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Happy Computer Upgrade

The subject line says it all – I have a new computer!  I bought it on Sunday (Boxing Day) morning.  Right before the crazy blizzard hit.

It’s quite an upgrade – my old computer is about 5 years old, very slow, and it was almost impossible to work with images anymore.  Not to mention I was running out of hard drive space.  The hard drive on my current computer is huge, and there is ample memory.  It’s nice and fast, too. I’m also loving the SD card reader built right into the machine, which makes transferring images super easy.

This new hardware will make it easier to blog.  I’m very happy about that!

Speaking of the blizzard… whoa.  This was my street on Monday afternoon.

This sure is pretty, though.

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Astoria Giveaway: Brunch for 2 at Vesta

I just wanted to let my local NYC readers know that there is a terrific giveaway happening on another blog I write for, We Heart Astoria.  We are celebrating the season with an aptly named title, 12 Days of Giveaways. The giveaway is brunch for 2 at Vesta, the wonderful Italian-inspired restaurant that I’ve written about here before.

I love their focus on local, organic, sustainable produce and humanely-raised meats.  Not to mention a great wine list, and you can even get local wine on tap! The guys that run the place are really nice, and the space is wonderful and cozy.  I go there to indulge a bit, too, in the form of the Baby Jesus Cake.  It’s a date-based cake with a toffee sauce, and it is beyond delicious.

Brunch items that I particularly like are the L’Italiano and the Warm Bankie, that latter of which is perfect for a cold winter morning.  Their coffee is very good, too.

All you have to do is head on over, tell us in the comments what your favorite brunch item is, and you’ll be entered into the drawing for brunch at Vesta!  This is a great giveaway item, for sure. We’ll pick a winner on Monday 12/13, so you still have plenty of time to enter.  Hope to see you there in the comments!  Note: commenting on this site will not qualify as an entry.

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Food Fun in Washington State – Better Living Through Coffee

While I was reading up on my raw milk purchasing opportunities (via the Real Milk site) in Washington, I came across a listing for a cafe in Port Townsend that offered raw milk as an option.  I had never considered that there could be such a thing – needless to say, I was pretty excited!

That place is Better Living Through Coffee.

It’s  very warm and cozy place, with great coffee, located downtown.  I saw a number of people there relaxing and hanging out with their friends, which was a welcome sight (the local Starbucks by my house recently remodeled their interior with unfriendly seating, so I noticed the comfort level here right off the bat).

According to their website, they serve “traditionally prepared, nutrient-dense food and baked items”, and that is absolutely true.  They are sympathetic to Nourishing Traditions and the work of Weston A. Price (not to mention Sally Fallon). A lot of their food is locally sourced, too – meat, fish, dairy, flour – it’s all from around Washington.  Their coffee comes from their sister company, the Port Townsend Coffee Roasting Company.

Up on the wall just outside the inner entrance, they’ve posted statements about why they do not serve soy, and their preference for whole and cultured dairy, both of which I support.

The drink I had was delicious – I think it was called a breve. It was basically a cappucino with extra cream in it! The milk itself was raw, from Dungeness Valley Creamery, but the cream was not – however it was non-homogenized, organic, and it was grass-fed.   Total yum.

So nice to know there are places like this around.  I sure wish there was something like this in New York City, but our current laws I am sure would not allow it.

Next time I’m in the area, I will go back for sure!  And if you’re in the area and love coffee (or tea, not to mention sweet and savory treats), definitely give them a visit.

Better Living Through Coffee (BLT Coffee House)
100 Tyler Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360.385.3388
7am-6pm, Closed Tuesdays

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Food Fun in Washington State – Retail Raw Milk

I am back from Washington!  I had a most excellent time, in part because I was simply able to take a break from the east coast rat race, and in part because I got to spend quality time with family.  My boyfriend’s family is in WA, too, so it was lovely to spend time with them as well.  I am originally from the West coast, so it felt great to be back on my  home coast.  I just love the West.

I had plans in mind to visit the Dungeness Valley Creamery to see the farm and meet farmers Jeff and Debbie Brown.  But on Monday 11/22 a snowstorm descended upon the area and we got probably 4-6 inches of snow.  It shut down pretty much everything in the area (snow like that is rare there), and icy roads remained for 3-4 days, so a visit to the farm was a bust.  My hope is to visit next summer.

However, WA is progressive, and one can buy raw milk in stores. What a concept!  I was able to purchase some of their milk at the Port Townsend Food Co-op, where my mom has a membership.  Here’s a (cell phone) shot of the refrigerator shelves:

raw milk for retail purchase!

What a treat! It was so delicious – slightly grassier tasting than what I get in New York, but that was really a non-issue.  I loved it.  And I will miss the freedom of being able to just drop by and pick up a half gallon whenever I like.  Maybe New York will get to that point one day.  I hope so.

The other place I know where this milk is available is at the Chimacum Corner farm stand, south of Port Townsend.  There’s a cafe in PT that offers raw milk as well!  When I discovered that via the Real Milk site I was really excited to check them out. Look for more about them in a future post.

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Off to Washington

As I write this, I am waiting for a car to take me to the airport, where I will be flying to Washington state to see family and celebrate the holidays with loved ones. While I’m there, I’ll also be hunting down some raw milk, which seems like – from my research so far – shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Looks like you can actually buy it in the store, wow!

I’m also hoping to visit the Dungeness Valley Creamery, which is the source of a lot of the raw milk available in the area. I also came across a coffee house that serves their raw milk, too! How civilized.

I’ll also leave you with this trailer for the documentary Farmageddon.

Farmageddon Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

Farm raids suck, to put it bluntly. What a horrible thing for a farmer and his family to go through. A couple of farms were recently raided – the Morningland Dairy and Estrella Family Creamery. More info about their situation can be found here.

If you’d like to donate, you can go to Cheeseslave’s post on the same topic. The donation widget makes it very easy to support the farms to help play for legal fees and such.

See you when I get back (or perhaps even before)!

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White Bean, Escarole, and Meatball Soup

As the weather continues to cool down, I am more and more in the mood for soup.  I love eating it and making it – it’s a great platform for creativity, too.

Last week, I had some beautiful escarole from my CSA share, so I wanted to do something with it.  White bean and escarole soup – which I have enjoyed many times over the years – immediately came to mind.  Easy to make, light yet filling, plus I had everything I needed on hand.  However, I wanted to up the nutrition in it since I was going to have to make it with water instead of stock (I had no stock on hand and prefer not to use the boxed/canned stuff).  Adding meatballs came to mind!  I enjoy them in Italian Wedding soup, so why not add them to my white bean and escarole soup?  The flavors seemed compatible.

We get this sweet Italian turkey sausage from the CSA that we just love, and I had some on hand and thought it would make for some tasty meatballs.  I actually hadn’t made meatballs before, but thought they couldn’t be too difficult – meat, eggs, some kind of binder.  However, I decided to check in with The Art of Simple Food, Alice Water’s book on cooking basics, just to see if there was more to meatballs than what I imagined.  Good thing I did, because there were a few other ingredients involved . Fortunately, they were easy to find, and they made my meatballs truly amazing!

The meatballs held up in the soup and added a lot of flavor to things.  And like I said, they kept their shape and didn’t fall apart, a scenario that had crossed my mind. And the flavors indeed did go with the escarole and white beans. Total win.

I chose to sprinkle my soup with grated parmesan, which I got some from the Italian deli near my apartment, for some extra flavor, and that was an excellent decision. It’s delicious – savory and nutty without being overly salty.

This soup takes about a half hour to put together once the beans are cooked and the meatballs are done.

White Bean, Escarole, and Meatball Soup

The meatballs could be your own favorite recipe, or this wonderful meatball recipe from The Art of Simple Food. I made a half recipe and ended up with about two dozen leftover meatballs, and used them for the following few days in pasta and just as a snack.

3/4 cup dry white beans, soaked with a little base (I use baking soda), yielding 1 1/2 cups cooked. Alternatively, you could use one 15 oz. can of white beans, rinsed.
1/4 cup diced onion
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 head escarole, washed, cored, and chopped into 1 inch strips
4 c. water or chicken stock
two dozen small meatballs (about the size of a rounded teaspoon)
salt and pepper
grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Rinse the beans, and cook in water until done. Add salt to taste, then drain.

In a large pan, saute the onion in olive oil and a little salt until transluscent. Add the beans and cook in the onion/oil mixture for 5 minutes. Add the escarole and cook until it wilts.

Add water or stock and cook 5 more minutes.

Add the meatballs, and simmer for 15 more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon into bowls and top with parmesan. Enjoy.

Makes 4 main course servings.

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Checking In

As I write this, the workday is over and the weekend is beginning. I’ve missed blogging for a couple weeks now due to myriad issues, mostly a questionable internet connection at home paired with an old and ailing computer. Not to mention being slammed with work at work. I’m writing this from my office, since I have a little bit of a breather before I go off to a Diwali party tonight, thrown by a good friend.  I can’t wait to try some of the traditional Indian dishes she’s prepared.

Despite that, I have continued to eat well – traditional, nutrient dense food that is oh so delicious.  I’ve even taken photographs of them, and will upload soon once I take care of the tech issues at home. Some of the highlights of the last couple of weeks:

  • Turkey meatballs made with pastured turkey sausage and pastured eggs. Fantastic.
  • An escarole and white bean soup with said turkey meatballs – the escarole was organic from my CSA and the white beans are also organic and are grown upstate. Light and wonderful and full of healthy stuff.
  • Pan de muerto – this is a traditional Mexican bread made during All Souls/All Saints days. It’s full of pastured eggs (15 of them!) and pastured butter. It does contain AP flour, but this was a holiday treat, and boy do the eggs make a difference!
  • Fried pastured eggs for breakfast.  One or two, along with a glass of kombucha, usually holds me til lunch.
  • Pastured chicken thighs and drumsticks from my buying club, seasoned with za’atar and olive oil.  Boy is this stuff good.  I plan to use it again on chicken, too.
  • Lots and lots of roasted organic sweet potatoes, some roasted on their own and one batch roasted in the pan with the above chicken. Yum!
  • I was at L’Artiste, a new French restaurant in town, and I ate so many delicious things there – an amuse with liver and bacon; spinach, fennel, and citrus salad in a creamy blue cheese dressing; a wonderfully seared duck breast with delicious crispy skin; and a panna cotta for dessert that blew me away.

Additional good news is that I ran the 5 mile NYC Marathon Warmup race last weekend in under a hour. This is a personal best! I felt really good throughout, too. I attribute my success to consistent training with both long runs and intervals, as well as eating a nutrient-dense, unrefined diet for the most part. Along with the delicious things I mentioned above, I’ve been eating plenty of apples, which have kept my sugar cravings in balance.

So, off I go to the Diwali celebration with friends, and hopefully I will be back up and running here very soon! Oh, I am somewhat active during the day on Twitter, where you can find me there at @harmoniousbelly.  Hope to connect with you in 140 characters or less!