Cookin' in the 'Cuse

Emerging...

Okay--my Cookin' in the 'Cuse baby hiatus is over.  Baby Timothy is eating well and waking just once in the night (though I don't know how he can stand to eat the same thing every 4 hours for days on end.)  But I'm getting more sleep and have even managed to cook some interesting meals--like pork dumplings in honor of the Chinese New Year.  Meanwhile, our local food scene continues to develop and grow and I'm not wanting to miss any of it.  Great things are emerging--here's what I'm tracking on:

The TEDx Manhattan conference this Saturday is on "Changing the Way We Eat".  You know about the TED conferences, right?  Getting one of the coveted spots to attend is difficult but they are generous to offer many of the TED Talks on the website at no cost.  This TEDx event (kind of like a mini TED) is all about the sustainable food movement and how to make healthy, fresh food more accessible. 

The actual event in Manhattan is just as hard to get into (though our own Marty Butts will be there).  But you can also watch this Saturday's event on a live stream by clicking here.  An invitation only event to watch the broadcast is being hosted by the South Side Innovation Center.  It is hoped that this viewing party will be another helpful step in building a sustainable, local, food coalition here in Central New York.  I'll let you know what the next steps are--but tune in as you can on Saturday!

CSA Time.  That's right--now is the time to get signed up (if you aren't already).  The options for farm subscriptions are ever-changing and some farms are on hiatus this year so don't delay.  Common Thread CSA is expanding its pick up locations (inlcuding the Downtown market and Green Planet Grcoery).  Greyrock Farm  has a year-round CSA that includes beef, chicken, and poultry in addition to vegetables and dairy.  Check out the options and reserve your share. 

Seed Ordering.  For those not going the CSA route, this is the time to order seeds for sowing indoors next month.  That's right, it will soon be time to get those seedlings going--a sign of hope for spring indeed. 

Syracuse invades NYC with great food and drink.  First the Dino, now Empire Brewery.  Now folks in Brooklyn can get some of our great microbrews--you go Empire!

The Beauty of Small

I've been nursing a blog post for a couple of weeks now about small food.  Portions, that is.  With the holidays upon us I've searched for ways to keep the words, "indulgent" and "favorite foods" in my vocabulary while not adding other words like, "guilt" and "pounds". 

With all of that snow fall we had in Syracuse this month I've had plentiful opportunities to hunker down and bake.  I've been churning out loaves of banana coconut bread, experimenting with baguettes and bread sticks, and turning the last of the apple harvest into rustic tarts...but small.

I was going to wax on about the beauty and deliciousness of small bites and miniatures and post a bunch of recipes.

But then a long-awaited gift came to us--a beautiful, small, baby boy we've named Timothy Aaron.  He eats like a champ and while he does, I whisper sweet somethings in his ear like " Flour City pumpkin pappardelle pasta with pesto" and "mise en place".  I'm hoping he can begin to get excited about these things when the time comes for solid food.  Oh the fun we are going to have!

I'll be rethinking much of what's on my figurative plate but I hope you'll keep checking in here from time to time.  I'll write as I can--who knows what Timothy will inspire?  In the meantime, peace and joy to you this holiday season and grace and good tidings for the new year.

'Tis the Season for Cookbook Coveting

Ninety-six.  That's the number of cookbooks my Mom counted in my kitchen bookcase.  "There's more upstairs, aren't there?" she asked.  I just nodded my head and looked away.  What can I say?  A few cookbooks a year over 20-something years can add up.  And yet, I still hunger for more.

Actually, it is fairly easy for me to peruse the cook book display at the book store and keep on walking.  I mean, how many renditions of braised lamb shank with pureed celery root does one need?  But every now and again, I'll leaf through a book and decide--I've got to have it.  James Paterson's latest, "Meat:  A Kitchen Education" is one such book.  I have to flip through it EVERYTIME I see it.  And maybe its ten years of not eating red meat catching up with me, but my goodness, I want to cook every recipe in there.

So that's become my standard in deciding whether to add a cook book to my wish list--does it make me want to rush into the kitchen and get busy?  If not, I could probably make do with checking it out of the library or doing without. In fact, I should probably catalog my collection and consider lending out the tomes that I never seem to crack open on a regular basis...I'll give that some serious thought.

Yesterday's New York Times Book Review had it's annual cook book list--just in time for the holidays, don't you know.  Many are delicously inspirational.  Others are so pretty and cumbersome, they'd never see any real action on my kitchen counter.  But I love knowing what's out there.  

So what's on your cookbook wish list--and why?

 

Thanksgiving is Coming--All Hands on Deck!

Alright folks--it's on!  Thanksgiving is two days away and I can hardly contain my excitement.  This is one of my favorite holidays of the year.  Being a priest and all, I probably have to rank Easter and Christmas in front of Thanksgiving.  And indeed, those holidays would be PERFECT if they allowed me the time I cherish to prepare the feasts that go with them.  But as it is, Thanksgiving is the one holiday when we are given complete permission to cook (and let's face it, eat) like there's no tomorrow. 

This year, instead of cooking a full-on feast myself, I'm joining forces with friends.  There will be about a dozen of us, with two dueling turkeys, a mash up of sides, and several desserts.  Here's what I'm cooking up:

Oink and Gobble Farm Roasted Turkey with truffle butter

Maple Gravy

Cornbread, sausage, apple and pecan stuffing (been making this for 20 years now, so I guess it's tradition)

Rutabaga and Leek chowder with smoked paprika butter (from the new Winter Issue of Edible Finger Lakes)

Cranberry Bourbon Compote (made with fresh cranberries a friend brought me from the Cape)

Golden Cake with chocolate sour cream frosting (from Gourmet Magazine, oh how I miss that magazine this month!)

Mom is driving up from NYC and she's packing cheese cakes for our feast--YUM!

What's on YOUR menu???

*  If you are still shopping around, check out Green Planet Grocery on Wednesday--they're having all kinds of tastings and last time I checked they had 2 or 3 Oink and Gobble turkeys available.

Harvest Fest Give Away Results

Congratulations to Alexis and Sarah F!  From all of the comments posted they were chosen at random to win tickets to the Pride of New York Harvest Fest this weekend at the NYS Fair Grounds.

Thanks to all of you who posted comments on your plans--and challenges--to eating local this winter.  There were many yummy and practical ideas there that will help us all!

And thanks to the good folks at Pride of New York who made this give away possible--I hope it is a great event.  Sarah and Alexis--have a great time and tell us all about it!

Pride of New York Harvest Fest Ticket Give Away

Two tickets to the Pride of New York Harvest Fest this weekend can be yours!  Why?  Well, it's is a great opportunity to meet local foods producers from across the state who believe in bringing the best New York has to offer to your table.  It is also your best shot at getting food you actually WANT to eat at the NY State Fairgrounds.  And...I can't go.

Every month there are great events happening around our region that celebrate local and/or sustainable foods and producers.  Invitations and often, tickets, come my way and I've decided that just because I can't go shouldn't mean you don't get the chance.  So for the first time ever, I'm doing a "give away".  I don't know how often I'll do these but trust that I'll be giving it some thought as Cookin' in the 'Cuse goes forward.

So here's the deal:  I've got two tickets, valued at $25 each, for this weekend's Harvest Fest at the NYS Fairgrounds.  Tickets are valid for all day Saturday, November 6 OR Sunday, November 7.  Winners will be chosen at random using a random interger generator.  All you have to do is leave a comment here about how you plan to continue eating locally this winter and if you don't plan to, why not. 

Comments must be left by tomorrow,(Thursday) 8:00 am EST.  I will post the names of winners and notify them by email and will then need to request some additional contact information to give the Harvest Fest organizers.  Because beer and wine will be available at the event, all winners must be 21 years of age.

Good luck!

It's a harvest of activity around here

I don't know where the time goes sometimes, it's been nearly a month since my last post--how does that happen?  Well, there's canning apple sauce, apple butter, and cranberry chutney; there's lots of writing going on in other places--like work and Edible Finger Lakes; there's been travel, including lunch last week at Eataly New York, the new Italian mega-emporium in Manhattan.

But here, quick and dirty, is what you need to know about what's going on 'round these parts:

• Groupon Syracuse is live!  Haven't heard about Groupon?  It's great.  It's about coupons you can get emailed to you for local products and venues.  Today's Groupon deal is you pay $5 for a $10 coupon to the delicious cafe at Earth's Own Natural Market in Liverpool.  How cool is that?  You can choose to get deals emailed to you for as many cities as you like--great if you like to travel.  Sign up here.

• This weekend is the Pride of New York Harvest Fest Nov. 6-7 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.  There will be about 100 growers and producers there plus wine and beer tastings and local food products galore.  It could be a great way to check out local foods that don't always get to store shelves--and purchase things for the holidays:  a local foods basket is a great gift, don't you think?  Tickets are $25 but stay tuned because I'm doing my first ever give away!  For more about Harvest Fest click here.

• For the meat lovers out there, I've just received word about a Meat Fair--that's right, a LOCAL meat fair sponsored by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County.  It will take place on Saturday, November 20th, 2010, at the Central Square Middle School cafeteria, on U.S. Rte. 11 from 1 pm to 4 pm.  Many different meat vendors from the area will be on hand to speak with consumers and answer their questions.  Janet Wells, of the Farm House Kitchen Catering Company will prepare the different meat dishes for sampling; including goat, beef, pork and poultry.  Cost to attend the event is $5.00. 

• And now for some sad news...Wyllie Fox Farm is taking a hiatus from doing CSA shares for the next year or two.  Jamie and Maggie are young farmers who have made an incredible contribution to the local foods scene--my root cellar is FULL of their butternut squash--and they fully expect this to be a temporary break.  While we have been eating well thanks to the efforts of Jamie and Maggie and other small, local farmers, we must never forget how incredibly difficult it is for these farms to stay afloat IN A RECESSION.  It is indeed a complex calculation to get the financial and human resources aligned to farm productively and small farmers have it particularly hard.  It has never been more important to support our local food producers because without them--well, I'm not sure where I'd get the food that I count on to be grown sustainably and locally.  Jamie and Maggie--we'll miss you but know that we are standing with you!  Keep us informed and if there are ways this community--your community--can rise up and help in any way, let us know.

Eat on, friends and eat well.

Michael Pollan: Eat Food, Not Edible Food-like Substances

Michael Pollan with Edible Finger Lakes publisher Michael Welch, creative director Zoe Becker, and me.

By his own admission he is not a nutritionist--just an Englsh major trying to eat real food.  Tonght, to a nearly packed house at the Syracuse Civic Center, Pollan wove together the themes of his three most recent books:  Food Rules, In Defense of Food, and The Omnivore's Dilemma into an accessible primer on the ills of our food system and what we might do about it.

Even if you have read his books you'd find the reminder of some of his points startling:  20% of food is consumed in the car; the typical Western diet (filled with refined carbs, salt and sugar) is largely responsible for high rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and 1/3 of the cancers diagnosed; we've largely forsaken eating for pleasure and community building for eating for health--except we're getting less healthy; Americans spend only 9% of their income on food--less than any other industrialized nation (and if I'm not mistaken, this number has gone down in the past decade). 

He began his lecture by filling a table with some edilble food-like substances he purchased at Tops earlier in the day.  There were things I didn't know existed--I mean, frozen pancakes with sprinkles already on them?!?  I don't get it--apparently, I need to investigate what else is in the conventional grocery store--just to see it.  I tend to shop the perimeter of the supermarket and farmers at the CNY Regional Market get the lions share of our food dollars.

For those who have been reading this blog for any length of time or following the sustainable food revolution, tonight was classic Pollan--engaging, thought-provoking, and inspirational.  I left reinvigorated and excited about this harvest seaon and grateful for the folks in our community who are trying to get real, whole foods onto our plates--you know, the folks listed in the left side bar. 

Pollan says he isn't an evangelist but I'm hoping that he made a few more Michael Disciples tonight.  Each and every person makes choices each and every day that affect our foodshed and what is stocked on grocery shelves.  The power to change our food system, live with a higher degree of wellness and health, and actually enjoy the food that nourishes us is in our hands--or can be if we reach out for real food. 

Anyone else craving kale right now, or is it just me...?

Michael Pollan, the Coffee Nazi and Dessert--Yum

Michael Pollan kicks off the Friends of the Central Library lecture series tonight!  Can't make it--no worries, I'll be tweeting the highlights as he speaks.  Click to the little birdie on the right sidebar to follow me on Twitter.

Bittersweet Winebar and Desserts is open, beautiful, and busy!  Check out their menu to get a preview of what they're serving up.  I hope to get there on Friday with photos and a first impression review stay tuned!

I'm working on a story for the Winter of issue of Edible Finger Lakes magazine--it's about our local coffee scene.  I think I've got a crush on the Coffee Nazi at Kind Coffee--heaven help me!

And the Wyllie Fox Farm Foxfest is Saturday beginning at 4pm.  There's a farm tour, pumpkin carving, potluck dinner (bring a dish and a chair) and a bonfire--each activity occurs at 4, 5, 6, and 7pm respectively.  For directions to the farm check out their website.

That Time of Year

It is time for...

Picking apples and making pies

Cleaning up the garden bed and the "tomatoes gone wild"

Planting garlic

Enjoying the kale, spinach, chard, and other greens that love the newly crisp air

Taking long (or short) walks or biking around beautiful Central New York

Visiting our many farmers' markets

Visiting the farms!  Foxfest at Wyllie Fox Farm is October 9th.

Downloading the Farmshed app--if you haven't already

Reading under the shade of a tree

Ordering Thanksgiving day turkeys

Dreaming of soups and stews--oh yeah, cooking them too!

How are YOU soaking up fall?

 

Photo of hay bales in South Onondaga--up the road from Stones Throw Farm.