I haven’t had a chance to post as much as I’d like lately; suffice to say that sometimes I just have way too much job and too little blog, but that’s the way it is. It’s particularly unfortunate because of all the lovely, delicious fruits and vegetables that are filling the farmers markets right now.
Late July and August are my favorite months for produce – I can stuff myself with melons, peaches, zucchini, tomatoes, and all kinds of good things.
I especially love when both peaches and tomatoes are around because I love combining them both – in salads, on pizzas, and in this delicious gazpacho.
I’m a newcomer to gazpacho – it always seemed kind of strange to me, to be honest. Too chunky and it’s like eating a bowl of salsa. Too thin and it’s like a sad bloody mary without the liquor. But I had a peach and tomato one during DC Restaurant Week last year that changed my mind on gazpachos, and I’ve been trying them this summer.
I particularly like this one because I can almost literally dump the contents of my farmers market basket into a blender and it’s perfect. I experimented a lot with the flavors in here, adding bits of this and that until I finally found a combination I was happy with. The general formula that seemed to work was about 3 parts tomatoes to 1 part peaches, and then some garlic, onion, a bit of pepper and basil to round out the flavor. Any more peaches and it starts to taste like a smoothie gone awry.
I wasn’t planning to do many restaurant reviews, but America Eats Tavern, a new venture by famed DC chef Jose Andres, inspired me.
America Eats Tavern is a new pop-up restaurant in the space that used to house Cafe Atlantico, one of my favorite restaurants. What’s particularly interesting about this new restaurant is that Andres it’s closely tied in to a new exhibit at the neighboring National Archives: What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam?
Like the Archives exhibit, America Eats is focused on American food culture and history – the origins of quintessentially American dishes like fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, clam chowder, and more. This obviously appeals to my own interest in history and culture, so I was very excited to check it out.
Every inch of the restaurant has been decorated to celebrate the history of American food – the place is done up in patriotic colors with a massive mobile of old ads and food-related pictures adorns the three-story restaurant.
The cocktail menu is a stunning list of classic cocktails, some of which have been forgotten by history, and some well-known old friends like the mint julep. We tried the Jack Rose, the New York Sour, the Southside and the classic DC Rickey. All were delicious; my favorite was the New York Sour which was much fruitier than a typical whisky sour. My friend really liked the Southside, which was reminiscent of a mojito. The beverage menu, like the food menu, features a short history of each item.
Like the drinks, the food is an exploration of traditional American foods. Here things get interesting though – Andres often isn’t content to prepare an 19th century recipe without giving it a decidedly modern twist, often using some of his signature molecular gastronomy tricks like foams and sous vides. So the dishes are traditionally rooted, but presented with Andres’ modern interpretation, kind of like a Flintstones-meets-the-Jetsons kind of culinary experience.
I feel like I need a palate cleanser after my last rather rant-y post, so let’s take a gander at my favoritest melon ever:
This is called a Canary Melon; I’ve also seen it called Juan Canary which somehow makes it even more charming to me. Canary melon is indescribably good, but I’ll give it a shot: sweet, similar-to-but-better-than honeydew, flavorful, just simply amazing. I have no idea why these aren’t as ubiquitous as cantaloupe and honeydews in the grocery stores; if I had my wish there would be a chicken in every pot and a canary melon in every fruit bowl.
So far I’ve only been able to find them at the farmers markets from late July through August, and I stock up because they sell out quickly. If you’re in the DC/Northern Virginia area, check out the Saturday farmers market in Del Ray and the Sunday farmers market at Columbia Pike and Walter Reed – they both have them right now.
They’re hard to miss – bright yellow, football-shaped, with slight ridges. Pick a firm and heavy one with no noticeable soft spots.
It’s hard to improve on perfection, but they’re also good with a light sprinkle of lemon juice.
Originally I was planning to post about this, but after a discussion on Twitter I realized this is a common problem for bloggers and thought I would post about my experience.
Even though I’m a infant in the world of blogging, I recently had to deal with finding my work (recipe and pictures) re-posted on another website. Imitation may be the greatest form of flattery, but stealing my stuff is the greatest form of pissing me off imaginable.
Blogging is a lot more work than a lot of people may realize. I certainly enjoy it a lot, but I put considerable time and effort into preparing recipes, researching interesting facts and background, staging pictures, editing pictures, and writing posts. I’m not doing this for profit (although I secretly harbor a dream that someone will give me a $1 million cookbook advance, naturally), but it is my work and I’m proud of it.
What particularly irritated me about this exchange was that after I requested the blogger remove my recipe for Rhubarb Bars, she tried to shift the blame and burden to me, saying that it was my fault for not making my copyright information more clear. She also characterized what she did as “reblogging” which is a nice little euphemism for theft, as far as I’m concerned. It’s like saying I “repurposed” your car for my use instead of yours. I’m pretty sure the police would call that grand larceny.
This is the email the blogger sent me after I requested she remove my content:
I’ve taken down what you requested, but for future reference your “copyright” information is NOT easily found.
Most people, myself included, do not click on an “about me” page to find that sort of information. The only reason I know it’s there is because I came back to your website to check for it because when I posted the recipe and link back to your site there was nothing visible at the time.
You might want to consider adding it to your sidebar, footer, or separate page to be a bit clearer if you don’t want people to reblog with no intention of theft (thus the link back) in the future.
This message isn’t meant to be rude but to be a bit informative from another point of view.
The onus is on you, not the content originator, to ensure you have the authority and permission to republish.
Your argument is akin to saying that someone who leaves their home unlocked is at fault for being robbed.
The bottom line is this: if you didn’t write it or take the picture, it is not yours for the taking. Just because it’s on the internet does not mean you can take it, even if there is no mention of a copyright (although there was in my case). If you want to re-post someone else’s work, it is your responsibility to get the permission and authority to do so.
Putting a tiny link at the bottom of the post doesn’t excuse stealing content, either.
Some tips:
If you post one of my pictures, plus a link to the post, that’s fine. If you try out a recipe, and post it with your own picture, that’s fine. I think most bloggers would agree that these are generally acceptable. When in doubt, ask.
But republishing a recipe in its entirety without permission, plus my pictures, is a BIG no-no. At best it’s unethical; at worst it’s illegal. Don’t do it. Just ask.
I love seafood so much I think I was probably a mermaid in a previous life. Or perhaps this guy:
I AM a more than a little French, after all. Make total sense.
So imagine my surprise to discover that there’s an entire fish market right here in DC! I’ve lived here for seven years and I had no idea it was there, right on the waterfront. In fairness, that’s not a hugely trafficked area, and DC people really aren’t seafaring people. We’re lawyering, lobbying, filibustering, suit-wearing people, but seafaring? Not so much.
It’s right by one of the major bridges out of the city, and I practically drive over it every night. So once I found out about it I decided to go down and check it out on a Saturday morning, because what could be better than a crab cake for breakfast at 7 am? (Answer: a crab cake and clam chowder at 7 am.)
It’s a little overwhelming, even at 7am, with all the merchants shouting and so many delicious fish to choose. The smell is…ripe, the prices are great, and the selection amazing. This is fast becoming a regular weekend stop.
Always willing to try something new, I picked up a pound of small octopus. I was picturing making them like fried calamari but apparently they get really tough and are best when braised.
I saw a picture of this Italian wine harvest bread once and have wanted to try it for the longest time. I was hoping to learn some secrets of Italian bread baking during a trip to Italy to a few months ago. Unfortunately, a series of disastrous events turned the trip – originally a two-week adventure which included cooking classes in Tuscany – into a couple days spent holed up in my Rome hotel room with pneumonia while trying to book a flight home to attend a funeral.
Someday I’ll get back to Italy and do it right, including the cooking classes. Until then, I’ll be content to turn my kitchen into a learning lab while I try to master some techniques.
Which brings us to the Schiacciata con l’Uva:
No, I have no idea how to pronounce it. But I can now definitely bake it, and it is glorious. Crunchy, chewy, flavorful, savory and full of burst grapes, which take on a firmer texture when baked. I brought the leftovers to work and almost everyone thought the purple things were berries, not grapes.
In an ideal world, we’d all live in vineyards and have plenty of wine grapes at our disposal. Unfortunately, I haven’t quite made it there yet, and have to procure my grapes from the neighborhood grocery store. Any kind of grape will work fine, but I used seedless black ones.
It’s a gorgeous holiday weekend here in DC, and I’ll be spending much of the weekend at barbeques, enjoying cold beer, watermelon, burgers, brats, and time with friends.
This salad is one of my favorites to bring to a summer gathering. It’s a twist on the classic caprese salad of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, substituting fresh peaches for the tomatoes. It’s perfect for this time of summer, when tomatoes aren’t quite ripe yet but South Carolina and West Virginia peaches are already making an appearance. The peaches go well with creamy mozzarella (especially buffalo – yum!), and basil and white balsamic vinegar give it a lovely finish.
I recently read a wonderful book, Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War, by Annia Ciezadlo. I made one of the recipes in the book and wanted to post that, plus my review of the book, for you to enjoy. I hope to be posting reviews of other food-related books periodically.
Day of Honey is about Ciezadlo’s experiences as a journalist and newlywed working in Iraq and Lebanon, and the culture, history, traditions, customs, and personal experiences that bring people together, even during the most terrible circumstances.
This book eludes standard categorization. To call it a just a memoir would be selling it short, as would be calling it a food book or even a book about the Middle East. Day of Honey is about how people maintain their humanity during times of war, often through the simple act of sharing food.
We meet a cheese seller in Beirut who keeps his shop open during fighting to sell cheese to people who “think they will never be able to taste it again.” She tells her own story of running into the kitchen, where heavy fighting is going on outside the window, to drain noodles before they become soggy. Her interpreter in Iraq invites her to a massive feast, risking her own safety by bringing an American to her home. A young Iraqi boy at a gas station in Iraq’s Anbar province hands Ciezadlo and her husband cups of tea. And eventually, Ciezadlo wins over her mother-in-law by asking her to teach her Lebanese cooking.
Some of this is expected, as Arabs are renowned for their hospitality. I didn’t fully appreciate that until I was sitting by the sea in Muscat, Oman, and an elderly man eating a snack-sized bag of Lays potato chips kept insisting that I eat some. And I can’t even fathom attending a meeting anywhere in the Middle East without being offered tea. Hospitality is just a way of life there.
But Ciezadlo goes beyond explorations of traditional Arab hospitality, focusing on how in times of war, food becomes essential to maintaining community and fellowship.
You thought I was going to let a Sunday go by without doing a sweet recipe, didn’t you? Never fear, I haven’t forgotten! I was just on a short vacation for the last couple days. I took a long weekend in West Virginia to get away from the heat and do a little hiking.
It was also a chance to take out my new macro lens for a, uh, click. I’ve wanted a macro lens for years, and I finally talked myself into shelling out the money for one. I love it so much! When I was in third grade I begged for (and got) a microscope for Christmas, so I’ve clearly always had a penchant for seeing things up close. So this weekend I found myself traipsing through fields of wildflowers taking tons of pictures. This is one of my favorites, of a tiny little grasshopper on a chicory flower just over an inch wide.
All in all, it was a lovely and much-needed weekend to relax and get some fresh air.
When I got back home I was hit by inspiration: three almost black bananas that I’d forgotten about before I left. Banana muffins! The perfect end to a lovely weekend!
I used a bunch of chopped dates instead of the more traditional walnuts because I really need to cull my date stockpile. I still have dates that I picked up in Oman a couple years ago, and they’re still delicious but I need the pantry space back. Dates and bananas always go really well together; in fact it was in Oman that I came to really appreciate the combination, as I’d constantly eat these fine dates and itty bitty bananas. I pretty much lived on them, plus some occasional seafood. What a lovely place!
I loosely based these muffins on this recipe, but used honey instead of sugar and adjusted other ingredients accordingly, and added some spices. Oh and no crumb topping; I just sprinkled on turbinado sugar. The result are muffins that are rich and moist and not overly sweet, studded with bits of date throughout for an extra bit of sweetness and texture.
Banana Date and Honey Muffins
Yield:12 muffins
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:25-30 minutes
Total Time:35-45 minutes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 large very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped pitted dates
Turbinado or other coarse sugar
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease muffin pan.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cardamom in bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, blend together bananas, honey, egg, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract.
4. Add banana mixture to flour, stirring until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Stir in dates.
6. Fill muffin wells about 2/3 way full.
7. Sprinkle some turbinado or coarse sugar on top of batter.
8. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
A few months ago I was shooting pictures for a post on citrus, and ended up with a giant pile of orange wedges, which I brought into work. One of my friends commented that she forgot how good fresh oranges are, because she never eats them.
I asked why, and she said they’re too much of a pain to peel, and she doesn’t think about cutting them up to bring into work, so she just doesn’t usually eat them.
This got me thinking about how sometimes I’ll buy something like a cantaloupe or pineapple and not get around to cutting it up until it gets too ripe to eat. I realized that have this vague sense that preparing these things somehow takes an inordinate amount of time, and I don’t get to them right away.
I think this is actually part of why we don’t always eat as healthy as we’d like – fruits and veggies often just aren’t as convenient as opening a box of crackers or chips for a snack. So we reach for what’s easiest, avoiding the washing, drying, peeling, cutting, refrigerating, bagging, etc that goes into preparing healthy snacks. I think most of us would like to eat better, and I’m certainly not here to preach. God knows I don’t always make the best eating choices, but those choices are much easier when healthy options are convenient and readily available.
So, for the past several months I’ve been timing myself as I prepare all kinds fruits and veggies, to see how long it really takes. I’ve diligently documented everything, and the results are below. They actually surprised me quite a lot – almost everything, including melons and pineapples, can be cut into bite-sized pieces in less than 4 minutes. The only thing that took longer than that was removing the arils from a pomegranate – about 9 minutes.
fireman put on a stretcher and hoisted to ramp above 25 minutes ago. I was on the east bank of 4-Mile Run and watched it. @drgridlock01:09:01 AM February 09, 2012from web
I haven’t had a chance to post as much as I’d like lately; suffice to say that sometimes I just have way too much job and too little blog, but that’s the way it is. It’s particularly unfortunate because of all the lovely, delicious fruits and vegetables that are filling the farmers markets right now.
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, by Annia Ciezadlo. I made one of the recipes in the book and wanted to post that, plus my review of the book, for you to enjoy. I hope to be posting reviews of other food-related books periodically.
for a, uh, click. I’ve wanted a macro lens for years, and I finally talked myself into shelling out the money for one. I love it so much! When I was in third grade I begged for (and got) a microscope for Christmas, so I’ve clearly always had a penchant for seeing things up close. So this weekend I found myself traipsing through fields of wildflowers taking tons of pictures. This is one of my favorites, of a tiny little grasshopper on a chicory flower just over an inch wide.
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