Food Culture

Posted on March 25, 2011 by

One of the things that intrigues me about our wide-ranging attitudes and habits around food and nutrition is how people approach cooking or preparing food at home.  I often wonder how we foster that part of our food culture, especially when I hear people express frustration about not cooking more; wanting not to eat out so much, or to get away from rushed meals in cars on the way to and from home. The Food Network would have you believe it’s just because you don’t know HOW SIMPLE IT IS TO MAKE DELICIOUS HEALTHY LOCAL FOOD YOUR FAMILY WILL LOVE, yo!  But I don’t think that’s it, nor is it (only) time, or money, or education about nutrition and the food industry. Some or all of those things, but I don’t think that’s all of it. There’s also something about values (oh, what a loaded word!), experience, and confidence around making food — with an emphasis on the latter two. Convenience food and semi-homemade packages promise fast success in the kitchen and glossy satisfaction from your family, without draining your wallet, making it easy to opt-out of the risks and challenges that scratch food preparation can bring.

My experience and confidence in the kitchen were started at home at an early age, as I spent time with my Grandmother and Mother in the kitchen baking bread, crackers, cookies, making yogurt and jam and salad dressing. Gram kept a lovely (and LARGE!) vegetable garden, cooked nearly every meal her family ever ate, made bread from scratch, (even though she didn’t eat wheat — she was a master at testing alternative flours and binders for the bread she made for herself, before there was a gf market), and did it all with such care that she made *me* care about the work that went into food preparation. I wish she could see the resurgence in vegetable gardening and preserving; I think she’d be so interested in all of it, and would have so much to teach. At her house, there were veggies in the root cellar, and an extra freezer and refrigerator in the basement pantry for long-term storage. The warmth of her kitchen and her DIY sorts of values around food and cooking had a strong influence on me (on my  mom as well, I suspect) and on my interests in food and cooking now.

Growing up with my mother’s cooking added the spark of creativity and encouraged my fearlessness in the kitchen.  My mom has a talent for making even the most complicated of recipes seem doable, and she passed along a strong technical base, even in our mostly-meat-and-seafood-free house. I still don’t consider myself a great home cook, though… I can hold my own with most everything EXCEPT meat (including fish and seafood), but that’s a pretty big except.  Happy to eat it, not so happy to cook it.

And that’s what got me thinking about some of the things that might hold people back from cooking, experimenting.  I just don’t know what I’m doing around meat… don’t know how to buy it, what to ask for, how various cuts are suited to different modes of cooking, how to build flavor profiles from them.  I feel uncomfortable experimenting with cooking meat, because I don’t have any history to draw on, no memories to start with. I was a hippie teenage vegetarian through college, and it’s like I just missed that stage of my cooking education. And honestly, I don’t care enough  about eating it at home – right now, at least – to learn. I’ll buy the occasional local bacon or brats at the market, but that’s about as adventurous as I get. Otherwise I’ll wait for Black Dog and Epiphany Farms /Station 220 and my friends’ dinner parties. Because knowing that someone took that care and interest and creativity in sourcing and cooking and prepping is still ingrained in me, even if it’s not me doing it.  Just tell me what kind of tart you’d like me to bring.

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Staples and Meal Planning

Posted on January 31, 2011 by

One interesting thing about this Madeline Island challenge has been re-thinking the way we shop, the pantry we keep.  I like a deep pantry, and Melli’s more of a “use it up” girl.  We’re learning how to split the difference, making sure we don’t stock so high that things start spoiling (since nuts and oils and whole grain flours *do* spoil, after all), and that we don’t stock things we aren’t sure we’ll use.  Don’t count them as staples until we’re buying them every week, in other words.

White Wheat bread flour, AP flour (all other flours in small quantities as needed)
Cornmeal
Brown sugar, white sugar
Basmati rice, Brown rice (all other rices in small quantities)
Pasta — by the dozen, including orzo and tiny ones for soup
Canned whole tomatoes (in #10 cans)
Canned black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans
Chunk TVP
Shredded mozzarella cheese (freezer)

Of course, this doesn’t include things like oils, vinegars, spices and such.  But with eggs/milk/cheese, it’s the basis for most of our cooking throughout the week.

Which brings me to “special items.”  A little more than a week ago, we were planning two dinner parties, and we didn’t want to veer too far off our challenge for them.  The first wasn’t too difficult: a pasta party for my roller derby league, a pre-bout carb loading session.  I agreed to provide spaghetti and sauce, and put the girls in charge of bringing salads and snacks.  Though I can usually count on roller girls to drink their weight in beer, the night before a bout is pretty tame.

The second party was a bit more challenging: we were having a group of girlfriends over for a much-delayed annual wine and appetizers thing, and I was a little worried it might be lame if I had to stick to our “island” rules.

So I made a list of things we had on hand, and started browsing around Smitten Kitchen for ideas. I’m a little embarrassed to say I made nearly everything for the party from sk.

  • I’d already planned to make the jam tart with some of the raspberry-pluot jam we’d canned last summer (sans top crust)
  • We made the carrot salad w/ harissa, feta and mint, with harissa we’d made last summer;
  • And the smashed chickpea salad – as a salad, but I can’t wait to try it as a sandwich filling;
  • And finally got around to trying the spelt crackers that I’d had bookmarked for the longest time.  They were SO easy, thin and crispy and light, with a variety of seeds and sea salt on top.  I’d like to say I won’t ever buy crackers again, but I know that’s overambitious.  But they were super cheap to make, and not hard at all.
  • I love the onion tart w/ mustard & fennel, but I’m lazy and make it on my standard pizza dough, albeit with a bit more oil.

The hardest part was sticking to recipes that really made the most of what we had on hand, but it was so worth it — no big shopping trip to prep for the party, and all the recipes are things I’ll make again, because they don’t call for too many ingredients I don’t already keep on hand.

We’re starting in on week three of this challenge now, and at this point we’re thinking of doing it for another month.  I’m not sure we’ll learn nearly enough from just a month, and it’s already inspiring me to cook in a different way, even when we have people over.

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We’re on the island…

Posted on January 22, 2011 by

Ever since our August vacation to the Apostle Islands, Melli & I have talked about doing a “Madeline Island Month”  – a month where we live as closely as possible (shopping/cooking-wise) as we would if we were living on a small island with minimal / sporadic access to mainland amenities. We might be able to pick up milk at a little shop on the island, but otherwise groceries and other shopping would have to be planned in advance and coordinated with the ferry schedule and/or a road trip to Ashland. We thought the variety of constraints would help us focus on goals:  reducing our monthly food budget, being more thoughtful about acquiring things and spending money on consumables, and saving money overall.

We picked January 16 – February 15 to give it a try, for a few reasons:

  1. It’s a time of year when the ferry/sled is still running, albeit on a limited schedule.  In February, the ice road from Madeline Island to Bayfield will open, making it a bit easier to get back and forth to the mainland, and that’s a little too convenient for this experiment;
  2. Though we don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, there’s still something about the new year that inspires some belt-tightening, especially when winter fuel costs are so high;
  3. Summer brought masses of fresh produce from our gardens, stocked our pantry with goodies, and now we have preserves to go with all that winter comfort food that’s so easy to prep and freeze. At least that’s the theory.

So week 1 we concentrated on a shopping trip that would boost our stores of staples and take us through a week or two on fresh produce and dairy.  We made meal plans for the week, made double batches of chili and pizza dough and baked bread. Now, as Melli says, we’re on the island!

The first week wasn’t a real test, since we’d just gone shopping, so it’s too early to do any sort of evaluation of how it’s going. But this week we have two dinner parties — so we’ll be drawing heavily on the pantry and on things we can make from staples, and maybe next week I’ll actually be able to reflect a bit.

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2011 Challenges

Posted on January 11, 2011 by

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, but I do like challenges… books, movies, cooking, canning, whatever. This year, I’m really inspired by projects I watched over the past year: Can Jam, Kitchen Diaries, and all the great food that popped up in my flickr and Twitter and Pinterest feeds (though without Diigo, I’d never be able to keep track).

So I’ve decided to take on a few challenges of my own this year.  I definitely want to tackle a list of new recipes, and work on refining a shorter list of recipes that need some work.  The first is inspired by the 25 recipes challenge, though I think my list will probably be closer to 50.  There are some very specific recipes that I’ve had in the queue for a long time, some recipes I want to compare, and whole categories of food/drink that I want to try.

So far on the refining/perfecting list:

  1. Ciabatta – I’ve tried so many times, but I fail at reproducing that gorgeous texture
  2. Chai syrup – hit it on the head by accident last summer, and I didn’t write it down properly
  3. Chili – I have a couple good recipes, but I need to nail them down
  4. Granola/Muesli – Again, I have a couple that I like
  5. Jam tart w/ cornmeal crust – from Smitten Kitchen, I just want to work on this a bit
  6. Mac n Cheese – I’d like to try making a slightly lighter version of Dave Martin’s
  7. Malt loaf – ISO a Soreen replacement, given the high cost of shipping direct
  8. Sandwich loaf – something easy, everyday
  9. Scones – looking for the perfect balance between flaky and chewy, w/o being crumbly

And for new recipes:

  1. Bagels
  2. Baklava
  3. Beer
  4. Borscht
  5. Ceviche
  6. Chevre
  7. Chocolate babka
  8. Coq au Vin
  9. Crackers (crispy, wholegrain)
  10. Creme Brulee
  11. Dulce de Leche
  12. Flan
  13. Gnocchi
  14. Gougeres
  15. Grape focaccia w/ Rosemary
  16. Ice cream
  17. Nutella
  18. Pasta (homemade)
  19. Paella
  20. Peanut Butter
  21. Pretzels
  22. Puff Pastry
  23. Ricotta
  24. Roasted golden plums w/ honey & sage
  25. Rosemary Roasted Cashews
  26. Sesame balls
  27. Speculoos Cream
  28. Strudel
  29. Sweet corn pancakes
  30. Whole Wheat pizza dough
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Happy Belly #1: Plum Jam Tart

Posted on January 3, 2011 by

it may not be pretty, but it sure was tasty


I had a knitting group (read: cool women I know who like good food, good conversation, and may also like to knit) coming over today, and wanted to bake. Like, not a huge tray of macaron bake, but something tasty. And since December always feels like the longest pay period of the year, preferably something I could bake with ingredients on hand.
I turned first to Smitten Kitchen hoping she’d have something fabulous I could make with the amazing damson plum jam that Mel made this summer, and this Easy Jam Tart recipe absolutely fits the bill. No complicated patisserie work, just a simple tart. The dough is quick and needs only 30 minutes in the freezer before pressing into the pan, and 30 minutes after. Add jam and bake about 30 minutes. Seriously, a 90-minute tart.
It was supposed to have this lovely top crust of overlapping leaves of dough, but clearly I didn’t reserve enough, and had to wing it. Next time I think I’ll skip it altogether.

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In search of Breakfast

Posted on October 11, 2010 by

Breakfast is where my “don’t ask me questions” rule really shoots me in the foot for the rest of the day. I’m a bear to wake up most mornings, and even once I’m up, I’m practically incapable of higher functioning, or even basic speech. I tend to sleepwalk through my morning routine, getting in the car without breakfast most mornings, and yet just as I pass by the Starbucks on the way out of town, I start thinking breakfast might be a good idea. If I manage to resist the temptation of frozen breakfast sandwiches, then I’m ravenous by the time I get to work an hour later.

So I’ve been thinking for a while about coming up with some healthy, easy, and appetizing breakfast options that can be pre-planned, and don’t require too many choices in my half-conscious state. For me, a weekday breakfast has to be fast and portable, either edible in the car or something I can save to have at my desk.  I do equally well energy-wise on carbs or protein, though I’d like to focus on high-quality sources of both (no frozen breakfast sandwiches, no pastry or other flour/sugar concoctions).

I identified three general categories, and picked a couple from each category to try over the next week or so. At the end, I’ll evaluate in terms of how fast, easy, and satisfying they were, and how likely I’d be to make them in the future on a weekday. And because I care, I share ;P

* First:  Hot Grains *

1. Oatmeal
Whether steel-cut and soaked overnight, or rolled and cooked in the morning, this is about as simple as it gets for a hot breakfast.  It can be eaten in the car or at my desk, or saved for later. I tend to prefer oats over Cream of Wheat, Cream of Rice, Ralston, etc. , but any whole grain could be substituted.
2. Wheat berries
I’m a big fan of cooked whole wheat berries for breakfast, which were a treat I shared with my grampa when I was little. They need to be pre-cooked, so that they can be quickly heated in the morning. But like the other hot grains, they’re portable and packed with energy
3. Breakfast Couscous, from Mark Bittman
Finally, nutty and aromatic, this has been a winter treat on the occasional Sunday morning, but I haven’t ever made it on a workday.  I want to try making it the night before, and reheating it in the morning.

* Second: Cold Cereal*

1. Muesli
There are many, many recipes for making your own muesli, but until I know I like it, I got a small container (1pt, for about $2!) from Fresh Market.  This is basically cold oatmeal, with the advantage of not requiring heating, and it will keep fine in the fridge if I get to work early and hunger doesn’t hit until later.
2. Gram’s Granola
This is a particularly DELICIOUS granola recipe, though it’s extremely calorie-dense.  For me, it has to be the occasional treat. It’s so good, it would actually get me out of bed on a cold dark morning.

* Third:  Toast *
Since this group requires having fresh bread in the house, it’s really only an option in the winter.  Which means no avocado or tomato. Nevertheless, there are still a few possibilities:

1. Almond/cashew/peanut butter & banana
We nearly always have almond butter in the house, so this is a good no-brainer.
2. Cucumber Sandwich
This was the unvention of one of my co-workers at Lula’s when I was in grad school. Toast a nice bagel, spread with cream cheese, add sliced cucumbers and add a light sprinkling of Tony’s seasoning. Simple, quick, and relatively portable (if not a little messy).

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A thousand words.

Posted on October 5, 2010 by

Favorite photo from a weekend of fun, taken at Raders Family Farms on Ropp Road Day.

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Auntitude

Posted on October 1, 2010 by

This may be a surprise to people who know me, but I actually get a bit covetous when I see television shows like 9 by Design, or the very early j&k+8. I can totally see myself in the midst of a passel of kids, spending my days baking and playing and walking to school, getting completely exhausted and doing it all again the next day, and loving all of it. It’s a sort of fantasy about a parallel universe where that’s my life, or a recurring movie playing in my head.

But it’s just a fantasy. While there’s no single part of my life that’s incompatible with parenthood, I do know that the whole shape of it would change if I had children. And I can say without any conflict that as much as I love kids, I don’t want my life to change.  I love being able to say yes when my sister asks if I can watch my nephew when his daycare closes for the day, that I can decide at the last minute to go out for dinner or a movie with friends, and that I can take over the kitchen with dyeing or canning supplies for a week (not at the same time!), or leave a pot on the stove or disappear to my knitting cave without keeping track of little ones. I like being able to slip in and out of that child-centered universe at will and on-demand. I actually like being on call, having enough flexibility in my work and personal life to drop things sometimes and help out where I’m needed. And I believe that’s the life I was meant for — to be an aunt, not a mom.

The flexibility and availability are only part of it, though;  I have my own crazy busy life, but all my nurturing kid-energy is focused on my family’s & friends’ kids, and I like being able to share that. I treasure my relationship with my nephew as something special, something different than it would be if I had children. It’s a niche role, I get that.

And yes, I can deliver him back to his parents on Sunday after a weekend visit, and go back to my regular routine. And miss the heck out of him just about every day.

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Bookish: Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger

Posted on September 20, 2010 by

I don’t object to genre-busting fiction, so if that was a goal of Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger lost this one on the merits. I should note at the start that I listened the audiobook for this novel, as read by Bianca Amato, entirely on two weeks’ worth of my 100-mi. round-trip commute to work. YMMV with a reading experience, though I have no complaints about the audio performance (to the contrary; Amato is incredibly talented, and with very few missteps manages to effectively perform diverse characters with multinational/regional accents as well).

I really enjoyed The Time Traveler’s Wife, and was excited about the prospect of a follow-up set in London.  The first 75% or so of this novel follows a pair of American twins as they travel to London to spend a year in an inherited flat that abuts the historic Highgate Cemetery. The flat belonged to the twins’ estranged aunt, willed to them with the bulk of her estate, and a residency provision.  The aunt spends most of the book as a ghost in the flat, remaining detached if not a bit voyeuristic.

The twins, 21 and fiercely joined in matched outfits and a singular life plan (or lack of one), aren’t particularly charming or interesting; they’re the sort of characters you imagine might be more interesting if you actually met them, as if youth and some ephemeral quality might help compensate for a lack of inertia. The dead aunt’s lover Robert is a stand-in for the reader, coping with death and life and trying to go on. That he’s working on a Doctoral thesis on the history of Highgate Cemetery makes him a valuable reporter, despite his withdrawal.  So, after some time following the death of the aunt and a lengthy introduction of the friends and neighbors, the twins arrive in London and a story starts to take shape.

But just as the reader starts wanting to see a return on this investment of time and energy, looking for action, Niffenegger creates a series of events that veers so sharply off the path, taking us away from the story into Shyamalan-type horror film territory so immediately that it seems a betrayal. I actually had to take a break from listening for a few days, I was so angry.  It might be intended as genre-busting, but it felt like bait and switch.  I hadn’t expected a horror tale on my morning commute, and hadn’t invested in one with these characters. It felt like a cheat to have the action so manipulated for the sake of a horror payoff, to have familiar characters behave in such unbelievable ways, and not to have the honest resolution between characters that one expects.

I also had a sneaking suspicion throughout that Niffenegger was writing for the screen, not readers, and that pissed me off.  This sort of switch works on screen, but it doesn’t seem right in a book. Or was the fact that I was listening to the audiobook partly to blame for that reaction? I don’t know. At the end, with a day’s reflection on the whole thing, I’m mostly just disappointed in it, and looking forward to reading something else.

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My lost year in tunes

Posted on September 16, 2010 by

Well, not in an overly negative sense, but it was a bit of a blip in the resume.

By the time I graduated from law school, I was certain about exactly one thing: I was not going to work in a traditional law firm setting. Though my grades had actually gotten better over the three years, I could hardly stand to be in the building anymore by middle of 3L, and the thought of job-seeking with the firms coming to campus was somewhat sickening. Add to that a growing desperate craving for a lively and creative and gay-friendly arts community (I didn’t pick college or grad school with that in mind, clearly), and you get me, spending a year after law school running a coffeeshop and hanging out with indie bands and occasionally studying for the bar.

Lula’s Cafe opened my first year of law school, in the days before laptops with wi-fi and ubiquitous cell phones. It was (is!) quirky and comfortable, and a great place to read or visit with friends off-campus. During my time there, it gradually became more and more a place where you could hear (and hear about) music, with a work crew full of students in bands (ND had a surprisingly great music genepool) and/or with radio station experience, organizing house concerts and building a live music series in the coffeeshop. By the time I graduated, it had become a sort of second home for me and many of my friends, and a minor in indie music education for me. On days like this, when grading a thick stack of papers, I’m grateful to be able to call on this to generate a good playlist. Seed up your Pandora station with this set of artists, and see if it doesn’t liven up your afternoon, and still let you get some things done.

Heavenly
Archers of Loaf
Pixies
Ida
Liquorice
Sonic Youth
Kelly Hogan
Superchunk
Slint, Rodan, and The Shipping News
Cub
Shipping News
Chisel (won’t work on Pandora, sadly)

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