Pig me up

Rome City Guide

2011-07-30T20:36:00.000+01:00

Rome is one of my favorite cities and there is no question that it is one of the world's great cities, full of some of the best food ever. Just imagine the freshest zucchini, tomatoes, the amazing gelato... When in Rome, eat seasonal fare and steer clear of anywhere that serves stuff that is way out of season. Also, check out this city guide put together by The Guardian before you go. It looks like a great resource with tips from some trusted bloggers based in Rome.

Rome City Guide - The Guardian

Doesn't that make you want to hop on your Vespa?

The Botany of Desire

2011-07-24T11:45:00.000+01:00

Apples, Tulips, Cannabis, Potatoes - The Botany of Desire. Photo courtesy of pbs.org

I'm a big fan of Michael Pollan and if you're reading this blog you probably don't need an introduction. I've read his wonderful book The Omnivore's Dilemma, but haven't got around to The Botany of Desire. Imagine my joy to find that PBS in California has made a documentary version of the book! It's feature length (about 2 hours) and really fascinating. I highly recommend watching it.

The Botany of Desire - PBS

The film is split into four parts, exploring how food fulfills human desires:

Apple - Sweetness
Tulip - Beauty
Cannabis - Intoxication
Potato - Control

I learned so much:

- About the real man behind the myth of Johnny Appleseed
- That apples came from Kazakhstan
- That apple seeds produce bitter apples and almost a random selection of genes and that the only way to guarantee sweet ones is to graft
- That tulips are from Afghanistan
- That some tulips were worth the equivalent of millions of dollars in Holland in the 17th c. (I hope I got the century right...)
- That cannabis makes those crazy buds only if there are no male plants - sexual frustration
- That marijuana only got stronger by crossing two varieties to make it easier to grow inside - a response to the crack down on outdoor growing in the States in the 1990s.

etc....

Watch it!

Ingredient history - the Moors in Spain and New World influence

2011-07-23T17:41:00.001+01:00

It's pretty amazing that before Columbus and company sailed over to the Americas, Europe was without tomatoes, potatoes, corn, squash, several types of beans, chocolate, turkey... the list goes on. I sometimes imagine what it must have been like before those crops started to become cultivated in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. Food was radically different.

I'm reading Tariq Ali's Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree and he peppers the book with recipes. His novel, part of his Islam Quintet, is the story of a Muslim family trying to understand how to survive after the fall of Granada. The year is 1500, just seven years after Columbus returned from his first voyage to the Americas. It's a good read, but descriptions of food had me a bit puzzled at times. Some sound totally authentic. He describes the family cook, a dwarf, concocting some glorious recipes, but a few times New World crops appear. Maybe we could get away with including tomatoes and corn, but potatoes were from South America and not brought back until the second half of the 16th century. It made me wonder how quickly these foods became widely cultivated.

The recipe that most had me scratching my head was this one:

Listen carefully all ye eaters of my food. Tonight I have prepared my favourite stew which can only be consumed after the sun has set. In it you will find twenty-five large potatoes, quartered and diced. Twenty turnips, cleaned and sliced. Ten dasheens skinned till they gleam and ten breasts of lamb which add to the sheen. Four spring chickens, drained of all their blood, a potful of yoghurt, herbs and spices, giving it the colour of mud. Add to this mixture a cup of molasses and, wa Allah, it is done. But young master Yazid, one thing you must remember! The meat and vegetables must be fried separately, then brought together in a pan full of water in which the vegetables have been boiled. Let it all bubble slowly while we sing and make merry. When we come to the end of our fun, wa Allah, the stew is done. The rice is ready. The radishes and carrots, chillies and tomatoes, onions and cucumbers all washed and impatiently waiting their turn to join the stew on your silver plates. - p. 174, Tariq Ali, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree.

Chillies are from the Americas, and yes, they could have been used by then. But potatoes, definitely not. I'd be interested to know how much research he did into food and cuisine before he wrote the book.

At any rate, these references to food got me really intrigued to know if there is any documentation of recipes from the time of the Moors in Spain. It's a research project I would love to dive into!

The recipe in Tariq Ali's book that sounded the most delicious is described on p. 30:

The old man had been skinning almonds, which lay soaked in a bowl of water, when Zuhayr arrived. Now he began to grind them into a smooth paste, adding a few drops of milk when the mixture became too hard. He looked up and caught the smile. [...] The old man did not reply, but transferred the paste from a stone bowl into a cooking pan containing milk. To this concoction he added some wild honey, cardamoms and a stick of cinnamon. He blew on the embers and let it simmer. Zuhayr watched in silence as his senses were overpowered by the aroma. Then the pan was lifted and the old man stirred it vigorously with a well-seasoned wooden spoon and sprinkled some thinly sliced almonds on the liquid.

Sounds delicious and comforting.

Later on he describes a 'heavenly mixture' (p. 54):

Ama entered with the maize cakes wrapped in cloth to keep them warm. She was followed by the Dwarf, who was carrying a metal container full of bubbling hot milk. Umayma came last with a pot full of raw, brown sugar. [...] Ama was beginning to prepare the heavenly mixture. Her hands were hidden in a large bowl where she was tearing the soft cakes apart. They crumbled easily. She added some fresh butter and carried on softening the mixture with her hands. Then she signalled to Umayma, who came forward and began to pour on the sugar while Ama's wrinkled hands continued to mix the ingredients. Finally the fingers withdrew. Zahra clapped her hands and proffered her bowl. [...] Then the hot milk was poured on and the sweet course was taken. For a moment they were too busy savouring the delights of this simple concoction to thank its author.

I bet they were! But I want to know if corn was really being cultivated that soon after the Columbus voyages. He did bring back maize in 1493, so I guess it's totally possible. It would be interesting to know if there are recipes that back this up.

Veering away from New World foods, I was intrigued by 'dasheens', mentioned in my first excerpt from the book, which are taro. I just read up in Wikipedia about them:

Taro is native to southeast Asia. It is a perennial, tropical plant primarily grown as a root vegetable for its edible starchy corm, and as a leaf vegetable and is considered a staple in African, Oceanic and Asian cultures. It is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants. Colocasia is thought to have originated in the Indo-Malayan region, perhaps in eastern India and Bangladesh, and spread eastward into Southeast Asia, eastern Asia, and the Pacific islands; westward to Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean; and then southward and westward from there into East Africa and West Africa, from whence it spread to the Caribbean and Americas.

Taro was consumed by the early Romans in much the same way the potato is today. They called this root vegetable colocasia. The Roman cook book Apicius mentions several methods for preparing taro including boiling, preparation with sauces and cooking with meat or fowl, After the fall of the Roman Empire, the use of taro dwindled in Europe. This was largely due to the decline of trade and commerce, from Egypt, previously controlled by Rome. It has remained popular in the Canary Islands.

P.S. A fun fact: Peppers (Capsicum), tomatoes and potatoes are all part of the Nightshade family (Solanaceae), all native to the Americas, and they all have really similar flowers. Deadly nightshade (belladonna), tomatillo, tobacco, Cape gooseberry, eggplant and petunias are all Solanaceae. Strange that eggplant, a native of India, is included, but so it is.

Viva San Fermín & Dos Cafeteras

2011-07-07T23:13:00.000+01:00

Dos Cafeteras

I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to travel fairly regularly to Pamplona, Navarra, Spain, the city made famous by Ernest Hemingway. Its San Fermín festival, known to most as the 'Running of the Bulls', got off to a riotous start yesterday and I'm sitting here chewing on one of the city's small culinary delights, Dos Cafeteras, Pastillas de Café y Leche (soft caramel candies made from coffee and milk). Back at Christmas when I was in Pamplona last, a friend of mine sent through a nice article on this nice little sweet. There's a good story behind these tasty candies so read on!

Dos Cafeteras Coffee Candies: Great Product, Great Story - The Atlantic - by Ari Weinzweig (Dec 2010)

Eatymology and Thomas Jefferson

2011-07-06T23:15:00.000+01:00

A friend recently posted this fascinating article on Thomas Jefferson on her Facebook. It talks about how Jefferson was passionate about good food and wine, how he cultivated local and exotic produce, and of course, that he maintained a reliance on highly skilled slaves. It's a thoroughly engaging read on 'America's original foodie'.

If you're interested in more articles on food history (one of my great passions), check out the Eatymology section on Salon.com. I've read the article on tequila, and again, I highly recommend it. It's all great fodder for dinner party conversations.

A Morning in Maltby St

2011-07-01T22:29:00.002+01:00

Last Saturday I finally made it to Maltby Street in Bermondsey, southeast London. It's only about a 15-minute walk from the famous and overcrowded Borough Market, but it's a completely different experience. Maltby Street is a collection of artisanal food producers who have their warehouses under the railway that runs from London Bridge station. (A few of them, called the Bermondsey Seven, were evicted from Borough Market recently. Read more here.) They open to the public on Saturdays from 9am - 2pm. It's obviously popular for those in the know or those wiling to trek out to Bermondsey, but the streets are largely empty, which makes it a relaxing shopping experience. I went with a budget of £40 and ended up spending most of it. Maltby Street is not cheap, but if you're looking for something special, this is the place to come.

First I bought half a loaf of French Poilâne sourdough, butter, and chunk of a slightly matured, creamy farmhouse Irish goat cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy on Stanworth St for £14. When I got home, I made a grilled cheese with the bread, cheese, slices of finocchiona salami from Tuscany and sun-dried tomatoes. A heavenly lunch.

Fern Verrow, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

At Fern Verrow, 55 Stanworth St, they stock biodynamically grown vegetables. I bought some fresh garlic and a huge lettuce. They also had a variety of berries (including gooseberries and josterberries), and beautiful broad beans, but I didn't indulge. In general I am still under impressed by farmers market style produce in London. The quality was fairly high, but the prices were ridiculous. Only the garlic and lettuce put me out £7.50. I don't understand this idea that fresh, high quality produce is a delicacy. Anyone who has grown vegetables and fruit knows that they always end up with way more than they can use and even if you pay people well, a lettuce and fresh garlic should not cost that much. Fern Verrow share the warehouse stall with the Borough Cheese Co. (who were selling amazing Virginia peanuts) and Coleman Coffee Roasters.

St John, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

St John, 72 Druid St, which supplies bread to the St John's restaurants in Spitalfields and Smithfield had some nice bread, so I bought a dense white stick for £2.

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Booth's on Druid St was my favorite. The range of fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms was something I'm more used to. It's not all local, but the quality was quite high. I was a bit disappointed to see some out-of-season fruit (rock hard plums), but that is to be expected in London. I bought a couple of enormous peppers, purple carrots, chives, yellow and green zucchini and an endive for about £8.50. Tonight I think I'll make pasta with the zucchini and the fresh garlic from Fern Verrow.

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

I ended up at Monmouth Coffee Company back on Maltby St, some of the best coffee in London. This is where they do their roasting. I got a single macchiato and a wonderful little madeleine for £3.50.

Monmouth Coffee, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Single macchiato, madeleine from Monmouth (photo: Marina Vidor)

Outside, I indulged in some fennel and orange sorbet from La Grotta Ices for £2 in a cone. That was all she had left besides strawberry, but this lady has a wicked list of sorbet flavors. I wish I could go to try a new one (or two) each week.

La Grotta's offerings (photo: Marina Vidor)

Fennel and orange sorbet, La Grotta Ices, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

My final stop was The London Honey Company, 54-58 Tanner Place, which opens its studio on the last Saturday of every month. Unfortunately they don't take credit cards and I was out of cash, but I got to see their cute studio. The smell of honey is overwhelming. I'll be back in a month, I hope, to buy some local honey. They apparently have some from Hackney Marshes that I'd like to get my hands on, but they have hives all over the capital in the most unlikely places.

London Honey Company (photo: Marina Vidor)

As I walked back to Liverpool Street and braved the horrendous crowds of the area around Borough Market, I felt relieved that I had spent some time in a much quieter, easy-going place. Maltby St seems to be a place for local foodies and people looking for that special treat. Lots of Italians, French and American customers, as is customary to see in specialty food markets in the capital, and trendy 30-something British people. (I wonder if being Italian-American doubly predisposes me to food obsession.) At any rate, this is not your normal food market. If you're looking for a great deal, this is not the place, but if you want a peaceful, quality foodie indulgence experience, head on over to Maltby St and enjoy!

My loot from Maltby Street (photo: Marina Vidor)

Personally, my next trip will be to get some honey, a coffee and some of that amazing sorbet.

For more information on all of Malby Street's vendors, visit their website: http://www.maltbystreet.com/

Pan'ino in Florence

2011-06-25T16:17:00.002+01:00

Recently I was sent at the last minute to Florence, Italy for work. I had lived there as an 18-year-old during my gap year, but I hadn't been back since. Not knowing the current state of florentine restaurants, I consulted my favorite food blog, Parla Food, in search of some tips. Katie Parla appears to have impeccable taste and her blog is a vast resource of tips and observations. In one of her posts she recommended 'ino, a panino shop in an alley behind the Uffizi Gallery, calling it 'one of most delicious sandwiches of recent memory.' For a girl who will do anything to eat an outstanding hot sandwich, 'ino got jotted down in my notebook immediately. I was going to be filming on my own with a tight schedule, so I knew I wouldn't have much time to eat and 'ino seemed to be the place to try.

I showed up at 'ino sweating like a pig with all of my gear and was greeted with a cute little shop, minimalist and modern and air conditioned (phew!). Speciality products from all over Italy lined the walls and people sat chomping on gorgeous panini. On the walls are pieces of brown paper with handwritten panino suggestions. I ordered 'Il Solito' ('the usual') which was toasted and filled with fresh pecorino, prosciutto, sun-dried tomato, and olive paste. If you've never had fresh pecorino, it's a dream AND spreadable. I had my lunch with the chinotto (slightly bitter soda made from myrtle-leaved orange trees - similar to campari, but sweet) they stock and was determined to come back the next day for more. This was probably the best panino I've ever had.

I did show up the next day for lunch and had a gorgeous panino with finocchiona (salami with fennel seeds), mostarda di peperoni (roasted pepper paste), and fresh pecorino. Then I got another one to take home on the plane to London.

At 8 euro per panino it's not the cheapest, but it filled me up and the quality of the products was outstanding. You could easily spend double on lunch in one of Florence's many restaurants and not eat nearly as well.

‘ino
via dei Georgofili 3r/7r 
055.219.208
www.ino-firenze.com
Mon-Sat 11am-8pm, Sun noon-5pm

*Please note that panino is the singular and panini is the plural. This is a common mistake by English speakers, easily rectified!

Borough Food Fight

2011-05-18T21:53:00.000+01:00

Check this out - apparently seven vendors at Borough Market in London have been evicted because they trade for five-hours a week at Maltby Street in Bermondsey, which isn't even a registered market.

Read the article from The Atlantic here: Artisanal Food Fight: London's Farmers' Market Showdown - Katie Parla - Life - The Atlantic

I agree with Ms. Parla regarding the state of Borough Market at the moment. It's always overrun and I can see how the produce vendors might have a hard time with tourists not buying their products. I look forward to exploring Maltby Street in the future since it seems like place to find the very best. Borough Market is something I can no longer handle.

gimme

2011-05-07T16:25:00.000+01:00

I want some of this gelato now...

http://lagrottaices.tumblr.com/

At Maltby St Market in Bermondsey, London, on Saturdays in the spring and summer.

MOO Milk

2011-02-18T23:06:00.001Z

I would buy this organic milk from Maine if I could. When are farmers like these going to get decent pay?! Go out there and buy local, organic milk. It tastes better and you're supporting your local community.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/business/19milk.html

Les bonbons

2011-01-16T20:20:00.002Z

A sweet little video on how bonbons are made by hand:

Fabrication de bonbons à Berlin from philmotion productions on Vimeo.

Let it dough!

2010-12-17T20:01:00.000Z

Happy holidays everyone! This is probably my last post for at least a month because foodie holiday travel awaits. I'll be sure to report back in January.

It's freezing in London and we're waiting for a blizzard, so I thought I would post something cheery. Many of you are probably making holiday cookies (or will be soon), so the following from the New York Times is sure to delight. It's always great to play with food:

image: Christoph Niemann

Let it dough! - food art fun from artist Christoph Niemann's blog on nytimes.com

After Eight factory to close down

2010-12-11T17:47:00.000Z

As a lover of After Eights, those totally addicting thin mints covered in chocolate, I was a disappointed to see the news that Nestlé, which produces After Eights, is set to close down their After Eights factory in Castleford, West Yorkshire, UK, after 40 years. Over 200 could lose their jobs if the After Eights factory closes. This comes as an additional blow to the chocolate production industry in the UK, which already was hit earlier this year when Kraft bought Cadbury's and shut down one of its plants in Bristol.

Read the whole After Eights article from The Guardian here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/10/nestle-close-after-eight-factory

And all about the Kraft takeover of 186-year-old British company Cadbury and the £40m payout Cadbury's chief exec received:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/16/cadbury-kraft-merger-bonuses-executive-pay

Miscellany Monday

2010-12-06T10:16:00.000Z

Here are a couple of food-related news items to get you going on a winter Monday.

First up is food fashion. Before Lady Gaga's meat dress, photographer Ted Sabarese directed a food-based fashion shoot. The artichoke dress is stunning. Check it out here:

Food Photo Friday: Gaga for Food Fashion - NPR

Second is the great Pavlova debate: did Australia or New Zealand make the first pavlova cake? It was named after the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, when she visited the two countries in the 1920s. Seems like the debate is still open, but New Zealand seems to have won with the OED. Read the article here:

Pavlova created in New Zealand not Australia, OED rules - BBC

And that ends food Miscellany Monday.

Who forgot the cranberries?

2010-12-03T00:19:00.003Z

OK, I forgot the cranberry sauce. I know, I know. Pathetic. I even told people I had made it from scratch and then just completely forgot! I blame the pomegranate martinis.

Yes, Thanksgiving was a smashing success. I cooked a fruit-themed seasonal winter meal for 11 and they pretty much licked the plates.

Le Menu

Pomegranate Martinis made from freshly crushed pomegranate juice from Iranian pomegranates bought in west London. The colour was spectacular. Far better than the Turkish ones on sale and huge.

Stewed quince and dolcelatte salad from the new Ottolenghi cookbook, Plenty. It's a superb salad and I highly recommend it if you want to impress guests. So simple and tasty - an totally in season.

Italian Christmas Turkey from a recipe that my family uses every year. It's out of the excellent cookbook, Italian Cooking in the Grand Tradition. The stuffing features chestnuts, walnuts, fruit and sausage.

Brussels sprouts with pomegranate and basil. This is a recipe from an Ottolenghi holiday special in the Saturday Guardian magazine about two years ago. One of my guests proclaimed that brussels sprouts had never tasted so good - and she's a picky eater. It's got a maple syrup, pomegranate molasses and lemon rind dressing. The key is to cook the brussels sprouts at very high heat - braised. The only aspect of these that is out of season is the fresh basil.

Roasted mixed root vegetables including carrots, sweet potato, purple potato, normal potato, and parsnips with garlic, olive oil and rosemary.

Cranberry sauce (but I forgot to serve it)

Torta di noci, a flourless Italian walnut cake.

Butternut squash 'pumpkin' pie, made from scratch and so delicious.

Hot, spiced apple cider with ginger, cinnamon and cloves.

Delicious!

Songs for Stuffing: A Thanksgiving Mix

2010-11-25T18:28:00.000Z

If you're cooking Thanksgiving or just want to get shakin' to some foodie tunes, you must listen to the Songs for Stuffing playlist from National Public Radio.

http://www.npr.org/2009/11/24/120711823/songs-for-stuffing-a-thanksgiving-mix

Do it now. You won't regret it!

Enjoy hits like 'Pass the peas', 'Quiche Lorraine', and 'Country Pie'.

The truth about the First Thanksgiving... Uh oh...

2010-11-25T17:47:00.000Z

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It's the best holiday ever invented. Hip hip hurray!

So let's shatter some myths today and have a look back at what might have really gone on at the first Thanksgiving....

Who brought the turkey? The Truth about the First Thanksgiving - Krulwich Wonders - An NPR Society Blog - from National Public Radio

No turkey? No cranberries? No pie?

Oh my!

I've got my menu decided and will be cooking a feast for 11 on Sunday. Stay tuned folks!

Julia Child Day

2010-11-19T15:52:00.001Z

Yesterday was Julia Child Day at Smith College, now a college tradition started which started six years ago following her death in 2004. Julia Child graduated from Smith in 1934 and went on to be a legend. She donated her kitchen to Smith, too! [See the press release from Smith here] As a fellow Smithie, I'd like to pay a small tribute here. I think her amazing, crazy, confident videos speak best! A friend of mine posted the following omelette making video and I'm still laughing. "Lightly coagulated eggs!" Et voilá! I especially like the bit at 2:11. As Julia said herself, "Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it." Word. Enjoy. I love her...

She was also just named one of the 25 most powerful women of the past century by TIME (along with another Smithie, Gloria Steinem).
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2029774_2029776_2031824,00.html

Rising price of chocolate

2010-11-17T16:16:00.000Z

Chocoholics beware - you could be paying a lot more for chocolate in the future.

Even if you're not addicted, we should all be aware that disease, demand, and unfair trade policies are putting huge pressure on the cocoa market. As stocks fall and demand rises, it's pushing prices up and up. Disease has killed crops in major growing regions and farmers who are not making enough money because of unfair compensation are closing shop and heading to the cities. All the more reason to be moderate in consumption and purchase fair trade chocolate. Support those local growers!

Cocoa lovers hit by rising price of cocoa as disease blights crops - The Daily Telegraph (6 Jun 2010)

Chocolate supply threatened by cocoa crisis - Discovery News (11 Nov 2010)

On the menu tonight... and a beautiful blog

2010-11-17T15:52:00.000Z

In my effort to be a better food blogger, I've got what's on the menu for tonight! The meal I've created is all about simplicity. (Sorry, posted a day late!)

Menu 16 Nov 2010
Potato and leek soup
Pasta with gorgonzola sauce

To make the soup, you roughly chop equal parts leek and potatoes. Tonight I used two huge leeks and about six medium to small potatoes. Throw the leeks into a heavy-bottomed pot with a tiny bit of roughly chopped onion and plenty of olive oil and a bit of butter. Cook on low with the top on the pot until the vegetables are soft. Then add the chopped potatoes and mix. Add enough water to cover the veggies and add vegetable stock cubes (1 for every 500 ml of water). If you're cool and have homemade vegetable stock ready, use that! Bring to a boil on high and then reduce to a simmer. Stir occasionally so it doesn't burn. Cook until the potatoes are very soft and crumble to the touch. Add freshly ground black pepper and blend with a stick blender until a smooth purée. If it's too thick, add a little water.

For the pasta, take 1 cup double cream and just over a cup of crumbled gorgonzola cheese (I used dolcelatte tonight) and heat them together in a non-stick pan. Stir until the cheese basically dissolves. Add a generous amount of pepper and turn off the heat. Cook the pasta in salty water until just 'al dente'. Mix sauce and pasta and devour with a good amount of grated parmesan on top.

Beautiful blog find: Cannelle et Vanille by Aran Goyoaga
http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/
I was just going through my Flickr page and saw that there was a feature on photos of citrus fruits. One photo stood out and it was by Aran Goyoaga, who is a Basque ex-pat living in the USA, pastry chef by training. I quickly went to her Flickr page and then her blog. The photos are just stunning and the recipes look tasty and wholesome. I don't post them here because I'm respecting her copyright and haven't had time to ask for permission to use her images, but do check her work out. You'll be drawn in by her superb artistry.

Diwali in Southall

2010-11-15T19:26:00.000Z

It's a week late, but I think next year a trip to Southall during Diwali is in order. A short little spot from The Guardian:

Southall celebrates Diwali: Navdeep Singh Kandola visits Southall to see how the west London borough's Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities celebrate the 'festival of light'.

Happy belated Diwali! Hrm... I have a sudden hankering for Indian sweets.

Urban Gardens and Beyond Pumpkin Pie

2010-11-14T17:39:00.001Z

I've just been grazing the excellent food section of The Atlantic and came across a couple wonderful articles.

The first is about urban farming in New Orleans and local people's efforts to use the city's empty lots for farming rather than letting them fester. The amount of empty lots apparently tripled after Katrina - pretty shocking - but featured in this article are the stories of five farms working in the heart of the city. Great community projects and so inspiring. I just wish all of the allotments in London would have their own weekend farm stands where we could buy excess produce, of which there is plenty. I'd only have to walk five minutes to indulge!

Five Urban Farms Reshaping the Food World in New Orleans by Tracie McMillan (The Atlantic)

It's rapidly approaching my most favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, and the Atlantic has a great feature on creative pumpkin recipes, including a pumpkin, leek, walnut, and cheese tart (sounds divine!). I may not use them for my Thanksgiving meal, but I will surely give some of them a try on another occasion. Now is the time of year to be eating all of those wonderful squash!

Beyond Pumpkin Pie: 10 Recipes from the Editors (The Atlantic)

Slow Food Tufts

2010-11-12T11:20:00.000Z

A great blog on Slow Food in part written by an old friend of mine. Well worth following if you're a food nut with a conscience.

http://slowfoodtufts.blogspot.com/

New Ottolenghi?

2010-10-31T10:20:00.000Z

According to the Ottolenghi website, they're up to something....

"We know that we’ll be serving food around the clock in sharing size portions, that the flavours will be bold, that the environment will offer solid comfort. We also know that we won’t be selling food to go as we do in Ottolenghi and that we’ll be opening early in 2011."

A new restaurant with a new concept and a new name? Intriguing.

Check out the blog here........... Our new project

Maltby St Market: a quiet foodie haven

2010-10-31T10:12:00.000Z

If you're one of those people who loves the products sold at London's Borough Market, but can't stand the crowds, there are two options.

1. Don't go on Saturdays.

2. Maltby St Market!

My mom, who is more up-to-date on all things London than I am (she's back in California, but reads the Financial Times), sent me this nice little article on the new Maltby St Market near Tower Bridge. It's not really a full-blown market, but it's where the purveyors of many of Borough's finest products have their shops and warehouses. These include Monmouth Coffee (best coffee in London as far as I'm concerned), and Neal's Yard Dairy, but also a lot of other wonderful companies I'd never heard of. Definitely worth checking out, I think, if you're a local like me who is sick of the tourists gawking and pushing around in Borough.

Read all about it here (there is great photography as well):
The Trend: Maltby St Market (Financial Times)

Mexican candy-making in East LA

2010-10-27T21:00:00.000+01:00

My tribute to El Día de los Muertos...

I want some of these candies now. I wonder if they ship internationally.

The Artisan: La Zamorana, making candy the old-fashioned way (LA Times, 28 Oct 2010)

Enjoy!

That's enough

2010-09-21T10:29:00.002+01:00

Alright. That's enough. I've put off the blogging for too long now. I'm going to try again! Thanks to those who have been commenting. Stay tuned for further posts!

Momma knows best

2010-08-14T14:04:00.001+01:00

Not that I'm in favor of women getting up at 4am to fix food for their family, but this mom goes to amazing lengths to entice her picky kid to eat healthy food. Cool photos of her food creature creations:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10962398

And the baguette award goes to...

2010-05-08T23:52:00.003+01:00

...a Senegalese-born Parisian! I love it.

The 2010 "Grand Prix de la Baguette de Tradition Française de la Ville de Paris" has been won by Djibril Bodian, 33, who beat 160 other professional contestants at the tasting. Sure, it's ruffled a few traditionalist feathers, but he's French, too, so well done! Now he gets to supply Sarkozy for the year.

Video from the BBC: click here
Blog entry with more info from livingfrench.net: click here

You can try these award-winning baguettes for yourself at Le Grenier à Pain Abbesses, found at 38 Rue des Abbesses, 75018 Paris, France in the wonderful neighborhood of Montmartre.

Volcano disrupts import/export of food

2010-04-19T00:36:00.002+01:00

Because air freight is at a standstill in the UK (and elsewhere in Europe I presume), lots of food is just sitting in warehouses, rotting. I want some of that salmon that is about to rot! Distribute to the poor! Sell on the market for cheap! And in Africa they could do the same.

Here's the video update from the BBC - click here.

TYPO!

2010-04-18T16:53:00.002+01:00

Apparently there has been a massive typo made in a recently published cookbook...

"An Australian publisher has had to pulp and reprint a cook-book after one recipe listed "salt and freshly ground black people" instead of black pepper."

Nice.

Click here for the full article and how much the reprint will cost.

Farewell to the Sardines

2010-04-04T20:22:00.003+01:00

The last sardine packing plant in the United States is closing. Too bad...

In Maine, Last Sardine Cannery in the U.S. Is Clattering Out - NY Times

"They all worked fast, as the job demands, but Mr. Colson, the manager, said with some amazement, as he looked over the daily report, that two of the women, Lulu Orozco and Alma Rodriguez had packed 5,228 cans in 195 minutes, a dizzying rate. It was an extraordinary display of dexterity and focus, if not a little sardine showmanship at the end of the line."

Digging can be good fun

2010-04-01T21:17:00.004+01:00

This exhibit looks like good fun at the Imperial War Museum in London - The Ministry of Food. Check out their blog and this cute video!

The Ministry of Food

"Isn't an hour in the garden better than an hour in a queue?"

Iranian Seder in Beverly Hills

2010-03-28T11:53:00.002+01:00

Read this delicious article about Iranian/Jewish cuisine at Passover! There are some related recipes as well... Now I understand why the kosher shops in LA also sell Iranian food products.

Iranian Seder in Beverly Hills - NY Times

The almond cake with cardamom and pistachio sounds divine.

Celebrate Passover Iranian style!

Goat Heaven

2010-03-20T14:28:00.011Z

As I sit here on a rather wet, London day, I wish I were in California with my mom and uncle who are lucky enough to be heading out to Harley Farms this morning to hug baby goats!

If you haven't been, it's worth the trip over to the sleepy coastal village of Pescadero. Harley Farms is on the edge of town and supports quite a herd of goats who dutifully line up each evening to be milked. Their milk is made into delicious, award-winning goat cheese which is available for purchase. At this time of year, the farm is overrun with newborn goats. Apparently they are expecting over 200 this year and the current count is at 173. You have to book to go see them, but what could be better than spending time with rambunctious kids? Sadly, Bart, the goats' 'guard llama' recently passed on.

The cheese is SO good at Harley Farms. You can sample them at the farm shop and read more about them here:
http://www.harleyfarms.com/cheese.php
My favorite is probably the cranberry-walnut cheese, but the ones with edible flowers are beautiful. They're all really tasty!

When you're weary of goats (how could you be, but I suppose everyone gets a bit of fresh-air poisoning), head down to Duarte's Tavern (pronounced "doo-arts") and have some of their world-famous artichoke soup and olallieberry pie! It's and old-style diner that's been around since 1894. I absolutely love their crab melt in the winter, but try out seasonal salads with locally sourced ingredients, too.

Finally, have a stroll around and visit the little shops and my favorite, Arcangeli's, which is stocked with cured olives, local jam, sauces, Harley Farms cheese and their own, wonderful variety of Italian-style breads. Delicious!

Watch this nice little video on Arcangeli's:

I usually come home from Pescadero very happy and incredibly full! On a nice day, head down to the local beach and digest as you watch the sun set into the Pacific Ocean. It's only an hour's drive from Silicon Valley - perfect for a day out.

Lazy cooks

2010-03-17T21:14:00.003Z

Here's a slightly horrifying, but not unexpected article from the BBC Magazine regarding the rise in sales of pre-peeled and pre-chopped vegetables and fruit. There are some good comments at the end from readers.

The rise of lazy foods - BBC Magazine

And thus follows my rant:

I find it pretty ridiculous that people want to buy a peeled potato or a chopped carrot. You can perfectly easily eat those foods without peeling them, just by scrubbing them well and chopping them up, which takes no time at all. The peeling doesn't take long, either, if that's what you prefer. I think it's a sign of a really sick society when people can't even find the time to cook meals from scratch anymore. Why not gather up the family and make everyone chop something? It cuts the time and you still get to spend time with the family, right? Plus, you educate everyone about the work and rewards of cooking your own meal. I also don't understand this excuse of young professionals who have no time to cook. It takes a remarkably short time to prepare a nutritious, interesting meal. Why not cook up a batch of something that will last a whole week?

In addition, buying all this pre-packed stuff means more rubbish in the dump - plastic, plastic, plastic, petroleum, petroleum, petroleum. In the outdoor markets here in the UK, many of the vendors still force plastic bags on you. What is the problem?Why is it weird that some of us don't want to have any more plastic bags in the house? Education of the public is seriously failing, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

The more we distance ourselves from the tradition of cooking, the more people will be afraid of raw ingredients and society will continue down the ever more slippery slope of obesity. And we'll just keep adding to our overflowing landfills. Come on people! Try harder!

Rant over.

Fish farming - the ecological model

2010-03-16T19:54:00.002Z

Watch this great talk by chef Dan Barber.

From ted.com:

"Chef Dan Barber squares off with a dilemma facing many chefs today: how to keep fish on the menu. With impeccable research and deadpan humor, he chronicles his pursuit of a sustainable fish he could love, and the foodie's honeymoon he's enjoyed since discovering an outrageously delicious fish raised using a revolutionary farming method in Spain."

(thanks M2)

Best news EVER

2010-03-02T17:53:00.006Z

There is a NEW Ottolenghi cookbook coming out on 5 May 2010!! This is the most exciting news since Ottolenghi cookbook 1. The recipes will be all vegetarian and based on Yotam Ottolenghi's column in The Guardian on Saturdays. You can pre-order with a 30% discount and get signed copies in their shops. I want one now!

Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi - info

I'm drooling already.

If you live in the UK and haven't been to one of their restaurants, you MUST make the pilgrimage. Their sort of Mediterranean fusion cooking defies all stereotypes and will titillate your taste buds in ways you didn't know were possible. Culinary creativity to the max. These guys LOVE taste.

"Dying for a biscuit"

2010-02-22T23:33:00.004Z

Read this horrifying exposé on palm oil and how it's killing orangutans by destroying rain forest. I've noticed palm oil listed on some products in the UK, including a lot of peanut butter (why the heck would you want another oil in peanut butter when it has its own natural oil?!), but I didn't know that they aren't required to list it as such. It can just be 'vegetable oil'. Apparently some companies like Sainsbury's are making an effort to highlight it on their own products and declare that it's sourced from sustainable sources, but it looks like we consumers could do more to make ourselves aware of what we buy.

BBC News - Panorama - Orangutan survival and the shopping trolley

You can watch it on iPlayer in the UK as well for the next week:
Panorama: Dying for a Biscuit

Food Harmony

2010-02-22T22:54:00.002Z

A Carew Pigs Dinner, 22 Feb 2010

A lapsed 'Jew', 'Muslim', and 'Catholic' sit down to a dinner of pork ribs during Lent.

Clearly our religion is food, uniting us in our blasphemy.

"We need a food revolution"

2010-02-14T23:08:00.003Z

As annoying as Jamie Oliver can be, he's got it right on here.

"I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity."

Why we should know how to cook our own food... God...

Sausage making - learn all about it!

2010-02-09T10:54:00.002Z

This looks like fun! Learning how to make Italian sausage. :-)

From the Guardian - A family affair: Italian sausage-making

And you should watch Four Men and a Pig, too. It's the first part of the series. Enjoy!

I hate McDonald's and the Italian govt.

2010-02-08T11:34:00.001Z

Dig this:
The 'McItaly' Burger Row
Gross!

Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen

2010-01-27T17:56:00.001Z

Read this series:
http://www.theslowcook.com/2010/01/19/tales-from-a-d-c-school-kitchen/

Comments later if I can get my act together.

Gobble

2009-11-26T22:47:00.003Z

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all (all five of you reading the blog...)! I hope it's a wonderful long weekend full of family, friends, and of course lots of glorious food. Plans here in London are shaping up nicely. The turkey will be ready to be picked up on Saturday morning from the butcher and I've got my menu planned and the shopping list drawn up. Besides the traditional Italian Christmas turkey, we're having an Ottolenghi salad and their delectable broccoli recipe in addition to some cute croquette canapés and a friend's to-die-for 'pumpkin' butternut squash pie. I'll report back! Enjoy your meals everyone!

Anyone eating something exotic? I have a friend whose mother is steaming crab. Wonderfully inspired and gets my thumbs up.

Canapé Chic

2009-11-13T22:47:00.005Z

First, just so you all can relax, I've found bags of 100g of star anise - for only 60p. You may all breathe a sigh of relief. My saviour? Longdan supermarket, 25 Hackney Road, E2 7NX. I love you guys...

Now, onto the subject of this post. Thanks to a college friend who sent this to me this week with the only text of the email being, "Me want."

And here's the link: Party Accessory: Fingerfood Plates from FRED (www.thekitchn.com)

They're pretty stupid, I have to say. I know the whole drinks and canapés thing is a bit awkward, but having to balance food on my finger would be even worse! Think if you suddenly forgot about your accessory when your conversation got a bit animated (especially for those of us who talk with our hands) and you flung a bacon roll onto some lady's silk dress?

Also, just randomly I found this:
London Gastrowalks

Looks kind of fun.

staring... anise!

2009-11-08T16:37:00.003Z

OK, who knew that it is impossible to find star anise on the Tottenham High Road?! I mean, WTF? Doesn't anyone appreciate the glorious taste of liquorice? Not even flavouring could be found! I realise that star anise is a Chinese thing, but seriously now... They have nigella seed and sumac coming out their ears in these shops, but no anise!

Good news is that our local, wonderful butcher (as mentioned in the previous post) is now open on Sundays. Now that's just awesome.

Off to cook an entire meal out of the New York Times Jewish Cookbook, a substantial tome of over 800 recipes that I highly recommend.

Turkey

2009-11-04T17:22:00.003Z

Amusing moment of the day:

I walk into my local butcher shop on Tottenham High Road (a traditional English establishment with wood shavings scattered on the floor, run by three or four men in white coats and pink, plump, smiling, mischievous faces) and the main guy smiles and says, without saying hello, "Isn't it about time to order your turkey for Thanksgiving?" Slightly stunned that he has remembered this for the forth year in a row, I stopped and replied that yes, it was about time. I told him the date of my dinner and he instructed me to come by the week before and it would be fine.

It's nice to know that you can still have these kind of interactions, even in the biggest city in Europe. I know he's just looking for business, but that takes some skill to remember! I guess in my neighborhood of African, Turkish, Eastern European and Roma immigrants, I'm probably the only American in the area. Or at least the only one who wants to buy my turkey unfrozen, free range and from the local butcher. Let's hear it for local shops.

More on my recent trip to the States with some foodie recommendations coming soon.

Wishing I was here...

2009-10-14T23:28:00.005+01:00

Could there be anything as desirable as spending a morning at the Santa Monica Farmers Market?
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-sm-farmers-market-pg,0,4438445.photogallery

OK, maybe the Mountain View Farmers Market? :-)

Also, el Día de los Muertos is coming up, so check out this special from the LA Times on yummy things to cook at this time of year. Bring on the pan de muertos!

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-halloween-recipes-pictures,0,7983260.photogallery

Photo from the LA Times by Ricardo DeAratanha

How to cater a Roman orgy

2009-10-14T21:38:00.004+01:00

It's been a while, but I miss posting the weird and the wonderful of the press about food. Thanks to a friend for the following.

The Atlantic: How to cater a Roman orgy. By Corky White

Enjoy.

This is kind of cool too:

Tutti fruity

2009-03-31T20:06:00.003+01:00

If you're in the UK, check out Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour this week. It's up for a few more days. It's all music based on the theme of fruit!

Thursday 26 March 2009 - Theme Time Radio Hour - BBC Radio 2

A sea of double entendres... Don't squeeze my peaches!

My worst nightmare

2009-02-12T00:12:00.001Z

A friend had this posted on their gmail:

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

I think I'm not going to sleep well tonight.

It's the cheese

2009-02-03T21:38:00.005Z

As I sit here contentedly digesting some French cheese I bought in Paris yesterday (Tomme Fermière):

Apparently Bush put a 300% tax on Roquefort imported to the USA?! Repeal, repeal!
Video: French anger at US cheese tax - BBC News Online

More in French food news... Norway wins the Bocuse d'Or, kind of the Olympics of cooking.
Norway Wins Bocuse d'Or Competition - NYTimes.com

I ate at Chez Janou in Paris this weekend (check out the film they made on their site). For the entrée I had Toastades de Saint Nectaire (two generous slices of crusty bread smothered in melted Saint Nectaire cheese, surrounded by a salad) and for a main I had an extremely tender leg of lamb with the biggest heap of mashed potatoes I've ever seen - they also happened to be exquisitely creamy with a bit of garlic. This was surrounded by various red wines. Their crème brulée was not very good - 'like scrambled eggs' was what a few people said - but they also had chocolate mousse on the 'honor system'. You are served a huge bowl enough to serve an army and then are expected to take a reasonable serving for yourself. A round of exotic liqueurs was ordered and sampled and we were then given a smooth melon liqueur on the house. Prices are reasonable, the portions generous, so the next time you're in Paris, check this place out. It's cozy and in the classy 3rd arrondissement.

Other things I consumed in Paris: croque monsieur, the best hot chocolate ever, rucola salad with chicken gizzard, quiche lorraine, croissants, and confit de canard.

Obamalove

2009-01-21T00:40:00.002Z

This sorely neglected blog needs some work, but today is Inauguration Day, so I thought I'd make a small effort. We celebrated here by watching it live and then eating a great meal of guacamole, artichoke dip, clam chowder, pear-goat cheese and pine nut salad, banana cream pie and cupcakes. I was tickled to see that my alma mater was serving the following menu in the dining rooms tonight!

John F. Kennedy's New England "Clam Chowda;"
Obama Hawaiian Burgers;
The Bush Family Zuni Stew;
Jimmy Carter's Homemade Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges;
George H.W. Bush's Favorite Fresh Broccoli;
Bill Clinton's Avocado & Tomatoes with Tropical Fruit Salsa;
Malia & Sasha Obama's Peach Cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream
Ronald Reagan's Jelly Beans

Bring on the new era. I'm ready.

"Mush me all up!"

2008-11-29T19:16:00.004Z

I know, you're waiting for Thanksgiving updates!

While I compile that - and boy was it good - listen to this cool show (if you're in the UK). It's words and music all about food.

Words and Music on BBC Radio 3 - A culinary theme!

Here are the producers' notes from the BBC iPlayer website:

This edition of Words and Music is about Food. Mussels, Chocolates, Anchovies, Peaches, Whipped Cream, Oysters, Trout, Pies and Eggs are just some of the ingredients.

Alison Steadman reads Moules a la Mariniere by Elizabeth Garrett, Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath and Blackberry-picking by Seamus Heaney.

Timothy West's poems include Hillaire Belloc's On Food, Elizabeth Bishop's The Fish and Ben Jonson's Inviting a Friend to Supper.

Interwoven with the poetry is music such as Schubert's Trout Quintet, the chorus in Strauss' Die Fledermaus where the guests look forward to supper, and Biber's Mensa Sonora (music suitable to accompany aristocratic dining)

There's the "Rice aria" from Rossini's Tancredi, which the food loving composer apparently composed whilst waiting for his risotto to cook and Nellie Melba, the soprano who gave her name to the Peach Melba, sings the Melba Waltz.

Plus popular food music by Fats Waller (Hold Tight I Want Some Seafood Mama), The Beatles (Savoy Truffle) and Bob Dylan (Country Pie).

Perhaps the most peculiar choice is a medieval song about eggs.

-Tim Prosser (producer)

The real concern on election night...

2008-11-08T20:30:00.005Z

from http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/11/05/well-yeah/

Absolutely brilliant - and real.

And what were they up to in Kenya?

A friend, who happened to be there, reports:

I'm in a Kisumu beer garden enjoying a President lager (renamed from Senator beer in a special release). Obama songs playing everywhere. What a trip!

So I googled it...

Kenyan beer stirs Obamamania - BBC News online

YES WE CAN!

2008-11-08T14:58:00.013Z

Election night, proud American tribute to Obama meal!

Though a bit belated, here's a tribute to Obama! I'm still haven't lost the feeling of glee that filled me when, sometime in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, we learned that Obama would be our next President. A President with a brain? Oh my, what will they think of next? I wish I could have been there in one of the street parties, dancing, crying and laughing. Instead, I attended a small election night slumber party with American ex-pats and indulged in the most American meal we could think of without compromising quality and not resorting to burgers and hot dogs. Nothing against hot dogs - I love them - but it was just a bit too easy! The added challenge was that one of us can't eat wheat or cow's milk, but that didn't stop us from gorging on the following... You can work wonders with goats milk butter and cheese and spelt flour.

ELECTION NIGHT 'PROUD AMERICAN TRIBUTE TO OBAMA' MENU

Potato salad

Obama's family chili - get the recipe on Huffington Post - click here

Spicy 'Buffalo' chicken wings

Lemon meringue pie

Oat jam bars

Jelly bellies to munch on and keep us awake

THE MORNING AFTER

Root beer floats

Artichoke dip with corn chips/crisps

Can you remember the last time you had a root beer float? Not me, but they are so good. I know the concept may be inconceivable to non-Americans, but I highly recommend it as an indulgent treat. You can get Bundagerg Australian Root Beer at Waitrose in the UK. Add a couple of dollops of nice vanilla bean ice cream and you're all set. (a spoon helps as well)

The Obama chili was good, but needs more spice and salt than you'd think. Garnished with sour cream, cheese, avocado and onion.

Oat jam bars take me back. My mom would always make them for me to take to school when it was my birthday or for school pot luck-fundraising-type things. They look really healthy and innocent, but they taste naughty. This is the recipe I used - I think my mom found it online. Don't know who it's from, but I promise I'm not using it for profit!

OATMEAL JUMBLE BARS
Servings: 2 to 2-1/2 dozen

3 cups oats
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 jar (10-12 oz.) jar preserves (I used Finnish blueberry and cloudberry preserves)

Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Grease a 13x9-inch baking dish. Combine all ingredients except preserves. Reserve 1 cup mixture. Press remaining mixture into bottom of baking dish. Spread preserves to 1/2 inch from sides of pan and sprinkle with remaining mixture. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Yeah, America! Yes we can!

A lemon meringue pie on election night.

Back to business

2008-10-26T21:33:00.006Z

Yup, those are purple tomatoes... photo courtesy of BBC News online

Alright, the slacking on my part has got to stop! I promise we've all been cooking up a storm, but I am ashamed it hasn't been shared. Thanks to those of you who keep looking at the blog! To get back in gear, here are a couple of news stories.

Five ways California vintners are weathering climate change - San Francisco Chronicle

A good introduction to how winemaking is going to need to adapt in the next century. Friend and local winemaker, John Chiarito, who makes some great wines out of Sicilian varieties like Nero d'Avola, is interviewed.

Purple tomato 'may boost health' - BBC News online

We all knew that purple was better. Purple potatoes are far superior in taste to their white counterparts; carrots were originally purple; purple sprouting broccoli packs a flavorful and healthy punch; and who can resist blackberries? Now they've made some snazzy purple tomatoes. I SO want some seeds so I can make spaghetti with purple sauce!

Yeehaw! Pizza throwing!

2008-09-27T11:27:00.002+01:00

I want to learn how to throw pizzas like these guys:

American Pizza Chefs Study with the Master - NPR

Can I go try, too? Who needs graduate school when you can get a degree in Classical Italian Pizza?!

And an excerpt explaining why I, too, take the seeds out of tomatoes when making sauce:
"[I] deseeded all my San Marzano tomatoes, took all the seeds out," said Gemignani. "Lot of guys didn't do that, the seeds are bitter. People might say, 'Why's he doing that? Yield isn't good in the sauce if you take out all the seeds.' It was the best pizza I've ever made." - Tony Gemignani

In the news: TV Nuns, Organic Farms and Rosh Hashanah

2008-09-21T14:32:00.006+01:00

How's that for a mixed bag of news goodies? I think I enjoy scavenging for good food news almost as much as cooking, so here are some morsels from the past week.

TV nuns show how to cook by the good book - Giles Tremlett (The Guardian)
Cloistered nuns, Sister Liliana and Sister Beatriz of the Concepcionistas Franciscanas in Segovia have their own show on Spanish cable TV called Bocaditos de cielo (little mouthfuls of heaven). They specialize in recipes (mostly sweets) that have been handed down over the generations in the convent. Sounds fabulous and if anyone knows how to watch this online - let me know! [By the way, the guy who wrote the article, Giles Tremlett, is a great writer. I highly recommend his book called Ghosts of Spain: Travels through a country's hidden past.]

Organic farm blossoms in Kenya's largest slum - Xan Rice (The Guardian)
A garbage dump is turned into a prospering organic garden.

Rosh Hashana Recipes - The New York Times online
The Jewish New Year celebrations start 29 Sept! Celebrate with some maykholim (delicious) recipes courtesy of the NY Times. These go beyond kugel to Moroccan beet salad and other exotic, seasonal fare.

UPDATE 11.30pm: We ate the Moroccan beet salad tonight as per the NY Times recipe and it's really good. That is, if you like beets.

China toxin scandal moves to liquid milk - The Guardian
An update on the horrifying milk scandal.

Tainted Milk

2008-09-19T00:38:00.002+01:00

This latest Chinese milk scandal makes me sick.

Worried Parents in China Wait for Answers on Tainted Formula - NY Times

An excerpt:

Melamine, the contaminant, is used to make plastics and fertilizers but banned from food production. In the past, it has sometimes been illicitly blended into agricultural products as a cheap way to raise protein levels.

Milk producers sometimes inflate their supplies by adding water. But the diluted milk has lower nutrient levels, so melamine, high in nitrogen, is then added to restore those levels artificially to meet protein requirements. Infants who drink the formula for sustained periods can develop kidney stones and suffer kidney failure.

Hong Kong Recalls Dairy Products - BBC News

Tetilla: a buxom cheese

2008-09-15T21:15:00.007+01:00

That caught your attention, didn’t it?

Traveling back to Spain and its culinary wonders, today I’m going to talk about tetilla cheese. It’s called that because it’s shaped like a breast. It’s a Galician specialty, made from cow’s milk and is smooth and creamy. I don’t know how easy it is to find outside Spain, but it’s worth hunting down when you are there. It’s readily available in any supermarket, unwrapped and sitting on refrigerated shelves. Tetilla can also be known as perilla (because it could also be a ‘pear’ shape).

Here is a website on cheeses in Spain with more detailed descriptions of tetilla: Cheese from Spain

In Santiago de Compostela, tetilla is proudly displayed in food shop and restaurant windows in the old part of the city. Each window tries to lure you in with their decadent displays of octopus, cakes (tarta de Santiago) or tanks of live lobster. Below are some photos.

Octopus, clams, razor clams, scallops, tetilla, pimientos del Padrón...

Lobsters! Bogavantes and langostas, to be specific.

Al Dente

2008-09-15T20:17:00.005+01:00

A friend sent me a link to this sweet animated short film about an evil Italian chef who makes ravioli out of little children. This is to keep you amused while you wait for more stories from Spain.

Al Dente - short movie

My morning window

2008-09-13T12:31:00.008+01:00

Though it's a bit off topic for my blog, a friend of mine sent me a meme and passed it on to me: publish a picture of what you see through your window when you wake up. I don't read enough blogs by people I know to pass it on again, but this is my typical morning window. A grey day in London - fancy that! In the mornings I look out to see what sorts of wildlife I can find. Usually it's cats, but once there was a fox (see photo below). The dark curtains are for keeping summer morning light (which starts at 4am) out. They are material for making saris. I got them in Vancouver several years ago and they used to hang on my wall in university. Now they are bleached by the sun on one side (the rooms faces south), but I like them, so they are here to stay. Outside the window is a view of the many gardens our neighbors keep. Typical London. Overgrown and wild. The elderberries are just past peek and we're trying to salvage tomatoes, but mostly it's a losing battle because we can't mow the lawn - it rains almost every day.

Cider (Sidra)

2008-09-11T23:53:00.006+01:00

I’m just back from a cycling tour in the regions of Asturias and Galicia and plan to devote a few posts to my culinary experiences. First, a drink.

In Asturias, where we were only for about a day and a half, I had the feeling they were really into their cider – hard cider (5-8% alcohol), know as natural cider (sidra natural). We spent our first night in a fishing village called Cudillero and the streets reeked of cider. I think the fact that they’d just had a fiesta didn’t help matters, but the peculiar way of pouring the cider was the main culprit.

When we ordered our cider, what made its way to the table was quite a large, green bottle, but only one glass. The reason for this, we were told, was that you have to share the glass, and the bottle. We weren’t allowed to pour it either. Only one waitress knew how to do that – see photo. This takes away some of the natural bitterness of the cider and gives it a bit of air (it tends to be a bit flat). The ‘shot’ they give you to drink in one or two gulps is called a culín (little butt). Each person gets a quick drink and then you have to wait until they come back to give you another.

It’s a messy process, though our waitress was pretty good. Inevitably some gets on the ground, hence the smell of cider everywhere. Once we were thirsty and just poured a bit for ourselves. When the waitress saw, she came over, shocked, dumped it out onto the ground (we were outdoors) and poured it properly for us.

In the Basque country (especially somewhere like San Sebastián) they have similar cider. In bars it is shot out of a barrel of some sort and the cider has to be caught in the glass. The Spanish Pig (who was my traveling companion) recently went to an event at a sidrería in Navarra. They also had cider shot into the glass, but this time straight from the barrels used to preserve it (photo).

According to my guide to Asturian gastronomy (produced by the Principality itself), the Asturian cider is made from three different types of apples combined – sour, bitter and sweet. It’s quite dry and has a wonderful, almost smoky taste and should be golden in colour and can be a bit cloudy.

This site looks interesting if you’re hunting down real cider and they have a special link for Spain: http://ukcider.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Zucchini Monsters!

2008-08-30T23:42:00.006+01:00

This is what happens when you neglect your zucchini/courgette plants. They turn into monsters, channeling all their energy into producing monstrous zucchini and then ceasing to produce any more. You should usually cut them when they are small to medium sized. This mutant specimen was a product of my holiday... Weight = 3.6kg. Length = 55cm. I have lots of ideas for its use (pasta, soup, frittata), but this thing could feed an army!

Also observe our tomato and cucumber!

The cherry tomatoes are especially delicious.

Pancakes make me drool

2008-08-28T21:17:00.004+01:00

I talk about drooling a lot. I'm drooling right now at the smells wafting up from the kitchen as Piglet 2 cooks up something yummy. But pancakes - the thought and sight and smell of them - really gets me. I love them so much - the American, fluffy version. As a child I would eat enormous stacks with grade A Canadian maple syrup and butter. Mmm... My grandfather would make them on Sundays. After lots of practice I've developed quite a knack with the spatula, but don't eat much of them here across the pond in the UK. I was browsing the cool blog Dooce.com and found this:

It's absolutely brilliant. Now go out there and make pancakes!

In the UK they have Pancake Day (otherwise known more officially as Shrove Tuesday, which is the day before Lent) and we Pigs like to celebrate with savoury and sweet pancakes until we're suffering from food coma and rolling under the table.

On another note, I'm briefly back in the UK after an amazing trip to the regions of Asturias and Galicia in northwestern Spain, all along the coast, munching on seafood, meat, nectaries, plums and stunning bread. Next stop is Poland for a couple of days... Heavy food in large portions and lots of beer await. Stay tuned for news of galician delights!

This little piggie went on the road

2008-08-14T00:49:00.002+01:00

Pig Me Up will see you all, realistically, in September. Travels to continental Europe await!

Remember to eat well and have fun - we'll be back with stories of food in far away lands to entertain and hopefully inspire.

Someone noticed

2008-08-12T01:26:00.003+01:00

Wow, a total stranger quoted my blog in her blog! I'm so chuffed.
http://rome.blogproject.org/jessica/?p=39#more-39

Her blog is pretty cool, and I recommend the entries tagged with 'mercato di testaccio' if you want to read more about that great market in Rome that I wrote about in February.
http://rome.blogproject.org/jessica/?cat=12

Israel's Desert Farming

2008-08-10T12:12:00.003+01:00

Always wondered how they farm that amazing produce in Israel's deserts, the most bland of which makes its way into UK supermarkets? Here's a video clip from the NY Times on the troubles facing this type of farming due to Israel's four-year drought.

The Risks of Desert Farming - NY Times

Tomatoes and Ricotta - heaven in a bowl

2008-08-09T17:42:00.007+01:00

Pasta with Creamy Ricotta Tomato Sauce

I'm stuck at home on a rainy London Saturday with a sinus infection. What to do? Make pasta to pamper myself. This serves 1, but perhaps you should make double so that you can relive it again.

3 roma tomatoes - squeeze out the innards and chop
4 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
olive oil
2 Tbsp ricotta - the higher quality the better, it should be slightly sweet, not bland like many generic versions. I like Santa Lucia ricotta.
Several leaves of fresh basil
parmesan to garnish
salt and pepper

Fry the garlic lightly then add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt and cook on medium for not more than 10 minutes. Blend this sauce until smooth in a blender. Cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Add the sauce to the pasta and then the ricotta. Stir until evenly blended and add some basil leaves (torn to release flavour) and some pepper. Garnish with a bit of parmesan.

Oh, I wish I'd made two portions!

Cake-wreck

2008-08-08T23:42:00.003+01:00

Just a little weekend fun courtesy of Pig Me Up thanks to a friend of mine who found this gem last week:

Ever order one of those naff cakes from the local supermarket bakery? Well, here is a blog that pays tribute to all of the cakes gone horribly wrong.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Have a good weekend! Pig Me Up goes on summer holiday next week to eat endless amounts of seafood and fresh fruit so apologies in advance for the silence.

Pizza boy

2008-08-05T23:52:00.005+01:00

Hey everyone! Look at my flatmate's first pizza! It was delicious. I'm so proud. :-D
Congratulations M3!

Want to be like him? Find you favorite flat-crust pizza recipe and top it with sautéed garlic, olive oil, rosemary, fresh rucola/arugula/rocket, mozzarella, green olives and cherry tomatoes.

Foraging for news

2008-08-05T21:27:00.005+01:00

While my flatmate attempts his first pizza (may the force of the yeast be with him), I thought I’d dig up some random food news from the BBC.

Shock at Uganda dog meat arrests
Dogs' dinners prove popular in Nigeria
I realize that the dog meat articles might shock some people. I love dogs with a passion - as pets. I was eating lunch while reading these articles and nearly couldn’t handle it. However, I think that it’s always worth thinking about what different cultures consider taboo – or not. In the case of these articles, communities are split to extremes, which I find quite disturbing, especially with stories of people stealing pet dogs to eat. Anyone who has gazed into the eyes of their pooch would find the action despicable. If you’re a vegetarian, eating any animal is. Other examples of taboo foods? Horse meat is eaten in Italy, but Americans and the British wouldn’t even contemplate the thought. I can’t eat rabbit because I had pet rabbits and loved them very much, but I do know that it tastes good and lots of people love it. The French have their frog legs and snails which for many of us would be just, well, gross. Equitorial Guinea has monkeys (very sad). And what about kosher, halal and hindu dietary customs and laws?

Not my bag: My mission? 31 days without plastic
This is a cool blog that’s in its fifth day by a correspondent on the BBC. Talk about a challenge. I am tempted to join her. When I moved to the UK, it was the first time that I was truly self-sufficient. Even my year living in an apartment at college felt pampered some how, so when I finally started becoming aware of how food was marketed to me, I was shocked. Everything outside the outdoor markets was suffocated in plastic. I try to buy all my veggies at the market, but even there you feel forced to use the flimsy little plastic bags they provide for separating your veg because it helps them weigh things. Our council, Haringey, wouldn’t even take plastic to be recycled from your curb-side bin. You have to take it to your local recycling centre. And they vacuum-seal cucumbers in plastic! What planet is the UK on? We’ve been recycling in the States for a long long time. Plus, cucumbers do not need to be vacuum-sealed. Why cucumbers? But there is too much plastic in all supermarkets, everywhere. Period. So I’m interested to watch how she does. End of mini rant.

Shunned Starbucks in Aussie exit
All I have to say is that the Australians are my new heroes.

Sicilian Chocolate from Mexico?

2008-08-03T20:00:00.007+01:00

Now I know it’s the middle of summer in the northern hemisphere, but it’s a dismal, grey, rain-drenched day in London and I felt like indulging in a hot chocolate in August – just because I can – and because I have such a fine selection of chocolates from which to choose.

During my visit to Sicily in December 2006, I was surprised to discover that Sicilians preserve the Mexican way of making hot chocolate, a process that was brought over to Sicily by the Spanish when they controlled southern Italy in the 1700s. The town of Modica (a World Heritage site) has grasped hold of this tradition and made it theirs, effectively using it to market their town to tourists. The main street, Corso Umberto, is lined with chocolate shops and pasticcierie (pastry shops, which in this case specialize in Sicilian delicacies).

The cocoa is combined with cane sugar crystals, often mixed with spices and made into a bar. You can then either eat it as is or, better still, melt it in a cup of warm milk on the stove and have a delightful hot chocolate that is just sweet enough, but not too much. It works to use 1 tablet of a chocolate bar per cup of milk, depending on size and how rich you want it. I let the milk warm up a bit first over a gentle flame and then add the bar, which should melt quickly. Stir it with a wooden spoon to break it apart. When it’s all melted, it’s ready to drink.

Dolceria Bonajuto has been around since 1880 and is the oldest chocolate shop in Sicily. Walking into the shop is like walking back in time, or into the movie Chocolat. Its glass cabinets are filled with exotic chocolate treats and the team is in the back, in white coats and caps, busily at work making more. I’ve just been drinking their chocolate with nutmeg in it.

CioMod is a more modern affair with a classy shop on Corso Umberto. Not only do they sell traditional cioccolata modicana, but liquors and beauty products as well. I’ve held onto a chocolate bar with ginger in it. On their website they advertise pure chocolate bars with cinnamon, vanilla, hot pepper, black tea, and coffee flavors, plus pure, plain chocolate and milk chocolate. I must say I like their packaging.

I picked up several bars in a café called Bar del Viale, which is part of the Modica Chocolate Consortium. I’ve already consumed the orange-flavored one, which was delicious, but I still have the peperoncino (hot, red pepper flavor).

Finally, we also picked up some chocolate and other pastry treats in Casa Don Puglisi, which employs women who have escaped abusive relationships. It helps get them back on their feet. I’ve still got a bar of their anise-flavored chocolate, which I can’t wait to try (after all this time).

When I was home in California last December, my mom and I happened upon a Latin American grocery store in San Rafael. I came out with a container of Chocolate Ibarra, Mexico’s most famous chocolate, which comes in round tablets and is flavored with cinnamon. It’s made just like the chocolate from Modica, but they add a bit of emulsifier. I also bought a 400 gram tablet of Chocolate Guerrero, which seems like pretty much the same thing, but it has a bit of milk and it’s from Guatemala. I have yet to try it, but it smells delightful.

If you live in the States, especially in an area with lots of Latin Americans, you should be able to find this stuff with no problem at all. So how do you find it in the UK? I might try Coolchile.com, they seem to stock Mexican drinking chocolate and they’ve also got a stall at Borough Market. The street market in Brixton (Electric Avenue, next to the tube) has some Latin American shops as well and you might get lucky.

At any rate, it beats Cadbury’s and any sort of industrial hot chocolate mix hands down because it’s just chocolate, sugar and a bit of spice – no funny stuff!

P.S. I just discovered recently that Seeds of Change (a cool organization that seeks to promote biodiversity, based in New Mexico USA) sells chocolate bars in the UK. The one I bought at Tesco was with orange and fig – one of the best chocolate bars I’ve had in a long time.

Olofactory - Bringing back memories

2008-08-01T00:43:00.003+01:00

How do you cook? By taste, by smell? By eye? By luck?

I cook pretty much only by smell, mostly trying to reconstruct the smells I grew up with, which were intense and exquisite, usually, but not exclusively, created by my father in the kitchen. I remember the smell of freshly ground coffee in the morning; rosemary all year; basil and melon pretty much defining summer; sticking my nose in a freshly cut boletus mushroom in November and smelling earth; veal frying in garlic and olive oil; tomato sauce so aromatic you can believe that tomatoes are fruits; our Thanksgiving turkey covered in a rosemary forest and stuffed with chestnuts, plums, port...; pungent prosciutto hanging in the basement; the cold wine cellar and the smell of grapes fermenting; freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

My friend who's blog is magnotmargaret, has an evocative post up, which I recommend! What food smells take you back to childhood memories - or any sort of memories?

Pasta with spicy tomato sauce and mozzarella

2008-07-26T19:44:00.006+01:00

Doesn't the thought of it just make you drool? Inspired by one of our 50 cookbooks, this has Carew piggies licking their lips in anticipation.

Pasta with spicy tomato sauce and mozzarella
Serves 4
Time: 30 min
4 medium-sized tomatoes - chopped, squeeze out the seeds
4 cloves garlic - finely chopped
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
olive oil
mozzarella - chopped
fresh basil - torn a bit
fresh parsley - chopped finely
salt and pepper
2 Tbs butter
freshly grated parmesan
500g/1 lb penne pasta

Fry the garlic and red pepper in olive oil. Add the tomatoes and some salt. Cook on high for 5 min and then lower to minimum heat and cover for about 10 minutes. Stir the tomatoes a bit to help them break down. Add black, ground pepper and the basil and parsley. Cook for 1 min and take off heat. When the pasta is cooked to al dente, drain and add a bit of olive oil and the butter. Stir until the butter melts and then add the sauce and mozzarella. Serve with parmesan.

You will go back for seconds.

Trans Fats Banned in California!

2008-07-26T10:10:00.006+01:00

As a Californian, I am so thrilled to hear that the Governator has signed a ban on trans fats, due to come into effect from 2010. We were early to ban smoking in food establishments and indoors between 1994 and 1998 and junk food and trans fats are also banned in school meals. (Though I must admit that there were other states ahead of us!) This is fabulous. Now if only the UK would jump on the bandwagon. I didn't know that New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Stamford, Conn., and Montgomery County, Md. had already done so. It's definitely a step in the right direction to cutting heart disease. Now all they need is a requirement that if you live within 40 minutes of work and are physically able, you should cycle! Well, that's not going to happen, but how great would that be? California, with it's tame climate would be the perfect place for a massive cycling campaign.

To read about the ban on trans fats, check out the following articles:
Trans-fats banned in California - BBC News online
California Bars Restaurant Use of Trans Fats - NY Times
Schwarzenegger signs law banning trans fats in restaurants - LA Times

My only concern would be that fast food joints really stick to this, but even more, smaller businesses. Big fast food chains have already started bans, but it's the little places that will have trouble affording it. There will obviously be complaints of food prices rising because trans fats are so cheap, but is it a good thing that unhealthy food be really cheap? Adding a dollar onto the price of fries might be a good thing because they aren't doing your heart any good even if they're being made with non-trans fats. Maybe then people might realize that a banana costs a lot less than that. Ha, yeah right. As with the smoking ban, people make a huge fuss in the beginning and then just eventually get on with it. This will be the same.

My flatmates did an in-house experiment a few years ago to see whether a trans fat margarine or butter rinsed off a knife more quickly. With hot water, the margarine didn't rinse well at all, but the butter just melted and slid right off. That's what those trans fats are doing to your arteries! Not that you should consume huge amounts of butter either, but you see the point!

At any rate, it's a step in the right direction, and I'm happy to hear about it! In celebration, I'm going to give my heart a workout and go for a cycle. But only after I buy some fresh fruit and veg from the high street.

Salmon Pasta Improvisation

2008-07-25T23:18:00.003+01:00

We had a visitor recently from Finland and she brought loads of whole smoked salmon/rainbow trout. Our refrigerator and freezer are bursting at the seams, so I decided to do something about it by improvising with the last bits of veg from the previous Saturday's market run. The result was delicious and so easy a child could do it (though I wouldn't want them wielding the big knife to slice the salmon. A nice, refreshing summer dinner.

Salmon Pasta with Tomatoes, Leek and Parsley
Feeds 4
Time: 30 minutes, max
200-300g smoked salmon or rainbow trout, thinly sliced and loosely broken into bite-sized pieces
3 fresh, chopped tomatoes with most of the juice and seeds squeezed out
A handful of parsley
1 leek, finely sliced
400g pasta
salt, pepper
olive oil

Chop the salmon, tomatoes, leek and parsley. Sauté the leek until cooked through and soft using a non-stick pan. Take off heat when cooked. Cook the pasta to al dente. Drain and put back in pot with olive oil, add all of the ingredients, a pinch of salt and generous amounts of pepper. Toss together until evenly distributed. Eat without cheese.

Horrors

2008-07-25T23:10:00.001+01:00

The watermelon slices at the food hall went up to £1.50 today! I must confront them and find out what sort of exotic pygmy watermelon they are selling that can be worth that much per slice.

I scream for ice cream

2008-07-21T20:13:00.007+01:00

In some countries it's summer. In celebration of "summer", here's a peek at the life of a woman who drives an ice cream truck. Acutally, sounds a bit rough. We have one that circles the neighborhood rain or shine, pretty much 365 days a year. This is a photo of his truck and some greedy flatmates on a rare hot day in London.

The Ice Queen (NY Times online)
NY Times topic: Ice Cream - endless articles on ice cream

What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Mine is DEFINITELY coffee.

Sorry, one more thing:
Anyone for a bit of cultural insensitivity?

Save the bees! and other foodie thoughts for today

2008-07-21T19:33:00.006+01:00

In reference to my post about disappearing honey bees, a friend today had up a little YouTube video on her gmail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m5vt07W2n4
Cute. And yeah, save the bees.
Friend says, "apparently, it's a play on the complicated dances bees do to communicate with other bees where the nectar is"
Wicked. The costumes are hott.

The posh food hall downstairs from my work really pushed the limit today. Not only have their prices gone up to £6 ($12) for take away hot food (excusable considering the rising cost of all food), they are selling the smallest slices of watermelon I've EVER seen for £1.10 ($2.20). WTF?! I know that mini watermelon didn't cost them over £10 ($20). That is the slimiest rip-off I've encountered in a long time. I did have a small victory over them, though. Recently, I became addicted to a fruit bar they sell there for £1.10 called O Bars. Today I discovered that the corner shop down the block sells them for £0.89 ($1.80). Eat that, food hall! I'm also sorely disappointed in their focaccia. They put so much salt on it that it turns your mouth inside out. That costs £1.10 as well. I sense a pattern... Yeah, that I only look at things that cost £1.10 or less in their store. A pint of organic milk also costs £1.10.

It's blackberry season along the River Lee. On my way home tonight I picked some juicy ones and placed them carefully in my cycling jacket pockets so they wouldn't smoosh. They're yummy!

Eat your veg!

2008-07-20T19:17:00.004+01:00

Our first courgettes/zucchini were ready last night and I bought some delicious fresh peas at the outdoor market on the High Road as well. I've had a bit too much meat in the past week and wanted something nice and fresh to make me feel more as if I were enjoying 'summer' as they call it here. This meal left me feeling refreshed and there was plenty left to enjoy again today. It also felt good to know that the peas were from Yorkshire, the zucchini from my garden and the leeks hopefully didn't travel from outside Britain either...

Pasta with zucchini, parsley and garlic
3-4 cloves of garlic chopped finely
1/2 leek, sliced finely
bunch of fresh parsley chopped finely
2 medium sized zucchini, grated
1lb/500 g pasta
salt and pepper
olive oil
parmesan

Sauté the garlic and leek in the olive oil and a non-stick pan. Add the zucchini, salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium and let some of the water evaporate. I also squeeze out some of the excess water you find in super fresh zucchini beforehand. Cook for about 10 minutes, maybe a bit more (don't overdo it), then add parsley and let it wilt. Add to your al dente pasta with a little extra olive oil and garnish with parmesan or romano cheese.

Fresh peas with leeks
Peas
leeks, sliced finely
olive oil
salt and pepper

Shell the peas and steam until you smell the peas (5 min?). Don't overcook. Sauté the leeks gently in a non-stick pan and when they are soft, add the peas for a couple of minutes, no more. Add a little salt and pepper to your taste.

Tomato and mozzarella salad
tomatoes
mozzarella
olive oil (nice, flavourful)
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

A bit of Africa on Pigmeup

2008-07-19T14:18:00.002+01:00

For those of you who are thinking, why is Pig Me Up slacking? Where are the recipes, the posts, the food love? Well, it's been busy, folks, I'm sorry! But I'm slowly getting back in the swing of things. In the mean time, check out this delicious post from a friend of mine who currently resides in Nairobi. She's as much of a culinary snob as I am (those Californians...), so enjoy!

"Sharing My Lack of Culinary Skills with the World" - from Nairobinotes.blogspot.com

What we learned today

2008-07-18T00:12:00.001+01:00

...that you shouldn't put a Tupperware in a microwave with a base that conducts heat (those fancy, posh ones). The Tupperware in the previous post today melted to the bottom of a posh microwave and I had to pry it off the bottom with a knife. A sad day - it was my favourite one! Apologies for not providing a photo...

How to drive your colleagues crazy, no. 1

2008-07-17T00:36:00.007+01:00

Bring Tupperwares to work that look like this:

My lunch tomorrow will consist of spinach and ricotta gnocchi with a butter and rosemary sauce as a starter and roast chicken with my family 'secret sauce' as a main. The smell will be exquisite!

Seriously, though - the Carew way is to cook for at least one more than you need so that someone can take leftovers to work. It's so much cheaper and since you're making the effort to cook, why not make a bit more? And it's ever so fun to walk to your desk with a plate looking (and smelling) like it came from the posh food hall next door and say, "Actually... I made it myself!"

That's the Piggie Tip of the Day!

Urban Farming

2008-07-11T20:22:00.006+01:00

Check out this cool project started in Detroit turning empty space into vegetable gardens that local people can work at and use. It's fantastic!

Urban farming takes root in Detroit - BBC News

Their website (needs a bit of work...):
http://www.urbanfarming.org/

It makes me feel lazy about not doing a better job in the garden this summer. There's still time!

More Fish and Chips?!

2008-06-21T11:54:00.005+01:00

Okay, I'll admit it. Only four days after the London to Brighton cycle, I ate more greasy fish and chips. But this time it was also necessary because I was in Aldeburgh, Suffolk where they have a famous fish and chips shop and they just happened to be frying that day... I was in Aldeburgh for work - the group I work for was playing at the famous music festival in nearby Snape Maltings. We made a bit of a road trip out of it and visited Benjamin Britten's grave next to a beautiful flint church, walked on the stony (mostly flint) beach, and visited the famous Tudor, wood-framed Moot Hall, which features in Britten's opera Peter Grimes. It's a beautiful little town and the fish and chips were pretty amazing. Apparently it's supposed to be the best place on the east coast to get fish and chips - I got haddock and chips - and you must put salt and vinegar on or they will look at you strangely. We ate it on the beach, in the drizzle and wind.

Top 10 chip shops - an article from the Guardian (2002) and it lists the Aldeburgh chip shop as number 1!

London to Brighton - A fast food special

2008-06-17T21:04:00.005+01:00

In honor of Bike Week in the UK, we've got a cycling, fast food special. Two of us, and an additional, honorary Carew Pig completed the wonderful London to Brighton charity ride benefitting the British Heart Foundation. Well, us and 30,000 other cyclists! The weather was superb and we all made it to the top of the famous Ditchlings Beacon at the top of the South Downs without stopping. From there it was just five more miles to Brighton where we crossed the finish line and headed straight for the beach. We arrived at lunch time and definitely deserved fish and chips from a local stall along the beach. Never did fish and chips taste so good. We're normally not huge advocates of fast food, but this was irresistible. Brighton was great and I hope to go back soon and get some more of those delightfully greasy fish and chips.

Now get on your bikes and cycle! The more you cycle, the more you can eat. Any excuse, right?
London Cycling Campaign
London to Brighton

On Parade

2008-06-07T19:40:00.007+01:00

These are just about the cutest food ever.

If you've got the mini Roma tomatoes, you must try this. Slice open the top of the tomato, but not all the way, so it has a little lid. If they can't stand on end, like in the photo, a delicate trimming of the base would be good to keep them steady. Gently squeeze out the innards. Make up a mixture of nice extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. With a teaspoon fill the tomato with the oil-vinegar mixture. Insert a small basil leaf and arrange artfully on a platter. Eat by popping the whole thing in your mouth and be amazed by the burst of flavor!

Thanks, Miguel.

First Harvest

2008-06-07T19:07:00.003+01:00

Our first wave of strawberries from the garden! Aren't they cute? They taste divine.

Birthday

2008-05-14T21:06:00.004+01:00

Cooking for eleven can be a challenge, especially in our miniscule kitchen. But somehow I pulled it off for my birthday a few weeks ago. I was too distracted to really take any photos, but did manage to catch the apple-plum pie before it went in the oven and the delicious lemon meringue pie that a friend brought. (Two of five desserts, mind you)

The Birthday Menu - 27 April 2008

Prosecco, Cava and various red wines including a Carménère from Chile and some Rioja

Fennel, beet and potato salad

Fennel, celery, shrimp and calamari salad

Frittata with zucchini, pecorino romano and pecorino sardo

Chicken with olives

Roast chicken with sage, parsley, rosemary, garlic and pancetta

Torta della Nonna (sweet pastry crust filled with lemon, ricotta and pine nut mixture)

Apple - Plum pie

Fruit salad*

Lemon meringue pie*

Marisol's apple tart with custard*

Moscato di Pantelleria (my dad's)

Needless to say, we only got through about four of the five desserts. A success all around with a bit of swing dancing at the end. A * denotes it was kindly made by a friend!

When in Rome

2008-05-13T22:00:00.013+01:00

Continuing from a previous post about artichokes, I wanted to share a few more anecdotes from my all too short visit to Rome in mid-April. The last day of our stay, before heading to the airport, my mom and I spent a few hours running around the historic centre of Rome. Our first stop was Campo de' Fiori, which has a posh fruit and veg market in the first half of the day. Come here to buy whatever is in season and locally grown. The produce is gorgeous and so fresh. There is also a cheese and cured meat stall that sells the cheapest parmigiano reggiano I've found - 12.50 Euro/kilo. There is also the guy who sells dozens of different spice mixes! My favorite was seeing two cute elderly nuns picking out some goodies.

Nuns pick out produce in Campo de' Fiori, Rome

For lunch we headed to Da Tonino, Via del Governo Vecchio, 18 (very close to Piazza Navona), my preferred dining spot in Rome when I want something cheap, homestyle, informal and packed with Romans. The food is delicious. It hasn't got a sign on the outside. We had pasta e fagioli (pasta and borlotti beans), a heavy, but thoroughly filling dish. I also indulged in yet another delicious plate of carciofi alla romana. It's a place you can just sit down and [if you know how to speak Italian] just ask them to rattle of the specialties of the day - no menu (though you can ask for one. If you look like a tourist they'll just hand you one automatically). I've seen people come in and do custom orders and the waiters don't bat an eye. The place gets packed by about 2.30 p.m. on a weekday and people share tables and can barely move around. Romans talk and gesticulate loudly and everyone just seems to have a good time.

Da Tonino and carciofi alla romana

They specially trim the artichokes in Rome (see my photo below) with very sharp little knives. I attempted this back in London, but couldn't get the knives sharp enough to do the trimming on the edges. These are rubbed with lemon and soaked in lemon water until you are done trimming them. A mixture of mint, parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt is rubbed into the leaves and then they are cooked in water and olive oil until tender (25-40 minutes). I tried to do this, but the ones I ate in Rome were so much more tender!

Rabbit food

2008-05-05T23:28:00.001+01:00

Courtesy of the Times, Letters to the editor (5 May 2008)
Sir, A diet of rabbit can lead to starvation (letter, April 26). Perhaps this may point to a middle path between the increasing costs of a healthy diet and obesity resulting from the consumption of junk food. There is no shortage of rabbits in our countryside, so maybe McDonald's should launch a new "bunny burger" promotion. - Brian Hall, Salisbury.

Merp?

The rising cost of food

2008-05-04T21:14:00.006+01:00

The BBC is looking at the latest food crisis in depth.
The cost of food: facts and figures - BBC News
Have your say: Families' shopping lists - BBC News
Global rice supply: Video snapshots - BBC News
Liberians drop rice for spaghetti - BBC News
Is India facing a food crisis? - BBC News
Food price crisis bites in Egypt - BBC News

Carciofi!

2008-05-03T23:16:00.008+01:00

Apologies to those who don't like artichokes, but the next few posts are devoted to this huge, edible flower.

My cousin who lives in the countryside just outside Rome got married a couple of weeks ago and my mom and I went, extending the trip by a couple of days on either end to allow time for Roman indulgences. Little did I know (until my cousin made a passing remark about it), that we were in the midst of artichoke fever. The farmland to the north of Rome is famous for it's roman globe artichokes and we just happened to be in town for the famous Sagra del Carciofo Romanesco (Roman Artichoke Festival) in nearby Ladispoli. The artichoke season runs from late January/early February until late May. Taking advantage of their freshness, I ate artichokes every day I was there.

It's a great long street fair and market that leads from the train station all the way down the main drag through town and to the beach at the other end. Many of the side streets are lined with vendors as well. Besides fairly good deals on artichokes (15 for 5 euros) you can buy a Fiat, any household item under the sun, clothes, porchetta (roast pork with fennel - a specialty of Rome and Viterbo), numerous Sardinian stalls selling pecorino sardo and salami... in fact, there were stalls from many regions, selling off their regional specialties.

My favourite part was the artichoke sculptures - the best are below:

Castle on a hill.

Baby cradle.

Artichokes ahoy.

Butterchoke.

Home Alone

2008-03-31T23:17:00.005+01:00

This weekend my flatmates abandoned me, but this girl kept herself happy with the leftovers in the fridge. I sit here gobbling down Fusilli with Sausage, Broccoli and Fennel, but this weekend there were peppers and cream... Never be afraid to pamper!

Fusilli with red pepper cream sauce and jamón Serrano (or prosciutto)
Serves 1
Cooking/prep time: 25 minutes

Extra virgin olive oil
1/4 large onion, finely chopped
5-6 pimientos del piquillo (or any small, red, roasted pepper in oil), chopped
3 slices of jamón Serrano or prosciutto, chopped or torn into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pint single cream (though I would only use about 5 tbs, depending on how much sauce you like)
Salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan to garnish
100g fusilli

How it's done:
In a non-stick pan, gently fry the onion until translucent. Put the pasta water to boil. Add the jamón/prosciutto to the onions and fry for just a minute. Then add the peppers and stir just to warm and blend flavors (2 min). Add cream and stir to warm and blend, but don't let it boil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add pasta to water. After a couple of minutes, blend the pepper-cream mixture in a blender until smooth. When the pasta is al dente, drain and coat with olive oil and the blended sauce. On your plate, cover in a light coat of grated parmesan and a bit more black pepper.

Tip: As a side dish I had steamed purple sprouting broccoli. Counter that cream with veg!

I also made some sort of rustic egg bread with dried cranberries and poppy seeds. Yum.

Sacrilege

2008-03-31T20:53:00.000+01:00

I will admit that in general I don't like cheese with fish and that as a holder of an Italian passport, I feel I need to be more firm in this stance. It's a pretty well known fact that Italians are usually against cheese with fish because it lessens the enjoyment of fishiness in a dish. Or just because everyone else said that it's against the rules. I happen to like cheese with tuna, mostly because of the great American tuna melt. But you can't get me to put parmesan on a spaghetti with clam sauce. It's got so much flavor already!

The following article is a good argument FOR fish and cheese to be united in culinary bliss. I still don't buy it and will continue to cook fish in interesting ways that celebrate its fishiness, but do read on:

Just Grate - NY Times, by Robert Trachtenberg, 30.Mar.08

An alternative to cheese to enhance the flavor of a fish dish, you ask? GRATED/GROUND PISTACHIO. They do it in Sicily all the time and it looks beautiful and tastes divine.

The Great Mozarella Tragedy

2008-03-28T00:34:00.005Z

Watch out, folks. That pizza could cause cancer. I've personally switched to ricotta. Just made a pizza with it last night and it was divine. But I admit I'd still prefer a little buffalo milk. Campania - Clean up your act!

How Italy's 'white gold' turned sour - BBC News
Italy recalls tainted mozzarella - BBC News
EU warns Italy over cheese scare - BBC News

Also in the news:

The Great Tam Tam Shortage of 2008! What's a Jew to do at Passover?!

It's Hide the Matzo, for Real: Where are the Tam Tams? - NY Times

And finally:

Everything is connected - as we saw with rubbish in Italy... Bees are having trouble in California, so it's time to truck them in so they can pollinate 80% of the world's almond crop!

Season of hope - LA Times

It's hard times for food!

Borshch | Food & History

2008-03-16T17:54:00.005Z

I highly recommend the following article on the history of borshch from the Saturday Guardian Magazine (15/03/08). Food as a study of culture and politics is always juicy reading material. Who knew there was so much pride behind borshch?

The Story of Borshch: It's just a bowl of beetroot and cabbage in meat stock. But it was the common denominator of the Soviet kitchen. So what happened to the dish after the collapse of the Union? by James Meek, photos by Justin Jin (including photo above, courtesy of the Guardian).

"Our men won't forgive us if we don't make it," said Yulia.
"Can men make it?" I asked.
"No!" chorused the Ukrainians.
"We haven't really taken on board the idea of men cooking," said Volodimir.

I think I'm going to try making it! Perfect for these rainy, cold and very grey days.