Winter Cooking Classes at Franklin Park Conservatory

Stay fresh in the kitchen this winter - take a class with me at the Franklin Park Conservatory!  Register by calling 614.645.5923 or download a registration form here. Delicious Dough (ages 3-5 and their favorite adult) Kids will make a moldable raw dough and a yeast-risen dough. Class participants will also create a scent-sational home decoration ornament. Thursday, January 20, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. $15 Members; $20 Non-Members

Spectacular Spices (ages 3-5) Winter weather calls for tasty spice-rich dishes. We’ll discover where sweet and savory spices come from, grind our own cinnamon and nutmeg for a spice cake, mix spices into a vegetable curry, and create a pomander from oranges and cloves. Thursday, February 10, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. $15 Members; $20 Non-Members

Cold Nights, Warm Memories (family) Heat up evening meals with savory soups. In this workshop for all ages, we will cook three tasty soups that can be customized to your family style. Chili with all the toppings, corn chowder, and Italian white bean and greens are on the menu. Sunday, February 27, 2 - 3:30 p.m. $20 Members; $25 Non-members

Greens (ages 3-5) Winter greens are so sweet and tasty that even veggie-averse kids will be tempted to taste the green monster smoothie, kale chips, and pesto we cook up in this vitamin rich class. Thursday, March 10, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. $15 Members; $20 Non-Members

Charcuterie/Smoking (adult) Charcuterie is the act of curing meat by salt, smoke, or dehydration. Home cooks will learn how to apply these concepts to their cooking to delicious effect. Participants will enjoy a light meal featuring cured meat and stuffed sausage to take home. Tuesday, March 15, 6:30 - 8 p.m. $30 Members; $35 Non-members

Seeds to Grow and Eat! (family) Seeds, the starting germ of a plant, can be eaten, sown, or sprouted. We will explore all three options in this family workshop. We will cook three snacks from seeds and create an indoor herb garden to take home. Sunday, March 27, 2 - 3:30 p.m. $20 Members; $25 Non-members

Buy Tickets Today for the OEFFA Winter Warmer

Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association is one of my favorite local foods groups in the state.  They enable small farms to be certified organic, provide a great resource guide for consumers, hold informative farm tours, and run a great annual conference. On Saturday January 22, OEFFA is hosting a casual conference benefit evening.  Held at Wild Goose Creative from 7 - 9:30 pm, the Winter Warmer will give local food enthusiasts a chance to mingle, bid on locavore-friendly silent auction items, and nosh on hors d’oeuvres prepared by top Columbus chefs Kevin Caskey of Skillet; Rick Lopez of Knead; Kevin Malhame of Third and Hollywood; Jeffrey Potter of Fusion Café; Matt Prokopchek of Trattoria Roma, and John Skaggs of Two Caterers. Drinks will feature The Brothers Drake mead, Columbus Brewing Company beer, and hot chocolate prepared by the Global Gallery.

Tickets are just $30 each available online through the OEFFA website.  Unfortunately I will be out of town for the event but I hope some of you attend and enjoy!

Black (Pet) Friday

Did you know that black dogs and cats are more likely to linger in animal shelters than any other color of pet? The problem is so pervasive that shelters have given the syndrome an acronym, BBD, for Big Black Dog. BBDs persist in shelters despite being personable, house trained, and gentle.

The animal shelter from where we adopted our hounds, Capital Area Humane Society in Hilliard, is actively combating the lack of adopters from dark colored pets. Today, Black Friday, the shelter is offering special low rates on black (and mostly black) animals. The shelter is open from 12 - 7 pm today. For the first two hours the shelter is open, black pets can find their forever home for 50% of the standard adoption rates. From 2 pm on, adoption fees are discounted 25% for black pets.

If you visit the shelter tomorrow, say hi to my sister Sarah, one of the shelter managers. She is forfeiting family holiday time to help the wonderful animal souls at CAHS find homes. I hope she is able to make many matches with families of all sizes and pets of all colors.

A Homespun Pomegranate Party

The Invitation:a dairy-free family party featuring pomegranates in made by hand decor and menu items

Click on pictures to enlarge for more detail and visit the Flickr set for outtakes.

The Decor:

fresh pomegranate holders for hand rolled beeswax candles

hand cut pomegranate paper place mats

Stevens family silver, set by Lillian

The Lesson: Lillian, age five, tells how to open a pomegranate

Lil showed her aunts how to open a pom too, with some interference from the big hound Devie.  Watch those videos on our youtube channel.

The Meal: home-hunted squirrel rillette, pomegranate cranberry compote and danish goat cheese on homemade bread points

citrus marinated local tatsoi salad with pomegranate arils

pomegranate glazed Red’s pork shoulder over pan fried polenta squares

rustic Ohio apple pomegranate pie

The Drinks: harvest sunset (tequila, nectarine pomegranate juice, homemade grenadine)

pomegranate mulled wine

homemade pomegranate cordial

The Take Aways: Fresh California pomegranate season is October through January. Use the fresh arils during the winter to brighten up winter meals.

Choose pomegranates based on weight, as heavier poms have more juicy arils.

Pomegranate arils are packed with healthy benefits including polyphenol antioxidants, iron, and fiber.

Store pomegranates at room temperature for up to one month or in the refrigerator for up to two months.  Because poms can be stored at room temperature, they are useful as a unique edible decorations on a table-scape.

Excess fresh pomegranate arils can be frozen or made into delicious pomegranate cider if you happen to have a cider press.

Hand made dishes featuring pomegranates are a seasonal treat best enjoyed with family and homespun beauty.

Disclosure: POM Wonderful provided pomegranates, juice, apron, and POM logo materials for myself and my guests.  POM is awarding prizes to ten party hosts.  All non-pomegranate ingredients were purchased by me and all recipes are my own.

Kids Cook in the PreK Zone at Franklin Park

The Franklin Park Conservatory is expanding their Food Education program with the new PreK Zone.  Yours truly will be the teacher! Three to six year olds in the PreK Zone will prepare and eat simple whole foods dishes in my Kids Cook hands-on format.  Classes will highlight the seasonal ingredients uniquely available in the Scott’s Miracle Grow Community Garden Campus.  I am very excited to work with the horticulture staff at the Conservatory to make use of the produce grown there.

The series begins with two Creative Cookies classes Thursday, December 16 from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. and Tuesday December 21 from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. in the beautiful and well equipped Education Pavilion. Each class costs $15 for conservatory members and $20 for non-members.

Registration and details about future classes are available online at http://www.fpconservatory.org/programsfoodedu.htm or by calling the Franklin Park registrar at 614.645.5923.

Vonnegut on Veterans

"I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.

Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.

So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.

What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.

And all music is." - Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

Happy posthumous Birthday, Mr. Vonnegut.  Thank you for writing a most enlightening book about the Second World War, Slaughterhouse-Five.

May all who served and are serving in the military hear sacred music today.

Columbus Food Adventures Short North Tour

There's a new food experience in town, one that is sure to wow locals and visitors alike.

It is Columbus Food Adventures, the food tour business of local restaurant expert Bethia Woolf.  Bethia sprung onto the food scene in 2008 with the blog Hungry Woolf (now merged with the Columbus Food Adventures Blog), quickly followed by the group blog Taco Trucks Columbus which profiles taco trucks around the city.  The Taco Trucks crew launched Alt Eats Columbus and Street Eats Columbus in 2010.

Columbus Food Adventures takes Bethia's experience eating her way through Columbus out of the computer and onto the streets, where guests join her on walking and van-transported tours.

Bethia was kind enough to invite me on a recent Short North tour. Other regular tours include Taco Trucks and Alt Eats.  Private tours are welcome and gaining popularity.

The Route

Beginning at the North Market, our group visited the Greener Grocer and Kitchen Little.  We walked to Short North newcomers Knead Urban Diner and Le Chocoholique next.  Continuing North, we stopped in Eleni-Christina to see their bread baking operation and then sampled dishes at Tasi Cafe and Rigsby's Kitchen.  A visit to Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams and walk back to the North Market wrapped up the tour.

The Food

Columbus Food Adventures website states "You should have enough food along the way for lunch."  On our tour, which may or may not be typical, I ate enough for a huge lunch and even took home leftovers for Alex's dinner.  Knead and Rigsby's offered a nearly full size plate each of meatloaf sandwich and fries and salmon over lentils, respectively.  We ate salmon frittata and salad at Tasi, a cayenne truffle and chocolate covered twinke at Le Chocolique, and two samples at the North Market. The Jeni's ice cream serving was a full trio plus additional samples.  I was pleased to see most restaurants highlighting local Ohio products on their menu and in tastes.

In addition to the surprising quantity, it was an exciting experience for me to eat dishes I would not normally order.  The Short North Tour provided me with my first visits to Tasi, Knead, and Le Chocoholique.  The restaurants all put their best fork forward by offering their specialties.  Chefs and proprietors chatted with us, a rare treat allowed by visiting during the slower lunchtime service.

The Experience

The Short North tour included the perfect mix of tour-guide speech and open conversation.  During discussion over our dishes, Bethia guided our out of town guest towards other places she might want to visit and answered a wealth of questions.  Bethia stopped the group a few times to point out historic landmarks.  I learned new things about my hometown!

An interesting side benefit of going on a group tour is the conversation and community among other tour guests.  It was lovely to meet Lisa Morton, proprietor of the Victorian Village Guest House, who was also on the tour.  Through talking about the food, the other guests and I learned about each other and farmer's markets around the country.

Recommendation

I wholeheartedly recommend this tour for Columbus locals and out of town visitors.  The price, $45 per person, is a great value for the impressive amount of food and good times included.  I never thought I would be a 'food tour' person, but I see myself exploring the other tours offered (Taco Trucks, Alt Eats, and Dessert) soon.

If You Go...

• Dress appropriately for the weather.  My tour was on one of the first very cold days of the fall and I was frigid because I forgot a coat.  Do as I say, not as I do...
• Wear comfortable footwear.  The walk between stops was not particularly strenuous but guests will be most comfortable with good shoes.
• Bring a little cash.  No payment is required beyond the ticket price, however you may want some money on hand to buy something at one of the shops.  A tip to the tour guide is always appreciated.
• Bring a bag.  A few stops have goods available for purchase and, as I said, I ended up with leftovers.  A reusable bag would have been nice to transport my little packages.
• Stay tuned to the Columbus Food Adventures blog, facebook page, and/or twitter for announcements about special tour offerings.  This Thanksgiving weekend, for instance, Bethia is offering an additional tour on Wednesday to accommodate out of town guests.  A special All Dessert Tour is starting this Saturday through the holiday season.

So It Goes

It's been a wacky week here and I want to update you about lots of things: First, Devie the hound in trouble is doing very well after surgery yesterday to remove her left eye.  We are keeping her heavily dosed with pain medicine to let the eye heal and will taper that off in the next few days.  Stitches will be removed in about a week and then we'll have a counter-surfing, baying pirate dog!

We are still planning on having a Cider Pressing Party tomorrow from 2 - 4 pm.  It will be COLD and the press will be outside, so please dress warmly if you are stopping by.  We'll also have some apple bread and apple slices to enjoy around the woodstove to warm up.

Cathy Krist from Carousel Watergardens Farm let me know that they are offering a Thanksgiving Dinner CSA with six free range antibiotic free turkeys left.  Visit their site for more details on the Thanksgiving CSA or their winter vegetable, egg, and meat CSAs.

In bloggy news, I am thrilled that the CEO of the Columbus Metro Library, Pat Losinsky, mentioned my 'vote for CML' post in his last newsletter to supporters.  If you are here because of his link, welcome!

I think I'm participating in NaBloPoMo, the challenge to write a post each day in the month of November.  So far, I've written every day and I have lots of topics in the queue, so expect a little more frequency here for awhile.

I am not participating in NaNoWriMo, the national novel writing month, but I am hard at work on an manuscript about eating and cooking with children.  I have some anecdotes from participants in my classes but I want a more scientific understanding of children's eating habits.  I am working up a survey that I hope those of you with children will complete when the time comes.

Next week is Dine Originals Restaurant week.  Participating restaurants include most of the best independent restaurants in the city.  Each offers at least one menu that costs $10, $20, or $30, viewable online through the above link.  There are some fantastic deals among the offerings.  Unlike some restaurant weeks where the chef is just looking to get guests in the door, my impression is that the Dine Originals chefs are truly showing off their very best.  Take advantage!

Just before picking Dev up from the vet yesterday, Lil and I said goodbye to my college cat Kilgore.  I found him abandoned in front of the Ohio State University football stadium and took care of him during his first six months.  My parents adopted him ten years ago when I married cat-allergic Alex.  Kilgore was a feisty tom cat, frequently roaming the neighborhood and returning with wounds.  He purred loudly, showed displeasure with his claws, and whined to be let out as if a dog.  His behavior became more mild in the last few months as cancer took hold.  Rest in Peace, my furry friend.

Now, if I could ask something of you: Next weekend, my parents and Alex's parents are giving us a weekend away at a bed and breakfast in Versailles Kentucky near bourbon distilleries.  My parents are watching Lil for the weekend and I am so very eager for some relaxation.  I have two bourbon tours on the itinerary but am struggling a little bit deciding which restaurants to enjoy.  If you have any suggestions in the Versailles/Lawrenceburg/Frankfort/Lexington area, comment please.

Be well,

Rachel

P.S. Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors, hence the title and Kilgore's name.  I recommend you start with Breakfast of Champions if you have never read a Vonnegut story.  Your library undoubtedly has a copy.