I’ve talked a little bit about this over social media, but wanted to write about it here – the next Queens Swap is this weekend!
We – myself, and my friends Judith and AJ – will be holding it at Sweet Afton, one my favorite Astoria institutions. It’s a wonderful gastropub that serves one of the best burgers in the neighborhood (they use a blend of meats from Pat La Frieda), and they were the first to bring fried pickles to the area, which have been a smashing success. I also love their cocktails – last time I had the spicy margarita, it was really spicy!
They also are one of the few places in town that tap a cask ale – a naturally fermented beer.
The space is also beautiful, made from reclaimed materials. It’s dark and cozy, with lots of wood.
We’re grateful to the guys behind Sweet Afton for lending us the space for a few hours. The swap will take place on Sunday, February 19 from 4-6:30pm. As usual, homemade, home grown, and personally foraged foods are welcome. I’ll be bringing some water kefir soda – probably raspberry, blueberry, and lime-ginger – and some almond shortbread. Maybe something else, but for now it’s the kefir and shortbread.
So, if you are in the NYC area – especially in Queens – I encourage you to sign up and come swap. It should be a really good time. Here’s an easy way to register, too:
Well, turns out I totally spaced on Harmonious Belly’s second birthday! It was February 8. A lot has happened in this past year – a layoff sprurring on lots of writing, preserving, and food experimentation. My garden was awesome this past year (no blight, hooray!). And a little guy entered my life (I love you, Linus) and captured my heart, while my beloved girl passed on (RIP Marina).
So happy birthday, little blog! Here’s to many more collaborations, learning more, nurturing old friendships and creating new ones, and lots of delicious food! Paid work would be nice, too, universe. 🙂
First, we had this crazy snow storm – “Snowtober” they called it – the weekend before Halloween. It was a record-setter. We got about an inch of snow out on the deck and backyard. As I write this, it’s in the mid-60s. Crazy.
Sadly, though, there are still hundreds of people in Connecticut without power. Can you believe it?!? I think it’s ridiculous, and I know investigations have begun to figure out what is the deal up there.
And it was Halloween! I am not a big Halloween person in general, though we did watch the Village parade on television that night.
The following night I took a yoga class at Heart and Soul of Yoga, here in Astoria. It was taught by Vanessa Francis, and had a really positive effect on me. I’ve been back for an additional class and I’ll likely attend classes there on a regular basis as part of mygeneral wellness program. If you’re in Astoria or NYC, this yoga studio is worth checking out.
After yoga I headed to a local wine bar in the neighborhood, and my friend Kate and I shared a delicious chicken liver paté at Winegasm. It was served with toasted bread and pickled fennel, which turned out to be an fantastic combination. The paté was really yummy and super smooth. We also had a couple of cheeses. The food, company, and conversation made for an excellent close to the evening.
Well, life is full of ups and downs, and boy has that been the case in the past week – hence the light posting. Thought you might like to know what’s been going on.
Life Changes
1. Linus. Last Thursday, this little kitten appeared on the front steps of my apartment building as if out of nowhere. I couldn’t bear to leave him outside to fend for himself – he was obviously someone’s pet. I worked diligently to find his humans – posted flyers, communicated via my extensive social networks, contacted Animal Control – and no one came forth.
In the end, we chose to adopt him and name him Linus (Great Pumpkin/Peanuts reference appropriate for this time of year – thanks to my cousin for the suggestion!). He has a clean bill of health, for which I’m grateful. He’s very friendly and full of kitten energy. Marina, my long time kitty girl, is getting used to him, but is still a bit growly. Hopefully peace will come between them sooner than later.
2. Marina. This is my “senior kitty” at 15 years. She’s been with me through thick and thin. She’s dealing with some health issues, and we are hoping and praying for a positive outcome. That said, she is looking so good these days! Beautiful soft coat, bright eyes, energy. We love her so much.
Harmonious Belly (and Meg) in the News
1. Audiofiles: DIY in NYC. Last month I met with a lovely woman, Michelle Bangert, a CUNY grad student, and we chatted about canning, food swaps, and gardening in NYC. She recorded all our exchanges and a small part of that made it into an episode of Audiofiles, broadcast on WBAI earlier this month. The segment on DIY starts at 25:00 and lasts approximately 4 minutes. You can hear me around 27:00.
As I have mentioned before, I’m one of the organizers of the Queens Swap, a food swap based in the borough of Queens. We are one of two organized food swaps in NYC. Another one is coming, though, focused on traditional foods (called the Traditional Food Swap), which is very exciting. You better believe I’ll be participating!
I am happy that Queens Swap got to welcome another organizer on the team: AJ Simone, my friend and fellow food fanatic (and super crafter) from the blog Handjobs (For the Home). He really helped make this event a success.
Anyway, we held our second food swap on Saturday, at Fresh Start Market in Astoria. We used their back patio, which is where we do our Hellgate CSA distributions, so it was a really familiar space for us. It turned out to be a perfect amount of space for our group, with enough room to spread out all the swappable items, along with space for refreshments (lemonade, cookies, olive chips and wasabi popcorn) and room for socializing.
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!
Well, I’m happy to report that the inaugural Queens Swap was a rousing success! Everyone had a great time and left with new-to -them goodies. The space, graciously donated by the Queens Kickshaw, was perfect – even Jen, one of the owners, got into the action! She swapped containers of their delicious curried pepitas for a whole bunch of yummy things. Both she and Ben, her husband and business partner, were really impressed by the event.
The whole thing lasted about 2 hours, which was the perfect amount of time for this kind of event. That included enough time for people to arrive, set up, chat with the other swappers, make trades, and even get a drink and a grilled cheese sandwich to munch on – Queens Kickshaw makes wonderful coffee and incredible grilled cheese sandwiches that are actually cooked on a grill (after starting out warming in the oven).
My favorite of their sandwiches is the Gouda, which combines gouda cheese with guava jam, black bean hummus, and pickled jalepeños, all on Balthazar’s buttery brioche bread. It’s beyond fantastic. It also comes with a small salad made of myriad greens and fresh herbs, dressed with a piquant and spicy vinaigrette. I actually arrived early so that I could eat one of those sandwiches and have a cappuccino before things started to rev up with the swap.
The Gouda sandwich with salad
Back to the swap. The variety of swappable food items was impressive, which made me very happy. There were lacto-fermented items, jams and relishes, wine, cookies, marshmallows, granola, and more. All homemade.
Here’s what I took home:
Jars of delicious things I swapped for
I’ve tasted everything except the black onion relish (left). The contents of the other three jars are all amazing, and I have no doubt that the black onion relish will be delicious. I also got a few bags of peanut and pepita brittle for my boyfriend. He tasted it last night and thought it was very tasty.
The things that I swapped were two bottles of vin d’orange, two bottles of maple vinegar, and a jar of homemade vanilla extract. It was pretty exciting to make the trades, and I’m glad there were people who wanted what I brought.
I loved seeing how happy people were, too.
Everyone smiling and happy.
And fun to see people casing the goods, making bids.
We’re already talking about and planning the next Queens Swap, which will be in July. I will share details of it here when they are in place! Many thanks for all who attended and also to my fellow organizers, Judith and Charlene. I couldn’t have brought this idea to light without their help.
