Quote of the Day: Robyn Griggs Lawrence
Preparing food is an ideal way to hone your creative flair and bring sense of beauty into your home. You have to do it every day, anyway – and if you stop to recognize the simple majesty of the objects you bring home in grocery bags, making dinner will be a lot more fun.
Next time you unload the groceries, particularly the produce, do so mindfully. Notice the fine white hairs protecting the carrot’s flesh, the squeaky wax binding the cheese wedge, the chunky shapes or fine straight bands of different pastas. How can you make the most of crisp spring greens, plump August tomatoes, golden fall pumpkins? You can toss them, mash them, and spice them up for consumption, of course, and you can also use them to add seasonal grace to the dining room table.
Robyn Griggs Lawrence (The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty)
There’s nothing I love more than heading to the farmers market each week to see what each vendor will have. Fresh sheep’s milk yogurt, honey, cheese, carrots, kale, cabbage, apples and a few other goodies made it into my bags on Friday. To me, it’s all about relishing the fact that time moves forward, seasons change, the sun rises and sets, and food changes as this happens.
Meals shouldn’t be just about eating, they should be about appreciating the distinct flavors of the seasons. The more food I grow in my garden and the more wild foods I learn to gather, the more I appreciate each thing at the height of it’s flavor. The longer I eat seasonally the less I want to eat things that aren’t fresh and at the peak of ripeness. Asparagus picked a few minutes before eating is so much better than some I’ve pulled from the freezer in late November. Not only is the flavor not as good, but it seems wrong to eat it when the skies are gray and the earth is settling in for it’s long winter’s nap. This time of year apples fit the bill better than asparagus.
This doesn’t mean we have to learn to cook new things each season, often we can learn to make one dish and adapt it for different flavors. Crepes are one of those versatile dishes that everyone should learn to make. They’re quick and easy to make and you can stuff them with anything sweet or savory. In June you’ll find them on our plate stuffed with strawberries, in late winter, with kale, eggs, bacon and cheese. You can even use different types of grains to make them even more flavorful!
Yesterday morning we enjoyed homemade crepes of freshly ground wheat flour, eggs from our chickens, milk from a local farm and local butter. Instead of adding water to the recipe I used apple cider since it was in season and my crepes were going to be stuffed with cooked apples. For the filling, I combined apples, more cider, butter, molasses, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. Each crepe was smeared with some sheep’s milk yogurt then stuffed with the apple filling, and chopped crispy walnuts. A little drizzle of maple syrup and a sprinkling of cinnamon topped it off perfectly. The perfect brunch on a saturday in December!
What would you choose as your favorite crepe filling combo?
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Relaxation and Research
Mr Chiots and I have a lot of big plans for great new things for the blog, including some kind of internet TV show of sorts. We do videography as part of our business, you might remember some of those Ethel Videos I made, like the one on how to make the perfect pie crust. Here it is:
Our new show will be all about gardening, cooking, local food, and other things we find interesting. We’ve been doing research on these types of showing, gathering ideas for filming and topics.
We also have been watching all the River Cottage Series of videos (links to the seasons below). If you love gardening, cooking and local eating, you’ll love this series from the UK. Most of them are available on Amazon for a great price. There’s nothing I love more than seeing other people encouraging others to grow their own and eat local. There are many seasons, lots of great commercial free entertainment for only a few dollars! It certainly has been nice to spend a little time sitting and relaxing, even if it is research for a future job.
What kinds of topics would you be interested in seeing in a Chiot’s Run TV show?
Escape to River Cottage
Return to River Cottage
River Cottage Forever
Tales from River Cottage
Beyond River Cottage
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Traveling Fools
Mr Chiots and I are travelers, we’ve spent many hours driving across the country and have visited many states. Driving is our preferred method of travel because there are so many interesting things to see. There are so many interesting things to see while you’re on the road, gardens, houses, businesses, cars and people.
Yesterday, we traveled in a big truck and got to see a whole different view. The world looks completely different when you’re up that high. I saw things on our trip to Maine that I’ve never seen before because they’re behind embankments and trees.
Of particular interest to me while traveling, is the beauty of the natural landscape. Nature really does do it best, it’s amazing that we spend hours planning, planting and tending our gardens and they pale in comparison to the beauty of a wild garden. We can learn a lot about gardening by taking note of wild areas.
What do you notice most while traveling?
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Quote of the Day: Ellen Ecker Ogden
A kitchen garden may just be a fancy name for a vegetable garden located near a kitchen door, filled with tender greens, aromatic herbs, and select fruits that are harvested on a daily basis. Yet it can also be a way of life. A successful kitchen garden engages all of the senses through a rich tapestry of colors, fragrance, and ultimately flavors. When you cultivate a kitchen garden, you actively engage with your source of food and integrate with your natural surroundings in a way that far surpasses the experience of purchasing food at the market. Growing your own food is truly the next logical step beyond “local”.
Ellen Ecker Ogden from The Complete Kitchen Garden
My first seed catalog arrived in the mail last week, it was from High Mowing Seeds. Each year, I choose a new garden company to order seeds from, I want to try them all. As I was flipping through the catalog I was dreaming of my 2013 edible garden.
The coming years are full of possibility, I have more space and can finally grow some of the things I’ve dreamed of growing for so long but haven’t had space to grow. I really love how edible gardening connect you with your food. It also gives you a deep appreciation for the food that you do get from elsewhere. After you’ve grown your own food, you know exactly how much work goes into it.
Have you received your first seed catalog yet?
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Holiday Fun
This week we’ve been in Ohio. We traveled back on Thanksgiving day, enjoyed a big meal on Friday and on Saturday with our respective families. Sunday, Mr Chiots went down to the family cabin to hunt, while my mom and I stayed at her house. This week as been filled with lots good food and holiday fun.
We set up a small Christmas tree and the kids and I made popcorn, cranberry, and gumdrop garland for it. The kids loved making simple decorations for our tiny tree.
Later in the week we made cookies to send to my brother down in Georgia who won’t be able to make it up for a visit this year.
Tomorrow, Mr Chiots and I will be heading over to sign the closing papers on our house, the buyers will hopefully be signing next week. This coming weekend we’re celebrating Christmas with my family, then we’re heading back home to Maine. We’re looking forward to a laid back Christmas at home!
Do you ever celebrate holidays early?
