Monday I made a couple of extremely simple dishes using the ingredients of my CSA share, which have fed me over the week.

Dish one was a lovely fall/winter slaw. I steamed a quarter head of green cabbage, and added to it grated raw carrot, beet and apple.
To this I added sunflower seeds and a vinaigrette made from white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt, fresh ground pepper a touch of honey. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was delicious and the beets added a lovely color!
While I was mixing this up, I had the easiest (no) cream of cauliflower soup ever simmering on the stove. I first sauteed one small diced onion and one minced clove of garlic in a tablespoon of butter until the onion was soft and glassy. To this I added two teaspoons of sea salt, a bay leaf and one cut up head of cauliflower. After sauteing them for maybe five minutes I added approximately 3-4 cups water.
Once the cauliflower was tender, I removed the pot from the stove and carefully pureed the soup with a hand blender. I then added freshly ground pepper and enjoyed this tasty soup with a side of my winter slaw.
Did I mention all ingredients (salt, pepper, oil, vinegar aside) were both local and organic?

Apologies and a Week's Roundup

2008-11-20T16:36:00.008-05:00

If it wasn't obvious before, I have clearly given up on NaBloPoMo. I never meant to neglect this blog for over a week. Not that I assume the presence of hundreds of eager readers, but I know at least my mother is checking in (and Paula too!), and I hate to leave my reader(s) disappointed. An avid blog follower myself, I know the pang of disappointment when a favorite blog has not been updated for several days. It is certainly not for lack of blog fodder, all sorts of great articles have been presenting themselves as blogworthy, and I cook everyday. My sleeping disease, however, has gotten the best of me. I am always tired, and it is a bit of a struggle just staying awake long enough to plan lessons and read the tiniest amount for my seminars. But excuses aside -- I'm back and I promise to make a better effort! Of course, if you find my blog stale and lacking updates, don't forget my fantastic links!
So what has been the buzz in the eco food world? Well, there's too much to mention here, but I will provide a few necessary links. On November 13th, the New York Times reported on a motion passed by the European Union to lift a ban that prevented supermarkets from selling irregularly shaped and sized produce. Sadly, the ban does not apply to all fruits and vegetables, but it is a beginning. An absolutely beautiful, moving and informative documentary by Agnès Varda from 2000, "Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse" ("The Gleaners and I"), addresses the topic of such irregular and rejected fruits and vegetables and the gleaners who live off of them. When I have more time (?), I want to investigate the existence of gleaners in America, because if there are not gleaners, or if there are laws preventing impoverished, hungry people from benefitting from the tons of perfectly edible and nutritious produce being rejected by spoiled, western, capitalist consumers, I have issue. I know there are freegans, but I do not know enough about the presence of gleaners.
Moving on. On the 16th Mark Bittman wrote a revealing article about seafood in the New York Times. He discusses the future of fish in light of over-fishing and wasteful fish-farming practices. Particularly alarming is a discussion of the waste of smaller fish such as herring, mackeral, anchovies and sardines:

"But the biggest consumers of these smaller fish are the agriculture and aquaculture industries. Nearly one-third of the world’s wild-caught fish are reduced to fish meal and fed to farmed fish and cattle and pigs. Aquaculture alone consumes an estimated 53 percent of the world’s fish meal and 87 percent of its fish oil. (To make matters worse, as much as a quarter of the total wild catch is thrown back — dead — as “bycatch.”)"

These ineffient aquaculture practices mirror the worst of poor land agricultural practices (of which there are many!). But there is hope. With some thoughtful fish consuming and the implementation of sustainable acquaculture practices, fish populations could be replenished.
And last, but certainly not least, and certainly not really the last of worthwhile articles concering the environment and food, on the 17th the New York Times had yet another piece worth mention concerning the precesence of melamine. (And if there was ever doubt concerning my addiction to the New York Times, I assume you are all now perfectly confident in this undeniable fact. And I ask you not to interfere. I am rather attached to this addiction along with a handful of other addictions which seem to define me, including my love of all things melancholy, my need to worry excessively, and a habit of taking a psychotic amount of pictures of my cats.) This disturbing op-ed discussed the presence of melamine in the American food supply, forcing the consumer to stop casting all stones at China, since America too has a bit of a melamine problem. News like this only supports my belief in turning to local sources of food, getting to know regional farms and small businesses, and informing ourselves about how our food was raised/grown and brought to our tables. For far too long, we have turned a blind eye to food production and shoved into our bodies whatever was sitting on the shelf in all of its packaged, overly-processed, low-priced glory.

Future Eaters

2008-11-11T19:49:00.002-05:00

I have other things to do, but I just can't seem to get away from the New York Times and their relentless coverage of issues that interest me. Yesterday's paper featured an article about the victimization of school bake sales in California. I wanted to write about this yesterday, but a bout of something won't allow me to stay awake long enough to actually sit down and write about it. After sleeping 9 hours the last two nights and taking a 2 hour nap this afternoon, I feel I have enough energy to quickly jot down a reaction while my maple-cinnamon-apple rice pudding happily simmers on the stove top.

So, I'll keep this short. Certain friends of mine could attest to my current irritability (sorry!), and I don't care to rant in blog form. I merely want to outline the point of this article (it's short -- feel free to read it yourself), and to explain why California has surprisingly disappointed me. Of course, I mean surprisingly in regards to food; California already disappointed me when they voted yes on 8.
Long heralded as a mecca of eating fresh, local, organic cuisine and to being at the cutting-edge of whole foods and ecovore delights, California skipped a beat when focusing solely on numbers and percentages:

"The old-fashioned school bake sale, once as American as apple pie, is fast becoming obsolete in California, a result of strict new state nutrition standards for public schools that regulate the types of food that can be sold to students. The guidelines were passed by lawmakers in 2005 and took effect in July 2007. They require that snacks sold during the school day contain no more than 35 percent sugar by weight and derive no more than 35 percent of their calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of their calories from saturated fat."

Nutrition is, of course, very important. Raising children to be aware of what they eat leads to healthy eating habits and respect towards ingredients and food origin. But I fear that obsessing over calories and percentage of sugar and fat will lead to yet another generation of yo-yo dieting, calorie-crazed fanatics whose medical issues will put yet more strain on the health system.
I would have had no qualms with this article had it told me that California had passed a law that regulated ingredients of bake-sale items: Bake-sale goods must be a) home made and b) be made of real ingredients (unprocessed flour, free-range eggs, organic milk, unrefined cane sugar, preferably everything organic, even more preferably local). Now others might balk at such a "wacky" idea. Yet isn't it better to involve children in the creation of food and draw their attention to the quality of ingredients than to teach them to freak out about calories? Perhaps a limit should be enforced on the quantity of baked goods bought per individual. Fine. Moderation is a great lesson.
Now the article wasn't all bad:

"In California, bake sales are waning because ingredients cannot be regulated. Sales are banned during school hours but may be held a half-hour before or after school.
The ban on bake sales has not been met with universal enthusiasm. The Piedmont Highlander, the school newspaper, editorialized about “birthday cakes turned into contraband” and homemade goodies snatched from students “by the long arm and hungry mouth of the law.”
Even some nutritionists question whether banishing bake sales is the best approach. “It concerns me we’re not teaching moderation,” said Stephanie Bruce, the president of the California School Nutrition Association, who works in the Ontario-Montclair School District in Ontario, Calif."

Exactly. Regulation of ingredients and teaching moderation. This is good. Praising children to eat anything as long as it has low calories and a low percentage of sugar and fat, regardless as to whether the consumed item is actually food or just some potion of low-cal chemicals, is bad.

Now, speaking of wholesome treats, I mentioned rice pudding. I love rice pudding. It is something I often eat in Germany, and wish I ate more of in the US. Admittedly, I have never made rice pudding. Until this evening, that is. In my under-the-weather, seeking-comfort state, I decided that exactly what I needed for dinner is some of that cozy and soul-soothing pudding. I tweaked the recipe as I went along as I wasn't really satisfied with the initial results, but in the end I think it came out decent, and if made under different milk situations (see below) it could be delicious.

Maple-Cinnamon-Apple Rice Pudding

Combine in a heavy small pot 1/4 cup Arborio rice, 2 cups whole milk (I used my sour raw milk, which might have been fine, but I think at this point it is more whey than anything else, and it might not be ideal for pudding), 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1 cinnamon stick. Heat over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Give it a nice stir. Add 1 diced apple, peeled and cored. Let simmer (bubbling but not boiling) for approximately 30-40 minutes (until thick and at your preferred rice pudding consistency), stirring occasionally to keep from burning on the bottom. You might want to turn heat down as it begins to thicken. Towards end add ca. 1tsp ground cinnamon (to taste) and the zest of half a lemon.
Serve immediately. Garnish with cinnamon. Serves one person in need of much comfort or two more reasonable and moderate eaters (I'm attempting to put away the second serving for a later date!)

Let Every Voice be Heard

2008-11-09T11:39:00.000-05:00

Truth be told, NaBloPoMo became more of a NaBloPoWe (National Blog Posting Week). I will still post regularly, but I do have other work taking up my time. My internal reflections about the current state of our environment, agricultural policies, the food on my table are endless, so I will make an effort to lend voice (a silent cyber blog voice) to these thoughts on a regular basis.

It seems that our new president-elect has inspired any- and everyone with an agenda to put forward their ideas, hopes and demands for the next administration. I find it absolutely beautiful that with this election Americans have realized that their voices do matter and their opinions count. The eco-foodies and environmentalists have wasted no time to express the urgency of their mission. I already quoted Willie Nelson's open letter on behalf of Farm Aid. My friend and food-activist Paula posted her letter to the Obama administration at Civil Eats. Even before the election Michael Pollan wrote his open-letter to the next farmer-in-chief.
And now Al Gore has published an Op-Ed in the New York Times, "The Climate for Change." You can read the entire piece following that link, but let me provide a few highlights. Firstly, he spells out the world's primary endowment as "the integrity and livability of the planet." He presses the urgency of the environmental crisis and underlines that facts that support its existence for any skeptics. Despite the tragic nature of the current state and trajectory of the environment, he does offer some good news in that "the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis." For those who believe that at a time like this, soft issues like the environment have to take the back shelf, he clearly shows how closely linked the economy and our environmental policy really are. He concludes his piece with a tidy five step plan:

"First, the new president and the new Congress should offer large-scale investment in incentives for the construction of concentrated solar thermal plants in the Southwestern deserts, wind farms in the corridor stretching from Texas to the Dakotas and advanced plants in geothermal hot spots that could produce large amounts of electricity.
Second, we should begin the planning and construction of a unified national smart grid for the transport of renewable electricity from the rural places where it is mostly generated to the cities where it is mostly used. New high-voltage, low-loss underground lines can be designed with “smart” features that provide consumers with sophisticated information and easy-to-use tools for conserving electricity, eliminating inefficiency and reducing their energy bills. The cost of this modern grid — $400 billion over 10 years — pales in comparison with the annual loss to American business of $120 billion due to the cascading failures that are endemic to our current balkanized and antiquated electricity lines.
Third, we should help America’s automobile industry (not only the Big Three but the innovative new startup companies as well) to convert quickly to plug-in hybrids that can run on the renewable electricity that will be available as the rest of this plan matures. In combination with the unified grid, a nationwide fleet of plug-in hybrids would also help to solve the problem of electricity storage. Think about it: with this sort of grid, cars could be charged during off-peak energy-use hours; during peak hours, when fewer cars are on the road, they could contribute their electricity back into the national grid.
Fourth, we should embark on a nationwide effort to retrofit buildings with better insulation and energy-efficient windows and lighting. Approximately 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States come from buildings — and stopping that pollution saves money for homeowners and businesses. This initiative should be coupled with the proposal in Congress to help Americans who are burdened by mortgages that exceed the value of their homes.
Fifth, the United States should lead the way by putting a price on carbon here at home, and by leading the world’s efforts to replace the Kyoto treaty next year in Copenhagen with a more effective treaty that caps global carbon dioxide emissions and encourages nations to invest together in efficient ways to reduce global warming pollution quickly, including by sharply reducing deforestation."

Is the country ready for this? Is America prepared to become a role model in environmental policy? Are Americans willing to reconsider their relationship to the environment and alter some of their more wasteful habits? I hope the answer to these questions is a resounding "yes," but I have my doubts. However, by electing Obama, Americans proved that they are ready for change and they want our country to move away from its old, destructive ways. I'm doing my part; are you?

Eating Local and Supporting Farms

2008-11-07T23:52:00.008-05:00

I have inspired two more people to participate in a CSA share with Keystone Farm. I do not believe that I can take full credit, as it is an excellent share, but it makes me feel good to think that in my own small, quiet way I am increasing the community of local, organic eaters and strengthening the foundation of consumers supporting the local economy and local farmers.

Did you know that Willie Nelson is the president of Farm Aid? If you didn't, you do now. Here is an open letter he wrote to Barack Obama today, asking him to support a family farm system of agriculture:

Dear President-elect Barack Obama,

As President of Farm Aid, I'd like to take this opportunity to whole-heartedly congratulate you on your historic victory. I'd also like to offer you every resource that Farm Aid has available to assist you in creating a new farm and food policy that supports a sustainable family farm system of agriculture.

I started Farm Aid in 1985 when family farmers were being forced off their land as a result of federal policy that paved the way for industrial agriculture. This shift replaced independent family farmers with factory farms that have wreaked havoc on our communities, our environment and our public health.

There is broad agreement that our farm and food system needs to be drastically reworked. The good news is that the work of building an alternative to the industrial food system is well underway and Farm Aid is proud to have been a leader in this work, something we call the Good Food Movement. The Good Food Movement has grown and thrived almost entirely without the support of the federal government. However, now is the right moment for the leadership of our country to take a role in this important movement. In fact the future of our economy, our environment and our health demand it.

Our family farmers are a national resource with incredible potential to be the protagonists in solving the challenges we currently face. Family farmers are on the cutting edge of thriving local food systems and economies, alternative energy production and environmental stewardship. Family farmers are marketing the fruits of their labor close-to-home at farm stands, farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs), helping local money to circulate in local communities where it can do the most good. Family farmers are growing green energy and harnessing the power of the sun and wind. They are transitioning to sustainable production methods to grow food that is good for our health and our planet. These steps are strengthening our local economies, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, protecting our natural resources and increasing our national security.

As the national organization working on behalf of family farmers for the last 23 years, Farm Aid has helped family farmers stay on the land, organized communities to fight factory farms in their own backyards, and educated eaters about the choices they can make to guarantee healthy, fresh food from family farms. Over our history, we have grown, partnered with, and sustained a network of more than four hundred grassroots farm and food organizations across the nation. As you begin to implement programs to support a family farm system of agriculture, Farm Aid and our vast resource network is here to work with you.

Now is the time for our country to recognize and call on family farmers' ingenuity, strength and value to our past and our future. We can have strong local economies, green energy, a clean environment, healthy citizens and good food—all of these start with family farmers. I look forward to working with you to make this vision of a family farm system of agriculture a reality.

Stay Strong and Positive,

Willie Nelson
President

Here's to supporting local farms and strengthening community: To the future of our health, economy and enivonment!

Reflections

2008-11-06T21:14:00.008-05:00

Though it is already November, the leaves are only just changing now. The temperatures are high, and the wind scatters wet, orange and red leaves across the broken sidewalks and streets of Philadelphia. The change of the seasons comes late, but it complements the change happening in this country. The day after America surprised me and chose an intelligent, thoughtful, open-minded, far-sighted and careful man to be president, the rain poured down and the world became a bit cleaner, a bit brighter (and a bit wetter). The economy, Iraq, poverty, world hunger, the AIDS epidemic, racism, sexism ... these problems can not change overnight. But attitudes have begun to change. A certain demographic, amidst which I am privileged (yes privileged) to live, holds its head a bit higher, finds new self-respect and experiences a certain sense of achievement and pride. Children have a new role model and a noble goal towards which they can and will strive. This is real change and it has happened overnight.
Add to my usual qualities of thoughtfulness, awareness, being informed a certain amount of respect for the other and for oneself.
I believe that this subtle yet tangible shift in outlook by this aforementioned demographic, coupled with (caused by) a realization of being a part of something greater will bring great reward for the world we live in, and especially for the environment that houses us. Mother nature has suffered so.
I do promise to return to the Goethe passage I quoted earlier. Now I will only touch on one point. Dear, nature-loving and respecting Goethe wrote: "Wir wirken beständig auf sie und haben doch keine Gewalt über sie" ("we constantly affect nature, but have no force over her"). I fear that with the rise of modernity and an increase in technology, man has found a way to control and damage nature in a way that Goethe and his pantheistic contemporaries could never have imagined. We have hurt nature and have done so carelessly and without much consideration.
However, care and consideration could potentially enter the realm of the everyday. (The tragedy that these are not currently typical qualities of the average man is too upsetting a topic for me to address at this moment.) Barack Obama is considerate. He cares. He is a role model. A new generation will grow following his model and knowing only his leadership. Ritual and community will be respected. Food will gain its rightful place at the centerpiece of such ritual. Appreciation of food will bring attention to ingredients and their origin. Food origin and production will steer communities in the direction of agricultural practices and the environment. And mother nature will gain some respect.
All thanks to Obama.

Late Night Cupcakes

2008-11-05T23:51:00.013-05:00

I woke up this morning to the NPR reporting Barack Obama's landslide victory, winning 349 electoral votes (North Carolina and Missouri were still too close to call). This concrete information provided me with the final bit of proof I desperately needed, confirming that Obama had indeed won. I felt relieved and I dragged myself out of bed, telling myself that I could take a leisurely shower, read the news online and allow myself to be a bit late to the office, because what student would attend 9am office hours the day after such an historic event? Well, when I got to campus at 9:30am, two students were awaiting my German expertise.
It was surreal returning to the daily grind after days of speculation and fear of the election's out turn. But life goes on, my work piles up and November is marching along. So after this post I will attempt to return to musing about the environment, food and how my food relates to my environment.

I wrote last night that I had baked a pumpkin chocolate chip cake and that Alexis had used a paint brush (eyeshadow brush, actually) to apply the chocolate ganache I had made to create Obama's now famous features. Well, a sketch of our president-elect's face does not require much ganache, and I had poured a quart of steaming cream over two bars of organic, free trade extra dark chocolate (roughly chopped). In other words, I have a lot of ganache in the fridge. What to do with this ganache? Eat it; you say? I wouldn't put that beyond me, but despite the organic nature of the chocolate, I'd like to avoid sitting down with a big bowl of heavy cream and chocolate (which I would inevitably eat in one sitting and then feel ill -- surprise surprise).

Nope. I decided to make cupcakes. A colleague has a birthday today and tomorrow we have 9am seminar. What better opportunity to bake, when I can actually give away my baked goods and not eat them all by myself. Also, baking and cooking are for me totally relaxing. Next to yoga and baths, the kitchen provides me with my own (free) therapy and stress relief.
I have yet to master cooking/baking and photo-documenting my work. I always forget to pull out the camera. This means that I will only offer photos of one finished cupcake. But this is probably for the best, as I did about everything wrong (and I don't know if this is because it is now approaching midnight after a long day or if it is because I am not always 100% on top of things). For those who believe that baking must be precise and feel therefore intimidated when tackling a cake recipe, I stand as proof that this is nonsense. My baking is anything but precise, and I have had surprising success.

So here is the recipe for my surprisingly good, despite my best attempts to sabotage them, last-minute, late night cupcakes:
(adopted from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food "1-2-3-4 Cake")

Whisk together in a bowl

1 1/2 cups Pastry Flour (mine is local PA flour, freshly milled by Michael Dollich of Four Worlds Bakery)
2tsp Baking Powder
1/4tsp Sea Salt.

In another bowl beat with an electric mixer

1 stick (1/2 cup) softened butter (or melted, as I accidentally melted my frozen stick of organic butter when I wanted to soften it in the often. You can also imagine the fun of cleaning up the melted butter on the bottom of the oven).

Mix in to this 1 cup organic evaporated cane juice,
continue mixing and add 1/2tsp Vanilla.

The recipe asks to separate eggs, beating in yolks first and then at the end folding in beaten whites, but I screwed this up too and broke the yolk into the white...)

Add to sugar, butter mixture two eggs (organic, cage free, free range, please!), one at a time.

In my version of this recipe, you forget that milk is involved.

Add flour mixture to egg/sugar/butter mixture in two parts. Mix until smooth.

Then you remember the milk and realize you are out of milk. Luckily, I had a jar with sour raw milk from previous bottles of raw milk that I couldn't use before going sour. So I opened it up, discovered a fascinating thick layer of sour cream on the top, mixed it up, watched it bubble and then....

add 1/2 cup of (sour, raw) milk to the batter and mix.

Luckily, raw milk never goes bad like pasteurized milk does, it just gets sour and oddly bubbly.

Divide batter into 12 large cupcake liners in a muffin/cupcake tin and bake for 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 350˚F (smoking slightly due to spilled, melted butter). They are finished when a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and frost with ganache!

One frosted cupcake:
One half-eaten cupcake (note how light and fluffy it is...amazing!):

Addendum: I decided to whip the too thin ganache to make more of a frostingy-frosting.

Obama Cake

2008-11-04T11:59:00.001-05:00

For an election party, my friend Alexis skillfully decorated the pumpkin chocolate chip cake I had baked.
I am thankful that this cake was enjoyed in honor of our new president elect, Barack Obama. The tension leading up to this election has completely drained me and I am without words. I leave you with the pictures of Alexis and her excellent work at painting Obama's face with the chocolate ganache I made (I didn't have the heart to buy corn syrup icing at the store).

Don't Forget to Vote Tomorrow!

2008-11-03T15:16:00.010-05:00

Tomorrow is perhaps one of the most important elections many of us will have ever experienced. Please vote. I am not telling you for whom you should vote, but I am telling you that I am voting for Barack Obama.
In my very first post I discussed a certain mindset that reflects my food beliefs, but in no way is limited to food: being aware, informed and thoughtful. This way of being signals an intelligent, reflective individual who can rationally survey a situation, consider options and take time for consideration of the implications of certain actions before acting. Now is not the time for rash decisions or short-sighted plans. I believe that Barack Obama embodies the qualities that I praise when approaching food and life; he is thoughtful, well informed and completely aware.
I urge you to vote in this election, not merely because it is important for America over the next four years. The ramifications of such an election are much larger than our country and of our generation. I firmly discourage and protest American elitism, but there is no denying that what we do (wrong) in America impacts the rest of the world. Iraq, economic crisis, need I say more? We are a large country, with a large economy and a large military. We stand under a magnifying glass, and what we do can be felt across the globe. Not to sound melodramatic, but the outcome of tomorrow's election has the potential to change the world (not overnight, but with time, and for better or for worse).
Please vote.
To bring this home to my particular blog and to my own causes (obsessions), I leave you with a quote by Barack Obama in an interview with Time Magazine (I won't link to it, as the link keeps crashing my internet!) in which he comments on Michael Pollan's insightful, inspiring, humbling and informing letter to the next "Farmer in Chief", which was published in the Food Issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Those of you who read this blog because you share similar opinions will most likely have already read both Obama's commentary and Pollan's letter (or have read about it on other blogs). If this is all news to you: set aside some time to read Pollan's letter. And now, Obama's response to Pollan's message:

There is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy. I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollen about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it's creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they're contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That's just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board.

Die Natur

2008-11-02T21:54:00.002-05:00

For the German speakers (readers) out there I offer a quote. It is from an essay fragment on nature by Goethe:

Aus "Die Natur" (1782/1783)
"Natur! Wir sind von ihr umgeben und umschlungen - unvermögend aus ihr herauszutreten, und unvermögend tiefer in sie hinein zu kommen. Ungebeten und ungewarnt nimmt sie uns in den Kreislauf ihres Tanzes auf und treibt sich mit uns fort, bis wir ermüdet sind und ihrem Arme entfallen.
Sie schafft ewig neue Gestalten; was da ist war noch nie, was war kommt nicht wieder. - Alles ist neu und doch immer das Alte.
Wir leben mitten in ihr und sind ihr fremde. Sie spricht unaufhörlich mit uns und verrät uns ihr Geheimnis nicht. Wir wirken beständig auf sie und haben doch keine Gewalt über sie."

I intend to return to this quote at a later date (and at that point I will provide some English insight to those who do not do German).

And now a photo essay (of sorts) depicting the local fall fare I had for dinner...
I took butternut squash and brussel sprouts from yesterdays share,tossed the cubed squash with olive oil, sea salt and rosemary before roasting them (à la Elisha),
sauteed the brussel sprouts in olive oil, sprinkling them with sea salt and thyme,
and served both with red beans I had bought at the market yesterday, simply cooked with sea salt and a bay leaf. While I ate I reviewed the chapter I will teach my German students this week.

Firlefanz and Sosi also enjoyed their natural dinner.

Fall Bounty and a Challenge

2008-11-01T20:42:00.003-04:00

Though I am barely a week into my blogging career, I thought I would attempt the challenge of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). I actually view writing as a weakness of mine. I love to read and think, reflect and comment, but when it comes to sitting down to write I often feel intimidated or become somewhat frozen. This is problematic. A large portion of my chosen career involves writing. Indeed, I am a "writer" (or I should be). A very smart someone commended me for writing a blog and praised the value of regular writing and of attempting different kinds of writing (i.e. not merely academic writing, which can become overly jargonistic and stiff fast). I don't actually think that my academic writing fits that bill; it probably could do with a bit more jargon. Regardless, I want to be a writer and I want to limber up my fingers and get them used to regularly typing acceptable prose. Admittedly, there are many things about which I should be writing: Gershom Scholem's theory of silence, the collecting eye as flâneur, the silent female voice in Dorothea Schlegel's Lucinde, teaching methods, and then there's this article I meant to write this past summer about letters in Fräulein Else. Those things will get written too. A month of daily blogging will hopefully get me ready for the intense academic writing that will begin in December (maybe even late November). The posts will not always be long. There will not always be pictures. I hope, however, that at least one of thirty posts this month will bear some meaning for you.
The first day of November brought mild temperatures and sunshine (for most of the day) to Philadelphia. My usual stroll to the Saturday farmer's market in Clark Park made me feel both relaxed and excited to be outside on such a perfect fall day. The first tree to really turn in the park this year lies magically in the center of the park. Someone described it to me as a jewel. The real jewel today, however, was my CSA share. I praised the great bargain of this share before, but today's bounty really outdid itself!
There were the usual dozen eggs, two granolas, a local cheese (this week baby swiss!), and then so many delicious fall vegetables and apples: Twelve apples in total, a stalk of brussel sprouts, eight sweet potatoes of varying sizes, butternut squash, eight tomatoes, five small onions, two turnips, a head of brocolli and two heads of romanesco brocolli.
Here is Firlefanz investigating this alien brocolli:
All of these local, fresh, organic goodies costs only $20. Half of the share goes to Elisha (so $10 a piece). I can't get over what a great deal this is. It is possible to eat well, support local small farms and be kind to the environment without spending an arm and a leg. In addition to the share I bought a bag of red beans and two quarts of apple cider. Looks like I have a week's worth of fine dining ahead of me.
I had great hopes for a lovely vegetable meal tonight. But playing with my vegetables will have to happen at a later date, because something terrifying scurried into my life this evening and I have lost my appetite. I guess that leaves me with blog fodder for another day.

(Mis)Adventures in Urban Gardening

2008-10-28T09:29:00.003-04:00

As the rain pours down and the gusts of wind cause leaves to dance about my roof, I reflect on my first attempt at urban gardening this past summer. Now nearly October, all that remains are three clay pots -- lemon thyme, silver dust, daisies -- and a lovely painted blue pot (a gift) with lavender. I may eventually move the herbs inside. The wooden wine crates I had converted into planters now stand stacked at one end of the roof. My buckets are filled with rain water and leaves and a watering can lies wedged inside the buckets so as not to fly away.
I wish I could boast of an abundant harvest: juicy tomatoes from late July through the end of September! Pepper after pepper combined with my delicate zebra eggplant. Sadly, that would be a gross exaggeration. In mid-May, after having settled into my new apartment with its incredible roof space right outside of my bedroom window (which doubles as a door), I went to Greensgrow in Northeastern Philadelphia (which was featured that same week in the New York Times) to stock up on seeds, seedlings, organic soil and some extra pots. I came home with irish moss, silver dust, dahlias and daisies for my non-edible planter, with thyme, basil, rosemary and lavender for the herb planter, with three tomato seedlings (one patio tomato and two heirloom varieties), cucumber, eggplant, watermelon and pepper seedlings and with two varieties of lettuce seeds. I drilled holes into my four wine crates, planted seedlings, sewed seeds and gently slipped my tomatoes into their clay pots. Let the growing season begin!!
Here are the wine crates before they were turned into planters:
The watermelon and cucumber were the first victims of unknown vermin. I bought marigolds from the farmer's market to ward off pests. Promising. July crept in, my patio tomato showed the promise of two green tomatoes. I eagerly watched as one turned orange and then a deep red, while the other began to blush, as well. Imagine my horror to discover one morning that the red tomato was gone. Something had come and eaten it, as well as half of its blushing sibling! This, of course, was not enough. The unknown culprit had decided to nap on a soft green bed of lettuce after its tomato feast, smothering a lettuce crop which had already been on the verge of bolting. Goodbye, lettuce. Rest in peace, ripe tomatoes.
Tomato cages seemed the most obvious solution. I also caged in the eggplant and pepper. The pepper was blooming and the first eggplant began to show it's striped little head, and I was not about to risk losing them. Meanwhile, the two heirlooms had not yet done anything but look tall, green, healthy and flowerless. Oh, I had also managed to over water and kill the heartiest of herbs -- my dear rosemary.
Long story short. The heirlooms never bore fruit. Muddy footprints revealed that a raccoon had been feasting on my tomatoes (managing to steal two more through the cage). I harvested one tiny pepper, two small tomatoes and a modest eggplant. In fact my entire harvest could fit into the palm of my hand (the second tomato came later in the season).
The herbs (rosemary aside) were a success. I will definitely continue planting herbs each summer. I am not certain if I would return to my other failed crops. The farmer's market is right down the street and I do love supporting the local economy (and preserving my own personal economy by not throwing money into unfruitful plants). Perhaps I will do more research next year and wisely choose one or two items to grow on my roof. I will check first, however, with the raccoon to establish what it does _not_ like to eat.

Inside the Fridge of a Foodie

2008-10-25T17:05:00.015-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times Sunday Magazine had its "Food Issue." One article had an interactive online feature, "Inside the Fridge of a Foodie." I admit to running to my refrigerator to see what was actually in there while listening to each of the food activists describe the content of their fridge. I thought it would be fun (for me at least) to write about what is in my refrigerator today.
These pictures are not actually that great. But right now I have two local cheeses, brita filter water, raw milk from the market, homemade jam (plum-nectarine and plum by me, strawberry by Elisha), salsa (also made by Elisha), leftover pumpkin, sweet potato, cauliflower dal that I made with goodies from my CSA.
Here you can see the raw milk better as well as the cheeses. In the paper bag is Elisha's half of this week's share: beets, cauliflower, apples, potatoes, onions, granola. Half a dozen eggs belong to her as well. The other dozen cage-free organic eggs are mine from the share (half from this week and still six from last week!).
It's hard really to see, but in the crisper I have apples and cauliflower (both in plastic bags I reuse to keep apples crisp and cauliflower fresh). My CSA share beets were already roasted this afternoon to be ready for a weeks worth of grazing. The yoghurt container houses the dal leftovers. I have some sundried tomatoes in the back, along with some of my homemade jam, wheat germ, and quite old brown sugar that gets used in Christmas cookies, but little else, as I prefer honey, maple syrup or organic evaporated cane juice. Often you could find a cat on this lower shelf, as Firlefanz loves to dive in every time I open the fridge!
Here (from the bottom up) I have local apple cider, more jam I made, raw milk that went sour that I am saving for baking, two local maple syrups (I had bought some from the co-op not realizing that I would get some in my CSA share the following week), some organic Trader Joe's mayo, an elderly stonehill jam, and then assorted condiments (curry paste, organic mustards, soy sauce, organic peanut butter). At the very top I have some organic unsalted butter, cream cheese, cat antibiotics, capers, yeast. In my tiny, in-desperate-need-of-defrosting freezer can be found frozen whole wheat pizza dough from the summer, leftovers of a variation of Paula's vegetable cous cous and harissa from a few weeks ago, coffee beans, ice cubes, organic unsalted butter.
Does it get more exciting?
I generally keep squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, garlic, onions and potatoes (and often bread -- this week a yummy rye, always from the wonderful Four Worlds Bakery) out of the fridge. I have assorted legumes, grains, rice and nuts in jars on a shelf. Spices, honey, sugar, tea are in cupboards. And there you go!
What's in your fridge?

My Food Manifesto

2008-10-25T16:45:00.015-04:00

This blog is about eating thoughtfully and in harmony with our environment and not about my personal life, or lack thereof, and not about the personal lives of my cats, of which I have two, both of whom eat very well. If you stop by this blog in hopes of finding gossip and private confession, read no further, you will only be disappointed. This maiden blog voyage will be my attempt at a modest food manifesto.
To precisely describe what I am in terms of what I eat is tricky. Vegetarian is not 100% accurate. I do eat fish (eco-best). Had I a real hankering, I might consider eating meat that comes from a local farm which observes sustainable practices. Locavore might fit. I strongly believe in eating local and thereby supporting local small farms and the local economy. I do not eat 100% local, however. And I do not believe that eating only local is necessary. Supporting free trade and buying organic products that travel to my table in environmentally responsible ways contradicts in no way my food beliefs. The most appropriate nomenclature for me would be, perhaps, ecovore. The environment and my impact on it informs what I eat, how I eat and how I live. That being said, I probably eat 75%-95% local. Thanks to my local food co-op, frequent visits to the farmer's market and a CSA share, this takes little effort and costs much less than you would imagine.
This might be the appropriate moment to slip in that I am a graduate student living off of a modest stipend under the shadow of an immodest student loan debt. Eating good quality ingredients and connecting with your local businesses and farmers is not a privilege of the wealthy. My co-op (which does accept food stamps, as does the majority of area farmer's markets) allows me to set up a monthly food budget by paying a self-determined amount to my account each month and shopping off of it. The decision to join a CSA was largely a financial one. I do love to eat and I love to cook. Beautiful, local, fresh produce thrills me. The colors, smells, new flavors -- I can not get enough. I, admittedly, would sometimes go overboard at the farmer's market and spend far too much. Thus, a CSA share structured my purchases. At the moment I pay approximately $20 a week to receive one dozen eggs, a local cheese, farm-made granola, and a large assortment of fruits and vegetables from Keystone Farm. This is an organic farm, mind you. I actually share half of this with a friend, as it is really intended for a family (I live alone). So for $10 a week I have more local, organic food than I can sometimes eat. Over the winter I will do a half share for, again, approximately $10 a week. Half-dozen eggs, one cheese, one bag granola, fruits and vegetables. I don't know that there is a better bargain.
The stage of my eating is not California, an ecovore's dream state where locally grown organic food abounds, including such wondrous things as almonds, olives, citrus, avocados. No no. For the last one and a half years I have resided in Philadelphia. The city of brotherly love. The city that loves you back. A city with one of the highest murder and crime rates in the country. A mecca of slow food and its locavore followers? As a matter of fact, yes (to all of the above). A grand, gritty, city, Philadelphia indeed has shown itself to be an ideal place for those who care about food and who want to make a difference through food. Since May I have resided in the eco-haven of Philadelphia, West Philly. Here can be found my farmer's market, my co-op, as well as many a liberal, green, progressive type. The park that serves as the cornerstone green space of my neighborhood also serves as an interesting intersection of academics, artists, hippies, punks, African-Americans, Eritreans, and more. And it kind of works.
If this is my food "manifesto," I should probably say something that might cast some light onto why I think any of this matters. I vividly recall a conversation with a dear friend in which said friend acknowledged my food beliefs -- he does respect, humor and even partake to some extent in them -- but made the point that there are greater issues: poverty, abuse, violence, war, whatever. Of course. These are real issues and they are of great importance to me and should be to all. I would be deeply insulted to think that anyone who knows me would ever imagine that I do not care about these things (and this person was not going that far). But my food beliefs (which I do not intend to push onto anyone, though perhaps some might take note of my example) reflect a certain mindset. Approaching food thoughtfully, being aware of where it comes from, informing oneself about production and environmental impact, limiting waste all have greater implications. Everyone has to eat. Changing the way you address your diet affects the way you address the rest of your life and the world. This may sound idealistic, but encouraging people to be thoughtful, aware and informed could really bring about radical change. My thoughtfulness does not end with food, nor does my concern end with the environment.
I doubt I will make such "radical" statements in future posts, but I do believe very strongly in how I choose to live and eat.
p.s. I abhor high-fructose corn syrup.