a taste of kent

The last weekend in September was a bright and sunny one here in Canterbury.

It was perfect timing for Eurofest, a festival and market held right near our house, designed to celebrate regional foods from here in Kent, and farther afield in France and Italy.

It was a great opportunity for Daiku and me to become more familiar with some of the goodies grown and made right in our backyard.

Such as chutneys made from local fruits and spirits. Plum chutney with English rosé wine? Yum.

Some fine Kentish beer made with some fine Kentish hops.

this beautiful locally-grown russet apple. (a little taste of home and apple picking!)

along with some other local produce: pears and bramley apples. 

from abroad, we had delicious and colorful produce from France, such as these blood-red tomatoes,

these plums, fresh of the tree with their bloom as proof,

artichokes the size of my head, 

bunches and bunches of lavender (I've loved learning the subtle scent differences between English and French lavender),

possibly some of the best marinated olives and mushrooms I've ever tasted (including "pistou" olives marinated in basil and garlic- yum!

a range of mustards that would make even the most hard-core mustard lover swoon, and nuts and dried fruit as far as the eye can see. It has been really fun getting to know our local landscape, and getting to try out all the wonderful produce that is grown here in Kent and all of the yummy foods prepared with it as well.

a taste of kent

now for something fresh

a tiny harvest from our garden: cucumber, oregano, mint, basil (lemon and purple varieties), pepper, tomatoes (green zebra and New York varieties)

I realize, looking over my last post, that all the food is really heavy! My excuse for that is that we've been having freakishly cool weather in Syracuse lately. I'm talking October/November weather: chill in the air, dark skies, the woodsy smell of Autumn... but the weather people have promised us that this will pass. I hope so, because I'm not ready to say goodbye to Summer yet! Anyway, in this post, I want to reassure you that we are eating fresh, light, seasonal foods too!

So now, a peek into the lighter side of things...

First, a refreshing start to the day: a glass of carrot/apple/grapefruit juice. I just can't get over this combination. If you have a juicer, try throwing citrus fruit in the mix- the pith creates a foamy, creamy top layer that is really delicious.

Here are two tomatoes from our garden. We have a tiny garden patch, and it's not producing too well this year (not to mention the great tomato caper of 2007), so we're grateful for every little tomato we get.

Of course, sometimes a little tomato won't do. When I saw this gnarly little locally grown heirloom tomato at the market, I had to have it.

And why mess with perfection? We ate it in its perfect form- with just the tiniest smidgen of sea salt and extra virgin olive oil.

Finally, this refreshing salad. I don't know about you, but I don't eat watercress nearly as often as I should. It's delicious, it's inexpensive, and it has abundant nutrients. (According to Wikipedia, it has abundant iron, calcium, folic acid, vitamin A and vitamin C). So pick some up next time you have a chance and make my:

Watercress Salad with Creamy Parsley Dressing** (makes 2 generous servings)

• 1/2 bunch watercress, carefully washed and drained, chopped into large pieces (tender stems included)
• 1/4 white onion, sliced thin
• 1 large tomato, sliced thin

Dressing:

• 3 TB Tofutti sour cream
• 1 TB apple cider vinegar
• handful of fresh parsley
• 1 small clove garlic
• 1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
  
• salt and pepper, to taste

To make dressing, blend all ingredients in a blender. Toss with salad at the last minute before serving. Enjoy!

**Remember, for optimal absorption of all the nutrients in a salad, make sure to include some vitamin C- rich foods as well as some good fats. Eating a salad with fat-free dressing or no dressing at all means missing out on a vast majority of the veggies' nutrients- fats are our friends! Click here for an interesting article on this matter**

now for something fresh

What do I do when it's 90 degrees and humid?

So I think the sun and the humidity have finally been getting to me. Last week, in the midst of a heat snap, I became convinced that I needed to bake. Repeatedly. At one point, I caught myself sweating in the kitchen in front of a hot oven. Irrational? Perhaps, but then again the ends could be said to have justified the means...

For movie night at Trac's house (we watched "Who Killed the Electric Car," an absolute must-see that will leave you intrigued, frustrated, optimistic, and angry at the same time) I decided to bake the simple vanilla and agave nectar cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World." I had seen these on Textual Bulldog's blog and had had them on the brain since. When I tested one, however, I thought they tasted too plain, so I topped them with a quick chocolate ganache and sprinkles.

However, the next day, I tasted one of the cupcakes that I had left plain and guess what? After a day of resting, these cupcakes develop such a lovely flavor and texture. It tasted like an old-fashioned honey cake- dense, sweet, and floral. If you make the agave cupcakes, definitely experiment with leaving some of them plain- you'll thank yourself the next day!

The next day, I felt the need to bake- again. Cupcakes- again. This time, I took the basic chocolate cupcakes from VCTOTW, substituted coconut milk for the oil and added orange zest.

Speaking of orange zest, I keep a stash of dried organic zest like you see in the picture above in my pantry for times when I don't have fresh oranges on hand. (As you know, if you are going to use any citrus zest, it's essential that it be organic, because conventionally grown citrus fruits have large amounts of pesticide residue on their skins that can not be removed by simple washing.) I buy this zest from my local health food store, and pulverize the amount I need in a coffee grinder, it adds great flavor to muffins and breads.

The coconut milk gave the cupcakes a glossy finish and a subtle flavor. However, I couldn't decide how to decorate these cupcakes until a day later when I made the Boston Creme Pie. I simply used the leftover ganache and custard to make a fancy-schmancy pattern on top.

Ok, enough of the oven. (Even a crazy person such as myself has her limits!) I finally did something season-appropriate in the form of... ice cream. Am I the only person that's been falling in love with all of Emilie's mouth-watering ice cream creations over at the Conscious Kitchen??

After much drooling, I decided to ignore the small fact that I don't have an ice cream maker and make my own ice cream against all odds. I used my Magic Bullet to blend together some frozen mixed berries with some coconut milk and a dab of agave nectar. I then froze the mixture, taking it out to stir every 10-15 minutes for a couple of hours. The result was delicious, although I'm sure an ice cream maker would have yielded a smoother texture.

Never mind that, though, because for the past week at least, common logic had no place in my mind or my kitchen!

What do I do when it's 90 degrees and humid?

Stop Lowering Organic Standards!

As consumers of organic personal care products, you have the opportunity to have your voice heard. Please take this survey and pass the message on!

From the Organic Consumers Association (OCA):

Organic standards for personal care products (e.g. lotion, shampoo, toothpaste, cosmetics, etc.) are currently being developed by a task force. The OCA is fortunate to have a staff person serving as a voting representative for consumers on this task force. Unfortunately, we are the only voice for consumers on this task force made-up almost entirely of industry representatives. Please take this short 19 question survey to help us know better how to vote in a manner that creates a standard that protects your individual needs and desires, as a consumer of personal care products. You can have an important and effective hand in helping to sculpt organic standards simply by taking this quick anonymous survey now.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/nsf-survey.htm

Please also forward this message.

(P.S. the OCA website is a great one to check out if you are not familiar with it- very informative, including information for activists: http://www.organicconsumers.org)

Stop Lowering Organic Standards!

100-mile Thanksgiving Contest, pt. 2

Hi Everybody,

I am tickled pink to announce that I have won the TreeHugger.com 100-mile Thanksgiving contest. (You can read more about the contest here). The details are on this page: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/treehugger_100m_11.php

First of all, I want to THANK YOU, fellow bloggers for the incredible support and encouragement that you gave! I feel really proud that we live in a time when it's possible for a vegan (!!) Thanksgiving menu to get votes, and you play a big part of that. I also want to thank my friends and family (shout-out to cousin Mel!) and everyone else that took time out of their holiday to go to the site, vote, and pass the word on.

Finally, I want to thank all my fellow contest finalists (Robin, thank you also for your comment below!) who showed that a commitment to the environment and sustainability can have some delicious results.

P.S. I will keep everyone updated on the prize... as soon as I work out the details. ;-)

100-mile Thanksgiving Contest, pt. 2

Local Thanksgiving Contest

UPDATE #3: Just heard back from TreeHugger, and they said the official winner of the contest will be announced on Monday. So we will find out after this weekend! Thanks for checking back, everyone. (Nov. 25, 12:10 a.m.)

UPDATE #2: Hi everybody. A big thank you to everyone who voted and followed the contest yesterday. Like all of you, I'm still waiting for official word that the contest is over and whether I've won. Right now, it's in limbo, but I'll let everyone know as soon as I find out! Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I'll be posting again as soon as this contest is finalized. (Nov. 24, 2:15 p.m.)

UPDATE: Thank you all for your votes! There is still 12 hours until the deadline, midnight on Nov. 23. To vote, click here: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/treehugger_100m_9.php

Are you a TreeHugger??

I recently entered a contest on the environmental website TreeHugger.com called the "100 mile Thanksgiving Challenge". The goal was to design a Thanksgiving menu comprised entirely of ingredients from within a 100 miles of where I live. Well, tonight, I found out that I'm a finalist! I need your votes to win this thing, so will you please go to TreeHugger.com and vote for me? Bonus: you get to learn my real name- ha ha!! Hint: my initials are "B" and "Z" and I live in Syracuse, NY! Out of the five finalists, I'm one of two vegetarians and the only vegan menu, so I could really use all you guys' votes! Deadline is tomorrow at midnight!!

(NOTE: I found out after I entered this contest that the grand prize is a year's worth of organic milk- which I definitely will not be taking! If I win, I'm going to either see if they would give me soymilk, or whether I could donate my winnings to a charity. I really entered this contest because of the challenge of finding locally grown, seasonal foods and creating a menu with them!)

Deadline = Nov. 23, so please vote for me fast!

Local Thanksgiving Contest

A Trip to the Farm

Yesterday Daiku and I drove to some local farms and orchards. First stop, Elderberry Pond, an organic farm, food market, and restaurant in Auburn, New York. There, we had the pleasure of tasting and buying a wide variety of organic heirloom apples.

Here are some of the varieties we found:



Golden Russets were crisp and tangy, with brown skin resembling a potato and a very intriguing texture. How have I lived so long without tasting this old variety of apple? I remember Martha Stewart talking about these on her show once. It is so great that these old varietals are being kept alive-for biodiversity and preserving history, but they taste so good too!



Enterprise is a newer variety that is great for organic growing, since its thick skin is naturally pest and disease resistant. These are big and tasty apples.



Criterion- another variety I'd never tasted before. Reminiscent of a golden delicious, with a more perfumey, assertive flavor.



Macouns- I'd had these before, and they are great. Tangy, crisp, perfect size for snacking.



We also bought some Corola potatoes, an heirloom variety of potato that is said to have a creamy yellow interior. (We haven't tried these yet)

In addition, we bought some fat leeks, some asian pears, and these wonderful radishes that were pink and purple in addition to the usual red.



Next, it was on to Beak & Skiff apple orchard, which is a large farm and food store. They even make apple wines! Their apples are not organic, even though they are experimenting with growing some organic apple trees. Here, we bought pounds and pounds of Empire apples (perfect for snacking) and some seconds for cooking and baking with.



As you can see, the apple trees are all bare, but the orchards are open for a couple of weeks more. Daiku and I were giddy inside the store, sampling apple butter, applesauce, apple jam, hot spiced cider, granola, and many varieties of apples. So fun!



We drove through Skaneateles on our way home. This time, the lake was grey and a foggy mist covered it. That didn't stop people from enjoying the view, though. We are so lucky and surprised that we have not had any snow yet. I don't think I'm ready!

A Trip to the Farm

Slate ripped me off!

Slate wrote this article about Spinach and E. coli, may I add, days after I wrote mine! ;-) It has some good arguments about the state of food production and safety in our world.

http://www.slate.com/id/2150536/?nav=tap3

Slate ripped me off!

Conspiracy?

(an image of E. coli O157:H7)

For a while now, I've had a simmering resentment I can't put my finger on about this whole spinach/E. coli recall thing. What can it be? Let's see...

Tons of spinach and mesclun mix, much of it organic, getting tossed into the trash.

An air of bad publicity and suspicion surrounding spinach that might not be gone for years.

FACT: E. coli O157:H7, the strain associated with the latest spinach recall can be killed by cooking at 160 degrees for 15 seconds (Source: New York Times 9/20/2006)

FACT: The FDA's own words: "E. coli O157:H7 is easily destroyed by thorough cooking." (Source: Well, when you search "beef safety" on the FDA website, you mysteriously get transported to the USDA beef "fact" sheet http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Beef_from_Farm_to_Table/index.asp)

FACT: The FDA did not tell people to stop eating beef or to throw millions of dollars worth of it away a few years ago when there was an E. coli outbreak associated with tainted beef, merely to cook it more thoroughly

FACT: The FDA did tell people to stop eating spinach and to throw away all spinach, because it "wants to maintain a simple cosumer message" and "not confuse people by saying which circumstances are appropriate for eating uncooked spinach." (New York Times 9/20/2006)

FACT: eating spinach = good

FACT: eating beef = bad

FACT: Cattle lobby: rich, well connected, holds FDA in palm of hand

FACT: Spinach lobby: ???

So all this food is going to waste, when the problem could be taken care of by locating the source of the outbreak and in the meantime, buying locally grown spinach from trusted farmers and cooking it well. Meanwhile, people are told that it is all right to go around eating beef which is the source of E. coli contamination because major lobbies such as the cattle lobby financially control the public health mechanisms in this country.

So go ahead Jimmy, eat that burger- just make sure there's no organic spinach on it!

= Evil...?

Conspiracy?