Endless Knots

Mother's guilt: "No one will trade lunch with us"

 

Of the many things about which I retain motherly regret, none makes me feel quite so conflicted as the lunches I lovingly packed. Whole wheat this and organic that, fruit leather instead of Snickers bars, and a "whole" array of other items that no other kids in my daughters' classes would touch.

From Chef Merito's site -- Thanks

I am relieved to find that a in a recent, apparently highly scientific, Boston Globe poll ("Eating or grading their box lunch, kids can be cruel"), "54 percent of the kids surveyed gave their lunch a grade of C or lower."

Shane (see below) must have been advised by my daughters:

[His mother] says Shane was pretty willing to go the healthy route until recently. “Lately, he’s taken to wanting his lunches to be cool. ‘Don’t just pack the healthy stuff, it’s embarrassing. Can you please pack Oreos and candy — normal stuff?’ ” she says. She has switched from whole-wheat bread to white, and she does throw in the occasional Oreo, “so he’ll fit in and not be scarred for life.”

Well, Shane's Mom, I never switched and today I'm pleased to say that I recently "enjoyed" this conversation from a family near me in regard to the next generation's school ("actually, we're in Pre-K," they correct me) lunch:

Mother: How did you like the scallops [from the farmer's market]?

One of the twin's reply: I liked them but he didn't.

Scallops? Yes. Apparently, they still fly with four-year-olds (in Brooklyn) but what will happen when they're eight?

 

 

Carrot dust and heaven in a barn... and a flood... and a festival

It was a gorgeous late August day,
fields abundant with the fruits of summer.

 

Even the goat and pig were friendly.

 

But we had come to eat the best meal of our lives.
First, hors d's (photo by Etienne Frossard) on the patio

 

With the eve's wine in the fine hands of Daniel Johnnes (r)

Fifty people at one very long table in the center of the barn
(photo, Etienne)

with tomatoes for sale along the walls.

With Ray Bradley (left) and his pal (since they were 14 growing up near Storrs, CT) David Bouley cooking in the kitchen, grilling cod in the field.

Six courses, maybe 16 (photo from Bouley Restaurant on Facebook, thanks)

Which then were served to discerning palates (thanks again, Etienne)

Including the piece, the Carrot Dust of the title (Etienne, encore)

 

Course by course until it was over and David and Ray said goodbye
and that they'd do it again -- soon

And that the Annual Festival would take place Sept 25

 

But what we did not know is that just a few days later,
Hurricane Irene would turn Ray's farm into this
and ruin his whole crop

 

As the waters receded, fund-raising arose (everyone loves Ray)
and he continued to go to (Grand Army Plaza and 97th Street Farmers) Market
selling what he could (here on Sept 24)

 

And the next day, we went to the festival, which NY Times reported on here
and where Etienne took this picture of these tractor drivers

And I took this picture of Etienne

And of Heather Marold Thomason, whose company badfeather does Ray's website and who's been reporting on the flood on her blog

And said goodbye to Iris Kimberg, who runs the show

And to the stone pig

Artist alert for Bradley Farm

Further to yesterday's post from the Bradley Farm newsletter, pictures reprinted with permission (and I still promise that post on the heavenly meal served at Bradley Farm on Aug 21):

 

Show Your Support, Design a Bradley Farm T-shirt!

Here's your chance to help support Bradley Farm and show us how creative you can be!

Ray suffered terrible losses from Hurricane Irene. The farm, and with it the fields of crops that would have been harvested to sell at the markets, have all been flooded. We're planning to sell t-shirts as a fundraiser to help Ray recover some of his losses, and we thought it would be a lot more fun to get Ray's loyal customers in on the action.

Bradley Farm T-Shirt Contest
Send us your best idea. The winning t-shirt will be for sale at this year's Annual Farm Festival!

Contest: Email your design by Wednesday, September 14th to [email protected]. We'll choose a favorite and the winner will be announced in the next week's newsletter.

Prize: The winner will receive a t-shirt, a free ticket to this year's farm party and a big hug from Ray. All submissions will be included in a gallery on the website.

Details: Your design must be able to be reproduced in 1 or 2 colors (it will be silkscreened). Send us a jpeg, PDF or other digital file (no Word Docs please) that is at least 150dpi at actual size (email us with any questions about this).

Bradley Farm, Irene, and the best meal I've ever had...

 
© Etienne Frossard - David Bouley speaking after the meal (read on)

This is one of those posts that I've been meaning to write for nearly two weeks but life trumped every attempt and now I'm in the position of having heard that the hurricane has caused flooding and...

What am I talking about?

Earlier this summer, Farmer Extraordinaire Ray Bradley of Bradley Farm in New Paltz, NY, started hosting Farm-to-Table dinners in his barn. My daughter and son-in-law went to the first, raved about it, and invited me along to the third, which took place on August 21.

Ray sells his wares at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market in Brooklyn, which I've blogged about many times. It is indeed a grand farmers market and the Bradley Farm stand is a de rigeur stop for us...which is how my family knew about these extraordinary dinners.

The August 21 meal was one apart - incredibly, David Bouley, chef of great renown (viz. Bouley, brushstroke, Bouley Test Kitchen, etc), who's known Ray  since they were 14 and growing up together near Storrs, CT, collaborated on this event. David was the chef, Ray was in the kitchen, Iris Kimberg was the producer...along with a very large staff, including many volunteers, and the result was pure wonder. When I properly blog this event, the post will be called "Carrot dust and heaven in a barn."

But alas, I've learned just a few hours ago via Etienne Frossard, who took the pictures on the Bradley Farm site, and who has sent me a bunch to share here, including the one at the top of this post, that Bradley Farm was flooded by Hurricane Irene and that Ray finally was able to reach his precious land - by canoe.

We wonder who really gets touched by this wild weather. A number of people I know have lost power; a friend couldn't drive from Vermont to Boston today due to roads being washed out. And now we know that there's so much water at Bradley Farm that Ray is moving around in a canoe.

I'll still do the post about the best meal I've ever had but tonight there is only this report and the hope that the animals are OK and that the harvest is not lost. Thinking of you, Ray and Iris.

Grand Army peppers and beets

Frequent readers know of my fascination with farmers markets and food (as in previous post) thus these two snapshots taken last weekend at the Grand Army Plaza market. It was so crowded that it was near impossible to capture the piles of fall bounty.

 

 

 

 

"A Word from the Field:" (Old Friends) Farmer's Block

I've never been to Old Friends Farm but I love their stand at the Newton (Tues) Farmers Market so much that I've posted about them before.

Their weekly newsletter has, naturally, news from the farm, recipes, and this time a reflection on farmer's block, if such possibly could exist. Inspired, so to speak, by writer's block, which Casey, who writes this edition, clearly does not suffer from:

A Word from the Field:

It may be the three hours of sleep, but I believe I am suffering from a common case of writers block. This is not to be confused with "farmer's block." "Farmer's block" we definitely do NOT have.

There is so much beautiful produce coming out of the fields. What would farmer's block look like? Well, maybe it looks like our husk cherries. We invested so much energy in them, and never got to the chapter when we get to harvest them.

Or maybe it looks like our carrots: we think they are going to germinate like a good idea, then they vanish like a thought you didn't get out in time.

Maybe, just maybe, it looks like a pond full of water without the ability to get it to all the fields. Ok, so we might have these mild cases of farmers block, but without them, wouldn't we be bored on our perfect little farm? Where's the challenge? The hardship? The angst? The sleep? All those successes (greens, ginger, potatoes, leeks, bok choi) wouldn't feel so special. So, I hereby say "cheers!" to farmers block, and shoo the writers block away!

Old Friends Farm

Just this.

 

Ah, Brooklyn

Stunning day yesterday in the best borough. Step out the door and be entertained by the martial arts/music/dance practitioners of Capoeira, performing on the sidewalk on Flatbush. First two pics are the dancers/martial artists; third is their musical accompaniment.

 

Then truck on up the street to Grand Army Plaza where the Farmers Market is now in full swing. Here's just one stall with the most spectacular flowers and herbs.

And then there's this from a nearby street. If only I could upload the aroma of the first lilacs of the year.

Cold turkey

Oh so very cold at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market in Brooklyn today but the purveyors turned out anyway, seemingly more than shoppers. Last week, even colder and with prediction of snow, there were only a handful of stalls, even fewer shoppers.

Speaks for itself (great turkey, btw)

 

What's that? Cauliflower!

Get your cold apple cider!

Eat your veggies

Yesterday's Boston Globe food section (lead article by Devra First, "Health Food Mecca?") was about the predictable: how to eat right after eating wrong. Many tofu recipes plus reviews of local veggie and vegan restaurants (yes, skeptics, you can now eat raw in Boston). And, apropos, last night, we had dinner with dear friends for which I made Mollie Katzen's triumph (and old-time family fave), Enchanted Broccoli Forest.

(Note to cooks: I made two versions, one totally heart-healthy for my friend, B, who has successfully lowered his LDL from 130 to 40 by maniacally eliminating nearly every calorie of fat from his diet, the other for the rest of us, which I souped up, as usual, with grated cheese and beaten eggs. FYI, I always use brown rice for greater texture, sometimes add lentils for more protein, and occasionally add sesame and/or sunflower seeds. Recently, I made it with broccoli and white and purple cauliflower. Basically, you can do anything with this recipe. It's delicious and beautiful on presentation.)

All of which is a perfect excuse to post these photos, taken just after Thanksgiving at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market in Brooklyn.