Posts
So the last three weeks, the girls and I have been staying on the Delmarva Peninsula, just outside of Fenwick Island. We've had a lot of fun and we've eaten pretty well. Here is a quick review of some of things we've learned and enjoyed while we're here.
First of all, all those fields that are not corn fields, what are they? I told PJ that they were broccoli plants b/c I didn't know what they were, but it turns out, they are GMO soybeans. Who knew? Not me, They are modified to be Roundup resistant, also known as Roundup Ready Crops. So I was sort of upset to learn that, but knowledge is power right?
On to happier things.
So what is a summer vacation without ice cream? I made a lot of it the past few weeks. My cream of choice? Lewes Dairy. I typically look for dairy that is growth hormone free, but I also like to balance that with choosing a local product, since the total amount of cream one person consumes is small, it's not as important to be rBGH as our drinking milk is. So, since the grocery store we use does not have rBGH free cream anyway, I was thrilled when I started to learn more about Lewes Dairy Cream. First of all, Lewes dairy has been a family run company since the early 1920s. Second, most of the milk they bottle comes from Sussex county DE, and distribute locally in DE and MD. And most importantly, the cream is FABULOUS! Really, it tastes great. I have no idea what they do differently than other dairys, but I fell in love. Apparently that is common as their website proclaims "Restaurants from the shore to our nation’s capital often proudly proclaim “We use only Lewes Dairy Cream!”". I can understand why.
So the last three weeks, the girls and I have been staying on the Delmarva Peninsula, just outside of Fenwick Island. We've had a lot of fun and we've eaten pretty well. Here is a quick review of some of things we've learned and enjoyed while we're here.
First of all, all those fields that are not corn fields, what are they? I told PJ that they were broccoli plants b/c I didn't know what they were, but it turns out, they are GMO soybeans. Who knew? Not me, They are modified to be Roundup resistant, also known as Roundup Ready Crops. So I was sort of upset to learn that, but knowledge is power right?
On to happier things.
So what is a summer vacation without ice cream? I made a lot of it the past few weeks. My cream of choice? Lewes Dairy. I typically look for dairy that is growth hormone free, but I also like to balance that with choosing a local product, since the total amount of cream one person consumes is small, it's not as important to be rBGH as our drinking milk is. So, since the grocery store we use does not have rBGH free cream anyway, I was thrilled when I started to learn more about Lewes Dairy Cream. First of all, Lewes dairy has been a family run company since the early 1920s. Second, most of the milk they bottle comes from Sussex county DE, and distribute locally in DE and MD. And most importantly, the cream is FABULOUS! Really, it tastes great. I have no idea what they do differently than other dairys, but I fell in love. Apparently that is common as their website proclaims "Restaurants from the shore to our nation’s capital often proudly proclaim “We use only Lewes Dairy Cream!”". I can understand why.
So I love the beach because there are so many farmers markets. This year I found a favorite farm.
It's called Parsons Farms Produce. It is run by Paul Parsons As far as I know, he has two markets, one every day on Rt 20 Roxana and Dagsboro, and one market in Fenwick Island on Mondays and Wednesdays. We only stopped at the Rt 20 market stand. We had a fabulous time there. We found their produce superior to that of other local farm markets, both in quality and selection.
In addition they had two bonus features. The first is Poodle. Poodle is an Angora Goat. Paul Parsons has other animals too - three goats, two cows. When you walk into his market with a toddler, he asks you if you would like to feed them. He has a laundry basket of extra corn and corn silks, and can feed the animals. This was a highlight of three weeks at the beach. We went twice. The animals are very gentle and happy to have the attention.
The second bonus feature was a program called Epicurean Kids. It's run independently by Chef Maria, and she has a number of different programs, but we participated in the last day of her summer drop in program. We took a tractor hay ride to the field, picked a spaghetti squash, and came back and since it was the last day of the program, we made fruit tarts to celebrate the rainbow of summer produce they had picked. Paul Parsons drove the tractor and spoke to the kids (ages 2-7) about the fields and different fruit and vegetables. I highly recommend this program if you pass this way next summer. Chef Maria had safe knifes for the kids to use, and aprons, and a hand cleaning station. We had a lot of fun and it was well run.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Local Dinner
This past winter we made some new friends in a far away place, who happen to live nearby and we now get together every 4-6 weeks for dinner. These are amazing dinners. They also love to cook, and enjoy the cooking and kitchen time as much we do and we have had some wonderful evenings with good food and good times.
Last night we had a yummy summer dinner, that while not close to 100% local meal showcased some delicious local food.
It started with a wonderful surprise on the part of our guests. A few months back our guests spent a day on the Frederick Wine Trail. They had two bottles left and brought them to share with us! We immediately opened the Syrah 2006 from Black Ankle vineyards. It was a lovely wine to start with. Very smooth, not to bold. While prepping the salad, soothing a fussy baby (not with the wine!) and getting the grill and main course ready, we decided a taste would go well with the wine. We opened up a cheese I had just bought for the first time from SMC, a goat bleu cheese from Firefly Farms. We had no idea what to expect and laughed out loud when it was gooey in the middle. We all agreed that it was wonderful to have the bleu cheese flavor but in the milder goat cheese.
We started the meal with a salad of spinach, nuts and scallions. Although the spinach and scallions could have been local, the showcase of the dish was the vinaigrette! Inspired by this post at The Kitchn we used this recipe. It was so amazing, that after making it in about five minutes, and eating spoonfuls of it, we decided to triple the recipe! It was fabulous. The pepper actually made the recipe. We ended up having enough extra for both of us to use it again this week which I am looking forward to - my husband just bought some local spinach at the farmers market this morning!
Next up was the main course which we grilled on charcoal. Our guests made corn, zucchini, and salmon. The corn and zucchini were local and fresh! The salmon was prepared and cooked beautifully. The salmon and then dessert were enhanced by the second bottle of wine from Elk Run Winery. The Riesling was sweet but not heavy and sticky.
This paired nicely with our slightly sticky dessert - roasted peaches with bourbon whipped cream!
Oh right, so the peaches. Last night we only used RedHaven peaches. They were local. I can't find a link to the orchard right now, and the story of getting them is a post in and of itself, but as a teaser, I bought over a half bushel of peaches last tuesday. Three different varieties.
Last night we had a yummy summer dinner, that while not close to 100% local meal showcased some delicious local food.
It started with a wonderful surprise on the part of our guests. A few months back our guests spent a day on the Frederick Wine Trail. They had two bottles left and brought them to share with us! We immediately opened the Syrah 2006 from Black Ankle vineyards. It was a lovely wine to start with. Very smooth, not to bold. While prepping the salad, soothing a fussy baby (not with the wine!) and getting the grill and main course ready, we decided a taste would go well with the wine. We opened up a cheese I had just bought for the first time from SMC, a goat bleu cheese from Firefly Farms. We had no idea what to expect and laughed out loud when it was gooey in the middle. We all agreed that it was wonderful to have the bleu cheese flavor but in the milder goat cheese.
We started the meal with a salad of spinach, nuts and scallions. Although the spinach and scallions could have been local, the showcase of the dish was the vinaigrette! Inspired by this post at The Kitchn we used this recipe. It was so amazing, that after making it in about five minutes, and eating spoonfuls of it, we decided to triple the recipe! It was fabulous. The pepper actually made the recipe. We ended up having enough extra for both of us to use it again this week which I am looking forward to - my husband just bought some local spinach at the farmers market this morning!
Next up was the main course which we grilled on charcoal. Our guests made corn, zucchini, and salmon. The corn and zucchini were local and fresh! The salmon was prepared and cooked beautifully. The salmon and then dessert were enhanced by the second bottle of wine from Elk Run Winery. The Riesling was sweet but not heavy and sticky.
This paired nicely with our slightly sticky dessert - roasted peaches with bourbon whipped cream!
Oh right, so the peaches. Last night we only used RedHaven peaches. They were local. I can't find a link to the orchard right now, and the story of getting them is a post in and of itself, but as a teaser, I bought over a half bushel of peaches last tuesday. Three different varieties.
Monday, June 22, 2009
It's a process
Well, the winter passed fairly uneventfully. I spend little time focusing on local, sustainable food, and mostly on making sure there food made it to the house and my processes for procuring it was vaguely streamlined. With a toddler and being pregnant, for me, this was enough. As winter started to wind down and I started preparing the house and our lifestyle for two kids I started re-visiting my family food goals.
I was absolutely thrilled when our local farmers market re-opened weekly for the summer.
I know they come by once a month in the winter, but half the time I was out of town the week they were here, or I counted wrong on my calendar and went the wrong week. I just really needed a weekly routine this winter.
In any case, I was thrilled when they re-opened weekly. I bought more rhubarb than one would tend to imagine. I discovered an amazing rhubarb ice cream recipe. (More about ice cream in a later post). I bought asparagus by the dozen and mostly roasted it. I bought a few apples and potatoes that had seen better days but appear to have made it though the winter storage, we bought spinach (all green leaves are "salad" according to my toddler), a few early hothouse tomatoes, oh and at my daughters insistence, we bought radishes, but we're probably not going to do that twice. I bought some basil which is now doing fabulously in a pot in our front yard. Oh, and how could I forget the early garlic!! And I'm sure some some other stuff, but I think that was the bulk. Sometimes I'm a little unclear, where he gets his produce from, some is labeled organic and non organic, and I'm not sure how much I care, but I wonder about distance a little..
And I have to admit it, I drove. It's about a half mile away, tops, but I am just too big and awkward to walk with my toddler and carry the bag back and not have the whole experience take three hours, so, I coordinated the trip to pick up my mail. Maybe by the fall, I will be walking again.
So, veggies were sort of taken care of. But of course there is my favorite summer experience. PYO!! I went three times this year for PYO strawberries and two of those times I picked some english peas. I've been going to Butler's Orchard since I was a very small child for both strawberries and pumpkins. I've tried branching out to other PYO farms, and sometimes I do, but the appeal of being able to drive my car to the field so that I can sustain my energy on child care and picking rather then carrying produce and walking with toddler is too great this year for any other option. She LOVED the English Peas. I was amazed at how interested she was in the peas over the strawberries. The yield on both were not great this year due to the ridiculous rains. But we had a great time, and there is nothing like a strawberry eaten straight from the field. The other up side to this experience is that we shared it with friends. We went on two visits with friends who had never been to a PYO field before so that was great. I bought a ton of seconds on peaches (again, not 100% sure where they come from) but was thrilled to have them.
And sadly, I just haven't been up to the kind of prep for storage I was hoping for. Mostly we've just consumed everything, though some fruit was cooked down for later desserts. Oh, and 4 cups of strawberries were frozen for bread.
On other exciting storage notes though, we bought a new refrigerator! I love it! It holds everything, the lighting is great. I'm still working on organization a bit, but there is so much room, it's been easier to use what we have.
Lastly on my quest to simplify and localize food acquisition, we have started glass bottle milk delivery. So far it has been fabulous. I highly recommend South Mountain Creamery for dairy, eggs, bread. Their granola was wonderful, if not expensive, the cream has had slightly mixed results regarding shelf life, but otherwise wonderful, the meats were amazing, although also expensive. Oh and the yogurts are great. My mother couldn't believe they were no sugar added. They are a little liquidy, and therefore sometimes difficult for my toddler to eat on her own, I'm not up to sending her to school with them yet, and they only have 6oz containers, and I would love to be able to buy a few large containers instead of lots of littles, but nothing that we can't live with. Supply on yogurt is also not up to the apparent demand as two of the four weeks they have not been able to completely fill our order.
So, once a week I go to TJ's and pick up turkey breast, some cheese that SMC does not have, and some extra produce or whatever. But I am thrilled to report I have found so far, this new system to be less stressful and quicker for me.
(Guess I should post more often).
I was absolutely thrilled when our local farmers market re-opened weekly for the summer.
I know they come by once a month in the winter, but half the time I was out of town the week they were here, or I counted wrong on my calendar and went the wrong week. I just really needed a weekly routine this winter.
In any case, I was thrilled when they re-opened weekly. I bought more rhubarb than one would tend to imagine. I discovered an amazing rhubarb ice cream recipe. (More about ice cream in a later post). I bought asparagus by the dozen and mostly roasted it. I bought a few apples and potatoes that had seen better days but appear to have made it though the winter storage, we bought spinach (all green leaves are "salad" according to my toddler), a few early hothouse tomatoes, oh and at my daughters insistence, we bought radishes, but we're probably not going to do that twice. I bought some basil which is now doing fabulously in a pot in our front yard. Oh, and how could I forget the early garlic!! And I'm sure some some other stuff, but I think that was the bulk. Sometimes I'm a little unclear, where he gets his produce from, some is labeled organic and non organic, and I'm not sure how much I care, but I wonder about distance a little..
And I have to admit it, I drove. It's about a half mile away, tops, but I am just too big and awkward to walk with my toddler and carry the bag back and not have the whole experience take three hours, so, I coordinated the trip to pick up my mail. Maybe by the fall, I will be walking again.
So, veggies were sort of taken care of. But of course there is my favorite summer experience. PYO!! I went three times this year for PYO strawberries and two of those times I picked some english peas. I've been going to Butler's Orchard since I was a very small child for both strawberries and pumpkins. I've tried branching out to other PYO farms, and sometimes I do, but the appeal of being able to drive my car to the field so that I can sustain my energy on child care and picking rather then carrying produce and walking with toddler is too great this year for any other option. She LOVED the English Peas. I was amazed at how interested she was in the peas over the strawberries. The yield on both were not great this year due to the ridiculous rains. But we had a great time, and there is nothing like a strawberry eaten straight from the field. The other up side to this experience is that we shared it with friends. We went on two visits with friends who had never been to a PYO field before so that was great. I bought a ton of seconds on peaches (again, not 100% sure where they come from) but was thrilled to have them.
And sadly, I just haven't been up to the kind of prep for storage I was hoping for. Mostly we've just consumed everything, though some fruit was cooked down for later desserts. Oh, and 4 cups of strawberries were frozen for bread.
On other exciting storage notes though, we bought a new refrigerator! I love it! It holds everything, the lighting is great. I'm still working on organization a bit, but there is so much room, it's been easier to use what we have.
Lastly on my quest to simplify and localize food acquisition, we have started glass bottle milk delivery. So far it has been fabulous. I highly recommend South Mountain Creamery for dairy, eggs, bread. Their granola was wonderful, if not expensive, the cream has had slightly mixed results regarding shelf life, but otherwise wonderful, the meats were amazing, although also expensive. Oh and the yogurts are great. My mother couldn't believe they were no sugar added. They are a little liquidy, and therefore sometimes difficult for my toddler to eat on her own, I'm not up to sending her to school with them yet, and they only have 6oz containers, and I would love to be able to buy a few large containers instead of lots of littles, but nothing that we can't live with. Supply on yogurt is also not up to the apparent demand as two of the four weeks they have not been able to completely fill our order.
So, once a week I go to TJ's and pick up turkey breast, some cheese that SMC does not have, and some extra produce or whatever. But I am thrilled to report I have found so far, this new system to be less stressful and quicker for me.
(Guess I should post more often).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)