Our Daily Bread: Baguette

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When I’m not blogging here (which is most of the time), I help small businesses with their social media, marketing and PR needs. One of my clients runs a market that includes a bakery with pastries and breads scratch-made daily. I’ve gained 10 pounds since they opened in February — occupational hazard.

Dave and I love bread. I never even considered the Atkins diet and I pass on Passover. I’m not there every day, but each day that I am,  I’m bringing home a different loaf of bread for us us to try. Tonight, it’s a baguette. It’s actually one we’ve both tried before, but it’s just so good. I’ve heard from customers who lived in Paris that it’s the first baguette they’ve had here that’s the real deal.

We are going to eat it alongside a shrimp gumbo… swiping up the the last bits in the bowl with a crusty piece of baguette. Yum!

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Beetle Mania

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“Are you sure you want to read that again? Don’t you want to watch some TV instead?” I swear I never thought these words would come out of my mouth. That was before my son found The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins.

images-5 images-6

 

I actually love this book — it’s beautifully illustrated and very informative yet on a level that apparently even a three-year-old can comprehend. But read anything six times a day and you will roll your eyes the seventh time around.

Jed now knows every type of beetle you could possibly imagine. He can tell you which ones are poisonous, and which beetle can sense fire from 20 miles away. He amazes adults as he refers to the rose chafer beetle and longhorn beetle. And he giggles as he talks about the dung beetle. He also now thinks every wasp is actually a wasp beetle, so I have to remind him that it most likely is indeed a wasp and not its harmless counterpart in disguise. And if I refer to a ladybug, he quickly corrects me, “It’s a ladybird beetle.” We’re actually both right, but it tickles me just the same.

We returned it to the library a couple of days ago and I breathed a sigh of relief. Until, that is, Jed asked if we could check out another beetle book. I’m not sure how many beetle books there are out there, but I have a feeling I’m about to find out. I’m not keen on another beetle book, but I would love to read more from Steve Jenkins. He’s written some other animal and science books that have his wonderful illustrations, only look a little more toddler-specific, like these collaborations with Robin Page: 

jenkinstrio

I emailed Steve Jenkins to let him know what a great fan he has in Jed and he was so sweet to respond within a day. He’s actually from a town less than two hours from where we live though he lives in Colorado now. I hope he’ll come back this way to do a reading and book signing. The nice guy he is, he said he’d be sure to tell us if and when this happens. And when it does happen, I know who’ll be first in line.

I also see an Amazon purchase in my future. I’ve enjoyed my beetle break, but it can’t last forever with a son who loves beetles as much as Jed does. I just try to put things in perspective: at least he’s not obsessed with guns and fighting. Or golf. I really loathe golf.

Good Enough: My Mom Mantra

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photo-16The other day, I read a post over at Daddy Drinks about playing the game of parenthood. He talks about parents and how we unavoidably judge each other, and it got me thinking about things I do that may be frowned upon. I stopped breast-feeding after five months (and never pumped and dumped). I don’t make my son wear socks if he says he’s not cold. I bribe with candy and sometimes even toy-driven sticker charts for more elaborate ruses. I’d like to say that even though I judge other parents for their actions that I’m hardest on myself, but that’s not true. I’m too competitive a person to take “the game of parenting” seriously. Doing so would result in a vicious soccer mom snowball effect that ends with me rocking in the fetal position on my crumb-ridden kitchen floor. The key to being a good (sane) mom is that I know when to cut myself some slack. If I get out of the house in the morning with Jed and I wearing socks that are both matching and clean, it’s a pretty good day. Of course, some days are better than others. Ever since becoming a mom, my mantra has become “good enough”. I didn’t get through my to-do list today, but it’s good enough. I didn’t put away all the laundry, but it’s good enough. This bottle of wine isn’t going to erase my hellish day, but it’s good enough.

What’s your mom mantra?

 

 

 

 

Legen – wait for it – dairy.

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So, I know that if you aren’t going to go all-out organic that you should at least buy organic milk. But the milk from the Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, VA, was less expensive and it came in an old school glass bottle that I couldn’t resist.

homestead creamery milk

So it begs the question: Is local(ish) milk made with no artificial hormones just as good as its organic counterparts? I found this comment written by Homestead Creamery Co-Owner Donnie Montgomery in a Whole Foods blog post:

“…we are not certified organic however, our goal is to use the resources that we have to sustain our farm in a natural way. Some of our practices include pasturing our cows and raising our crops for feed. We use our manure and waste for fertilizer, practice crop rotations and plant cover crops. These practices help with weed control, fertilization, soil erosion, and also increases organic matter in the soil. We also use natural predators to assist in fly control. Our feed is comprised of the corn…mostly in the form of silage made by chopping the whole corn plant. We also feed them [the cows] hay that is grown on the farm.”

Good enough for me! Now that I’ve gone glass, I can never go back. Homestead has ruined me for other milk. And I hear their chocolate milk is divine dairy decadence.

My husband, while very supportive, is having a lot of fun at my expense with my recent real food fascination. No, Dave, I don’t know the cow’s name who provided the milk or if she was happy while being milked that day. I don’t know whether the milk truck that delivered the milk to the store runs on biofuel. And I don’t know if the milkman personally uses any artificial hormones or antibiotics. We watch a lot of Portlandia.

Let’s talk (grocery shopping) strategy.

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Today, I made my first trip to the grocery store clean food-minded. Armed with this list of 21 Essentials for Freezer, Pantry & Fridge, I figured I would wing it. I knew not to buy anything with more than five ingredients or that had sugar as one of the top three ingredients (thanks for the tips, 100 Days!) and I did my best to stay out of the aisles. I looked at the meal plans on 100 Days of Real Food, but there were too many meals that I didn’t like (I have an acute aversion to hard-boiled eggs and any salad that’s not really a salad: tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, you get the point).

I went to Earth Fare because that’s where Lisa Leake shops and I had her comprehensive guide specific to that store of what makes the real food cut. I should not have brought my son and I should not have gone on a Sunday afternoon. It was totally overwhelming. I was so busy keeping Jed from shoving his hands in the bulk bins and apologizing to other shoppers for blocking their way (Earth Fare aisles in West Asheville are narrow) that I was too flustered to check my iPhone for my lists. Not to mention I was shopping with a migraine. Surprise.

At least I have my reusable bag situation under control. I have and love the Grocery Getter bags from ENO.

At least I have my reusable bag situation under control. I have and love the Grocery Getter bags from ENO.

The tough part about my decision is that I’m doing it for my migraines. My husband and son don’t have migraines so I don’t think it’s fair to expect them to adhere strictly to the rules. Dave is totally on board for making our shared meals “clean”, but he should be able to have his potato chips and Jed should be able to have his Teddy Grahams. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or patience to trek to three different grocery stores each week to get what we need, so I either go to Ingles where they might not have everything I need/want or to a health food store like Earth Fare or Whole Foods and pay out the nose for some organic natural version of Cup O’ Noodles. Then we are members of Sam’s Club so I’d like to take advantage of their discounts, and in Asheville, we are lucky to have this store called Amazing Savings, which, holding true to its name, is ah-mazing. I will figure this out.

What I have figured out so far is that I cannot plan every meal and snack in advance for my whole family for the whole week. It’s just too much to wrap my mind around and I hate the idea of having the whole thing mapped out like the calendar we used to take home from school with the cafeteria meals for the month. Food is still fun for me, and that much planning makes it feel almost institutional. I appreciate that this is a great way to eat clean on a budget… and I might spend more without a specific meal plan (like today), but it’s just not in my gastronomical DNA.

So I went to Kath’s blog to see how she approached her grocery shopping and found this very digestible approach. She calls this her  ”non-meal” plan:

THE NON MEAL PLAN

Most weeks I take inventory of my proteins (including things like beans and eggs and things in the freezer) in my head and buy vegetables that are in season to go with them. Then I mix and match when dinnertime comes around. Here’s an example of a week’s worth of dinners and lunch/breakfast staples without a plan:

 BUILDING BLOCK BASICS

  • 2-3 seasonal fruits
  • 1 bunch bananas (with green tips!)
  • 1 kind of greens (like kale, collards, etc.)
  • 2-3 green vegetables for dinner sides
  • 1 container salad mix or 1 bunch leafy lettuce
  • Carrots and green pepper for salads (if we’re out)
  • 1 kind of starchy veggie (like sweet potato or squash or corn in the summer)
  • Mental check on bulk food stock (refill anything we completely used up)
  • 1 meat (we already have salmon on hand this week)
  • Eggs/milk/yogurt (if we are out of one or all)
  • Mental check on pantry staples like tomato sauce or sardines (will venture into an aisle if I need it)
  • 1 cheese for salads, 2 if planning to use some in a meal
  • Occasional Splurges: tortilla chips, pre-made hummus/sauces, extra cheeses, more expensive fruits/veggies like berries, non-bean/grain bulk bin stuff like dried figs, fancy drinks like kombucha

This I can wrap my head around. Of course I need to take into consideration that I’m shopping for three, not two, but the overall idea just works better for me. We’ll see how it goes next time around!

What’s your shopping strategy?

Pantry Purge: Time to Start Eating Clean

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In the past two years, my migraines have gone from frequent to flat-out chronic. I’ve trial-and-errored my way through a slew of daily preventives, rescue meds and pain pills. I’ve even tried eliminating alcohol (gasp!). I had an 18-month pain vacation while I was pregnant and nursing, but a) that’s no vacation, and b) I can’t be pregnant all the time. I always thought changing my diet would be a drastic thing to do, but drastic times…

An enticing pic of porridge from KERF. (Hope you don't mind that I "borrowed" this pic, Kath!)

An enticing pic of porridge from KERF. (Hope you don’t mind that I “borrowed” this pic, Kath!)

Due to a recent rodent issue, I’m having to start my spring cleaning immediately in the kitchen. It disgusts me how much money I’m throwing away as I throw out all of the food on our shelves, but eating something that’s been nibbled on by a mouse would sicken me way more.

Tonight, after a day of Imitrex, hydrocodone and canceled plans, I decided that I’m sick of relying on meds that barely act as a Band-Aid and I’m sick of being sick. So after cleaning out our pantry tomorrow (and scrubbing from top to bottom) I’m going to fill it with clean food. What is clean eating? Well, it can mean different things to different people. Diane Welland, RD, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Clean defines clean eating as “consuming whole, natural foods that have not been processed.” For my purposes, I’m also going to try to avoid dye-free foods and sugar (I’ve read that both can be very bad for migraineurs).

This will not be easy and I will no doubt find myself at the McDonald’s drive thru getting a regular Coke within the month (I don’t know why, but their Cokes are the best), but I’m going to try.

So far, I’ve found these sites and bloggers as great resources and inspiration for my new diet.

KERF

100 Days of Real Food

Die, Food Dye!

More than a change in diet though, it’s a change in lifestyle. A recent bout with the stomach bug combined with relentless migraines have kept me from the gym, but regular exercise is just as important as root veggies.

I’m not ready to give up my morning cup of coffee (and perhaps never will be), but I’m going to start to try drinking it black… baby steps.

Have you had success cutting out processed foods? Do you have a favorite site, blog or book you swear by on the subject? Please share!

Chef Mike Fisera of LAB Wins 3rd WNC Chefs Challenge

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For the past three Tuesdays, I’ve had the privilege of sharing the WNC Chefs Challenge experience via tweets and Facebook posts for the Asheville Wine & Food Festival. I’m thinking of changing my professional tagline to “will tweet for food” (non-paying social media gigs don’t get any better than this). Every Tuesday, two top local chefs go knife-to-knife, creating three courses each, all of which contain a secret ingredient revealed to the them the day of the dinner. It’s like participating in an exciting food reality show (think Bravo, not Fox), only the focus isn’t on flaming tempers and kitchen disasters… it’s all about what it should be—the food.

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At the third dinner on Tuesday, Chef Mike “Mikey” Fisera of Lexington Avenue Brewery faced off against Sean Fernandez of Ruth’s Chris. Their secret ingredient? Eggs from area agrarian darlings Hickory Nut Gap Farm.

While awaiting the first dish, Bob Bowles “cracked us up” with his “yolks”. Even I couldn’t resist describing the menu as egg-cellent.

Chef Fernandez and his team turned out the first two dishes. He used the secret ingredient twice in his egg ravioli, both in the homemade pasta and again with the rich egg yolk that filled it. The second dish was the top-rated dish of the evening and also my favorite. Braised pork belly and local cheese grits (from Adluh) topped with a poached egg and hollandaise demi made for an elevated breakfast bowl–transcendent both in form and flavor.

LAB rolled out the next two dishes, a lobster Quiche and filet tartar. The standout on the Quiche plate for me were the greens. The crisp chard were reminiscent of the more mainstream crisp kale (kale chips), which crunched nicely mixed with the asparagus. Chef Fisera used eggs three ways for his tartar with a beautiful egg-shaped flash fried pasta bowl, a fried caper aioli and of course the yolk, which judge Suzy Phillips of Gypsy Queen Cuisine described as a “beautiful explosion of deliciousness.”

Ruth’s Chris ended on a sweet note with a mango creme brulee, a great success despite the deep dish. As Bob Bowles said at the end of the evening, “Food is for nourishment, but also an art form.” If food is an art form, than LAB’s dessert was the evening’s piece de resistance. From its whimsical presentation to the playful textures, team LAB’s tarte took the cake.

In addition to delicious food, we have the pleasure at the judge’s table of meeting fascinating people each week in the food industry. Vinny Scully, Chef Joe Scully’s older brother, served as a special guest judge. With 20 years of cooking experience, he’s proud to see his younger brother follow in his footsteps. Vinny says he and his brother have more in common than cheffing, citing their sarcasm as a family art.

Zoë and Mark Clarke of Hickory Nut Gap Farm brought their youth and charm to the table. Mark graduated last year from UNC-Chapel Hill. He puts his English and creative writing degrees to work for his family, posting for the Hickory Nut Gap blog and working on a project for the 100th anniversary of their family farm coming up in 2016. Zoë ’s NPR aspirations and engaging nature have her well on the road to becoming the next Diane Rehms (only a few octaves higher). The whole table enjoyed listening to the sibs talk about family life on the farm, from egg-gathering duties to the dynamics of the Clarke dynasty.

What was served:

Chef Sean Fernandez and Team Ruth’s Chris

  • Herb Infused Egg Ravioli with a Jalepeno Cure Salmon and a Saffron Beurre Blanc
  • Braised Pork Belly with Local Cheese Grits with a Poached Egg and Hollandaise Demi
  • Mango Creme Brulee with a Vanilla Grand Marnier Mascarpone

Chef Mike Fisera and Team LAB

  • Filo Baked Lobster Quiche with Fennel and Bacon, Crisp Chard, Shaved Asparagus and a Sundried Tomato Hollandaise
  • Filet Tartar with Egg Yolk, Flash Fried Pasta, Charred Grapefruit Arugula Salad, Fried Caper Aioli with Spiced Honey
  • Tarte au Citron, Blueberry Ice Cream and Marcona Almond Tuile

What I learned: The hundred pleats in a classic chef’s hat symbolize the 100 different ways to cook an egg.

In the end, Chef Fernandez had the winning dish with his cheese grits, but Chef Fisera came out the winner in a very close competition (48/52).

Next up: March 5, Chef Brian Ross of DOUGH vs. Chef Michael Marshall of Harrah’s Cherokee Resort.

Bicycles, Birds and Mustaches.

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I’m not all that into cycling, have a healthy fear of anything winged and firmly believe that Tom Selleck, Burt Reynolds and Ron Swanson are the only three people who can pull off a ‘stache (and one of those is fictional). But for some reason, I’m obsessed with things (mugs, stationary, clothing) with bikes, birds and mustaches on them.

I already have a pair like these, but I want this set:

mustache mugs

 

I have a strict policy of not wearing white before or after Labor Day (I’m a grass stain waiting to happen). First fashion rule: Know thyself. But I still had to stop and admire these when I saw them the other day in one of my favorite local stores:

Paige Denim Cycle Print Pants

 

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein wrote Portlandia’s “Put a Bird on It” sketch for me. I’m sad this sweater coat from Anthropologie is no longer available, but my savings are breathing a sigh of relief.

anthro bird sweater coat

 

Do you have an ironic fashion obsession, or is it just me?