COOKING TIPS.
"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." First rule of cooking?––don't listen to Carl Sagan. His recipes are impossible.
We as a culture have determined that cooking is an ordeal. It requires a recipe, a lot of money, time and a special skill-set. I assure you, this rumor is false.Because Hannah and I are in the produce business, it's in our best interest to convince the world to cook more. Lucky for everyone, it's in the best interest of the entire world to do so. We decidedly can't afford to eat out all the time and if you care about your health and you're a normal person, you likely can't either. Eating out usually breaks down to one simple equation: if it's cheap it's probably not good for you, and if it's good for you it's probably not cheap. Our answer is to cook for ourselves and, with a little fear of sounding presumptuous, hopefully to convince other people to have the confidence to do the same.If you're in need of a few helpful tips, as so many have expressed to us, we wanted to lend a few we follow:1. MEAT IS A SPECIAL OCCASION.Hannah and I don't eat much meat and when we do we like to know who grew it. Typically, it's not cheap, ergo, only for special occasions. For our daily protein we eat eggs, beans, cheese, lentils or some combination of them. Not an easy transition for a lot of people––myself included––but a necessary one. Fresh beans or lentils just take a little planning. Soak them over night, rinse them, and cook them for a couple hours the next day. Make a lot and put what you don't use in the fridge for the next couple of days' meals. Red Lentils are very fast and don't (necessarily) have to be soaked at all. A little protein goes a long way if your day does not require a lot of physical labor.2. ALL OF OUR MEALS CONSIST OF AT LEAST ONE PROTEIN, ONE STARCH, AND ONE VEGETABLE.Rice is the work horse of starches. Make enough to get through at least two meals. For the first, eat it fresh with some sautéed vegetables and lentils. The second, heat it back up by frying it with some eggs and greens. Any left over, reward your efforts with some rice pudding and honey. Sautéed or boiled potatoes (sweet potatoes or regular) are excellent, cheap starch options as well. I typically sauté potatoes because the pan caramelizes the sugars and adds a little complexity but boiling works, too. And it's definitely healthy. Also, potato salad is a delicious option if you have to pack a lunch. 3. WE BUY FRESH VEGETABLES WEEKLY.We will soon have a garden to pick from, but while we're in the city, we have to buy some vegetables. One bunch of kale or collards or chard lasts us through three to five meals. Extrapolate that however's convenient: if you're a family of four, double it and so on. We definitely get a lot of mileage out of our broccoli or cauliflower as well. Also, save any scraps to make soup stocks. You can make a soup stock out of any vegetables, simmer them for 45 minutes in water then strain out the scraps. Potato soup with milk, kale and vegetable stock is simple and rewarding. 4. BUY WHAT YOU CAN IN BULK.Pretty self-explanatory but it saves considerable money to buy starches and storage crops (like onions and garlic) in larger quantities. Per meal, we use at least one small clove of garlic and half an onion. Add a big bag of beans and red or black lentils, some real salt and a big jar of olive oil. Of course, try and buy what you can organically or directly from a local farmer. If they don't advertise, it's perfectly OK to ask if they spray. Perhaps you have some rules of your own you want to share, or perhaps you flat out disagree with one of ours––please feel free to tell us. We want the world to cook more––let us know what you eat. Hannah and I cook two if not three meals a day for ourselves and we sit down and eat them together. It teaches you a lot about food, about discipline, and about each other to do so. This kind of lifestyle takes more planning and definitely more time in the kitchen, but hopefully in the future it will save you time in the doctor's office––more time to spend with your family.- Jesse.
A DAY IN PHOTOS - DECORATE, AGAIN!
We were Christmas decorating once again today! Jesse and I spent the morning doing scary adult things like opening up a checking account together, so we had to follow that with ice cream and a Christmas tree. This time, the decorating involved more John Denver and the Muppets, more old home movies, and much more Barb.- Hannah.
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| our frasier fir! naturally, we named him "niles." |
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| love him. |
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| best kind of lights. hands down. |
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| scaredy cat. |
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| niles looks great! |
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| oh, barb. |
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| pro tree decorator. |
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| nostalgia overload! |
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| hanging her favorite ornament. |
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| everyone needs a little felt church. |
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| beekeeper ornament! thank you, stephanie. |
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| saving this one for when brother comes home. |
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| tah-dah! |
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| merry christmas! |
ODD JOBS.
During this transitional time for Jesse and I, our families have been super amazing wonderful humans. On top of letting us live with them, they have also been finding random projects and jobs for us to do - anything to give them a valid excuse to hand us money. After raking leaves on Saturday, we were back to my grandparent's house today to put up their Christmas decorations. I know, I know... tough work. We had a great morning, listening to Christmas music on an old radio, digging through boxes of ornaments, and exploring the house. As things on the farm are moving slower than expected, we are so grateful to our family and friends for these small distractions. The holidays have been lovely to us so far...and we hope they have been for you as well!- Hannah.PS - if you live nearby and have any of your own "distractions" for us, let us know!
THE DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: PAWPAW EDITION
There are one-hundred and twenty counties in Kentucky. Fifty-five or so are dry, around thirty-five are "moist," and thirty are wet. The county we're moving into, Bath, is completely dry. This is a rather hilarious state of affairs for a young man like myself who moved to Kentucky with the express intention of making his own wine.You see, after national Prohibition ended in 1933 many states including Kentucky preferred not to abandon Prohibition altogether instead opting for the local option which gave individual counties the opportunity to vote on their own dry laws. Bath stayed dry, but lucky for me, it's not illegal to make small amounts of wine for personal consumption, it's only illegal to sell it. In homage to this irony I'm starting The Dry County Wine Review to occasionally discuss our dry county winemaking or wine drinking. On Friday, Hannah and I went to visit the farm and packed a picnic of Thanksgiving leftovers and a bottle of Pawpaw wine. Pawpaws are a Native American tree fruit that taste like nature's ill-fated attempt at crossing a mango and banana. They're medium-sized, peanut-shaped green fruits with a tropical yellow custard flesh.
The outside of the pawpaw is bitter, and when I made the wine I wanted to include about 45% of these skins for tannin and a little savory edge. Apologies, but this is where it gets a little nerdy. As I understand it, and as Louis Pasteur tells us, different types of yeasts attach themselves to different kinds of fruit based on their acidity and sugar level. I wanted to maintain some of that in the fermentation in lieu of simply collecting random yeasts out of the air. I packed the pawpaws into a gallon jar and poured over them a couple cups of spring water and a cup of honey. Pawpaws are not particularly juicy or as sweet as grapes, so I had to add the water for liquid, and the honey to boost the sugar level. I don't mind chapitalizing with honey; it takes longer but I love the idea of incorporating the healthful qualities of honey to a wine along with the bio-diversity it provides in the end-result. Same for the spring water. I let the mess ferment in an open jar (or crock if available) for four days then moved it into a glass carboy––an airtight container for the secondary fermentation. It stayed there for one month, and then into bottle for several more. This particular gallon yielded exactly one bottle of wine. As I mentioned, we opened that bottle Friday. And it. was. interesting. I don't mind it when a wine turns out odd, and Hannah, to her credit, always obliges my whims. She's a trooper but admitted this wine was a bit too much even for her. It tasted like tart and tropical grapefruit juice. I would guess the alcohol was no more than 8%. The acidity was aggressive but I liked it with the food. Quite honestly, it wasn't the most enjoyable wine I've ever drunk, but I'd take it over a typical Parker wine any day. But the intention was never to make great wine––mainly because I don't quite know how yet––it was to make dry, healthful wines. And this wine was undeniably healthful––so alive it was grinning. Producers legally can't say it so I'll do it: Wine is extremely good for your health––from your immune system to your digestive––it's something we need in our diets. In her book Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon writes that “The enzymes in raw food, particularly raw fermented food, help to start the process of digestion and reduce the body’s need to produce digestive enzymes." We need fermentation, be it kimchi, beer, wine or pickles. If it's wine, it's not always gonna be 100 points. But the diversity is what we need, whether said diversity comes from using different fruits, waters or sweeteners, and sometimes you've just gotta shoot it back and pretend its medicine. Other times, when it's tasty, you can sip slowly and enjoy. Fortunately for Hannah, I made both kinds this year. What's fun is the mystery, what's exciting is the health, and what's hard to get beyond is the dogma that says the only good wines come from grapes. In The Dry County Wine Review, I'm always going to be begging to differ: good wine is the wine that grins––grape, blackberry, pawpaw or otherwise.- Jesse.