White House Kitchen Garden

Writing a local food and garden blog, I feel obligated to write about the White House Garden ground broken today.  It is a great hope and example to the nation.  So many others have written their kudos and I also am thrilled we have a first family that understands local foods. So rather than repeat what's been said, here's a new idea that struck me: Man, I am glad no one photographs me when I'm gardening.

Unlike the beautiful and poised Michelle Obama, I almost never shower before a day of work in the garden and am wearing my scruffiest work clothes.  I consider gardening a form of exercise, so I'm usually huffing and puffing.  My face is dirt streaked and fingernails blackened by soil.  Hair is pulled back or under a hat.

While I am not embarrassed by my disheveled appearance (gardening is hard work, after all!) I do feel for the first family in that nearly everything they do is public.   Michelle looked a little uncomfortable gardening today, as well would I if I were trying to dig in the dirt without getting dirty.   She managed to pose for photographs with a shovel without exposing herself, whereas I know I would manage to flash someone somehow.

Tomorrow when I take to the building of our backyard playhouse, I will look like a mess and be happy no one is there to record it.

Make it Yourself: Yogurt

A few years ago I stopped buying yogurt in little containers and purchased the big containers to prevent waste.  Then we transitioned from flavored yogurt to plain because most flavored varieties have so much sugar, thickeners and other unhealthy additives.  Now we are making it ourselves.  Homemade yogurt is so easy and yummy you should try it too! Start with good milk.  We use our raw milk from the herdshare.  Our milk comes whole and unhomogenized.  If I want extra special yogurt, I leave all the cream in, but usually I skim most of it and reserve for making butter.  (Post about making butter forthcoming.)  If you don't have a herdshare (really, only us crazy hippies do), choose fresh local milk wherever possible, in whatever fat content you prefer.

You must also have a starter to make yogurt.  For 1 quart of milk, you need 5 oz of starter yogurt.  I like brown cow plain or fage.  You can also piggyback with yogurt you make, but potentcy dwindles over each generation, so it's best to use a storebought starter at least every other batch.

Most recipes recommend pasteurizing your milk by gently heating to 180 deg. F, then quickly cooling to 110 deg. F before adding the starter.  Pasteurization prevents any incompatible cultures from interfering with the yogurt cultures.  I have been told that this step isn't necessary for raw milk, but I haven't been adventurous enough to try making yogurt without pastuerizing yet.

After the heating (or not), thoroughly wisk in the starter yogurt.  Pour into containers and keep at about 110 deg for 6 - 12 hours.

There are many ways to keep yogurt at temperature for the incubation period:

- in the stove with pilot light

-in a dehydrator set on low

-wrapped in an electric heat pad (the kind you might use if you pull a muscle in your back)

-in a yogurt maker

After experimenting with the other methods with little success, Alex gave me a yogurt maker for my birthday last year.  I almost never advocate one-use tools, but the yogurt maker has its place in our kitchen. I ditched the plastic containers that came with the set and designated a set of pint glass jars instead.

I like to leave an inch of room at the top for adding sweetener, fruit, or granola, or all three for a parfait.  When packing lunch on the go, I often add frozen fruit to keep the yogurt cool and tasty.

There you have it.  Homemade yogurt, free of sweeteners, thickeners, and other unhealthy stuff, and full of love!

Make it Yourself: Apple Snacks

We recently picked up more Ohio apples from a farm stand in north east Ohio while visiting my uncle.  (Our nearby local fave, Charlie's, is sold out until next fall.) We put some in the fridge for storage.  Charlie taught me last year how to keep apples fresh for months: 1) Wash apples. 2) Place wet apples in a plastic bag (like a grocery sack). 3) Gently close sack but don't let all the air out. 4) Place in refrigerator. 5) Every month or so, re-wet apples.  I was able to keep Charlie's apples from October - February this way until we ate them all up!

Our produce drawer isn't big enough to contain all the apples we bought, so Lil and I set to work making dried apples.

I used two Christmas gifts to help out: an apple corer and mandolin.  I peeled the apples, cored, and sliced with the mandolin.  Lil is in a 'peeled' apple phase, although I left some with skin on for me.

Lil took the apple slices and arranged them on the dehydrator.

We 'cooked' them for about 5 hours at 145 degree F and viola: apple snacks!

Alas, we took tons of these on our trip to Florida and they are almost gone already!

Vegetarian Picks for Columbus Restaurant Week

I am really excited about Columbus Restaurant Week.  I am telling everyone I know.  I even gave my brother in law some Dine Originals gift certificates for watching our dogs in the hopes that he will go support restaurants next week. There's only one problem.  I don't eat meat.  Fixed price meals usually don't work out so well for me.  I rarely ask for exceptions for prix fixe menus because the whole idea is to serve a standardized meal.

However, among the 42 restaurants participating in restaurant week there are some excellent meat-free choices.  Here's my guide for vegetarian* choices:

The Best - three vegetarian courses:

Barcelona - 7 course tapas meal, vegetarian option

Betty's - all choices appear to be meatless

Black Creek Bistro - four courses including mushroom stew I've been wanting to try

Bodega - Bruschetta, veggie pizza and panini, beer

Cafe Corner - choose two items plus dessert, many breakfasts are meatless and a few sandwiches too

Elevator - salad, vegetable strudel entree, dessert

Handkes - vegetarian option available

Inn & Spa at Cedar Falls - appetizer basket, salad, roasted red pepper linguini, dessert (four courses for $30 sounds like a great deal)

Katzingers - 2 small Vegetarian sandwiches, two sides, dessert

LaScala - salad, eggplant parm, and tiramisu (two diners for $30!)

Maca Cafe - Two veggie courses and wine

Pistachia Vera - mmmmm....tastes of 7 meat free sweets...

Press Grill - Salad, pizza, and dessert, two people for just $15

Rigsby's - skip pancetta on salad or hope for meat-free soup du jour, veggie pasta entree, dessert

Surly Girl - all choices appear meatless

Tasi - Breakfast or Lunch dish + drinks, $15 for two

Tip Top - salad, veggie roast entree, dessert

Tratorria Roma - manicotti, fresh greens, glass of wine

Tutto Vino - 3 veggie pizza choices plus salad and cheese course

Worthington Inn -  salad, garden vegetable plate, dessert

Z Cucina - salad, pasta with pomodoro sauce or eggplant parm, tiramisu

Good Possibility -

Alanas - meatless salad, risotto du jour could be meatless

*My definition of vegetarian is no red meat, white meat, or fish.  Eggs and dairy OK.

I still can't decide where we'll go.  I'm thinking Trattoria Roma for lunch one day and something else for dinner another day.   Maybe I'll even arrange a girl's night out at Surly Girl or Tip Top.

Have you decided where you're going yet?

Showcase of Citrus

The most fulfilling destination of our Orlando trip was the Showcase of Citrus pick your own farm.  Located about a 45 minutes drive west of our hotel at the Orlando convention center, the farm was nearly empty on Tuesday afternoon when we visited. You can buy bags of already picked fruit, but we chose to pick in the field.  Showcase of Citrus provides wagons and bags.  The fields are divided by a canal used for irrigation.  A nice play area is setup for kids to amuse themselves while adults shop.

Lillian loved running through the fields and climbing in the trees.  (Citrus trees do have more branches than apple trees which makes climbing them more difficult.)  The farm boasts that they use no chemicals, so I was comfortable letting her explore whereever she wanted.

In season when we went (late February) were Honey Tangelos, Orlando Tangelos (labeled as an heirloom variety), Pink Tangerines, Kumquats and Grapefruits.  We picked some of each.  Picking oranges is a bit more complicated than apples because oranges require tugging and are harder to tell when they are perfectly ripe.  But in less than an hour we had easily picked two 1/4 bushel bags.

Florida recently experienced a few cold days, so some of the rinds were frost damaged, but the interior fruit was still tasty.  Really tasty.  Everything was amazingly sweet.  The pink tangerines are especially delicious with a more delicate flavor than the tangelos.

We paid just $20 for the fun farm experience and a half bushel of fruit.  We put it in our checked baggage and the citrus was just fine when we arrived home.  Showcase of Citrus also offers shipping services at the farm and online ordering of gift boxes (November - April only).

Ravenous Pig in Winter Park FL

Lunch today was our best local (Florida) food for sure.  We ate at the Ravenous Pig in Winter Park.  They make most everything in house (smoked and cured meats being the specialty) and use local ingredients wherever possible. My lunch was a trio of appetizers from the lunch menu: the smoked paprika deviled eggs, pretzels with divine mustard cheese fondue, and charcuterie plate.  Alex and Lil ate the meat off the charcuterie while I enjoyed the pickled fennel, toast points, arugula salad, and oregonzola (a rosemary encrusted gorgonzola style cheese from Oregon).

Alex ate the shrimp and oyster po' boy.  He describes it as "Delicious! The shrimp and oyster were perfectly cooked and the apple slaw was a great compliment."  The sandwich came with shoestring fries which were also perfectly cooked.  I would have loved a side of homemade ketchup.

I had a Gin Mule and Alex had a Shipyard Nitro to drink.  The bar included several other enticing drinks and great draft beers.

This is the kind of restaurant I would love to return to again and again.  They are hosting a pig roast in mid March which will surely be a fabulous affair.

Winter Park is a suburb of Orlando.  The Ravenous Pig is most definitely worth the drive from your hotel near Disney or the convention center if you visit.  If you happen to be a local who has never been, get there soon!

Columbus Restaurant Week March 9 - 15

Check it out, Columbus!  We're getting our own restaurant week! Organized by Dine Originals, Columbus' independent restaurant association, Restaruant Week is your chance to enjoy 40+ prix fix menus for $15 or $30 each.  Menus are being posted now on their Restaurant Week page.

(If you've never heard of Dine Originals and love great deals, check out the gift certificate program.)

Why make time for Restaurant Week?  I could probably list 10 reasons, but I'm tired tonight, so here's my top 4.

1) Local restaurants employ local employees who need your tips these days.

2) Independent restaurants have more freedom to use local foods from local farmers.

3) You might find a new favorite place.

4) You'll get a yummy cheap meal.

I'm not sure where we'll go.  Perhaps we can hit up more than one restaurant, as many menus are available for lunch and dinner.  We must decide soon and make reservations, because at these prices seats will fill fast!

Which restaurant(s) are you going to visit?

Now is the time to register for Summer CSAs

Readers have been asking me about recommendations for Summer CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscriptions.  Wikipedia has a good entry on CSAs if you are not familiar. The truth is that this year, we will not participate in one.  We think we can grow everything we need in our backyard garden supplemented with trips to the farmers market every once in awhile.

For two years we participated in small CSA. We can't remember the name at the moment, but I'll update later if it comes to us.  The quantity was fine and produce was OK although not everything was grown on the farm.  The closest pickup was really too far away for us.

Last year we were part of a tiny CSA run by our neighbor's sister.  It was fantastic to directly support someone I know.  She is not offering a CSA this year.

If we were signing up again this year, here are the CSAs I would consider:

*Athens Hills CSA from Green Edge Gardens - we are getting the winter veggie CSA and it is bountiful and delicious.  They write on their blog that they will be offering a summer CSA too.

*2silos meat CSA - 2silos will be offering a summer version of the meat CSA this year.  They also have an veggie CSA but it is sold out.  Alex recently reported on the winter meat CSA if you want more info.

*Elizabeth Telling Farm - We don't have personal experience with this CSA, but others in the community like it.  We are always impressed with their produce at the farmers markets.

*Wayward Seed - Again, our only experience with Wayward Seed is through the great vegs we saw at farmers markets.  They also offer a fruit CSA which I am trying to figure out if we want to invest in.

*Sippel Farm - This CSA is sold our for the 2009 CSA season, but it is the most recommended farm by friends.  They are already taking names for the 2010 season!

Are you participating in a CSA this year?  If so, which one?

Did I miss any you would recommend?