Cooks Needed--Chefs Need Not Apply

Marcella Hazan, the respected cookbook author, has an op-ed piece in The New York Times about the importance of home cooking and home cooks. I especially like her point about how well-prepared food cooked at home can bring families closer together than a restaurant ever could. Read it here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Buffalo News has a nice opinion piece today by a woman from the American Farmland Trust about the important of supporting local farms. You can read it here.

If you were able to incorporate anything local into your feast this year, we would love to hear about it.

Best wishes to everyone, and I hope that you have much to be thankful for this year.

Other Food Folk and the Future

I have recently started spending some tie scoping out other food blogs, just to see some approaches other people are taking to blog about their food experiences and get ideas for making Locavore better. In my internet perambulations I came across two really standout sites, both based out of New York City.

1. Smitten Kitchen has amazing food photography and a lively, conversational writing style.

2. Not Eating Out in New York started out as one woman's "brown bag" chronicles, and has now developed into a site filled with delicious recipes, a practical rating system, and a fun take on cooking--especially highlighting local and sustainably produced foods--in a city known for its amazing restaurants.

Buffalo Locavore has been up and running for about 4 1/2 months. Like any collaborative venture, the site has experienced some growing pains, but I am excited about the direction we are taking. We started this as a way to share our experiences finding quality local foods and sharing our food adventures, even if it is just something as simple as me remembering the small joys of cooking or Ann reporting about what was in her CSA basket for a week. Winter will present some posting challenges in terms of sourcing food, but the challenge is part of the fun!

Vote for the Edible Communities Local Awards

I received an e-mail from Edible Buffalo about voting that is currently going on for the Edible Communities 3rd Annual Readers Choice Local Hero Awards. If you get a chance, visit their site here to place your votes. According to the e-mail I got from Lisa Tucker of Edible Buffalo:

Anyone from the 8 counties is eligible (Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Wyoming and Genesee).

Here are the categories you can submit nominations for:

Farm/Farmer
Beverage Artisan
Chef/Restaurant
Food Artisan
Non-profit Organization

You can only vote/nominate once, so please forward this to friends, family and associates! The winners will be announced at the upcoming Edible Communities publishers conference in January and all of the winners will be featured in the spring issue of Edible Buffalo.

Curbside Croft an Urban Farm

I have had a couple of conversations with a great group of people namely, Justin, Emily, Matthew and Brandon who are working to start an Urban farm on the West Side of Buffalo. This will be, a far as I understand, a for profit venture which is very exciting! It will be located at the corner of West and Vermont Sts. They plan on using a permaculture model which will allow them to grow organically and will also use Small Plot Intensive (SPIN) cultivation which will allow them to grow more food than normal on a small parcel of land. The plan is to sell the produce from the site and also to bring it to local farmer's markets. This is an exciting development for the West Side! If you are interested in learning more about this group contact Brandon at 716-982-2327 or email at curbsidecroft@gmail.com

Root Cellaring

The New York Times had a great article yesterday on maintaining a root cellar and the return of home food preservation methods that always seems to happen during economic downturns. Interesting stuff. You can find the article here.

Why New York?

I took a long weekend and drive down to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame with a couple of friends from Pennsylvania. It is about 280 miles from Buffalo, over to Syracuse, down to Binghamton, and then up a little bit toward Albany. What does this have to do with food?

Well, the bulk of the drive goes through rural New York. Particularly on I-88 from Binghamton to Cooperstown, the roadside is dotted with wide acres and picturesque farmhouses. Signs of previous farms are also scattered on hillsides in the form of falling barns and decrepit outbuildings. The Southern Tier has already had their first snow, and some of the structures were dusted with the new snow--it added to a very Halloween-creepy feeling in some areas.

Whenever I drive in rural areas like that I always wonder the same things: if you are not a farmer, where do you work to earn income; how do you do your shopping in the winter if there is a snowstorm and you are running low on the basics like milk; and, do the people who live in these small towns long for the hustle and bustle of city life the same way I often want to trade in my Cape Cod and conveniences for fields and a farmhouse? When I was in college in very rural Allegany County I knew that most non-farmers worked for the local colleges, many residents had big freezers and 4-wheel drive, and escaping to Wellsville or Hornell often filled big city needs. It was an idyllic town, where the colleges brought entertainment to campus and life was very rarely boring. But I wonder how life outside of college towns in rural areas is shaped.

Overall, I will say there was one stunning thing that struck me with every new mile I drove--New York is a beautiful state. I saw a lovely variety of rolling hills painted umber and russet with dots of green and swaths of brown, cows and horses roaming happily on gentle slopes, and many areas that were perfectly suited for picture postcards. I always thought my home state, Missouri, was filled with natural beauty (especially because of the Ozarks), but every time I travel in New York State I am struck anew by how much I love living here. It is often the same for me just driving around Buffalo.

What does this have to do with food? Not much (aside from seeing a good number of farms, anyway). However, it did remind me why thinking local is important to me. These are real farms and real lives in our own state that we are supporting every time we choose something that wasn't shipped here from Chile or California. For me, it makes me feel more connected with my fellow New Yorkers, and proud that I live in an area of such bounty. It just gives me one more reason to appreciate the small joys of where I live, and why I have chosen to call this place home.

Organic Gardening Donates to Growing Green

Last week, I attended a unique ribbon cutting in the City of Buffalo. The Massachusetts Avenue Project's Growing Green program received a 1000 gallon cistern/rain barrel from Organic Gardening magazine so they can water their urban farm with what would otherwise have gone down the drain and into the storm sewers. A great addition to a wonderful urban farm. A reception followed the ribbon cutting, and was held in the straw bale greenhouse that growing Green owns. A lovely greenhouse, and good catering from Trudy Stern of Tru-Teas, as well. I love going to Growing Green events because everyone there is always so welcoming. You really get the sense that the people there love what they do, and it is inspiring to be even a little part of that.

As an added bonus, the new Mobile Market was also being painted in front of the farm. It was great getting a peak at this exciting "farmer's market on wheels" that is going to make such a difference in bringing fresh produce to people, like residents of senior centers, who would not otherwise have easy access to fruits and vegetables.

The website for Organic Gardening is here. Their website has some helpful hints for gardeners sorted out by region, so it is worth a look if you have questions about how to get your garden ready for winter or plan for Spring.

Apple Picking CANCELLED

This is just to let you know that the apple picking trip scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled due to high likelihood of inclement weather (heavy rains and high wind). Please do NOT meet at Bidwell Parkway at 2pm, as no one will be there.

The Community Comes together 60 York St.

60 York St. has made an incredible turn around, it has gone from a dumping ground where dog fights happened on a weekly basis to a place of beauty. This is due to the hard work of the Cottage District Block Club. Ellie Dorritie is the woman in charge of this little piece of hell now turned into heaven, she along with other members of the block club bought it from a flipper on Craigs List and now have been working with Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo, Councilmember David Rivera, and the Mayor's Liveable Community Grant process to ensure that it becomes a place to grow food and beautify the neighborhood! D'Youville College is also having a clean up day today on York St. where they will be helping the Cottage District out with this Garden. I also dropped off some irises that I split from my garden!

CSA Fatigue

It's hard to believe, but I only have two weeks left on my CSA with Thorpes Farm. Reflecting on the experience, I would say I'm very happy I did it and did my part to support a local, family farm. There were some really delightful moments - like when I would make a beautiful, crisp salad filled with organic greens and veggies or when I made homemade tomato sauce for the first time. There were also the times when (and it pains me to admit this) when I threw stuff out. Some weeks there just wasn't the time or effort put into consuming all that was brought home. Having grown up first generation American, with parents who were fairly poor and consider it a sin to throw away food, I have a lot of guilt bred into me (being Catholic doesn't help, either).

What might I do differently next year? I may look into CSAs that will deliver at a specific spot, hopefully near work or somewhere in the city. While the drive out to East Aurora is gorgeous, it can be an inconvenience when you have to rush out of work early in order to get to the farm and still let the dogs out on time!

I would also do a small share for just my husband and me. We went in with a large share with our friends and they didn't seem to enjoy the CSA as much as I did, mainly for the driving factor but they also didn't care for a lot of the veggies we got. So the husband and I tended to get more than our share (see point above about throwing food away).

But you can't beat the fresh eggs and few times I bought pork and beef from them. I was far more willing to eat the meat from their farm vs what one gets at the grocery store.

I would absolutely recommend joining a CSA to anyone who is thinking about it. Just remember that it's a commitment and you'll be wasting food unless you like to cook or share your food. It was a great experience to eat (mainly) seasonally this year, and I hope more people in WNY support these incredibly hard working families.

Come Apple Picking With the Locavore Crew

The writing crew here at Buffalo Locavore (Whitney, Kirk, Ann, Brian, and me) are going apple picking.

We will be meeting at Bidwell Parkway next to Talking Leaves at 2pm on Saturday, October 25, 2008 and carpooling up to Murphy Orchards to pick apples and learn a little about our region's Underground Railroad history. You can find out more about the orchard here.

Leave a comment if you plan on joining us so we can get a rough head count. Hope to see you there!

Start Your Chili Right with Growing Green

I recently received an e-mail from the delightful Zoe Hollomon of the Massachusetts Avenue Project announcing a fun event at the Amherst Street Wegmans this Sunday. Please see Zoe's message below, and turn out to show your support if you can!

"Greetings from Growing Green! Growing Green Youth will be at Wegman's on Amherst St this Sunday October 12th from 11am-2pm to promote their Amazing Chili Starter for the fall and winter months. So if you haven't stocked up on your comfort foods for the cold months please come by this Sunday to Wegman's on Amherst, ; we'll have samples of our Amazing Vegetarian Chili with roasted sweet potatoes- if you havent tasted it yet its Yummy!. We'll be in the Natures Market Section in the rear of the store near the deli. If you love our Amazing Chili or prefer something else please look at our alternate recipe ideas and get experimental for your taste buds! Growing Green really appreciates your support of a youth run, eco-friendly, local food business. "

Teresa's Apple Pie Recipe

I promised this recipe a couple of weeks ago, and then got so overwhelmingly busy my posting time was limited. So, at long last (and in perfect time for apple season) here is my apple pie recipe.

For the crust:

First, a tip. For flaky pie crust, you must use ice cold water and don't overwork it. I put water in a measuring cup and throw a couple of ice cubes in, and then use a measuring spoon. Also, a good pastry blender (a hand-held implement with 4 or 5 wires attached in a kind of "u" shape to a handle) is really essential to good blending.

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

2/3 Cup Shortening (really, there is no substitute for shortening when it comes to crust)

6-7 Tablespoons of Cold Water

Use a pastry blender to mix the flour with the shortening until the mixture is in roughly pea-sized crumbs.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is moistened.

Divide the dough in half.

Form each half into a ball.

Roll out each ball with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface until it forms about a 12 inch circle.

Wrap one dough circle around the rolling pin and unroll it into a 9" pie plate (I recommend glass for even heating).

Wrap the second dough circle around the rolling pin and set aside while you make the filling.

For Filling:

2.25 Pounds Cooking Apples (I like Ginger Gold if you can get them) cut up to equal about 6 cups

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 tbsp. Lemon Juice

2 tbsp. Flour

2 tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Nutmeg

1 tsp. Curry Powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and toss with apples.

Place apples in dough-covered pie plate.

Unroll rolling pin-wrapped dough over top of apple mixture.

Crimp together both crusts around pie plate.

Cut off excess around edge of pie plate.

Cut steam slits into top crust of pie.

Place foil or crust shield around pie. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Remove foil or pie shield. Bake for an additional 25 minutes until top is golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack (so air can circulate around pie as it cools).

Enjoy!

Tiny Tomato

My husband found this perfectly ripe tiny tomato in our backyard garden. Most of what we got this season (which was not as much as we were hoping for) were the size of baseballs. This is my hand in the picture, and I wear a Women's small for gloves, just to give you an idea of the size.

Anyway, nature is cool. Mostly because it is always full of surprises.