Cuisine En Locale

ONCE, and ONCE again

2009-07-01T16:10:00.003-04:00

ONCE in the subcontinents

July 12 seatings from 6-8pm

Local food goes SouthEastAsia at the hands of two very talented chefs, one from S. India, and the other from the North.

We will be seating this one like a restaurant in a lovely dining room outside of Union Sq in Somerville.

Come for the biryani, stay for the kheer!

ONCE again

July 26, 5:30-til at least 9:30, probably later

Endlessly rolling back-yard BBQ in Central Sq. complete with good time live music and indoor/outdoor dining options.

If you were there last year you will remember platters of local greens, trays of local meat and kids with water guns. Weather permitting all three will be back this year, but if it rains I can still vouch for the fine grub.

Please contact me directly about making reservations, and other details. All reservations must include a $35 donation toward the cost of food and production, paid for in advance, by check, paypal or cash tied to the leg of a local carrier pigeon.

You are more than welcome to bring anything you wish to drink other than water and tea (hot or sweet, ONCE depending). Bring extra, make friends.

As always, kids are very welcome, and we suggest planning to bring them to earlier 'seatings'. Oliver and Ruby will most definitely be in attendance.

Please contact me for details- jj@enlocale.com

Check out this no-pectin strawberry raspberry jam recipe with really good canning instructions

2009-06-30T12:16:00.010-04:00

The strawberries and raspberries this year are really showing the signs of the rain we have been inundated with. Fortunately, though they are not terribly sweet, they are still flavorful and there are plenty of them. My knee jerk reaction is to cover them with sure, so I was trolling through recipes and I found this one, which is really basic, and happens to include some excellent canning tips. Thank you so much Gardenopolis!!!

no-pectin strawberry raspberry jam

Milk and other conflicts

2009-06-28T10:25:00.002-04:00

This article was in the Globe today, about how organic dairy farmers are suffering due to the economy:

Vermont farmers struggle as demand sours for organic milk - The Boston Globe

I can't say I'm surprised, but I am sad.
I am afraid that we have not yet come far enough in our national understanding of the horrors being wrecked upon our children's growing bodies by un-tested chemistry and additives to recognize the long term vs. short term costs of what we are consuming.
Personally, I am more concerned for small dairy than organic conglomerate, but the reality is that on a large scale the trendy movement towards organic was a radical improvement over the blind purchasing of milk heavily treated and laden with artificial hormones and unnecesary antibiotics.
Now that local large dairies like Hood and Garelick are pledging to keep those additives out of their products it is easy to see why a belt-tightening consumer would choose those products over an organic one.
I am concerned, and saddened. We will always make three steps forward to fall back two, it is in our nature. So I will continue to beat the local drum- please buy your milk from small farms. Spend a little more to ensure the continuation of practices that are easier on the land, the animals and your body.

The First ever ShiftMob! This Thursday June 25th at Harvest Cooperative Market in Central Sq.

2009-06-23T21:21:00.004-04:00

This is a Cambridge Local First event and is a great new innovation to promote the 10% Shift. Here's the description:

SHIFTMOB- a fun and powerful way to help make and promote the 10% Shift as we build strong local economies and local economic independence.

ShiftMobs are a purchasing parties that ...

• Are fun ways to bring folks together to support a locally-owned business
• Help educate our community to benefit of shopping locally
• Introduce customers to really cool local green businesses and encourage shopping at Local Independents.
•Improve the financial bottom line of a Local Independent by jacking up sales big time in a one-night sustainable shopping spree (only buy what you need or buy for others in need)
•Collect food, clothing, or other items for local nonprofits that support the hungry and the homeless.

Join us on Thursday, June 25th.
Please arrive on the hour at either 5, 6, 7 or 8 PM.
Live music, speakers, fun and shifting the local economy....what else could you ask for?

Learn more at: http://www.shiftmob.org

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz...

2009-06-21T18:32:00.007-04:00

... so what's up with this rain already?

Happy first day of summer

Or is it?
The poor plants are drowning, and dying for sunlight. Might as well be April. Harumph.
I hope the weather starts cooperating soon, or I know I'm going to start getting crabby!

Nevertheless, my Farmer's Market Finds Class at the Cambridge Center for Adult Ed marched bravely off to market this morning, and came back with some yummy deliciousness.
Greens galore, garlic scapes and strawberries, and Stillman's smoked pork chops were enough to make us forget about the nasty weather, if only for a lunchtime.

Here are some snaps to bolster your spirits, too :-)

This is a bowl of red quinoa taboule, made with finely minced young garlic, flat parsley and a vinaigrette

From Busa Farms we got fresh sugar snap peas. They don't seem to be bothered by this rain and are candy sweet. To combine them in this rice dish we cooked the rice completely first, took it off the heat, tossed in the peas and covered it. The result was peas that were warmed through and slightly tenderized, but not overcooked.

Lastly we made three sautes. One of pea tendrils (my fave), chopped and sauteed in a wicked hot pan with garlic and olive oil, and two different 'summer' squashes with chopped scapes. The squash on the left is a heirloom variety from Grateful Farm, called costata romanesco (oh, I hope that's right...)

It was all delicious- damn the rain!

Food Inc. opens in Boston today

2009-06-19T10:02:00.005-04:00

The revolution may not be televised, in this instance, but I'm not complaining about a bigger screen.
Right, fight!

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

There was this story in the Globe about some of my photos the other day

2009-06-12T16:22:00.005-04:00

JJ Gonson dusts off musical memories - The Boston Globe

(that's Perry Farrel with Jane's Addiction in the late '80's)

Parker Farm CSA starts tomorrow

2009-06-09T09:47:00.006-04:00

ATTENTION VEGGIE LOVERS

Parker Farms CSA distribution starts tomorrow, WEDS JUNE 10th in the parking lot behind Quest Diagnostics on Bishop Allen Drive, at the corner of Colombia, in Central Sq. (Approx. 40 Bishop Allen)

See you there- don't forget your re-usable bags!
xo JJ

What do this photo and Target have in common?

2009-05-24T18:29:00.004-04:00

Give up?

NO STRING!

Yup, you got it. There is no string of any description for sale at the Target in Somerville that I went to looking for it.

No packing string. No cooking twine. No string in fishing, or camping.
No string in "arts and crafts" (plenty of heavily branded crayola products, but no plain string).
No string in the dollar spot (though someone who worked there said she was sure that they had it once).

No string at all. Not even for ready money.

What does this mean?
Well, I think it means that Target shoppers have gotten so used to having everything made for them already, finished and packaged, that Target doesn't get much call for that sort of thing.

I spent 7 years studying to be an art teacher only to graduate just as bills like measure 5 wiped out art education in much of the US public school systems (1990). Almost 20 years on, we haven't really recovered from the impact of those decisions on nearly two generations of students' appreciation for the arts. Personally, I find Target's shrinking inventory of do it yourself supplies horrifying, but not surprising. We pretty much asked for this.

Ultimately we did find string. We found it at the art supply store, the cooking store and the hardware store. And the spiderweb for my son's birthday party was a beautiful thing, handmade and fun, fun, fun.

This is an open letter:
Dear Target,
for your encouragement of a nationally increasing lack in creativity - shame on you!
And I would very much appreciate it if you would please get some string.
Thanks, JJ

Time to check the safety of your sunblock!

2009-05-23T10:12:00.004-04:00

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php

You are most cordially invited!

2009-05-23T10:05:00.001-04:00

More proof. As if we needed more?

2009-05-22T07:45:00.003-04:00

Harvard study backs bottle concern

Says plastic used leaches bisphenol A

By Beth Daley Globe Staff / May 22, 2009

A Harvard study released yesterday supports what many public health specialists have long assumed: Hard plastic drinking bottles containing bisphenol A are leaching notable amounts of the controversial chemical into people's bodies.

Read the whole story here: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2009/05/22/harvard_study_backs_bottle_concern/

HONK needs you!

2009-05-17T21:22:00.002-04:00

Find out how you can get involved to help HONK! happen again, at our community meeting Thursday, May 28th, 7:00 to 8:30 PM. We've reserved the West Branch Library in Davis Square (40 College Ave.) for the evening, and are hoping you can join us.

HONK! is a community-driven enterprise, and that means we need your help. The local love and support of our festival continues to grow, and we're certain that with your help, this year's festival will be the best Davis Square has seen.

We need folks who are available before and during the festival to:
- promote the weekend's events
- make sure bands get where they're going
- house musicians
- feed, transport, wrangle, inform, collect donations and so much more!

The festival returns to Davis Square this October 9-11th, and as always, find us at www.honkfest.org for information and updates.

Hope to see you May 28th!

Peace and loud to you all.

Dave
on behalf of the HONK! Committee:
John, Trudi, Ken, Bob, Reebee, Rob, Harris, Susie, Kevin, Maury, Dave, Michael, Lydia and Rand

Economies of Scale?

2009-05-14T17:14:00.012-04:00

Today I had a lively chat with my sister about our mutual, possibly crazy, beliefs that if you buy better food, that is higher in food value, and use all of it, that you will actually spend less money on food.

She and I agreed that this is especially true because to do it you must move away from eating out, which is very expensive, especially when you consider that the nutritional value of your meal is most likely not as great as if you make your own food, fresh as needed.

She said that when she hears talk shows about economizing on food and other necessities that frequently the suggestion is to buy in bulk, which brought up nicely a thing that rather bothers me, actually bothers me a lot, about those big, bulk stores, and the societal worship of them that we are experiencing in this country.

Here it is:
if you are trying to save money, why do you live somewhere large enough to store 50 rolls of toilet paper, many times over? This is an oxymoron that has bothered me for quite some time. And you know, when I'm bothered I am not quiet about it. I have a suspicion that the access to huge quantities of stuff isn't necessarily making for a healthier, tidier, nor a less impoverished nation.

Naturally, in some cases it absolutely makes sense to buy in quantity.

When Costco opened it was a buying club for restaurants and other food service industries. Organizations who do need to buy things by the case, as they use them at such a scale.

I guess, if you are the mother of 8 kids who are all at home, and you have the space, you might want to buy several dozen rolls of toilet paper at a time, however, I'm going to make the rather bold statement that I, personally, think that buying in bulk is,
well,
a waste.

Firstly, there is the eco-snob in me who wants to point out that when you buy toilet paper in bulk it is just a lot of little packages inside one or more bigger packages, which means you are creating more packaging. Yes, this is the battle cry of the bleeding heart liberal, nothing new.

But there is another thing; I honestly believe that it is not really more expensive to buy toilet paper as you need it.

You don't really have to schlep out to whatever place that big bulk store is located in. Rather, you can go to your closest marketing option (if it is a buying club you live next door to I absolve you, I guess) and get just what you need.

In my philosophy, the pros of the shop as needed method are:

1) you don't waste time and petrol.

2) you don't have to store a lot of stuff that you might very well forget you even have and never use in an economical way anyway

and

3) (and this is where it gets abstract) you don't buy a load of low-quality crap you didn't really need.

Yes, that's right, I'm calling you out, America.
Sure, you might be one of those rare folks who makes a list and sticks with it, but if you have the space, and the quantity attitude already installed in your life, you are very likely one of those folks who does feel that bigger is better, and that you cannot pass up that 5 gallon tub of popcorn because it is ONLY $5, and when you saw it at Star Market it was $9. I mean, that's a saving of $4. Almost %50!

That, my friend, is a deal- and you want it... but you don't need it, and in my experience when people go to those places they always end up with a few things they don't need. A six pack of sweat pants. Bible stories through the ages on cassette with read along book. 25lbs of frozen tiger shrimp. Whatever it is, you most likely would not have bought it at the local market- somehow having driven that extra way, having made the pilgrimage to the land of cheap stuff, makes it an extra special opportunity. But when you look at the total bill, the fact that you bought that item pretty much outweighs the .07 a roll you might have saved on toilet paper.

My husband is a Brit. He grew up in a place where, space is tight and houses are small and he is firmly dedicated to the idea that less is more.

He has been here for over ten years and is still horrified by the conspicuous consumption around him every day. I've learned a lot from him.

We live in a rather small and storage free apartment, and we buy our toilet paper four rolls at a time, about once a week. You know what? Whether you buy it four or 50 rolls at a time it is going to run out eventually, and you are going to buy it again, so why not save the money and spread it around, or even put it away for now, and get toilet paper when you need it. Come on. It's not like you won't be going to a market again until you go through that mega pack of TP.

Easy for me to say? Why, yes. I live in a city. I have access to stores, and markets all the time. But like everyone I am on a budget and I need to watch what I spend, and I feel better knowing that when I go to the local market to buy toilet paper I am not going to come back with a cardboard townhouse for stuffed toys and a remote controlled gas grille.

My cost saving suggestions for a leaner time are taken directly from our fearless food leader, Mr. Pollen himself:
Eat food (not junk).
Not too much (if you are eating real food you don't need as much- fewer fillers, more nutrients).
Mostly vegetables (meat is expensive and we do not need to eat nearly so much of it as we have been raised to believe. A serving should be the size of a deck of cards- the size of your palm- six oz, or less.)

To give an example of the use-it-all, save-a-bit theory: when you peel onions and carrots while you cook you can save the part you would throw away in a ziplock bag in the freezer so that when you cook a chicken you do not need to buy extra veggies to make stock with the bones.

Honestly, if I had the space to purchase by the case I would use it to put in a spare freezer to put up seasonal produce and buy a whole side of a cow. Now that is economy!

But I don't have the space, and I'm guessing most people who are trying to save in small ways don't have extra space either. I believe we can change our wasteful ways, and we can all save by buying less, and using more.

I leave you to ponder along with me.

Use everything you can,
throw away as little as possible,
and try, if you can, to resist the sale in aisle 24.

The Roasting of the Meef

2009-05-10T19:29:00.002-04:00

Yesterday morning Aiden delivered a 14.5 pound local, grass fed, beef roast to me.

That is one big piece of meat my friends.

Like the size of a two month old!

It was a rather sharp realization, when I hefted the thing, that I had no idea how long it would take to cook it, so I started to Google, as one does.

And this is what I found:

There is a school of beef roasting (for roast beef, that is) that involves very high heat for a very short time, followed by the balance of exactly an hour at 350.

I found recipe after recipe reconfirming this, and even references to it working for large cuts, but in every recipe it called for a relatively tiny roast- a mere 5 lbs or so.

Still, I decided to try it because you can always cook it more, and we would have plenty to eat even if only the outermost poundage was to temp. Not to mention that the alternative seemed to be a good seven hours, which I did not have.

I took the slapper out two hours before cooking it to bring it to room temp, or at least on the room temp side of cold. I rubbed it all over with salt and fresh ground pepper and poked slits in it for what seemed like hundreds of garlic slivers. No string, as I didn't want anything to burn, and I shoved the garlic in well under the fat. No veg yet either, for the same reason.

I preheated the oven to 500 whopping degrees for a good long time, hailed Mary, and popped the monster in the oven (in a really big roasting pan, natch.)

Every recipe I had read said to roast at 500 from between 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of the roast, then to reduce the temp. As this guy was SO very big I went for 18 min at 500, then I lowered the heat, added the veggies around the roast, and closed the door.

42 minutes later I took it out and stuck a thermometer in it only to feel even less sure about it all. With a sigh and a prayer I put the meat in pan on the counter, wrapped up in foil to rest. (The veg I put in a little bit longer- oh the irony!)

Sitting is the key to roasting. This I know from the scads of relatively mini-meefs I have handled in the past. If you don't let a roast sit to redistribute its juices you will lose them all when you cut it and it will be dry. It also keeps cooking, sometimes by several degrees, and after what my thermometer had told me, I was counting on it.

So, what is the punch-line?

Half an hour later it was PERFECT.

Seriously, perfect.

I was so very doubtful and I was wrong! Gloriously wrong!

I can't wait to try this technique with a four pounder and see if it works as well.

I never would have thunk it, but this crazy method works, it's easy and the roast, well, I am sure I don't need to tell you how yummy it was- thanks Stillman!

I will never again be daunted by a huge hunk o'beef, that's fer sure!

Now I have a whole other problem-

what do I do with all this leftover meef!?!

Meet meat the last, market the first!

2009-05-05T08:29:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone, I am so excited, so I had to write immediately-

I just got off the phone with Aiden, from Stillman's and we are planning the last meat meet of the non-market season for Saturday the 16th at 3:30.

Seems pretty normal right? So, why am I so excited?

Because the last meat meet means the farmers' markets are opening very soon!

We did it everyone!
We survived another New England winter without starving and now we are going to be rewarded! Hooray!!!

Granted, the rewards start off kind of slow, but the first things are oh, so special.
Personally, I can't wait to get my paws on those ramps and scapes.
Oh.... I am salivating just thinking of them!

So, please come to meet the meat, and me and Aiden, to celebrate survival, just generally hang out, and of course shop for the best meat around.

Saturday, May 16, 3:30- 4:30, somewhere near the Harvest Cooperative, in the parking lot on Bishop Allen Drive in Central Sq, Cambridge.

Comment below if you want to request anything, or just show up

We will do a little happy farmer's markets are opening dance together.
I can't wait to see you there, and to see you at the markets after that!
Happy spring y'all!
JJ

The Future of Food: Transatlantic Perspectives

2009-04-22T16:21:00.003-04:00

This upcoming mini-conference at BU looks pretty cool

I would go to any part I could, but I the thing that really catches my eye is that they are screening King Corn, a film I have yet to see and think it completely AWESOME

If you go post about it, eh?
Check it out:

The Future of Food: Transatlantic Perspectives May 8-9, 2009

We are organizing these events in response to the growing concerns of local communities in the United States and Europe over matters of health, the environment, and the economy. The conference takes the growing global food crisis as a starting point and asks key stakeholders to imagine a different future. Our working hypothesis is that the current food crisis is systemic in nature and solutions from the past (more market, more regulation, etc.) will not allow the global food system to evolve in a sustainable way. The situation calls for innovations in infrastructure and re-thinking how food is grown, shipped, and distributed locally, regionally, and globally. How can we foster a global food system that safeguards cultural and biodiversity while providing safe and nourishing food for all citizens?

Cultures, historically, have possessed deeply rooted traditions around food; the industrialization of agriculture and the globalization of the food chain disrupt traditions, obscuring the relationship between humans and their environment. As Eric Schlosser, author of the popular American book Fast Food Nation, points out, there has been more change in the way we eat in the last 30 years than in the previous 30,000. Our conference explores the consequences of this sweeping transformation on both sides of the Atlantic, with particular attention to its implications for culture. Is there a relationship, as the American poet Wendell Berry suggests, between the modernization of agriculture and the degradation of culture? Does the erosion of biodiversity, for example, pose a threat to cultural diversity?

The panels are not intended to be exhaustive, but to introduce people to some key issues and to encourage them to think more consciously about the food they buy and eat. Food choices are increasingly ethical and political choices. Deciding what to eat is therefore one way in which citizens, at least in most of Europe and the United States, can “vote with their forks."

MORE

MEAT MEET April 25, 3:30 pm

2009-04-20T22:38:00.004-04:00

OK, let's see what I can forget to put into the post today...

What's a Meat Meet?- Aiden, from Stillman at the Turkey Farm, and/or other qualified meat farmers will be coming, from the farm, with a truck full of local, grass fed meat, frozen and ready for you to buy, direct from them. Added hormone, antibiotic and middleman free

What do they have?- Look at their lists on their website. Usually they have pork, lamb and beef, sometimes chicken and the most wonderful eggs.

What do you do?-
1st. Post in comments below anything you desire. If they have it they will bring it. If they don't they won't but they will have other stuff.
2nd. Show up around the public parking lot on Bishop Allen Drive, in Central Sq, behind the Blockbuster, and the Harvest Coop, on Saturday at 3:30 and buy meat from the truck. They will park wherever they can- look for a big white truck with a lot of people standing around it.

How do you pay?- There is a mobile credit card machine that you may remember from visiting Stillman's at the farmer's markets. Cash is also accepted, natch.

Anymore questions?- Post in comments below, we are keeping an eye on them and we promise to get back to you!

... but I hope I at least hit the major Meat Meet points. See you there?

Important enough to share!

2009-04-16T09:18:00.002-04:00

The shocking thing is the reveal in the first line that this is being done for the FIRST TIME

How is that even possible????
Sigh

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041501960.html?referrer=emailarticle

Meeting in the rain, just meeting in the rain....

2009-04-13T08:26:00.010-04:00

Talk about neither snow, nor hail, nor gloom of night!

Die-hard local meat fans aren't gonna let a little drizzle get in the way of their Easter purchasing, no way!

Aiden wants to know, does anyone need little baby food plants? He can bring them next time! Just post a comment or drop me a line and let us know. And stay tuned for the next location and time for your friendly neighborhood meat meet!

Go Jenni, Go!

2009-04-13T08:12:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we did a five course "French" (in my crazy interpretation, of course. I do hope my French friends would approve!) dinner for the Cambridge Center for Adult Ed.

Somehow, I have had the good luck to have stumbled across a young pastry chef who is just finishing the pastry program at CCAI, and she made absolute magic for the dessert course.

But I really cannot do her beautiful work justice, so I'm going to let her tell you herself!

Heeeeeeeeeeere's Jenni:

http://allthingsjenni.blogspot.com/2009/04/validation.html

Minds do Matter!

2009-04-12T11:53:00.019-04:00

This post is fondly dedicated to Carol, who asked what I have been up to lately :-)

Cuisine en Locale is a lot of things to a lot of people, but we rarely take on really huge events.

The largest full scale dinner we have served was to 200 and change. It took a week for a lot of volunteers and team members to prepare and was an absolute success that left us all happy, if completely exhausted.

Still, when I was contacted by the Boston chapter of Minds Matter to provide canapes for their spring soiree I wasn't too worried. They were looking for light finger foods and desserts for 200. No probs.! we can do a multi course dinner for that number, the little bites shouldn't be of concern. Right?

(That said, people do tend to underestimate how much time goes into those little bites. It takes us just as long, costing just as much in food and labour, to bust out a small round of profiteroles as it does to prepare a pot of braised short ribs for 20)

So, I researched the organization a bit, and decided that they were a really awesome one. They provide mentorship and support to kids who are showing aptitude, but for a variety of reasons, often family based, cannot find their way through the US system to grow their talents. Minds Matter helps them to get into programs, like SAT training, and even pays for it!

This is my kind of program, folks.
Suffice to say that I was honored and thrilled to be asked to assist with their fund raising event.
So we signed on.
We started to plan and they started to promote.

And that's when a little magic happened, and the tickets started to sell, sell, sell....

I won't go into the day by day growth chart, but when we loaded into the space (the really fantastic Artists for Humanity Epi-center in South Boston- please click and check it out) we were prepping for 500!

Yes, that's right, 500.

I'm not easily shaken, but 500 is a lot of people to feed, for anyone. Even the big guys quake a little bit when you get into those numbers...

But not Cuisine en Locale, oh no!
We all tightened our braces and off we went!

And now, let's talk about volunteers.

We do a lot of events for non-profits, though usually not at this volume, and I have learned over the years that it is key to identify your volunteers before you are in the weeds. The people who donated their time and energies for this event were some of the best we have had the honor of working with. A tribute to the quality of people involved with Minds Matter, I think. These were some hot tickets, and we appreciated every second they gave. Thanks guys- you know who you are!

At this time I can hear Carol thinking, so, what did you serve?
Well, let me tell you!

We started with our own hummus, made with organic chick peas, garlic, a lot of lemon and cumin, and topped with sumac. Served with a round of local spring carrots and lavash and pita bread.

We followed with a full spread of delicate canapes (that's Mariano from Minds Matter checking out our progress in the great fridges at the Epi-center):

• Savory profiteroles (tiny little cream puffs, light, buttery and perfect for popping in the mouth) filled with either local goat cheese and fig preserves, or Korozott- a pungent Hungarian spread with anchovies, capers and paprika. This is a recipe I remember my mom serving at parties when I was a kid, and it's still always a hit.

• Puff pastry pinwheels, stuffed with local spinach we froze in season and seasoned with sage and Gruyere cheese
and

• Kabobs of local spring lamb, marinated for two days in honey, cumin and vinegar, grilled and skewered with a cube of local spring cucumber- served with our renowned local yogurt sauce, with cilantro and mint, for dipping.

Our final presentation was plates of Mexican chocolate shortbread and chips namaste- the Cuisine en Locale adaptation of the chocolate cookie- flavored with cardemom, coconut and pecans and so very, very yummy!
At that time we also laid out a spread of local cheese boards, with Vermont Brie, Cabot cheddar and Great Hill Blue cheese, served with vanilla jelly, our own candied walnuts and a big old pile of local apples.

Whew!

As ever, I did my best to snap some shots, but I failed to take any of the event itself. Fortunately, there were others who were on the job, and if you fancy another view of this wonderful event, with lots of photos of those who attended, you can find them in the Finance Foodie's recap here: Check it out!

Good luck Minds Matter, and thanks again volunteers- I hope we can do it again next year!

Spring in Paris?

2009-04-06T08:17:00.005-04:00

Attention,
last minute announcement!

I am cooking a dinner for the Cambridge Center course called "Spring in Paris"
this Friday, April 10th.

There will be great food- including really yummy French pastry!!!!

Check it out:
http://www.ccae.org/catalog/courses/course_details.php?id=538290

A bientôt!
xo J

Rancher Arie McFarlen on SF Ark of Taste and Heritage Breed Preservation

2009-04-04T09:22:00.002-04:00

Rancher Arie McFarlen on SF Ark of Taste and Heritage Breed Preservation
Location: Haley House Cafe
Cost: Free
When: Sunday, 04/05/2009 11:00AM
Details:
Arie McFarlen, of Maveric Heritage Ranch in South Dakota, will be in Boston for the Cochon 555 event and has agreed to give us a few hours of her time on Sunday morning, April 5th. Arie is a tremendous speaker, and has presented at various conferences & events on the subject of heritage breeds and Slow Food Ark of Taste, including Slow Food Nation in San Francisco last fall. She has dedicated her time & energy to “…promoting the preservation of endangered livestock breeds through conservation, breeding, production and marketing.”

Her mission took on a much stronger meaning when, last fall, a devastating fire destroyed the 100-year-old barn on their ranch as well as the animals within; Arie’s stallion, several Mulefoot sows & their piglets, a rare Wessex Saddleback boar, a guinea hog boar and even all of her cats!

A letter Arie wrote to supporters after the disaster described the fire and the importance of her work impeccably:

“All of our feed, our tools, watering troughs & feeders, buckets, piglet pens, fencing supplies, power cords, winter heaters, saddles & horse gear, construction materials for our new barn and so much more were completely destroyed. We cannot replace our rare breed pigs. They simply do not exist. Our work for nearly ten years has been to preserve and save these breeds of pigs. We cannot begin to express our sense of loss over these animals, not just from our lives, but from all future generations. This tragedy has made it even more clear to us that these rare breeds are in a very precarious situation. At any moment, a disaster, accident or disease could take yet another species from this planet.”

After the fire, Arie established the Endangered Hog Foundation and is now taking any opportunity she can to travel & spread the word. Along with Haley House Café, we are excited for the opportunity to learn even more about the importance of the preservation of our food history. Join us at this free event: we will gather in a casual environment for coffee, tea & pastries as we hear Arie's story. In exchange we ask that you consider giving a donation to the Endangered Hog Foundation so that Arie can continue to do her great work!

Directions:
Haley House Cafe is located at 12 Dade Street (immediately off Washington Street) in Roxbury. Directions can be found on their website.

Meat Meet - Saturday March 28 AND April 11!

2009-03-25T07:22:00.008-04:00

Oh boy, oh boy, it's a Meat Meet again, and this time you get to choose your best day... or come to both if you like!

This Saturday, March 28, from 3:30-4:30 pm, your favorite meat wagon is rolling into the lot next to the Harvest Co-op (that's in the big public parking lot- the same one the farmer's market is in during the season) in Central Square, Cambridge with meat for you

and

Then again on April 11, the meat kids will be back again in case this Saturday doesn't work so well, or maybe you just need more, more, more!

In case you don't already know the drill, please comment below, and post what you might want from the things Stillman at the Turkey Farm have to offer, and which day you might come by.

They will be bringing all that and way more, so if you don't get to posting don't worry, it's just you take a risk that they might have run out of pork butt or lamb chops before you get there... you take your chances, that is all I'm sayin'...

I really think I can make it this week, which is awesome, because the last time I dug through meat in Aiden's truck it was in a snow storm, and I'm a'hankerin for some of that good food!

Happy spring my friends- the tiny plants are growing in the greenhouses- see you at the meat truck!

xoxo JJ