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My Newest Project

So, I’m writing a book. And here’s the cover!

A month or so ago, I was approached by a mid-sized publisher to write a book about the food of Queens, where I live. It’s in guidebook format, so it will be a great way for locals and visitors alike to get to know the restaurant scene, specialty shops, artisanal food production, and more in the borough of Queens. There aren’t too many print publications like this when it comes to Queens, so I’m happy and honored to be working on this project.

I’ve been enjoying the writing immensely, and tasting all sorts of dishes from various cultures has been just fantastic. Queens has a lot of immigrants who bring their traditional food practices with them, which is a total bonus for someone like me that is interested in traditional foods from cultures other than my own.

Some of my favorite recent dishes came from Nepali restaurants – at the last one I was at there was a spicy potato dish called achar, which was flavored with fenugreek greens, sesame seeds, and lemon juice, and spices. It is simply amazing and I want to learn how to make it myself. I also recently discovered braso, a Filipino dessert consisting of  a sweet egg custard sandwiched between two thick layers of soft yet sturdy meringue. Just so good.

I’ve also enjoyed gathering with friends and sharing meals with them. It feels great to be able to share this experience with them, and I am so grateful for the time they are giving me.

I am sure I will write more about and certainly mention this project over the next few months. I look forward to sharing more news about the project as it progresses, too!

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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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Delicious, Natural Beef Jerky

jerky

This weekend I tasted some amazing beef jerky.  I wasn’t looking for it – in fact, I haven’t thought about jerky for years and years – but feel fortunate to have come across it.

Not many people know this, but I love beef jerky – like, a whole lot.  I find it to be one of the most delicious things to snack on.  When I was in high school, I had a teacher, Mr. Salazar, who made his own jerky and would share it with his students.   He taught my advanced english and history classes, and had an unorthodox approach to administering tests – he thought that students did better on them if they had something to eat during the test.  So a potluck was scheduled each time we had a major test.  His contribution was always beef jerky (he also kept some in his desk drawer).  And it was crazy delicious.

I stopped eating it when I went vegetarian.  Even when I started eating meat again in 1998, it took me a long time to warm up to beef products.  By that time, I’d come to learn that most commercial beef jerky was not made from the best ingredients, and I couldn’t find any “artisanal” beef jerky, so I put it out of my mind.

This past weekend I visited the Greenpoint Food Market, in part to discover some great, locally made food, and in part to support my friend Charlene, who was selling her cookies there.  I was happy to see so many savory options (as I’m not eating sugar right now), since last time there seemed to be an overabundance of chocolates, cookies, and candy.

Greenpoint Market Collage

One of the first tables I encountered was staffed by the King’s County Jerky people, and I was instantly intrigued by the idea of artisanal beef jerky.  I asked them a little bit about their product, and they were happy to share. Turns out the beef they use comes from local farms upstate, is humanely-raised, grass-fed and grass-finished, and smoked over real wood.  There’s no artificial anything, and no MSG.

I tried their samples, first the Classic flavor – so tasty!  It is flavorful, well-spiced (with ancho, chipotle, smoked paprika, black pepper, cumin and coriander), and smoky.  It smells amazing, too.  They make two other flavors, a bulgogi (spicy) and orange ginger.  I tried them all, and found I really preferred the classic flavor, though they were all good.

One interesting thing they told me – for them, the grass-fed beef is ideal because it’s naturally low in fat, and when you’re making jerky, you don’t want particularly fatty beef because it slows the whole dehydration process down.

They recently secured a commercial space in East Williamsburg (Brooklyn), so I expect we’ll be seeing their products around town sooner than later.  Very exciting!  I do not buy many “healthy” snack products – most have so much sugar, or are made with unhealthy oils, or are just way over processed, that they are totally unappealing.  This jerky will easily find a home in my pantry.  Hooray for quality snacks!

mmm... jerky