Raising the Ire of the Locavores

In last Friday's reading list, I included a piece from the NYTimes by blogger Stephen Budiansky entitled "Math Lessons for Locavores." Apparently his thesis - that we spend/waste more energy at home on food storage & preparation than we do in shipping & trucking our food across the country/world - was not well received. It's lit up sustainable food blogs and discussion boards across the internet.

A few of the highlights (not all of which I've had a chance to read yet) ...

• Letters to the Editor in the NYTimes
• "Food Fight: Do locavores really need math lessons?" from Grist (featuring responses from 10 food & environment experts)
• "Grist v. New York Times: Debating Local Food" from The Atlantic
• "Doing the Math on Local Foods" from San Francisco Chronicle blogger Elanor Starmer
• "About That Math for Locavores ..." from blogger La Vida Locavore
• "Eating Locally, and Other Victimless Crimes - A Reponse to Budiansky's Locavore Math" from Boston blogger eyes wide stomach
• "Driving Locavores Loco - Budiansky v. the Sustainable Foodies" from Food CEO
• "The Myth of the Rabid Locavore" from Huffington Post Food
• There's also a pretty vigorous reader discussion going on at Chowhound.

Blogger Lighthearted Locavore (who has a good summary of the Grist article on her website) makes a good point:

"I love it when The New York Times runs articles about local food economies, farmers and food policy, urban ag and locavore recipes. I get especially excited when the word LOCAVORE is used in a piece and welcome an op-ed that has LOCAVORE in its title even if I violently disagree with its premise. Why? Because the more our country debates our food system, the pros and cons of farmers markets and urban agriculture, impact of food miles, fossil fuel used in agriculture and climate change, the causes of exploding obesity rates, farm subsidies for commodity foods, food justice, local and national food policy and the like, the better it is for not only food advocates and locavores but for all eaters." (emphasis is mine)

Stephen Budiansky, the author of the original piece, has posted a follow-up on his blog offering sources for the figures he quoted.

It should all make for some interesting bedtime reading!

Summer of the Sandwich

Do you ever get on a kick where you find a food you like and just keep eating it over and over? I did that with Greek yogurt for a while, then avocados (although I'm still kinda on that kick), and now it seems to be sandwiches.

This summer I've snacked on egg salad, chicken salad (with celery, dried cranberries, & Granny Smith apples), and tuna salad sandwiches. Last week while in DC, I grabbed a balsamic chicken sandwich with avocado, basil, and baby leaf from Pret a Manger for lunch. And several times this summer, after Topher has made his delicious bourbon ancho pork tenderloin for dinner with friends, I've thin-sliced the leftover pork to use on sandwiches with sliced avocado, sliced tomato (from the WRPC Community Garden, of course), arugula, Swiss cheese, and a dab of Dijon mustard.

Breakfast sandwiches are my favorite, though. I wish I had time to make one every morning, but I usually enjoy them only on weekends, when I can sleep in a little and make breakfast at my own pace.

My dad used to make delicious breakfast sandwiches for me when I was growing up: fried egg, bacon, cheddar cheese, and a little mayo on toasted wheat bread. Anytime I had a big test or something at school, he'd have one ready for me on my way out the door.

This summer, in my continued quest to eat more veggies for breakfast, I've piled fried eggs on toasted white bread with sliced tomato & avocado, light Duke's mayo, and whatever cheese (Swiss, cheddar, or provolone) and greens (usually leftover arugula, spinach or cilantro - yes, I use it as a green!) we have in the fridge.

Ironically, I've also read about multiple sandwich contests this summer. I usually don't go in for those sorts of things, but I think I'm going to spend an hour or or this weekend to concoct, photograph (the hardest part for me), and submit an entry. If I get it done, I'll post pictures next week. Fingers crossed, I might win a trip or some moolah!

The Contests:

Southwest Airlines’ Spirit Magazine "Build a Better Sandwich" Sweepstakes (ends Sept 15)

Whole Foods' Whole Deal Pack-a-Lunch Contest (ends Sept 30)

Mezzetta's Make That Sandwich Contest (ends Sept 6)

Read more about sandwich "architecture" from Spirit Magazine and Whole Foods - it's actually pretty interesting, but it'll make your mouth water!

Note: The picture above is from this website.

Green Smoothie Follow-up: My Favorite Recipe

For the past two weeks, I've been experimenting with various versions of the green smoothie, and I think I've finally found my favorite. It makes a great breakfast!

• ~1 cup of almond milk or soy milk
• 1 ripe banana, cut into 1-inch chunks & frozen ahead of time (I blend these with the milk before I add anything else)
• ~ 1/2 cup of frozen mixed berries (I use Harris Teeter's bagged mix of frozen blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, & blueberries)
• two large handfuls of spinach or rainbow Swiss chard, washed and torn into pieces (I tried kale as well, but I don't think it works as well - it's the wrong texture or something)
• 1 T of ground flaxseed
• 1 T of almond butter

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Makes 2 servings.

Sadly, it does not turn a fun bright green color, unless you leave out the mixed berries. With the berries, it's a strange purplish brown - not all that appetizing to look at, but delicious to drink!

Reading List for August 23-27

1. "Calorie Counts Are Coming to the Menu" from NPR

Earlier this year the FDA tackled the problem of misleading serving sizes on packaged foods: "[O]fficial serving sizes for many packaged foods are just too small. And that means the calorie counts that go with them are often misleading," wrote The New York Times in February. Now the FDA has released draft guidelines that would require chain restaurants and vending machines to display calorie counts in the same font size as the item name or price, whichever is larger.

2. "A School Fight over Chocolate Milk" from the NYTimes

" 'Saying we need to add sugar and flavoring to milk to get kids to drink it is like saying we need to feed kids apple pie if they don’t like apples,' said Ann Cooper, who runs the Boulder, Colo., school food program and a national Web site, chefann.com, aimed at reforming school lunch. She’s not opposed to chocolate milk, but she is opposed to teaching children it is part of a healthy daily diet."

I drank a lot of milk as a kid, both plain 2% and chocolate. As an adult, I drink mostly plain skim milk, but also soy milk and almond milk. The fact that my parents allowed me to drink chocolate milk as a kid got me in the habit of drinking milk (instead of tea or soda) with meals. I'm gonna fall on the "milk is milk" side of this debate.

3. "Math Lessons for Locavores" from the NYTimes

"Eating locally grown produce is a fine thing in many ways. But it is not an end in itself, nor is it a virtue in itself. The relative pittance of our energy budget that we spend on modern farming is one of the wisest energy investments we can make, when we honestly look at what it returns to our land, our economy, our environment and our well-being."

This author doesn't argue that local food is bad, but he does offer some interesting figures that made me reconsider the pros & cons of eating a variety of healthy food that's shipped and trucked from all over the world.

4. "Seeing a Time (Soon) When We'll All Be Dieting" from the NYTimes

Columnist Mark Bittman reviews The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It by Julian Cribb.

"Mr. Cribb is reporting on the fate of a planet whose resources have, in the last 200 years, been carelessly, even ruthlessly exploited for the benefit of the minority. Now that the majority is beginning to demand - or at least crave - the same kind of existence, it’s clear that, population boom or not, there simply isn’t enough of the Euro-American way of life to go around. And while there is a sky-is-falling tone to his relatively brief (just over 200 pages) thesis ... the book does offer sensible ways to help alleviate the 'global feeding frenzy.' "

5. "Egg recall points up need for Senate action on food safety" from the Washington Post

If there's a silver lining in the massive recall, it is that this latest outbreak of food-borne illness (remember peanuts, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, etc.) appears to have sparked action in the Senate, where comprehensive food-safety legislation has languished since July 2009. The bill would give the FDA the power to initiate a mandatory recall of contaminated products. And it would set up systems to trace food from farm to fork, thus making it easier and faster to pinpoint sources of contamination. A vote by the full Senate is expected as soon as it returns Sept. 13.

To find out if your eggs are part of the recall, check out the FDA website.

Back to DC: Founding Farmers

Every few months I travel to DC for training for work, and this week I'm back again. The last time I was here, I had lunch at a farm-to-table American restaurant in northwest DC (near George Washington University) called Founding Farmers. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go back for lunch again today.

Founding Farmers is big on knowing where their food comes from. Their website states, "When ingredients are available locally and it is sensible for us to buy them, we do. We serve chicken, beef, pork and dairy from certified sources that state their commitment to sustainable farming and clean foods; we buy our seafood from vendors committed to the standards of FishWatch."

Today it was more crowded than on my first visit, and I had to sit at the bar; but it turned out not to be too bad - my bartender/waitress was prompt & friendly. Both times I was able to get in & out and back to class in under an hour. I tried two different pasta dishes, but the rest of their menu looks good too, especially the entrée salads and the Roasted Vegetable & Avocado sandwich.

What I Ate #1:

• Straw & Hay Pasta: housemade macaroni noodles simmered in a light creamy broth with asparagus, bacon, mushrooms, & peas
• To drink: Cranberry Cucumber Cooler (non-alcoholic) - very refreshing!

What I Ate #2:

• Show Stopper Pasta: Mussels, shrimp, white fish, & chorizo over housemade spaghetti in a light wine sauce, served with crusty bread - this dish was fun to eat: the sauce was light, not heavy & creamy, and the shrimp & chorizo were "hidden" towards the bottom of the dish, so each bite revealed a little more, like toasted (pine?) nuts and mixed herbs ... yummm
• To drink: Mint Limeade - tart & refreshing

The Scoop:

Founding Farmers is located in the International Monetary Fund headquarters building at 1924 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 2006. Reservations are strongly recommended (even for lunch) and can be made by calling (202)822-8783. They serve breakfast M-F, lunch & dinner M-Sun, and brunch on Sat-Sun.

Reading List for August 16-20

1. "Eat an Apple (Doctor's Orders)" from the NYTimes

• Produce by "prescription" seeks to address childhood obesity
• Doctors at three health centers in Massacusetts have begun adnising patients to eat "prescription produce" from local farmers' markets, in an effort to fight obesity in children of low-income families. Now they will give coupons amounting to $1 a day for each member of a patient's family to promote healthy meals.
• "The goal is to get them to increase their consumption of fruit and vegetables by one serving a day." - Dr. Suki Tepperberg, a family physician at Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, MA

2. "A Hen's Space to Roost" from the NYTimes

"Animal welfare advocates and farmers [in Ohio, the second-largest producer of eggs after Iowa] agreed recently to phase out small crates for gestating hogs and veal calves, and to ban new cages for egg-laying hens. (Existing cages can remain.)"

In related news: "Egg Recall Tied to Salmonella Grows to 380 Million" (WSJ)

3. Food & the Economy

• "Wheat Prices Hit 2-Year Highs Following Russian Ban" (WSJ)
• "Reap What You Swap" - a farmer's perspective on derivates, aka agricultural swaps (NYTimes)
• "Commodity prices: The breakfast index" (The Economist) - Prices on the raw ingredients for breakfast (cereal, coffee, & orange juice) have risen 25% since June.

4. "Weekday Vegetarians" from TIME

• You don't have to completely forsake meat; being a "flexitarian" (i.e. reducing your intake to just a few days a week) can still offer benefits to your health & the environment.

Curry Cravings

If I could add one and only one restaurant to our offerings in downtown Suffolk, I would probably pick an Indian restaurant. It's easy to find good Indian in the DC area (Bombay Curry Company, anyone?), but not so much in Suffolk. We've got sushi, Italian, Mexican, and Chinese takeout, but no Indian. And sometimes a girl just needs a little curry, ya know?

So when Topher & I want to satisfy our cravings, we visit Rajput in Ghent. Topher first took me there a couple of years ago for my birthday. (It was the first birthday we'd celebrated together as a couple, and Topher set the bar for gifts very high: he gave me a first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird, my favorite book!)

We went back this past February for Valentine's Day, which fell on a Sunday, so we got to indulge in their amazing Sunday lunch buffet. All-you-can-eat paneer masala, chicken tandoori, lentils & chickpeas, basmati rice, naan, and kheer (rice pudding with raisins, nuts, and rosewater) - it was a perfect date for us.

Last week Topher's friend Matt and his new fiance Allison were in town for a visit, and we ate lunch with them at Nawab on Military Highway. (They have another location in VA Beach near Hilltop.) Nawab has a lunch buffet, so we gorged ourselves on vindaloo, curry, biryani, eggplant bhartha, and palak paneer, finished off once again with kheer.

A couple of nights ago I "cheated" on Topher and went to Rajput with my dear friend Stacy. It was delicious as always! But I felt kinda bad that Topher missed out. I was brave, though, and ordered my entree "medium-hot" (level 3 out of 5) - Topher would've been proud.

What We Ate:

• appetizer: vegetable samosas (stuffed with potato & peas)
• our entrees: chicken korma (mine) and chicken tikka masala (Stacy's), served with basmati rice and naan
• to drink: mango lassi (a sweet yogurt drink) - I would've liked this to be a little bit colder, but it was still very refreshing.

The Scoop:

Rajput Indian Cuisine is located at 742 W. 21st Street in the Ghent neighborhood of Norfolk, VA 23517. They serve lunch M-F 11:30am-2:30pm and Sat-Sun noon-3pm; they serve dinner Sun-R 5-10pm and F-Sat 5-10:30pm. You can make reservations online or by calling (757)625-4634. (I think their food is a little better than Nawab, and the decor is definitely nicer - it's better for an evening out.)

Note: The images above were found here.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm trying out something a little new today: Wordless Wednesday, featuring interesting or simply beautiful food-related photos (but not entirely wordless). Let me know what you think!

"In the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims worldwide observe Ramadan, a period of fasting and other rituals designed to bring self-purification through self restrain and other good deeds. The fasting begins at dawn and lasts until sunset, when observers break their fast with an evening meal called the Iftar." This first picture is of a boy in Pakistan preparing for the collective evening meal and is part of the slideshow "Iftar: Breaking Ramadan's Fast" on TIME.com.


Known for its beautiful photography, Vanity Fair recently did a gallery of the residents of the Hamptons, and one of the photos featured chef & cookbook author Katie Lee. I wish my picnics looked like this!

Even though it hasn't gotten rave reviews, I'm still excited about seeing Julia Roberts in "Eat, Pray, Love" and I have to admit that it's mostly for the EAT part of the movie, filmed in Italy. Whatever else they say, all the reviewers agree that the food photography is simply stunning:

"[E]ven with the cliches, Rome is lovingly filmed, a feast for the eyes. And, of course, for the stomach. ... In Italy, food is her new love. She is seduced by its gorgeousness. The camera lavishes attention on the plates at sunlit trattorias: the pink folds of prosciutto served with sweet figs; a golden fried mozzarella that crunches at the touch of a fork. ... The photography captures the extraordinary aesthetic sense of Italians; even an item as simple as a fried artichoke becomes a thing of beauty." - Washington Post

Along with spaghetti pomodoro and gelato, one of the dishes featured is carciofi alla giudia (Jewish-style fried artichokes, recipe here), shown below. (Images are from the "Eat, Pray, Love" website.)

Kincaid's and the Virginia Stage Company

Topher & I (okay, mainly me) are already looking ahead to fall and planning our calendar. Along with a few weekend getaways, we want to go to the Virginia Opera Company's production of Mozart's "Cosi fan Tutte" in November, and I'd like to see the Virginia Stage Company's "The Diary of Anne Frank" in September. (I already have in mind where I'd like to eat on our evenings out, too!)

Our first experience with VSC was last fall, when my aunt and uncle invited us to join them for a Sunday afternoon matinee at the historic Wells Theatre in downtown Norfolk.

We saw "Alive and Well," a romantic comedy about a heartbroken Civil War re-enactor and an emotionally desperate New York journalist searching for the legendary "lonesome soldier" Civil War veteran in rural central Virginia. The play itself was a little strange, but the theater was gorgeous! (The photo above is from HamptonRoads.com.)

Afterwards we walked to Kincaid's for dinner. Yes, Kincaid's is a chain restaurant, and yes, this location is in a mall. But don't be fooled! It's still a great restaurant with a solid menu and excellent service. The four of us sat and talked for almost three hours and never felt like we were being rushed out.

What I Ate:

• steak with crab-stuffed shrimp, steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes - it doesn't get much more basic than steak, potatoes, & broccoli, but man, was this good!
• a few bites each of pear bread pudding and crème bruleè cheesecake with strawberries

The Scoop:

Kincaid's Fish, Chop and Steak House is located on the first floor of the MacArthur Center at 300 Monticello Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23510. They're open for dinner M-Sat 5-10pm and Sun 4-8pm. They also serve a "first seating" three-course prix-fixe ($25) meal daily 5-6pm. Check their website for hours for lunch, Sunday brunch, and the lounge. You can reach them at (757)622-8000.

Green Smoothies

This afternoon I spent an hour online trying to find a good recipe for green smoothies -- you know, the ones that taste like fruit but secretly have a lot of leafy green veggies in them. I didn't realize it until I started my recipe search, but apparently August 15 is International Green Smoothie Day (who knew?), so this post is unintentionally timely.

A few pieces of background:

• I used to love making smoothies & milkshakes - I even own "The Smoothie Deck," a box of 50 recipe cards - but I haven't made one in a long time. The reason? When I moved out of my apartment before Topher & I got married, we put most of my stuff (including my blender) in a storage unit on Virginia Beach Blvd. and there it remains. No blender = no smoothies.
• I love Odwalla Superfood. It's a slightly off-putting shade of green, but it tastes delicious (or maybe it's an acquired taste like V8). Anyway, several years ago when I was working in DC for the summer (and living on government per diem), I would drink one each morning for breakfast. But they're a little expensive, so I got out of the habit.

This past week I made a Target run for my good friend Heather (who is currently pregnant with twins and on strict bed rest) and while I was there, I picked up an inexpensive blender so I can start making breakfast smoothies again.

Since The Smoothie Deck is also in my storage unit, I decided to look online for recipes, and I wanted to find some that would help me in my continuing quest to eat more veggies for breakfast. Last week I made a nutritious breakfast sandwich of fried egg, sliced avocado, sliced tomato, and provolone cheese on toast with light mayo; this week I'm going to experiment with green fruit smoothies. Here are a few recipes that I want to try:

Blueberry Kale Smoothie (from a very strange-looking site called Dick's Blog)

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 2 frozen bananas (wait until they're ripe, then cut them into 1-inch chunks & freeze in a Ziplock bag)
• 2 handfuls chopped kale
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup orange juice
• a handful of ice
• 1 T ground flax seed* (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender, and puree.

*Ground flax seed supposedly adds omega fatty acids, fiber, and protein without interfering with the flavor. I've never had it before, but I'm going to give it a try! For more info on flax seed, look here and here.

Get Your Greens Smoothie (from the Whole Foods blog "Whole Story")

• 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk or soy milk
• 1 ½ cups packed baby spinach
• 1 ½ cups frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries will work)

The first recipe uses water, juice and ice; the second uses almond or soy milk. I'm not sure yet which one I'll like more - probably the one with almond/soy milk - but I want to experiment with both, using different fruits (frozen peaches or grapes, chopped apple, etc.) and different greens (maybe swiss chard or romaine). I'll let you know how it goes!

Other recipes call for yogurt. I don't have any plain yogurt on hand, but I do have plain Greek yogurt, so I might play around with that as well.

Our Green Smoothie Recipe (serves 4)

• 2 cups frozen fruit
• 2 bananas
• 4 cups baby spinach
• flaxseed
• honey

Here are a few other recipes that I found online:

• Groovy Green Smoothie
• Ode to My Green Drink
• Mixed Fruit Smoothie (doesn't actually include greens, but it's a good recipe, and greens could easily be added)
• Blueberry-Banana Smoothie (ditto)

If you have a favorite recipe for green smoothies that you're willing to share, post it in a comment - I'd love to try it!

Note: The picture at the top was found here.

Reading List for August 9-13

There were lots of interesting food articles out there this week, especially with the passage of the Child Nutrition Bill last week by the Senate and the continued debate about the food safety bill, so I had a hard time whittling down the reading list. Hope you enjoy the ones that made the final cut!

1. “Hard to Stomach: A Western diet promotes unhealthy gut bacteria in children,” from The Economist

"According to a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a sugary, fat-laden Western diet wreaks profound changes on children’s gut bacteria, and could even promote the risk of asthma, allergies and other inflammatory diseases."

2. “India Asks, Should Food Be a Right for the Poor?” from the NYTimes

"India vanquished food shortages during the 1960s with the Green Revolution, which introduced high-yield grains and fertilizers and expanded irrigation ... But its poverty and hunger indexes remain dismal, with roughly 42 percent of all Indian children under the age of 5 being underweight."

3. “A Dozen Eggs for $8? Michael Pollan Explains the Math of Buying Local” from the Wall Street Journal

"WSJ: Does eating local, sustainable food have to be a lifestyle priority, or can
people do it casually?
Mr. Pollan: People can do it casually. There are people who go [to a farmer's market] every week, and there are people who go when the mood strikes them. To eat well takes a little bit more time and effort and money. But so does reading well; so does watching television well. Doing anything with attention to quality takes effort."

4. "The Dark Side of Vitaminwater" from Huffington Post Food

"In a staggering feat of twisted logic, lawyers for Coca-Cola are defending the lawsuit [that the company's vitaminwater products make unwarranted health claims] by asserting that no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.' "

5. "What's in Your Child's Lunchbox?" from the Washington Post
Back-to-school nutrition ideas for ages 4-8, 9-13, and 14-18.

Ingredient: Cilantro

Cilantro is my absolute, hands-down favorite herb (doesn't everybody have a favorite herb, or is it just me?). I first discovered its awesomeness at Q-Doba: their rice is full of it, and it adds such a bright, fresh flavor to their burritos. Now I will eat cilantro on almost anything, and in much greater quantities than recipes call for. Topher even uses it on his homemade sloppy Joe's.

I understand that there are people out there who don't enjoy cilantro's lime-like essence, and I honestly pity them. Whether it's genetic or not, nature or nurture, they're missing out on one of the greatest flavor the earth has to offer IMHO.

Last week I met my friend Beth for dinner at Luna Maya in Norfolk and ordered their tacos de carnitas (the meat was so moist, perfectly marinated - I'll definitely get this dish again!). The tacos came with a side of cabbage slaw, which I was pleasantly surprised to find contained a ton of cilantro.

When I got home, I began scouring the internet to find a similar recipe. There are literally dozens of recipes out there for Cabbage-Cilantro Slaw, several of which sound quite good, but the one that I think most closely resembles the Luna Maya version is ...

Southwestern Coleslaw Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 cups thinly sliced cabbage (about 1/3 to 1/2 cabbage)
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup (packed) fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (or plain rice vinegar with added sugar to taste)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine cabbage, grated carrot, radish slices, cilantro, and onions in a serving bowl.
2. Add the olive oil and toss to coat.
3. Then add the seasoned rice vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Makes four servings.

For a quick lunch, try black beans, diced tomato (or store-bought jar salsa), chopped avocado, and shredded cilantro over brown rice. Delicious & nutritious!

For more about cilantro's place in culinary history (and the linguistic confusion surrounding it - is it cilantro, coriander, or Chinese parsley?), check out NPR's "Cilantro: The Controversial Herb."

Don't understand what all the fuss is about? Read NPR's "Getting to the Root of the Great Cilantro Divide" and WSJ's "Across the Land, People Are Fuming over an Herb." It's truly sad.

Note: The picture of cilantro at the top was found here.

Pho for the First Time

This past weekend Topher & I drove to Williamsburg to visit our friends Grant & Laura and their baby daughter Ava (she's gorgeous, with big dark eyes!).

It was a laid-back, relaxing visit. We drove up after work on Friday afternoon; Grant grilled bacon-wrapped steaks and Laura made tossed salad & roasted fingerling potatoes for dinner. We started to watch "Happy-Go-Lucky" but decided about 15 minutes in that we weren't up for it, so we watched Discovery's "Shark Week" instead. On Saturday morning, after a breakfast of sausage & pancakes, we went to the neighborhood pool.

We had planned to eat lunch at the Blue Talon Bistro, but Ava got a little fussy after her swim and needed a nap; so instead we ordered takeout from Saigon Pearl, a Vietnamese place near their house. Which worked out well, because Topher decided that it was high time that I experienced pho (pronounced fuh).

Pho, a cheap and flavorful beef noodle soup, is usually sold from street carts in Vietnam; in the US it's served in large, wide-rimmed bowls. It's not exactly a takeout-friendly dish, so when Topher & Grant brought it home, we realized that it was really "assemble your own" pho.

The pho tai chin that Topher ordered for us came in three containers: a large cup of steaming beef broth; one box of sticky rice noodles, thin sliced beef (both cooked & rare), and scallions & fresh cilantro; and a second box of "toppings," including crunchy bean sprouts, lime wedges, and jalapeno & onion slices. Add contents of box 1 and box 2 to cup A, and voila, yummy pho soup!

At first I was a little wary of the rare beef, but the hot broth cooked it in almost no time. The sticky noodles separated and softened in the broth, too. The soup was a little awkward to eat -- neither chopsticks nor fork/spoon are quite the right utensil for this dish - but after getting past the fact that I was going to have to slurp a little, it was filling and delicious. And the best part: I could add as much cilantro (and as few jalapenos) as I wanted!

After lunch, Topher & I packed up and drove home to Suffolk. Instead of taking the interstate, though, we decided to go the long way via the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry through Surry, VA.

More on Pho:
For more about the history of pho and its significance in Vietnamese culture, check out this article from the SFGate.com: "A Bowl of Pho: Vietnam's treasured beef noodle soup that brings families together." There's a recipe at the end.

Unfortunately, Hampton Roads doesn't have a "little Saigon" like San Francisco, but there are a few places in Tidewater where you can find Vietnamese: Pho 78 (VA Beach near Holland Plaza), Vietnam Garden (VA Beach near Great Neck/Hilltop), and Pho 79 (two locations - VA Beach near Town Center, and Chesapeake near Battlefield Blvd).

If you're not in the mood for pho, the com thit nuong (barbecue pork with rice and tomato/cucumber salad) that Laura ordered from Saigon Pearl looked and smelled delicious.

Note: The pho photo above was found online here.

Meatless Mondays

This morning on my drive to work, I heard an NPR story about Syd Lerner, the 79-year-old former ad exec behind the Meatless Mondays campaign. He says that his biggest challenge is “[turning] the mundane idea of ‘moderation’ into something irresistible.” But the idea is catching on. A quick Google search of “meatless Monday” returns ~60,900 hits, and almost all the links on the first page of results are dated 2010.

The website for the non-profit initiative Meatless Monday states, “Our goal is to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.” The website for their partner, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says that “[b]y adopting Meatless Monday, individuals can improve their health and potentially reduce demand for meat products, particularly industrially-produced meat, which use huge amounts of natural resources and pose significant public health and environmental risks.”

I should add here that there’s little to no chance of me ever becoming a vegetarian. I’m too big a fan of bacon, spaghetti with meatballs, and all forms of seafood to ever be able to completely give those up. But I can understand the arguments for reducing my weekly intake of animal protein.

Eating less meat can help …

• reduce risks for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity
• reduce my carbon footprint & (indirect) water consumption
• encourage me to eat more fruits, vegetables, legumes, & whole grains

Michael Pollan points out in Food Rules,

“While it’s true that vegetarians are generally healthier than carnivores, that doesn’t mean you need to eliminate meat from your diet if you like it. Meat, which humans have been eating and relishing for a very long time, is nourishing food, which is why I suggest ‘mostly’ plants, not ‘only.’ It turns out that near vegetarians, or ‘flexitarians’ – people who eat meat a couple of times a week – are just as healthy as vegetarians. But the average American eats meat as part of two or even three meals a day – more than half a pound per person per day – and there is evidence that the more meat there is in your diet – red meat in particular – the greater your risk of heart disease and cancer. Why? It could be its saturated fat, or its specific type of protein, or the simple fact that all that meat is pushing plants off the plate.” (Rule #23, pp.53-54)

So it’s no surprise that the idea of one day a week sans meat is gaining traction. San Francisco, New York, New Orleans, Australia, Great Britain – the movement has gone global. And the meat industry isn’t sitting idly by: they’re fighting back with a campaign of their own to make sure that the national dietary guidelines still include recommendations for two servings of meat per day.

But if you're ready to take the plunge and try being a "flexitarian," don't worry: there are plenty of delicious recipes out there that don't include tofu or seaweed. For ideas, check out Foodie Tots, Meatless Monday's recipe archive, and EatingWell.com. Since I've gotten in a breakfast rut - a small carton of OJ and a Kashi granola bar every weekday morning - I'm gonna try the Cheddar Egg White-wich (it's got avocado in it!).

If you're looking for a Meatless Monday restaurant option in Hampton Roads, check out Press 626. On Mondays, in addition to their happy hour and ladies' night specials, they also feature a vegetarian entree made with local produce.

If you know of other HR restaurants that participate in Meatless Monday, please leave a comment - I'd love to hear about it.

Celebrating Local & Regional Food

It seems that August is the month for celebrating local & regional food, both here in Virginia and across the country.

This week (August 1-7) is National Farmers' Market Week, and the Suffolk Farmers' Market is celebrating today 10am-1pm with live banjo music, a rug weaving demonstration, special discounts and food samples, and a farm animal petting zoo.

The Virginia Dept of Agriculture & Consumer Services is sponsoring a Farmers' Market Photo Contest: "Submit your favorite digital photograph taken at a Virginia farmers' market between July 8, 2010 and August 18, 2010. The winners will receive a Virginia Grown/Virginia's Finest prize package worth $100 each."

So if you head out to the farmers' market today, don't forget to bring your camera!

Next week (August 8-14) is Farm to Feast Week, and 11 restaurants in the Hampton Roads area - including Stove, Tautog's, Todd Jurich's Bistro, the Boot, and Croc's Eco Bistro - will be offering 3-course meals that feature local meat, fish, wine, cheese, & produce for $20/$30.

And finally, the American Farmland Trust is sponsoring the America's Favorite Farmers' Markets contest - vote online now for your favorite market!

For some ideas on what to do with all the yummy produce you pick up at the market, check out this post from Whole Foods.

If you're on Twitter, you might like to follow ...

@VirginiaGrown

@BuyLocalHR

@saveourfood (from Richmond, VA)

@VAWineEvent

Note: Photo at top was found online here.

Reading List for August 2-6

1. "Death of a Farm"
The oldest continuously run family farm in the country is closing down.
- Essay by Verlyn Klinkenborg in the NYTimes

"What killed it was the economic structure of food production. Each year it has become harder for family farms to compete with industrial scale agriculture — heavily subsidized by the government — underselling them at every turn. In a system committed to the health of farms and their integration with local communities, the result would have been different. In 1632, and for many years after, the Tuttle farm was a necessity. In 2010, it is suddenly superfluous, or so we like to pretend."

- "After 378 Years, NH Family Farm Goes Up For Sale" on NPR (with pictures)
- Transcript of NPR interview with Lucy Tuttle, farm manager


2. Genetically Altered Salmon?
- "Company says FDA is nearing decision on genetically engineered Atlantic salmon," from the Washington Post
- "Genetically Altered Salmon Get Closer to the Table," from the NYTimes

"[A] Massachusetts company says it is on the verge of receiving federal approval to market a quick-growing Atlantic salmon that's been genetically modified with help from a Pacific Chinook salmon."

3. "A food bill we need" by Michelle Obama
The first lady expresses her support for the Child Nutrition Bill in the Washington Post.

"[E]ven if we all work to help our kids lead healthy lives at home, they also need to stay healthy and active at school. The last thing parents need or want is to see the progress they're making at home lost during the school day."

- "The Senate's Important Lunch Date," an op-ed from the New York Times


4. "The Salt Hiding in Your Diet," from the Wall Street Journal

"Cutting sodium from the diet is difficult, mainly because people often don't know it's there. More than three-quarters of the sodium people consume comes from processed and restaurant foods. And much of the sodium we eat is in foods that don't necessarily taste salty, like packaged bread and chicken dishes."

- Salt Reduction Strategies from HSPH's The Nutrition Source

A Locals' Favorite in Ghent

Since my husband Topher and I switched churches a few months ago, there are some good friends who live in Norfolk that we don't get to see as often as we used to. So I make a point of scheduling "dates" with those friends every few weeks or so, to make sure we stay in touch. Plus, it gives me a great excuse to sample (and review) fun restaurants, like Press 626 and No Frill Grill.

No Frill Grill in Ghent is one of those places that you can always count on for a good meal and enjoyable dining experience. Their menu has something for everyone, and the atmosphere is casual and relaxed. The dining room isn't huge, so if you show up with a large party right at dinnertime, you might have to wait a while, but it's worth it. They also have a covered outdoor patio.

What I Ate:

• Grilled Chicken, Portabella and Andouille with wilted baby spinach, provolone, and sundried tomato garlic pesto over penne pasta, tossed with roasted red peppers, onions and tomatoes, served with herbed pita points - plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day!
• peach pie with vanilla ice cream - yeah, I know I just talked about leftovers, but there's always room for dessert

Other menu highlights include ...

• Spotswood Salad: baby spinach, granny smith apples, bleu cheese crumbles, bacon, Bermuda onions, radishes, cucumbers, red peppers, mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, caramelized almonds and raisins (add your choice of grilled chicken, grilled tuna, shrimp, or London broil for a few bucks more) - my cousins' wives LOVE this dish
• Crab cakes served with corn and black bean salsa, remoulade, cornbread and your choice of two sides - from a girl who tries everybody's crab cakes, these are pretty good
• New York Deli Style "Special": Medium rare roast beef (or oven roasted turkey or pastrami) piled high on thick Jewish rye bread with Swiss cheese, 1000 Island, coleslaw, tomatoes, onions, and spicy brown mustard

The Scoop:

No Frill Bar & Grill is located in Ghent at 806 Spotswood Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23517. They're open Sun-R 11am-10pm and F-Sat 11am-11pm. Their brunch menu is available on Sun 11am-3pm. You can reach them at (757)627-4262. They also have a location at Hilltop in Virginia Beach.

Note: The photo above of the Spotswood Salad is from HamptonRoads.com.

Second Time's the Charm

Earlier this year Topher & I ate at Todd Jurich's Bistro with our friends Bonnie & Andy during Norfolk Restaurant Week, and although we had a wonderful evening, the meal just wasn't all we had hoped for. (I have a personal theory about Restaurant Weeks: the restaurants might be less expensive than usual, but the food won't be nearly as good.)

But we kept hearing such great things about it, so we wanted to give it a second chance. Our opportunity came when Topher was given a gift certificate as a thank-you present. We finally used the gift certificate this past Saturday night, for dinner before my cousin Heidi's modern dance ensemble's performance. And I must admit, this meal totally redeemed Todd Jurich's in our estimation: it was fantastic!

What We Ate:

• amuse-bouche: thin-sliced cucumber topped with mint & melon salsa
• my starter: "Chef's Garden" iced gazpacho with lump crab meat - a perfect summer soup
• Topher's starter: Five spice seared foie gras, served atop a Peking duck roll, with damsum plum - this was the best foie gras I've ever tasted (great smoky flavor), and the plum sauce was unusual but very tasty
• my entrée: Pepper seared tuna, served over a warm quinoa salad (chick peas, cherry tomatoes, carrots), topped with eggplant "caviar" (paired with Hendry "Unoaked" Chardonnay, Napa Valley, 2007) - the tuna was seared medium-rare, and as you know, I'm a sucker for a yummy quinoa salad - this whole dish was delicious! I'm not a huge fan of chardonnays, but the Hendry was quite good: still a little buttery but, as the name suggests, without the huge oaky flavor - a nice pairing for the tuna
• Topher's entrée: summer lamb grille served on a naan "pizza" with cucumber tahini sauce (paired with Vino con Brio "Matzin" Old Vine Zinfandel, Lodi, 2005)
• dessert: Southern bourbon pecan pie topped with brown sugar cinnamon ice cream - the ice cream was amazing! the perfect consistency with the right blend of sweet & spicy

The Scoop:

Todd Jurich's Bistro is located at 150 W. Main Street, Suite 100 (the entrance is on Boush Street between Main & Plume Streets) in downtown Norfolk, VA 23510. Reservations are available online or by calling (757)622-3210. Dinner is served M-Sat 5:30-10pm; lunch is available M-F 11:30am-2pm.

"A Strange but Beautiful Place"

Last week Randy & Kim invited me & Topher to join them and our friends Mike & Jane one night for dinner at a hole-in-the-wall eatery in Portsmouth: Stove, the restaurant. The whole evening was a bizarre, delicious experience.

Randy had mentioned Stove before, but we'd never eaten there or heard anyone else mention it. So I did a little online research and discovered that 1) Stove is located near the Midtown Tunnel, not in cute, quaint Old Towne Portsmouth, and 2) parts of their website are weird, which led me to believe that the owner/chef Syd Meers is also a little strange. But the menu looked pretty good, and the restaurant had received favorable reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon, so I was hopeful.

On this particular evening, the Lord decided to bless Hampton Roads with all the rain that He'd been withholding all summer long. Just as we left Randy & Kim's house it began to pour, and the deluge continued all the way to Portsmouth.

Crazy thunder & lightning, driving sheets of rain, downed trees, flooded streets - it was a mess! The drive took almost twice as long as usual because everyone was traveling at half speed with their caution lights flashing. When we finally arrived at the restaurant, we had to take off our shoes and wade through the street to even get to the front door!

Once inside the real fun began: the mint green walls were covered with mounted animal heads and Syd's original artwork - "wacky" is the word that comes to mind. We were seated in orange mesh chairs and served drinks in curved glasses. The spelling on the menu is, um, creative (Itlay, really?), and is accompanied by a "foodtionary" explaining unfamiliar terms on the menu such as "lardo," "holy trinity," and "smoochie bear ham."

I was immediately excited by the extensive cheese list, as well as the chef's apparent obsession with pork and bacon (judging by the number of dishes listing one or both as ingredients). I was torn between several dishes, and this is exactly how they were described on the menu -- I mean, how could I make up this stuff?

• "real big gulf coast brown shrimp b-4 bp (hehe) - pan sauté of jumbo shrimp with tomato, shiitake and scallions with a pimento cheese pancake and grilled pork belly bacon"
• "u-10 diver scallop: seared big scallop on creamed corn and smoochie bear ham with a stone ground grits timbale and peppered lemon crème fraiche" - Randy ordered this as an appetizer, so I got to taste a bite: the scallops were just a tad undercooked, i.e. perfect, not rubbery at all, slightly seared on the outside and translucent in the middle

I ended up choosing one of the specials: "the visiting fish - i look for the just out of water fish my guy bruce gets me and I then will put together a nice dish for you, we’ll inform u of the evenings dish." Sounded good to me!

Not only was the food fantastic, but the service was great as well. Randy & Kim are regulars, so they knew our waitress. She had a great sense of humor, perfect timing, and confident recommendations. She brought clean silverware for every course and periodically cleaned the table with a crumb brush.

We didn't feel rushed, so the six of us just took our time and enjoyed the conversation and fellowship. (Never mind that it was a weeknight, and we all had to get up for work the next day.) Three hours later as we were getting into Randy's car to head home, Topher mused, "That's a strange but beautiful place." I couldn't have said it better myself.

What We Ate:

• artisan cheese plate: Buttermilk Bleu, Green Hill Camembert, Bellavitano Black Pepper, and Syd's Neo-Pimento, served with house relish & chips - don't roll your eyes: this was the best pimento cheese Topher or I have ever tasted!


• salad: crisp hearts of romaine lettuce and baby lettuce, watermelon radish & our visiting cheese tossed with a mustard vinaigrette


• my entree: sauté sockeye salmon on a pan roast of mixed summer squash, topped with Vidalia onions and shrimp in a cherry tomato pinot reduction - being a Georgia girl, I was excited about the sweet onions from Vidalia, GA; the salmon was cooked perfectly, too - just a little underdone


• Topher's entree: "the ‘pork o rama’ bbq - local darden farm’s pork sausage, my smoochie bear ham & black pig pork belly on warm visiting potato salad with lardo and stove-b-que sauce" - Topher gave me a taste of the pork belly, and it was delicious! He also said the barbecue sauce was really well done.


• dessert: out of the oven - fresh peach "petite cobbler" sprinkled with smoked sea salt and topped with fresh whipped cream - not too big, just enough to have a taste of something salty-sweet at the end of the meal

The Scoop:
Stove, the restaurant is located at 2622 Detroit Avenue, Portsmouth, VA 23707. They're open for dinner T-R 5-9pm (with an early bird special 5-6:30pm) and F-Sat 5-10pm, and for brunch on the 1st Sun of every month 11am-3pm. Reservations can be made only by phone: (757)397-0900. Find them on Facebook. And check out their Farm to Feast Week, August 8-14!

Note: The pictures above are from Stove's website.