A Wish for the Season

Dear Thanksgiving Deities.... Oh how I wish I had time to make what reads like a delectable pie for Thanksgiving day. Perhaps for Christmas, then. Amen.

A Mini-Scrapin' Up...

A digest is the lazy blogger's way out. And I'm feeling waaaaayyyy lazy.

So, let's jump in with...A meat rating system in grocery stores? Yes, and Whole Foods will be the initial testing ground.

Developed by the Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit group made up of farmers, scientists, retailers, sustainability experts and animal welfare advocates, the rating system aims to address growing consumer concerns over the way animals are raised for food. It could also, not coincidentally, boost sales for certified farmers and participating stores, likely to include another unidentified major national retailer and restaurant group in the coming year, according to the nonprofit.

 And the article even has some comic relief, courtesy of factory farm representatives:

"The GAP program is basically a 'free-range' program,'" said Richard Lobb spokesman for the National Chicken Council, which runs its own auditing program . "Only a few producers in the United States follow the free-range model. Most feel that the needs of the birds can be more efficiently met in a well-ventilated, enclosed structure that provides a good climate and protects the birds from the elements and from predators."

And if you're in the mood to get your food wonk on, then please, go to Grist and follow the debate about whether food safety legislation in the Senate will make things better or worse for small farms. It's dense and intense stuff.

And, finally, in case you missed it, China Millman reviews Salt of the Earth in the PG. And she likes it, she really likes it. Man I hope that octopus appetizer is still on the menu by the time I make it there!

Oh No!!

Seriously, I may be a "foochebag"! This is not good!

Best Recipe Ever!

Perhaps Mrs. Annoying Scratchy Voice presumed that the people making this "recipe" would be so altered that some sort of instructions would actually be required?

Please be sure to read the first comment (h/t to somebody on Twitter for bringing my attention to it.).

Baby Goats and Red Pepper Soup

The last day of CSA 2010 at Harvest Valley Farms. Could have taken a picture of my CSA crate, but these guys are cuter.

As for the red peppers, also courtesy of Harvest Valley Farms, the other night I made a really quick and delicious roasted red pepper soup. It's a stripped down version of a recipe from the Inn at Little Washington, a Washington, D.C. landmark. 

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

• Half an onion, diced
• 3 red peppers, roasted, seeded, and chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
•  tsp of fennel seeds
•  dash of crushed red pepper
• tsp of tomato paste
• 2 cups or more of vegetable stock

Saute the onion and garlic over medium heat in a medium pan until onion starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the fennel seed and crushed red pepper, stir 1 minute more. Add tomato paste, give a good stir for 30 seconds, and then add the stock. Bring up to a boil and then let it simmer for 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat, let it cool for 5 minutes, then puree until smooth in a blender

At this point, taste for salt and pepper, will likely need both. If you have some fresh basil, add a tablespoon when you add the fennel and red pepper. If you have some cream and want to make the soup a little more creamy and rich, add some after blending.

Fast Food Abomination of the Week

My system for selecting awardees of this prestigious designation is extremely complicated. To sum it up for the lay person, though, it can be most simply described thusly:

I see commercial for fast food product

+

Estimation of caloric load


+

Extent of face contortion caused by considering extent of likely GI disruption that would follow from ingestion of said product

If the sum of this equation is enough to induce long-standing mental disturbance, then it's fairly obvious that I've got a winner.

Which brings me to this week's winner: Dunkin Donuts' Pancake Sausage Bites, or maybe it's Sausage Pancake Bites. The name alone I think says it all. And I don't recall, but I have to assume there's some syrup-like product for dipping of the Sausage/Pancake or Pancake/Sausage bites. [Insert shudder here]

On the eve of an election that has been filled with so much stomach-turning behavior by alleged adults (both those running for office and their supporters), the introduction of this product seems strangely appropriate. Bravo, Dunkin' Donuts. Bravo.

A Few Hours, Five Minutes

If you've got a few hours to kill and like to cook, you might want to (and I hope to) watch the Harvard lecture series on the science of cooking.

On the other hand, if you like somewhat brooding, but always interesting songs, then take 5 minutes to watch the alternative "video" -- if that's what you want to call it -- of "Terrible Love," a good tune from The National's most recent album.

Policy Matters... As In, It's Important

As a run-of-the-mill citizen who cares about the food I eat and with some understanding of and interest in the policies that affect how and what I eat, the Farm Bill has always struck me as this massively important piece of legislation that gets almost no attention outside of the world of those who actively support sustainable farming and those, like many members of Congress, who take pleasure in giving billions in subsidies to huge agribusinesses so they can grow more corn and soybeans and sugarbeets and the like.

For some reason the Farm Bill is only revisited every 5 years, and the sustainable/small farm community fights its little heart out and gets little scraps of improvement here and there, while the supposed true believers in the free-market system and protectors of the mythical "family farm" in Congress continue to prop up the agri-giants who, one would think, don't need the help. "How are we going to ensure Americans can afford to buy food?" they argue. "They're not all East Coast liberal elites who can afford to pay $8 for organic chard!"

Translated into non-politician-ease: "How can we ensure we continue to get big donations from ADM and Monsanto if we don't waste billions in tax payer dollars to ensure Americans can get cases of Orange Crush and Coke for the same price as 4 or 5 apples?"

In any case, the Farm Bill will be rearing its head once again in the next Congress. And some folks want to stop, or at least drastically slow down, the cycle of the overwrought influence of the big boys and their deep pockets on this important piece of legislation. You can read a little about it on Simple, Good, and Tasty, and then you can stay tuned to the effort through Facebook (even for a reluctant FB user like me, this seems like an apt use of this particular form of social media).

Good luck, and may the $8 organic chard be with you.

Pork. Meatballs. Banh Mi.

I may have pimped this before, but it's worth pimping again. This being a recipe for pork meatball banh mi, those delightful Vietnamese sandwiches -- a term that really doesn't do them justice, but neither do "hoagie" or "sub," the connotations of which just can't live up to the glory that is a proper banh mi -- about which I regularly dream and always lust.

This recipe needs no doctoring. But, if you wish, you could easily substitute mint for the basil, which I believe I did when I made these some months ago (taking the extras last night out of the freezer for an amazing weeknight dinner), and could probably use a little less garlic, which I believe I also did.

A fresh, crusty, French-style baguette is very important, as is the fresh cilantro. The labor is well worth the effort.

Story... Updated

My recent shot at fiction has been greatly improved, thanks to a good friend, and editor extraordinaire, Grant Martin. Of particular note, he caught a terribly egregious and embarrassing error with regard to some musical history cited in the story. See, all of those hours spent listening to music have their value!

So,  yes, now you have to read the whole thing over again.... Don't make me beg!

Some good eats

Made two pretty tasty items this weekend.

First, on Saturday, roasted some hot dogs over a fire and topped them with some quick-pickled cabbage, which included:

• About 2 cups finely shredded cabbage
• Half cup of shredded carrot
• 1 thinly sliced red jalapeno
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• good pinch of salt
• tablespoon of sugar
• Diced avocado

Whisked the last 3 ingredients together 'til sugar was dissolved. Combined the first 3 ingredients together, tossed them with the vinegar mixture, let it sit, covered, in the fridge for about an hour. Topped the hot dogs with a nice portion of the cabbage mixture and some diced avocado.

Next, on Sunday, a sweet potato soup to eat with a roasted chicken from Green Circle Farm.

• 4-5 cups of peeled, chopped (2-inch chunks) sweet potatoes
• 1 leek (white and some light green) thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• Chicken or vegetable stock, 4 cups
• 1 teaspoon Garam masala
• Cayenne pepper, small pinch

Add a swirl or two of olive oil in a pan (big enough to hold the liquid!), add leeks and garlic and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Add the stock and potatoes to the leeks, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

When potatoes are starting to feel very tender, remove from heat, let cool for about 5 minutes, and in batches, blend until smooth. Return to pot, add Garam masala, cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste.

This is quite good, but maybe a touch too sweet. Could add some cream, I suppose, but I think that next time I'll add a little minced ginger to the leeks and garlic. Think that sort of floral element might offer better balance and fewer calories! Nevertheless, it's a good, easy soup.

Scrapin' Up the Bits...

I love the "digest" thing. Whoever came up with this little blogging feature is a genius. This one will be down and dirty.

Let's start with a well-done article from AOL News on test for different, potentially dangerous strains of E. coli in meat. Who even know AOL was still around? I recommend taking the time to read this.

Even wonder about school lunches in France? Well, me neither, but why is the fact that they take them a bit more seriously than we do here in the good ol' U.S. of A not surprising?

Some doctors putting their time and efforts where their guidance and recommendations should be when it comes to good health and diet/nutrition. How refreshing!

If you don't know and you happen to be in the general downtown vicinity on most days, Pittsburgh now has a food truck that's offering all sorts of goodies. It's called... The Goodie Truck! Franktuary , home of the famed locavore dog, experimented with the food truck idea recently. Hopefully it will catch on in the city.

Speaking of local food, China Millman raves about Spoon, which recently opened in the former home of the Red Room. Looks like we have a location for the next time the wife and I feel like ponying up for a sitter.

Finally, a really interesting article about farm work and who (illegal immigrants or plain ol' Americans) is, and isn't, doing it.

Finally!

That is, my favorite Italian side, AS Roma, finally gets a win under the belt this season, against the hated Inter Milan. The appropriate announcer jubilation follows...

We're No. 1, We're No. 1!!

In terms of our country's (ever-increasing) girth, that is:

The United States is the fattest nation among 33 countries with advanced economies, according to a report out today from an international think tank.

 

Two-thirds of people in this country are overweight or obese; about a third of adults — more than 72 million — are obese, which is roughly 30 pounds over a healthy weight.

If, like me, you're spatially-relations challenged, this may take a few seconds to wrap your head around, but it illustrates the alarming obesity trend/epidemic nicely.

An (Actual) Short Story

I've been working on this -- in bits and pieces -- for months. Not the best way to write a short story, but you do what you can when you can, you know? I'm not a fiction writer. Some might argue I'm not much of a nonfiction writer!

It's sort of a spoof of myself, at least my habits in the kitchen, and it borrows a good bit -- tiny details here and there -- from my own life. It's got some bad words in it, which are also not, uh, uncommon in my real life.

It definitely could use the wisdom of a good editor. But I don't think it's too bad. Honest comments and criticisms are welcome.

UPDATE: Thanks to some wisdom-laced edits and suggestions from a friend, the story was updated on October 14.

Dinner for Six

Daniel dashed down his favorite glass, tarnished, bordering on foggy, the remnants of an “L” floating in the middle of an engraved diamond along one side. Slightly less than half filled at this point, the glass—given to him by his grandmother not long after his grandfather had died—contained equal parts Campari and gin, with a welcome dose of sweet vermouth. The ice, at this point, resembled tic-tacs, and the squished lime wedge— his lone divergence from a traditional Negroni, which typically calls for an orange slice—lay comfortably at the bottom.

Despite its resemblance to a fruity beach drink, he would protest without any prompting, it was still an honest pour.

At the moment, though, it was not the integrity of his alcoholic beverage that occupied his thoughts. Rather, it was that the blood rolling from his left index finger had an eerily similar shade of orange/red as his drink. Despite the considerable pain pumping from his finger, in strange synchronicity with the old school Public Enemy droning from the stereo,

I judge everyone, one by the one, Look! Here come the judge. Watch it here he come now…

Daniel was taking extreme caution not to let on that anything other than dicing and stirring (and head bopping and crooked-hand gyrating) was going on in the kitchen. 

He was not in the mental state to tolerate one of Julianna’s “how many times…” speeches.

Read more »

Stay AWAY from my Honey Crisps

Maybe this explains why, recently, my wife and I were awoken at the typically silent hour of 1:00 a.m. by a freakishly loud buzzing noise trailing this way and that across our bedroom.

Last year, the insects called brown marmorated stink bugs were a nuisance. This year, they are a serious threat to fruit orchards, and experts are not sure how destructive they might become.

The ubiquitous brown bugs with a citrusy or piney scent are making their way into Pennsylvania homes, previewing the hordes likely to appear late this month and next as the weather cools.

Fruit orchards are apparently starting to lose significant amount of product to stink bugs. Who knew these somewhat cute little critters could be so potentially destructive?

Stink bugs can eat almost anything and so far have no natural predators in the U.S. No one knows if their damage is going to spread to other crops. ...

The bugs do their damage by sticking their mouth parts under the skin of the fruit, injecting saliva and sucking out the juice, Mr. Krawczyk said. The fruit dries out from the inside and becomes brownish and distorted in a characteristic fashion called "cat facing."

This apparently caught a lot of people by surprise. I'm serious, though. If an overabundance of these shield-shelled bugs mean there are going to be less Honey Crisps -- the first batch of which are already in the grocery stores, freakin' yum! -- this fall, there's no limit on how much useless complaining I'll do. And nobody, I mean nobody, wants that!

Mushroom Hunting? Watch Your Step!

Hunting for mushrooms in dangerous places, some times in the middle of the night is, shockingly, not a good idea!

A bountiful Italian mushroom season has turned deadly, claiming the lives of at least 18 people in recent weeks.

According to Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, mushroom seekers have been so relentless in their pursuit of their favorite fungi, they have been abandoning safety procedures -- donning camouflage and hunting in darkness in an effort to scout remote, highly-coveted troves....

Eighteen people have died in just a 10-day period. Many of them had forgone proper footwear, clothing and equipment and died after steep falls down Alpine slopes.

Scrapin' Up the Bits... Keeping it Local Style

Before I get to the local stuff, a quick update on the massive egg recall. Short and sweet: big surprise, the "farm" from which the 380 billion recalled, salmonella-tainted eggs originated -- the ones that to this point have sickened at least 1,300 people -- is run by a guy who is a habitual offender of numerous regulations that ensure food safety, prevent pollution, etc.

Jack DeCoster is one of the most reviled names in industrial agriculture. ... One day, as a group of disgruntled farmers gave me a tour of their CAFO-scarred county, they muttered darkly about DeCoster. They said he had been run out of Maine for the egregious practices of his vast egg factories, and that he had set up shop in Iowa with massive, highly polluting hog factories. He was cited as the owner of several operations as we passed foul-smelling concentrations of hog buildings, sometimes as many as eight plunked down together in a cluster, each containing thousands of hogs and each draining mass quantities of waste into a single fetid "lagoon."

From tainted eggs to something much more pleasant, happenings on the local food scene.

First, Mio in Aspinwall -- where I ate just once, an excellent but extremely expensive meal, due mostly to the purchase by our dining group of a lot of wine -- has closed. It was reportedly "financially successful." But Matthew Porco, the chef/owner, had "lost interest in fine dining." He's opening up pizza shops instead. Sounds to me like PR spin. The last thing this area needs is more pizza shops. Out my way, in the northern 'burbs, at least 5 new pizza places have opened in the last two years.

Next, in the Post-Gazette, China Millman gives a nice rundown on where to get good tacos -- that is, something other than ground beef and cheese in mass-produced shells/tortillas. Notably absent was Round Corner Cantina in Lawrenceville. Seems like a major omission to me.

Back to north of Pittsburgh -- in this case, fairly far north of the city -- is the recently opened Burgh'ers in Zelionople. It's supposedly all organic and local. Along the lines of north of the city and local food, a recent posting on the Chowhound Pennsylvania board reports the opening, allegedly later this fall, of Echo, which will take over the massive, but now empty, space vacated by Hereford & Hops, a failed steakhouse/brew pub that shut its doors at least a year ago, if not longer. The description sounds a tad... ambitious:

It will feature modern American cuisine using local, sustainable produce and a foundation of traditional western European techniques. The contemporary dining room will offer lunch and dinner as well as artisanal cocktails, craft-brewed beers and an extensive wine list in an upscale casual atmosphere. Additional culinary features of Echo will be on-site charcuterie product made in the restaurant’s meat fabrication facility and breads and pastries produced in-house.

The chef, according to this post, which got its info from a local culinary blog of some kind, worked at Alinea -- considered to be one of the best restaurants in the country -- and Frontera Grill in Chicago. Those are some big names.

This restaurant isn't new, and it's even further north, but I can give nothing but my highest recommendations to North Country Brewing Company in Slippery Rock. I've been meaning to dedicate a post just to North Country for some time, but have just never gotten round to it.This isn't a fine dining experience. It's a casual, drink a beer, eat some meat, have some old-fashioned fun kind of place. So take a drive, order a pale ale and a "farm-to-fork" burger. You will not be disappointed.

Mussel Recycling

I love mussels. We don't make them enough at home. Considering how easy they are, that's truly a shame. But I learned something important about how to properly eat mussels yesterday. Thought I would share, so that you, too, can avoid being accused of poor mussel etiquette.






The Post article includes a few recipes for mussels, and Serious Eats has a really interesting recipe (that also includes clams, but I'd probably skip those) that has chorizo -- freakin' yum! -- and white beans. That sounds like a winner.

Check Yer Eggs

By now I'm sure most people have heard about the recall of a bunch of salmonella-tainted eggs -- 380 million of them! As Bill Marler, enemy #1 of the raw milk folks, explains, the folks behind the recall have, well, a shaky history.

It doesn't seem fathomable, does it? Yet another reason to try to get your eggs from local farms that you trust. Best eggs I've had have actually come from Miller's Farm, an Amish-run farm, whose product can be purchased at McGinnis Sisters. The availability isn't always predictable, though.