Getting ready to get ???Bossy???
March 26, 2012
Yesterday, Bossy Acres, the entity whose CSA (community supported agriculture) I bought into for the upcoming summer, held an orientation coffee meet-up. I was eager to learn about my first-time vegetable venture, but I was also excited because my mom is visiting this weekend and I knew the presentation would be a good information exposure for her with regard to my switch-over to the co-op/organic/free-range, etc.
My parents will never come over to the organic side because they’ll never be able to get past the greater cash expense. But I was glad that my mom could hear a third-party talk about it. Karla, she at least recognized your passion for farming. But in the end, all she keeps saying is, “I remember when Carol Koehn did that and she ended up cooking head lettuce because there was so much.” I said, thanks for the positive reinforcement.
Well, everybody has their opinion. I sort of tried to convince my mom with taste, the taste of delicious, organic butter. The two things about my switch-over that have stood out are how much thicker the brown egg shells are, thereby necessitating a much firmer whack to break them, and how incredibly much more flavorful the butter is. People joke about eating sticks of regular butter. Free-range butter actually merits the declaration!
So the Bossy info session was, I thought, very exciting. It was fun to hear Karla extoll the virtues of returning vegetable scraps for her worm beds, and funny to hear Elizabeth interject the well-timed joke about the business end.
We voted on which of three varieties each of tomato, pepper, and melon we thought Bossy should grow (ironically, the only one of my votes that won was for the melon, which I care about least). Then, we sampled fare from their CSA add-on partners. Beez Kneez sent along tastes of their regular clover honey and their less usual buckwheat honey to try. My mom got really excited about the buckwheat honey but again balked at the cost when I asked if I should get some in the summer. I might get it anyway and give it to her.
Barkley’s Bistro had dog biscuit samples to send around. I liked the peanut butter ones. See the thing is, they’re all natural, too. Bossy Acres grows the vegetable ingredients. Barkley’s informed us that the biscuits were basically what they’d make for human consumers but because their market is canines, they leave out the added salt and sugar. Fine by me! The lamb ones were pretty good, too.
Bossy’s final add-on partner is Moonshine Coffee. That’s the one that I might actually get in on. And they contributed a jar of beans for each of us to take home. I made some of the coffee this morning, the Brazilian beans. Pretty good indeed, even though it was a fairly light roast and I usually prefer very dark roasts.
Finally, Karla and Elizabeth sent home with us a box of their famous microgreens (are they famous yet? I assume they are!) as well as a dirt-box of pea shoots. Yummy breakfasts will ensue for the following week, because I will fold brown, lightly scrambled eggs over chevre, topped with Bossy microgreens.
I can’t wait for the harvesting season!
The night in food: Lagunitas beer dinner
March 16, 2012
Beer dinner hosts, take note. The Blackbird Café hit it out of the park. This was without a doubt the best beer dinner I’ve been to. I don’t think it really matters that it was Lagunitas (though, Sean, Tony, Karen, your wonderful beer obviously enhanced the experience). Blackbird was just amazing. I was a little hesitant to buy into the $65 cost and would be again because as you may know, I live paycheck to paycheck, but my faith had been established with a previous wonderful Lagunitas dinner and this time I was rewarded with something even better.
Brewery people who I know, this isn’t about your beer versus their beer. You know I love you all. This was about utterly fantastic vittles in a really interesting space that was comfortable to hang out in. I should have taken some pictures of Blackbird Café itself. But I immediately became focused on the food.
So here is the visual report. Chef Chris Stevens, so, so delicious. Everything.
Meat & Greet / Pils
Yay, a pun worthy of the English to start the night. I didn’t take any of the olives or other vegetables that were available because, being a victim of my self-imposed Meatless March, I zeroed right in on the meat. THE MEAT. I enjoyed smoked salmon, beef tongue, and “pig-head balls.” Heh. The balls were the tastiest things of the night, even though in general, I try to avoid deep-fried things.
Because of Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern, I have become much more enthusiastic about trying “weird” stuff. But my mother often served tongue when I lived at home. I was excited to have some.
Warm Dandelion Greens / Maximus
I harvest dandelion greens from the yard for my rabbit when they’re in season, and every time I do that I think that I should just throw some into my own salad, too. But I never do, so I was excited to have them served to me by a fancy restaurant chef. They’re really bitter! But fortunately the bitterness was offset by a delightfully sweet poppyseed vinaigrette.
Bonus Mini-Course: Watercress Soup with Creme Fresh
Served in a cute, tiny, espresso cup! It reminded me a lot of a spinach soup that I make. Other than the opening charcuterie, it might have been my favorite of the evening. Really good.
Seared Ahi Tuna / IPA
One of the things that I’ve come to love in recent years is when non-beef meat is (un)cooked rare. I’ve always loved a bloody steak and raw hamburger (hey, I’ve lasted this long, don’t judge me). I’ve learned that other flesh varieties are also better when cooked less rather than more.
More Bonus Mini-course: Celery Root Soufflé
I hate to say that both of the two unannounced mini-courses did their best to steal the show. So, so good. Who doesn’t love fluffy, puffy stuff?
Duck Breast & Confit / Imperial Brown
With Brussels sprouts hash, parsnip puree, and crispy onions up top. I love Brussels sprouts, and one of my favorite side dishes is a “fake mashed potatoes” made from pureed cauliflower with butter and half-and-half. The whole course, again, sooo good.
Bent River Camembert & Harissa Cashews
By this time, my tablemates were feeling a little full or didn’t like the cheese or didn’t like the nuts. I won. First, because I had been eating too much bread all the way along, I dipped my fork in the Camembert then stuck a cashew on the end. Delicious. Perfect. Then I braved a couple more slices of the bread.
Burnt Caramel Pudding / Imperial Red
Gingerbread crumble + cardamom cream and shredded ginger on top, in a jelly jar that matches the beer’s Mason jar? GET OUT! I absolutely would not have needed to polish off this delicious dessert. I wasn’t allowed to take the jelly jar home, but I did take the Mason glass home. Now I have two!
Sean, those were some good stories you told. And I understand why you go to the Blackbird every month — they’re amazing!
Maybe I mentioned this already in my Meatless March introductory entry. Because I have decided to deprive myself, ALLLLLLLIWANTISMEATMEATMEATMEATMEAT. But for once in my life, I am actually engaging in some willpower. I know it doesn’t happen often, so don’t fall off your chair.
Here is the accounting of the first full week. I was hoping to have had time to prepare food at home more but I have eaten out a lot, and kind of made the same thing or a variation thereof when I did manage to make it myself. Oh well. I make the things I make because I like them. I’m really diggin’ the quinoa at present.
Saturday
Folded over egg thing w/quinoa et al
Baja Sol veggie tacos
Pizza Lucé tri-pepper pizza
Sunday
Folded over egg thing w/quinoa et al, grapefruit
English muffin, orange
ww tortilla tofu quinoa pizza thing
Monday
eggs-chevre-sunflower shoots, orange
Real Meal Deal veggie sub, chips
refried bean pizza
Tuesday
eggs-chevre-sunflower shoots, orange
Acadia black bean burger*, orange
quinoa pizza
Wednesday
eggs-chevre-sunflower shoots, tomatoes, orange
Acadia veggie melt
quinoa+chevre
Republic black bean burger w/mushroom, Swiss
Sawatdee tofu pad tai, cream cheese wontons
(oof)
Thursday
Sawatdee tofu pad tai (leftover)
salad w/tofu and orange
ww tortilla+pepperjack
Groveland Tap veggie burger
Friday
Bruegger’s Everything bagel+cream cheese, orange
D’Amico fresh mozzarella salad, caprese panini (more toasted than the one last week), chips
Longfellow Grill garden burger w/salad
*Due to this whole Meatless March thing, I have been trying everybody’s veggie burger. Acadia Café, you hands-down have the best with your amazing Black Bean Burger. None of the others come close! Republic, you have good flavor but it doesn’t hold together. Longfellow Grill, yours was pretty tasty, too, but it all squished out of the bun by the time I was half-finished.
Meatless March: can I do it?
March 3, 2012
I think I love meat too much to permanently give it up. And now that I’ve made the decision of conscience to go organic, free-range, and local, I feel better about the animals I eat. Nevertheless, inspired by others who were talking about it earlier this week, I have decided to join in Meatless March (except for a couple of prior dinner commitments which will involve meat).
I like plenty of non-meat proteins—cheese, beans, tofu, quinoa, nuts, olives, to name a few that I can think of off the top of my head—and this won’t really be that different from how I eat normally. I was, however, kind of funny at the co-op tonight how much I really wanted to buy some meat just because I knew I couldn’t. Because I couldn’t and because I was shopping hungry. So I compromised with a veggie frozen pizza that looked delicious with its roasted eggplant and zucchini slices. And a small serving of macaroni and cheese from the hot bar that was a little past its prime but sang a tempting song to my rumbling tumbly.
I’ll check in weekly with what I’ve been eating. Tomorrow I can start making stuff myself for a more balanced approach. Stay tuned!
Thursday (yesterday):
breakfast: sesame bagel, honey-walnut cream cheese, orange.
lunch: fresh mozzarella salad with romesco, Caprese panini, potato chips
supper: leftover sausage frozen pizza, orange
Friday (today):
breakfast: waffles, butter, syrup
lunch: falafel sandwich, chocolate cake
supper: macaroni & cheese, veggie frozen pizza, orange
Expanding my horizons: commercial kitchen volunteer
February 29, 2012
I just got back from a meet, greet, and get informed session about volunteering at Kitchen in the Market, the commercial kitchen space within the Midtown Global Market. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time you know I love to cook, and while I don’t have any delusions that I’ll suddenly become a chef or anything remotely close, I thought this opportunity to be support staff for cooking class events (both public and private) would be an interesting something different to do.
It was billed as an information session to enlighten us as to what they look for in volunteers and what we as volunteers might expect. It turned out to be a little mini-class in its own right.
As soon as we arrived at the space, we were offered KITM’s “signature” champagne cocktail—glass drizzled with liquor, champagne poured, a few drops of bitters—after showing proper ID—”I don’t care if you look 112 or 12”—before anybody even said a word (an informational word, that is). Champagne? Okay, this is already fun!
There was presented actual information for a few minutes before we broke into three groups to prepare snackens for immediate consumption.
I was in the vegetables dipped in vodka then dipped in flavored salt group. I chopped the radishes with, I have to say, surprisingly, a rather dull knife (ahem). White=sea salt, orange=spiced/hot salt, grey=smoked salt.
Another group prepared delicious guacamole, which also contained a bit of the smoke salt and smoke something else which I don’t remember what.
The final group prepared a pomegranate-quincekumquat salsa. Well, I didn’t hear its official name but that’s what I’m calling it. And I think those orange, citrusy but bitter slices are quince, right?
All accompanied by a glass of wine whilst we chit-chatted amongst ourselves and with the KITM folks.
Volunteer duties include patron interface, food prep assisting, wine carafe and glass filling, clean-up (dishes and mopping), and the like. You know, I’ll give it a whirl. It seems like something that could take me down some unexpected path that jolts the routine of my life, and that would be exciting.
A week of Christmas: recipe wrap-up
February 13, 2012
As you may remember, my Christmas coping strategy was to keep myself busy in the kitchen. I did so with gusto the entire long weekend, and here, finally, are the photos and recipes I said I’d post. I realize that you’ve probably forgotten all about my promise but I haven’t, and in that collection of twisted wires I call my brain, I will not be able to move on and write new posts until I take care of this outstanding business. I seem to have tidied-away my menu plan for the week, but fortunately I sorted my photos into a Christmas Week 2010 folder.
If you care to print any of the recipes, I have inserted a page-break at the beginning of each recipe so that it can be on its own piece of paper.
A week of Christmas: the longest day
December 26, 2011
The good news is that despite what I thought would be mistimings and failed recipes, the Christmas dinner was pretty darned good after all. The bad news is that my mom and I have reached our point of more rather than less head-butting with each other. Can I just hide under a paper bag now, please? No? Okay, then I’ll sit here in bed in the dark with my iBook again. Illuminated screens in the dark are a great way to feign sleeping in order to be done with socializing.
I thought the turkey in particular turned out above average. This time I differently blasted it at 450°F for the first fifteen minutes to sear the outside and hopefully lock the moisture in, then cooked it at 400°F until the little thingy popped out, which was about an hour sooner than I was expecting. Consequently, I barely had my side dishes started before the turkey was finished. I overroasted the Brussels sprouts. The butternut squash gratin, which looked great on paper but then which seemed quite less than spectacular while putting together, ended up being everybody’s favorite part of the meal. I paired the redux of yesterday’s excellent homemade cherry pie with Odell Friek, the combination of which I had been anticipating all weekend and it didn’t disappoint. Nor did my (now) perennial favorite, Ommegang Three Philosophers, with the meal. Thanks again to Tori and Aaron for introducing me to that one a couple years ago.
But then it came to cleaning up time, and in my mother’s infinite desire to be helpful and my nearly infinite desire for her to just sit down and relax and stay out of my way, we had a major clash. I’d tell you the gory details, but I guess it wouldn’t be very becoming. Suffice it to say my mom and I are both very stubborn.
And yay, there’s a day and a half to go. Stay tuned.A week of Christmas: office pot-lucky!
December 21, 2011
Today we had a potluck at the office, which was what I made the Tex-Mex Soup for. I managed to get the two large containers of it to the office intact, despite having to make a dash for the train. I have had liquid disasters in my backpack before due to loose-fitting lids and jostling.
My soup was met with a fair amount of enthusiasm, but not nearly as much enthusiasm as for what Office Santa left under the tree for each of us. We knew we were getting a couple of the recently delivered new company mugs and probably figured that, like past years, there would also be a little bonus check. Boy, what a bonus. My bosses are getting each of us an iPad—an iPad 3 when they come out in a few months, or an iPad 2 now if we’re just too impatient.
Patience is a virtue.
I had been vaguely mulling over the idea of getting one with my tax refund in February but hadn’t yet decided whether to spend that much money on something I don’t really need. Problem solved. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I have the best bosses in the world. There’s a reason why I’m coming up on my seventeen year anniversary.
There was much gaiety for the rest of the afternoon.
A week of Christmas: preparation
December 19, 2011
I don’t know why, but my parents’ impending Christmas visit seems like it will be twice the usual length. In reality, it’s only twenty-four, perhaps thirty-six, hours longer than normal. Nevertheless, today I made an ambitious menu and appropriately raided the grocery store.
I spent $130. I don’t spend this much on groceries in a month. (Bad panorama, but it shows everything except the dozen and a half eggs.)
A little of it goes toward my breakfasts (eggs and whatever), three lunches (Greek Salad with Sardines), and three suppers (my refried bean pizza staple) in this upcoming week. A little more went into another incarnation of the delicious Tex Mex Soup that I invented a few weeks ago, which I’ll offer up at the office potluck we’re having on Tuesday.
For my parents’ visit (they arrive Friday for supper and will leave Tuesday), I have put myself on the following ambitious cooking schedule.
Friday:
Lunch: Vegetable Soup (I’ll eat a little, we’ll have the rest for subsequent lunches)
Dinner: Sweet and Sour Pork (looks delicious but will be challenging for my traditionally-eating parents)
Saturday:
make: Cherry Pie (my mom and I like pecan pie, but my dad likes fruit pies and this cherry pie is outstanding, and I’m in the mood to make it.)
Dinner: Sausage and Mushroom Strata (my mom loves this and it’s easy to make)
Sunday:
Dinner: Turkey (I decided to go easy, since I’m doing so much during these few days); Butternut Squash Gratin; roasted Brussels sprouts; salad; cherry pie
Monday:
Leftovers 🙂
I will follow up with photos of the completed dishes and meals.
Cooking with beer: Odell Double Pils beer bread
August 29, 2011
As I await an official Odell Brewing beer dinner in the Twin Cities (I am told I missed one last year and if I think about it, I perhaps vaguely remember its announcement), I decided to do my own mini-dinner at home centering around the baking of a loaf of Odell Double Pilsner beer bread, to serve with the vegetables I grilled and roasted last night.
Odell Todd gave me the recipe when I went to a beer and cheese pairing Wednesday night. Turns out he had made the three loaves of the bread that they served. I only had a taste because I got there a little later, compared to the whole slices that were served earlier. Todd assured me it was easy, and indeed, it only has three ingredients:
3 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
12 ounces Odell Double Pilsner
Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon into buttered pan. Bake at 350°F for 50 minutes, brush with butter, bake for 5 minutes more.
I decided to make it with whole wheat flour, because I try to avoid the processed, white versions of things if at all possible. So I did:
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
4-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
12 ounces Odell Double Pilsner
I baked at 375°F for 50 minutes, brushed with butter, baked for 5 minutes more.
If I made it again with whole wheat flour, I would use 6 teaspoons of baking soda and less sugar, maybe only 1/4 cup, as well as use my smaller loaf pan. Or just use white, self-rising flour. It tasted good but I was disappointed that it didn’t rise up higher than the sides of the pan. I do realize that “whole wheat quick bread” is probably an oxymoron.
I cut a couple of slices, topped them with thin slices of feta cheese, and baked for 10 or 15 minutes and broiled to brown. I served with my leftover vegetables and had a nice meal.
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