Anna Blume

1) Isn't there a thread here somewhere on Brussels sprouts? Roast them halved or sauté them, but former best for large quantities. Diced red onion, caramelized; fresh, roasted chestnuts, chopped; reduction of pear cider to glaze. (Chestnuts make good sub for bacon.) I also like Union Square Café's hashed B sprouts, but it's a lot of work for more than a few guests. I plan on making a gratin of greens, instead, this year, but people loves Brussels cooked w fat vs. water. 2) You can never have too many sweet potatoes.

Navel orange. Coffee. Penne gorgonzola w minced parsley.

Peter of People's Bao has been selling really delicious pork bao at a number of farmers markets this year, including Foggy Bottom today. If you're in the area and hungry, wait till around 4 PM to be safe, since it sometimes takes him a while to get everything set up. ************* PS. I recommend the kimchee ramen here.

Mountain View is now selling organic lamb and rose veal, including VEAL BONES!!! ************* The farmer behind KCC Farms had knee surgery, so appearances at market were limited to one this season.

Red rice and farro done and dressed. Black quinoa (I plan not to buy the grain anymore, but couldn't resist) and Beluga lentils next. I am on a grain salad kick, tossing them w roasted orange vegetables (sweet potato cubes in oven; butternut squash last week), garlicky greens, etc. and find them very filling for lunch. Storing each prepared ingredient separately in the fridge to combine at whim.

No leaves yet, though I have seen them packaged w the other herbs at Whole Foods before. However, leafless, fresh Kaffir limes just appeared at the Silver Spring Whole Foods yesterday. Click here for a pretty informative link which claims California's fruits are not perfect matches to the fragrant Thai limes. At any rate, I am using the juice, not simply the peel.

Warm ricotta custard w ripe persimmon purée. Baked dessert is from Deborah Madison's Local Flavors. Other Panisse alum have variations on it, including Suzanne Goin's savory version w chile pepper.

^Zora, is that you?

Is Al Dente in charge of weekly specials in this region? Coincidence, maybe, but this week chicken drumsticks and Humboldt Fog (cf. recent discussions in spin-off thread and discussion of "artisinal") are on sale.

Italian lentil soup w pancetta and chestnuts from Toigo Orchards. Nonetheless, les beans zey ahrrrrrrrrrrre de le Puy.

^Did you try Vace? Thought I saw them at the Bethesda store, but can't be sure. None at Cornucopia (also Bethesda) where the (very nice) owner is selling tiny bags of Le Puy (and amazing prosciutto and really needs more customers who can go to Freddy's Lobster afterwards).

I am not sure why either the title or the focus of this thread are an appropriate response to a meal at a bar at a restaurant that lost its chef--Joe Raffa, not José Andres--several months ago, thanks to a promotion within ThinkFood Group. Joe was great and the food at Oyamel was very good and interesting when he was there. Unlike Rick Bayless, Joe did not start out with an academic's immersion in Mexican culture, but he sure learned a lot out of a desire to offer fresh, regional Mexican cooking. The restaurant just brought in a second replacement very recently (the first left after a very short stint), someone who's got a new baby at home at the same time that he's becoming more familiar w a new kitchen, staff and menu. ********** I don't dine out very much, but one of the most disappointing, bad meals I ever had in the area was on a special occasion a couple of years ago at a restaurant that receives some of the highest praise of DR.com. I don't doubt the gifts of the man behind the establishment and trust that many others have had wonderful meals there even though I didn't. More than a little humility is in order in measuring how much one has accomplished in his/her respective fields/communities when deciding to judge the contributions José Andres has made to his. Humanity, too, if you're not an expatriate and these posts are written in your native language.

Very modified version of this Broccoli-baked macaroni and cheese. No tomatoes; yellow vs. brown pasta, but less of it; more broccoli, most chopped and steamed; sautéed leek; gorgonzola and Parm; Clear Spring's heavy cream....

Organic or merely bio-diversely farmed ? That's maybe 2 3/4 lbs. of fresh, just-picked produce at around $3.33 a pound grown on a small, local farm that supports a family with a single source of income---the crops it grows--plus pays salary for ______ of workers, some year-round employees, depending on the farm, mortgages, seeds, machines, cars, electricity, water, repairs, health care, college funds, more seeds because the first plantings got washed away, tools, gas, tents, salaries of those who work at the market, chocolate upon occasion plus other groceries, modern conveniences you enjoy, only fewer, some travel, though, again, depending on the farm, vacations are rare. Then there are storms that cause over what was it, around $75,000 loss of tomatoes alone during the week of rainstorms AFTER the strong winds of Irene, or in the case of another farm nestled in a valley, fields upon fields completely flooded, and therefore the loss of entire crops that were almost ready, let alone the strawberry plants being prepared for next spring, thus the scarcity of Brussels sprouts, utter disappearance of Romanesco at this market at least which ought to be causing smiles right about now, the 75% climb in the cost of plastic for ground cover, the burst pipe, the expertise of growers whose knowledge and experience deserve our respect, the destruction of the new greenhouse....

Indeed.

The same thing that's wrong w most beef available to US consumers: federal subsidies for corn (plus wheat, soy, cotton and rice) grown by large agribusinesses at the expense of so-called specialty crops such as carrots, kale and other nutritionally dense plants whose growers often struggle to harvest without access to federal assistance. At least, this is the message delivered by Pollan and others that registers most w me. Expedient, less costly methods of producing highly processed food stuffs for the sake of higher profits to those involved in the process drives the delivery of calories to our guts and affects our palates so much that our natural craving for sweets increases and we eschew the subtler flavor profiles of beef from purely grass-fed animals that were the norm before WWII, preferring the greater ummph! that comes from cattle finished on grains that hasten their growth and thus, their demise. ETA: After writing, I realize I missed quite a bit of this argument over the weekend and that posts have addressed subsidies significantly.

Gratin of fresh cranberry beans w ham Ribbons of collards braised w Tuscan kale Maitake braised w tesa and garlic Roasted sweet potato Pear cider

^Props to bakers behind the two most recent photographs (though I don't get why certain images, such as TH's appear too big for my monitor when clicked): tart and cupcakes look both artful and delicious. I was happily surprised by the fresh cranberry beans at the market this weekend. Got a little piece of Cedarbrooks' ham steak and some new stock. Sage. Tomatoes in the freezer, though there's cream too. Ends of nutty bread drying on a rack. Zora mentioned a bean gratin some time recently and it's been haunting me.

I'd also like to know details. That accent aigu is useful in discovering he simmered a pot of groundnut stew, a West African dish I've only made as a vegetarian entrée thanks to the Sundays at Moosewood cookbook that everyone gave and got one Christmas long ago. Moi, ce soir? First real chicken stock in a while, using necks from Eco-Friendly because there were no feet. A trip to WFM this morning reminded me that chicken legs now cost less per pound than wings.

Michelangelo Buonarroti was a painter, sculptor and architect. Oh, and a poet. He was also an artisan. It used to be a matter of class and degrees of social mobility within a given culture at a given time that made someone an apprentice and ultimately a craftsman. While certain wealthy members of upper/merchant classes might not distinguish among craftsmen--brick layers, wine makers, and painters--in paying for tasks performed, others would pay based upon new, "modern" criteria: recognized skill and quality which ultimately became associated with intellectual gifts and not merely training and mastery. Cf. Michael Baxandall on fifteenth-century Italy, mostly Florence. It took a long time and a lot of effort to invent the notion of artistic genius and wrest those designated as artists and geniuses from the baser category of "artisan", thereby making the latter appear stupid in comparison. The Industrial Revolution and Walter Benjamin's essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" are perhaps more relevant. The Arts & Crafts movement and Die Brücke, too. We romanticize things hand-produced, especially those with idiosyncratic signs of their uniqueness. Cottage industries over corporate ones. The small family farm vs. the agribusiness. We do not think the artisan is as alienated from her craft as the factory worker is from her labor. The sweet little, hand-shaped log of chevre from a small-scale producer is artisanal whereas the less costly option at Trader Joe's is not, though I wouldn't be surprised were Trader Joe's to mechanically print the word "Artisanal" on some of its products. Kraft is easy to dismiss, but what about Parmigiano Reggiano? Large-scale production, but by individual members of a larger cooperative with lots of hands-on activity by people dressed like factory workers in pristine, sterile environments? Is Ferran Adrià an artisan?

Given the very late lunch of carne de res con col as tostadas w queso fresco and lime-marinated red onion, just Ak-mak, plain, to accompany a tall mug of butternut squash soup made w young ginger, lemongrass, and Thai bird chilies.

Caserola de tortillas y legumbres, the vegetables being a variety of purple and green organic runner and pole beans and corn. Diana Kennedy says the original version of the dish calls for chorizo, but thinks the sausage overpowers the vegetables in the filling. I made a vegetarian version, mixing a bit of feta in with the vegetables sandwiched between two layers of fried tortilla strips and a roasted tomato sauce. Additional cheese grated and sprinkled on top, not the specified queso from Chihuahua. Pat, DK has a recipe for ground beef w cabbage from Chiapas: Carne de res con col .

Fish: The dinner w students sounds like fun and your multi-course meals always look amazing! Thanks for the kale-potato inspiration.

I'm w Zora, especially since options are limited these days. The Barnes and Noble in Bethesda's pretty good, though a favorite is Second Story Books. Have to be dedicated in visits because there will be long periods of nada, but I remember a time when a young chef decided he just didn't use the cookbooks he collected, and therefore sold the second-hand store a slew of pristine, interesting titles. I also recommend the Arlington Public Library. Budgets are slashed everywhere now, but until fairly recently, it was a great place to catch up w the latest and decide if it was worth buying.

Spicy chickpeas w caramelized red onions, eggplant, lemon and cilantro Arroz Blanco After some pretty delicious meatloaf sandwiches, I had just a little leftover homemade tomato jam. Assertive spices: ginger, cinnamon, cloves... Thought it would be good w eggplant, and thus the meal. *************** leleboo: I am guessing protein is a boneless chicken breast, not pounded but otherwise prepared scallopine style: dipped in egg of a chicken fed lots of alfalfa (ergo the yellow unless that is tumeric) and coated w herbs and Panko. Or tilapia, maybe. Topping looks like carrot caviar. Finely diced red peppers, sautéed? Fresh tomato-only salsa? Pummeled papaya pulp, maybe.