I'm Baaaack

OMG! It has been way too long, friends. So sorry about that!

Partially the blog hiatus has come about because I'm 30 weeks pregnant and well, there is just a lot on my plate at the moment. I haven't stopped cooking, of course, but blogging what I cook has taken a back seat. Okay, a trunk seat, really.

But I'm back! Because last night I made a new dinner so delicious that it would be just plain wrong to not share it with you all: Meatball Sandwiches with Kale Rabe on the side. I'm working on getting that post ready; should be up in the next week or so. (You guys, I have leftovers for lunch today and I cannot WAIT! Seriously. As soon as the recipe goes up, make these.)

So thanks for hanging in there with me and stay tuned!

Recently Heard on the Internets

My father always says, "You can't have it fast, cheap, and high quality. Pick two. If you want it fast and cheap, it's not gonna be very good. If you want it fast and good, it certainly won't be cheap."

-- commenter on Serious Eats' post about the brou-ha-ha surrounding the recent discovery that Taco Bell's "beef filling" is only 35% beef, 5% below the FDA requirement that it be 40%.

Food Poem of the Month

(And this food poem goes out to my husband as we celebrate eight years together this month. Sodden with luck indeed. xoxo)

French Toast

by Anya Krugovoy Silver

Pain perdu: lost bread. Thick slices sunk in milk,

fringed with crisp lace of browned egg and scattered sugar.

Like spongiest challah, dipped in foaming cream

and frothy egg, richness drenching every yeasted

crevice and bubble, that's how sodden with luck

I felt when we fell in love. Now, at forty,

I remember that "lost bread" means bread that's gone

stale, leftover heels and crusts, too dry for simple

jam and butter. Still, week-old bread makes the best

French toast, soaks up milk as greedily as I turn

toward you under goose down after ten years

of marriage, craving, still, that sweet white immersion.

"French Toast" by Anya Krugovoy Silver, from The Ninety-Third Name of God.

Thanksgiving In a Pinch

You already know I love the food blog Serious Eats. They are for serious foodies, but they are so not above regular old non-gourmet grocery store food. Sometimes you do just need to go with what's easiest. And when you do, who doesn't want to buy the best-tasting of the many options available?

So I just love that they did this:

In a perfect world, all of your dishes would be homemade next Thursday. You'd toast the bread crumbs yourself, roll out the pie crusts, maybe even churn the butter (ha!). But just in case it's Wednesday night and you're having an I'm-so-screwed moment, or know that'll be you and want to stock up at the market this weekend, here are the winners of all of our taste tests for store-bought Thanksgiving foods: cranberry sauce, stuffing, frozen pumpkin and apple pie, pie crusts, gravy, chicken stock.


Click here to see all the results.

Turkey Day? There's an App For That

No but really: of course there is. I'm sure there are hundreds! But there's only one Thanksgiving helper app by the amazing foodie folks at Chow.

It just so happens I have one of those two-degrees of separation connections to the great founder of Chow, and she's really excited about this new app. So I'm helping her push it out a bit.

BUT, the truth is, I love Chow! Whenever I need restaurant advice or cooking advice, that site and its forums are where I turn to first.

So even though I don't have a smartphone, I'm downloading this app into my iTunes. Because you never know what kind of help you'll need come The Big Day!

Changing the Food System

I thought (my hero) Ruth Reichl's recent blog post on Changing the Food System offered fascinating and new (to me, anyway) perspectives and ideas on how to really enact this change that needs to happen.

And it was a beautiful hall, all carved antique wood, where Marion Nestle, David Kessler and I sat down to discuss the politics of food and health care....

We are all agreed on these basic facts. The question is, what do we do about it? And that’s where the most depressing part comes in. Because these politically connected people (David, after all, was the FDA commissioner who took on cigarettes), both believe that there are only two paths to political change. Campaign laws must be rewritten to prevent large corporate contributions. And the first amendment must no longer be interpreted as protecting advertising as free speech. Until that happens, political change is not possible.

I'd never thought of these before. But when I really think about it, it does make sense. It also kind of blows my mind...things I once thought of as totally un-related (obesity, factory farms, broken food system and large corporate contributions and advertising protected as free speech) are, clearly, very much related.

And so it goes.

Change might be longer in coming than we thought. But I still believe it will happen. Because it must.



P.S. If you are in need of something great to read over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, may I recommend the extraordinary Ms. Reichl's books? They are captivating, wonderfully written, all about food, and are auto-biographical. They are so good. I wish I hadn't read them so I could read them all over again. I suggest starting at the beginning and working your way to the present, though you could always do it backwards, as hubby did -- though not on purpose. Just worked out that way. And he did not enjoy them any less because of it. So really, just read them, no matter the order!

We can either pay the farmer or we can pay the hospital

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-09-24-11-year-old-schools-us/

Where Is My Milk From?

In the midst of the truly disgusting and scary egg contamination recall, other vulnerable foods spring to mind.

Namely, dairy! Check out this neat little tool* to help you learn as much as you can about what is often all-too-mysterious: the actual origins and processors of our milk.

Especially as someone who frequently shops at Trader Joe's (though I only ever buy organic dairy, no matter what store I'm shopping at, because of...well, all of this), where, as part of their low-price dealio, they take products from name-brand outfits and put them under their own TJ's labels, this is a huge help to me. Using this handy little tool, I discovered that a lot of their dairy is local to me and from reputably organic producers, like our beloved Nancy's Creamery -- which is a huge relief and wonderful thing to know!


* Confused as to where to enter in your code? It's right on the milk carton -- I totally missed it the first time!

Avoiding the Dirty Dozen

The Environmental Working Group just released their new Shopper's Guide to Pesticides. Have you seen this? Do you use it? If not, I highly recommend.

I try to be as conscious of the environmental and health impacts of the food that I eat, cook, and serve as possible. But the truth is, it's simply impossible to eat all-organic, all-local, all-sustainable, all-ethical ALL of the time. Well, perhaps it might be possible if I had a million dollars in the bank and didn't work and had the land space to raise chickens and have a huge garden. Then I might have the time and the resources to be able to make that happen. But I would still have to limit at what restaurants I ate, and I am okay (for now, at least) with not imposing such strict limitations on myself and my family.

So what I'm saying is: knowing what I know about the brokenness, filth, toxicity, and inhumanity of our food systems, and as someone who wants to eat as healthily and as safely for our planet as possible, I still need to compromise and make choices.

And nowhere is that more important than in the grocery store.

When I make my weekly meal plan, I also make up a grocery list and head to the store to stock up for the week. Sometimes a recipe will call for, say, red bell peppers. And sometimes I will buy them, if they're not grown and flown in from Chile or New Zealand (because for me personally, I've drawn the line there -- I won't support that much fossil fuel being used to bring me a bell pepper. Plus they never taste the way they should -- and why would they? They've traveled a looooong way to make it to my store).

But if I do buy them, I will only buy them organic. If the organic ones are too pricey (because OMG red or orange bell peppers are freaking expensive!), I'll either choose to buy the smallest one I can find, or pass and find some kind of a substitute, like a (usually cheaper) organic green bell pepper.

Why? Because bell peppers are on the Dirty Dozen list!

Check it out -- EWG has put together two lists:

THE DIRTY DOZEN
The top 12 vegetables and fruits that are the most susceptible to and carry the most pesticides on and in them when they are grown conventionally. So these are the 12 that you will want to go out of your way to be sure to buy organic. These are listed in order of "dirtiness," with 1 being the worst (ie, most full of pesticides).

1.  Celery (Who knew?! This is news to me -- and glad I know! I love me some celery sticks with peanut butter.)
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Cherries
10. Kale and Collard Greens
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (Imported)

THE CLEAN 15
These are the 15 fruits and vegetables that retain or carry the lowest amount of pesticides. This is where you can make your compromises if you need to buy non-organic. These are listed in order of "cleanliness," with 1 being the best (ie, least full of pesticides).

1. Onions (Yay, because for some reason, organic red onions are wayyy expensive here at some times of the year. I'm switching to conventional next time I shop until their price goes down.)
2. Avocado (Also yay because a) I loooove avocado and b) sometimes organic avocados are not even available in the store.)
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangos
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon

I was surprised to not see bananas on the Clean 15 -- I was under some mistaken assumption that they were on that list. I am now switching my banana-buying habit to organic-only.

If you're wondering how much pesticides really get into your system and how bad they really are for you (in other words, how much should you pay attention to the Dirty Dozen or the Clean 15), you can read the many, many reasons why or here's a brief summary of what EWG has to say about it:

Some of the most toxic food pesticides have come off the market in the past 15 years. But some pesticides considered safe now will invariably be restricted in future years. Chemical agribusiness interests might assert that pesticides in food are perfectly safe, but the reality is that many pesticide uses that are on the books as safe today will be found unsafe by EPA in the future, based on new science, new understandings about the mechanisms by which pesticides can harm the human body, or strengthened policies for health protection within the agency itself. 

EWG research has found that people who eat five fruits and vegetables a day from the Dirty Dozen list consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat from the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides daily. Concentrations of organophosphate pesticides, including chlorpyrifos and malathion, in elementary school-age children’s bodies peaked during seasons that they ate the most produce. Conversely, exposures fell to non-detectable levels in just 5 days, when they switched from a conventional diet to eating exclusively organic foods.

So how about you? If you find these useful, you can download a PDF to print out and then cut out your own little card with the two lists. I've got mine in my purse for when I go to shop. And if you're an iPhone user, you can download their app to take it with you!

No More KENNY??? WTF, Top Chef!

Okay you know I love me some Top Chef. But there's always one point, in every season, where I get really disappointed in them because they send one of the most -- if not THE most -- talented chefs home and let crappy, mediocre, sloppy chefs stay because they managed to not frick up entirely but didn't shine at all either.

Ugh.

That's what happened last week -- Kenny (aka The Beast) was sent home. Remember how I had predicted he would win it all? Well, he certainly had the chops to do so. And I think he was completely DONE WRONG last week when they sent him home, leaving the equally shabby and embarassing Amanda and Alex to continue.

So I haven't watched this week's yet, because I'm still mad at them. I'll get over it and I still want to see who wins, but I'll always hold Kenny in my heart as the true deserving hero.

Okay, ranting done. What about you? Are you enjoying this season? Now I'm rooting for Kevin to win. God I hope Angelo doesn't win.

New Season of Top Chef!

Has anyone else been watching? I am, of course, watching religiously.

We're only 5 episodes in but already I have my favorites and decidedly un-favorites. And my prediction for the winner: Kenny.

He can cook his ass off, that's for sure. He knows what he's doing in the kitchen, he's got crazy skills, AND he's personable, mature, a natural leader, and a good manager.

And if he won, he'd be the first person of color to win Top Chef. That would be huge! I would love to see that happen already. And it's about time, frankly.

I think Angelo is his main competition (these two chefs clearly think so, too, what with their constant trying to out-maneuver one another), and happily for me (because it makes for funner watching), Angelo is my #1 Un-Favorite. Ugh. He is gross. And not just because of the weird, awkward way he keeps coming onto Tamesha. Plus homeboy needs to bring his ego down several notches; he's just not all that.

Also, will we see our first Top Chef hook-up with Tiffany and Ed? I love it.

What are your predictions? How are you liking this season?

Amen

Michael Ruhlman is spot on. Amen!

We can’t expect big business to have our best interests in mind, nor expect the media to stop ringing the all-in-one Salt-Is-Bad! Fat-Is-Bad! alarm bells. Big companies want to sell us their goods any way they can. If they can take advantage of our confusion about how to eat, they will, rubbing their hands and chuckling with delight.... I blame us for being stupid.  It’s our own damned fault. We need to stop paying for lies and start paying more attention to what we’re eating.

Ultimately, our eating habits -- good, bad, or ugly -- are our own responsibility. Yes, manufacturers need to change their ways. But the only way they will is when it becomes profitable to do so. In other words, when we as the consumers change our habits, both in regards to eating and purchasing.

Here's to reading the fine print....

Meatless Mondays

Have you heard about the Meatless Mondays campaign?

I love the idea: their goal is to "help reduce meat consumption [by] 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet."

Why meatless? "Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. It can also help reduce your carbon footprint and save precious resources like fresh water and fossil fuel." Hell yes!

Why Monday? "For most Americans the week begins on Monday. On Monday we move from the freedom of the weekend back to the structure of work or school. We set our intentions for the next six days. We plan ahead and evaluate progress. From an early age we internalize this rhythm. And studies suggest we are more likely to maintain behaviors begun on Monday throughout the week. That makes Monday the perfect day to make a change for your health and the health of our planet." Awesome! I love that. Hadn't ever thought about it, but makes lots of sense. And I really love that they are of the it's-all-a-spectrum ilk; ie, if you don't go meatless this Monday, there's always next Monday to give it a whirl.

As any longtime readers of this here blog know, around here at Casa Dena we usually do the inverse: Meatful One-Day-a-Week! But I know that it's hard for lots of folks to give up meat for dinner, especially if you grew up with the framework that dinner simply isn't dinner without meat on the plate. So I totally applaud the attempt to get people to forgo meat one day a week; it's very do-able. And I love that they're getting restaurants in on it. What a way to normalize it, make it seem do-able, and make it easy for folks to take part.

And the newest signer-on? Mario Batali! Yes, he of orange-croc-wearing fame, of Food Network fame, of mouth-wateringly delicious food at restaurants like Babbo fame.

How cool!

And another bonus to a meatless anyday: it's much cheaper! Going without meat is a real recession special, if you ask me. My recent recession special new trick: using dried, bulk beans. It is difficult to remember to soak those bad boys the night before, but when you do, it feels like you've turned $0.37 into a meal for four people!

And if you're interested in good recipes for your next Meatless Monday, I've got lots of vegetarian recipes in my archives. Or you can check out my favorite simple and yummy vegetarian food blog, 101 Cookbooks.

So what about you? How often do you eat or cook meat? If you don't eat it every day of the week, do you do that consciously? How hard would it be for you to not eat meat every Monday?


(Also, can we talk about that little fact that the entire city of San Francisco signed on? That RULES! I'm not exactly clear what that means for dear old SF, but I can imagine it really working out there.)

(And a big hat tip to my dear friend -- and truly delicious home chef -- James for alerting me to Chef Batali's joining the campaign!)

Hilarious Food Blogs

So if food doesn't ordinarily make you laugh, these blogs will (I guarantee) have you in stitches. The first, CakeWrecks, is one of my very favorites. I have to check in with it every day for my giggle -- and sometimes outright guffaw -- of the day. The second I just discovered thanks to my friend James, and it appears quite promising.

Cake Wrecks - http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
(I can't pick just one favorite, but here are 3 really good ones...)

My Food Looks Funny - http://myfoodlooksfunny.com/
(Since I just started reading, I don't have a favorite yet, but this one cracked me up.)

Food Poem of the Month: Ode to Chocolate

My work has gotten CRAZY what with a 1,700-person event in one week, so for now I'll keep my posting simple and leave you with this ode to chocolate -- the darker the better.

It's also kind of an ode to my hubby, who is a chocolate aficionado, but only if no milk or cream has come into contact with it. He likes it, like his coffee and beer, dark, complex, and bitter. Before meeting him, I didn't think I liked chocolate. But now I know better: I've learned to love the fruity, complex over and undertones of a piece of good dark chocolate. Scharffenberger's 62% is my very favorite.

Ode to Chocolate

I hate milk chocolate, don't want clouds
of cream diluting the dark night sky,
don't want pralines or raisins, rubble
in this smooth plateau. I like my coffee
black, my beer from Germany, wine
from Burgundy, the darker, the better.
I like my heroes complicated and brooding,
James Dean in oiled leather, leaning
on a motorcycle. You know the color.

Oh, chocolate! From the spice bazaars
of Africa, hulled in mills, beaten,
pressed in bars. The cold slab of a cave's
interior, when all the stars
have gone to sleep.

Chocolate strolls up to the microphone
and plays jazz at midnight, the low slow
notes of a bass clarinet. Chocolate saunters
down the runway, slouches in quaint
boutiques; its style is je ne sais quoi.
Chocolate stays up late and gambles,
likes roulette. Always bets
on the noir.

"Ode to Chocolate" by Barbara Crooker, from More.

Let the Free Market Decide

Remember that little graphic I posted a few days ago about why salads cost more than Big Macs?

"...My pie in the sky dream is to end subsidies for agribusiness and end subsidies for animal production and basically let the free market decide the cost of a pound of beef and a pound of chicken. If there were no subsidies for beef, a pound of beef would cost around $25, and if every aspect of animal production wasn't subsidized, a family of four going to McDonald's for a quick meal would spend $75. So really it's like the silver bullet that fixes the problem. And I would almost think it would make for interesting bedfellows, where you might even get some libertarian Tea Party people to talk about ending giving subsidies to animal production. But then again, not to be too inflammatory, but thus far every single person in the Tea Party is a raving lunatic, so I don't expect them to join our cause any time soon."

-- Moby, author of Gristle: From Factory Farms to Food Safety (emphasis mine)

Amen, Moby. It thrills me to just imagine it.

My Favorite Things

If you're a new reader or have been a loyal and steadfast Recipe Exchanger since the days of yore, you may have noticed a new little list I've got on the right-hand side (below "Where I Shop"): My Favorite Things.

It's a collection of things I use and love in the kitchen -- and wholeheartedly recommend. As well as some non-kitchen, but food-related, items.

If you've got any can't-live-without Favorite Things of your own, I hope you'll share; I'm always looking for the best kitchen tools to round out my collection.

Dena's Favorite Things

• Microplane Grater/Zester (The Classic: I love this microplane for zesting citrus and grating spices like nutmeg.)
• Microplane Grater (Medium Ribbon: If you're not grating hard cheeses and chocolate with a microplane, you haven't lived!)
• Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Skillet (The King of all pans. Deserted island + cast-iron skillet = just fine with me.)
• All-Clad Stainless Fry Pan (The King of the stainless pan. Seriously. All-Clad is worth the $$$.)
• Wusthof Chef's Knife (The ultimate chef's knife. Indispensable.)
• Chicago Metallic Jelly Roll Pan (The only baking sheet I ever want to use.)
• San Marzano Organic Canned Tomatoes (San Marzano tomatoes make the best sauce. They're far from local, but at least they're organic!)
• The New Best Recipe (This is my food bible. If you want the best recipe with exact instructions that has been taste-tested to perfection, the Cook's Illustrated folks are who you turn to.)
  
• How To Cook Everything (My secondary food bible. I love how Mark Bittman makes everything easy and simple, and shows you how to take 1 recipe and give it endless variations.)
• The Omnivore's Dilemma (The seminal work from Rebbe Pollan on how our current food systems do not work, and how we need to change.)
  
• Food Rules (The follow-up to The Omnivore's Dilemma that answers the questions you're left with after reading that book, "What should I eat? And how?")
  
• Like Water for Chocolate (The book: My very favorite novel about food and eating. It is as lush and delicious as your favorite meal.)
• Like Water for Chocolate (The movie: Amazingly, the movie version of the book is, in my opinion, actually better! I adore this movie. I laughed, I cried, I got really, really hungry.)

What am I missing/forgetting?

OMG!

Top Chef is going on tour?!?!? How fun! How delicious!

I think hubby and I are going to have to drive up to Portland in June to check this out! I wonder which chefs will be there? And do we think Tom and Padma and Gail might be there? Doubtful. But a girl can hope!

Rocco!

No, not DiSpirito. No, not Ritchie.

Meet our Rocco! We brought him home from the shelter 20 days ago. He has been a total joy and a "rocc"star. No but really -- he's been a total champ and is a complete lovebug. We are so happy to have him in our family.

He's my new sous chef. (He likes to hang out in the kitchen with me while I cook. Can't imagine why.)

Why DOES a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?

Since I'm so inspired by the adorable and brilliant Jamie Oliver's latest quest, I came across this graphic and very short article and had to share.

Why Does a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?

"Why does a salad cost more than a Big Mac? Part of the reason is that a huge proportion of our food subsidies go to meat while only 0.37 percent go to fruits and vegetables. That makes meat and dairy artificially cheap, so we end up consuming more of it than we should, and getting fatter."

P.S. Did anyone else watch Jamie last night?