Borough Food Fight

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

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

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

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


Fabrication de bonbons à Berlin from philmotion productions on Vimeo.

Let it dough!

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

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

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?

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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!