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Harmonious Belly Housekeeping

Hello everyone! I thought I’d write a little about some changes to the site – a little housekeeping – that I’ve made over the past month or so.

First, though, I want to thank everyone who has visited to read posts, commented, and shared content with others. It really warms my heart and makes me happy to know that what I provide here is of interest and help to your own life. I originally started this site to keep me on track with my eating habits and practices, as well as documenting my foray into traditional/NT style eating; I’m glad it has blossomed beyond that and positively affected other people.

As for the changes to the site, I’ve updated both the look and functionality here. Here’s what’s been going on:

Visual

  • There’s a new header up there! I thought it was time for a change. The image comes from a photo I took a few weeks ago at the Socrates Green Market. The font is Zapfino.
  • I’ve eliminated the background color that wrapped around the content area of the page, in order to give more of a feel of spaciousness.
  • I’ve implemented new menu and navigation fonts. I’ve used a more decorative web-safe font via the Google Fonts plugin for WordPress. The font is IM Fell English.

Functionality

  • You can arrange to have posts sent to you via email. Check the sidebar for the signup form.
  • I’ll be launching a monthly newsletter very soon. There are a couple of links to the subscription form on the site (in the navigation menu at the top of the page, and in the sidebar), but you can also subscribe to the newsletter here. I’d love for you to sign up!
  • At the top of the sidebar, I’ve added a link to my personal Google+ profile, where I share content from time to time. Links to other relevant social media sites are there, too. Please consider following and becoming a fan of Harmonious Belly!
  • You can now share on Tumblr! Thanks to the reader that suggested it.
  • There’s a new Link Within widget at the the bottom of each post.
  • I’ve created a Privacy Policy, too.

Additionally, I’m an affiliate for The Thesis Theme for WordPress! I love this theme, and happily recommend it to others. Click on the previous link or the image in the sidebar for more information.

I’m always interested in hearing from readers of Harmonious Belly. Please feel free to contact me with questions, tips, and anything else that’s on your mind.

Thanks again for reading!

Meg, Founder and Editor
Harmonious Belly

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Hellgate CSA Week 13

CSA Week 13
What we got this past week in our Hellgate CSA share

This week was marked by a huge fruit share – awesome. Summer veggies are still with us, but fall arrived with some amazing crispy apples and succulent pears. In total, we got:

2 pounds of tomatoes
1 eggplant
1 pound green beans
1 pound peppers
1 bunch leeks
1 head lettuce
1 pound plums
2 pounds peaches
1 pound nectarines
2 pounds apples
2 pounds pears

I’ve been enjoying the tomatoes in quesadillas, with patties of turkey sausage (from the CSA), and I’ve also eaten them with the eggplant and peppers for a delicious saute (punctuated with home grown basil). I’ve been snacking on the apples and pears. The nectarines turned into a fruit crisp, the recipe for which I’ll post next week – it’s all naturally sweetened, with sprouted flour in place of the white flour.

I may end up making another shrub with last week’s peaches – needless to say, things got crazy last week, so no Week 12 will be posted.

Here’s to continued good eating!

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Washington State Cheeses

cheeses from Pan D'Amore

While I was in Washington last month, I stopped at Pan D’Amore, a wonderful bakery in Port Townsend. They sell all sorts of things (flourless chocolate cookie, yum), including cheeses made by the Mr. Townsend Creamery, located on the other side of town. I wanted to go to the Creamery originally, but our timing and their open hours didn’t match. So, I picked up a few things at the bakery instead.

Good thing, too, as I’ve never seen the Cougar Gold (made by Washington State University Creamery) at the Mr. Townsend Creamery.  It was fantastic – very sharp and crumbly. The Seastack (I often kid around and call it “Sleestak“) is a soft ripened cheese, and the Trailhead is a tomme. These last two are still in my freezer, to be enjoyed at a near future later date.

I also bought some raw milk cheese called Jewel, from the Dungeness Valley Creamery, which is also very tasty. It’s basically a medium-sharp cheddar.

I am a big fan of local and artisanal cheeses, so having these on hand makes me happy!

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September Queens Swap

I’m happy to announce that the next Queens Swap – a Queens-based food swap – has been scheduled! It will be on September 17, 2011 at Fresh Start Market in Astoria, Queens. If you’d like to join us, please register via our Eventbrite invite.

We’ve taken an inadvertent break from organizing food swaps, but hope to make things more regular from now on (meaning, every other month). My friends Judith and Charlene will be helping organize, and we brought on another organizer, AJ. I think it’s a terrific group of organizers, if I say so myself!

Fresh Start is a great neighborhood natural foods market. They host our CSA pickups out in the back patio, which is where the food swap will be held. During the first CSA distribution, we served some amazing lemonade to our members – I think the swappers would love it, too.

I’ve been preserving all summer, so I’m looking forward to sharing some of it as part of the swap!

For a report of our previous – inaugural – food swap, please check it here: Queens Swap Success!

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Socrates Greenmarket and Mexican Panzanella

greenmarket sign

A couple weekends ago, I visited the Socrates Greenmarket for the first time – what a great market! It’s small, but packs a punch in its offerings. There, you can find all sorts of vegetables, fruit, bread, honey, juice, and even duck.

Apart from wanting to check it out for personal reasons, I went there as part of a meetup event with the Traditional Community Kitchen, a Meetup group focused on real, whole, unprocessed and traditional foods (I’m a co-organizer with them). Members come from a wide range of backgrounds – from those that follow a Nourishing Traditions way of eating, to Paleo, to vegan and vegetarian. Our events are a lot of fun, and the meetup at the Greenmarket didn’t disappoint.

We met around 11am and proceeded to take a tour of the market with the market manager, Markella Los. She took us to each stand and talked a little bit about the farmers and the farm and what they had to offer. It was really interesting and so nice to have more insight into each market vendor.

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Saxelby Cheesemongers Donate Profits to Hurricane Relief Efforts

hurricane ireneAs you know, Hurricane Irene has been devastating to residents in upstate New York and Vermont – the flooding has been astonishing, and it has really caused a lot of pain and suffering among those who live and work up there. That includes farms – some farmland has been destroyed, and that put many small farmers and their families in financial peril.

A number of organizations are helping with relief efforts, but the one that is on my mind presently arrived in my inbox this morning, from Saxelby Cheese, a wonderful little shop among many other wonderful little shops in the Essex Street Market, a destination for those who love delicious artisanal products.

Here is Saxelby’s offer:

In New York City, Hurricane Irene was billed to be a potentially catastrophic storm. In the end, for us it came and went without much fanfare. However, there are countless farms across New England that suffered tremendous losses, and are continuing to suffer as power is slowly restored, roads are slowly rebuilt, and stock is taken of the widespread damage that the storm left in its wake.

Saxelby Cheesemongers depends on the vitality and hard work of our regional farmers to provide our shop with some of the country’s finest cheeses. Though many of our cheesemakers were spared from Irene’s destructive path, some were hard hit. This week from Monday through Sunday, we invite you to help us give back to our upstate and Vermont neighbors by buying their cheese! Being a do-gooder has never been so delicious!!

This week only, from Monday, September 5th through Sunday, September 11th, Saxelby Cheesemongers will donate 50% of the profits from the sale of New York and Vermont Cheeses at our Essex Market shop to Hurricane Irene relief efforts spearheaded by the New York and Vermont Chapters of the Red Cross.

Sounds like an excellent deal to me and a great way to support the Red Cross’ efforts in the area. I am planning on stopping there on Friday before I pick up my salmon share in Brooklyn. I’ll likely pick up a cheddar and some kind of goat cheese.

And if you can, please pass on this message to those local to the NYC metro area.

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Il Punto for Lunch

This week I mentioned the wonderful cheese goodness I had last week during my lunch at Il Punto, an Italian restaurant on 9th Ave in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Il Punto serves classic Italian dishes from the regions of Florence, Naples, Milan, Rome, Puglia, and beyond. It is a great place to get a solid and flavorful meal, prepared with care and attention, and beautifully presented. I found it to be a calm, soothing spot for a leisurely lunch with a new friend.

After our appetizers of caprese salad and burrata with figs and prosciutto, we were presented with a dish called Timballo. As one of Il Punto’s signature dishes, it was reminiscent of a round lasagna and was obviously al forno (from the oven) – it was baked and had a pleasant crust on it. Within there were wide sheets of pasta layered with béchamel, surrounded by a beautiful meat ragu reminiscent of a bolognese sauce. It was rich, savory, and smooth, and I loved it. I would absolutely order this again.

timballo at il punto
Timballo at Il Punto

My dining companion and I split this dish, but it could easily be split between four people, or eaten by one for a satisfying lunch or light dinner.

Continue reading “Il Punto for Lunch”