Cast Iron Pans and Brussel Sprouts
by Jan on January 2, 2010I am often asked what my favorite tool in the kitchen is.
Well… it clearly depends on what I am doing.
And so today, I will begin to share my tools with you, one by one as I find myself in the kitchen, grateful for a tool or wishing I had a better one. A classic piece [...]
“I’m done with organic,”
by Jan on December 27, 2009“I’m done with organic,”
said my dear friend Clarissa when she and I were talking on the phone this week about our chickens. We were comparing what we feed them. The cost of organic grain, at $23 a bag, makes me clean out the fridge more often to feed the chickens. There is great pleasure in [...]
What’s the holiday without a housemade pate in the fridge?
by Jan on December 12, 2009It’s the season for hunting and slaughtering and my catering kitchen has become a butchering room. In the walk-in refrigerator hang four sides of pork and two sides of venison. Our neighbor, Bobby brought over the meat of a fresh killed buck as we will need the lean meat to add to our pork and [...]
Read More »Stocking up: Pigs in the Freezer
by Jan on December 10, 2009We slaughtered our pigs this week. We raised two this year. They were brothers who were happy, easy going fellows; a cross breed of Old Spot and Tamworth. We had to take what we could get this year here on Martha’s Vineyard when it came to piglets. Since we prefer to get pigs bred here [...]
Read More »Giving Thanks to our food sources: Grateful for bringing local food to those that need it the most
by Jan on November 26, 2009Recently, a group of us got together and gleaned a potato field at Morning Glory Farm, the largest farm on Martha’s Vineyard. Gleaning is the collecting of crops left behind after the farmers have collected what they need or want. There are many reasons farmers leave the crops behind, but mostly it is driven by [...]
Read More »All eggs are not created equal
by Jan on November 16, 2009I was with my brother and sister last week when the subject of eggs came up. You’d think it was a fairly benign subject, right? Not so much. My brother, knowing who I am, was proudly telling us that he eats brown eggs. And me, being me and being the bossy older sister, said, “Well [...]
Read More »Nourishing the Soul on Junk
by Jan on November 13, 2009What are White Castle sliders and Twinkies doing on a localvore blog?
Food is medicine. Good nutrition comes from good clean local food. These are my mantras. So what happens when the family wants to engage in junk food consumption?
Yesterday, we drove through Flushing, New York where my husband grew up.
We had just buried his mother [...]
Autumn Fruit Leather
by Jan on September 28, 2009There is nothing like a blue September sky day with rays of sun that can make a raspberry burst, with hints of fall crispness.
September and October is my favorite time of year and I always call raspberries my favorite fruit because I can fully enjoy the perfectness of this fine berry. But yesterday the Autumn [...]
Strawberry Season is Worth the Wait
by Jan on July 7, 2009Strawberries…
I love them when they are picked still warm from the vine in the early summer. But, today there is a stack of strawberries at my local grocery and I am not tempted…
The list of toxic chemicals to facilitate the growth of those hard tasteless red buds:
methyl iodide — a carcinogenic substance so dangerous that [...]
Maple Syrup and Sustainablity and A Berkshire Destination
by Jan on July 7, 2009A restful stopover in the Berkshires includes a stay at the Sweet Water Inn in Great Barrington. This is my third visit and when I arrive this time, I feel as though I am coming home. Andre and Lynda are the hosts of this 6 bedroom B&B just 5 miles outside of town. Here they [...]
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