Fire hazard for a cause

Lots of lit candles and alcohol make a great combo.

So I had an Earth Hour party.

I think we were extra-good citizens b/c we kept the lights off longer than the designated hour. But then we did leave the music on. I was kinda hoping someone would break out a guitar and play acoustic. Doesn’t everyone in this town know three chords? Alas we were all too busy celebrating the planet.

The food I tried to keep mostly organic, vegan, local.

The pasta recipe came from Sophie, the chef at Monkton Wyld in England who cooks from the garden as often as possible. The sweet potato fries and citrus collard greens w/ raisin redux came from Bryant Terry’s Vegan Soul Kitchen.

In his book, Bryant suggests the greens as a side dish or as filling for quesadillas, but I thought tacos in soft whole wheat tortillas would be easier to eat at a party. I love how the raisins add nuggets of sweet in the garlicky greens. 

This video is dark, but I think you’ll get the picture.

Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux

Makes 4 servings

Coarse sea salt

2 large bunches collard greens, ribs removed, cut into a chiffonade, rinsed and drained

1 tablespoon evoo

2 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1. In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. Add the collards and cook uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water to cool the collards. 

2. Remove the collards from the heat, drain, and plunge them into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking and set the color of the greens. Drain by gently pressing the greens against the colander. 

3. In a medium-sized saute pan, combine the olive oil and the garlic and raise the heat to medium. Saute for 1 minute. Add the collards, raisins, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Saute for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. 

4. Add orange juice and cook for an additional 15 seconds. Do not overcook (collards should be bright green). Season with additional salt to taste if needed and serve immediately.

Recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry (Da Capo Life Long, 2009).  

Shady

Went to the opening of the new Urban Outfitters tonight. And since this is technically a food blog I must mention that they were handing out cans of Red Bull and mini cheesecakes. Classy! But who would dare accept cheesecake among 100 mannequins in size 0 cigarette jeans?


So what do you think…Am I hip yet?

Now?

No really, now.

Excuse me, do I know you?

One piece of the pie

I’ve been feeling kinda blah lately. But yesterday I decided to cook myself out of the blues.

I recently picked up a copy of Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry (love him and his philosophy on food), so I made his Maple Yam-Ginger Pie.


Soul food, bless it, can come with a measure of guilt. But Bryant’s vegan versions make it better without losing the heart. It makes sense for a pie with African and Caribbean influence to have a crust made from coconut oil. I didn’t miss the butter in the pastry, and the filling is creamy-sweet with a touch of heat, too, from fresh ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.

This pie wasn’t easy though…for me anyway. I couldn’t get the consistency of the coconut oil right in the flour, so I ended up ditching my first attempt and starting over. Then it took like 15 blue moons for the agar flakes -- a plant-based thickener that I had never worked with – to dissolve in the coconut milk. But what the process taught me (and the lesson I kept hearing on my farm trip) was to just slow down.

I think maybe I’ve been in a hurry for nearly 35 years…to finish school and start the next one, to finish jobs, to get in or out of relationships. But life doesn’t start when the pie is finished. It happens while making the crust. Twice.

Speaking of sweet things and pies, I also loved this line I read over the weekend about restaurateur Julie Daniels Janklow of Sweetiepie in NYC.

“…her long limbs seem to furl in and out from a tiny core of sadness. She embodies an ineffable quality of a Robert Altman-at-his-‘70s-peak heroine, or a tragic film noir character. If you were a perfumer, you’d want to bottle it. Instead, you can go to Sweetiepie.”
– Miranda Purves for Elle magazine

Pie-making playlist:
Sugar in My Bowl -- Nina Simone
Making Pies -- Patty Griffin
Do You Feel Me -- Anthony Hamilton
What a Difference a Day Makes -- Dinah Washington
Truth -- Amos Lee
Cold Turkey -- Anthony David (Bryant’s choice with the pie recipe from his book)

Farm livin'

So I just got back from Monkton Wyld a farm and community near the coast in southwest England where visitors come to learn about sustainable living.

The main house is totally gothic with a marble staircase that echoes, a resident crew of bats (seriously), and virtually no heat. But I don’t mean to make it sound like an Alfred Hitchcock film. It’s awesome, and the people alone keep it warm.

About 15 live on the property full-time. Here, a short incomplete cast of characters…

--Rachel and Mark, a couple of Zen-like gardners who always seem to be wearing muddy jeans, wellies and peaceful expressions…

--Sophie, the brilliant and laid-back chef who uses fresh vegetables and eggs from the farm to prepare two killer meals for over 20 people each day at the ripe old age of 28…

-- Patsy and George, the longhaired and very environmentally serious (but very cool) permaculture specialists

-- along with Caroline the manager, Tom a maintenance-type guy (and Sophie's boyfriend), Sean, Mark, Ali, etc., etc.

The residents operate like a big happy family. Every morning at 8:30 they hold a meeting in the library over cups of tea to talk about work for the day. A smaller group of rotating volunteers stay for just about a week and help with whatever else needs to happen (Like me and two 32-year-old women from Malaysia who had taken a year off their jobs as a chemist and a civil engineer to travel through England working on farms...two inters from Spain were also staying for a few months.)

Every day though someone new floated through the house for a course or a quick stay like Monty, a middle-aged man full of wisecracks and wisdom who retired early when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. One night I also joined a group of seriously trippy people from nearby villages – including a couple of women from Germany and Argentina -- who come regularly to practice the Dances of Universal Peace.

As usual though most of the fun stuff happens in the kitchen...

In addition to cooking food, the kitchen holds more warmth than most spots in the house making it good for other practical purposes...

More on this gorgeous little kitchen later…

Kitchen music: Jack Johnson and Bright Eyes

City Mouse, Country Mouse

Well, I'm in England. See...


Just arrived at hotel in London and will soon be headed to the southwest part of the country to work on an organic farm. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing there, but for some reason everyone thinks I’ll be picking apples….I kinda doubt it. My friend Richard isn't English (obviously) and he's not a farmer, but the night before I left, I asked him for some travel advice anyway…

2,000 reasons to avoid factory farmed chickens

The poor things can’t even stand up. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Chucks and cheeseburgers

Now this is a food shot. 

It's from the Converse Spring '09 fashion book . And here's what it says on the facing page:

"Acknowledge that all things have a way about them. 

And that ours is one of disruption.

Abandon how things are for how things could be.

Be bold and optimistic and visionary. 

Go forth with an unwavering spirit, 

fully believing that the existing state of affairs is no place to live. 

And that our actions have the power to change the world -- for the better..."