bavila

An article in today's Annapolis Capital newspaper discusses several food establishments in town banning cell phone usage. I've seen it on a few menus and think it's a great idea.

I went with basics -- burgers on some nice buns. Apps were homemade guac (neighbor husband got points for picking up on the cumin) and various chips and nuts. I made a very nice corn, green bean and tomato salad with toasted hazelnuts (from summer 2005 F&W). Dessert was brownies and vanilla ice cream. I'm not sure what happened with my brownies, but they were a caramelly mess -- not supposed to be caramelly at all! So here was the funny part. I'd made a point of asking neighbor wife in advance if they had any food restrictions, and she'd said no. Then over dinner she says she's allergic to shellfish! Good thing I didn't go with the crab! My assessment is that they are definitely not foodies, but not overly picky. So still no replacement for my former foodie neighbor.

I'm certain that there is, absolutely, some kind of penalty for this behavior. Eating this kind of thing is one thing, but bragging about it and encouraging others to emulate it, well, that's a horse of a different color. I think, from here on out, you should just stick to butts. You can keep defiling your food in the way that you seem so cheery about, just keep your curtains drawn and don't discuss it with the neighbors-much in the same manner that you would hide a wanted fugitive from the prying eyes of the neighbors and the long arm of the law. Thanks ← Whatever, Brooks. And, I'm going to swim in the lake on Wednesday night. The temp of the water is in the low 50's, but I'll be there, on my back in the silky smoothness of Up North Water. And, there will be fireflies. We will be fortified with beverages (!) and some noshes on the dock. And, I'm hoping to lime a bit of my gumbo when I next eat it! Sort of gumbo meets Khao Soi. ← Lime wedges and cilantro in gumbo? Swimming in 50 degree water? What are we to do with these yankees, Brooks? I made my first okra gumbo today, based on Paul Prudhomme's recipe for okra and shrimp okra. Let me say that this was a big step for me because I have always griped about tomatoes in anything called gumbo. However. Tuesday's CSA box came with okra and collards and tomatoes and a (different) recipe for an okra and greens gumbo. We were planning on dinner anyway with the family we share the CSA box with, so I decided to go for it. I'm so glad I did! Yummy! PP is the master at flavor layering. The recipe starts with a 1/3 cup of pork fat, which I knew had to be a good sign. I just sliced the okra instead of quartering lengthwise and slicing cuz that just seemed needlessly fussy. He also later calls for a stick of butter. I used half. I also halved the red pepper -- I am cooking for yankees and their children -- but it's still plenty spicy. I threw in the collards, which were not in the recipe, but I'm hoping will make up somehow for all the artery clogging otherstuff. Unless I get a spectacular pic earlier, I'll skip the photo -- gumbo is not photogenic! I'll try to get a recipe posted though... Oh, and my mom called (from Louisiana) while I was cooking, and she said, "You're making gumbo? In August? You really are Cajun."

Wow! I just checked the garden pics. Quite impressive. Your parents' food supply looks a lot like my parents -- plenty of processed stuff in the pantry, but plenty of homegrown produce. Good stuff. Is the household able to consume all the bounty or do they end up sharing with neighbors?

I love that. "Welcome to my hobby." Priceless. They are from the central valley of California. He told me the name of the town but it escapes me. Crab mac-n-cheese....hmmm....that could be killer.

We were very sad to see our former next-door-neighbor leave in May, especially because she was a fellow cook whose pantry I could raid and with whom we shared many meals and other cooking experiments. The new neighbors (Mom and Dad in late 30s or so, 15yo son, 13yo daughter) are here, and we've invited them over for dinner on Friday. I have no idea of their palates (though I've tried to sneak peaks when they were unloading from a grocery run). The told me they had no food restrictions. Here's my plan: serve burgers (non-intimidating on several levels) and some homemade brownies for dessert. To test out their palates, though, I thought I'd throw a more discerning side or two to see their reactions. What have you served for new neighbors or friends when you don't know their tastes? Have you used dishes as information gathering devices?

I'd caution any food professional from adopting this point of view, or at least to the extent of blowing off a customer's comments about their allergies. I probably would have had similar thoughts to Jason's before having kids and watching "the next generation" struggle with food allergies. As for the "why", I'd ditto tejon's comments. It sucks as a consumer or a producer, or even as someone who just want to serve a kid a pb&j. Are some people lying or misinformed when they say they're allergic to a food? Sure. Are there people who are allergic (or have other health-threatening reactions) to cilantro, cucumbers, corn, MSG, nitrates, milk, nuts, whatever? Yup.

If you've got a hanging flap, you probably don't want to try to close it up with super glue or the like -- it needs to heal from the inside out. I've used butterfly bandages and fingercots (both available at any old drug store) on bad finger cuts. Keep an eye on any flaps and cut them off as you can. Good luck!

Nice piece, Tim. I feel similarly about coffee. We've tried different brewing pots with Euro-chic names and come back to the beat up aluminum pot that I picked up at a garage sale. Boil the water in a kettle, pour it into the pot and let it drip through. Growing up my dad brewed his coffee (mom never drank it) in a similar enameled pot. We only get 4 cups (2 of our mugs) out of a pot, so it's not so great when we have guests, but it's an intimate little accoutrement to our morning routine, with a daily nod to dad.

Hey Brooks, thanks for lending us your perspective. If you're writing a piece that mentions your trip, would you post a link here if possible? I agree that it's so much better to know your farmer. I find myself hitting the Wirth's stall at the Annapolis FM more than anyone else. I did a piece on his farm last year, so I got to know the family (who basically all live and work on the farm still) a bit.

I just read in the paper that our power grid operator suggested that people order takeout to avoid using the stove/oven during peak hours 3-7pm. We did just that last night -- good excuse for a Chinese run. Monday night we grilled a couple of pork tenderloins which will likely show up next to capanata tonight. No cooking! While the grill was going (the charcoal grill pushes me to be an efficient griller) I roasted some bell peppers which are now in the freezer for later use. Jsolomon: funny you mention your dogs going nuts over the fried chicken. My late kitty would go bonkers everytime I roasted turkey.

I thought I'd bump this thread to add a restaurant from my trip about a week ago. We dined at 456 Fish, on the "Martini Strip" otherwise known as Granby Street downtown. It was solid seafood offerings in a somewhat see and be seen setting, but they still had highchairs (lucky us!). The only downpoint was that the waiter completely forgot that we'd ordered appetizers, so they were a little later than they might have been. Bardo is still happening (from what my sources there tell me) in the neighborhood of Ghent, though we didn't make it there this trip.

I can't believe a tri-stater ordered a bagel in California! Corn ice cream (and blueberry financier) two blogs in a row now...

Re: baby bath at 55 degrees -- is the vacuum providing protection from microbial growth in the temperature danger zone for that long? I always thought of sous vide as sort of a parcooking method, not an extended prep method.

I'm interested to see Eleven Madison Park. I went there during a restaurant week in October of 2001 (it was a let's-go-drop-cash-on-the-NY-economy trip after the attacks). It was great. And a great deal!

Dumb question alert: 1-Fifteen egg yolks? Really? 2-Are you churning with an ice cream machine at all or just sticking the custard in the freezer? Thanks for writing this out!

Ok, here's one half of tonight's box: Baby carrots, baby beets, patty pan squash, mixed tomatoes, kohlrabi, blackberries, wine berries, blueberries, green & yellow beans, mint, summer savory, and kale. There was also a head of romaine, but my friend and I decided to trade off the one head of lettuce for the squash instead of trying to cut them both in half. I'd say this week's take was a little smaller in volume than last week's. I figure there's no way I'd get all that organic produce in a supermarket for less than $20, and the quality just doesn't compare anyway. There's another CSA in PG County, Claggett Farm. What I know about them is mainly from their web site. The link probably won't last for long. They are a joint effort with Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Capitol Area Food Network. Some of the crop goes to underserved communities in the DC area, the rest is sold through a CSA. So, see, Busboy, local produce isn't just available to the affluent ;-) I think their pickups are in PG County and Dupont. MsAzadi, as for the Cool Greens article, I actually wrote that, but it is copyrighted by the Capital, so I won't post it here. I'll PM it to you and anyone else who's interested.

Great gouge, DTB. I might have to check out Peninsula Farms this week. I'd be happy to find a good seafood source. It's ironic that fresh local seafood can seem so hard to find right here on the water. Oh, and as for the cost discussion, I split a large share from my CSA with a friend. Our cost is $20 each per week, for approximately 1/2 bushel each. The spring was a little sparse what with the drought. The root veggies didn't do too well. But man, the summer boxes have been loaded! Definitely a deal for the money. I get a box today. I'll take a pic of my share and post it.

What I've never quite been able to figure out (and I think it's because it doesn't quite add up) is how big agriculture manages to provide food so cheaply. Lots of it's to do with economy of scale and automation, of course, but I also think that we're all somehow subsidizing the production. Grocery store produce consistently strikes me as too cheap. ← We are most definitely subsidizing big agriculture. So our taxes are paying a large part of our grocery bill.

I disagree, Busboy. At least at the AA county FM, there's plenty of produce for prices near what you'd pay at the supermarket (sometimes even lower). BUT. These are from farmers who are not shooting for organic crops. Now, they don't just douse everything in the same way the industrial farms might, but they still use pesticides when they need to. So perhaps it's the organic stuff that's the real cost issue? Maybe the DC FMs are gouging their patrons? The AA county FM also takes foodstamps, and I've seen patrons use them there. The whole class divide over food does bother me. I often ponder how to solve that. And local foods are seen in some grocery stores here. The most I've seen is at Graul's, a local chain. I've never seen local anything at our Whole Foods, but then I don't shop their regularly.

I don't live locallly, and am not presently trying to be any more of a locavore than I can manage easily, but I wanted to ask whether or not you plan on doing this over the winter? Because you either need to get busy preserving food yourself, or find a local source that's willing to do it for you. ← I don't have any intention right now of going 100% within 100 miles now...or probably ever. BUT, my goal is to steadily increase my local purchases. In large part, this will mean sticking to eating seasonally. I have little problem buying only local strawberries, tomatoes, and asparagus, and just eating other foods throughout the year. My CSA runs spring, summer, and fall, so I'm set for all but the winter for produce. If I have to buy non-local produce in the winter, I'm ok with that right now. As for preserving foods, I have no experience canning, and no equipment! Perhaps I'll hop onto Yahoo's freecycleannapolis to look for some. When we're deeper into tomato and pepper season, I do intend to freeze some tomato dishes, and probably some diced peppers. I also have limited freezer space. I'd love an extra freezer, but at present no were to put one. I do think it would be nice to do a 100-mile meal. Must talk to my CSA farmer about this. Anyone heard of any restaurants in the area doing local-only events?

Here's a DelMarVa local eating thread.

I've been following the foodblog by phlawless, Living La Vida Local with great interest. Eating locally produced foods has many pluses: fresher, better tasting food; money pumped into the local economy; less fuel consumption for transporting foods; (sometimes) sustainable farming methods; funky items not likely to be found in a supremarket; and (yes, I know it sounds extreme) a less likely target for bioterrorism. On the downside, it can be logistically complicated and pricey to be a locavore (at least in my experience!) My biggest step toward eating locally has been to subscribe to Ivy Brand's community supported agriculture (CSA) program in southern Anne Arundel County. It's been great so far, and I'm trying to work in meats from Polyface Farms in Staunton, VA. Are you tring to eat locally DelMarVa-ites? Any tips? Frustrations?

Ditto! And a second request for the bacon blondie combo recipe once you've recovered a bit!

Hey y'all. Wishing I could crash that dinner at Varmint's! Ph--have you made any specific changes in your meal prep approach since M came along? I love cooking dinner most nights except for the fact that it's usually a rough time for the kids and they nee CONSTANT attention. It's a wonder I haven't burnt the house down or resorted to Cheerios every night. When it works I try to do most of my prep in the morning. Any other suggestions?