No Tricks, Just Treats

As much as I have really not enjoyed living in a construction zone for the past few months, it is really bothering me now that I’m reading all of these crafty blogs with their Halloween treat project ideas! I really hit the jackpot today when I discovered One Pretty Thing. They are a super cool craft round-up of project ideas from all different sites but the ones I’m liking the most right now are the “Halloween Food and Drink Roundups.“

photo courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens

photo by Wendell Webber courtsey of Woman's Day

Some of these things look so delicious (or gross but that is the point) and it’s killing me that I do not have a kitchen in which to make them. Fortunately, one recipe featured is a “no bake” and I’m definitely going to try it out this week:

photo by Ralph Anderson courtesy of myrecipes and Southern Living

 

How to Eat When You Have No Kitchen

Condo renovations…ug. That has been my sad living situation for the past few months. We are doing a total gut job on our place and while I was told we’d be painting by August, we are now into September and still do not have walls (sigh).  One thing this means is that I have been living without a kitchen for quite some time. One question many people have is “how do you eat?” so I decided to do a post with some tips in case anyone else out there finds themselves in a similar circumstance:

1. Take out. Get to know your local takeout places very well! Yelp, Menu Pages and Dining In are here to help. Some places even have weekly specials, like our local Hot Tomatoes who does a different pasta dish every day or Artu with their assorted vegetable platter that changes daily. This helps maintain at least some variety.

2. We are lucky enough to live in New England and have access to Stop & Shop’s Peapod.  I recently stocked up on all kinds of good and somewhat healthy frozen dinners and snacks. We still have access to some of our appliances including our friedge, microwave and convection oven, thank goodness!

3. Sign up for local delis, butchers, etc. email lists. I am on several email lists of local shops who send me specials they are running including pre-cooked dinner options. Our local fish market, Mercado del Mare, sends one out three times a week which is how I found out about their new tuna burgers. Popped it in the convection oven, set to broil, done in less than 10 min. Nice!

(photo courtesy of the Mercado del Mare website)

It’s definitely been a challenge even though we’re lucky enough to live in a neighborhood with lots of dinner options. I can’t said we’ve eaten healthy every night (we did do Chinese this week) but we’re trying. And hopefully we will be cooking once again by… Christmas? New Years? Memorial Day?…

 

Seoul Food

Just back from a few weeks in Seoul, South Korea and wanted to share a few thoughts on the food.  Sadly, I was really not a fan.  This shouldn’t surprise you if you’ve read this blog before since I am clearly a bread/cheese/French food kind of gal and Korean food is a lot of pickled veggies and spicy-ness.  Oh and a LOT of seafood, which aside from a few exceptions (e.g. scallops in citrus beurre blanc), I am not overly fond of consuming.  I realized quickly that I didn’t even like most of the soups since the stocks are generally fish-based.

However, I am definitely a fan of Korean bbq.  I love making my own little lettuce wraps with beef, rice, garlic, mushrooms and soybean paste.  Very tasty.  (Though to be completely honest, I was very excited to get home to my fresh, un-pickled farm veggies).

Here is a sampling of some of my favorite meals/snacks.

Noodle soup in a medieval bowl

Korean Bbq (think there are enough side dishes?)

Street food. Yum?

Green Tea Frozen Yogurt. SO GOOD.

Bar food, including octopus jerky.

Bibimbap (rice and a raw egg mixed in with a bunch of other stuff)

Fantastic pancakes- potato and leek respectively

Yes, those are corn flakes and coco puffs on frozen yogurt. And it was wonderful.

Iced persimmons and pomegranate tea- best afternoon snack.

 

Roof Garden

This is a little “Part 2″ of my last post- while up on the roof for the bbq, I noticed my neighbor Court had a pretty impressive little tomato garden going.

He had about 5 large tomato plants plus chives, basil, parsley, etc.

 

Urban Cookout

Last week the rain kindly took a break long enough for our neighbors and Seth and I to have a perfect summer BBQ. We live in a building with 3 condo units and our neighbor, Court, happens to live on the top floor with roof access. On the roof he has a grill, table and chairs which is all you need in the summer, right?

Seth, Court and Franny on the roof

For food we kept it simple- fresh veggies cut up, tossed in olive oil/salt/pepper and skewered with marinated garlicky beef, lemon chicken and shrimp. Salad fixings from the farmers market at City Hall Plaza, corn on the cob and some wine/Dark ‘n Stormies. For such an easy, simple meal it was really quite heavenly.

 

New Farmers Market

I just got an email asking to help spread the word about a new farmers market in Jamaica Plain. It’s right by the Stonybrook T stop and it sounds wonderful. Details from their website below!

Jamaica Plain’s newest Farmer’s Market is more than a place to buy local foods and produce.

This Sunday, July 12, from 10am to 2pm, and through Sunday, October 18, we’ll have local experts on hand to show you how to enjoy the summer’s bounty.

Community Servings will host the following farmers, food vendors and craftspeople:

• Silverbrook Farm, Dartmouth, MA:  Family owned since 1953, Silverbrook Farm will sell organic fruits, vegetables and flowering plants.
• Big Sky Breads, Newton, MA:  The bakery of choice for the area’s premier caterers and cafe owners, Big Sky primarily uses local organic ingredients for the breads and other goodies that will be available.
• The Greenest Bean, Bedford, MA: Proprietor Tricia Cowell, who operates her business out of her garage, will sell her small batches of organic, free trade coffee beans — which fans herald as ”fab fuel.”

• Helen Najarian, Cambridge, MA:  Helen Najarian will sell her handcrafted, fun and affordable jewelry and pottery.
• Eat Local Honey, Jamaica Plain, MA:  Mike Graney will sell honey made by honey bees he keeps in sites around Boston.

On opening day, July 12, Peter Boune of Earthworks Boston will lead tours of free and organic fruit and nut trees, ripe for the picking, that are available throughout JP and the rest of the city.

On July 19, Community Day, we’ll launch the market with musicians, stilt walkers, face-painters, jugglers, cooking demonstrations and more. As the weeks progress, there will be more cooking demonstration by chefs from JP Seafood, Centre Street Cafe, The Alchemist, James’ Gate, JP Seafood and Bella Luna; an ”edible wild edible” tour of Jamaica Plain; and additional food vendors and farmers.

For more information about the Farmer’s Market, please contact Edith Murnane, Community Servings’ Social Enterprise Manager, at (617) 522-7777 x207 or emurnane@servings.org.

 

Delicious Art

Last week I had the good fortune to spend 4+ days in the woods of New Hampshire at the Squam Art Workshops.  Amazing people, scenery, classes, food, etc, it was a lovely, inspiring experience. One of the other perks was I got to interact with other great, (some) local artists including Laura Coyle of Laura Coyle Designs. Her beautiful vegetable series is so attractive and tasty-looking I had to share it here. So if our pro-veggie rants don’t convince you to eat healthier, maybe her watercolor prints will!

For more info on Laurie and her work, check out her Etsy shop and blog. Her blog features her artwork as well as day-to-day life on her farm in the Berkshires!

 

Eat Your Vegetables!

Ella recommends the broccoli. Oh so good to munch.

 

A&J King

Long, long ago, in a land far, far away, I spent a glorious semester living in a beautiful apartment overlooking the Luxembourg Gardens.  There were museums, cafes and stunning architecture at every turn.  Wine was in abundance, rich coffee in tiny cups with saucers on every tiny round table and many, many people in scarves.

I love Paris.  I’ve been back several times since and I think I appreciate it more with every trip.  But what I miss most is not the culture, the art or the shopping.

It’s the bread.

Oh the bread, the bread!  Baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, brioche… I could go on and on.  Buttery and crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle, with jam, with nutella, with cheese…. mmmm…..

Sadly, while bakeries like this exist in the States, they’re not usually in the burbs where I live.  Until now.  I can’t remember what I was originally searching for on Google, but I somehow stumbled across a wonderful little bakery in Salem, just a mile or so from my house!

It’s called A&J King Artisan Bakers and Miguel and I fell in love with it on our very first visit.  We ordered “jambon et fromage” (ham and brie) sandwiches (which incidentally came with the best pickles we had ever had and that Miguel is now determined to replicate) and they were wonderful.  The bread was perfect, the cheese divine.  We also enjoyed their coffee and found the prices extremely reasonable for such high-quality products.

I’ve been back every weekend morning that I’ve had the chance, sampling the ham and gruyere croissant and an epi (basically a funny looking baguette) and each visit pleases me more than the last.

 

Epiphany: Part II

For me, the second part of my eating epiphany came about as the result of reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (which I then demanded Lucie read as well).  If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend it.  He makes a number of interesting points about the way we (Americans) eat and why.

I could literally go on and on about this book all day long but the bottom line would still be that it has changed the way I look at food entirely.  I wouldn’t say I ate a ton of processed foods before but now I am conscious of how many seemingly “healthy” foods are really just full of, well, crap.  The example Pollan uses is a loaf of (supposedly) whole wheat bread.  Bread should in theory have about 4 ingredients or so.  The particular brand he uses as an example had 36 ingredients, most of which were unpronouncable.   Not so good.

He also discusses the value of organic products, grass-fed beef and free-range chickens, all subjects I had previously met with some skepticism.  Not anymore.  While I am determined not to become a food snob who won’t eat a hot dog at baseball game or the occasional handful of chips, I do plan (and have already started) seriously examining what I eat and striving to eat as much “real” food as possible.  I have taken the book’s mantra “Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants” as my own.  Our participation in the CSA should help with this immensely.  In conjunction, I’ve also started shopping at a local market instead of a large chain grocery store and buying the highest quality meats and chicken that I can afford.  Someday Miguel and I dream of doing a meat CSA or even buying a whole or half cow and freezing it, but for the time being we simply don’t have the storage space.

Finally, I feel the need to point out that perhaps my favorite part about this book is that it is not in any way preachy.  Pollan isn’t telling you what to do, he’s just presenting you with a serious of facts and letting you draw your own conclusions.  He’s also not claiming to be a perfect, ever-healthy eater and he didn’t run out and become a vegan after doing his research.  I appreciate the fact that he continues to eat meat and has been known to buy his son a sugary cereal once in awhile.  I plan to do the same because there is no way on earth I’m about to give up steak frites.  I’m just going to have them slightly less often and pair them with a large side of haricot verts to balance things out a bit.

Lucie should be just about finishing up with the book now- anything to add, Lu?

Lucie’s Input: My whole life I have heard “eat your fruits and vegetable, they are good for you” and while I never questioned this, In Defense of Food REALLY drove that point home. I really feel that even after reading just the first chapter I have already altered my outlook on food and actively changed the way I eat. Crazy processed “food” loaded with chemicals are so unnessary when the alternative, say,  fresh strawberry is even more tasty and much better for you. I was never all that interested in learning about the benefits of eating organic/buying locally but this book has really opened my eyes and now I am. Yes, we drank the Kool-aid. Roll your eyes all you want but I will be a grocery store-perimeter-shopping, ingredient-checking, grass-fed-beef-eating consumer from now on.