Phase 1

The first phase of planting happened about a week ago.  We kept a few of the existing plants to see what they do and covered the exposed soil with woodchips to retain moisture and create a worm habitat.  Two varieties of seeds were planted 1 inch in the ground.  Each planting area was covered with a reclaimed water bottle to create a greenhouse effect.  With a little luck we'll have sunflowers later this summer!

Plot 78B

My friend Allan and I are now co-lessors of a 4x8 garden plot at the Fox Point Community Garden!  She's not much to look at right now but we are hoping with a little TLC, she will be beautiful and bountiful.

The garden came with a thriving chive plant, an abundance of chickweed (which would be great food for chickens if either of us had any), and a few yet unidentified seedlings.  We pulled the chickweed left it lying there to keep the soil from drying out while we plan our crop.

To create some diversity in the Community Garden, we chose a crop that has big showy flowers, is edible, and grows well in full sun.  We'll shop for seeds this week and get them in the ground.  Stay tuned to find out what it is!

Food Bits

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

A new recipe I tried to pack more veggies into pizza.  The crust is made from... grated cauliflower!!  The original recipe I used is here but the second time around, I liked the addition of fresh oregano, red pepper flakes, and some cornmeal. Cooking on parchment helped it release from the cookie sheet.

It was actually quite yummy (plenty of cheese!) even if it wasn't as crispy as I'd like.  I will make it again.  Heck, I still have half a cauliflower left!

Walmart Steaks

Walmart is now offering "top quality USDA choice steaks".  There are ads all over TV where "steakovers" fool restaurant patrons into thinking they are getting a quality product.  No apologies here but I really don't think I'll be getting my meat from the same place people go to buy home electronics, gardening supplies, and jumbo packages of paper towels.  

By eating less red meat in general, I don't feel bad about splurging on the occasional steak that I know came from an animal that was fed well without hormones, and slaughtered humanely. 

Local Turnips or a Quality Meal?

While farm to table cuisine is gaining popularity among some, it doesn't fit all.  Earlier this month Julia Moskin of the NY Times wrote an article about two acclaimed chefs, Thomas Keller and Andoni Luis Adurizhave who have opted to focus on cooking with quality ingredients to produce a gastronomical experience for their patrons.  Sometimes the best oysters for a dish come from Maine, not Long Island.  That is what customers are paying for- the best.  Chefs aren't going to save the earth and we shouldn't expect them to.  Some of our favorite things come not from our backyard but from far away places- Italian wine, French cheeses, Belgian chocolates, Irish beer, Canadian whiskey, Greek yogurt, Russian dressing.  OK, the last two are pretty much made in America but you get the idea.  Why limit creative minds and palates?  Go local if you want but it's OK to order the salmon or Chilean sea bass- as long as it's wild caught. Ha!

Cape Cod Cuisine Cooking Class

Killing a lobster.

Just had my second Chef's Choice class at Johnson and Wales. Today's topic was Cape Cod Cuisine. You guessed it... lots of fish. On the menu: Quahog Clam Chowder, New England Chopped Salad, Deviled Scrod, Nantucket Flounder Roll-ups, Hyannisport Lobster Pie, Cranberry Pork Tenderloin, and Peppered Salmon with Dill-Caper Sauce.

Chef Branden Lewis taught this class as well and another chef remembered me from the last class. Today I ended up making the lobster pie with Paul who is a shellfisherman. His wife wasn't interested in killing the live lobsters so she moved to another group. haha. It was messy in close quarters. Not sure if I'd make the same lobster pie recipe. I would have liked a puff pastry crust but in New England-style it has a cracker crumb topping.

Salmon, scrod, salad, and lobster pie with a last minute fancy sauce.

Some of the food from the concurrent Texas Barbeque class.

Cooking Class

Gnocchi presentation with Chef Branden

Our veggies

My grilled steaks (despite the poor photo color)

Today I attended the "Farm to Table" recreational cooking class at Johnson & Wales University with about 15 other students  It was fun, and I learned a lot.  Chef Branden was a great instructor.  First up was a lesson on food prep safety and knife skills (yay!).  Then we returned to our work stations to tackle a course featuring local produce, meat, or seafood.  My partner Lynn and I ended up with grilled skirt steak with roasted asparagus, charred cherry tomatoes.  Lynn wanted to make something her 13 year old boys would eat so I let her choose.  I would have preferred something that I wouldn't normally cook but oh well.  Other teams were working on the following courses: carrot soup with candied ginger and coconut creme fraiche; marinated mushroom salad; pan seared cod fiddle head ferns with roasted garlic and chili; gnocchi with brussel sprouts, pancetta, and fresh herbs; lavender shortbread and honey gelato sandwiches; and cherry-apricot clafoutis with vanilla ice milk.

Somehow I ended up trimmin' and grillin' the skirt steaks and Lynn got to work on the veggie prep and marinade.  I think 4 instructors came over and told us how to trim asparagus.  Some were of the bend and snap camp, others were of the chop the ends camp.  Back to my meat.  Lemme just say, all the instructors (and some of the male students) were pretty impressed with the diamond grill marks on my steaks. When the steaks were done, one of the instructors helped me out with my knife skills since I didn't get a chance to practice while trimming the meat.  I learned how to safely chop things really small.  We were encouraged to go see what other tables were doing but that was hard for me, I got pretty focused on my own cooking.  But when my hands were clean, I walked around and asked questions.

A couple of hours later, our dishes were plated an laid out buffet style in a tasting room.  Our class and the Spanish cooking class (which was going on next door) got to taste all our dishes.  There was A LOT of food and it was all quite tasty.  Can't wait for Cape Cod Cuisine next month.

A New Garden!

Today I built a 5' x 5' x 8" garden.  It didn't take long but was quite laborious.  And, it's conveniently located right next to the compost bin! I put up a temporary "creature cover" to prevent it from becoming a giant litter box while I wait for the soil to settle.  Then I'll plant my seeds.  And if seeds don't work, I'll just stick some plants in.  Right now I'm planning for cooking herbs, radishes, spinach and beets.