MDM*intake

'Kay bye!

2008-05-16T12:26:00.004-04:00

It's been love-hate with you Blogger, and it's finally time that I move on.

Although I have NO IDEA what I'm actually doing, I moved my blog to my own domain and switched to WordPress. I'm only going through with all this because two nerds promised to hold my hand.

The party's this way ---> http://mikaeladanielle.com!

At home

2008-05-05T17:04:00.006-04:00

So. I've officially been telecommuting and homeschooling for two weeks. My mission has been to be prepared, not planned. It appears as though this simple approach was the best choice I could have made.

On the work front, I'm keeping track of all my projects diligently with a neat to-do list, arranging schedules so that I can get to meetings and communicating efficiently with all my awesome coworkers. On the homeschooling front, we're enjoying a decompressing "de-schooling" period, stumbled onto a fun homeschoolers gym class at the Y and are realizing just how many in-real-life learning opportunities happen every single day.

We're also still struggling a bit to find that work/school/home and family/alone time balance, we've gotten on each other's nerves once or 30 times and we're a little bit more disorganized that I'd like us to be.

But, overall, the good keeps getting gooder and the bad is so far straightening itself out. I feel incredibly blessed that I was able to do this for my family. Especially for Sir Azrielle McPurrsons, aka Tubby, Tub, Tubblies. How did he LIVE WITHOUT ME during the days?!

Frankenstein food

2008-04-24T09:05:00.002-04:00

With May looming, the anticipation of our CSA subscription and our own garden planting (that's some of the seedlings, above) is killing me a little bit. I just adore the simplicity of going out to one's backyard or to the farmer's stand up the street to pick up meal ingredients for the week. In stark contrast to that simple is best philosophy, some recent why-is-food-so-complicated discussions:

1. I just got this email from my sister:

OK, to two of my favorite label readers…I’m munching on some yummy Grape Tomatoes for a snack and this is what I read:

“Coated with food grade vegetable, petroleum, beeswax and/or lac-Resin based wax or resin to maintain freshness.”

So – either I have petroleum on my tomatoes or my tomatoes aren’t even vegan since beeswax or lac resin which is from the secretion of the lac bug are both animal byproducts.

I’m still going to eat my tomatoes, but how t weird could our food get?

So, two things. First: I immediately responded, "Yet another reason to purchase your food from local farms," to which she said, "They are local -- Four Seasons Produce in Ephrata." Dang. And Second: Wtf? Tomatoes, a natural whole plant food, not suitable for a vegan? Has anyone heard of such a thing? I know to avoid shiny apples and waxy cucumbers, but grape tomatoes?

2. On MotheringDotCommune, someone posted a link to this document titled, Guidelines for Feeding Broiler Litter to Beef Cattle. Apparently, feeding cows corn isn't cheap enough, as farmers have been recommended to add this collection of chicken "bedding material, manure, wasted feed and feathers" to their diets. Hilariously, there is quite an emphasis on using the correct mixture of dry materials with the bedding as feed in order to avoid mold. You know, so the cows won't get sick.

3. In vitro meat. I am not even kidding.

Seriously. At what point did our food become so complicated and weird?

Cooking together: Cashew Curry Caserole

2008-04-17T22:29:00.001-04:00

Although our original virtual cooking date plans were ambitious, it had been six months since Kelly Ann and I had our first cooking date when we recently logged on for date number two. We went back and forth between a few recipes before finally landing on Urban Vegan's Cashew Curry Casserole. It turned out to be a perfect choice, quick and simple, for our weeknight date.

I went to the market after work, then assembled the ingredients, plugged in the laptop and opened a bottle of local Chaddsford wine.

The recipe called for broccoli and tomatoes (I used ones I jarred over the summer), but recommended mushroom, bell peppers and squash as options. I just love to see color in my food, so I added yellow squash, orange pepper and red pepper preserved last season from Del Val College:

Urban Vegan suggests serving the casserole with a whole grain; I went a coconut-lime brown basmati rice. I replaced the water with a half coconut milk and half coconut water mixture, then mixed in some lime zest at the end and topped it with toasted shredded coconut. At first, I was just going to make brown rice, straight up, but I'm so glad I took the extra time to make this instead. The flavors were a perfect compliment to this fabulous creamy curry dinner.

The casserole recipe is simple to prepare, depending almost entirely on inexpensive whole foods, and is chock-full of nutrition. It's basically two mixtures, one of the veggies and chickpeas, the other of the sauce, combined then baked. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

Somewhere, at some point, Kelly and I became un-synced. My rice took longer than I thought it would which was actually a good thing because so did the baking of the casserole. This all can be contributed to the fact that I have a bizarre, innate compulsion to cook for 12. I must have had eight kids in my previous life. Or worked in a school cafeteria. In any case, I doubled this recipe, as I do most, yet neglected to adjust prepping/cooking time. I'm slick like that.

Kelly's a fabulous friend though, and hung in there as long as she could. We chatted online about world peace and astrophysics (or boys and hangovers), checking in on our dinners and sipping our drinks. Eventually, we had to disconnect so she could feed herself and her salivating boyfriend. My monster also got sick of waiting and came into the kitchen to make himself a PB and J.

When everything finally came together, it was pretty incredible. The creaminess of this meal is not-to-be-missed. Seriously. The textures are a great marriage of crunchy veggies and soft chickpeas, the spice is nice and flavorful, but it is the creaminess of the cashew butter mixture that makes this meal. This would be a perfect answer to a cheese craving.

So, our second virtual cooking date was a definite success! In addition to "hanging out" with one of my favorite people EVER, the night resulted in leftovers that served as several dinners and lunches for Jase and me. I'm excited for our next one... which, according to the standards we've now officially stated, should be sometime soon!

I heart maps!

2008-04-16T17:15:00.001-04:00

I heard on BBC this morning a piece about a new wiki, WikiCrimes.org. The site was created by Professor Vasco Furtado from the University of Fortaleza in Brazil with the intent of addressing underreporting of crimes:

"We have a problem in Brazil, in that crime data is a monopoly of the police. There are a lot of debate if there is a manipulation or not of the data." -- BBC article

Like all wikis, the site relies on the integrity of its reporters. For some reason this just feels like a bigger issue than it does on say, a wikipedia article about Britney. Still, I love the integration and juxtaposition of technology with real-life street-level reporting. I mean really, who can have too many stand-up-to-the-man movements?

Simple is best.

2008-04-15T23:13:00.002-04:00

One of my 43Things is to kick ass at work. This particular goal has become more important recently as I'm preparing to move to a four-day-per-week telecommuting schedule. My new hours will begin next week, and so have been on a mission to get my desk cleared and to-do list to-done ;) I’m really excited to start this new phase, even though I have no idea what to expect. In fact, I believe that it’s somewhat because of the unknown that I’m excited.

Against my Virgo nature, I’ve decidedly not gone the way of plans and schedules, and instead have embraced the change as it’s been occurring. I know that if I stay on top of things by simply keeping track of my to-do list in a notebook, this transition will be fine. This is not the time to tie myself down to complicating tracking systems or always-on-call expectations. Simple is best. Right, kah ;)

And by reminding myself of that and the fact that I will be in the office at least one day a week, I’ve been able to actually experience this transition as it unfolds another layer each day.

Go, me!

11!

2008-04-09T12:20:00.005-04:00

My monster turns 11 today. Eep! Of course, I can hardly believe it.

He brought in fruit kabobs for a class snack, and we put together favors for each of his classmates that includes a pencil case, some tchotchke and a party invitation. He was going for a penguin/sports theme, but alas, we were hard-pressed to find any skateboarding penguin pencils. Shocking, I know.

Tonight, we're off to a Sixers game, to which he we told him, he could invite a friend. We also invited that friend to sleep over. That's right, ON A SCHOOL NIGHT. Because we're awesome like that.

Sunday, we'll do the traditional dinner, gifts and cake at my mom's house. By the way, despite the awesomeness we JUST acquired with the school night sleepover, we're actually really mean because he has to wait FOUR WHOLE DAYS for his gifts. Poor baby.

Sasha & Digweed

2008-04-07T16:13:00.005-04:00

My brothas' from anotha' motha', Sasha and Diggers. Uuuhn, so tasty!

The crackcrew was well-represented at the show by Mikey, Jess, Justin (who gets the I'm-old-and-leaving-REALLY-EARLY award), Brian, ChrisLe, Leah and L (who was imported especially for the occasion). I also ran into a blast from the past (always interesting), was totally impressed with the light show, and realized that I had not been to the TLA since a Violent Femmes show in like, 1994.

And listen, I know everyone everywhere should already know this, but on occasion a reiteration is in order:

L + M = awesome

We danced our totally sober asses off for nearly five hours, and were among the last to leave.

God damn... why exactly did we stop doing this every weekend?

Hezbollah Tofu!

2008-04-06T09:56:00.000-04:00

How fun is this?!

MLK <3

2008-04-04T13:35:00.004-04:00

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Photo via AfricaWithin.com.

I got an email from a friend today, in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Forty years ago today, Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated. I remember growing up and wondering what the world would have been like if he hadn't been. He would have turned 79 years old this year. In remembering him, I want to share with you one of my favorite quotes of his: "Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are seeking forget the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others."

Amen, sister. Here's to happiness :)

Hoarding

2008-03-29T14:27:00.008-04:00

Last winter and early spring, after my first year with a CSA, I determined that my goal for the upcoming growing season was to put a concentrated effort into food preservation. I felt a little overwhelmed by the amount of food we were given at each pickup, and having absolutely no previous knowledge of canning, freezing and drying food, each week was a kind of trial by fire with researching, buying freezer bags, trying to remember what needed to be blanched, what should be shredded, what couldn't be jarred, etc. That, on top of my eyes being larger than my family's collective bellies (sure, we can eat two pounds of greens, sixteen tomatoes a bunch of basil and a twelve summer squash in six days!), meant that a little bit too much of our bounty ended up as compost fodder.

I had tried my hand at canning a jar of tomatoes the previous summer, mostly as an experiment, but it was enough to instill confidence that I could do it on a larger scale. I also knew from previous experience, that during the height of growing season, when I'd be bringing home gobs and gobs of veggies from Blooming Glen on top of harvesting our own garden, I needed to leave my pickup day open. Taking a couple hours on that day to sort through the produce, make a decision as to what I'd be likely to use before the next week and immediately preserving the rest was something that I'd have to commit to, as well.

Overall, I'd say I did pretty well. I had several canning days at my dads, during which we canned straight-up-'maters, spaghetti sauce, salsa and applesauce. I committed to memory what veggies didn't need blanching and would therefore be the quickest to get into the freezer. I I learned how to dry herbs. I stocked up on freezer bags and even received a FoodSaver as an early birthday gift, making preservation that much easier.

Yes, last season, I was a produce-preserving queen. How I loved stacking jars of tomatoes and applesauce on the cellar shelves, lining them up like little soldiers, their brass rings gleaming like a sergeant's stars. Putting onions and potatoes to bed, covered with cloth and tucked into a quiet corner. I'll even admit to "checking in" my preserved veggies and fruit, opening the freezer door simply to admire the piles of vacuum-packed bags, each filled with bright green broccoli, vibrant red peppers and glowing orange butternut squash. As one might imagine, this attachment to preserved food has a predictable downside: I don't actually want to use anything.

I realize this is a problem, especially now, on the cusp of a new CSA and garden season. I've begun to force myself to plan meals around the food we have stocked. Most recently, I added some spicy vegan sausage to a sauce made with the tomatoes, thyme, basil, onions and peppers pictured above, and served it with rice. The meal was fresh and fabulous -- a fact that I'm hoping to parlay into more using of the preserved food in my house. Fingers crossed!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

Sweetness!

2008-03-26T11:28:00.002-04:00

Hello mikaela danielle!

Your Quit Date is: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 12:00:00 PM
Time Smoke-Free: 118 days, 16 hours, 59 minutes and 21 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 356
Lifetime Saved: 2 days, 17 hours
Money Saved: $110.13

Hard to believe it was four months ago :)

Brunch for Daddy-O!

2008-03-16T19:11:00.001-04:00

My sister and I had a birthday brunch for our dad. It was fun, stress-free (thanks to The List and Jase), colorful, yummy and filled my house with love. If only all Sundays could be so lovely :)

The details, menu list and more photos are on the flick'r album. Happy birthday, Daddy-O! <3 <3 <3

Tofu Challenge: Lemon Pepper Pasta

2008-02-28T19:59:00.004-05:00

I think that this Lemon Pepper Baked Tofu is my favorite Fresh Tofu variety. The flavor is light and crisp with a little bite, and like all of Fresh Tofu's baked varieties, the texture is sublimely dense.

The subtleties of this lemon and pepper tofu can get lost in some dishes, so I usually eat it as simply as possible. Diced into tiny cubes, it's perfect for a lightly dressed salad, where the taste can shine. For dinner, they blend perfectly in lemon pepper pasta.

I use a pretty basic and quick recipe; the ingredients are simple and it's easy to time everything to finish up at once. That, combined with a barely one-dollar-per-serving price, this dish could easily find it's way into your weekly menu plan.

Lemon Pepper Tofu and Pasta
serves 6

1 lb. angel hair pasta
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 lemons
1/3 cup chopped parsley
2 teaspoons plus a dash black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Lemon zest for garnish
Parsley for garnish

Cut lemon pepper tofu into 1/4" cubes. Heat tablespoon of oil in a frying pan, add tofu and sprinkle with a dash of pepper. Allow to brown over medium/high heat, tossing often. Right before removing from heat, squeeze juice of 1/2 lemon into pan, toss and cook for 30 to 60 seconds. Keep warm.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for three to five minutes, or until done; drain.

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup olive oil, juice of one lemon, parsley and black pepper; stir well. Toss with pasta.

Serve pasta with tofu cubes on top, garnish with parsley and lemon zest, pepper and salt to taste. Serve hot or cold.

Many lemon pepper pasta recipes call for basil rather than parsley, which I plan on trying this summer when the basil comes in from our CSA or garden. I'd also love to try this tofu over VeganYumYum's spicy lemon pepper fettuccine or with this lemon pepper cous-cous. Any non-local veggies you find in lemon pepper recipes could easily be replaced with seasonal ones. Except of course for the lemon. Maybe Nicole's Tuscarora Organic Growers Co-op will come through with some lemony citrus for us?

And now, all this light and airy lemon pepper herb talk has got me jonesing for spring something fierce. Drool!

Posted for:

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

Choo choo!

2008-02-28T10:44:00.010-05:00

At the bottom of my street, there are tracks that run a freight line.

When we were little and heard the whistle, my sister and I would grab pennies, nickels and even quarters if we were desperate enough, and run down the street at top speed, hoping to place them on the tracks before the train came by. I loved the feeling of the smooth, warm, flattened metal on my fingers.

Today, I still have the urge to run down and check out the gigantic machines as the roll by. Only now, I bring my son instead of my sister.

The sound and size of these trains are truly unreal.

It's also nice to get a little graffiti fix. Of course, there are the usual throw ups, but occasionally, I'll see something that catches my eye -- a little something clever, creative, different or just really good. This time, we saw some sweet death skulls. Rawk.

When my family first moved here over 20 years ago, they ran SEPTA on these lines, too. Now the train station is a little restaurant called The Caboose Grille. At least weekly, I wish they'd bring the R5 back. What the world need now, is more public transportation, right? :)

Help?

2008-02-20T18:39:00.001-05:00

Due to an unusual series of events, I've recently found myself in the company of three lovely credenzas. Actually, I suppose they're dressers, but I'm re-purposing them as credenzas. Specifically, I plan on re-purposing *one* of them as a credenza for the dining room in my small rowhome, but I'm not sure which one.

Ironically, this all started as a decluttering challenge at MotheringDotCommune. Yet somehow, I've managed to clutter my living space like never before.

I've set each of them up, snapped photos, asked the boyfriend and the son their opinions and considered each piece's pros and cons. And what do I have to show for all this effort? Confusion and doubt. At this point, I'm at credenza saturation.

Whine.

Update Feb. 28: Check out the opinions at Apartment Therapy!

Tofu Challenge: Baked Tofu Sandwich

2008-02-18T17:04:00.004-05:00

Like just about everyone else I know, I was recently hit with a nasty cold. Working outside of the home and doing the mom thing while miserably sick means my kitchen (and gym!) get a break. For meals, quick and easy have been my MO, with a little bit of spice to alleviate the sinuses. I've had lots of soups and sandwiches, including this yummy creation of Fresh Tofu's baked tofu, Blooming Glen onion, spinach, roasted red peppers, homemade hot pepper spread, hummus and refried beans:

Because this tofu is already seasoned and processed, there's no reason to press, drain or marinade. Each package comes with four mini blocks, each of which I simply sliced "open" and heated in a non-oiled pan. I also grilled the bread, complet from Bakers on Broad, using a light coating of olive oil. There was no method to the rest of the ingredients -- I just scavenged the refrigerator. I'm pretty sure you already guessed that, though ;) The result was a filling and flavorful meal that, most importantly, didn't require too much strain on my foggy brain.

Although I prepare Fresh Tofu's baked tofu fairly often, this was the first time I added it to a sandwich -- something I'll definitely do again. The texture is perfectly dense, and the flavor very mild with just a hint of sesame, making it a perfect addition to just about any meal. I absolutely recommend also using it as salad topper; cut into tiny cubes and crisped in a dry frying pan, they provide a fantastic protein punch with great texture and taste. It's also great in stirfries, either sliced into strips or cubed.

Posted for:

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

Humpday Honeys!

2008-02-13T12:15:00.003-05:00

1. Spray, 2. Quit smoking strategy 2, 3. Calopteryx virgo - Beautiful Demoiselle, 4. DSC_4324, 5. Old Splitty, 6. Chuck Treece FDR Lay Back, 7. Deathdog's skull, 8. blues, 9. IMG_0522, 10. Leaf box, 11. IMG_4223, 12. Garlic, 13. Rosemary Tomato Scones 3, 14. He's even got a helmet. Awesome. - IMG_4112, 15. Girl & Cow, 16. Dogwood, 17. Leaf, 18. overspill., 19. That's a good one!!, 20. brrrrr...., 21. Woman at the market Bundi, 22. Remember Sammy Jankis, 23. Big Brown Face, 24. Banana Peels and Pencil Shavings, 25. Lunch
> Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Why vegetarian?

2008-01-31T11:29:00.001-05:00

Reason # 4,689: www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/30/undercover.slaughter.video

As my friend Justin says, "I'm sorry, this is news to some people?"

In other cow news, this one and her little friend nearly killed me:

by KCzarzasty

Eee! :)

Humpday Honeys!

2008-01-30T10:05:00.002-05:00

1. Life. Love., 2. Patternz Clothing Co. Workshop, 3. now I'm in trouble, 4. fdr_010508_12, 5. Desktopahh, 6. Willes room, 7. Kitchen Sink, 8. Fallen Angel, 9. Farmscape, 10. AMİK'İN IRGATLARI-XVI, 11. Shipyard Kitties, 12. Sutro, 13. woodstove cookery, 14. I am a Peaceful Protester, 15. a Red 紅衫軍, 16. Bogota Stencil Art, 17. spring, 18. the receipt project, 19. DSC00752, 20. Nick and me, 21. Bon Appetit, 22. 365 - Day 31: 4 months, 23. Smoke'em if you got 'em, 24. Peace, 25. Subway Graffiti
> Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Home fries!

2008-01-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

This eclectic collection of Blooming Glen Farm potatoes served fabulously as a yummy breakfast treat on a chilly weekend morning.

So often, I get a little panicky at the thought of actually using my preserved food. I'm pretty sure I get this trait from my dad. He recently admitted to buying canned tomatoes from the market. An appalling revelation due to the fact that a quick look in his pantry reveals oh, approximately four hundred quarts of garden tomatoes he jarred this summer.

I know. I don't understand it, either. I mean, I get it, I know what he's thinking -- because I'm thinking the same thing -- but, it's still completely illogical. I see Nicole mentions the guilt of using frozen veggies in a previous Farm to Philly post. That's encouraging, because surely we're not the only ones... right?

Anyway, somehow I managed to let it all go, and use some potatoes I've been hoarding from last season's CSA shares. I even broke out some frozen peppers and greens, too!

Home fries
Serves 4

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 sliced onion
2 cups julienned peppers (use your preferred combination of mild-to-spicy; bell, poblano, jalapeño, et. al.)
1 packed cup sliced or torn-up greens (kale, spinach, collards)
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 cups potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft. Add peppers and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add paprika and cook for 1 minute. Add potatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook until almost cooked through. Remove cover and continue cooking for 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

These are great sprinkled with some fresh chopped herbs right before serving, I just didn't have any on hand.

Note too, especially as we find ourselves merely days before Farm to Philly's exciting and sure-to-be-thrilling Tofu Challenge Month, that these 'taters are great served with tofu scrambler. Either side-by-side on a plate, or as companions inside a yummy breakfast burrito :)

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

desktopahh

2008-01-21T15:18:00.001-05:00

I just uploaded my desktop capture for Mighty Girl's tiny project. It was wicked easy and I'm loving everyone's submissions. God, I love the internet :)

Really?

2008-01-18T11:06:00.000-05:00

(Photo of guilty flip flops by victim, Kerry Stiles.)

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/flipflop.asp

Big surprise here, right? Cheap shoes bought at Wal-Mart were poorly manufactured, resulting in chemical burns to several wearers. That's terrible for the consumers and luckily no one has lost limb or life. I think we're kind of missing the point here, though.

The real question is, do we actually think that we can buy a pair of shoes for $2.44 with no repercussions?

Really?

Please.

If I am spending less than three dollars for flip flops, I can bet someone somewhere is paying the true cost for me. It's only news in this case because consumers in the USA are suffering, not just some nameless foreign worker.

So, this woman's feet are burned, now imagine the burns the workers who manufactured the shoes must've received. And the pollutants caused by that manufacturing. And the energy used to package, ship and distribute the flip flops. All so we could save a few dollars on some plastic shoes?

And why the hell are we wearing plastic shoes to begin with? I'm pretty sure that we've all received the memo on plastic, right? The one that says plastic is not so good for oh, any living anything on the planet? Human, bird, tree, ocean or otherwise?

Do we really think that a company can turn a profit humanely and safely by designing, producing, distributing and then selling shoes for TWO FREAKING DOLLARS?

Really?

Whether or not these flip flops caused physical injury to the end user is so not the point. Even if they hadn't, the damages and costs associated with their creation, sale and disposal are the same.

Externalized cost. Embodied energy. Think before you consume, http://www.storyofstuff.com/!

Spiced blueberry pancakes

2008-01-02T08:46:00.000-05:00

Over the holiday break, my son had a friend who, last time he was over, I promised blueberry pancakes for breakfast. The blueberries I had on hand were of the preserved Delaware Valley College grown organic sort. Lucky us!

During the spring and summer weeks, I usually make it to The Market at DelVal College once every week or two to stock up on locally-grown fruits and veggies. Although some of what I purchase on these trips supplements my CSA produce for meals, I mostly go with a mission to find foods that I will preserve. Berries and peppers are ridiculously easy to freeze, so often I'll search for them first.

Choosing foods that are easy to put up makes the weekly chore of preservation simple and fast. Of course, simple and fast means that my chances of burning out halfway through the season are lessened. I like the efficiency of this system :)

The blueberries I used for the boys' pancakes were purchased in June, on sale for $2.99 for two pints. Taking them out of the freezer, I remembered just what a fabulous idea it was to stock up on six pints of these organic, locally-grown dark blue lovelies. They were absolutely divine, literally bursting with flavor inside the piping-hot pancakes.

Spiced Blueberry Pancakes
Serves 4 (eight pancakes)

1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons canola or safflower oil (plus some for pan)
1/3 cup water
1 cup plain rice or soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons real maple syrup (plus some for serving)
1/2 - 3/4 cup blueberries (plus some for serving)

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Reserving the berries, add all other remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to the wet mixture to the dry mixture, taking care to not overmix. Let batter sit for ten minutes. Stir in berries. Using a ladle, pour scoops of batter into a preheated, well oiled pan or skillet. When the pancakes start to bubble (about three or four minutes, depending on their size), flip and fry the other side for a minute or two. Stack pancakes and top with all natural maple syrup and whole blueberries.

In my kitchen, making pancakes is reserved for the less-scheduled and less-rushed weekend mornings. I usually double or triple the recipe however, so we can eat homemade pancakes during the next couple school/work days. You know, that way we at least have the illusion of calm and leisurely mornings. Enjoy!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

Declutter: December 02 tables and 50 items

2007-12-16T20:28:00.000-05:00

Just a quick declutter update: The tabletops have remained clear!

And, I've surpassed the goal of "selling or donating 50 items:"

This is sew sewper, dewds :)

Ice, ice baby.

2007-12-14T12:27:00.000-05:00

Such a pretty drive to work today...

It took me an extra hour to get into the office because I couldn't stop pulling over and snapping photographs. Everything was beginning to melt so big drops of water were falling on and all around me. Hearing and feeling rain, having the sensation of rain, without actual rain was pretty wild. And made me smile fabulously :)

Fresh Tofu Scrambler

2007-12-12T07:15:00.000-05:00

Every good vegetarian has a recipe for a tofu scramble tucked in her or his apron. It's probably one of the very first dishes a new vegetarian learns to prepare, and puts to rest any misgivings one has about not liking tofu. My first introduction was about 17 years ago in a dinner lovingly prepared by mom using a Fantastic Foods mix and served on English muffins. A meal that is now one of my all-time comfort foods.

It's one of those perfect, reliable eats - a dependable friend during meal planning. Always there for you, like lasagna or a stir fry, willing to use up any veggies you need to move out of the crisper; always a complete source of nutrition and whole foods; always willing to be brunch (with toast), dinner (in a tortilla), a snack or anything in between; and, thanks to Fresh Tofu, always ready to show of its local flavor.

One of my favorite discoveries during One Local Summer, Fresh Tofu has been supplying the east coast with organic tofu since 1984 and is distributed throughout New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I purchase mine at a local natural food store (Plumsteadville Natural Foods), though Whole Foods carries it as well. It truly is a superior product, living up to its name and consistently giving great texture and taste to my favorite bean curd recipes. If the gourmet mecca that is Horizon's uses Fresh Tofu, you can safely bank on it awesomeness. Besides, anyone with a flying block of tofu for a logo has got to pretty much rock, right?

Although creating and perfecting a great tofu scramble recipe is one of those must-experience kitchen intimacies, everyone needs a place to start. Vegan cookbook author extraordinaire, Isa Chandra Moskowitz's, version is a great place to do so and provides the base for my recipe below. Her spice combination is so colorful and the flavor can't be beat. If you're not vegan or vegetarian, that shouldn't stop you from honing your scramble skills. In fact, one of my favorite versions is a cilantro-heavy one made by an omnivore friend.

Tofu Scrambler
serves 4

1 pound organic Fresh Tofu, drained and pressed well
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium chopped onion
1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped kale (or other dark, leafy green)
1/2 cup chopped peppers, carrots, and/or any other veggie in the fridge
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
hot sauce to taste

spice blend:
3 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon salt

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high. Saute onions 3 minutes, until softened. Add mushrooms, saute 5 minutes more. Add garlic, saute 2 minutes more. Add spice blend and mix it up for 15 seconds or so. Crumble in tofu and mix well. Let cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding splashes of water if necessary to keep it from sticking too much.

Mix in kale and other vegetables, cover for five minutes, allowing steam to soften them. Stir in hot sauce to taste. Mix in nutritional yeast.

Serve with toast (Bakers on Broad Complet bread was used above) and fruit for breakfast, or in tortillas with guacamole and salsa for dinner.

Although this is my standard recipe, it's really more of an outline. I can't say I've actually ever made the same scrambler twice. Everyone seems to find their own special ingredient, whether it be a spice or veggie or secret sauce, so don't be afraid to experiment!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

Rico

2007-12-11T10:43:00.001-05:00

I have the best coworkers on earth. This fact was most recently proven by the fact that I found these pictures in my email inbox early this morning.

Avery's art teacher is my coworker's wife, (got that?) which means that AC's latest art project, Rico the Sock Monkey, came for a visit to the office :)

Declutter: December 01 computer armoire

2007-12-05T22:33:00.000-05:00

As part of my overall mission to live simply and sustainably, one of my ongoing 43Things is to get rid of stuff. For almost a year, I've been removing items pretty consistently and have been really good at not bringing in anything. I've kept a donation bag in the closet to catch clothes that I no longer like or haven't worn, and a bag on the porch for miscellaneous household items. Recently though, I decided that I needed an opportunity to do a big purge instead of this slow and steady drib and drab removal of stuff.

MotheringDotCommune has a Mindful Home Management forum under which a Decluttering, Organizing and Simplifying topic exists. I've been watching the group's monthly de-clutter challenge and decided to join in for December. Yay!

I'm linking this months challenge with one of my 43things goals, "get rid of stuff." I just love it when things connect like that Our goals for this month are:
Keep coffee table clutter-free for the month.
Keep dining table clutter-free for the month.
Clean out and organize armoire/computer desk; designate places for the stuff that keeps cluttering the coffee and dining tables
Finish dressing room organization (hang up vision boards, purge clothing) and trim work (crown molding, quarter-inch round molding, caulking, painting).
Donate or sell 50 items.
This is our first de-clutter challenge, and it’s hard to know where to draw the line. I don’t want to overestimate our ability, but at the same time, it is a “challenge,” right

Also, the clutter around the house is due in large part to organizational issues. We wanted to take a holistic approach and actually solve the problem, opposed to just the symptom. I’m thinking that it’s unreasonable to say “keep the tables clutter-free” without addressing the issues of why the tables are cluttered. The stuff has to go somewhere, right?

Okay… here we go Clutter be gone!

So far, I've been kicking ass. I worked from home on Tuesday and was able to take care of the computer armoire. It was actually a real nice balance going back and forth between the physical work of cleaning out, and my work work at the laptop on the dining room table. Here's a shot of the desk around 10am:

And then around 1pm:

I threw away an entire trash bag full of old papers and other nonsense and marked a few items to donate.

We've also done some work in the dressing room, I put a large box in the living room for donations and marked a bag for items to sell on Ebay. Though, I'm starting to wonder if I should just save everything for a spring yard sale instead. Giving away so much stuff seems a bit irresponsible financially-speaking, but listing everything on Ebay seems a little unreasonable. I'm open to any suggestions and opinions :)

So far, so good. It feels really great and to have this task complete and I'm absolutely motivated to get onto the next task!

My kids

2007-12-03T22:34:00.000-05:00

The football-, lacrosse-, basketball-playing skateboarder:

The goes-with-me-everywhere, loves-to-visit girl:

Sigh. They're the best! :)

Last.

2007-11-27T23:55:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I quit smoking.

Oh, I know.

What a dirty little secret it's been, right?

What a tangled web I've woven.

Tell me about it. Le sigh.

About four years ago, I quit smoking a pack of Winston Lights a day. It was really, really hard. The detox was nothing like I'd ever experienced. I was literally out of my mind. Looking back, it all makes sense given, by that time, I had been inhaling tons of chemicals via 20 cigarettes a day for approximately a decade. The process took a few weeks and included a few relapses where I would go to the store, buy a pack of cigarettes, smoke a couple and then angrily crush and destroy the remaining cigarettes into a trash can. It was an emotional and physical war. I knew that I would never smoke like that again. Ever. And, I haven't.

What did eventually happen was this little habit I've come to refer to as the fucking monkey on my fucking back that won't leave me the fuck alone. Or, three cigarettes a day.

I smoke all-natural, 100% tobacco, organic American Spirits. I don't smoke in my house or in my car. I don't smoke in front of non-smokers (which means I usually smoke alone). I don't throw cigarette butts on the ground. I don't even have my first cigarette until after 4pm. These have been my rationalizations and reasons for not quitting.

All those scare tactics about 4,997,023,001 chemicals being added to cigarettes? Not doing it for me. My cigarettes are organic and contain nothing but tobacco leaf. I'm pretty sure they're free range, too.

Telling me that I'm being brainwashed by the man (aka Phillip Morris)? Cannot convince me to stop because the people that manufacture my cigarettes run a small company that practice sustainable agriculture, provide opportunities for employee growth and market their product responsibly.

SAVE YOUR LIFE! QUIT SMOKING NOW! propaganda? Seriously. I smoke three cigarettes a day. I exercise almost everyday. I eat a plant-based diet. Physical damage is being done, but all the studies and statistics are geared toward at least half-a-pack-a-day or more consumers, all usually living the Standard American diet and lifestyle.

I can apply this to the "Think of all the money you'll save!" excitement, too. My current habit costs me about $27 a month. After two months of not smoking, what? I can get a haircut?

These are the thoughts that have been justifying my smoking for the past three years. The bottom line is that, somehow, in my little psyche, I've managed to skirt the fact that, oh yeah, I DON'T WANT TO SMOKE.

BECAUSE IT'S NOT GOOD FOR ME.

BECAUSE IT CONFLICTS WITH MY LIFESTYLE.

I've been so busy poo-pooing anti-smoking proselytizing by altering my habit to suit that of a responsible smoker, that I've neglected to realize, THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING.

Right.

I never said I was quick, but I think I'm on my way to figuring this one out.

So, three weeks ago, my mom and I signed up for a Freedom from Smoking program at a local hospital. As expected, we were met with a bunch of the scary-but-"educational" pamphlets and pictures and What to do Instead of Light Up lists. I ignored those and instead focused on my tendencies and habit. I did a couple questionnaires, determined what kind of smoker I am (a mix of Pleasurable Relaxation-er and Handler; sounds kinky!) and made a list of reasons why I want to quit. Really, these classes have been to force me to actually pick a quit day. To stop volleying between thinking about quitting and justifying not quitting.

And that's where I'm at. I threw away my pack in class tonight, saving one which I smoked around 1opm. Then, I remembered there was a loose one on the back porch, which I hungrily inhaled in under five minutes. But now, they're all gone.

I'm done.

I'm hoping, and truly believing, that this will not be anywhere near as hard as it was a few years ago. At the same time, I want to stay real and aware and know that there is a possibility that I will slip up on occasion. This is a process. I will get in it and I will enjoy it. Baby steps :)

All hail the reusable bag!

2007-11-25T23:50:00.000-05:00

If you're one of the many whose holiday shopping officially began this weekend, would you do me a favor? As you're loading up that credit card debt, pretty please don't also load up a bunch of throw-away bags. Before you hit that next amazing sale at the mall, check out the great deals at reusablebags.com. Even better, skip the mall and purchase some reusable bags to give as gifts. But go now, because a lot of the sales end today!

My top favorites and recommendations:

Reisenthal's Mini Maxi (pictured), which I'm pretty sure is the best ten bucks I've ever spent on a shopping bag. They're even cheaper if you buy two or more. Mine is red, and the cashiers are always surprised at how compact and stylish it is. They have a solid-color line, as well.
Organic cotton produce and grain bags for $2.95 (discounted when you buy four or more). Seriously. Do we really need plastic bags for out plastic bags? These are super lightweight, come in two sizes and can be thrown in the wash.
The Heavy Duty Classic Hemp Shopping bag, on sale for $22.95 (reg. $24.95). This truly is a a heavy duty bag! Lightweight version is available also for $7.95.
A classic shopping set in lightweight organic cotton; eight bags for $19.95. Or the hemp version; nine bags for $39.60. This is a fabulous gift. I got my dad a set of the latter in black for his birthday this year, and he loves them!
And, it's not a bag, but since we're talking about the vileness of plastic, check out the Guyot stainless steel water bottle, on sale for $17.95 (reg. $19.95). I use this bottle everyday, all day. You might want to consider adding a splash guard for a few extra dollars.

Of course, if you want to save some cash and are handy with a sewing needle, you can always make your own bag.

Helping people understand the evilness of plastic bags and the absolute ease of utilizing reusable bags has become one of my missions in recent years. I often give sets of bags for gifts, gently point out the wastefulness when shopping with family and friends, and recently, wrote an article for my CSA's newsletter. If you still need convincing to change your disposable bag ways, maybe this will help:

So, you've switched to a more fuel-efficient vehicle, invested in wind power through your utility company and buy your food locally. Think that's all you can do to lessen your impact on the demand for oil? Think again!

Just as omnipresent as the news about our unhealthy dependence on petroleum products, is an item that requires and estimated 12 million barrels of oil per year to manufacture. Oddly, as present in our lives as they are, we almost never consider them.

Plastic bags. They're convenient, they're free and this year, the U. S. will goes through 100 billion of them. Worldwide usage estimates are as high as 1 trillion. That's a lot of bags, and although "free" to the consumer, their impact is very costly to the durability of our planet.

The production of plastic bags requires petroleum, which we all know is a non-renewable resource that increases our dependency on foreign suppliers. In addition to the 12 million barrels of oil needed to make our bags, the energy used by the bag manufacturing plants and transportation and distribution companies use even more resources, creating even more global warming emissions. Prospecting and drilling for all these petroleum resources results in the destruction and disruption of ecosystems across the globe. Consider too, the pollution produced by the toxic chemical ingredients needed to make plastic.

All these costs for just the production of our beloved plastic bags. There are further costs associated with the use and disposal of bags, as well. In fact, plastic bags have become so costly that retailers like Ikea are now charging customers for them, entire countries have introduced a tax on them and the supervisor of San Francisco has completely banned them from the city!

And don't think those paper bags are any better. Known as a "global warming double-whammy," in addition to the manufacturing and transportation costs to our resources and environment, paper bag production requires forests (major absorbers of greenhouse gases) to be cut down.

What can you do to help our society's addiction to "free" shopping bags? ReusableBags.com offers many ideas on their Take Action page at www.reusablebags.com/action.php, including tips on how to wean oneself from plastic bags, links to form letters for your politicians and ideas on how to advocate.

The fastest and easiest way to make a difference though, is to simply stop using disposable shopping bags. You can increase your family's "MPG's" right now by purchasing reusable bags online or at your local market. Happy shopping!

--http://bloomingglenfarm.com/newsletters/jul092007.pdf

Finally, as a veg*n, I should also mention the fact that plastic bags are contributing to the destruction of ocean life. Both directly, in that sea creatures choke and die as a result of mistaking bags for food; and indirectly, as plastic bags pollute ocean animals' habitat.

You know that if there's a flick'r group, it must be a revolution: http://flickr.com/groups/banthebag/. All hail the reusable bag! :)

Savory Smashed Sweet Potatoes

2007-11-23T17:21:00.000-05:00

Local vegan for Thanksgiving: so good! That's because I've been hoarding sweet potatoes and shallots from my CSA share since September.

I found that the most efficient way to deal with the abundance of produce each week was to preserve whatever preserved easiest, so more often than not, each week's potatoes and onions were put in the dark. My stockpile of sweet potatoes and shallots finally met the light of day on Thanksgiving morning as Jason and I created a smash for our vegan dinner with friends later that night.

While pulling the recipe together, my only objective was to stear clear of the traditional sugary and sticky sweet potato recipes. One of the most valuable lessons eating locally has taught me, is that simply is the very best way to cook and enjoy vegetables. Local food just tastes better; there's little reason to doctor it up with loads of other ingredients. Think I'm overstating? Do a test of your own. A bite of local sweet potato vs. a bite of store-bought sweet potato. No contest. Be sure to note the incredible color difference while you're at it, too!

Additionally, always considering a local vegan diet when preparing meals, things like marshmallows and white sugar don't please either side. In avoiding a lot of ingredients, shallots and thyme seemed like a great way to impart a bit of simple savory loveliness into our dish.

Savory Smashed Sweet Potatoes
Serves 8

4 pounds of sweet potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled and quartered (Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles)
1/4 pound of shallots, chopped (Blooming Glen)
1 tablespoon dried thyme, crushed (Blooming Glen)
1 tablespoon olive oil (not local)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (not local)
1/2 cup soy milk (from Westsoy - 91 miles)
1/4 cup vegan buttery spread (from Earth Balance - 117 miles)

Add sweet potatoes to boiling stockpot and cook for 15 minutes or until tender. While the potatoes are cooking, heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add shallots and thyme to the oil and cook five minutes or until soft and fragrant. Drain potatoes, score skins (so they don't get caught in your masher) and smash. Stir in two-thirds of the shallot mixture, soy milk and Earth Balance. Serve with shallots and thyme mixture sprinkled on top.

On top of being delicious, the simple ingredients mean super quick preparation. We had this in a serving dish and packed up in under 30 minutes. Maybe I should have started this post with "Local vegan for Thanksgiving: so good, so fast and so easy!"

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

CSA crop share 2007 24

2007-11-06T23:20:00.000-05:00

Sniff, sniff.

Well, here it is. The last Blooming Glen Farm CSA pickup of the season:

I just don't understand how it could be over. What am I going to do without all of this super-tasty, local, fresh, healthy produce in my kitchen every week? I've totally taken this season for granted. I don't even think about how to use the produce anymore. When I get home, I preserve (usually freeze) whatever I won't be able to use within the next week or two and the rest gets incorporated into meals with barely a second thought.

Well that was on the good weeks anyway. There may have been an occasion or two... or maybe several, when something were deposited half-rotten to the compost bin because I couldn't use it in time. But actually, that brings me to an excellent point.

The quantity of produce for the price of a share has been unbelievable. It would be interesting to see an actual price-per-pound, though just a quick glance at the photo album could assure anyone that $780 for 24 weeks of produce is a great deal. I split my share each week with my sister. There are four adults and one child between the two homes, and we were able to stuff ourselves with fresh veggies and fruits every day, and still have enough left over for freezing and canning. It's hard to imagine, but we'll still be enjoying this season's bounty throughout the winter.

Not to mention the fact that the variety of produce was unbeatable and everything was grown naturally and sustainably. By people I know. Oh, and did I mention that we enjoyed fresh flowers more than half those weeks?

Belonging to a CSA definitely requires a bit of extra time and energy, as does any new method or way of doing something. Once that habit is formed though, it really does become second nature. This was my second season at Blooming Glen and already I’ve learned and changed and incorporated so much! Things like…

how to cook daikon, watermelon, French breakfast, black and regular radishes
that Swiss Chard on a sandwich is quite tasty
that yes, children actually can get sick of pick-your-owns
and yes, so too can parents
the differences between a sunshine, blue hubbard, delicata, bon bon and butternut winter squash
that freezing string beans and summer squash is ridiculously easy
though freezing sweet peppers is sinfully easy
Trish's secrets to keep flowers producing in the garden and looking beautiful in the vase
that beets and carrots keep quite a while as long as you remove the greens
that chopping it up nice and fine and adding it to macaroni recipes is an easy way to get kale into my son's diet
that there are perhaps a bazillion different varieties of cherry tomatoes
and that Tom knows every single one of them
that my family simply cannot not eat an entire head of cabbage before it goes bad
that watermelon looks just as good in yellow as it does in pink
what to do with celeriac
the mystery and romance that is an heirloom tomato
that simply is the best way to prepare fresh vegetables
that soccer moms, DINKs, single parents, singletons, yuppies, hippies, teachers, administrators, entrepreneurs, Women Builders, EMTs, corporate CEOs, nonprofit workers and retirees all belong to my CSA
that green tomatoes are great in stir fries, relishes and salads
that my sister and I are so literal at times
how to put up tomatoes
that greens like turnip, beet and collards are really, really tasty and can be used in everything
that my son can be bought not only with sweet potatoes, but also sunshine winter squash
that there are some pretty adorable cows in Perkasie
the differences between scallions, onions, sweet onions, garlic, garlic scapes, leeks and shallots
that no matter how hard I try, I will never like radicchio
that stir fries and scramblers are a CSA member's best friends
to not peel root vegetables if you can help it
there is nothing on this planet that tastes better than a just-picked ripe tomato

Surely, there are more. Perhaps I'll add to this list as the winter months creep in, our preserved CSA food supply dwindles and we can barely remember the feel of humidity on our skin as we pick quarts string beans, strawberries and basil.

Sigh. Missing you oh so terribly already, Blooming Glen!

Would you like to get melodramatic over produce, too? Find a CSA farm near you at Local Harvest!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

CSA crop share 2007 23

2007-10-30T22:44:00.001-04:00

This week is the second to last pick up of the season. How sad!

Looking at that incredible harvest and all those vibrant colors, it's so hard to believe that in just a few days, we'll be receiving the last share of 2007.

Blooming Glen has some great cheerleaders and received fabulous press and publicity, which all seems to have contributed to a flood of requests for 2008 CSA subscription registration. What a wonderful testament to the farmers' hard work, dedication and passion - and too, to the supporters and members of the community. Knowing that so many families, when given the choice, prefer naturally grown food from a local farm is reassuring and smile-inducing. I do hope that Blooming Glen's continued success and their neighbor's continued support inspires the CSA model to grow in this area.

As they say, "If you build it, they will come!"

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

CSA crop share 2007 22

2007-10-23T15:45:00.000-04:00

We got some pretty cool radishes this week. Our choice of Daikon, watermelon, or the mysterious Nero Tondo, which is described as “round, black, hot” by our farmers.

(Click photo to read notes at flick’r regarding names and quantities of this week’s share.)

My sister thought the kale was looking especially happy this week, and I have to agree!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

PS: The cows were very interested in us this week. These pics by Avery:

Cooking together: Beet, Barley and Black Soybean Soup with Pumpernickel Croutons

2007-10-21T20:47:00.001-04:00

Ms. Kelly and I were recently discussing ways in which we could encourage one another to try all the sure-to-be awesome recipes in Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It's not like we don't like to cook, and it's not like Isa's recipes are ever less than brilliant. It's more about that bit of extra planning and time trying new recipes calls for. We just needed to come up with that little extra push. Choosing and cooking the recipes together seemed like a perfect solution, but the little bugger abandoned me for the big city a couple months ago. We're not terribly far away from each other, though it's far enough to be a pain in the ass.

And then, once again, the internets, specifically the Google, saved us.

We can cook them "together" using GTalk. Sweet!

We don't actually have copies of Veganomicon yet, and decided that we could warm up using a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, Isa's first book. Kelly and I both had an abundance of beets on hand from our CSA shares and with that in mind, she smartly chose the Beet, Barley and Black Soybean Soup with Pumpernickel Croutons recipe.

Smart, yes, but really... ew. I thought it sounded gross. I can honestly say that even if my pantry held nothing but barley and black soybeans and my fridge nothing but beets, I never would have considered making that recipe. Ever.

In the name of collaboration and our goal of trying new things, I played along.

The choosing, planning and prepping went well, as did the first half of cooking time. Somehow we became unsynchronized and she ended up eating 30 minutes before I did, but other than that, everything went really well.

Even better, the soup turned out awesome. The color was to die for and the light texture offered by the barley didn't weigh down the bowl. Most importantly, the relatively small list of ingredients allowed the fresh beet and dill flavors to take the lead in a simple broth of tamari and water.

Huh. Who knew I was a such borscht girl?

About half of the ingredients were local: beets, onion, dill and garlic from Blooming Glen, and pumpernickel bread from Bakers on Broad. Non local ingredients: black soybeans, barley, tamari, olive oil, balsamic vinegar (all organic and purchased at independently-owned health food stores) taragon leaves, pepper and salt.

We had fun, accomplished our goal and determined the venture a success. Yay, us! Hopefully, we'll be doing cooking together again soon :)

A peck of pickled... cucumbers!

2007-10-18T16:17:00.000-04:00

To supplement my garden and CSA tomatoes for canning, I bought a box of tomatoes from the Shoemaker's road side stand.

A side note here, that the link will take you to the Shoemaker's machine shop. The family has run their welding and machining business and lived on Leidy Road since the 1950's. It's been as long as I can remember that they've sold their garden crops out front. Out here in the 'burbs, among all the McMansions and age-restricted townhome developments, there are occasional glimpses of realness that reflect the area's agricultural, small town roots. The several front yard road side stands in town are probably my favorite of those reflections :)

While I was there, I couldn't pass up a few delicious-looking cucumbers. I don't usually see cukes so late in the season, and my mouth was watering at the thought of a crispy cucumber sandwich.

Shortly after, when my tomatoes and I headed over to my dad's for canning, I was surprised with a bunch of local kirby cucumbers. Thanks pops, but yikes - what to do with them all? Naturally, pickles seemed out best option, though neither of us have preserved them before.

Thank goodness for the Pickle Preservation Society (seriously, who knew?!). They have several recipes on their site, and I copied the one we used below. We went with an easy, traditional kosher recipe that required no hot-packing, and also one that utilized local ingredients we had on hand. The recipe called for dill and garlic, which I received in my CSA share that week (though the dill was not flowering as the recipe recommends). Man, I just love it when things work out like that!

Kosher Pickles: The Right Way
From Mark Bittman, New York Times

1/2 cup kosher salt
1 cup boiling water
2 pounds small Kirby cucumbers, washed, and cut into halves or quarters
5 cloves or more garlic, peeled and smashed
1 large bunch dill, if desired, fresh and with flowers OR 2 tablespoons dried dill and 1 teaspoon dill seeds, OR a tablesoon of coriander seeds

1. In a large bowl*, combine the salt and boiling water; stir to dissolve the salt. Add a handful of ice cubes to cool down the mixture, then add all remaining ingredients.

2. Add cold water to cover. Use a plate slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowl and a small weight to hold the cucumbers under the water. Keep at room temperature.

3. Begin sampling the cucumbers after 2 hours if they are quartered, 4 hours if they are halved. In either case, it will probably take from 12 to 24 hours, or even 48 hours, for them to taste "pickly" enough to suit your taste. When they are, refrigerate them, still in the brine. The pickles will continue to forment as they sit, more quickly at room temperature, more slowly in the refrigerator.

Yield: About 30 pickle quarters.

*We went with pickling in one of those giant industrial-food-sized jars instead of bowls. We tried the bowls, the jar was just way easier to manage.

These turned out quite garlicky, so next time we'd probably use only three or four cloves. I can totally see how people get into making their own "special recipe" pickles. With slight adjustments to so many different and easy-to-find ingredients (garlic, hot pepper, peppercorns, mustard seed, onion, celery, sugar), there are endless taste possibilities. This is definitely a project we'll be doing again next season!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

CSA crop share 2007 21

2007-10-16T22:03:00.000-04:00

(Click photo to read notes at flick’r regarding names and quantities of this week’s share.)

And an extra view this week:

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

My one and only. Like, EVER.

2007-10-09T20:19:00.000-04:00

I was reading through the forums at the MotheringDotCommune website (the online forums for Mothering Magazine) and came across an interesting thread titled "Any Moms of an Only Child." I was intrigued for two reasons. Number one, because I have an only child, heh. And Number two, because I've found my only child scenario to be very different than those of my closest friends (both online and off) who either have several children or none.

Now that I think about it... I don't think I know any moms of one. Huh.

Anyway, finding this thread prompted me to add my voice, which kind of caught me off guard. Not the adding my voice part, that's rarely a problem, but the adding my voice to this particular subject. Considering, apparently, that all my friends are either one extreme or the other, one would think the topic would've come up. It almost seems taboo, or at the very least, to be a sensitive subject to approach.

But why?

We're talking about such a basic topic here. Maybe it falls too close to sex and/or religion and/or politics? Even so, the reproduction of the human race greatly effects so much of this planet and society, how can we not talk about it?

At any rate, clearly the thread got me thinking. Too bad for you, eh?

There were so many reasons why the moms chose to be moms-to-one: sustainability of the earth; having the ability to travel said earth more easily; experiencing a difficult pregnancy or infertility issues; not having the resources (time, money, energy) to afford more children; just plain wanting one kid; and on and on.

Of course this is all one-sided, and what would be really interesting (to me, because I'm selfish like that) is to hear why people choose to have more than one or none. Obviously, I can relate pretty easily to the moms about having an only, and it's nice to find a tribe of ladies in a similar situation as my own, but hearing differing opinions and thoughts makes for a way richer head trip, don't you think?

And so, in conclusion (that was for you, kah)...

Really though, in the name of self-awareness, honesty and mindfulness, I'm copying my reply posted to the forum, and placing it here on my blog. It's neither long and detailed, nor very opinionated, it's just more than I would normally put here, and for no good reason. Important topics are sometimes hard to talk about. Like MPG's and plastic bags and veg*nism and chocolate. Wait chocolate isn't hard to talk about. Though it's VERY important!

By the way, for all this disclosure, you can thank St. Francis and OMSH for their recent inspiration.

Hi, everyone!

I'm a single momma to a 10-year-old monster. There are lots of reasons why I've chosen to have only one child, all of which have evolved and changed over the years. Currently, my primary reasons involve sustainability and durability of our planet. No explanation needed I'm sure, as I see many of those reasons listed here

Of course, I've found being a single mother affects my decision greatly, as well. Becoming unexpectedly pregnant as a teenager determined that my son and I would be faced with some unique challenges, and that things might not be as easy as they could've been had I done things in a more traditional manner. Overall, I love being a mom and I don't regret a single moment of it. That's not to say that things haven't been nearly completely overwhelming (financially, emotionally, spiritually) many, many, many times over the past ten years. Though I wouldn't want trade any of it for a second, and I know that my son and I have an amazing relationship because of it, I certainly don't have the desire to repeat it

I appreciate the general sense of control and manageability that comes with one child, which is also something I've seen mentioned here, and is especially important to me not only as a single parent, but one who works full time out of the house. I can't imagine having to not only shuttle two kids around to lessons, practices, etc., but also afford everyone's interests. And in the middle of it all, still have the energy, time and money to hit the gym and cook healthy meals. In my house, I feel like we're already using all of our resources and adding another life would cause something (like sanity?) to suffer. I'm in awe of how parents make it work.

Also, I'm pretty sure fighting with one kid about bedtime/homework/showering/incessant texting/picking scabs at the dinner table/et. al. is just plenty for me. We all know what a mess one kid can make, I don't need to experience the carnage three or four little monsters could cause on a daily basis. I mean, isn't it generally a good idea to not be outnumbered?

It's funny because I absolutely love when my house is full of kids. I enjoy the loudness and energy and happiness and even the mess I just don't think I'd love it every day.

Eh, who am I kidding? The real reason why I'm not having any more children is because the one I already have is my favorite. We're not supposed to have favorites - I mean, really, what kind of mom would I be if I had another?!

Mikaela

PS: I do know two other mommas of one - Amy and Leanne, AC's bro's mom (bro below)!

CSA crop share 2007 20

2007-10-09T18:30:00.000-04:00

My sister and I split our share each week, and it only recently occurred to me, the extent of our literalness.

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

Busy bee!

2007-10-08T09:41:00.000-04:00

You know that FedEx commercial?

"Worky work! Busy bee!"

God, that cracks me up :)

Are you a busy bee preserving some of this fantastic fall food? I've scheduled the last four weekends around dates with my Foodsaver and Ball jars. I'm sure there's a joke somewhere in there. Maybe something about "cold" versus "hot" dates?

Anyway, so far I've preserved pumpkin, peppers, pears, peaches (what's with the P theme?), butternut squash and tomatoes. Details to be forthcoming - as soon as I can slow down on all the worky work! This is the most food preservation I've done and I'm open to any tips, suggestions and/or recipes. Share 'em, if you got 'em!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

St. Francis Feast Day

2007-10-04T15:38:00.000-04:00

My simple garden.

Does St. Francis rock, or what?

The Saint of Ecology, He was the first saint to perceive that creatures communicate not only with their own kind, but also that there is communication between species. It sounds so simple: there must be a subtle bond between everything, right? We're all creatures of God/the universe/Mother Earth/whatever/etc., and so we're all connected.

"Francis was in awe of the swallow, the cricket and the wolf. 'Where the modern cynic sees something 'buglike’ in everything that exists,' observed the German writer-philosopher Max Scheler, 'St. Francis saw even in a bug the sacredness of life.'

"St. Francis of Assisi addressed creatures as 'sisters' and 'brothers,' that is, as equals, not as subjects to be dominated. " --via american catholic

Just as importantly, St. Francis recognized this synchronicity throughout all of ecology. Water and the moon are sisters, fire and the sun are brothers. The flower, the tree, the grass, the worm, the bird, the star, all are brothers and sisters, and all must be considered and respected. This philosophy is echoed throughout religions all across the globe, most strikingly for me in a beautiful letter from Chief Seattle: "All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it." St. Francis so believed in this web, that he even appealed to Brother Fire to be good to him when, in the last years of his life, the surgeon opened the veins between his ears and his eyebrows with a red-hot iron in an attempt to cure him of his eye ailment.

St. Francis was able to communicate this connection and peace because he lived a very simple life. Growing up, though he always had a sense of his discontent regarding his environment, St. Francis enjoyed the easy life that came along with being born into a well-to-do family. In young adulthood, after a stint in the army and an illness, he had several visions that prompted him to "give it all up,"and dedicate his life to God. He turned his back on his inherited wealth, and so his father, and renounced all property. (Similar to young Siddhartha's journey, yes?) This life dedicated to poverty however, was not about suffering or going without. It was about removing earthly bonds, cutting them off so that they didn't hold him back from his mission to spread the word of peace. It was by living this simple life that St. Francis could demonstrate the connectedness between human, creature and earth.

What a guy!

In his honor, I'm planning to reconnect with the simple things in my life and rededicate myself to the messages of love and peace. For me, the first step in that is securely connecting my mind, body and soul - a little detox, if you will - so that I can completely affix myself to my environment. This is a bit more personal that I usually get in this blog, but I'm putting it here in writing, so that it will be.

Happy Feast Day, St. Francis!

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

A big *MUAH to Stefanie Francis, who made St. Francis "our saint" :)

CSA crop share 2007 19

2007-10-02T22:31:00.000-04:00

No picture of the share board this week, but I think this beautiful share speaks for itself.

Broccoli and Bok Choy and greens - yum!

> Crossed-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

"We have bags for our bags!"

2007-09-26T16:03:00.000-04:00

Well, it finally happened. I actually agree with something Howard Stern has to say:

> reusablebags.typepad.com/newsroom/2007/06/howard-stern-ra.html

Shocking.

CSA crop share 2007 18

2007-09-25T22:06:00.000-04:00

Autumn is here. Happy fall equinox!

Is that an amazingly colorful and diverse share, or what?

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com

Herbalicious

2007-09-25T10:10:00.000-04:00

I need your help!

My coworker-slash-friend, LM, surprised me with a bouquet of herbs from her garden this morning. Of course, they've totally livened up my office, both visually and nasally:

Spearmint, sage, tarragon, rosemary, thyme. Can you help a sister out? Any suggestions as to what to do with it all? If I have to preserve some, which ones preserve the best? Should I freeze or dry? I don't want to waste a single leaf :)

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

The sunshine of my life

2007-09-20T07:30:00.000-04:00

I asked around about that sunshine winter squash I got in the CSA share a couple weeks ago, and the overwhelming recommendation was to roast it. Even in the recipes I was given, roasting the squash first was part of the directions. I decided to simply roast it this first go around, figuring it would give me the opportunity to get to know the flavor.

I cut it in half, then put in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour, in a shallow pan of water. Looking back, that seems like an obscenely high temperature. That's because I didn't read the directions completely. I had about five things going on in the kitchen, preserving some fruits and veggies (more on that later), and I just wasn't paying close enough attention to the recipe. Turns out, the 400 degrees instruction was for a roasted soup. I ended up with a side of roasted sunshine squash mash (I only added a bit of water, no Earth Balance, butter, etc.) - which was actually really tasty.

AC came in the house after a long day at school and several hours skateboarding, famished, and immediately pointed to the bowl on the counter, asking what it was. I told him to taste it and, in spite of me it seems (after what I said), he grabbed a fork, took a bite and announced that it was, "really good."

Another bite.

"This is better than really good, it's excellent!"

Another bite.

"It tastes like sweet potatoes!"

Ah, the power of the sweet potato... I had to hold him back from devouring the entire bowl, and so I busied him with making a veggie burger for himself while I scooped some onto his plate as a side. While he was eating, I decided to savor-up the squash a bit for myself. I added salt, pepper and sauteed leeks.

To balance out the sweetness of this side dish, I made a quick spicy marinade. Using an immersion blender, I mixed tamari, garlic (turned into a paste using a microplane), Jason's homemade hot sauce, liquid smoke and pureed tomatoes, and poured it onto slices of wild rice tempeh.

A couple hours later when I was ready to eat, I warmed up the sunshine squash in the microwave. In a frying pan, I steamed chopped leeks for few minutes, then added the tempeh (including marinade from the container) and cooked it at a high heat for bit. A little side salad of cherry tomatoes and lettuce splashed with Bragg aminos rounded out the plate.

Everything is local, minus the tamari, salt, pepper, liquid smoke, aminos and tempeh. The tempeh easily could have been local (Cricklewood Soyfoods makes fantastic tempeh in Mertztown), but with that whole fruit and veggie preservation thing I mentioned before, I'm on a mission to get the freezer cleaned out. I found some errant tempeh packages from my co-op in the depths.

As a winter squash, the sunshine has tons of vitamin A, is good for B6, potassium and fiber, and is alkaline - it's totally a keeper in this house. Actually, it's a keeper because it tastes like sweet potato :) I'm particularly excited about that point because it positively reinforced the ten-year-old monster when tasting new veggies. As much as I love my greens, this squash has done more for me than kale ever has!

Next up is a Kabocha (aka Bon Bon) squash. Same advice you think? Just roast it?

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com

CSA crop share 2007 17

2007-09-18T22:15:00.000-04:00

SWEET POTATOES!

Aren't sweet potatoes the best? I'm always on the lookout for high alkaline veggies that my son likes. Who am I kidding. I'm always on the lookout for any veggies that he'll even tolerate.

He's the king of broccoli, he loves steamed carrots and can knock back quite a bit of raw red peppers and cucumbers with some hummus. All of this is great, but when it comes to switching things up and trying something new or different, he uncharacteristically hesitates.

This is the same child who will, and often does, skateboard off flights of stairs.

Sweet potato was one of the surprises that came with our CSA subscription last year. It's certainly not an uncommon vegetable, but, like leeks, it was one that I never really considered while shopping at the market. Hm, and I wonder why my son won't give kale a chance? I suppose we're all creatures of habit to a certain degree.

Lucky for both of us, Blooming Glen introduced our kitchen to the sweet potato. This root vegetable is high in fiber, vitamin B6 (especially nice for a vegetarian or vegan) and potassium, and is a very good source of vitamin A, vitamin C and manganese. And better than all that? It's dang tasty and can be prepared quickly.

Certainly there is much more exotic produce a CSA will bring into your home, but it seems that simple and everyday once again reign supreme in the local diet :)

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

Have you seen me?

2007-09-16T23:17:00.000-04:00

I have a couple thoughts regarding the whole momma thing...

One, my monster shaved his head:

Two, he's now in fifth grade and wearing deodorant.

I think these things, along with the gf, can be connected, yes?

Eep. I am so not ready for this.

May I have my child back?

Please?

The best.

2007-09-13T23:32:00.000-04:00

There are a bunch of photographs in flick'r land (from L, Jamie and me) from my birthday weekend, but I'll post a few that I think sum things up pretty well.

My birthday actually officially began when L came into town on Thursday.

Seriously.

She flew all the way from Portland to celebrate. I don't even know what to say. She's pretty incredible :) Jason offered to give us some bff time and stayed away for the night, so L and BG (via phone) were the first to welcome me to 30, at midnight.

The next day, L and I volunteered in the snack stand at AC's football game then headed to my mom's, The momma held the traditional family birthday dinner, for which I chose vegan tacos as the meal. The birthday person always gets to make the food choice and my decision is completely predictable. It's been tacos since like, 1985 or something. Mom always kicks ass at preparing dinner, but this year she *tewtally* raised the bar with a homemade vegan lemon cake, including real lemon icing. As if that weren't enough, she covered the table with a Crayola color book cloth and cups of crayons. It's like she KNOWS ME.

Brookie, John, Brenden, momma, Mike, Jason, Avery and Zakrey and I set out to eat 30 tacos, and I'm pretty sure we managed. Later that night, L and I attempted to complete my origami bird project. We didn't finish, but we had fun anyway.

Saturday, L and I picked up BG who flew in from Raleigh. When we got back to Souderton, we headed over to the Univest Grand Prix with Avery, and made plans to meet my mom, sister and Jason there.

We weren't gone long when I got a text from Jason, saying that a friend stopped over. Within a couple minutes, he texted me again saying that a couple other friends stopped over with their kids. It seemed that everyone was out for the race and considering we only live a block away from the main area, everyone was stopping by. Fun! We headed back home where I thought we'd hang out for a bit, then head back out.

But, once we got home, more people started showing up (including my dad's chiropractor?) and a reverse surprise party unfolded. It was so, so fun and I was completely surprised. There was much blanket-sitting, Strongbow-drinking, and good time-having going on.

And, apparently, Justin got in BIG trouble.

Um. I don't think he cares?

Also, I lit the candles to my own cake. But that was okay because it allowed me complete control over a chocolate covered strawberry chocolate sheet cake from Vegan Treats. Zomg!

My pops made the most yummy food, including his rockin' world famous tabouli, and everyone brought a donation for The OneWay Gallery to benefit the Waterkeeper Alliance. Jason, Avery and I became aware of this group when we visited the gallery in August and saw Magmo the Destroyer's brilliant SAVE OCEAN exhibition. I can't say enough about the art and its mission. Please, visit the links! Oh, and I also got some donations for my camera fund :)

Chris Le played his computer (formerly known as "spun some records") and we kicked it old school style, dancing around the living room. Around midnight, a few of us headed to the Reliance to dance to sneakers-in-a-dryer horrible music. We took one for the team and made the best of it.

L and BG left the next day and Jason and I bummed around the house, cleaned up and ate leftover tacos and cake. I'm not sure if I ever apologized for getting upset with him on Friday night. He showed up late to the birthday dinner at my mom's house. Of course, I didn't know he was running around getting things ready for Saturday. Oops. Thanks baby - and Laura - for everything :)

Now, in case having the most amazing friends and family IN THE WORLD wasn't enough, when I got back to work, there was this:

That was on Tuesday. My coworkers are notoriously late with my gift each year and so when I came back from a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, there was this:

Inside of which was this:

That, is a recycled wine barrel rain barrel from Master Garden Products. I am not even kidding. My ~~coworkers~~ friends are really quite phenomenal, are they not? Of course, they topped it all off with a homemade vegan coffee cake and a sweet card.

So that's it. The big three-oh is OVER. I'm here! And it's been great!

And I'm exhausted!

I just cannot believe how lucky and blessed and completely overwhelmed I feel. I've been blown away by the awesomeness of the people around me. And really, isn't that the best gift anyone could ever have? :)

CSA crop share 2007 16

2007-09-11T19:14:00.000-04:00

It's mid-September and so the board list is getting shorter:

Congratulations and celebrations to Blooming Glen founders and farmers, Tom and Tricia, who are getting married this weekend. Lots of love and peace to you both! <3

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

30!

2007-09-07T11:06:00.000-04:00

Because she's the most wonderful best friend EVER, L came all the way from Portland to celebrate my 30th birthday with me. She got into town last night and we sat on the porch, talking and drinking Strongbow until one in the morning.

Of course, we had lots planned for today, but due to the aforementioned Strongbow, we're still in bed. Heh.

I encourage everyone to gorge themselves on vegan cake in my honor today. (We can all use an excuse to eat more cake, right? ;) )

Rawk.

2007-09-06T18:20:00.001-04:00

Fellow Frank Lloyd Wright fan and vegan foodie, Ms. Vegan Diva, recently bestowed upon me a pretty pink badge of rawk:

And so, in return, I am rocking out with these fine ladies:

L at frekur.com, who is the bestest best friend a girl could ever have.
Kelly at atpftw.blogspot.com for always, consistently, like forever-ever being a source of inspiration and optimism.
Leslie at wearemadeofdreamsandbones.blogspot.com because she seriously kicked ass at posting ten weeks of Mid-Atlantic awesomeness during One Local Summer.
Nicole at peskyapostrophe.com for pulling together Farm To Philly.
Susan V., her phenomenal photography and always honest recipes at fatfreevegan.com.
Vicki at veganvice.blogspot.com, who is always full of peace, love and fun momma stuff.
Jamie at headcase-james.blogspot.com because she believes in change.

Now hop to it, ladies! Go tag some Rockin' Girl Bloggers!

CSA crop share 2007 15

2007-09-04T22:44:00.000-04:00

"No more flowers :( " says Tricia.

Please advise! Anyone have any idea what to do with that funky sunshine winter squash?

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

OLS dinner 2007 10

2007-09-02T12:26:00.000-04:00

Ta da! One Local Summer 2007 has been successfully completed!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 10

Homemade whole wheat pizza (McGeary Organics/Annville Flouring Mill - 94 miles) with tomatoes, onion, yellow and red bell peppers, garlic (all from Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles), basil (Bux-Mont Hydroponics - 5 miles), white sweet corn (Lancaster - 84 miles) and cherry bomb hot peppers (our garden - 0 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: yeast, olive oil, salt
Red and yellow watermelon (Blooming Glen) and peach (New Jersey - 40 miles) fruit salad.
Proprietors Reserve red wine (Chaddsford Winery - 48 miles)

I absolutely considered going all out with several recipes for the last meal, but thought this simple meal was much more representative of the spirit of OLS. Simplicity in making big changes with little effort. Simplicity too, in finding joy in small things; like cutting open a watermelon and discovering buttercup-yellow flesh instead of the expected pink.

Hm. Actually, now that I think about it, this dinner wasn't exactly simple. I'd never made pizza dough before. Not that it was complex, but there's a little bit of a learning curve to work into the math there :)

And that's what OLS has been for me these past ten weeks: doing things that I never before had an excuse to do. Making pizza dough and tortillas, going to the Skippack farmers' market and discovering artichokes, finding several local vegan protein sources - shit, me just purchasing flour to bake was an unthinkable prospect before this summer. I mean, really... I look at this and am just plain surprised with myself:

As much as I love to cook, and love local foods, I can truly say that never would've made a pizza from scratch had is not been for the challenge of OLS. Nor would I have considered using corn as a topping. But! These were all good decisions!

Thank you, Liz! You are amazing and inspiring and fun.

With the the picture-taking, planning, deadlines and posting, I'm happy to have a short break from these meals each week , but I'm sure local-specific meals will maintain a somewhat regular appearance here until OLS 2008. I'm interested to see what I can some up with say, in February. Stay tuned!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

CSA crop share 2007 14

2007-08-28T22:37:00.000-04:00

Yikes! My camera battery died, so no picture of the share board this week. Of course, if you're really dying to know just how many pounds of tomatoes that is, you can see notes at flick'r.

Ms. Cinder helped with the picture-taking and splitting-up of the share this week. What a gal!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

OLS dinner 2007 09

2007-08-27T07:40:00.000-04:00

This week's One Local Summer meal has been brought to you by the letter S: scrumptious squashed and stuffed spicy seitan!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 09

Pattypan squash (DelVal College - 12 miles), stuffed a sauteéd mixture of the squash, seitan (Ray's Seitan - 37 miles), onion, red frying peppers, carrots, garlic (all from Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) and jalapeño (our garden - 0 miles). I spiced it up the hot sauce Jason made last week with peppers from Blooming Glen and our garden. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, sage, thyme, black pepper
Boiled red potatoes (Blooming Glen) with with vegan buttery spread (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
Fresh, raw heirloom tomato slices and cucumber half-circles (Blooming Glen).
Whirlwind Witbier (Victory Brewing Company - 45 miles).

I was planning on not featuring the same beer or wine twice at any of these OLS meals, but this Whirlwind Whitbier is awesome. We had a few bottles left over from last week and instead of going out to pick up something new, we stuck with it. At this point, the I'm confident saying that it's my favorite Victory brew. I love white beers like Blue Moon and Hoegaarden, and Victory does a fine interpretation with this spicy cardamom and citrus blend. I didn't even know that Victory made a white beer - another unexpected benefit of OLS this year - and I think it's becoming my favorite local beer overall.

Ok, now to the food!

I'm overflowing with produce to the point that I'm storing some of our CSA and garden bounty on the dining room table. It looks pretty and takes care of a centerpiece, but I discovered an added benefit, as well. Because they're always in view, all week, I've been considering how to use the peppers, onion, garlic and potatoes in my meal. And when I saw some gorgeous pattypan squash at DelVal, I immediately put them in the context of that bowl on the table.

From the recipes I found online, patty pan squash seems to be traditionally stuffed with sausage, so I incorporated some sausage-y spices like pepper and sage into the seitan mixture I put together for our vegan dinner. I upped the hotness a bit more by using Jason's pepper sauce. I decided to serve the squash with very simple veggies that would cool all that spice. It was a great meal, and two squash fit perfectly into the toaster oven. Hooray for no super hot kitchen or preheating a giant stove!

Only one more week of OLS. I can't believe it!

RI pictures

2007-08-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

Whew! The last of the RI photographs have been flick'r-ed. I'm seriously taking forever to get my head out of this vacation. It was great to be away for two weeks, outside, in a tent and at the beach. Perfection.

We've done this camping trip to Fishermen's every year for the past 25-plus years, staying for 8 to 10 days each time. This year, we just couldn't stand the thought of having to pack up any sooner than we absolutely had to. Fishermen's has a maximum consecutive renting period of two weeks, so two weeks is was this year. And will be from now on.

It was during our last day or two that I realized I could've stayed away for another two weeks - and easily! It got me wondering, just how long would I have to be away before I started missing home? I often hear people saying about their vacation things like, "oh it was great, but I was ready to get home." Do you feel that? This trip made me realize that I never have. Of course, there must be a threshold, right? Maybe a month? Six months? A year?

I don't know what it is, but man, I'd love to find out. Anyone want to sponsor me? I'll travel about with my monster, you can make sure my bills are paid on time and my job will be waiting for me when (if?) we come back. I'll send postcards. A pictures! Any takers? :)

Speechless

2007-08-22T08:03:00.000-04:00

So, uh.

Avery has a girlfriend.

...

?!

CSA crop share 2007 13

2007-08-21T23:03:00.000-04:00

Daddy-O picked up the share for me this week because I had an appointment. What a guy!

(Click on the photos to see larger images and notes at flick'r.)

OLS dinner 2007 08

2007-08-19T23:37:00.000-04:00

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 08

Homemade whole wheat flour tortilla tower (McGeary Organics/Annville Flouring Mill - 94 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: baking soda, salt, canola oil.
First layer is lettuce (Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) and marinated and baked tempeh (Cricklewood Soyfoods - 28 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: tamari, liquid smoke.
Second layer is sauteed yellow squash brought home from Rhode Island (Fisherman's farmers market - o miles), red pepper (Blooming Glen) and onion (Lancaster - 83 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, cumin.
Third layer is sauteed corn, green bell peppers (both from Blooming Glen) and onion (Lancaster). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, cumin.
Topped with raw tomatoes (Blooming Glen and our garden - 0 miles).
And drizzled with Jason's homemade hot sauce (peppers from Blooming Glen and our garden). Nonlocal ingredients used: vinegar, cumin.
A chilled salad of raw lettuce, blanched string beans, raw onion (all from Blooming Glen) and raw tomatoes (from Blooming Glen and our garden).
Watermelon (Blooming Glen).
Whirlwind Witbier (Victory Brewing Company - 45 miles).

This was by far the most time-consuming, though absolutely the most delicious, OLS meal I've done. From the time I started mixing the batter for the tortillas until we sat down to eat, over four hours passed. Because we've been away, I had lots of random veggies both from RI and from the crop share to use up. It felt good to be in the kitchen after a couple weeks away from home, though I can't say I was thrilled to be spending such a large part of my Saturday cooking one meal.

I was trying to come up with a clever way to utilize the variety of produce when I started making the tortillas. This time, I borrowed my dad's pasta maker to roll them out. It worked beautifully, creating rectangular, uniform pieces of dough that I quickly realized would lend themselves wonderfully to a tortilla tower theme - perfect for incorporating my many vegetables!

While I diced and chopped and stir fried and rolled, Jase decided to try his hand at homemade hot sauce. I must say, it was super-nice hanging out and creating this week's meal together.

My next OLS meal will for sure be much lower maintenance. Cereal is sounding very good right about now :)

OLS dinner 2007 07

2007-08-19T22:56:00.000-04:00

Brought to you by... Rhode Island!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 07

Kalamata loaf (Fisherman's farmers market - 0 miles) with vegan buttery spread brought from PA (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
Stir fry of onion, zucchini and yellow squash (Alternative Food Co-op - 5 miles) and string beans (Fisherman's farmers market - 0 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.
Seitan brought from PA (Ray's Seitan in Philadelphia - 37 miles) stir fried with onion and garlic scapes (Alternative Food Co-op - 5 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.
Blueberries and blackberries (Fisherman's farmers market).
Boiled corn (Hodgkin's Farm - 18 miles) with Earth Balance.
Trinity IPA (Trinity Beer Company - 34 miles) and Newport Storm Summer Ale and Rhode Island Blueberry Ale (Coastal Extreme Brewing Company - 24 miles).

Lucky for me, our campground has a weekly farmers' market. I visited both Sundays that we were there and, in addition to the above, I picked up flowers and basil. Another bonus is the great food co-op located just about five miles from the campground. Although I don't recall exactly what farms the zucchini, squash, onion, scapes, berries and bread came from, I know they were all from RI. When in Rhode Island, every place is a half-hour away - definitely local ;)

This is my favorite OLS meal so far. Probably because it was gobbled up while in front of the campfire.

CSA crop share 2007 12

2007-08-19T22:46:00.001-04:00

Our August 14 crop share; pick up and photos by Brookie, again.

She thought this week's cherry tomatoes were especially cute. I tewtally agree :)

CSA crop share 2007 11

2007-08-19T22:40:00.001-04:00

Our Blooming Glen crop share from August 7, picked up and photographed by the best seester ever, Brookie :)

Back already?

2007-08-18T12:57:00.000-04:00

Man. I can't believe the holiday is over.

Although it's been slow easing my way out of this view:

I'll be posting my OLS 7 and 8 meals and CSA 11 and 12 shares soon :)

See ya!

2007-08-02T05:00:00.000-04:00

I'm off to the land of lots of tents and no internets :)

I'll be back in a couple weeks with crop share, OLS and ocean pictures.

Bye!

PS: You can play with this while I'm gone, http://www.factoryfarmmap.org. And after you've had enough of reality, feel free to cheer yourself up at http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail173.html and http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/web_crash_2007.php.

White hot flower lovin'

2007-08-01T17:27:00.001-04:00

The ginormous hibiscus in my white flower garden finally bloomed. I saw the other white flowers taking bets as to whether it was going to bloom before it was being devoured by Japanese beetles. Fuckers. (The beetles, I mean, not the other white flowers.)

This photo and some others have been added to my flick'r album. I especially like this little guy:

Reminds me of fireworks :) Pretty, pretty, pretty!

CSA crop share 2007 10

2007-07-31T22:42:00.000-04:00

A perfect ten, baby!

(Click on the photos to see larger images and notes at flick'r.)

Check out www.farmtophilly.com for my CSA report and lots more local awesomeness!

OLS dinner 2007 06

2007-07-30T22:07:00.000-04:00

Dewds, I baked.

Sorta.

Look, homemade flour tortillas!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 06

Whole wheat flour tortillas (McGeary Organics/Annville Flouring Mill - 94 miles), a layer of lettuce (Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) stuffed with a tofu scrambler made from tofu (Fresh Tofu - 25 miles), red frying peppers, onion, purple spring onions (Blooming Glen) several varieties of tomatoes (from Blooming Glen, and our garden - 0 miles), jalepeno peppers (our garden) and mushrooms (West Grove, PA - 60 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: Cumin, paprika, tumeric, salt, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, olive oil.
A chilled salad of blanched Romano string beans, orange cherry tomatoes (Blooming Glen) and a julienned chocolate pepper (our garden) splashed with a bit of vinegar. Nonlocal ingredients used: vinegar.
Boiled sweet corn (Blooming Glen) with vegan buttery spread (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
Strawberries for dessert (Blooming Glen).
Christian W. Klay Jumonville Glen Red wine (brought home from our Falling water trip - 0 miles).

Meredith turned me onto Annville Flouring Mill right before the start of OLS, and I contacted them right away. It's taken several weeks, but I finally received my package of organic whole wheat pastry flour from them. Oh, and that would be fifty pounds of organic whole wheat pastry flour. They would have mailed me a two-pound bag earlier, but I kind of thought that conflicted with the whole eat local thing, so while I waited for the big bag, I found some people with which to share. I ended up with ten pounds and this was my first shot using the flour.

As a rule, I don't bake. It's too specific and I'm distracted too easily. I also don't like being told what to do and certainly don't like feeling incompetent; baking does both of those things to me. Although I'm pretty comfortable knowing what substitutions are viable while following a cooking recipe (for instance, I have a ridiculous amount of squash in the fridge - something that I could substitute if I were using a recipe that called for eggplant), I'm all thumbs when it comes to baking.

Besides that, I can never remember which is which: baking soda or baking powder?

My definition of baking includes anything that requires flour and/or baking powder. (Or is it soda?). Tortillas contain both of those things and so, even though we eat them pretty often, I never even considered making them. That is until, of course, OLS.

My ugly tortillas are from this recipe. They tasted pretty good, but a were maybe a little too thick and a bit floury. I'm thinking that I may have over-floured the counter while I was rolling them out. They were sticking to the rolling pin (that I had to borrow from my dad), and I figured a little flour on the counter is good, so more is better, right? Still, they weren't bad for my first try. Considering I still have at least 9 1/2 pound of flour left, I'm sure I'll have another opportunity soon to perfect my recipe.

This meal also has about four different kinds of tomatoes. My favorite cherry tomatoes from Blooming Glen so far, are the green grape variety that I picked last week. They're perfectly acidic and so unique looking. I threw some in the scrambler along with some red cherry and regular tomatoes.

We also got to finally pick the chocolate pepper from our garden. This signifies the end of our experiment: it tasted like pepper, not chocolate. Just in case you were wondering.

So, that's it. Number six, can you believe it? Only four dinners left. Speaking of which...

I realize that this makes two OLS posts in a row! I had to get this week's meal done today because we're leaving for Rhode Island midweek. I do plan on scouring some local RI goodness while I'm there, but if anyone has a scoop (specifically where to find tofu, seitan, tempeh and/or bread), please let me know. I will post the meals I come up with when I get back in the middle of the month.

PS: Here's an extra shot of AC and his sloppy plate. And sloppy hair. He started dredlock-ing it yesterday.

Eat your lettuce!

OLS dinner 2007 05

2007-07-27T22:44:00.000-04:00

Barbecue!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 05

Grilled Summer squash, zucchini and onion (all from our Blooming Glen FarmCSA crop share - 5 miles) marinated in dressing and chopped purple and green basil (Blooming Glen) with grilled tempeh (Cricklewood Soyfoods - 28 miles) smothered in barbecue sauce (DelVal College - 12 miles), on a bed of steamed-then-sauteed beet greens, Swiss chard (Blooming Glen) and garlic (bought at the Skippack Farmers' Market from Jack's Farm - 24 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, and Italian dressing*.
Chilled salad of blanched string beans and orange and red tomatoes (Blooming Glen).
Sliced peaches (bought at Plumsteadville Natural Foods from a farm in Solebury - 23 miles) and strawberries (Blooming Glen).
Butt Monkey Chiller Chimp Ale (Lion Brewery - 84 miles)

*I'm one of those people that always ends up with the leftovers. You know how at the end of a party or a picnic, when things are getting put away, packed up and tossed, and there are always those two or three things that could stay or go? The, "If you don't want it, I'll just throw it away" things? Yeah. That's how I got an industrial-sized bottle of Italian dressing. What can I say? My maternal instincts kick into high gear when I see food being thrown away :)

Barbecue was a One Local Summer dinner that I had stashed away in the back of my mind since I signed up for the challenge. It's something that I knew I would do eventually, but wanted to save for a busy week. Coming down from the Fallingwater trip has pretty much depleted all of my energy this week, so barbecue it was.

Earlier in the week, I went to Plumsteadville Natural Foods to stock up on local tofu, and at the last minute asked if they carried seitan; specifically, my local Ray's Seitan. I was happy to learn that they did, and when I went to pull it out of the freezer, I saw a row of an unfamiliar tempeh. Knowing that the owners of the store have a special interest in small, regional manufacturers, my heart skipped a beat as I picked up the package. Could it be local? Hell yeah - it was!

And this is a perfect example of the frustration I have been experiencing in finding local vegan protein sources. Since last year, I've been scouring the internet looking for "tofu in Pennsylvania," "quinoa in Pennsylvania," "Tempeh in Pennsylvania," "amaranth in Pennsylvania," etc., etc., etc., and coming up with nothing. I've spent the last 12 months thinking that southeatern PA is just a dead zone in the way of local vegetable-based protein. It turns out, I'm all wrong. They're out there, but why are they so hard to find? Why aren't these companies listed on the buylocalpa.org website? Better yet, besides Fresh Tofu, why don't Ray's and Crinklewood Soyfoods have a website?

I mean, really. I gotta get on this. I'm going to go write some letters :)

Fallingmikaela

2007-07-26T08:06:00.000-04:00

Our mini holiday to Fallingwater was absolutely amazing. Dare I even say that it was a spiritual experience?

I think I may.

I've been a fan of America's most famous architect for over a decade, though had never seen one of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in person until this weekend. Chasing his architecture on the internet and in books for ten years in no way prepared me for experiencing his most famous and unequaled home. It was magical and surreal. So magical and surreal, in fact, that less than 24 hours after touring it the first time, I had to go back.

Fallingwater was built for E. J. and Liliane Kaufmann and their son Edgar, Jr. on their land in Bear Run as a weekend home. The story is that E. J. requested that their "county cabin" be built in such a way that it took advantage of the view of the waterfall on their property. No doubt, the family was a bit surprised upon seeing Wright's plans to build the home over the falls.

Construction began on the main house in 1937 and ended with the guest house in 1939. The original budget for the project was $40,000; the final cost was $150,000.

Throughout the home, you can hear the rushing of the the falls and stream. This is thanks in part to the many windows and doors, but mostly to the "hatch" Wright built in the great room. The hatch provides a sound-scape, air conditioning and a staircase to the stream, into a swimming area.

"Organic" does not even begin to describe the way in which this home was built. Because of it's cantilevered structure, views of the outside are fully exploited with rows of glass wrapping around corners so as not to disrupt the flow. Keep in mind that this was during 1937, before silicone; these glass panes are cut to join one another and to meet walls. In several cases, corners were simply eliminated. Wright called this effect "exploding the box."

The home is built on several boulders that are visible from both the outside and the inside of the house. Most poetically, the hearth of the fireplace on the main floor is part of a large rock that previously had been one of the family's favorite sunning spots. Outside, the boulder is in its natural state, growing moss and other vegetation, all at once while supporting the terrace off of E. J.'s bedroom and providing a cozy wall for the walkway between the main house and the guest house.

At Fallingwater, outside becomes in and inside becomes out, and there is almost equal square footage dedicated to the outside terraces, as there is to the indoor floor plan. In addition to the use of glass and utilization of the site's boulders, window ledges and floors are seamlessly transitioned between windows and doors. In the hallway that connects the home to a walkway to the guest house, there is a corner built around a boulder that, when it's wet enough, will run with water from a spring.

We were at first disappointed that our visit was during a rainy couple of days, but one of the owners of County Seasons Bed and Breakfast (where we stayed) was actually excited for us. He said that the rain and wet grounds would make for a better tour and was actually his preferred setting of Fallingwater. Once there, we had to agree. The water made an appearance in the spring inside, we were able to see the drainage spouts in action (simple holes and small chutes from the terrace floors into the creek below) and outside, the rock walls were just dripping and pooling with water running down the mountainside.

Fallingwater, entrusted to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, is essentially part of the 5,000-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve, and so everywhere we looked, we were taken by the home itself, as well as the natural beauty of its landscape. Of course, that was Frank Lloyd Wright's intention: that visitors would be forced to see, acknowledge and appreciate the amazing landscape. He built completely in concert not just with the waterfall, but with the entire stream, the trees, rhododendrons, sandstone, shale, limestone, and sun.

And there are gobs and gobs or artwork everywhere. Picaso, Diego Rivera, John J. Audubon and Hiroshige are on the walls, Tiffany lighting is in every room, chairs by Laszlo Gabor and Bruno Mathsson sit quietly in reading corners, a Jacques Lipchitz statue praises the plunge pool - it's almost overwhelming. There's just too much to see, too much to take in!

Which is why we went back for a second tour. We easily could've stayed for the week. Seriously.

I haven't even mentioned the inside of the house: The beveled ceilings, the lateral shelving, the flagstone floor, the low ceilings, the efficiency of space, compression and release, the simple colors and materials used, how it has the largest collection of Wright furniture.

Or of the era in which the construction took place: Can you imagine what the neighbors thought? A house with glass walls, over a waterfall, with four indoor bathrooms, cantilevered everything and a "great room." The idea of an open floor plan is common to us now, but it certainly wasn't then.

Or of the divine intervention it took to get this home built: Merchant prince E. J. Kaufmann and Frank Lloyd Wright each have a personality that can hardly be imagined and egos to match. At the time of this project, Wright was at on of the lowest points of his career. The fact that this patron came to this architect with this piece of land at this moment is a story in and of itself.

Or the energy of the house: Synchronized, alive, breathing, Cubism, linear, flowing, moving, confusion, realization, mathematical, noisy, calming, serene, and on and on...

Clearly I was moved by my encounter with Fallingwater. Did you get that? ;) Visit the flick'r set for more interior, exterior and grounds photographs.

And can you believe that this was just the beginning of our holiday? Man, that Jase sure is an amazing guy. He put together this whole get away package for my birthday last year. He booked an early morning tour at Fallingwater, a late afternoon visit to Kentuck Knob, two nights at Country Seasons Bed and Breakfast (an easy five-minute drive to Fallingwater which was perfect for that 8:45am tour) and two nights at Angelspring Farm Wellness Retreat where we had massages and hot vegan dinners brought to us in a picnic basket each evening. Not to mention tons of stops in between for meals, wine and sightseeing. I'll write more on those later.

For now, I'm happy to just revisit Fallingwater, the centerpiece and catalyst to the trip.

Sigh.

PS: Yes, of course we had food at Fallingwater, too. They have a cafe that was serving, in addition to other things, a fantastic seasonal summer vegetable soup ;)

CSA crop share 2007 09

2007-07-24T23:03:00.000-04:00

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!

(Click on the photos to see larger images and notes at flick'r.)

We got 7 1/2 pounds of tomatoes this week, plus one pint of cherry tomatoes. I think this heirloom could represent the whole lot on it's own:
I got to see the whole farming family today, and Tricia, Tom and Dakota gave me a sneak peek of the ginormous heirloom monster tomato that's been growing on the farm. Yowzah!

On the joy of motherhood

2007-07-23T08:10:00.000-04:00

Is it September yet?

Injury sustained Wed., July 11:Cause: failed landing of a board slide at the skate park.

Injury sustained Thu., July 12:Cause: bailed off his skateboard trying to land a nine-step jump at the skate park (for the record, he landed it several times first; this was from his fourth or fifth attempt).

Injuries sustained Tue., July 17:Cause: a game of man hunt involving 10pm darkness, gravel and a pothole.

Injury sustained Sun., July 22:Cause: street skating.

In order to lighten the mood and ease the stinging of washing fresh wounds, I've been distracting AC with the camera, promising a special flick'r set of just his busted up self.

'Cause I hear that's what all the good moms do.

CSA crop share 2007 08

2007-07-17T20:09:00.001-04:00

Pretty, pretty share this week:

(Click on the photos to see larger images and notes at flick'r.)

OLS dinner 2007 04

2007-07-16T21:28:00.000-04:00

Artichokes? In Pennsylvania? Really? And cute baby ones, to boot! Who knew?

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 04

The monster salad all started with a couple cute heads of baby romaine lettuce (bought at the Skippack Farmers' Market from Jack's Farm - 24 miles). I added shredded turnips, carrots and beets, sliced cucumbers and radishes (all from our Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles), slices of banana peppers and a cherry tomato (both from our garden - 0 miles). I made a quick dressing of olive oil, vinegar and mashed cherries to drizzle on top. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, vinegar.
Still working on those red cherries (bought by kah for me at her CSA, Pennypack, who imported them from Lancaster, PA - 84 miles) and yellow cherries (bought at the Indian Valley Farmers' Market from Windy Spring Farm - 15 miles).
Hop Devil IPA (Victory Brewing Company - 45 miles).
Boiled corn and artichoke (Jacks' Farm), and baked tofu (Fresh Tofu - 25 miles) on a bed of steamed Swiss chard (Blooming Glen) lightly sautéed in garlic (Jack's Farm) and olive oil. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.

I'm still on the hunt for local protein in the form of beans, nuts and grains, so I decided to check out the Skippack Farmers' Market this weekend. Although I found no protein, I did find some goodies at the Jack's Farm booth, in the form of garlic, adorable artichokes and sweet-elicious corn. They each complemented my CSA share and garden veggies perfectly.

This week's meal started with a mission to consume much produce. We're leaving in a couple days for a mini holiday to see Falling Water and Kentuck Knob so I wanted to clean out the crisper drawers before we go. Once I saw the little heads of lettuce at the market, I decided that a salad would be the spotlight of our meal.

Seriously, we ate a ton of vegetables. And drank a lot of beer. Mom would be proud - of the vegetable part, I mean :) If you just can't get enough, there are a few more photos of this week's meal on flick'r, including one of my beet-stained food processor. Holy magenta.

OLS dinner number four is done, the fridge is cleaned out and I had just enough leftovers for my lunch and dinner today. Sweet!

PS: Check out my fellow regional OLS participant's super creative veg*n OLS meals from week three and week two. How clever is that girl?!

Coming home

2007-07-16T08:11:00.000-04:00

Ah ha ha hahahaaha! :D

OLS dinner 2007 03

2007-07-12T07:26:00.000-04:00

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 03

Fried green bell peppers (from our Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles), purple bell peppers (DelVal College - 12 miles), onion (also Blooming Glen), seitan (Ray's Seitan in Philadelphia - 37 miles) and a splash of DelVal's own barbecue sauce, atop a sliced heirloom tomato (Blooming Glen) and wrapped in a complet baguette (Baker's on Broad - 0 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.
Fresh red cherries (bought by kah for me at her CSA, Pennypack, who imported them from Lancaster, PA - 84 miles) and yellow cherries (Windy Spring Farm - 15 miles).
A cold salad made from raw red beets and very quickly steamed-then-cooled carrots, green string beans (all Blooming Glen) and yellow string beans (Windy Spring). Nonlocal ingredients used: vinegar.
The classic in these parts, Yuengling Lager (Yuengling Brewery - 68 miles).

It's obscenely hot around here, and so I've been anticipating an easy sammich, raw side dishes and icy cold beer OLS dinner since Sunday. Bakers on Broad makes my favorite bread each Wednesday and Sunday. Complet is made from organic quinoa, spelt, amaranth, millet, brown rice, white flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt and vitamin C powder, making it nutritionally fulfilling, or complete. Those bakers. So clever. Especially the French ones.

I went in this morning to get my a loaf of complet and a baguette for my OLS hoagie-style sandwiches, and who knew? They had a complet baguette. Brilliant! Actually, as it turns out, the baguette was a bit heavy for how I used it. Next time, I'll hollow it out.

My favorite part of tonight's meal was a side of cool veggies. I steamed-for-just-a-minute, some green and yellow string beans and carrots, added raw beets (all julienned) and let everything cool in the fridge until it was time to eat. If this weren't my local meal, I probably would have added slivered almonds and a sesame oil dressing, but instead I simply sprinkled on a few drops of vinegar before eating. The result was chilly and crisp - a perfect compliment to the spicy sandwich. Also, it looked real pretty.

So, that's it - my number three meal is done! If you're interested in seeing what other people are cooking and creating, visit OneLocalSummer.blogspot. There, you can see the meal roundups each week, which are organized (mostly) by region:

New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
Mid-Atlantic (DE, NJ, NY, PA)
South (AL, AR, DC, GA, FL, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV)
Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, OK, SD, WI)
West (AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY)
International
Latecomers

And be sure to check out the One Local Summer photograph pool at flick'r for photographs of OLS dinners, as well as farmers' market scores, garden bounties, pick-your-own trips and, of course, CSA shares.

Bon Appétit!

CSA crop share 2007 07

2007-07-10T10:40:00.000-04:00

We got the first glimpse of Tricia's babies this week:

Aren't they adorable? I can't believe she let us take them home!

Here's an extra shot of the share booty, taken from the other side. You can see the beautiful flowers better from this angle:

(Click on the photos to see larger images and notes at flick'r.)

The Blooming Glen newsletter this week had an easy-peasy-looking recipe for refrigerator pickles. Considering the cucumbers we got with the share and the ones pulled from our garden, I'm planning on giving them a shot. Details to be posted here, of course!

PS: Haha! The title of this post is fun :) (See my previous post's heading.)

"I be up in the gym just working on my fitness."

2007-07-09T18:19:00.000-04:00

Dewds.

I'm on my way out the door to go to the gym for my 120th visit.

Wo0T!

After the shower

2007-07-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

When I get out of the shower and am toweling myself off, I almost always think of freshly-showered Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Jerry McGuire when he refuses a towel offered by Tom Cruise in a locker room. "No, I air-dry."

OLS dinner 2007 02

2007-07-05T22:27:00.000-04:00

Did you hear? One Local Summer got so big, it needed its very own website. In its honor, I present to you, a very big OLS post this week ;)

Nyuhm, nyuhm!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 02

Fresh blueberries (someone's front yard produce stand - 6 miles) and black raspberries (picked while on a bike ride through Lenape Park in Perkasie - 5 miles).
Troegs DreamWeaver Wheat Ale (Troeg's Brewery - 95 miles).
Steamed Swiss chard, beet greens and kohrabi greens, sautéed with scallions and shredded kohlrabi (all from our Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, pepper.
Focaccia (Baker's on Broad - 0 miles), spread with pink pesto made from garlic scapes, purple basil (both from Blooming Glen) and cherries (bought by kah for me at her CSA, Pennypack, who imported them from Lancaster, PA - 84 miles), then layered with steamed then lightly sautéed purple kale, and with steamed then lightly sautéed summer squash and scallions, and sprinkled with chopped basil and parsley (all Blooming Glen). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt.
Stir fried seitan (Ray's Seitan in Philadelphia - 37 miles), scallions, basil and parsley (from Blooming Glen, of course). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.

I was recently turned onto a local organic flour source, the Annville Flouring Mill in Lancaster, by Meredith (edge effect). I've ordered flour, but until it arrives, I'm happy to feature bread from my favorite bakers (Linda and Raphael from Bakers on Broad) who live and bake just a couple blocks away. The opened shop just about two years ago, and I've been visiting a few times a month to buy their amazing complet bread and olive rolls. Occasionally, we'll pick up some fun-to-decorate focaccia, too :)

I happened across kohlrabi patties on frugelmom's photo stream earlier this week and I plan to veganize her recipe in the future. I couldn't wait to try out her method of shredding kohlrabi, though. It was a great way to incorporate an additional texture and flavor into our usual steamed-stir-fried greens.

I split a share from our CSA with my sister and when we hooked up to break up the order, she mentioned a garlic scape pesto recipe she saw online. We talked a bit about it, and eying up the gorgeous purple basil we had just received and considering the remaining handful of garlic scapes from last week, I decided to make a spread for the focaccia. I processed all of the eight or nine garlic scapes, all four stems of purple basil and the last stem of green basil from last week's share with some olive oil. The result was fragrant, but extremely bitter. Ugh. Realizing that I used all of my garlic scapes and basil, I quickly became bitter myself.

I certainly couldn't toss the mixture; I had to find something sweet, local and currently in my kitchen, to add to the mix. I was frustrated, grumpy and pissy, banging around the kitchen, when Jason suggested adding a handful of the cherries I had out on the counter. Cherries? Cherries to pesto?! That would never... or would it?

Well... why not?

At like a million dollars a pint (or four, whatever), I couldn't imagine it was the smart thing to do. I already used my entire lot of scapes and basil and now felt like I was getting ready to toss $8 worth of cherries. "And the cherry season is so shooort," I whined.

Luckily, Jase tapped into his superhero patience and encouraged me to start with just a bit of chopped cherry and a teaspoon of the pesto. He's so smart, I know.

It was passable, so we pitted and processed abut 15 cherries into the pesto and spread it onto the focaccia. I added a layer of greens and scallions, then summer squash, and baked it all at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. The end result was way more than passable. It was divine. The high temperature really brought out the cherry sugars, accentuating the garlic and basil flavors. Also, I think that just by baking the scapes, their bitterness was subdued.

I'm glad I didn't just toss the pesto and give up. Something I don't know I would have done, had I not been preparing my weekly local meal. Losing the ingredients was just not an option - I mean, I only get so many garlic scapes a season! Plus, what would the farmers at Blooming Glen think if I just wasted that food?! Man.

Another OLS week down! A little more dramatic than last week, but still fun to prepare and so delicious to eat :)

CSA crop share 2007 06

2007-07-03T22:12:00.000-04:00

More colors are cropping up our lovely share. This week we got some pretty, pretty orange carrots and purple basil:

(Click on the photos to see larger photographs and notes at flick'r.)

I found myself reflecting a bit today's pickup...

I tend to focus on the "A" part of CSA: Agriculture. I get so much joy out of beautiful, organic, local produce. The smells and colors of fresh veggies really touches me, and I truly love contemplating a handful of kale as I de-stem and slice it up for a family meal. Call me a nerd, but I consider the earth and sun and rain that went into its growth and it makes me smile :) I appreciate my part in sustaining durable agriculture practices. Besides that, produce is just plain pretty. I could look at the variety and colors all day.

This week, I was pleasantly reminded of the "C" in CSA: Community. On my way back from picking peas, I heard someone call my name and turned to see one of the directors at Avery's school. We chatted about the travels she's made to Tennessee this summer and I filled her in on Avery's adventures to North Carolina and Riversport. Then on my way from clipping snapdragons, I ran into a fabulous volunteer from Habitat for Humanity's Women Build program. We talked about how excited we were, being able to take part in a CSA - and one with such amazing and compassionate leadership, to boot (see: Tricia and Tom)!

Sigh.

A little touchy-feely this week, I know. I promise we'll get back to focaccia porn ASAP!

Phillies

2007-07-01T23:35:00.000-04:00

Jase and I scored two awesome tickets for a recent Phillies game. This was only the second time I've seen a professional baseball game live. The first was over a decade ago in Denver, at a stadium that, in my opinion, made the better move in naming itself after a beer instead of a bank.

Citizens Bank Park is well-designed, the bathrooms were clean and they serve local hot dogs and beers. The hard, plastic, tiny seats though, were truly sucky. It was incredibly hot and humid, and so when the clouds starting rolling in and the wind picked up, we were actually relieved.

The event was sold out thanks in part to it being a fireworks night. The game was tied in the sixth inning, it started raining in the ninth inning and Phillies won at the bottom of the tenth. The whole story is here - it was an exciting game!

And to make it even more enjoyable? Why, vegan beers and dogs, of course :)

Haha - I love it!

OLS dinner 2007 01

2007-06-28T12:54:00.000-04:00

I did it! I made my first One Local Summer dinner! W00t!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 01

Blueberry wine (Country Creek Winery - 6 miles) with fresh blueberries (someone's front yard produce stand - 6 miles) and chopped apple (DelVal College - 12 miles).
Water and ice (from our tap - 0 miles) ;)
Lightly sautéed spring onions, garlic scapes and fresh basil (all from our Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) mixed with steamed summer squash (Blooming Glen) and pattypan squash (DelVal College - 12 miles), and steamed, chopped collard greens, kale and Swiss chard (also from Blooming Glen). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, pepper.
A cool cucumber salad includes cucumbers from Blooming Glen and our own garden, and spring onions and turnips from Blooming Glen. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, red pepper flakes.
Baked tofu (Fresh Tofu - 25 miles) in a garlic scape and basil (from Blooming Glen) marinade. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, Bragg's liquid aminos.

One Local Summer (OLS) is an online project created by the fabulous Liz over at www.pocketfarm.com. OLS encourages each of us to get in touch with our inner locavore by preparing one dinner each week of the summer that is comprised of local ingredients. Each participant then blogs about her/his meal (or reports to L iz if s/he doesn’t have a blog), and submissions are tracked at Pocket Farm.

OLS is not a contest or a competition. Simply, it's a way to “explore your world and support local growers and start learning what's available in your local foodshed. One Local Summer is an easy way to gradually enter the world of eating locally."

So once a week, starting June 24 and ending the week of September 1, I will be preparing one dinner using as many local sources as possible. I first heard about OLS mid-season last year and was ready to join, but was quickly thwarted by the seemingly impossible task of finding locally-produced vegan protein sources. We’ve got lots of great, organic, free range, antibiotic- and hormone-free, grass-fed, pasture-raised, etc., etc., etc., sources of meat and dairy that are incredibly easy to get a hold of, but not so much in the way of grains, beans, seeds, legumes. Now, I'm not saying that they're not out there; they're just much more difficult to track down.

Since then, I managed to find a source of tofu, Fresh Tofu, located about 25 miles from my home. Once I located a retail place from which I could buy the tofu (Plumsteadville Natural Foods), I decided that I could give OLS a shot this year.

I’m kind of nervous, but very excited about my participation. And really, now that the first meal is done, I'm feeling much less nervous. I’ll be tracking progress, photos and challenges here as the summer continues. Of course, I've also included this as one of my 43Things :P

Wish me luck! Or, better yet, go join and we’ll wish each other luck :D

CSA crop share 2007 05

2007-06-26T21:35:00.000-04:00

Dewds. I tewtally forgot to bring me camera to pick up the share. Here's what I'm pretty sure we got:

Scallions - 1 bunch
Kale, Swiss chard - 3/4 pound (mix-or-match)
Basil - 1 bunch
Kohlrabi - from the share table
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Head lettuce - 1
Summer squash - 4 pounds
Radiccio or escarole - 1 (I chose radicio)
Garlic scapes - 1/4 pound
Cucumbers - 3
Beets - 6
Flowers - 1 small bouquet
Sugar snap peas - 1 quart

(Click on the photo to see larger photographs and notes at flick'r.)

You can't tell in the picture, but the flowers are really pretty. I'll think about taking dome close-ups, in all their vase glory.

Did I tell you the one about the porch?

2007-06-22T12:21:00.001-04:00

Hey, did I tell you about the other weekend when Jase ripped down part of the porch to get to a creature that had been chewing at the wood facade?

And how maybe I might have encouraged him to do so, you know, before irreversible damage was done and the entire row was infested with warrior carpenter ants! or bees! or mice! all because of us!

And how actually, ha, ha! there wasn't even one single creature up there after all! Huh, who knew?

And then how he got to spend the next six hours rebuilding the torn up porch? The porch that didn't need to be torn up in the first place. And all ON HIS DAY OFF?

No? I didn't mention that? Huh...

I guess I didn't tell you about the slippers, either then.

CSA crop share 2007 04

2007-06-19T17:55:00.000-04:00

Tricia gave us some stern instructions on the board this week:

Grill it, bake it, stuff it, fry it, preserve it, leave it on your neighbor's doorstep... just don't leave it here! It's that time of year - we are swimming in summer squash! Enjoy it while you can! :)

(Click on the photos to see larger photographs and notes at flick'r.)

I even added some giant squash from the share table to my bags. Sometimes you just have to take one for the team, right? Any advice on preservation, or other suggestions for how I could use these us?

My white and bleeding heart

2007-06-17T18:29:00.000-04:00

I have a thing for white flowers. I love them for their contrast against their greens, for their crisp style, for their starkness and honesty, for their simple elegance, for their light.

It's interesting because elsewhere in my life, white does not play much of a role. I'm inclined to wear black and earth tones, I've painted my home in bold colors and I famously inject brightly-colored veggies into my (already vibrant green) guacamole.

But white flowers, especially little ones, just get to me. And it hasn't always been that way; only in the past year or so. I seek them out, and one of my three gardens is white flowers only. Is that peculiar? It wasn't planned, it just kind of happened, almost without my knowing.

I mean, who knew I was such an elitist?

Looking back, I think it may have begun with the purchase and subsequent repainting of the house. Black had always been my favorite, but it's certainly not useful when considering room and trim colors. With the bright color palate I chose, and trim and baseboards well beyond refinishing to original wood, white seemed to be the solitary paint chip left. Maybe that's where white began worming its way into my visions?

I suppose it started slowly, this favoritism with white flowers, as most habits and crushes do. This seems different though, as I am a very conscious person. I combat my inner Virgo perfectionist by deliberately, but slyly making a decision, then quietly integrating new priorities into my daily life. Otherwise, I get so caught up in the organizing and planning and plotting and mapping, that I never actually do what I had intended in the first place, as it all gets too overwhelming and seemingly impossible.

Oddly, I didn't make an aware decision to plant white flowers, I just found myself doing it, and on trips to nurseries, dismissing suggestions of plants that produced other-colored petals. The two plants at the top of my list? A white rhododendron and a white bleeding heart.

(I know moms aren't supposed to have a favorite, the obviously, the bleeding heart has a special place in my - er, heart.)

Which brings me here, now. Clearly with an objective to surround myself with pretty white flowers, but also with a "how did I get here" question on my face. And what does any clever do when pondering the meanings and subtleties of life? Turn to the internet, of course!

In my searches, I found this insanely creative and fun website about colors, http://www.mariaclaudiacortes.com/#. Please do investigate :)

Other tidbits upon which I stumbled:

White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection. White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning. In heraldry, white depicts faith and purity. --http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Strictly speaking, white is not a color, but the manifestation of the presence of all color - the complete energy of light. It stands for wholeness and completion. In many cultures it represents openness and truth. White has a cold quality. It can provide clarity as its energy is complete. White has purification vibrations and can be used to clear blocks from your path. It holds the potential to move toward every other color and this makes it a good choice for new beginnings, and development in any direction.
Put some white in your life when you want: * to clear clutter and obstacles away * to start a fresh beginning * to bring about mental clarity * purification of thoughts or actions
-- http://crystal-cure.com/white.html

Meaning of the color white: How the color white effects us mentally and physically * aids mental clarity * encourages us to clear clutter or obstacles * evokes purification of thoughts or actions * enables fresh beginnings -- http://www.sensationalcolor.com/content/view/1063/144/

CSA crop share 2007 03

2007-06-12T22:31:00.001-04:00

Nyuhm, nyuhm... summer squashies :)

(Click on the photos to see larger photographs and notes at flick'r.)

Holy strawberries!

2007-06-07T22:44:00.000-04:00

A small portion of the three quarts of strawberries (see previous post) from Blooming Glen:

A breakfast of quinoa, diced strawberries, almond milk, and a bit of maple syrup. Best enjoyed out on the porch stoop. Yum!

CSA crop share 2007 02

2007-06-05T21:24:00.000-04:00

Holy strawberries - three quarts!

(Click on the photos to see larger photographs and notes at flick'r.)

Sk8 FDR

2007-06-03T09:54:00.000-04:00

FDR skate park in Philadelphia especially rocks because it represents the awesomeness that a group of passionate people can accomplish. In the mid-nineties, when skateboarding was banned from Love Park, the city tried to make nice with the skateboarding community by donating a piece of land in FDR Park (Broad and Pattison Streets) below an I-95 overpass for a new skate park.

Unfortunately, their half-assed efforts (the construction of two pyramids and a grindbox) proved to only further piss off the skaters.

Fortunately, the anger was transferred positively, and fueled the skating community to build their own park.

Like any grassroots project, especially those headed by such a strong willed population, the construction of FDR skate park had many ups and downs and lots of drama. In the end, a pretty amazing concrete park emerged, thanks to the fundraising and volunteer efforts of the skateboarders. There's an excellent article about FDR here. I do hope that the second generation of skaters at FDR (Avery, et. al.) appreciate those who came before them, rose up to the Man, and took care of business.

We went on Saturday, the boys to skate and me to take photographs of them, the graffiti and concrete landscape. There's a half-pipe that's good for kids just learning to ride, but otherwise, FDR is not a place for a kid to learn how to skateboard. Even though Avery is a confident skater and is familiar with the park and the concept of carving lines, we still always get there early to be out of the way by late afternoon.

Happy trunk.

Don't be a victim.

A patient, older skater.

Conner and ice cream.

Dustin climbing out of a bowl.

Pop pop's tired.

Dirt balls.

And, of course, I must mention food, right? After FDR, we headed into Chinatown for fabulous vegetarian lunches at Singapore :)

Check out our photos from the day here, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikaelamartin/sets/72157600302119505/.

CSA crop share 2007 01

2007-05-30T22:30:00.000-04:00

Oh. My. Goodness. Life is just so good!

I picked up our very first crop share from Blooming Glen Farm in Perkasie today, which included some of the most luscious pick-your-own strawberries EVER.

(Click on the photos to see larger photographs and notes at flick'r.)

I can't say enough about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Pick a soapbox -- fresh produce is healthier, local food supply is better, preserve land through agriculture, organic farming is needed, CSA shares are a great value for your grocery dollar, environmentalism through consumerism, support sustainability/durability of the planet, variety of produce is unbeatable -- then climb up on top of it and go buy a share at your local CSA this season. Check out Local Harvest for a place near you!

So are they a vegetable, fruit or grain?

2007-05-29T09:44:00.000-04:00

In response to a letter I wrote regarding the use of gelatin in a Curel brand body lotion:

Mikaela,

Thank you for your inquiry. Our Curel Continuous Comfort Moisturizer does contain gelatin; however, it is derived from a fish and not an animal.

We are pleased to inform you that we do not use animals to test any aspect of our products. Additionally, current plans do not include the use of animals in the development of new products.

Thank you for the opportunity to be of service.

Cordially,
Kao Brands Consumer Relations Department
Ban Biore Curel Jergens John Frieda

I've had this email for a couple weeks, and have not replied yet because I keep thinking I'll come up with some eloquent and clever response. But then every time I think about it, I'm just like, "Dude, are you serious?"

So why are we doing... all of this?

2007-05-23T22:47:00.000-04:00

She, is amazing. For a lot of reasons. A ton, really.

Today though, she's amazing because when I told her, in a fit of awareness, that NONE OF THIS SHIT EVEN MATTERS - NONE OF IT!, it was not only something that she too benefited from hearing out loud, but also something to which she thoughtfully and beautifully added:

"You know... sometimes remembering that none of this matters is kind of sad. But sometimes... it's also kind of a relief."

Fuckin' a.

I love that girl.