Chick starter

April 10, 2010 – 6:42 pm

There is a box in our living room filled with little silver velociraptors! JK. We wish. We got some baby chicks to be our friends and eat cool bugs and scraps and turn it into golden compost and blue eggs.

Right now they mostly just chrip, chirp, chirp and poop in their water and sleep beak-down like real yogis. Margot thinks they are weird.

We mixed our own chick starter food for the babes because it will make for tastier eggs and healthier chickens. But mostly because it is a huge hassle to go get the food. No store in town sells any and the store bought stuff is sold in tiny bags (and is mostly soy and corn, etc.). 

A quick search on good old google dot com and we were on our way to mixing up a nice batch of eats for those nerds.

Here’s the list/recipe:

2 x Corn
3 – 4 x Wheat
1 x Barley
1 x Oat groats
1 x Shelled sunflower seeds
1⁄2 x Lentils
1⁄2 x Split peas
1 x Millet
1⁄4 x Flax
1⁄2 x Seaweed

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New Fruits

March 26, 2010 – 2:38 pm

We went to Kauai! One of the major highlights was going to the farmer’s market and getting to meet new fruits. Along with the expected pineapples, papayas, passion fruits, lychees, and coconuts, we tasted:

1. Guavas – SO DELICIOUS! Tart and seedy and grainy like a pear. Matthew’s favorite for sure.

2. Cinnamon kiwis – Looks like the familiar kiwi without fur, but the flavor is surprisingly reminiscent of yeasty bread.

3. Egg fruit – I was the only one who had more than a bite of this one. The texture is spot on to a hard egg yoke. Very dry. Sweet and custardy. Would make a great sub for pumpkin in a pie or curry. 

4. Mountain apples – tastes like a ripe yellow plum or pluot, shaped like a tiny oblong apple with thin red skin and white flesh. 

5. Cream apples – look a these guys! We were super bummed out that we only got two of these at the market. The flavor is hard to explain, simple and not too sweet. Very pleasant. So much going on with the texture!

By Laura | Posted in Eats | Comments (1)

Exploring

May 15, 2009 – 4:05 pm

With a baguette and coffee in hand, we drove around the perimeter of Fidalgo Island.

crabs

Stopped near a private beach to skip stones and touch oceanic travelers.

Turns out I need some practice with the skipping.

ocean

By Laura | Posted in Streets | Comments (3)

Cultured Butter

April 16, 2009 – 5:21 pm

When I was in my sophomore year of college I spent a semester on a experiential learning term in LA — taking classes, interning, and living with a family from a different cultural background. It’s where I met most of my favorite people. For our urban religious movements class, I chose to do my research project on Judaism mostly because of this book: Traditions in a Rootless World: Women Turn to Orthodox Judaism.

In her book, Lynn Davidman explores the resurgence of Orthodox Judaism among modern American women through the experiences of two distinctly different groups of single Jewish American women as they return to their secular roots at a contemporary Orthodox synagogue (Lincoln Square) in New York City and a Lubovitch Hasidic community (Bais Chana) in St. Paul, Minnesota. The book is comparative throughout and seeks to communicate to a lay audience why traditional religious forms are attractive to contemporary women who have come of age since feminism.

You could, and I will, say that the slow food movement is a parallel battle/journey. From the compost of customs a new plant will rise. Again and again, from structure to unstructured, unstructured into new form. Each phoenix, with it’s own virtues, meets it’s end and is reborn. The post-feminism orthodoxy is new and unable to exist outside of it’s own context; the slow food movement is similarly marked and born from history.

With each ancient practice relearned, we inevitably encounter. The intersection of time and movement is a strange place.

If not for the health benefits, the environment, the farmers, or the pure ecstasy of taste… make things to encounter. You will be better for it.

There is magic in welcoming outsiders and integrating ourselves into the community of The Other, no? Perhaps this is the heart of my attraction to culturing foods. And so, with each opportunity, we welcome microorganisms and are thus transformed by/through our collaboration. Food becomes easier to digest and convert to energy, we become stronger and more resilient — our palates are rewarded by the wonder of tang and earth. We are better for being open.

Looking for water, we sink out roots deeper. We remember that feelings of rootlessness are a vehicle and not a place.

I think it was back in September when we made out first batch and we have never looked back. Store bought butter tastes like nothing and earth balance, while deliciously nutty, just does not compare – where even are all of those ingredients sourced from? when were they harvested? how much energy has gone into producing it? Anyways…

So here’s the drill:

1. Get yourself the best quality cream you can. We usually get 2 bottles/cartons of these little dudes.

cream

Read More »

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Pineapple Vinegar

April 14, 2009 – 11:18 am

img_2798

The idle (cough, laid off) mind is the devil’s workshop, and this devil is into fermentation.

Aching for summer, we folded and bought a pineapple last week. It was the sample, they get us every time with those cubes of fruits and cheese.

Cool thing I remembered to do with the peel: stick it in a jar, cover it with some sugar + water, wait 3 weeks, and then BAM! you’ve got some fancy vinegar.

This is a first for me. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Vinagra de Piña

(from Wild Fermentation)

Timeframe: 3 – 4 weeks

Ingredients (for 1 quart/1 liter):

1/4 cup sugar

Peel of 1 pineapple

Water

Process:

1. Dissolve sugar in 1 quart water. Chop and add pineapple peel. Cover with cheesecloth to keep flies out, and leave to ferment at room temp.

2. When you notice the liquid darkening, after about a week, strain out the pineapple peels and discard.

3. Ferment the liquid 2 – 3 weeks more, stirring periodically, and your pineapple vinegar is ready.

P.S. You can do this with ANY fruit scraps! Should you try it, report back with your discoveries.

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Where have all the textures gone?

March 16, 2009 – 12:15 pm

We used to think that the “Southern Blend” greens mix from Trader Joe’s was pretty good…

It’s not.

img_2621

After months without a taste of store-bought greens, let alone BAGGED produce, we did not know what we were in for: my god, we had no idea.

After our 10 day song and dance vacay up in the great northwest we were tired and in need of some serious restoration. Oh, who am I kidding. After the first few days M’s input into the meal discussions consisted of “soup and salad” accompanied by a faint and wistful, “I just want what we have at home.” It was awkward. Our companions’ blank stares were no doubt filled with memories of the french fry enthusiast of yore.

Anyways, we got back on Sunday afternoon, thereby missing our regular farmer’s market. After long deliberation, we had decided not to order the CSA box to be picked up at another location so that we could keep on schedule and not waste food (you’ve seen the pictures, that’s a lot of produce for two people to finish in 7 days, let alone 4). We opted to suck it up and shop at the store this week.

DUDE.

No wonder people aren’t as obsessed with greens as we are!?! Tasteless! Limp! A sham! It was a true disgrace to the glory of the mustard and collard. And who could blame them? After being trapped and shipped, those poor little dudes were – just like our post-travel plane and bus ride selves – no more than a hologram. (Don’t even get me started on the apples, but that was no shocker.)

It was a rough week, at least the greens part. All I can say is, thank heaven for soup: the ever humble and always noble dish.

I would like to add that the unbagged produce from a supermarket, as glistening and crisp as it may be, bares no mark to the freshness of farmer’s market jewels either. Time is everything, no?

Not everyone has the luxury of a year-round csa or farmer’s markets. But maybe you have access to farm stands or a small area to grow things (windowsill, container, yard, roof, abandoned pubic area) or areas to forage.

DO IT FOR THE TASTE MY FRIENDS. Do it for the mustard green, it deserves to be remembered for it’s true spice and vigor. Therein lies the happiness and life that you are incorporating it into your self for, don’t waste your chews.

By Laura | Posted in Eats | Comments (1)

Saturday mornings are for…

February 7, 2009 – 7:48 pm

tenderness

  1. Special treats
  2. Sleeping in
  3. No shirts/pants
  4. Another round (of coffee)
  5. Writing
  6. Catching up
  7. Baking if you want to
  8. Walking before breakfast
  9. Weekend America (RIP)
  10. Not feeling guilty
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MIY Tooth Powder

December 9, 2008 – 3:02 pm

I am a firm believer that most things are better for you if you make them yourself. I like knowing every ingredient and it’s function within the product, how it will effect my body… things like that. I am also a sucker for quirks. Unusual tastes or general cringe-factors? NBD. In fact, most of the time I will prefer said product to it’s far less endearing counterpart.

M is not as easily wooed. I have a feeling some of you are the same way.

So, what’s wrong with regular toothpaste?

1. Apparently store bought toothpastes block your enamel from recoating itself while you sleep at night (which might explain my sensitive teeth). What about organic ones? Glycerine is in all tooth pastes and is so sticky that it takes 27 washes to get it off. Teeth brushed with any tooth paste are coated with a film and cannot properly re-enamelize.

2. If you are using a flouride-free toothpaste without SLS and other yucky ingredients, you are likely paying a lot for toothpaste. (If you don’t understand why someone would want toothpaste without flouride, then you may want to check into it. When I found out that Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria, France and The Netherlands have banned fluoride, I figured it was something worth looking into. Here are a few articles to get you started: Weston A. Price Foundation articles and Dr. Mercola’s site .)

3. You didn’t make it!

The best part of about Make It Yourself Tooth Powder is customization through experimentation. Here is a basic recipe with a few suggestions for modifications. Got any other ideas or a fun story? Please share.

MIY Tooth Powder
1/4 cup Baking Soda*

1 tsp Salt (we use Himalayan pink salt)

2 – 20 drops essential oil (experiment!)

optional: coconut oil for creamy consistency, myrrh powder for superpowers, ground lemon peel for flava, hydrogen peroxide to kill the bacteria, stevia for sweetness

Now all you have to do is wet your brush and dip it in your concoction, brush, and then feel like you just had a professional cleaning. Easy enough, yeah? If you’re not into dipping, try using a scooping device to brace and smear your creation.

While baking soda cleans teeth and removes stains without damaging tooth enamel, salt helps draw out agents that contribute to decay, lessen the reactions of sensitive teeth from hot or cold, and curb gum bleeding. Baking Soda also acts as an anti fungal agent and neutralizes plaque acids.

Yes! We can now check off number 3 of our ten things.

*Other cool uses for baking soda

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South Central Farmers

December 8, 2008 – 6:36 pm


Image from Wikipedia

We’re easily excited. There’s just no hiding it. So, you can imagine that we are quite a site to see as we race up to the CSA booth all sweaty and smitten, stuffin’ our bags like bandits behind the tents at the crowded Hollywood Farmer’s Market all giggly about ALL THE GREENS!!! Hey, it’s our deal. It has changed us. It tells us what we will eat for the week (fun!) and it keeps us in touch with the earth around us.

The South Central Farm was originally created from the ashes of the L.A. riots in 1992. It was the largest urban farm in the United States until its destruction in 2006. The farmers struggle exposed the fault lines in American society, raising crucial and challenging questions about liberty, equality, and justice for the poorest and most vulnerable. The farm is now located in Bakersfield. Currently there is development of a Forever 21 warehouse and distribution center on the original plot.

Although we would love to grow our own food, supporting urban farmers feels as close as we can get.

If you live in the Los Angeles area, you should order the CSA.

By Laura | Posted in Eats | Tagged , | Comments (3)