oui oui! midsummer bounty

I've been feeling rather French lately. I blame the vegetables. And the weather. And Molly Wizenberg. And the fact that it's August and - let's face it - I'm wishing I was with Anna right now in Brittany, soaking in the sun, buying cute little French soaps and sea salt (Anna, please - for the love of god - please don't forget my salt) and enjoying a nightly apéro.

But mostly I think I can blame the vegetables. Between my first week of being a CSA member, my effusive love for my Farmer's Market and my darling mother's garden...well, let's just say that my produce cup runneth over. And over.

First up, ratatouille. My dear friend Anna actually turned me on to this delightful dish several years ago and I have proceeded to enjoy it yearly since. There's something very effortless about whacking up a bunch of seasonal veggies and turning them into a hearty stew-like dish...which, after sitting in the fridge waiting for me, only seems to get better and better. I had just the right ingredients from the market and mom's garden: zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, onion, garlic. I got some peppers and started rifling through cookbooks - here, at Barnes & Noble, everywhere - looking for ideas. I went back to my old standby: Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything layered and baked number. On the first day, we enjoyed it with soft cooked polenta (his with cheese and butter, mine without...detox, afterall) and a crispy rosé. I plated up two little Apilco round au gratin dishes with leftovers, sent a bag with the chef to be turned into a stew the next day, and left the rest in the fridge for nibbling. The following morning, I drained the au gratin dish a bit, dug a couple of holes and cracked two eggs into the dish. Baked those at 350 for about 13ish minutes and I had the perfect breakfast. Of course, a toasted baguette would have been the preferred accompaniment but on the no-wheat adventure, I was happily surprised by simple corn tortilla chips stepping in and doing the job nicely.

Next task, leek soup. Or at least that's where I thought I was going with this. Only serving to exacerbate my little French problem, I also picked up the new-ish paperback version of French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, & Pleasure (Vintage) and remembered her original advice about leek soup. I think it was called "Magical Leek Soup," in fact. So I was thusly inspired. Checking out my cookbook collection - and considering the rest of my bounty - I aimed instead for a slight riff on Ina Garten's Zucchini Vichyssoise instead (from Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Food You Can Make at Home. Now THIS would be the answer to my late night, no energy for cooking question. This soup is meant to be eaten either hot or cold, and I'm guessing it will not be the first time this season it will be made. It's going gangbusters on the stove right now and will fill the lunch gap nicely.

Next up, addressing the lettuce situation. Every weekend I get this wild idea that I need salad. Lots of salad. So much salad that I might explode. And, of course, I buy salad greens. But my fridge is not a salad green-friendly location. In fact, it doesn't like much of anything that prefers to be crispy and sturdy. So I'm trying an experiment. About 3/5ths of my lettuce is just fine, 4+ days later. 1/5th is dead and headed for the compost. The remaining 1/5th seems salvageable; I'm soaking it in ice water to see if the shock will stiffen it up and make it lunch-ready. Feeling a little lousy about this, but I'm trying to recover. We'll see.

Lastly, I'm drooling over Molly Wizenberg. You may know her as that Orangette blog lady, or the writer of that great book A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table for which I waited patiently (ahem) from the library while 13 other people had holds on it, and the proceeded to buzz through it in 2 days. Now, I'm torn. I love almost every one of the recipes in there. Should I scan them for my collection, or should I bite the bullet and buy the book? (Those of you who know my book situation would probably calmly advocate for the former.) It's due tomorrow, I can't renew it (lots of others waiting in line) so I need to decide quickly. In the meantime, won't you check out her blog and, in particular, her index of recipes? She's a major Francophile - which shines through nicely in her recipes - and her husband is a vegetarian.

Because really, how much inspiration do you need this time of year? Gotta go, time to blitz the vichysoisse! Au revoir!

(Update: the soup was absolutely amazing - recipe coming later today - and the lettuce snapped to like good soliders. Successful lunch all around! Now, where's that baguette...sigh.)

self-care, the workshop

In honor of my "Unapologetic Self-Care Week," I signed myself up to attend a fabulous looking retreat. Well Within, a local nonprofit holistic wellness center, has put together a full day of learning self-care techniques in order to restore balance. Very cool indeed!

I have been doing yoga fairly regularly for the past 5 years, but unsurprisingly, it's one of the first thing that goes when LIFE interferes. Which makes absolutely no sense because it can also be the one thing to keep me glued together. I figured I could use more tools like this.

The Well Within brochure describes the retreat as an introduction to a variety of techniques which could be used for self-care in our everyday lives. I am already bought in on yoga but I'm also interested in getting a little head's up about meditation, healing touch, guided imagery and mindfulness. All of these resonate with my approach to wellness; and there's no doubt elevating self-care activities (as in, we need ACTION here) will give me more tools in my toolbox for when times aren't so predictable and stable.

Cami Smalley, program director and wellness coach (and personal trainer!) told me to expect some light stretching so to dress comfortably and in layers. They'll provide food and I am bringing my favorite journal and pen. This I can do. And in the meantime, I'm working through my own week of self-care with learning, moving, thinking, sharing. I can't imagine a better way to find my center ground again.

Well Within describes balance as:

• Balance
• Awareness
• Laughter
• Awake
• Nurture
• Create
• Explore

EXACTLY what I need; can't wait to report back on Friday.

If you're interested in the retreat - either this week at Well Within or to bring the event to your own community - get in touch with the delightful Cami by calling 651.308.2763. Check it out online at: www.wellwithin.org

happy green day!

It's Earth Day! This year, more than any that I can remember in the past, there has been a lot of attention and focus on Earth Day in the mainstream - retail, media, internet chatter. I can personally say that I understand many non-Americans when they wonder why every day isn't Earth Day here in the United States. I often wonder that too. Just looking at Japanese and European lifestyles, I'm still surprised where we are today. We're slow to the party. But I feel like we're warming up quickly.

For me personally, I have always been a recycler. My mom has always had a productive garden. But moving into my loft three and a half years ago, I started taking other greenie causes more seriously. I don't know what it was about living here - perhaps the smaller foot print, the attention paid to green building, the lack of storage space leading to creative lifestyle changes, me and my social circle simply paying more attention to our surroundings, I'm not sure. But I know that I have taken many new (to me) principles to heart. And I know I have a long way to go.

This year, I'm making several Earth Day commitments to myself, my community and our planet. Are they revelatory? Perhaps not. But if this blog ever has a message it is that you can start anywhere, anytime and feel good about it. There's no measurement for your success as an individual, eco-freak, or what have you, other than the satisfaction you take from taking baby steps and moving forward at your own pace. No one's looking for a radical lifestyle change off the bat. But, as I've learned, once you start paying attention and learning the basics, it's awfully tough to turn away.

So Earth Day, for me, is about celebrating my own steps forward, assessing where I am in my journey, and putting some actionable goals out there in front of me for the coming year. This isn't just a day; it's a commitment. Mine happen to be:

1. continuing my education about food - I've been shifting focus to sustainable, local, organic and intend to keep moving in that direction
2. figuring out how to bring composting to my neighborhood (all condo and apartment dwellers...so this is a challenge)
3. making my own non-toxic cleaning products wherever possible
4. getting smart (and then reducing)my own carbon footprint - figure out all of these PCs, appliances, and the car...and use them in a cost- and energy-efficient manner
5. paying attention to the ingredients list on my skin care products and cosmetics
6. supporting local farmers, retailers, service providers through things like the farmers' market and the 3/50 project (a fun blog - new to me - that is written my a local fella and former colleague: http://www.simplegoodandtasty.com/)

Happy Earth Day everyone. Won't you give some thought to what you might do?

the soul of a restaurant...a cautionary tale

I spend far too much time watching Food Network. I can't help it. If there's one thing you could accuse me of it's being waaaay too into food. Mostly, I'm a food experience junkie. I have become a student in what makes the enjoyment of food...well...enjoyable, and it's a job I take quite seriously.

For me, this all started in the mid-90's with the maven that is Martha Stewart becoming more mainstream. I poured over her original Hors d' Oeuvres cookbook imagining the first "big" party I would soon throw. And in the intervening years, I've continued my study of cooking, plating & presentation, serving pieces, thematic events, and generally bringing a heightened level of attention to the finer details of food experience. In the end, these details shouldn't stand out but instead become a backdrop to wonderful food, interesting conversation and the feeling of contentment that a well-enjoyed meal brings.

My travels to Europe have been more about sitting in restaurants than visiting museums. I was fascinated to see how people dined there - the type of glass used, the way the menu was organized, how the service was conducted, the length of time people lingered at the table. It was a very different world than ours and I must say it changed the way I enjoy restaurants. I became more intrigued by the process (the process of enjoyment, I guess) than the destination (a satiated tummy). I started warning servers when we sat down, "We're going to be one of those long, lingering tables" and started not ordering my entree until appetizers, wine and salad were handled. I wanted a slower service and the connection with my dining companions, the server or sommelier, and the restaurant. If the restaurant and I connected, I'd be a fast friend returning time and again. Something all business owners strive for - because it's almost always cheaper to keep a customer than get a new one.

After I started seeing more and more of a little Canadian show called "Restaurant Makeover" on the Food Network, I started paying attention to what the chefs and interior/restaurant designers were dealing with. Sure, they picked at the menu, the ingredients, the lighting, the tables & chairs, the chefs. But they also railed on about quality ingredients and the chefs' capital-P passion for the food. So much of this was couched in or formed around the one element that tends to go missing in restaurants: soul.

Cooking and feeding people - according to those who love to do it - is about love. Putting your own personality, love, and attention to detail into an expression of your appreciation of those that you're feeding may indeed be the highest form of compliment. When you decide to package that love and open up a restaurant, I think, restaurateurs may neglect the point. Yes, you have to pay strict attention to critical elements such as food costs and labor issues, and fine tune atmospheric elements such as wine glasses and the comfort of the bathrooms, but if you lose sight of your goal of sharing your love of this food with your customers it's easy to mislay the soul of your business.

I recently had a terrible dining experience at a restaurant on the lovely Grand Ave in St. Paul. They have been known for their southern-style cuisine and I remember several great meals there. And I love spending local! This is a restaurant that's held on through the years, has recently freshened up its interior and beautiful new patio, but managed to deliver a mediocre - at the very best - brunch. I was just sad through the whole thing. First, I generally hate buffets because they're difficult to execute in a way that lets the food shine. Second, they didn't give you the option of ordering off the menu in addition to the buffet so our hands quickly became tied. Third, the quality of the food and the ingredients was lackluster. Scrambled eggs looked like Styrofoam and the roast that was sliced for us was like leather - overcooked, overworked and sitting for far too long. Fourth, I sort of wasn't getting the interior design. It just felt weird in there. Many elements were beautiful and well done but many were disconnected. As a southern-style restaurant, they had many directions they could go - Floridian, Creole, Tara, New Orleans, French, etc - and seemed to take a page from each one. And what of the large screen TVs and the toy train circling above the bar? Nothing shone through. But worst of all, for me, was the fact that they had many great opportunities to let the food stand above all the riff raff, and they missed the mark wildly.

(Ok, I don't know why I'm being so secretive about the restaurant name. If you are from the Twin Cities, you probably know the place by now. I don't want to offend anyone but at the same time, as a customer and food lover, I WANT THEM TO FIX THIS PLACE SO I CAN ENJOY IT AGAIN! So fine, it's Dixie's. Sorry.)

Previously, their food generally was quite good and they were known for some specialities - pulled pork, BBQ ribs, fried okra, their signature beef jerky, gorgeous biscuits, etc. But was ANY of this on the buffet? No. And I get it, it's brunch. But do you have to give up your identity to deliver it? The jambalaya had no seasoning and no kick. The red beans and rice were underwhelming, and I love me some red beans and rice! What do unaccented scrambled eggs, greasy bacon, chunks of pineapple, A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN for god's sake, and chocolate pudding have to do with Southern cuisine?! It was all too much. Yes, there was a lot of food but I could have been at Old Country Buffet for all I could tell. The bottomless mimosas were the only thing that kept us from feeling completely ripped off from the $19.95 per head that we paid. So we had 3 apiece. And started plotting.

Do I have some ideas for this place? Oh yes I do. I watch too much Food TV and believe I can spit harebrained ideas faster than the next person; I'm shameless that way. At my re-imagined Southern-style restaurant on Grand Avenue I'd be asking the proprietors to pick: is this a family restaurant for everyone, a special cuisine destination stop, a local bar that happens to sell food, what? I'd be wondering: is this Southern food with a Creole influence? (Because I think it should be...unique, loaded with food opportunities, thematic style options, etc) I'd be thinking: how will we get the word out? What will people say about us? What do we want them to say and are we managing that goal into everything we do?

Because I would want to rave about the perfectly seasoned jambalaya with delicate fresh shrimp. I would want to point out that they gave a little riff on the mimosa by adding some unique twist (a hurricane mimosa, perhaps?!). I would want a signature omelet menu instead of a list of basic ingredients I can get across the street at the Embassy Suite's free breakfast. I would like to see brisket and roasted chickens on the carving station, pulled pork and buns in the chafers. I would like to try the Key Lime Pie instead of it running out at 1pm. How about biscuits and gravy? A gumbo? Something that makes me feel the restaurant, experience what it's offering me. See into its soul.

And then work the execution. I understand the benefits of buffet brunches. But pick your shots. Have the right dishes on the buffet, don't fill the chafers full and let them sit too long. Make a few more "to order" dishes in the kitchen. Turn your carving guy into a carver and waffle maker, and don't serve those toppings looking like an afterthought. Use the best ingredients you can manage and charge accordingly. I'd gladly pay $25.95 or so for a really outstanding brunch. If I want cheap buffet food, I have lots of options. If you can't do buffet well, skip it. Do a beautiful, but more limited, brunch menu so I can order what I want. But be who you are and don't apologize for it.

Define your brand. Identify your message. Describe your soul. And then let the people eat.

get it gone

Ok this might end up sounding like more of a rant than anything helpful but I have acquired a fresh perspective in the past 24 hours. My beau asked me to help him sell a few things on craigslist.com, and of course I agreed. I have done a lot of eBay, etc in the past and am more comfortable than he is on the PC, internet, basically most technology. He's better in the kitchen. It's a fair trade. In the end, shopping through craigslist - like eBay, thrift stores, my mom's shops (see below for another gratuitous plug) - is the ultimate in recycling. Nothing goes to waste, nothing ends up in the landfill and if you play your cards right, you get a hefty commission for selling off someone else's stuff...oh wait...maybe that's just me? Anyway, it's a good, green (and green$) thing to do.

I'd never used craigslist before but, because of our little vintage resale business I have lots of eBay experience and more than my fair share of garage and estate sales under by belt. So I'm laughing a bit because he definitely thought I was nuts when we got started documenting things for the sale. But I knew a couple of things:

1. people will buy freaking anything
2. it's nearly impossible to sell stuff without decent pictures
3. lots of details help

I know it sounds duh-intuitive but just take a gander at craigslist and see how many BAD listings there are and you'll get my meaning. So there I was, staging a photo shoot for practically every item, taking 6-10 pics of each even though you can only list 4, measuring everything to within an inch of its life. I was a online selling madwoman. He was sitting there thinking "no one is going to buy that" and I went into overdrive as everyone and their uncle started emailing me with interest. This morning I listed the last 4 items but already I have commitments for $1150 and another $650 in sales pending. So I'm feeling pretty keen on this whole craigslist thing!

I also realize that my experience here matters so I'm going to share with you just a couple things that I think made my online selling go smoothly.

• get the description line right - There's plenty of room there so include relevant details like the diameter of the table or the height of the cabinet or - gasp - brands and model numbers! You'd be pained to see how many listings start "wood table" and make you click into the listing to get more. Not super enticing. Oh and if it works, say so. I guess people sell stuff that doesn't.
• clean it - For the love of god, do not try to photograph or sell a microwave with baked on food in it. Dust off the stuff that's been in the basement, give everything a good polishing up. You'll drive good prices if it looks nice.
• take key pictures - Yes, one of the whole item. But also close up shots of details like the back or seat of a chair, the inputs on the back of the TV, the manufacturer label (as long as it's legible of course), the intricate carving work on a statue. You get the idea.
• measure! - adding exterior (and in the case of our chest freezers, interior) measurements can help a lot. I saved myself some quality patio lounging time NOT having to meet someone who wanted to make sure his home brew keg could fit inside the freezer. Between my measurements and his link to the keg specs, we determined that it wouldn't fly and I could quickly move on to the next interested party.
• be nice, respond to everyone and keep good track - The uplifting high of "someone wants to buy our junk!" throws you in a frenzy, particularly if you have multiple listings. You'll get a lot of karmic credit just for nicely replying to someone and letting them know if there's an interested party ahead of them in line, apologizing if they weren't quick enough to get the item, getting back to them when you say you will. No, there's no rating system on craigslist but take the brownie points and be grateful when you need to go back to an interested party because your "I'll take it" guy flaked out.
• and before you list, ask your people - I sold a ton of stuff to qualified, trustworthy and honest buyers: my friends. I uploaded all the pics to flickr.com, sent an email with the details and link to the pics and voila. Instant venue for selling, no listing and dorking around with strangers showing up.

There you have it.

Now if you want to see some really cool stuff that's had the hand of my mother, Queen of Clean, touch it, pop over to one of her stores and look for the booth that says "Pretty Things" at the top. It will be the one with the bright vintage household goods, old school Hawaiian shirts, fancy ladies scarves, and more.

Mall of St. Paul - Selby & Fairview
Sophie Joe's - West 7th, just outside of downtown St. Paul

the 3/50 project

Man, am I jazzed about this. Last week mom was telling me about this project after having seen a news piece about it. It's smart primarily because it's simple; they've made it very easy for the average joe to understand and get behind. A total nobrainer. As you know, I'm a big supporter of the local economies and bringing together those who produce products, those who sell products and those who buy products in a very cost-effective, planet friendly and sustainable manner. I think the more people understand and appreciate what the local economies bring to their lives, they'll likewise vote with their dollars. I'm proud to know that I have impact in my local area and proud to spread the word. And I'm even further proud that this phenomenon started right here in the Twin Cities. Aren't we smart? Cheers Cinda!

And for me, this means I'll choose from a wonderful assortment of retailers (and restaurants too; while this program focuses on retailers, let's not forget our favorite neighborhood spots to chow down) in Saint Paul such as:

• the Saint Paul Farmer's Market (not exactly a retailer but clearly needs support; I predict a banner year for our market)
• Mississippi Market - was a college staple for me and I've been meaning to be more supportive; now's a great time to get on board
• Bibelot Shops - tons of seasonal cuteness, picked up some...well, bibelots for my mom for Easter
• Corazon (ok, across the Marshall bridge from St. Paul but close enough and SO CUTE)...festive, arty and irreverant selection
• Elva Pottery (Grand & Dale) - am in love with their bowls
• Ecotique/Nature of Beauty - so good, so green. All natural beauty products, to boot. Terri pulls together a smart and cool vibe. Loved my green makeover!
• Phresh - both for services and for products; see Megan for best facials and wax services
• StormSister Spatique - new find in St. Paul, love that they carry new Intelligent Nutrients line...and fun blog too!
• Paper Patisserie - love the wrap and ribbons
• Karma - great clothes and accessories, love the new location
• The Yarnery - my knitting obsession increased proportionately to the incredible amounts of beautiful yarns stocked here. To wit, my new Misti Alpaca in sushi. Lots of free patterns and helpful assistance.
• Cooks of Crocus Hill - classes, Oxo storage containers, All-Clad pans and so much more; what's not to love?
• Ten Thousand Villages - fair trade and unique; I always find great gifts here
• Garden of Eden - has my favorite bath salts, Dresdener Essenz
• Haskell's - I loved finding their Naples location when I was on vacation on year, talk about bringing home along for the ride!
• Thomas Liquors - will always love this tiny Grand Ave shop

green eats

This weekend I had the very unique experience of catering a dinner at the home of a prominent - indeed famous - businessman who has probably done more for the organic, natural, green, and even standard beauty industry than anyone. I've mentioned the name in passing but I'll refrain from either doing that or providing any private details here out of sheer respect. My point in telling the story is that my beau's restaurant was contacted to create the menu and provide the dinner, with the twist that it be as organic as possible. Twisty twisty indeed!

Now, let's also mention here that the restaurant in question is a fabulous Japanese restaurant (obvious bias intended) with a quite loyal following. But it's certainly not professing itself to be green. The food of Japan may have its green tendencies, but preparing and selling it in the Midwest isn't always as ecologically sound as one might hope.

In my time together with the chef, I have learned a lot about Japanese cuisine. Lest we think me an expert, however, know that this particular well runs deep. It will probably take me years to figure it all out. The culture and food of this amazing country is thousands of years rich, but recently we've all become more aware of the health benefits inherent within. My limited study of books such as The Blue Zones and Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother's Tokyo Kitchen has highlighted the benefits of eating this way. My personal experience with Japanese food has revealed a very nice alignment with my own beliefs about food: quality, fresh ingredients; simplicity in preparation; beautiful presentation; plant-focused with fresh fish and so forth.

The trick here - as with so many other facets of our lives - is reconciling our values and intentions with the availability of ingredients. Or in the case of running a restaurant, stepping up and stomaching the transition and ongoing costs of being greener. The nature of a Japanese restaurant doesn't lend itself well to using local food suppliers, as we're not catching bluefin in the Mississippi these days (uh, yuck). But there are small steps restaurants can make. And it all starts with awareness. Sound familiar?

A few little examples of how we started: Two of our event chefs shopped at a local organic co-op for produce and other standard ingredients. A third chef availed herself of organic sweet potatoes from Whole Foods. I went about finding sustainable - and beautiful - bamboo chopsticks that would hold their own in this amazing gallery home. We brought a load of our own towels to eliminate the need for paper towels. We checked to be sure the fish was sustainably farmed or caught. It was a start. But we had to ship in top-of-the-line traditional Japanese ingredients (think kombu, bonito, nori) that can't be found here. Thankfully they are dried and light as a feather, so not as carbon-footprint-impacting to ship. Yet, the fish came from afar.

But the real revelations happened later. My chef gleefully admitted that even though the price was considerably higher, the organic goods simply tasted better. And this man has a palate for food, wine, sake, etc that I can't even contemplate. So I knew that he really meant it. We both laughed as we packed up the food and supplies that we were about to alight in this man's very green home with all this plastic packaging and wrap and perhaps they'd just take the food and chuck us back out past the security gate. We were more than just a little aware at that moment. I think you'd call it ashamed.

In his beautiful commercial kitchen we found only green cleaning products, his own line of hand cleansers, and under counter bins for recyclables and compost. There were paper towels and napkins, but primarily there were lots of washable linens. Organic aromas were sprayed throughout the house. The whole place just felt green. I felt a little greener for just having showed up.

I think we all walked away from the experience with some questions in our heads. Could we do better? Could the restaurant? There's lots to learn and again, I'm intrigued enough to go further. I can't wait to learn more. And I'll see if I can get him in a bamboo chefs jacket soon...


Found a couple of great articles by way of the Green Restaurant Association:
A Tall Order of Green
Going Out to Eat, but Staying Green


(Disclosure: am I a caterer? No, I'm really not. I was mostly doing this to help my boyfriend. Can you say cheap labor?! But I did work for a catering company during college and have more experience in every facet of that business than I'd care to admit or even clearly remember. I also have done my fair share of event planning throughout my marketing career. And let's face it, I'm a picky biatch. I can plan the details to the nth degree and crank out a beautiful table. I simply love entertaining. With these wonderful chefs around me all the time, I get very tempted to go back that way again.)

to market, to market

I went through an almost euphoric moment of enlightenment when I realized that it's already April! And that means the Farmer's Market is officially opening! But then I thought, wait a tick. It's supposed to snow this weekend and that's just wrong, wrong, wrong. Then I remembered: Farmer's Market doesn't officially kick off their summer season until the first weekend in May. Sigh.

In the meantime, my market is open shorter hours each Saturday morning so it's not as if I'm totally left out in the cold (and snow). I haven't been visiting yet this season - please don't ask me why - but I think I'm going to run down there tomorrow. I'm excited to see what kinds of dairy, cheese (because I'm almost back on the cheese wagon - yay!), chicken, etc they have on hand. I got my April issue of Cooking Light magazine yesterday and was overly jazzed that their content is based in local, seasonal and artisanal wonders. I can't wait to try some of the recipes in the issue, particularly the ones that complimented the feature on a fabulous creamery in Alabana called Belle Chèvre...because this creamery produces my favorite cheese on the planet: goat cheese. I'm in heaven and going for these:

Berry Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing
Grilled Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese Spread in fact, I'm sort of considering bathing in this herby, yogurt-based, goat cheesey goodness. What? Is that wrong?

My food frenzy is hitting a new high these days, which is in turn fueling the continuing work that I've been doing on my career. I haven't found quite the perfect niche to attack, but I'm beginning to think it's time to take my heartfelt love for food on the road. What does that look like? Well, of course it probably looks a lot like my own skills and experiences, only with a new twist. I'm also feeling a bit of puffy chestedness when I realize that some of the PR that's being done in this town (for restaurants that I know well, ahem) is weak. I may not yet have the network or the contacts, but I have a lot of passion for this area of the market and believe that the time is right for us Midwesterners to pay more attention to what's going onto our plates and into our mouths. It's a trend, as you all know, that's blossoming nationwide. Just ask the people at Cooking Light, Bon Appétit, Gourmet and other foodie magazines if you don't believe. Combined with this current green evolution, food is well-positioned to be the poster child for good living in the US.

As much or more than that, I also realize how the absence or availability of nutritious food affects many living creatures in our country, not the least of which are families. There are so many wonderful people out there doing so many incredible things to help put food in the hands of school children, hungry families and even rescued pets. That abundance sharing and pitching in to help others resonates with me to the core. And focusing on food is something that I can incredibly excited about. I want to see how I can help.

So right now I'm thinking about:

• dinner clubs
• farm-to-table food raves
• bake sales
• herbs, herbs and more herbs
• natural and organic dog food
• bringing restauranteurs together
• Cooking Light also has a REALLY COOL thing going on where people are signing up on their bulletin boards to do a bag swap. Essentially, you pick up a resuable shopping tote from a local store and swap with someone in another part of the country with whom you've been paired. Everyone gets a neat new bag and a great story to tell. How fun is that? How many other social food connectedness ideas are out there?

We'll see where this all goes.

boo moo

Last night I was watching an episode of that crazy Food Network show "Will Work For Food" and the host, Adam, turned into a 19th century cook for a day. One of his tasks was to milk the cows and, although not strictly relegated to an 1830's to do list, it's something I've never experienced before. They went on to skim the heavy cream from the milk and - catch this - throw the skimmed milk into the pig's trough. Apparently milk was treated more as a means to a food-related end, and they'd really only use it for the cream and then to make butter. Skim milk wasn't drunk as a beverage and perhaps wasn't even fit for human consumption. Huh.

Like most kids, I grew up on 2% milk. As I got into high school, we started veering towards 1% but my mom couldn't get her head around skim. My girlfriends drank it and peer pressure be damned, 20 years later I'm still drinking skim milk. When I went through my first naturopathic detox (as opposed to court-ordered, that is), cutting out dairy was imperative. I started really enjoying almond milk. I never liked soy milk so having a dairy alternative that I could actually stomach on my corn flakes was a new idea for me. (Note: I have yet to get excited about an ice cold glass of plain almond milk, however.) Since I leanred too much years ago about hormones and antibiotics given to dairy cows, I decided that if I am going to drink milk, I'm going to suck up the $5.39 a gallon and buy organic. Two plus years later, I'm still skipping back and forth between my almond milk and organic skim cow's milk. Which, I think, is where the trouble began.

A handful of times now, I've picked up ultrapasteurized organic milk. I understand the concept: because there isn't so much "stuff" in the milk, they need to take a few extra steps to ensure they don't go around getting their customers sick. Talk about bad PR. But you know how cheese in Europe tastes so much better than cheese here? Other than the accompanying wine and the amazing views? Well, it's because they use unpasteurized milk to start. Heating the be-jeezus out of the milk, while customer-friendly and germ-unfriendly, really takes the heart out of the end product. And this from a girl who only knows pasteurized milk! But it simply doesn't taste very good when it's been cooked til within an inch of its life. And the organic regularly pasteurized keeps going bad in my fridge after about 4 days.

So what's a girl to do? If I buy organic pasteurized, it goes bad faster than I can consume it. Waste of money. If I buy conventional, I'm worried about what I'm ingesting. I might as well go back to almonds; I know what's in those. And if I buy organic ultrapasteurized, it simply tastes terrible. The national brands aren't great; the local brands don't seem to be much better. But milk it good for you! It has lots of great stuff in it! I feel trapped.

"Talk about being a long way from our food," the budding locavore in me sighs deeply. And one can only wonder what milk tasted like back before we started doing all of these crazy things to it. I'm taking this down to the farmer's market and asking some questions. Because I know there must be a better solution that doesn't require me giving up my nutrition, good taste and money...because all of those things are incredibly valuable to me. Maybe there's just some sweet local cow that roams the meadowside, munching on grass, that can help me understand what milk is even supposed to taste like these days. And maybe some smart producer will realize that some people live alone and need a smaller-than-half-gallon option for organic milk. In the meantime, I'll give up the hot cocoas and tall glasses of moo juice with a cookie. I can wait.