Cicadas

Posted on August 20, 2012 by marigold

August Moon

Am I the only one who gets a pang when hearing cicadas at night? It makes me sad because it signals late August meaning the end of summer is near. Back when I went to camp, first in Vermont and then in Maine, by August the mornings and evenings were cool enough to make long pants and sweaters mandatory. This summer in Vermont has been so hot, many of us are still wearing shorts and tee-shirts. Yesterday, very close to the anniversary of last year’s Hurricane Irene, brought the first cool morning.

We haven’t had enough rain but it’s been a veritable flood compared to Kansas,  Nebraska and other areas. Tomatoes are in full swing, even my small crop, and local zucchini, corn, cucumbers and eggplant are plentiful. The other day we bought a small sculpture from a local artist who, upon learning that our garden is flowers only, pressed several zucchini on us.

My freezer overflows with blueberries, the result of a trip to a nearby “Pick Your Own” farm that provides a plastic-bag lined bucket with a strap that goes around the neck leaving both hands free to pluck. These are high bush blueberries so picking is easy. I came home with six pounds from no more than an hours’ effort.

My pail of blueberries

When my daughters were about ten and seven, we went berry picking. I tried to use the opportunity to explain the difficult lives of migrant farmers. “Just think,” I told them, “how hard it would be if you had to do this all day every day and had to travel from farm to farm to work.”  My cautionary tale barely registered. Shoveling berries into your mouths was work? Clearly, Mom was bonkers

 

This recipe for blueberry buckle (very like cobbler) comes from a friend who is an excellent cook and baker. The hot water bit may strike you as weird but trust me, it works.

Blueberry Buckle PT    

Batter:

3T butter

½   c. sugar

¼ tsp. Salt

1 cup flour (sifted)

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup milk

1 egg

Mix sugar and butter. Sift dry ingredients. Add to dry ingredients to butter mixture alternating with milk.  Beat a minute or two and then beat in egg.

Put 2 –3 cups berries in baking dish (I use a 9” x 9” one). Squeeze ½ lemon over berries. Spread batter over berries (don’t worry if some sort of pop through). Mix ½- ¾  c. sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon w. 1 T. corn starch and ¼ tsp salt and sprinkle over batter. Pour 1 cup boiling water over all and do not fear—it will not emerge a soggy mess.

Bake in 375 oven for 1 hour.   Serve with vanilla ice cream.  (hint: put baking dish on a cookie sheet or other tray- like item covered with foil.  If the blueberries drip over—very likely—it makes clean-up a lot easier.)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Old MacDonald

Posted on August 10, 2012 by marigold

A small part of Merck

My daughter and I spent a delightful morning at Merck Forrest, 3,160 acres of forest and farmland near Rupert, VT, less than fifteen minutes from our house. Merck was given to Rupert by George W. Merck, the big pharma tycoon, who owned a very large house there. Today, the property is a non-profit environmental education organization that includes hiking trails, a working farm, camping, programs in sustainable agriculture, high school and college internships and a great deal more. It’s a four-season wonder with maple sugaring, sheepdog trials,  cross country skiing, nature journaling for kids and other pastoral activities.

Ellen and I first visited a ram

and a whether grazing in a large, fenced-in space.  A whether for all you farm-fans, is a gelded ram whose job is to get the females excited in breeding season before the ram is “introduced” (he probably doesn’t shake hoofs.)

A whether, different breed, different, um, equipment

 

Chickens of many types  were clucking madly and, presumably, laying eggs. The pigs, a black and white breed, were having a fabulous morning, taking turns rolling in a puddle, sucking water from a very cleverly designed spout, eating grain from a bin or squash from their trough. They are probably destined to wind up as pork chops and the like—this is a real farm—but for now, any one of them could have been Wilbur. Some years ago at Merck, I watched a litter of piglets race around their house, squealing like mad. The minute the leader got to the front where we were standing, he stopped and dashed back around the other way, leading the other eleven, all squealing. this went on for at least an hour. How can you not love pigs?

Relaxed piglets

 

Staff at Merck grow fruit and veggies that are sold on the property and at local farmers’ markets so we’ll leave the animals out of it food-wise and go vegetarian.  This ratatouille is relatively quick and delicious. Tomatoes have started to come into season — eggplant and zucchini are already abundant so the timing is perfect.

Ratatouille Express (serves 6+)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 onions, slivered

3 bell peppers, cut into one inch squares (try different colors)

2 eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (don’t go nuts, small chunks will do nicely)

2 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (ditto)

4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

2 pounds tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme  (no fresh, use dried)

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot on medium heat. Add slivered onions and while they cook, chop the bell peppers and add them to the pot, stirring well.

Chop the eggplants and add to the pot, stirring well to coat the eggplant with oil. By now, all the olive oil will have soaked into the eggplant, so you need to stir often to keep vegetables from burning until they soften some.  Once eggplant has softened a bit, chop zucchini and stir it in. Chop and add the garlic.

Chop the tomatoes and add them. Mince thyme and add it along with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and cook about two minutes. (This is a very forgiving recipe. Two, four, five minutes, same thing.)

Turn down heat and cover the pot. Simmer until everything is soft and well blended,  about 40 minutes.

Stir in basil and remove from heat.  I add 1-2 T red wine vinegar to spark the flavor.

Hum a chorus of  EE-I-EE-I- O  and serve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter and I spent a delightful morning at Merck Forrest, 3,160 acres of forest and farmland in the Taconic Mountains near Rupert, VT, about fifteen minutes max from our house. Merck was given to Rupert by George W. Merck, the big pharma tycoon, who once owned a (very large) house there. Today, the property is a non-profit environmental education organization that offers hiking trails, a working farm, camping, programs in sustainable agriculture, high school and college internships and a great deal more. It’s a four-season wonder with maple sugaring, sheepdog trials, nature journaling for kids and other pastoral activities.

 

Ellen and I first visited a ram and a whether grazing in a large, fenced-in space.  A whether for all you farm-fans, is a gelded ram whose job is to get the females excited in breeding season before ram is “introduced” (he probably doesn’t shake hoofs.) Think of the whether as sort of a pimp for a ram.

 

By this time in late summer, most of the farm animals are in late adolescence. Chickens of many types clucked madly and, presumably, lay eggs. The pigs, a black and white breed, were having a fabulous morning, taking turns rolling in a puddle, sucking water from a very cleverly designed spout. eating grain from a bin or squash from their trough. They are probably destined to wind up as pork chops and the like—this is a real farm—but for now, they were all candidates to be Wilbur. Some years ago, I watched a litter of piglets race around their house, squealing. As soon as the leader got to the front where we stood, he stopped and dashed back around the other way, leading the other eleven, all squealing.  Pigs are truly terrific animals.

 

Staff at Merck grows fruit and veggies that are sold on the property and at local farmers’ markets so we’ll leave the animals out of it food-wise and go vegetarian.  This ratatouille is relatively quick and delicious. Tomatoes have started to come into season — eggplant and zucchini are already abundant so the timing is perfect.

 

Ratatouille Express (serves at least 6)


     1/4 cup olive oil

2 onions, slivered

3 bell peppers, cut into one inch squares (try different colors)

2 eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (don’t go nuts, small chunks will do nicely)

2 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (ditto_

4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

2 pounds tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot on medium heat. Add slivered onions and while they cook, chop the bell peppers and add them to the pot, stirring well.

Chop the eggplants and add to the pot, stirring well to coat the eggplant with oil. By now, all the olive oil will have soaked into the eggplant, so you need to stir often to keep vegetables from burning until they soften some.  Once eggplant has softened a bit, chop zucchini and stir it in. Chop and add the garlic.

Chop the tomatoes and add them. Mince thyme and add it along with salt and pepper to taste. (and if you don’t have or can’t get fresh, feel free to add dried thyme.) Stir well and cook two minutes.

Turn down heat and cover the pot. Simmer until everything is soft and well blended – about 40 minutes.

Stir in basil and remove from heat.  I add 1-2 T red wine vinegar that sparks the flavor.

Hum a chorus of Old MacDonald.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

How Much Wood?

Posted on August 1, 2012 by marigold

Academic woodchuck

Driving home from the ultra-modern Rutgers University’s Busch Campus, my granddaughter pointed out a woodchuck nonchalantly grazing in the grass a few feet from our car. She said on other occasions she has seen the critters all over the campus.  We went through the “how much wood would a woodchuck chuck…” tongue-twister–our guy remained unmoved.

Woodchuck and groundhog are one and the same animal (who knew?) The etymology of the name probably derives from the Native American wuchak.  According to a “woodchuck trainer” at the Staten Island Zoo, the woodchuck is a nasty little bugger with an aggressive nature. (What this man trains woodchucks to do remains a mystery.) Groundhog Day has a better ring to it than Woodchuck Day which is probably why no one has suggested altering the name.

The critter front and center of my life this summer has been the chipmunk,

Garden- (probably mine) variety chipmunk

which turns out to be a small, striped member of the squirrel family. Possibly because last year’s  winter was so mild,  southern Vermont is currently heaven for Alvin and his brethren who are driving those of us who garden, um, nuts.  Chipmunks burrow and manage to keep their sleeping quarters extremely clean, storing shells and other debris in separate refuse tunnels (note to those dealing with teenagers: chipmunk as role model?)

Years ago in Peru, I sampled cuy, an Andean national dish.

Sorry folks, cuy is guinea pig and to be entirely fair,  it was pretty tasty In today’s vegan-friendly world where people say things like “I don’t eat anything with a mother or a face,” I certainly wouldn’t advocate eating guinea pig (or chipmunk or woodchuck) although this is rather  duplicitous since my grocery list often includes items like chicken, sliced ham and pork chops.

In the spirit of not eating moms and things with faces, here is a recipe for an excellent cole slaw that stands up so well it can even be made the day before you want to serve it.

 

Crunchy Slaw Martha Stewart

(as I recall, this easily feeds 6-8)

1/3 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons white-wine vinegar

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 2 limes)

1 tablespoon sugar

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 small green cabbage, about 2 pounds, halved, cored, and thinly sliced (the food processor does this brilliantly)

1 bunch radishes, ends trimmed, halved, and thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups) (ditto for the food processor)

In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, lime juice, and sugar; season generously with salt and pepper. Add cabbage and radishes; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate to let flavors meld for at least one hour and up to one day. Before serving take dish out of refrigerator to let it come to room temperature.

No woodchucks, guinea pigs or chipmunks will be harmed in the making of this dish.

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Walk, Trot, Canter–Jump!

Posted on July 26, 2012 by marigold

The Vermont Summer Festival Horse Show is a big deal in equine circles and to the local economy in our part of Southern Vermont. Competitors come from all over bringing large families, horses, tack, grooms, dogs, trainers and more. They rent houses, shop, eat out and spend a ton of money. I have always adored horses and used to ride a lot so the whole shebang is an irresistible attraction.

Bars used to make huge jumps even bigger

The show lasts six weeks and is held at the huge Harold Bebee Farm in East Dorset, VT. Major events (read big prize money) happen on weekends but there’s always plenty of action. Yesterday was a picture-perfect day to be there. These are three observations of a non-serious horsey nature:

 

1. At a snack bar, nestled among the lemon pound cake squares and vitamin water are carrots—not those little baby carrots in a plastic bag (which, I’m told are whittled from larger carrots) but great big ones to be bought as a horse treat.

2. Admiring Chief, a handsome gray gelding, calmly awaiting his turn to carry his rider over a series of gigantic jumps, I noticed he had shortie shin boots above each hoof. Apparently these protect a horse should he knock into a jump (and add an all-important style note).

3. An elegant bay, Lipton, was decked out in something covering his ears with a decorative part on his forehead, giving him a vaguely Moorish look. I asked his rider what it was for. The answer: “fashion, mostly.” Now we have uber-chic horses.  Interestingly (though not a surprise), in a booth selling these items, correctly termed “crocheted ear nets,” the vendor said they were to keep out bugs and noise. It can’t be very buggy when a horse is moving speedily around a course of jumps and the noise level was mild to non-existent (am thinking of getting something similar for use in certain New York City restaurants.) Figure it out…

 

Recipes for oats seem too mundane among so much style so here’s one for carrot soup.

Curried Carrot Soup (Rachel Ray)

Serves 6

1 T extra virgin olive oil (I always wonder why no recipe ever calls for plain old olive oil)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 pounds carrots, chopped

6 cups  chicken stock (feel free to make your own. I buy it.)

1 ½ T curry powder

1/4 to 1/2 t cayenne pepper

Kosher salt

Garnish if you like:

1 c sour cream

Chopped chives

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, butter, onion and carrots and sauté 5 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken stock, curry, cayenne and about 1 teaspoon salt.

Bring to a boil, cover and cook until carrots are very tender, about 15 minutes. In food processor, blender(if you let soup cool a little) or with a hand-held immersion blender, process soup in 2 or 3 small batches until smooth and carrots are fully pureed. Return processed soup to pot and return to low heat. If  soup is too thick, add remaining stock, up to 2 cups, to achieve desired consistency. Adjust seasonings.

If you want to be fancy, use a plastic squeeze bottle or medium food storage bag-if a bag, cut a small hole in a corner. Ladle soup into bowls and, unleashing your inner Picasso, draw lines, blobs, spider webs or whatever onto soup. Toss a few pieces of chive into the center and voila!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Walk, Trot, Canter–Jump!

Razzle Dazzle

Posted on July 14, 2012 by marigold

The summer I was eight, my parents rented a house in scenic Scarsdale and sent me to a well-regarded day camp that I loathed.  The house was probably a very ordinary suburban house but it had two fascinating features: one was a DIY telephone, (better than two cans and a string but only slightly), connecting the upstairs with the downstairs. As an only child, the idea of a family going to that  much trouble to maintain communications knocked me out.   I was also interested in bushes in the backyard covered in white netting, although all by itself, the backyard was pretty terrific to a city kid.  My father explained that under the netting were raspberry bushes.  Imagine! Bushes that were going to yield fruit I adored, protectively covered so the birds couldn’t steal the harvest.

Fast forward to last Sunday when we went to Mad Tom, a local orchard in East Dorset, to pick raspberries.

I filled four half-pints in under forty-five minutes, tossing a few into my mouth strictly as quality control. The owners of Mad Tom have a view that goes on for miles and includes the Green Mountains in one direction and the Taconics in another.  Both the raspberry bushes and the apple orchards were planted by the present owner’s grandfather in the sixties and must yield a lot of fruit.

Green Mountains from Mad Tom

 

Archaeological evidence shows that raspberries were eaten by Paleolithic cave dwellers who didn’t have electric toothbrushes to remove the pesky seeds that lodge between the teeth. In Greek mythology, the berries were once white until Zeus’ nursemaid, Ida, pricked her finger on a thorn and her blood stained the berries red.  (Some kinds of raspberries are sort of pale pink, often called ‘white.’ Give me the red variety any day.)

What to do with this bounty? I flash froze some for later use in raspberry mousse.  We ate some. The rest became this incredibly easy raspberry sauce that is wonderful poured over vanilla ice cream, pound cake or, to suit some tastes, pancakes.

Berries on the stove just after adding the (dreaded) cornstarch mixture

 

Raspberry Sauce                                      

 

1 pint fresh raspberries

¼ cup sugar

2 T orange juice

2  T cornstarch (I know, good cooks eschew cornstarch but it’s not noticeable when you eat the sauce)

1 cup cold water

Combine raspberries, sugar and orange juice in a saucepan. Whisk the cornstarch into cold water until entirely smooth. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil.

Simmer for about five minutes stirring. Turn off the heat—the sauce cooks a bit more as it cools.

Puree the sauce in a blender or with a hand-held immersion blender and strain through a fine sieve. Serve warm or cold. Sauces keeps in the refrigerator for a good two weeks.

The finished product

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

China in Vancouver

Posted on July 3, 2012 by marigold

Vancouver has a long history of  Chinese moving there en masse, most recently  after Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997 (although lately, many Chinese are returning home.)  There were cultural tensions but by now the situation seems pretty stable.  On the food front, with such a large Chinese population,  there are lots of Chinese markets and a host of super-chefs leading many to declare that Vancouver has the best Chinese food anywhere.

One lunch does not a trend confirm but the dim sum we had at Kirin, ( sounds Japanese as in the beer but it’s not), was spectacular—as good or better than any consumed in New York, San Francisco or Hong Kong.

The flying fish roe is on top

The clear, fresh tastes of the steamed beef ball with tangerine peel and bean curd skin as well as the steamed prawn and pork dumplings with flying fish roe were unusual as was being served dishes one by one by male waiters, (as contrasted with typical dim sum spots where women push carts past the table for your consideration.) Kirin is rather stylish, not very expensive and has a vast menu that includes local items like geoduck, a large, saltwater clam found in these parts.

Sated, we went on to visit the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden (named after him although he had nothing to do with it.)

Jade water pavilion, Chinese Garden

The garden, a large series of interior and exterior spaces, includes ponds with rocks, trees and falling water, moon gates, pavilions and connecting walkways. It was built in 1985-1986 by fifty-two master craftsmen from Suzhou working together with their Canadian counterparts. Hailed by National Geographic as “one of the top city gardens in the world, ” the space as a whole exemplifies what a Ming dynasty scholar might have enjoyed with the requisite elements of rock, water, plants and architecture to balance yin and yang. There are opportunities to admire penjing trees, the Chinese art form that predates Japanese bonsai although both are stylized, portable plants meant for contemplation. (Years ago a friend entrusted two exquisite bonsai to my care while she went on vacation. My older daughter and I followed her instructions to the letter—and managed to kill both plants. Since then, I regard bonsai, or in this case, penjing, with both awe and fear.)

A penjing tree I never got my hands on

Walking through the garden, every view is strikingly different.  The zig-zags of the Double Corridor force you  to stop and contemplate.  According to our guide, because Chinese ghosts don’t have legs they can’t maneuver the corridor’s angles thus making it impossible for them to “trespass.”  ( I wanted to ask why these floating ghosts couldn’t waft through but politely kept my mouth shut.)

The jade bottomed koi pond had a temporary exhibit of contemporary floating art that marred its serenity–the only off note in the entire garden.  Other features include displays of scholar’s rocks, beautifully carved moon gates and “lady” balustrades, designed so that women could sit in a decorative manner as part of the harmonious picture. (For twenty-first century women–or men– the railings make any form of sitting  incredibly uncomfortable.) The garden is so completely thought through that even the courtyard rocks beneath your feet are intricately designed as are the leak windows, designed to lead the eye to vistas beyond the lattice work.

Lattice or “leak” window

I wouldn’t assay a complex Chinese recipe –too much chopping and dicing– but this peanut-sauced noodle dish is a cinch.  It does require a trip to a Chinese market and is certainly not  high- end cuisine but is delicious.

 

Noodles in peanut-sesame sauce

 

Noodles in Peanut-Sesame Sauce

1 lb. Chinese-style noodles (or any spaghetti/fettuccini-type pasta)

2 Tbsp. dark sesame oil

Dressing:

6 Tbsp. good quality smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup water

3 Tbsp. light soy sauce

6 Tbsp. dark soy sauce (if you can find only one kind don’t panic—the recipe still works)

6 Tbsp. tahini (sesame paste)

1/2 cup dark sesame oil

2 Tbsp. sherry

4 tsp. rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup honey

4 medium cloves garlic, minced (I use only two)

2 tsp. minced fresh ginger

1/2 cup hot water

Garnish (entirely optional)

1 carrot, peeled and shredded using vegetable peeler

1/2 firm medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and julienned

1/2 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Cook noodles in large pot of boiling unsalted water over medium heatuntil barely tender and still firm. Drain immediately, rinse with cold water until cool and toss with the 2 T dark sesame oil so they don’t stick.

To make the sauce combine all ingredients except hot water in a blender or food processor fitted with steel blade and blend until smooth.  Thin with hot water to consistency of heavy cream.

Shortly before serving, toss noodles with sauce and garnish if that’s your pleasure.  Serve at room temperature.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I Don’t Know But…

Posted on June 24, 2012 by marigold

 

Welcome to Alaska

For those who don’t know the tag line, here’s a hint:  people who live here refer to the rest of the US as “the lower forty-eight.”  My take on Alaska was magnificent scenery, lots of wildlife and very unattractive housing.

In Juneau, the helicopter intended to transport us to the Mendenhall Glacier was cancelled due to fog. Another service tried to step in but I felt that the cancellation was a sign to desist. Beautiful downtown Juneau is a parade of t-shirt and jewelry shops as well as the famed Red Dog Salon, a beery spot with sawdust on the floor.

The White Pass & Yukon Route narrow gauge railway climbs from Skagway up to the summit of the White Pass trail where the snow was a good three feet deep (on a beautiful, sunny day—something of a rarity in southern Alaska.)

White Pass & Yukon RR moving up the line

 

In 1897 during the Klondike gold rush era, over 100,000 men and women and even some children raced to reach the goldfields about five hundred miles inland. The White Pass came to be known as Dead Horse Pass because so many pack animals died along the trail. Each adult was required to carry in a ton of food and supplies, pretty tough up such a steep trail especially in winter.

The town of Skagway has the kitchily cute recreated Mascot Saloon and the Arctic Brotherhood Hall, a wonderful building with a façade decorated entirely with twigs.

Arctic Brotherhood Building in Skagway

 

Glacier Bay, a product of the Little Ice Age, included views of plenty of glaciers prefaced by excellent presentations by two Park Service Rangers. Loved watching the whales jump and the adorable sea otters lying on their backs to eat their fish.

 

In Ketchikan, advised by many to “get out of the town,” we went to various beaches (in Alaska this means piles of rocks) to see bald eagles but were too early in the season to spot bears. Back in the town, Creek Street, formerly home to brothels and now to souvenir shops, rises on stilts.

Houses build over Creek Street, Ketchikan

I visited Dolly’s House, home of a once-famous madam with an eye either to thrift or crafts as she (or her, um, employees), used silk condoms fashioned into flowers, to decorate a shower curtain. The funicular provided a fast trip up to the Cape Fox Inn for very good Bloody Mary’s and an excellent grilled salmon BLT lunch.

The Chinook salmon is the Alaskan state fish, served everywhere in every way.

Grilled Salmon BLT (minus bacon, lettuce and tomato)

Grilled Salmon BLT

Per sandwich:

2 slices meaty bacon

1 ½ inch thick salmon filet

1 T mayonnaise mixed with 1 t pesto sauce (if you don’t make and keep pesto on hand, buy it)

1 slice ripe tomato (if it isn’t tomato season omit this unless you enjoy unripe tomato)

1 leaf lettuce

Piece of ciabatta bread larger than the salmon filet split in half

Cook bacon and drain well. Brush salmon filet lightly with unseasoned mayonnaise (keeps it from sticking and will burn off) and grill over a hot fire for three minutes per side. It should emerge with grill marks on both sides.

Lightly toast the bread on the grill. Spread both sides with the mayonnaise/pesto mixture. Put lettuce on one side of bread with tomato if using and salmon on top of that. Top with bacon slices.  Close with the second piece of the bread and serve immediately.

Think of yourself as one with the bears and otters who also love salmon.  Appreciate summer. Rejoice that you don’t live in Alaska (and, if you do, my apologies.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Oh Canada!

Posted on June 18, 2012 by marigold

North Vancouver- sea before, mountains above

Vancouver, BC, is surrounded by mountains and water.  My impression of the city is that when people who live there aren’t out biking or skateboarding they’re involved with food. Makes sense as Vancouverites (?) have easy access to very fresh ingredients–salmon, oysters, gorgeous fruit, unusual mushrooms–you name it.  My other impression is that downtown the citizenry all seem about twenty years old. (Apparently the more mature, presumably wealthier types, live further out.)

Gorgeous cherries at one of Grandville Island's many fruit stands

Granville Island is home to the best all-around market I’ve ever been to, offering produce, cheese, fish (smoked, fresh, etc.), prepared foods, chocolates, flowers, baked goods, gelato and ice creams, coffee and anything else one would ever want to eat. Tourists visit and locals and chefs shop here. Stunning crafts shops are intermingled with the food offerings but I resisted although a $500 felt vest almost had my name on it.  For lunch at Edible Canada we both had salads of albacore tuna that melted in the mouth–literally–with kale; pale, tan shimji mushrooms, and edible flowers, delivered by a waiter who seemed to have personally picked each mushroom.

Albacore tuna with veggies and flowers at Edible Canada

 

The Vancouver Art Gallery is currently showing the Cone Sisters of Baltimore exhibit I’d previously seen at NYC’s Jewish Museum with addenda I missed on round one including a video with Michael Palin visiting places these shopaholic sisters frequented. (Shopaholic is probably an unfair term since their purchases included works by Matisse, Renoir and Courbet, not exactly like retail therapy at Saks’.) Also at the Gallery is a photo exhibit by the multi-talented Canadian  Rodney Graham. His work vaguely reminds me of Cindy Sherman in that Graham uses himself as his subject but with a huge dose of humor.

MOA the Museum of Anthropological Art, on the University of British Columbia campus, displays art of many cultures with an emphasis on the work of Pacific peoples.

Bird mask at MOA

 

There are totems, masks, canoes, armor made of plant material and a great deal else dealing with cultures I know far too little about. The building is wonderful as is the setting amidst cedar trees and other plants.

And then there is Hawksworth, one of the hot-ticket restaurants in Vancouver. The room has cream walls in a textured pattern, white shiny tables edged in silver metal, mirrors and a large, elegant “diamond” light fixture in the center. I started with a fancy cocktail of tangelo- infused vodka, tangelo juice, other ingredients and ginger beer and then had the Forty-Eight Hour Short Ribs, three hunks cooked sous vide, (French for ‘under vacuum’ meaning that food is put in a sealed bag and cooked in water at a low temperature for a long time) on a smear of black pepper jam. My entrée was grilled sturgeon atop smoked tomato sauce with preserved lemon and cubes of butternut squash. Dessert, described on the menu as “chocolate, coffee, rum:.” turned out to be a layers of deliciousness: from the bottom up, something rum flavored followed by coffee mousse topped with a dark chocolate disc on which rode a layer of caramel foam and a sprinkle of toasted nuts.  The entire meal was wonderful with highly professional service from many people, each of whom wears a pin of the Hawksworth logo, spoon, fork and knife in the shape of an H.

After so much incredible food, here’s

a simple recipe.

Infused Vodka

To infuse vodka, decide what taste you want to add (red pepper, fruit, fresh herbs) and fill a clean glass jar with the vodka of your choice.  (I’d go for the low end price-wise because once it tastes peppery or like a tangelo, what’s the difference?) Add one or two handfuls of fruit. If you use pepper, use what you like—the more you add and the longer you leave it, the stronger the taste.

Seal the jar and put it somewhere out of direct sunlight. Most herbs and fruit will have left their mark after about five days—taste and see. You can always leave it longer.

Drink your infusion on the rocks, with a splash of soda or experiment. If Vancouver chefs can, you can too.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Buy Local

Posted on May 29, 2012 by marigold

Last Sunday was my first visit of the year to the Dorset (Vermont) Farmer’s Market where it was mildly evident that the peculiar weather hasn’t been kind to growers.  Yes, there were the herb sellers, the cheese makers, the bakers and the farmers with their offerings of lettuces, radishes and tiny, new potatoes and the ever-present coterie of kids and dogs. But there seems to be less lettuce and other greens than usual for this time of year.

Many kinds of basil

 

There is also a lilac-lack. It looks like the bushes started to flower and got interrupted by a frost.  Alas, alack, these flowers have always been a treat to see and smell, a pleasure we’ll have to forgo in June 2012.

 

Not this year

I have put in five tomato plants and surrounded them with marigolds, my namesake flower, that I plant not in self-homage but because they (theoretically) keep critters away from the vegetables. One year I had a perfect Bambi outline in a day lily bed; now I spray with vile-smelling stuff that sometimes does the job. Some people fence their veggie gardens but my tomato plants and a few herbs are my only edibles because—I hope—the farmer’s markets will keep us in green stuff, especially as we’re not here all the time to deal with the deer.

And now for a correction: my last post, with the recipe for Cava Sangria, was missing a few tweaks.  It should have 1 T of simple syrup (made by combining equal parts of sugar and water, bringing to a boil and allowing the sugar to dissolve completely. It also needs more Grand Marnier, Triple Sec or whatever orange liqueur you choose.  Try ¼ cup and see how you like it.

This is the correct recipe for what we are calling Sangria 96, in honor of our house number:

1 orange, cut up and muddled in the bottom of a pitcher

¼ cup orange liqueur of your choice (we used Triple Sec)

1 (or 2—let taste be your guide) T of simple syrup

1 bottle Cava poured in at the end and mixed gently so it stays bubbly

We had blueberries left over from a dessert so we added them to our glasses. Very festive.

 

Sangria 96

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

From the Himalayas to the Lower East Side

Posted on May 23, 2012 by marigold

Painting on textile from current show at Rubin Museum

While researching an article on NYC’s off-the beaten path museums and exhibit spaces, I went with a friend to the Rubin Museum.  Housed in what was used to be part of the original Barney’s at 7th Avenue and 17th Street, the museum retained the wonderful six-tier staircase designed by Andree Putman. The collection includes work from Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Myanmar, India, China and parts of Asia. Part of the space’s serenity comes from having relatively few visitors, compared with the throngs in MOMA or the Met. You could spend hours at the Rubin, admiring works from modern India, illuminated Tibetan manuscript pages, a mural sequence from the Dalai Lama’s Secret Temple, a complete shrine-like room with flickering candles and a lot else.

All that eyeballing builds an appetite so later we repaired to painfully chic Cafeteria where the noise factor is extensive and the food not bad. We sat at the bar, admiring the extensive collection of  booze including Aperol,

 

an Italian aperitif very similar to Campari in look and taste but with a lower alcohol content.

 

Later that day, another friend and I headed to a game of Exquisite Corpse. As I knew EC,  each person writes a name, place or a remark according to the leader’s instructions, folds it over and passes it to the next person and so on. And the end, each player reads a “story.” This version of the game starred five young writers and was hosted by the Times’ former Ethicist, Randy Cohen, who threw out a plot line. The first writer picked it up and added to it for a few minutes and then tossed it to the next person. Most of the writers were very creative until they ran dry and got off on zombies.

Randy Cohen

 

This event took place at the Standard Hotel in the East Village. Too bad that our tickets had directed us to the Standard on the west side where we arrived to blank looks, requiring an expensive cross-town taxi. By the time cocktails and the game were winding down it was late and we were starving. Directed to a restaurant that was closed  for a private party, we ended up at Forcella, which bills itself as “La Pizza Di Napoli”– funny because every pizza I had in Naples was the classic margherita with mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil which wasn’t even on Forcella’s menu that night.  Our Decumani with mozzarella, truffle oil, arugula and pecorino was just fine.

Speaking of cocktails, I think this one will be our signature offering for the summer.

Cava Sangria (adapted from Bon Appétit)

 1 bottle of cava (Spanish “champagne.”) You could also use prosecco although it’s more expensive

1 blood orange (any orange can do the job but not as beautifully)

2 T Grand Marnier or any other orange liqueur

Fruit: raspberries, cut up peach or other–optional

Cut up the orange, skin and all, and muddle (mash) it against the bottom of a large pitcher. Pour the cava and Grand Marnier into the pitcher and gently stir—you don’t want to remove the bubbles! Pour the end result into ice filled glasses. If you wish, add a little fruit.

Toast yourself and enjoy Memorial Day weekend!

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments