suzilightning

i'm down to my last essay to read...and it is going into my bookshelf with the Oxford American Food Issue our own Racheld was kind enough to wrest from some slutty .... er, misguided teenage females. do not miss the Trillin essay "With the Grain" that is wonderfully nostalgic and enticing at the same time; "Some Pig" by David Rafoff about the love affair between Jews and pork (who would have thought that pork was a protest meat?), "The Taste of Home" by Junot Diaz about his love as a Dominican for what his mom called "American food" - actually in his case Japanese; i ached for Moique Truong and more for her mother in "American, Like Me" when the author only wanted to fit in and her mom did what she had been trained to do; Sietsema's essay on the Offal Eating Society made me laugh out loud - as I was ordering lunch and then have to explain to the barmaid why I was laughing about eating p#)&s ... now off to read "Fantasy Island" by Cynthia Zarin....

not surprised about the tummy troubles, kris - kids have notoriously iron guts and as we have aged ours have gotten a wee bit more tempramental... i grew up speaking french and english interchangibly though english at school always. the most fun was when we were in quebec and in a drugstore/ restaurant. we were speaking english and freaked the waitress out when she came over, addressed us in english for our order and we answered back in french - iincluding 6 & 7 year old estheranne and susan. course the time i dressed down a bunch of people who were commenting on the stupid americans at cape may was fun too. i know your mom make stuffed cabbage but are there any other stuffed cabbage makers those of us not having access to your mom might partake in? (i love gwumpki) and have finally found a reliable source here in nwnj after being lucky enough to have grown up on the east end of long island where many, many polish families settled.

you might like to check out this thread from the cooking section: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=44635&hl= right now i'm playing with peach soup from the Cooking Lighr Soups & Stews Cookbook and Melon Gazpacho from Pam Reiss' Soup book next month... when the tomatoes come in...gazpacho

yesterday it was: raspberries and peaches from Windy Brow(john is away in vt. so no pie this week) radishes from DanaRay (the lady ahead of me took the last of the mustard greens) potatoes, bi-colored corn, zucchini, kirby cucumber, zucchini - yellow and green, white onions, wax beans and heirloom tomatoes from Valley View Farm dinner last night was a salad with those radishes and the cuke, grilled onion, potato salad, corn and some ny strip steaks i picked up. dessert was raspberries and peaches with vanilla yoghurt.

thanks all - we go 57 w from hacketsburg out to alpha then jump on 78 w. i can picture just where this is and it will be on the dinner menu on the 29th.

no ac - just fans upstairs and dehumidifiers downstairs. luckily the farmer's market this weekend had some good stuff so all kinds of salad makings, some raw milk cheddar cheese, fresh peaches and raspberries, local corn(in the microwave). i don't sleep well in the heat so i'm up early and cook whatever i need to - elbows or farfalle for pasta salad, chicken breasts, hanger steak and one morning i was sitting outside and hot smoking salmon at 630 am in my pjs. soy yoghurt, fruit, now that the tomatoes are in bbt's (basil, bacon and tomato), for johnnybird a peach kuken with vanilla toffuti... and carafes of coffee and tea in the fridge.

Susan, I don't really have a food background, except for the fact that I have always loved to cook and to eat. I'm originally from the Toronto area but have moved around a bit. Just after we were married we moved to Grand Rapids Michigan for a couple of years. I took a few hands on cooking lessons from Pat Davis. She ran a cooking school in her home. Matthew was born while we were in Grand Rapids so he actually has dual citizenship. We moved back to the Toronto area and lived there for the next 12 years and then ended up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario for 5 years before moving to Vancouver back in 1998. Then we ended up in Dunkirk, NY for two years. I really liked living there. I was only an hour from Buffalo, Erie, PA and Jamestown , and all of these cities had Wegman grocery stores. So I went into Bu ffalo at least once a week and usually into Erie and Jamestown once a week too. And we were less than three hours from Toronto. So we would get down to Toronto quite often. We moved back out west the summer of 2001 and lived in Nanaimo for 3 1/2 years before selling our house and moving to Vancouver for a year. Moe was working on a few things and it was easier to do from Vancouver. Matt lives in Victoria and we really missed seeing him whenever we felt like it so we moved back to the island last December. Since we are less than an hour from Victoria we see a lot of Matt now. Thankfully he is happy to have us so close too. My son is a real foodie too and is becoming quite a good cook. I recently gave him my Cuisinart . It was an excuse to buy a new one for myself. Here are my new toys. ann- glad you liked dunkirk but too bad you got there after the Koch(pronounced Cook's ) brewery closed. it was down on the lake across from Top of the Mark restaurant/bar. i graduated from SUC Fredonia and remember going up to the falls at least 3 or 4 times as year , checking out the local wineries, and hitting Buffalo for wings and beef on weck, one of god's most perfect sandwiches. Nanaimo, huh? any Nanaimo bars in the future of the blog? love the pictures of your beautiful section of the world - keep 'em coming... and thank you.

tracey- is this place before the turnoff to alpha or after - closer to pburg proper? we're heading out to pa for a meeting in 2 weeks and i'm thinking this would be a great place to stop for dinner on the way home.... thanks

it struck today... a pint of sweet and sour chicken. they forgot the rice. no problem. i sat in my car in the parking lot and scarfed down the chicken, dipping it in the sweet sticky flourescent red sauce and then popping it into my mouth while scalding hot. i finished the pint and was happy.

there are Rita's in Pequannock and Rockaway: http://www.zipmath.com/SL/slm.cgi?LOC and if you buy the lemon ice they will contribute a portion of the profits to Alex's Lemonade stand for cancer research

sunday Valley View Farm had their own tomatoes on sunday so i picked up about half and dozen. they are going to be cut up with some cucumber, ricotta salata, salt and pepper, olive oil and vinegar for dinner tonight. i also was able to pick up local corn at Lindeken's here in nwnj. not silver queen yet but not sourth jersey either. all the talk about long island tomatoes and corn kinda makes this Shelter Island girl homesick - but what i miss the most are the lima beans. fresh, sweet limas with sweet corn for the best succotash. the best place i have been able to find them fresh here in jersey is in cape may. the last time i was out on the island most of the places we would stop for fruit and veg were just about holding on and not much more than that - Wickham's and Terry's. and all the potatoes fields - real estate or vineyards

i have no living children nor nieces nor nephews to pass physical things on to.. i would hope johnnybird would put my culled cookbook collection and recipe cards up on the "FREE cookbook" thread i started here on egullet - though i do have some hope of passing some of them on to my sister-in-law who, at age 38 has started to develop an interest in cooking. i do hope those who have known me physically or online would remember my sense of humor(offbeat at least) and my ability to laugh at myself during life's mishaps - what do you mean you set off the fire alarm, cleared the library out, and brought out the fire department while toasting the onion roll for your buffalo burger? i hope people remember my love of getting my own food by hunting and gathering - god knows i have a "black thumb" and can't grow anything. and my joy in cooking and feeding whoever is around...

phlawless- i just got a chance to catch up with the blog. what beautiful food and a handsome family(has anyone mentioned that your husband looks - at least to me- like a leaner jeff gordon? *ducks since i know many nascar fans dislike him*) bravo on the sourcing of your food. i noticed it's something showing up more and more in things i read from Jane Goodall's book to various food mags. i, too, try to do this - course it also gives me a bit of an advantage since i'm only 50 miles from nyc and that includes fish - and 90 miles from the inlaws which includes a dynamite meat purveyor. though the two does wandering around in the neighbor's yard looked interesting, too. how many people see a deer and think - mmmmmm, venison. can't wait to see the pig edited to add and was that handsome puss stealing M's snack? i though only my Yoda was a cracker/bread eater.

lou- i've seen frozen frog's legs recently -either shoprite of wharton or jerry's seafood in sparta - sorry but i can't remember where. you might give them a call - course the asian market on 10 could have them as well. ps - there's always time to get banned nb - viva la france!!! - and i don't freakin give a rat's ass(to keep it in food terms) about soccer...just a contrarian - as you know. have fun and don't eat - er- drink too much

had them in lafayette last sunday...

but zhelder, aren't you closer to larger farmer's markets? the other thing i find interesting is that the "local" artisinal cheesemaker isn't represented here - guess because another 20-30 minutes and you are at his farm. yet we have a raw cheese maker from PA. pm me if you do decide to head up this way - maybe we can carpool to other places to save gas!

you made the vinaigrette already??!! as far as frugality - i am frugal in some ways but could be considered extravagant in others. like you i have a mini grocery in my basement. i buy on sale and with coupons. not to excess but i do have a several month stock of some things, a bit more on others. i use coupons for the things i always use - paper towels, toilet paper, pasta, john's favorite roobis tea, etc. sometimes i will use a coupon to try a new product(alexa potatoes, dole frozen fruit). the one thing i do do is pay into one of our joint accounts monthly the amount of money i saved on couponing. i do work part-time(25 hours per week) outside the home unlike you but this way i feel i can help even more for our emergency and/or fun funds. where my extravagance comes into play is paying more local, organic fruits and vegetables and buying johnnybird a pie once a week when the local farmers market is around. unlike my mom i cannot make a decent pie crust - i have decided for crusts and biscuits i definitely have warm hands and are definitly ham handed. i buy good grades of things like cheeses since a bit can go a long way - except in mac and cheese and i try to buy organic, free range meats. funny the best value i have ever gotten is from a 4Her. Kimmy sells the eggs from her prize winning chickens for 1.75 a dozen- 1.50 if you return the carton.

here's last week's post but i think since we are into 2006 this deserves it's own topic: well, lafayette, the closest one to me opened today between the pouring rain... not much yet but some old regulars were there; Windy Brow Orchards - blueberry crumb pie for johnnybird and their cherries DanaRay Farms - some nice fresh herbs and fresh swiss chard as well as some of their homemade goat milk soap met a new guy who does organic free-range pig and cow - we will be talking later another farm(can't remember their name and i buy from them all the time - bad susan)- had potted herbs, lettuces, first bright, vibrant summer squash, rhubarb, potatoes, strawberries, garlic and garlic scrapes and beautiful beets(which i didn't buy since johnnybird won't touch them - his quote "they taste like dirt") missing this time but hopefully back soon: the raspberry guys, the cheese guy from lafayette(really good cheddar and dilled colby he makes)and the goat cheese people. maybe even Westfall Winery who make some nice whites with local grapes. hmm.... i see a squash frittata with sauteed chard and garlic for dinner -------------------- Engineer + Hunger = Chain Johnnybird Forest engineer, Safety engineer and spouse of 24 years [user is online!] [Profile Card] [PM] [Report Post] [+] went today and there was much more variety - sour cherries and the best blueberry pie with crust(as opposed to crumb topping) from Windy Brow, the first thin yellow and green beans and lovely English peas and i'm told the first of the season's local tomatoes will be next week. most interesting thing this week was a new cheese guy - Farmstead Fresh from PA. they make raw milk cheese. i bought a small piece of cheddar to see if johnnybird could handle it - it is aged a year. their website: http://www.farmsteadfresh.com/ unfortunatly danaray was out of the new red cabbage. how were your experiences?

when it's that time of the month when i crave something it has to be from Burger King: 2 whopper juniors, extra pickles - discard the bottom bun and add extra ketchup to patty small fries vanilla milkshake about once a week i have to have pizza so that means our local Frank's outlet. i walk in and the guys just get my order ready - two plain slices and don't heat them. Taco Bell - two crunchy tacos with extra hot sauce

just as i read this i turned the page in Southern Living's 1994 Annual Recipe book(to page 242 if anyone has it) and the first recipe is Vanilla Vinaigrette. since this is copyrighted material i'lm pming you the recipe - and if anyone else wants it please pm me.

ok will throw my $/02 in TURKEY SANDWICH homemade portugese sweet bread - my family made this bread for the holidays NOT to eat with the meal but so we would have it for sandwiches cranberry sauce or cranberry orange relish turkey Miracle Whip another slice of the bread SANDY i don't eat them but my boss loves bologna sandwiches. her usual order to wherever lunch is coming from that day is the following: FRESH white bread mayo all beef bologna sliced thin a little bit of lettuce potato chips - not on the side but in...

while that may be so... by the time it ended i CRAVED a couple of thin slices... but it was 11pm and i was in my nightgown...no wonder i woke up hungry

working.....except for sunday and tuesday. planning on having a friend and her husband over for a grill session on tuesday - i'll see what looks good at the farmer's market on sunday for sides but the main event will be ny strip steaks. i'm going to try my hand at smoking some salmon and will use that for a starter - tucked inside a crepe with some tapenade. shrimp will definitely make an appearance - probably marinated and grilled. something with fresh cherries for dessert.

o'soy vanilla yoghurt with tiny strawberries i got from the farmers market this weekend and sprinkled with johnnybird's toast dope.

been loving this blog - thank you. how i wish i had access to some of those meats you do if your volunteer firefighters hang out at the barn(what we used to call the firehouse) and they seem to be involved with some water rescues - maybe make some of that bread pudding and send it to them? when we flooded here in 2000(23" in 24 hours/ 18" in 8 of those hours) i made sandwiches, soups and cakes and - once i could get out of my roads- took them to the firehouse where our guys and about 10 towns doing mutual aid were spending shifts doing pump outs,evacuations and rescues. any pepperslaw in the future? please? i love pepperslaw.....