Even after designing clothes for many years, my favorite way to design is with a pair of scissors in hand. Find a pair of pants that have gotten too short and cut them off to make a pair of shorts. Anybody remember the blue jean skirts made from an pair of jeans cut open and stitched with an inset of denim or another fabric? The whole idea is making something new with what you already have. Before you rush to the store to buy a new pair of capris, see if you have a pair of pants that could use a makeover. Here is a fun video from Threadbanger, a network dedicated to “refashionizing” and keeping old clothes out of our landfill.
Herbs in the garden, a kind of culinary magic. When I planted an herb garden just outside the back door ten years ago, I had no idea how much it would simplify and influence our cooking, the ability to have what is needed to brighten the flavor of almost anything. Like this farro salad for example, it was a step out the back door, snip a few pieces of this and that. Voilà. Well, almost.
This isn’t a precious garden, it gets some attention in the spring, cleaning up and rearranging, after that not much of anything. That’s the way with herbs, they like to rough it. They’d be good on a camping trip – hike for miles without water and then bed down for the night without any fuss. The Mediterranean landscape is in their genes and rocky scruffy soil and dry conditions make them feel right at home. Sure, they respond to a little TLC, but the point is they don’t want or need a lot of attention. Not at all like roses who will throw a temper tantrum on a whim, herbs are the least spoiled child in the garden. Leave them alone, they’re happy campers.
The convenience of having fresh herbs at hand is still such serendipity when I find that I have just what’s needed to make something delicious. I wanted to marinate a flank steak and realized that most of the ingredients were growing in the backyard: mint, oregano, marjoram, garlic, parsley; olive oil and red wine vinegar in the pantry. This happens a lot. The Roasted Tomato Salsa in The Herbfarm Cookbook goes with the steak and calls for, but of course, tomatoes which are not yet available locally. So, I made the ‘salsa’ minus its main ingredient and used it as a dressing for the cooked farro. With thinly sliced pieces of the grilled flank steak the whole thing was exceptional.
If you are in your 20’s, 30’s or an oh-so-hip-middle-ager, you may already be into wearing recycled clothing. I’ve been resistant due to growing up as 4th of 5 children and having my wardrobe consist of hand-me-downs, most of which were far from the latest styles. Also, something about the smell of thrift shops….what is that smell? Somehow, dishes are easy to buy but the clothes — let’s just say I’m getting there.
I finally decided the time had come for me to check it out. I enlisted daughter Krista, niece Laura and friend Kristen to show me how it’s done. We set out for the University District. Our first stop was Crossroads Trading Co. , just south of the University Bookstore. It is not overwhelmingly big and to my delight, items are arranged by color and style. I was not planning to buy anything since I couldn’t help but notice that I was the oldest customer in the store. When they started scouring the racks, I took a look myself. Surprisingly, I found a black cotton sweater I haven’t taken off since I bought it and a Calvin Klein linen tank top that I wore to a Saturday night BBQ.
Next we headed up the street to Buffalo Exchange. Their website states, “The E.P.A. estimates 11.8 millions tons of textiles were generated in 2006, or 5% of total U.S. municipal solid waste. Almost half of the 2.5 billion pounds of postconsumer textile waste prevented from entering the solid waste stream is recycled clothing”. If you don’t use a bag for your purchase, they give you a token to drop into one of 3 boxes designated for various nonprofit groups, including Northwest Harvest. Buffalo Exchange is bigger than Crossroads and has more of a “sustainablity feel” with the awareness that by wearing recycled clothing, you are helping to protect our environment. Read the rest of this entry »
As usual we’ve planted a lot of tomatoes. I always wonder if maybe this year, maybe finally we’ve gone too far, too many tomatoes. But that’s never the case.
I heard the other day that eight tomato plants per person was the guide for previous generations who preserved everything possible, including tomatoes, for winter consumption. Our sixteen plants don’t seem so outrageous after all.
We eat fresh tomatoes every which way throughout August and then begin to preserve big batches starting in late summer. When you preserve fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes the improvement in flavor over anything you can buy in the store is astonishing. If you wonder, ‘is it worth the effort’, trust me it is.
I’m dazzled by their scarlet presence in the pantry so I often can a few jars, but truthfully, freezing and drying are far easier. We dry any extra cherry tomatoes that aren’t eaten fresh, especially the Sungolds, and keep them in the freezer in zip lock bags. We freeze tomato sauce in quart containers. I read somewhere recently that sun-dried tomatoes are nowpasséin the culinary world. Say what? No matter, the point of today’s post is to plant an idea about preserving tomatoes this year, late summer.It’s almost June, three months to get used to the idea.
Turnips and cauliflower — easy to like but they have to work hard to gain your love. How many people do you see hovering around the cauliflower or turnip bin exclaiming, “It’s back at last”? Not an easy sell like asparagus but worth giving a try nonetheless. Baby turnips have an easier time of it. Their plump little faces are hard to resist and tender bright green leaves definitely help.
Cauliflower, on the other hand, seems much more awkward and just so white. Purity is a virtue but I can’t say I’ve ever had a cauliflower craving.
Every week there’s a new story, most recently one about how the current level of seawater acidity is as high as it was predicted to be decades from now - we’re ahead of schedule. Such events seem ambiguous, there’s a disconnect between what we read and what we experience. Lots of fish available at the store and in restaurants, so what’s the problem? Evidence of high acidic levels in our Pacific coast waters and salmon fishing closures are problems, distress signals from the ocean.
If you’re a consumer of seafood check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium website. It offers plenty of interactive fun stuff for kids in the aquatic realm, but they’ve also become a clearinghouse for information about sustainability and responsible consumption of seafood. They offer a list of ‘what you can do to help’ and printable pocket guides, Seafood Watch, with recommendations for eating fish that are region specific.
In the meantime, we can bring ‘gone fishin’ back, in a good way, and take actions necessary to consume fish responsibly.
Organic Valley, their label, logo and array of dairy products have become familiar. We see them in the dairy section of mainstream grocery stores everywhere now, but their business concept is anything but mainstream. Recognized as a model to aspire to in the sustainability movement, Organic Valley is a unique cooperative venture that is worth knowing about and supporting.
With goals of sustainability and helping to keep farmers on their land, OV supports small farmers and provides communities with organic dairy products, milk, butter, sour cream, cheese, eggs and more. It’s an enterprise that seems to put ethics, consumers and farmers first. What a concept. The cooperative now has 1,239 members from throughout the United States and several regional production centers.
This short video introduces you to a Pacific Northwest Dairy Farmer who switched to organic production and became a member of the Organic Valley cooperative. Thanks to Cooking Up A Story for this video.
My garden seems to have sprung into action with the heat last weekend. The herbs are practically begging to be picked and eaten. A few years ago I heard a lecture by Eaglesong, an herbalist who runs Ravencroft Garden and at that time was chief gardener at the Herbfarm. One of the things she said that stuck in my mind was the more you pinch your herbs, the happier they’ll be. So don’t hold back, go ahead and pluck away. They will thank you by growing even more vigorously. In the case of chives, they are already blooming so it is almost time to cut them down and start all over again.
Scissors in hand, I headed out to make my herbs happy and hopefully my dinner guests too. I had in mind herbed goat cheese stuffed chicken breasts. Port Madison Farm on Bainbridge Island makes an unforgettable crumbly, tangy, soft goat cheese perfect for this recipe. They sell it and other goat cheeses at several of the Farmers Markets. In case you are wondering, the basil in the photo also came from the Farmers Market, unfortunately my garden isn’t warm enough yet for that. This is a wonderful dish to make for guests since you can do most of the work ahead of time and then sit back and enjoy the company and the garden. Read the rest of this entry »
Talk about a childhood food memory, bread and butter in one hand, a radish in the other, a bite of each, another bite, some more when that’s gone. I guess it’s a French thing, the radishes with bread and butter, but for me it’s a memorable childhood food experience. Thanks Mom.
There are more sophisticated presentations. You can be fancy and slice them very thinly across the top of a buttered piece of bread – it’s both a mouthful and an irresistible eyeful that shows off the glorious design embedded in each slice. Chefs with knife skills make mini radish sculptures for our plates; some of us just slice and toss them into salad. Either way, they’re peppery and crunchy and so red. (Also nutritious. See end of post.)
Spring is the time when everyone starts thinking about painting projects that have been on hold — waiting for inspiration and better weather. I’ve always loved color and think it is important because we live in such a grey environment. One of my businesses is color consulting — helping people choose what colors to paint their homes, inside and out. Painting is one of the simplest ways to transform a space. Unfortunately, some paints, especially oil-based, release harmful vapors and contribute to greenhouse gases.
In the several years I’ve been doing this work, there has been a huge increase in consumer demand for low V.O.C. (volatile organic compounds) paints — those that are safer for humans, especially children, and for the environment.
On the local scene, Yolo Colorhouse in Portland has embraced the challenge of creating a beautiful natural palette and zero V.O.C. paints for both interiors and exteriors. They have received national recognition and have been featured in numerous magazines. Yolo paints are available at several locations including EcoHaus, formerly the Environmental Home Center, a great resource for all kinds of green building products.
My favorites, however, are C2 paints from Daly’s, a family-owned business in Seattle. The colors of these paints are exceptional and unlike any others I’ve used. Just in time for spring, they have come out with a new line of LoVo interior paints, available in all 496 fabulous colors. They also sell poster-sized paint chips that come in handy when making your choices. Read the rest of this entry »
When I planted an herb garden just outside the back door ten years ago, I had no idea how much it would simplify and influence our cooking, the ability to have what is needed to brighten the flavor of almost anything. Like this farro salad for example, it was a step out the back door, snip a few pieces of this and that. V
There are more sophisticated presentations. You can be fancy and slice them very thinly across the top of a buttered piece of bread – it’s both a mouthful and an irresistible eyeful that shows off the glorious design embedded in each slice. Chefs with knife skills make mini radish sculptures for our plates; some of us just slice and toss them into salad. Either way, they’re peppery and crunchy and so red. (Also nutritious. See end of post.)
