bee creative

at the kitchen table: made with love

The food that tasted the best this week was a small sandwich handed to me by a friend.  She had placed a bit of tuna and cream cheese on a small bun and offered it to me because she knew I probably wouldn't have eaten much on my own. 

The second best meal was a picnic I had packed for myself: an orange, a roll, some cheese and salami. It was cloudy and windy, but warm, so that day my friend and I sat at a picnic table by the river while we had a break from the class we were taking.

Sometimes the best meals aren't organic, local, elaborate, or involved. 

They are about companionship and affection.   

(This is an old picture I am revisiting.)

This week I didn't prepare much ahead and I didn't eat much. It was, in fact, the kind of week that proves to me over and over that I eat better when I cook ahead.

One thing that I did make on Sunday that supplied breakfast for several days...

Yogurt cake (this recipe) with poached quince and roasted grapes. 

When I add fruit to this recipe I usually use about 1/2 cup and add it last, once the batter is in the cake pan.  For this cake I stirred the grapes into the batter and then added the quince last. 

The quince I am working with is from my garden.  I planted a tree about five years ago and it is one of my favorites.  It is a beautiful and productive part of the garden. 

Quince is according to Nigel Slater in his book Ripe, "the most ancient of fruits."  If anyone is lucky enough to find some and needs recipes, Slater's book has a nice assortment.  There are also recipes in Local Flavors by Deborah Madison and a recipe for making jelly at "Food in Jars".

For various reasons I didn't go to the farmer's market this week.  I still have peppers, the Swiss chard (which was never cooked so it's still okay for soup), winter squash, a cucumber and a few sweet potatoes so these will be the foods I will work with this week. 

My goal for tomorrow is to make lentil soup with the squash and Swiss chard, a batch of polenta, and maybe a loaf of bread.

  

on the curb

One morning, standing at the bus stop, I considered that the curb is a liminal place.
Liminal... a place of transition.
As a pedestrian (or a squirrel) the curb is the transition from a place of safety, to a place of risk.
Stepping off the curb is to be in movement.
Things collect along the curb...leaves, trash, water, thoughts.

...

Stripes for October 23rd:  2 stripes gray, 2 stripes purple and 2 stripes green. 

I've realized that I need to save most of my rows for the purple if I want those stripes to be the measure of sunlight, otherwise I will have a monster scarf. 

...

Other projects:

I finished stitching the lettering (Melville's quote that is in the sidebar) on this

and then cut it up to sew into a basket. 

It now needs, as Jude would say, some design mending. 

Also there has also been a bit of moon making...

Walnut/onion dye bath over cotton print. 

 

 

at the kitchen table: thankful for preparing ahead

This week was one that I was incredibly grateful for having prepared foods ahead.  Meals were easy and included:

1. A mixture of beans, eggs, peppers and corn. 

2. Celery, pears and blue cheese for a salad. 

3. Sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and corn with a bit of olive oil and vinegar + a cornbread muffin. 

And then there was this: sweet potatoes, broccoli, and apples. 

I might have gone a bit overboard with the Tamari this week, it's been awhile since I've had it in the kitchen and it sounded so good.  I used it in the dressing for the above, plus olive oil and a bit of roasted sesame seed oil.  The apples were pickled so I didn't add any additional vinegar to the mix, otherwise a bit of vinegar would have been good. 

And then more tamari here, as part of a marinade for tofu, along with more roasted sesame oil and orange peel.  The tofu was pan fried along with the peppers.

As an experiment I put a piece on top of a slice of bread and topped with spinach. 

Success, very good! 

For comparison, I topped another slice of bread with roasted tomatoes (a favorite food) and a bit of cheese. 

I enjoyed the tofu and spinach just as much as the tomato and cheese. 

To me that's a very happy thing.

Ingredients to play with this week: more tofu, cranberries (from the farmer's market!), quince that I poached today, cucumber (maybe the last for the year?), Swiss chard, perhaps the last of the tomatoes, pumpkin,

and romanesco. 

 

sun moon sun

I thought it would be all gray today for the liminal scarf, but no there will be a few purple stripes as well. 

About 2 hours after sunrise the sun broke through. 

The winds last night weren't nearly as strong as forecast,

were even less than the highest gust on Friday (67 MPH). 

I think one of my favorite things about weather is that it is still rather unpredictable. 

Not completely knowable until it is experienced. 

And that it is something we all share.

The moon too, is something that we share. 

This was my second attempt at a moonflower. 

The first try was too big and a good reminder to work smaller,

keep it simple. 

The moon cloth is from Jude. 

I knew it wanted to be a flower right away.

Today I dyed this. 

Onion skin over indigo.   

The goal was to make a moon but I think it wants to be a sun...

 

at the kitchen table: starting with prepared components

Meals for me always start with a few hours of food prep each weekend.  Steaming or roasting a variety of vegetables, cooking a grain and/or beans, lentils, or split peas.  Occasionally meat or pasta.  These act as components that can be mixed through out the week.

For this coming week: corn, tomatoes, spinach, sweet potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. 

Cooking this way allows for quicker meals on work nights and easy to assemble lunches but still allows a lot of room for creativity. Nothing is very complicated which allows for cooking without recipes. 

***

A few of the things on the menu for October 8th to the 15th: 

salads, enchiladas, and celery soup. 

On Sunday

I steamed broccoli and corn and roasted tomatoes and carrots.

And made a batch of lentils.

Lentils + broccoli + red pepper  + feta = a salad

Remaining broccoli + lentils + roasted carrots + mozzarella tucked into tortillas topped with a sauce of blended tomatoes + a pinch of spices (mostly cumin and oregano) = enchiladas. 

A good foundation recipe for enchiladas is in The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen.

Celery (both leaf and stem) + onions + carrots cooked in water and then blended = a soup base.  Tried a bit out with cheese and toasted bread and as a sauce with: 

zucchini + peppers + mozzarella + pumpkin seeds + olives.

Although it was fine, I wouldn't say that the celery soup base was really successful as a sauce.  Probably would have been better if I'd made a dressing by stirring a tablespoon or so into olive oil and vinegar. 

It was at it's very best warmed up again with a bit of cream and homemade pasta (here's a link to how I make pasta) added to it.

To me local celery has more flavor than what is available at the grocery store.

So very good!

***

Does anyone else prepare ahead? If so what is your favorite thing to have ready to go?

***

No farmer's market this week due to the approaching storm.  Right now the forecast is for possible gusts up to 70 MPH...which means the power might go out. I'm making cookies and preparing to defrost the refrigerator...

 

 

perhaps first we start with sky

I did not get as far as I wanted to...

I have several ideas regarding stars that I want to explore but only got as far as knitting a bit of sky today.

And this, I have this to share from Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane (I have just started reading the book so the only opinion I have is that it starts beautifully and it may be one I need to add to my collection so that I can absorb it slowly.):

"Considering the verb to consider, he reminds us that it comes from the latin con-siderare, and that carries a meaning of 'to study or see with the stars'.  Etymology illuminates- a mundane verb is suddenly starlit." 

The "he" that is being referred to is Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

Which makes me want to reread Emerson. 

 

up on a soap box, at the kitchen table...

"I wish more people would try these, know how good they are,"

he said as he weighed the peppers for me.

Jimmy Nardello peppers. 

I've tried growing them, but here in my little ecosystem it doesn't get hot enough.  15-20 miles away it is warm enough that they are field grown. 

I've thought of this conversation often over the last couple weeks, especially after Grace pointed the way to this...

 

 

When one of the people being interviewed spoke of growing up with whole foods and the knowledge of how to prepare them, it reminded me of something that I've bumped into many times as an adult, of how my childhood experience was not average for my generation and the culture I am a part of. I grew up surrounded by fish being pulled from the sea or fruits and vegetables from the garden (and a bit foraged as well). 

It worries me that in so many ways we are moving as a society towards not just a disconnect with where food comes from, but of cooking itself.  That if you are interested in food that doesn't come from the grocery store, precooked or in a tidy package; you must be a "foodie" as if cooking whole foods is something that become elevated above the common experience.

It worries me that a simple mixture of vegetables, spices and grains seems like something daunting to my co-workers when they ask me what I am eating.  That it is outside of their experience to cook something similar. 

And it worries me that as a culture, cooking is a spectator sport. 

 

I am thinking it's time to blog about food on a regular basis again.  Not on my other blog (bee creative cooking, which I think I want to leave as is; a year's worth of seasonal eating and cooking) but here, each Saturday. 

I hope that as I make notes about food, cooking, recipes (even more importantly, how to cook without recipes), or what I might be harvesting seasonally from the garden; that cooking whole foods (mostly fruits, vegetables and grains because that is primarily what I eat) might seem more accessible to someone.  That it might be a way to gather at a communal table of some sort for friends and family. I hope whoever comes to visit will share their experiences, the meals that they enjoy. 

It can only help us all have more choices, be more resilient. 

35 dollars worth of fruits and vegetables from today's farmer's market.  Other food purchased for the week: milk, cheese, organic sugar (canning quince this weekend), and some chocolate.  The rest of my supplies for the week will come from the pantry. 

Next Saturday I'll gather my notes about what I've done with all of this.  I won't necessarily eat it all this week, some will be preserved to help me meet my goal of eating locally through the winter. 

Tomorrow I'll be back to share a star or two. 

sun and moon, stars to follow

Originally I picked yellow yarn in honor of the sunshine this week.  Today it also seems in honor of the falling leaves and the dandelion. There is very little sun today.  I think there will be candlelight and soup tonight, in honor of warmth.  It dipped down to 39 F one night this week, that's my threshold for turning on the heat although I haven't yet. 

In honor of the moon there is this:

And the question, what if a moon had tentacles to propel itself across the sky?

If it was this world we would be unmoored. 

I am stitching white/clear/pearl type buttons around the edges. The colors are either the natural wool or plant dyed (but I don't remember with what...probably apple leaves for the silk and the brassy color onion skin and something else).  Hand spun yarn of wool and silk.  Crocheted.

And there is this:

Found at a thrift store about a week ago. 

Full copper moon.

Filled with rain water, a few walnuts, and a piece of fabric folded around an autumn leaf. 

Where stars might be born.