(Nothing But) Flowers

An unbaked peach pie– this recipe is so good! I’ve made three of them since arriving at my parent’s place. Now, I’m ready to say: enough already!

Fresh Peach Pie

• 1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked (I suggest using the recipe below.)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3-4 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 3-4 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups fresh peaches, pitted and mashed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups fresh peaches - pitted, skinned, and sliced

1. Combine sugar, water, meon juice, cornstarch, butter or margarine, mashed peaches, and nutmeg in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until clear and thick. Add the extra tablespoon of cornstarch if it doesn’t thicken. Stir in vanilla.
2. Fill pie shell with sliced fresh peaches, alternating with the glaze. Refrigerate.

This is an adapted version of this one, found on Allrecipes.

Oatmeal Cookie Crust

• 1 ½ cup rolled oats (not quick oats)
• ½ cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Combine all crust ingredients in medium bowl and mix well.
3. Press mixture firmly into a 9-10 inch pie pan
4. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

And apples, and oranges, and more.

I’m visiting family right now in the house I grew up in since I was 5 years old, located in suburban San Jose, California. I arrived home a few days ago to see one of the branches of the peach tree in front of my parents house lying on the ground– it had broken off of the tree due to the weight of all the peaches on the branch. I’ve already made two fresh peach pies and have helped my Mom slicing and prepping apples from the trees in our backyard for freezing for fresh pies and cobblers during the winter.

The funny thing is that “local food” is sort of hip right now (I think its more than a fad, but an important political issue), but this is the sort of stuff I grew up with all my life. My parents did it both for economic reasons and because it is also what they grew up with. They both were raised on farms on the Azores Island of San Miguel, Portugal. I like knowing that they are just one of many other immigrant groups that maintain the food prepping traditions (i.e. eating local without calling it that) that they grew up with. And even more interesting to me is that they do this while living in an area that probably is just about as unsustainable as it gets, San Jose, CA: wide streets made for cars, not people, with stores far away from the residential areas. The streets here could be bike-friendly due to their massive width and bike lanes, if the distances weren’t so long between locations.

My parents don’t just freeze fruit: they grow some of their vegetables (favas, collards, tomatoes), my mom makes jams and cans fruits, my dad makes his own rough-around-the-edges wine partially with his own grapes, and long before locavores were heralding the benefits of of buying your own locally and sustainably raised meat, I have memories of going with my cousins to a farm in the Central Valley to pick out a cow for slaughter. We brought the meat back to San Jose to butcher and to make our own morcela (a type of Portuguese blood sausage). Granted, I think these memories *may* have contributed to my vegetarianism.  But it still cracks me up that this is something that made me feel *weird* growing up, but now it is something that hip, foodie urbanites and suburbanites attempt to do.

Raspberries picked at Smolak Farms in North Andover.

So, yesterday my partner and I finally made good on our promise to ourselves to prep food to store for the winter (in our efforts to eat more locally, thus avoiding food shipping = carbon emissions). I’m worried about those Polar bears and lots more. Seriously, I can’t think about the Polar bears & global warming, I get too sad even though I know many human beings will be affected as well.

So what did we do?

Blanching & Freezing: We prepped our first set of blanched vegetables by boiling ‘em for about a minute (or 2, or 3) and then cooling ‘em down and then freezing them. We did this with some swiss chard we grew ourselves, some green beans from our farm share, and some yellow beans from my partner’s uncle’s garden.

Pickling: Yesterday we tasted our first pickles that we pickled ourselves last week! Well, my partner pickled them– I looked on skeptically, but now that they turned out great I’m willing to take credit! So, we pickled two more jars along with some hot peppers from our garden yesterday.

Raspberry picking and freezing: Our morning started off with raspberry picking at Smolak farms. We got black, red and white raspberries (see pic above). But, now that I’ve picked them, I’m willing to go ahead and buy them from my farmer’s market. They’ll still be local & won’t require standing under a 90 degree sun for three hours. I did learn about the different types of raspberry bushes, but I only need a one time lesson in that.

Lessons: One thing I am realizing this summer is that trying to eat locally and do things yourself takes much more time & effort– but its worth it. We are finding ways to save time such as steaming all of our beets from our farm share early on in the week so that we have beets for salads and sandwiches all week. Or grilling up all of our summer squash & zucchini so that they are prepped for salads and sandwiches too.

Too much Harry Potter, you know. I’ve made that mistake a few times today.

So we are on our third week of our CSA from Stillman’s and our boxes have been bountiful– our first box consisted of:

Spanish Kale; Yellow Chard; Arugula; Spinach; Beets & their Green Tops; a bunch of lettuce; and a box of strawberries

And the second was similarly full of greens; this weeks was a bit more mixed, but equally great. We’re gonna be busy cooking this summer!
Today we got some garlic scapes, which are essentially the buds of garlic flowers cut before they bloom. I’m a garlic scape newbie so we’ll see how it goes– I’m sauteeing ‘em up with some summer squash and kale to have over some cheese grits (ahh, the South sticks with ya, even if you leave) for dinner tonight.

This week has also marked the first time we harvested from our gardens: lettuce! We should have cucumbers in 1-2 more days. I’d love to post a picture but I can’t find my camera cord! I also was lucky enough to get some rhubarb this week from a member of our community garden’s rhubarb plant. I’m looking forward to some more strawberry rhubarb pie!

(I finally learned how to make pie crust 2 weeks ago– one of my new year’s goals for 2008.)

OK, I was wary of Gavin Newsome when he came into office but have to give him & San Francisco some kudos for some of the programs & changes that have happened there since he took office.
Just found out that SF is sponsoring a 2-year pilot program to establish victory gardens throughout the city. For those who don’t know, victory gardens were the food gardens that Americans were encouraged to grow during WWII to save fuel from going into food production. With it looking like we are either at or fast-approaching peak oil, the time is near for more of these sorts of projects.

Boston, by chance, has the last remaining original victory gardens in the park along the Fenway. Worth a walk-through if you are ever in the city!

Check out this post on the Rooftop Gardening website about the very cool rooftop garden that the Food Project maintains at the Boston Medical Center. Most of the food grown here gets sold at lower than market rates in the Roxbury-Dorchester area and also donated to food shelters around Boston. Yours truly helped with laying down watering pipes and planting some of the plants in the rows in the first pic (although I ended up planting ‘em too close together).
I have to admit to some weird obsessing on the idea of rooftop gardening– the other day when some friends described how they were going to build a deck over the garage behind their apartment, all I could think was: but, you could create a great rooftop garden up here! Luckily, I wasn’t geeky enough to say this to them. Kept it in my geeky little brain until writing it down now.

OK, so this is probably only of interest to me (as much of this blog is!), but here’s a pic of our community garden plot. We just set it up this weekend, located in the Brookside Community Garden (behind Ula Cafe). We’ve got strawberries, lettuce, oregano, mint, 3 types of tomatoes, eggplant and cucumbers going right now. Cranberry beans, basil and chard are on the way! I’ll try to document as the summer moves along. . .

We’re back from our trip to Sicily and here is a list of highlights from our food experiences (more soon on other aspects of the trip).

1. Fresh ricotta: this needs to come first because several of the others are based on it. Ricotta in Sicily is nothing like that pasty stuff we call ricotta here in the US (granted I love our pasty stuff too). It is fresh, made from sheep’s milk, creamy and soft with a delicate flavor. Mix it in with your pasta, throw it on top of a pizza, spread it on top of your pane siciliano (bread made of durum wheat)—yum!

2. Cassata: a dessert made of fresh ricotta with sponge cake around it and candied dried fruits either on top or mixed in with ricotta. The one I ate (see picture above) had chocolate chips in the ricotta and marzipan along the side. This was delicious! I was slightly obsessed with tasting this and finally was served it on our last day there by my partner’s cousin.

3. Gelato: Sicilian gelato is even better than the mainland gelato- I swear its creamier! Some favorite gelato experiences:

- Mulberry gelato—these are in season for only about 2-3 weeks and the tart gelato they make is delicious.

- Ricotta gelato—We only found this in the southeastern corner of Sicily (in Siracusa and Ragusa Ibla) and it is deliciously creamy.

4. Gelato in a brioche: OK, this could go above but it deserves its own category since you gotta love a people who eat gelato in a sweet bun of bread! This is typically Palermitano but is found in some other areas of Sicily. Especially good with chocolate or nutella flavors. Palermitanos even have this for breakfast in summer!

5. Watermelon pudding and other fruit puddings: Typically Sicilian this pudding is called “gelo di melone”. The watermelon juice is infused with jasmine flowers overnight and it gives the pudding a delicious aroma and taste. Heavenly! My partner’s cousin made this on a visit to the U.S. 9 years ago and I have dreamed of it ever since. Another version is one made of lemon—deliciously tart with miniature strawberries on top. My partner’s uncle who runs his own restaurant in Palermo has made his own version of this: mandarin pudding! I got the recipes from the uncle and am going to make my own.

6. Fragoline: Miniature strawberries!!! These are heavenly and tart and are the size of the tip of your pinky finger. I was a bit obsessed with them.

7. Arancine: Saffron-infused rice balls filled with cheese and then deep fried. So good and a meal in themselves.

8. Fruta da Mattorana: You often see this weird marzipan fruit at Italian bakeries in the U.S. They really come from Sicily, specifically Palermo where they were first made by the Catholic nuns at the Mattorana cathedral in Palermo in the 1600s. These are not delicious—I cannot tell a lie, but they made it onto this list for their cute-kitsch factor. Above are some pictures of some of the best fruta da Mattorana that I saw.

9. Seafood: Generally caught that day and served fresh—Sicily is a pescatarian’s delight! Some favorites were the clams, mussels, octopus, and the smoked swordfish.

10. Wine by the carafe: I am not a wine snob, but I love good wine and trying new wines. I am particularly enamored with the idea of going down to the local wine merchant and buying locally made wine in bulk. My favorite part of our meals was sampling the local wines by doing this—they were all good! Above is a picture of a shop in Siracusa (Syracuse) where you can get your own bottles filled with the local wines of Southeast—generally a Nero d’Avola variety.

One of the best things about Sicily and food is how much Sicilians love it and how assertive they are about where to go to get the best whatever (whether it is a type of pastry, a flavor of gelato, etc.). Meals were long and social and drawn out over several courses. I have to say I truly felt loved and welcomed by the feasts that my partner’s family put on during the time we were there! This list is totally random and doesn’t include many wonderful Sicilian specialties such as panelle, fritella, chocolate made in Módica, various types of cheeses, etc.

We owe many of our fabulous meal experiences to my partner’s uncle and aunt who are both wonderful cooks at home and who have a great restaurant in Palermo. His cousin is also a top-notch cook and host.

My partner & I often talk about how much we miss our local market in Berkeley– the Monterey Market– that would randomly include rare fruits and vegetables grown in people’s small gardens or backyards for sale. You never knew what you would find for sale that week! It was a very special & unique place to buy food.
Well, Slow Food Boston is hosting a showing this week of a documentary on that same market called Eat at Bill’s: Life at the Monterey Market. I was so surprised and happy to see a documentary made on it! Ahhh. . . nostalgia for the Bay Area. . .

We just had a snowfall of at least 6 inches here in JP and across the Northeast. As usual, it is beautiful out! And it was very peaceful watching the snow fall all day yesterday. But! I am looking forward to spring & a shift in weather, which I know realistically won’t start until April here in Massachusetts.
In hopes of warmer days, I finally signed us up for our first ever try at a CSA (community supported agriculture) with Stillman’s Farm here in the greater Boston area. We’ll be picking up our boxes weekly come June. I want to learn how to blanch veggies & vacuum pack ‘em, so that we can store them for the upcoming winter. Our trips to our local coop have revealed very little (if any) local veggies which is expected in the Northeast– but, geez, they could try to stock local root veggies & squash at least.

I’ve been happy to see so many of the NYT editorials addressing the problems with our food system. Today there was a great article, Rethinking the Meat Guzzler, comparing the petroleum used in travel to the amount that gets used in beef production.

The U.S. FDA approved the use of cloned animals for food production & consumption. Both of meat & milk. Its a brave new world. . .

She named a corporate ag head honcho (former head of the National Pork Producers Council) as co-chair of Rural Americans for Hillary. This group supports the use of CAFOS (contained animal feeding operations– the type that are so horrendous in rural NC and in others rural places of the US).

Edwards has supported a moratorium on the hog farms in NC. Not sure where Obama stands according to the link above and the comments that follow.

Last night some friends hosted a Gingerbread village making party– our theme started off as “An Urban Winter Wonderland” but quickly degenerated into Ginja’hood: complete with a bar, KFC, liquidation center, Snow Peeps, etc. See this link for my partner’s Flickr posting for more shots of the ginja’hood.

The pictures don’t do justice to the level of detail that went into this thing: the liquidation center has a bargain bin, towels (folded fruit roll-ups) on graham cracker and gumdrop shelves; the KFC has a graham cracker counter with a snow-peep employee and with two snow-peeps enjoying a meal of “chicken” and mashed potatoes and gravy on Necco wafer plates.

Note the Nike shoes (Good and Plenty’s) hanging from the telephone line below.

It’s cold out– in the mid 20s! We should be getting some snow this evening and tomorrow.

I am feeling very reflective as the winter arrives. Been thinking of some “winter resolutions” (I guess they are solstice resolutions, but a bit early)– things I’ve wanted to learn or do that I can take up as the winter progresses:

1) Bread making: I make lots of quick breads and occasionally make a yeasted pizza crust, but a goal this winter is to learn various bread styles. I have a loaf of bread from The Cheese Board Collective cookbook rising right now in a loaf pan– the real challenge is when I try to do sour-dough and those with fancy crusts. Let’s see how this simple loaf goes first!

2) Pie crust: For years I’ve been saying that I wanted to learn how to make a rolled pie crust but laziness takes hold and I always end up making pressed crumb crusts or buying filler crusts from the store. So, this Christmas. . .

3) Finding a spiritual practice/outlet. After having been raised Catholic, I know its not that. But, at the same time I think being raised Catholic has made me still feel some sort of need for some sort of spirituality.  I went to a celebration today at the local Unitarian Universalist church, but I have to say it was still a bit too formal and “church-y” for me. I didn’t expect the readings from the Bible and the formal hymns (OK, so maybe that was naive of me), but geez, I thought Universalists were sort of world religionists? I guess I expected a hippie-ish, “God is Love” sort of celebration– not so formally Christian. I may give it a second try, but I didn’t feel at home even though the folks were nice.

There is a Buddhist sitting group that meets Thursday nights at a space near us so I think I will try that. Its weird how as I get older I find I want to re-connect with some sort to spiritual practice (not necessary a formal tradition though). I have a feeling Buddhist practice may be the best one for me after today’s experience.

It is: Locavore!

We just spent the weekend on Cape Cod at Tom’s distant cousin’s place for his and his buddies’ annual lobster feed. It was a bit chilly (getting cooler earlier here in the Northeast) but it was a great time– complete with potato guns (I just learned what these are: PVC pipe, hairspray, lighter, + potato = potato shooter. I didn’t quite get the thrill!), hay rides run by a 1941 refurbished tractor, and lots of beer, wine, fresh clams and lobster.

Check out these photos of Tom’s uncle and father shelling lobster at the end of the night.

So far we are really liking Boston and especially our neighborhood. Over labor day weekend there was a block party where we got to meet a bunch of our neighbors and they are a very friendly group. We’ve already met some really nice folks who live just down the street.

Tom has been busy reading away everyday for his law classes but he seems to be enjoying the program. I started a part-time admin job this week at the public interest advising office at a law school in the area. Nice to NOT be looking for work any more!!! And the folks I will be working with are really great and dedicated to public interest work. My plan is to work there in the afternoons, leaving my mornings free for dissertation writing.

It’s not what you would think!

Last week, I went to my cousin David’s wedding in San Diego, so this was our first full weekend here in Boston so we got to do a bit of exploring.

Saturday night we went to see Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hahn, speak at the Boston Opera House. Not exactly an out-on-the-town event (except for the chance to check out the Baroque-style deco of the opera house), but definitely very uplifting and inspiring. Although the tickets were pricey we figured we appreciated the opportunity to hear him speak since we both have found his books on meditation and relationships very inspiring and helpful. He didn’t disappoint!

On Sunday, we biked over the the oldest running farm in Boston, Allandale Farm, for their Heirloom Tomato and Corn Festival. It was a quick and easy ride from where we live. We bought some fresh focaccia bread that we lunched on our way home in the the Arnold Arboretum near our house. The farm-shop looks like our best option for getting local produce since our local food co-op carries a sparse selection of local produce.

The rest of our weekend was filled with the more mundane tasks of putting furniture together and continuing unpacking!

After about 2 weeks in California we came back to see our garden completely overgrown! Our sungold tomato bushes are 3-4 times as big as when we left. And we’ve got a number of yellow squash and zucchini ripening on the vine. Last night we enjoyed our first fruit of the season: a cucumber from our garden (added to our salad). Tonight we are making up a batch of pesto from the giant basil plants we’ve got going. Yay! Looks like we’ll have basil all summer long.

I meant to post on this sooner since we “officially” ended the challenge on Sunday night.

Our total costs came to $117– five bucks below our challenge of $121! But we went over on alcohol, spending about $18.00 for the week. (OK, so we didn’t even try to stay on budget in terms of alcohol, and the bottle and a half of wine we consumed was not local. . . )

As vegetarians, protein was an issue since we did not find any tofu, tempeh, or legume/bean options that are from local sources. Not saying they don’t exist we just weren’t in the know.) So, we ended up eating a lot of local dairy products!

But, we weren’t purists either: I did use sugar in my baking on Saturday and Sunday and we used salad dressings that weren’t produced locally (and yes, we made our own as well, which we often do).

Other misses that are staples to some extent: Bananas, fruits, juices, rice, and yoghurt. But, Tom made yoghurt for us for the first time on Sunday!

Overall, I realized that it isn’t that hard to do and actually would have to say that I think we already buy pretty local (maybe 60 % or more of our foodstuffs), but we can do more.In any case, I’m pledging to go to the farmers’s market at least once if not twice a week this summer since that’s the best place to get local produce (was disappointed by the local choices at our food co-op).