Life Begins at 30

What type of Cheese are you?

Cheese Test: What type of cheese are you?

Sent to me by a friend (thanks Jeanne!). Pretty cool.

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A Step in the Right Direction

Last week, I was pretty discouraged  when reading that the National Organic Program administration had made changes to the intent of National Organic Standards.  There were a lot of problems with this - they did it without consulting the board or the public, and the changes really messed with the intent of organic -- saying that there were certain situations when you could administer antibiotics and still consider a dairy cow to be organic, certain situations where certain pesticides were okay as long as you made a "good faith effort" to figure out whether the pesticide was a bad one, etc., etc. 

It was a mess.  It was basically flushing the "USDA Certified Organic" idea down the drain.  While I didn't write about this on my blog, Jason has been having to hear me rail against it for about five straight days.

Well ... something very cool happened yesterday.  Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman rescinded the changes, and said that from now on, the National Organic Program has to run changes by the board and the public before any policy is set.  Yee haw!  It's very encouraging that someone in Washington heard the outcry and made a change due to that.

Read all about it in the Chronicle:  " 'Organic' outcry heeded Feds withdraw changes allowing more pesticides"

Soft Addictions

Inspired by mipmup's post "crack", here is my current list of soft addictions - the tangible items that you just relish in your day ...

Bloglines
Chowhound San Francisco
Acme Bread Ciabatta Rolls
Rustichella D'Abruzzo Egg Pastas
Alias
Swanton Berry Farms Strawberries
Firefox
Capricious Feta Cheese
Hangar 1 Vodka
Everything iPod
Penzey's Spices
This American Life
My Le Creuset Dutch Oven
Macaroons from Golden Gate Bakery in Chinatown
Randy Cohen, The Ethicist
Blue Bottle Coffee Company

Marina Farmer's Market

Today was opening day for the Chestnut Street Farmer's Market. It's on Steiner between Chestnut and Lombard, and is held from 3-7 pm on Tuesdays. Currently, it is being held through October, but they are petitioning to have this market be year-round. The sponsor is the Marina Merchants Association.

This is a bustling, busy market. There is no "lag time" happening here, where people have to get used to a market in the neighborhood. The crowd was pretty thick. The funniest thing we saw was a man coming home from work in a suit and tie stop and say to the person on his cell phone "Woah, there's a farmer's market in my neighborhood." There is definitely a high percentage of people that seemed to be walking by, a lot of seniors, and a lot of strollers. This is a great neighborhood to have a market - everyone is out and walking in that neighborhood and something like this will attract a lot of attention.

There was a guy from Claypool's BBQ dressed up as Elvis passing out samples, which was pretty entertaining. There was also live music and a cooking demonstration by the chef from Boboquivari's on Lombard (I didn't get to taste anything -- the senior factor around the free food booth was about as intense as a Vegas Buffet)

There is a good variety of farms, and you could definitely come here and purchase everything that you needed for dinner. The selection is representative of what's currently available at most markets. The farms were a mix of booths that were new to me, and familiar booths from the Ferry Plaza and Marin markets.

One farmer mentioned that, even though there were a lot of people, he thought that people had to adjust to the idea of a market before they'd start utilizing it as a true food source.

Pros of this market: Cool neighborhood feel, nice representation of food, in an area with a lot of prepared foods - so not having prepared foods at the market is not a huge deal.

Cons of this market: Of 21 booths I noted, only 5 were certified organic. No organic strawberries. Not sure where you'd park if you were to drive to this market (Lombard/Webster Lot, I guess)

Farmers at the Marina FM that I noted include:

Tres Classique. Dressings
Esther's German Bakery. (Mountain View)
Santa Cruz Salmon (fyi ... $11.99/lb)
Rodriguez Farms. Berries (Watsonvielle)
Apple-A-Day Ratzlaff Ranch. Apple Juice (Sebastopol)
Eggs
Joe Gotelli & Sons. Cherries (Acampo)
*Lagier Ranch. Cherries, Almonds.
Sorensen. Blueberries (Fresno)
Spring Hill Cheese. (Sonoma)
Rhodes Family Farms. Tomatoes, Zucchini, Cucumber. (Visalia)
Kika's Farms. Berries (Watsonville)
Bill Ferry Ranches. Oranges
*Hazel Dell Mushrooms. (Watsonville)
Hamada Farms. Stone Fruit (Kingsburg)
*Kashiwase. Stone Fruit (Winton)
Marshall's Farm. Honey
Blossom Bluff Farm. Stone Fruit (Parlier)
*Live Oak. Greens, Radishes, Olive Oil (Rumsey)
Living Water Farms. Greens, radishes, beets (Napa)
*Happy Boy Farms. Greens, pattypan squash, herbs (Watsonville)

* = certified organic

Choosing your organic produce

It's not always feasible to purchase all your produce as certified organic.  For many reasons -- budget, availability, etc -- you may end up buying some of your items conventionally grown.  As far as chemical contamination goes, here is the list of what foods you should pay the most attention to purchasing organically.  Also following is a list of foods that are low in pesticides -- those that you don't necessarily have to go out of your way to find organically grown.

This list was found in the "Organic Food for Less" article in Organic Style.  You can also download a pocket guide with the same info from the Environmental Working Group here.

FOOD HIGH IN PESTICIDES
Apples
Bell peppers
Celery
Cherries
Chile peppers
Imported grapes
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Raspberries
Strawberries
Tomatoes
 

FOOD LOW IN PESTICIDES
Asparagus
Avocados
Bananas
Blueberries
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Eggplants
Grapefruit
Kiwifruits
Mangoes
Okra
Onions
Papayas
Pineapples
Plums
Radishes
Watermelons

Is my blog burning: Rice - Horchata

"Is my blog burning" is a theme event where many bloggers post about the same food topic on the same date. This, the fourth IMBB event, was hosted by Pim.. To see the hub of IMBB for the current rendition, see this link.

This is my first time participating in IMBB. My contribution: Horchata.

This was my first time making horchata. I gathered a few recipes from the web and tweaked here and there to create my own. I enjoy purchasing a good, housemade horchata when I am out, but I will probably never make it again. Not that the result was bad by any means, but given the work involved, the straining of finely-ground rice, and the mess in my kitchen I expected the result to be spectacular - which it wasn't.

Oh well, live and learn.

At first I thought it was my recipes, but a friend today confirmed that this is the way to make it, and that Susana Trilling's recipe is basically the same. Another friend suggested I ask my grandmother how to make it -- which I kind of cracked up about. While I actually do have a Mexican grandmother, I just talked to her and she has never made horchata. "It's not up my alley," I think was her exact phrase.

Horchata

6 tablespoons long grain white rice
1 1/4 cups blanched skinless almonts
1 cinnamon stick
approximately 1 tablespoon lime zest
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups water

preparation time: 24 hours (approx 45 min active time)

Grind the rice using a blender or coffee grinder, as smooth as possible.
Combine ground rice, almonds, cinnamon, lime zest, and 3 cups of water.
Cover and let stand overnight.
Blend the rice mixture until as smooth as possible - several minutes.
Add 2 more cups of water, half the sugar, the vanilla and blend a few seconds more.
Pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer to get out most of the solids.
Pour the strained liquid through damp cheese cloth.
Add more sugar and water to taste.
Cover and refrigerate.
Serve over ice.

Source credit: Gourmet Sleuth, Food Network

Candied Citrus Peels

I have never been much of a baker, or a sweets cook. But last year, I picked up some interesting varieties of citrus and decided to make candied citrus peels. They lasted me through the summer, and I made them again this year. I adapt Jacque Pepin's recipe, and just used whatever citrus I could pick up. This year, I told my favorite citrus woman what I was doing, and she picked out some fruits with extra thick peels (ie., pomelos). It's fun, and they are great in drinks or just to snack on. I am sure the bakers out there could also do some pretty cool things with them in baked goods.

Pepin's recipe is extra easy because he uses the white part of the peel as well as the outer peel. Makes the process pretty simple. I am not very exact about using his exact citrus types, but will post them here so you get an idea of proportions.

The most important part of this recipe is rinsing the citrus and the pot in the middle of the process to get rid of some of the bitterness.

3 large oranges with thick, shiny skin
1 grapefruit, preferably pink
2 large limes
2 lemons
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus extra sugar to roll the peels in

With a knife, make incisions through the skin of each piece of fruit to separate it into six sections. Separate the skin from the fruit.

Place the peels in a pot and cover with cold water. Use enough water so that the peels are well covered. Bring to a strong boil and let boil for about 30 seconds. Pour into a colander, rinse under cold water, and rinse the pot. Return the peels to the pot, add water, cover, and repeat. Return the peels to the clean pot again and add 8 cups of water and the sugar. Bring to a boil and boil gently, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 hours. The skins should be almost transparent, and there should be just enough thick syrup to coat them.

Transfer the peels to a cookie sheet covered with sugar.

Roll them in the sugar, arrange them on another cookie sheet, and let them cool, dry, and harden for at least 1 hour. Strain the sugar and return it to the sugar bin.

Store in a jar in the fridge.

Recipe Credit: Jacques Pepin, jacquespepin.net

Best Mail Day

I just looked through my mail, and it left me giddy. It was like a red-letter mail day. I received:

* the June Organic Style
* the June Vanity Fair with Brad Pitt on the cover.
* THREE Netflix movies: In America, and Sex and the City, Season 6, Discs 1 & 2.
* ZERO bills.

Yippee!

I am ordering a pizza, and tucking in for the evening. But what to read or watch first?

10 Recipes

Yesterday on a comment in an Epicurious recipe, I saw a person make reference to a "10 Recipe" rotation -- 10 recipes that she has in her household that she rotates through. I had heard of this idea before, but have never attempted to implement it myself. But, given the amount that I should be focusing on other things at the present time, I have decided to try this out. As much as I'd like to think about it more, I think that this will help me focus my efforts in other directions besides dinner, and will help focus my shopping. It's so easy for me to go off on shopping tangents for a specific recipe.

The recipes I am choosing are pretty open-ended, and most have a lot of variations that will keep my interest. So .. Jason and I put together an initial list. I am sure it will change as we get into it, but I am excited about it. (By the way, looking at this list, it will be pretty obvious that we are not on Atkins ... ha ha)

1. Simple Stir-Fry with chicken or tofu, veggies, ginger.
2. Soft tacos with veggies or ground beef
3. "Crack Salad" with warm lentils and bacon. The crack salad reference is Jason's -- just referring to a green salad with good addictive dressing (for example, this salad counts as crack salad). Warm lentils and bacon recipe is from Mark Bittman.
4. Risotto with Farmer's Market veggies
5. Panini with whatever's around
6. Fish Stew from elise's simply recipes. So easy, and delicious.
7. Spaghetti with whatever's around. (ie., this spaghetti)
8. Grilled fish
9. Black beans with green rice
10. Frittata with whatever's around.

Spring Salad

Realized that I had a lot of produce left this week, and so made a quick dinner for us of this salad along with warm lentils with bacon (lentil recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything -- a fantastic recipe that I make often).

The salad was just made with the fresh ingredients that I had on hand. So often in a salad, you look for something to add "just a bit of color" but this dish was remarkable in all it's greenness -- it was fresh looking and delicious.

I used (amounts are approximate):

1/2 cup shelled sugar peas.
1/2 cup asparagus, blanched in salty water for one minute and cooled.
2 cups arugula, torn or cut
1 tablespoon lemon zest
olive oil
juice from 1/2 lemon

In a bowl, mix asparagus with lemon zest.
Add peas and lemon juice. Toss
Add arugula, some olive oil. Toss.
Adjust taste with salt and pepper.