Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Novella Carpenter: Urban Farmer
















I just finished reading Novella Carpenter’s new book Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. Novella and her boyfriend Bill moved to Oakland from Seattle where they had already started raising bees and having chickens for eggs—and a garden. But on 28th Street and MLK in Oakland, CA, they really found their very own farm. Their rented second floor duplex had a large empty lot next door and a backyard. So they “squatted” on the lot (they did have the permission of the fellow who owned the land but were aware that at any moment he could decide to sell it) and gradually turned it into a huge garden and made the produce available to folks in this rough and tumble neighborhood.

















But they didn’t stop with the garden. Bees arrived in a box at the Oakland post office, full grown laying hens were purchased from a local store, and a box of meat poultry, Homesteaders Delight, arrived in the mail. Little fluffy chicks, ducks, geese, and four young turkeys. Then on to rabbits. And finally two young pigs purchased at an auction in Boonville. Young pigs which grew to 300 pounds and had to be fed well and often. Thanks to Bill and Novella’s prodigious skills as Dumpster Divers, their animals ate very well indeed. It is an amazing story. I have a huge amount of admiration for her sense of humor, her ingenuity, her ability to learn fast on the job, and her commitment to seeing the projects through to the end. She is also a wonderful writer.
















I took these photos a couple of days ago. I really wanted to see what 28th and MLK looked like. I don’t know for sure that they still live in the upstairs apartment and the house is a different color from what she described in the book. But I saw what looked like the handle to a garden tool on their front porch and there was this huge garden next to it with the sign, so I’m figuring they are still around. No animals in sight from the entrance to the garden. I couldn’t see into the backyard and didn’t want to venture further.

Order this book from your favorite independent bookseller as soon as you can. She'll be reading at Readers Books in Sonoma on Sunday, August 2, 2009. And let me know what you think of the book.

I love/I hate my Cuisinart





















This has been a particularly busy week for dinner parties. Three of us on Thursday, seven friends on Saturday and four on Sunday. That’s a lot when I’m accustomed to one or two. In preparing the three dinners, I used my Cuisinart five times. It is a wonderfully helpful machine. I literally couldn’t cook what I like to cook without it. Whirling away--or as my friend Cathleen says “cuising” away (I think it rhymes with wheezing)--I made pesto, roasted carrot dip, lemon squares, chocolate pots, and fig and black olive tapenade. And last week I made the Romesco Sauce that you’ll find below. Of course, you can make these items by hand, or with a mortar and pestle, or maybe in a blender, but none of these options works quite as well as the processor.

That said, the Cuisinart has major design flaws. First, the complicated locking mechanism. Early on, someone must have stuck his or her fingers into the spinning blades. Messy and awful for them, I know. But is it really necessary from a safety standpoint to have three components exactly aligned before the C will work? Three. Ridiculous.

Second there is the cleaning issue. There are obscure places which are nearly impossible to wash well: the bottom of the unit which houses the feed tube, the spindle hole underneath the blade, and the inside of the handle. Because it is so hard to clean, I will often organize my cooking so that I only have to rinse it out before moving onto the next task. Maybe dishwashers solve the problem of the hard to reach spots, but I can’t run the dishwasher every time I want a clean processor.

Third, there is the problem with the blade going dull—which it invariably does over time. Did you know that you can sharpen it just as you would any other knife? And you can also buy a new blade from Appliance Sales & Service in San Francisco and get it in the mail. Without replacing the whole unit.

So there you are. I need it. I love it. I wish it were better. Has anyone found a really good one that doesn’t cost a fortune?

I'll take a pass, Dr. Atkins

The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) reported a case study showing serious risks related to the Atkins diet [1]. For those that don’t know, the Atkins diet is the ultimate low-carbohydrate diet. WebMD explains the diet as being controversial…to say the least [2]. However, during the 1990’s, it was the diet craze…even for yours truly.
Sporting an excess 80lbs many years ago, I, too, gave the Atkins diet a shot. I vividly recall breakfasts consisting of bacon, eggs, cheese, and sausage. Um, hello cholesterol and saturated fat? It makes me ill even thinking about it today. Dr. Atkins, however, advocated for such: the ultimate low-carb diet, stating that it would improve health and memory function [2].
Let’s approach the science of the Atkins diet for just a second, because the diet does produce (temporary) weight loss. After a mere 2 ½ months, I was down 30-40 pounds. However, I’d bet just about anything that my lipid panel and blood pressure were up. Even at the ripe age of 14. The weight loss effects come from the lack of carbohydrates being consumed in the diet. The production of usable glucose: the source of energy for the body, particularly the brain, can cause serious strain on the body, especially organs such as the kidnies. Also, with carbohydrates unavailable, the body begins to breakdown it’s own fat stores, creating carbon fragments called ketones. This breakdown in the body puts oneself into a state of ketosis: the goal state for those following a low-carb diet seeking weight-loss. Ketogenic states tend to suppress the appetite which aid in producing weight loss. However, unpleasant side effects also pop-up when ketonic, such as unusual breath odor and constipation [2].
While fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are forbidden during the initial 2-week phase of the diet, they are gradually added back in. Effectively…supposedly. In my own experience, after maintaining a prolonged ketogenic state (albeit I surely didn’t know it was called that 10 years ago), the reintroduction of carbs into my diet caused major weight gain. Duh. Those 30-40 lbs were back in no time, and about 10 more joined in the following months. Please note, this was pre-nutrition education!
Low-and-behold, I got off easy post-Atkins. A case study published in the American Dietetic Association presented PCRM research on one man – a previously healthy 51-year-old now suffering from high cholesterol, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and erectile dysfunction after following the Atkins diet as discussed above. His poor wife…”unusual” breath odor and erectile dysfunction…
In one month’s time, the case study subject’s LDL (bad cholesterol) went from a health 85 mg/dl to an unsafe 154 mg/dl – a level most doctors would prescribe statins for. Eventually, the subject landed himself in the ER with symptoms of chest pain. The cause: a near total blockage of a coronary artery! For obvious reasons, the subject discontinued the low-carb diet and within 2 months had completely resolved his health problems.
If that’s not scary, I don’t know what is.
A shout-out to all the diabetics and weight-loss seekers out there: carbohydrates are an integral part of your diet – they are NOT the devil! Choose your carbohydrates wisely, however: whole grains, whole-wheat products such as rice and pasta, fruit, vegetables, and low-fat dairy.
[1]. Kraus, Peggy. Atkins Diet Blamed for One Man’s Chest Paid and Artery Blockage. Examiner, Tulsa. July 18, 2009.
[2]. The Atkins Diet. WebMD: Healthy Eating & Diet. Accessed July 21, 2009.

Cranberry What?

I've been meaning for some time now to get into baking some "fancier" breads mimicking the artisan-style loaves available at bakeries and grocery stores. I had my first attempt with the hearth bread awhile back but I had another ultimate goal in mind. In particular, I had visited a Loblaws a couple of months ago and was treated to an AMAZING sample of cranberry-pumpkin seed bread that I've been thinking about on and off ever since. So I thought I would finally try out a variation of this.

Except that apparently I have my seeds mixed up and I accidentally bought sunflower seeds, not pumpkin seeds. Which may have worked out because it may have actually been sunflower seeds all along that was in this aforementioned loaf. It's hard to say. I have the short-term memory of a goldfish. All I really remember is that is that it had cranberries, and was delicious.

Anyway...I decided to adapt (fairly heavily) a recipe from The Bread Bible. The actual recipe is for a raisin pecan bread but the underlying base seemed to be what I was looking for - hearth bread made from mostly white bread flour with a hint of whole wheat and studded with dried fruit and nuts/seeds. Plus I decided to bake the loaf in a Dutch oven, a la no-knead bread (I've contemplating trying no-knead bread more times than I can count, but the amount of rising time involved always ends up leading me to another recipe). I read in Ratio (I know, I've been talking about this book way too much lately...I am going to write an actual review of it soon so that I can get the rest of my raving out in one post) that you can actually bake any bread in a dutch oven to get that crispy, cracked crust without having to use complicating steaming methods like trays of ice cubes or spritzing, so it seemed like a good thing to try.

There are still a few things that I think I need to master with hearth breads, like how to form the loaves nicely and cut the slashes in the top of the loaf without completely flattening the dough, but overall this bread was really really good. Just a bit sweet and filled with the nutty toasted sunflower seeds, perfect with a smear of butter for breafast. Or with a hunk of cheese as a snack. And the dutch oven worked like a charm - Crunchy and nicely browned on the outside with NO steam necessary! I'll be baking the rest of my loaves this way for sure.

Cranberry Sunflower Loaf
adapted from the Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Berenbaum

Sponge
1 cup bread flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 cup water at room temperature
1 tbsp honey

Flour Mixture
1 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup lightly toasted sunflower seeds
1 cup dried cranberries

1. Soak the cranberries - place the cranberries in a small bowl and add enough hot water to cover. Let sit for about 20 minutes until softened and plump. Drain the cranberries, reserving the liquid in a 1 cup measure. Add enough warm water to equal 1 cup (this will be your 1 cup of room temperature water)

2. Make the sponge - In a large bowl, place the bread flour, yeast, water and honey. Whisk until very smooth and you can see some air bubbles, about 2 minutes. The sponge will be the consistency of a thick batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Set aside, covered with plastic wrap, while you make the flour mixture.
3. In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of the bread flour, the whole wheat flour and yeast. Spoon this mixture lightly on top of the sponge. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let ferment for 1 to 4 hours at room temperature.

4. Mix the dough - add the salt and using a wooden spoon, stir the flour mixture into the sponge. Stir in the oil, sunflour seeds and cranberries, and mix to distribute throughout the dough. Knead the dough in the bowl until it all comes together, then scrap onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, adding as little of the remaining 1/4 cup of flour as possible. It will be fairly tacky but just work through it. Cover with the bowl and let rest for about 20 minutes. Knead the dough for another 5 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. It will still be a bit tacky but less than before. If you need to, add the remaining flour during this step.

5. Let the dough rise in a dough-rising container or bowl, lightly greased with oil. Lightly oil the top of the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

6. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead lightly. Shape the dough into an oval and place in a greased dutch oven, or a greased baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit about 1 hour prior to baking.

8. Remove the plastic and let dough sit for about 5 minutes to dry out slightly. Using a sharp knife, slash the top of the dough a few times. If you're using a dutch oven, cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes; remove lid after this point and continue baking for 10-15 more minutes, until the bread and golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

9. Remove bread from the oven and cool for as long as you can possibly wait - I think I made it about 20 minutes (Levy recommends 2 hours....right)

Bloggers Trying Korean food


I read a few blogs every now and then . I love when my fellow foodies try Korean food .
Here is one of the Blogs I like to read trying Korean Food

http://chadzilla.typepad.com/chadzilla/2009/07/gabose.html

I haven't been posting as often as I use to I am taking a little break . Doing some gardening and looking for a job . I will keep posting every now and again . Dont worry I will be back.



BBQ As A Business

Is anybody out there looking to start a recession proof business? Then why not turn your love of BBQ into a money making venture. There are people making over $1,000.00 just working on the weekends. Fairs,carnivals,local events and ball games are just a few of the places you can set up a BBQ concession. Visitors flock to BBQ like no other foods at these events. Pulled pork, ribs and barbecued chicken are three big sellers at these events. You can also offer exotic fare such as alligator, wild boar, venison and other game meats. People love trying different things so why not take advantage of their natural curiosity. So what does it take to get started in this business? Well of course you're going to need a cooker and this will be your main expense. Southern Yankee BBQ offers some of the finest cookers on the market. Smoky Mountain BBQ also offers a nice selection of cookers. The size that you need will be determined by the size of the events you wish to sell at. You also can make money by catering BBQ. Barbecue is the fastest growing catered wedding reception food today. All sorts of people love to have barbecue catered to their event. So if you are looking to start a business and you love to barbecue there is no better time to get started. There are tons of information online and in book form to get you started. Good luck in your new venture.

The BBQ Concession Trailer As a Home Based Business Opportunity (How To Make Serious Money With Your Own Mobile Food Business)

KEEMA PARATHAS



Ingredients:
Keema ..... 1/2 Kg. (Mutton or Chicken)
Onions ..... 2 large
Ginger-garlic paste ... 1 tbsp.
Green chillies .. 2 (finely chopped)
Coriander powder ..1tsp.
Jeera powder .......... 1 tsp.
Garam masala ......... 1-2 tsp.
Amchoor powder .... 1 tsp.
Salt ........................... to taste
Red chilli powder ....1/2 tsp.
Oil & Ghee
Wheat flour.............. 2-3 cups
Ajwain ..................... 1tsp.
Eggs ..................... 2 (beat with a pinch of salt) ....Optional

Method:
1. Wash the keema and squeeze out the water completely.
2. In a pan heat a little oil and fry the onions till golden brown.
3. Now add the ginger garlic paste, green chillies and a little water to cook the onion.
4. Add the mince, salt and the dry masalas. Stir fry sprinkling little water from time to time until the keema is cooked to a very dry consistency. Let it cool.( You can sprinkle a little kasoori methi if desired)

5. Knead the flour adding a little oil, ajwain and salt.

6. Roll out 2 thin chapatis (one slightly bigger than the other).

7. Spread the prepared mince mixture on the bigger chapati, pour a little egg batter with a spoon.

8. Place the small one on top and seal the edges. Roll again carefully.




9. Roast them on a griddle pouring a little oil or ghee.


10. Serve hot with chutneys, pickle or dahi.

Lisbon and Super Bock Super Rock!

Finally, I’m back!

Last weekend I was at Lisbon with some friends, and we had a great time around the city and at the Super bock Super Rock festival! Here’s our little adventure...


On friday, we started our trip early in the morning, at ten o’clock; and the way to Lisbon was very quite and funny. We arrived about six in the evening to our little apartament; a lovely place in the Chiado’s neighborhood; the older part of Lisbon. It was really beautiful! From our window we could see a church that every morning woke up us with the bells.


The first night we went to a little place at Chiado. It was really small, only for 20 people, and they served the best fish on the city. We had squids, cod and salmon; all with salad and potatoes... delicious! For drinking, green wine, best one I’ve ever drink; and chocolate cake for dessert.




Then we went to a pub where we had some margaritas; and we met this lovely couple; Celia and Gonzalo. She’s an actress and he’s a mage!! They came with us around the city all night.




In other pub (with great music, by the way) we had some cosmopolitans. It was the first time I drink it, and it’s delicious! We had another drink there, safari (some kind of peach licor) with coke; great too!



Finally, we went to the oldest pub at Lisbon; it’s from the XIX century and it was pretty cool and beautiful!






On saturday morning we woke up early in the morning and had a delicious breakfast.



Then we went around Lisbon, making some shoppings, and about three o’clock we arrived to the Restelo’s stadium. we met some great people there from Barcelona and Valladolid; and more people from Lisbon too! And finally, the concerts started! I leave you here some pictures from The Walkmen; who were pretty cool; The killers (fabulous) and Mando Diao (perfect, as always... second time this year!)











I love Mando Diao... you can have a look to more pictures here:



And by the way, I get a Sex Pistol’s bag and a Mando Diao T-shirt (a present!).

***

Volví de Lisboa!! Como ya comenté antes de irme, he estado este fin de semana pasado en la capital lusa para asistir al quinceavo Super Bock Super rock, donde tocaban The killers, Mando Diao o The Walkmen entre otros.

El viaje transcurrió tranquilo y entre risas; salimos bien temprano por la mañana y para las seis de la tarde estábamos en Lisboa, concretamente en el barrio de Chiado, donde teníamos alquilado un pequeño estudio desde el cual se veía una bonita iglesia (cuyas campanadas nos despertaban por la mañana).

El viernes por la noche fuimos a cenar a un pequeño restaurante típico, donde bebimos vino verde y cenamos salmón, calamares y bacalao; todo acompañado por ensalada y patatas asadas; delicioso! De postre tomamos una fantástica tarta de chocolate que wow, estaba de muerte.

Luego fuimos a un bar donde bebimos unos margaritas y conocimos a celia y gonzalo, una adorable pareja que nos mostraron la ciudad nocturna. Celia es actriz, y Gonzalo es mago. Nos llevaron a un bar de ambiente donde ponían una música fantástica y donde bebimos cosmopolitans; nunca los habíamos probado y estaban deliciosos. También bebimos safari con cola; el safari es una especie de licor de melocotón que está muy bueno. Tras esto, fuimos al pub más antiguo de toda Lisboa, del siglo XIX; era precioso y lo pasamos genial allí.

Al día siguiente dimos un paseo por Lisboa e hicimos algunas compras hasta las tres de la tarde, hora a la que llegamos al estadio de restelo, donde era el festival. Nos colocamos en primera fila y disfrutamos de grandes conciertos: The Walkmen, Mando Diao y The Killers fueron fantásticos; no puedo decir lo mismo de Duffy (fue patética); pero mereció la pena.



Por cierto, me he comprado un bolso de los Sex pistols y tengo camiseta de Mando Diao.

Si queréis ver más fotos de los conciertos, visitad mi Flickr!