Last few days in the big house..

Pardon me while I ramble for a moment, I haven't quite organized my thoughts yet but I'm pushing myself to update this blog before I get out of the mode again. So, a mishmash will ensue.

My initial thoughts about living in Casablanca?

Val and I are not homeowners.

It's not that we don't want to be, in that grand "someday" way, but when it comes down to it, we aren't really house people. Sure, this 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom, yard, sandbox, garage villa has been a nice place to campout. It's been fun chasing the cats up the big marble staircase. But really, it's a golden birdcage.

I like a small space. I like to have just what I need and some potted plants. I need my freedom to walk and explore. So, we move downtown tomorrow. Where will I keep my goats? Well, when I am ready to have my goats, I'll want that big yard, I'll be ready then. Someday.

Living small doesn't mean I like a small kitchen. Having this giant kitchen to play in makes me miss my small appliances and my cookbooks that are all awaiting me back in New York. All those recipes I never could try in the summer because turning on the oven in a tiny New York apartment when the temperature is over 80 only leads to grumpy, sweaty people. I wish I had my ice cream maker! I am dying to see if you can make Leben into a buttermilk ice cream... I love the Smitten Kitchen's write-up of this amazing buttermilk recipe - try it, it is to die for.

So, over the last few weeks in the big house I've made my own perogies, using a recipe similar to this one. It's a good and easy recipe, but unfortunately it does not use a potato dough. The perogies were delicious enough to let that slide.

Cooking Moroccan?
I've made my first attempt at a Moroccan tagine (I even used a preserved lemon!). However, I've also made some bad substitution choices: philo dough pizza (no, it was not delicious nor intentional) and separated pita halves used as tortillas come to mind. It's always an adventure.

Now, with all this domesticity I'm starting to get antsy.

There are adventures on the horizon. I'll tell you about marrakesh next time.

Maybe it's time...

To start writing again.

It's been a long time since I updated this blog, sadly. Over a year has passed, a few CSA seasons, a few new adventures, a few continents. It may be time to chronicle some of these events so that we may look back on them, jog our memories in the years to come, and so that we can share them with the people we love.

Hmm. Yeah, I think it probably is.

I guess this will be my first dispatch from Casablanca.

Welcome back to CSA Season!

Welcome to the Summer 2010 CSA edition of Unplugging Desdemona. Yes, I did a winter CSA and there were some great food experiences that came out of that, but I wasn't in a writing mood. Next year I'll extol the joys of a winter of farm-fresh root vegetables, preserved goods, eggs, meats, milks, etc.. I worked on cheeses, ice creams, and as many ways as I could think of to prepare beets and cabbage.

New York is an amazing city for people who want to live in the center of it all, yet remain connected to agriculture. Sure, I have one sad rosemary struggling on my window sill, but I can support a myriad of local farmers through the many Greenmarkets, volunteering, CSAs, and by making my purchasing decisions support the small stores that stock responsibly. Red Jacket orchards is working to get fresh fruits and juices into bodegas in Bed-Stuy--I have to shoutout to "Not Eating Out In New York" for this one. I did hear from the Department of Health in Bed-Stuy about this one but I hadn't gotten the details. I'm glad that the word is getting out there. Just know that there is a kickstarter campaign to fund this initiative that is very, very far from reaching its goals.

If you would like to read more about the food system and health situation in Bed-Stuy to get you thinking about why it's important to support valuable programs like the Healthy Bodegas initiative, check out my work with City Harvest--Bed-Stuy Community Food Assessment. None of this work can be done without your support.

OK, now onto the CSA!

I'd like to give some love to Culinate who put out a recipe for buttermilk ice cream a few months ago. I was able to grab some buttermilk from the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturday and some organic lemons and limes from whole foods (I'm looking for a local option, but the citrus is just so good). I doctored up the recipe with a little fresh mint from my CSA to give it just a little hint to compliment to lime and lemon zest. If the idea of a dessert creamier than lemon ice but lighter than ice cream appeals to you, this buttermilk sherbet will knock your socks off!

So, I hope you join me for the summer season.

Heritage Radio - Did Fancy Bacon Kill Vegetarianism?

http://www.heritageradionetwork.com/episodes/519-Brooklyn-Eats

I love this conversation on Heritage radio about how the sustainable/local food movement has changed the choices available for people who care about and want to change the food system. This came up during the Brooklyn Kitchen's Foodie Book Club meeting last week and to me it is the direction that food activism has taken: vegetarianism is not the only option anymore, soy is NOT the solution, and eating out of season produce and pineapples in new york has more environmental impact than a pork chop from a local, humane, diversified farm.

Now, is it better to "forget" our indigenous cultural roots foods or "forget" that in other parts of the world there are avocados, bananas, and mangoes? Granted, this is a simplified argument, there are so many factors at play, but I believe that the monocropping of soy is not good for the environment nor is too much consumption of it good for our health. I don't think it's "fancy bacon" exactly, but the larger spectrum of quality meat products available via the NY Greenmarkets that has given people an option that is beyond vegetarian.

That said, I finally went to Candle Cafe last night and I was impressed with the food. I haven't gone to as many vegetarian restaurants as I would have in previous years, but a good healthy meal always appeals to me. The enchilada special was out of this world and such a hearty portion that I will be making dinner tonight from the doctored leftovers. It's all about balance.

Foodie Book Club - the Jungle

Few books inspire me not to eat anything like The Jungle did. However, the Foodie Book Club is a theme potluck, so I had to dig through my memory of the book to find some mention of something appetizing. Turn of the century in the Chicago shipyards there wasn't a lot of deep dish pizza and tasty morsels. Most of the book is the struggle to find nourishment for the family and for your own survival.

The book opens with a joyous scene of the wedding of Ona and Jurgis. It is ominous in its gaiety and the frivolousness of the provisions set the scene for the struggle that is to beset the characters. However, at this wedding there is actual food. So, I chose to make my interpretation of the Penny Buns that are present at this wedding feast. I used a cross between an original penny bun recipe I found and a Lithuanian fruit cake roll, since the family was from Lithuania I though I may pay homage to their roots. So I used this recipe and then rolled it out and spread a layer of butter, cinnamon, and chopped raisins.

I used a dried fruit mix soaked in hot water in place of the candied fruits, I neglected to stock up in fruit cake season.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/penny-buns/Detail.aspx

Eating Animals, a book review

I was lucky to reserve a copy of the newest eater's manifesto, Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer at my local library. Two weeks ago the lovely spring green hardbound book arrived in my hands and I dove into it looking for what the book could expose to galvanize people and give credence to this burgeoning call for change in the food system.

Needless to say, the book fell short of my lofty expectations.


What was described as being the modern day answer to The Jungle and an honest narrative about the grappling that people of our time must do to answer the question, 'what should I eat,' to me was too caught within the author's box. From the get-go it's framed as a yo-yo vegetarian debating feeding his child meat. It goes through a uncomprehendingly unorganized and rambling investigation into factory farming and some family farming, and ends up with the same argument he started with; with meat comes pain. The research is good, the style is enough to make even the choir struggle through drifting between boredom and annoyance.

While making the argument for conscious eating he downplays the ability of consumers to buy only meat from farms that operate in a humane fashion by stating that even purchasing this kind of meat supports the factory farming industry by bolstering the overall demand for meat products. However, he completely avoids talking about the inhumane treatment of dairy cows and egg-layers. I do not think that it is fair to poo-poo the idea that people can make the conscious decision to never, and I mean never, purchase factory farmed meat. I have lived that way for almost 13 years. He focuses on the pain that even humanely treated animals endure in slaughter, do the animals who are kept virtually constantly pregnant but have their calves ripped from them upon birth not suffering? Is that milk not also produced through pain and suffering? If you are arguing pain and suffering, it seems a cop out to go for anything less than a vegan diet. If you are arguing for conscious eating, environment, and change in the food system, then the argument is for knowing where your food comes from.

I believe that some people will be shocked by the information presented and hopefully it will lead to some honest reflection before making their food purchasing decisions. No, we can't support our current level of meat consumption if everyone decided to only eat from sustainable farms, it would take two things:

1. reduce the amount of meat we eat, without sacrificing our cultural heritage (a piece that he laments and never really answers that question). In our home we will get maybe a sausage or a half chicken (from the farmer's market or our CSA) for a week or two and use it as flavoring and compliment to a healthy diet of vegetables and grains.

2. change the food system, support sustainable, humane farms. Increase the ability of these farms to make a living and then factory farms won't be able to buy them out. Go visit your local farms, get to know how they operate. Go to the farmer's market. Help them to have enough business to support humane slaughterhouses.


To me Eating Animals falls somewhere in the middle between Barbara Kingsolver's novel Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and The Omnivore's Dilemma, presenting personal story supported by research, but the jury is still out as to how profound an effect it will have.

I encourage you to read it, if only to support this type of research and exposing the horrors of the factory farming system.

So, have you read it yet? I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

The many reasons why I love NYC.

It's been six months since Val and I made the move to NYC. While it hasn't all been easy (anyone who saw how our apartment looked before we moved in knows how much work we took on) but it has been truly amazing.

While I haven't taken on full-time employment yet, I have found my internships/apprenticeships/volunteering quite fulfilling. Tomorrow I get to teach free hands-on weaving classes at the NY Botanical Gardens, after spending all day today researching organizations that fit the Eat Well Guide's criteria for sustainability and talking to passionate people about my favorite thing: food.

NY is very much one of the epicenters of the Local Foods Movement (along with SF). While there are many people who don't care, there are enough who are working to advocate for humane farm practices and environmental protection.

And the Greenmarkets.

And the access to CSAs. NY has not just any CSAs, but good CSAs, well-managed, well-established, and from excellent, diverse farms.

While we are living in our tiny cubby-box in a concrete jungle, it is an area lush with fresh produce and butchers regarded as rockstars. I can't wait to visit the Meat Hook and the Brooklyn Kitchen Labs this weekend! Sunday will bring an inspiring workshop from my girl Sarah over at Loop of the Loom on deconstructing and reconstructing clothing for fiber conservation and recycling. After that it's off to the Sourdough class at the Brooklyn Kitchen. With friends visiting from DC and Brooklyn-based birthdays, our life in New York is everything I hoped it would be.

Accepting Applications for R2R 2010

While the Ridge to Reef class of 2009 has gone back out into the world to explore what we can do with our newly-discovered knowledge, part of that mission is to spread that inspiration around to others. What did I learn from R2R and why do I think you should apply for the 2010 session?
Here is what I wrote about my experience in my recent application to graduate school:

I decided that political news was not the information I wanted to disseminate and that I had to find a way to live in line with my beliefs. After the excitement of the 2008 presidential election faded it was time to raise my voice as an advocate. I started a blog called “Unplugging Desdemona” and walked away from the world of corporate media. I enrolled in the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute’s Beneficial Farmer Training Program and went live on a farm for a season to reconnect with myself and with my true love for food, agriculture, and the culture of eating. At the farm we studied and practiced implementing the ideas of permaculture, agroforestry, water conservation, biodynamics, and slow foods. I am back indoors, but I continue to find ways to integrate my personal beliefs into my daily life through the Washington Square CSA, interning with the “Eat Well Guide”, volunteering with the Brooklyn Food Conference and other community-based organizations, and apprenticing at a holistic fiber arts studio.

What I didn't have space in the application to talk about what the beauty of the rainforest, the sheer fun of sunset on the west end of St. Croix, and the lifelong friendships that you cultivate through an intense experience with like-minded people.

Check back on my January - March 2009 blogs in the archive for the play-by-play.

My Love For Fresh Brussel Sprouts.

No, it's not my picture, nor even my kitchen. I can't believe I forgot to photograph my CSA this past week. If you haven't ever experienced the joy of fresh brussel sprouts, still on the stem, I challenge you to find a farmer's market, find a farm, or find a specialty shop that stocks these silly-looking things and taste the difference! These aren't your "eat your brussel sprouts or don't have dessert" kind of sprouts! They are spicy, firm, and steam to deliciously crisp but tender mouthful. Yum Yum!

These past few weeks I've been doing a lot of thinking about "the great what's next?" An opportunity to go back down to Creque Dam Farm came up and then had to be passed up due to my need to reconcile what I want to do, and what I need to do right now. I have a personal commitment to my apprenticeship at Loop of the Loom and November is not a good time to leave. As much as those warm island breezes, relaxed yet productive attitudes, and the positive energy of the farm, this is what I have to do right now.

I do have to ask thoug; do you or anyone you know hold Permaculture Design Certification?
Have you taken a design course or other intensive study? Have you found that it was enough to really get a hold of the material?
If you have only a few months of farming experience and your houseplants seem to die on you, is it really enough or is it better to keep plugging along with community gardening and get more practical experience first?

Thanks for any feedback!