Perfect Cheese Straws, My Trip to Norway (part 1), and a Giveaway

The sweet team at Cup of Jo asked me to guest blog during their month of easy-peasy appetizer features, and when I thought about fantastic-tasting treats to whet the appetite, puff pastry inevitably entered my brain. Especially because the results are SO good without a huge amount of effort (unless you made that puff pastry yourself…next week).

This version is seasoned with cayenne and nutmeg and finely shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. YUM. I made a quick harissa mayonnaise for dipping, but these cheese straws are just as good all by themselves. Full recipe and more drool-worthy images, here.

With only a few tools needed and many options for toppings, making these cheese straws is a cinch. Let the party begin!

As detailed in this story's title, there's also a giveaway going on. Please scroll down for more news on that….

You may or may not know that I just returned from a breath-taking trip through Norway. And, a way-too-brief stop-off in Amsterdam. Seriously, you cannot imagine the intense beauty of the landscapes in Norway until you have seen them for yourself. Now I can knowledgeably mark the must return to points when I have more time to get lost and explore, as well as offer solid recommendations should you find yourself going that way!

I've been quite busy since the return. Sorting the gajillion images will take time, but here is a first glimpse -

this quiet, mesmerizing abode, on the coast in Aurland

first night's stay during my solo tour, in Voss

hairpin turns along a fjord hike in Aurland

rainy day means a gorgeous still life at the Oslo bric-a-brac market

beautiful spent fern stems

I fell in love with the austere wildness of Finse. At 1222 meters above sea level, it's the highest elevation in all of Norway

from a train window, passing through Finse

later in the trip...see that little red cottage off to the left? that's the same as the above from the train window

long blown grasses, wet with raindrops 

wild tundra blueberries, juicy and sweet

a kind of chanterelles, chosen by Ilse at the market for that night's dinner

Reviewing these brings me back a little. How wonderful it all was. I plan on writing about each aspect of the adventure, so stay tuned for more photos and their stories…

And now for the giveaway. Which is actually THREE giveaways, so everyone has a greater likelihood of winning something! :D

The folks at GIR gifted me a variety of their just-released and not-yet-released (!) kitchen tools, and I am pairing them with a few latest yummy books sent my way. The ladle and handy spatula speak for themselves, but the geometric-patterned lid in the center is new and super cool. It makes cellophane or other means to seal a bowl or other container unnecessary, creating its own vacuum to preserve and store food. And comes in all kinds of cool sizes. I'm using a few right now and I'm liking the results.

Mason Jar Salads is great for anyone on the go who doesn't feel like compromising on real food's flavor and nutrients. Great tips, attractive and delicious mixes to add to your repertoire, there's a lot to love here.

100 Days of Real Food brings kids to the proverbial table, sharing whole food recipes which score points with both kids and adults alike. Lisa also guides readers on how to source real foods - for seasonality, too - at your local grocery.

Camille Styles is hot off the presses - today is the launch, in fact! In her self-titled book, find inspiration page-after-page, with beautiful photography of food, home, garden, and more.

Which set speaks to you?

In order to win, please follow me on Instagram if you're not already, and leave a comment below telling me 1. What foods from my blog inspire you most (whether you've made them or not isn't as important, but I would love to know that too!) and, 2. Which set here you'd like, should you win! If you tag me in comments on Twitter or share on Facebook, your name will be added again for each extra mention. Thanks!

To be eligible, you must live in the US and add your comments by 11:59 EST, Monday November 17th.

I cannot wait to send these goodies to new homes!

It is wonderful having you join me along the adventure. Stay tuned - my newest story with Anthology arrives Friday, and a there's a bunch of work in print to share. And Norway. More divine and wild Norway….. xo

What it is to Farm

It's pretty amazing to know that there are people who dedicate their lives to growing food and bringing that food to the public. On a daily basis, I make efforts to deepen my relationship with the food I consume, and to draw closer the people who provide it for me.

In that vein a couple months ago, I decided to jump in and participate in the work that goes in to growing food for a stand, one at our local farmers market. The experience was wonderful, as you might guess, and also quite humbling.

In my new home, luck has it that I only have to travel an hour in any direction to find great farmers. Our local market is just eight minutes away and rivals my trusty greenmarket back in NYC. On our first trip - the first stand I decided to stop at - I spotted Heron Hollow Farm. I was initially drawn to the gorgeous fruits and veggies, and then to Will, his wonderful wife Liz, and their sweet babe Ava, whose gaze is the intense stare of an old soul.

Each week their stand presents a colorful bounty in-line with the season. We have found (and hungrily taken home): neat piles of heirloom tomatoes; firm, bright, tiny turnips; every color pepper imaginable; bundles of wild greens; potatoes with great names (and even better flavor); firm, dark blueberries; perfectly ripe okra; foraged chanterelles; pastured eggs; and both goat and cow dairy products.

Throughout the years I have learned what great versions of this-or-that vegetable or fruit look like, feel like, and smell like, resulting in some damn good eating. When I honor eating with the season and locate food that is only lightly traveled, I am rewarded with peak ripeness provided by someone who nurtured that food him or herself.

Supermarkets actually rob us of this choice in selling us a wide variety of fruit and veg year-round. Groceries showcase uniformity rather than the uniqueness nature creates, dumbing down our access to the kinds of a carrot or a tomato, etc., we can even be exposed to. The stuff masquerading as real fruits and vegetables in supermarkets is almost completely machined - picked pre-ripened and necessarily flushed with gasses to achieve their rosy hues; shipped hundreds if not thousands of miles and losing flavor and nutrition as a result; and handled by people who themselves are kept on a threadbare existence.

When we buy at supermarkets we vote to sustain the infrastructure that bolsters Industrial Agriculture, including environmental costs like chemical waste in our waterways and burning fossil fuels into our atmosphere. Is that what we want for our future, or even now?

Heron Hollow and countless other small, local farms like it empower us by showing us that heirloom fruits and vegetables can be grown without industrial pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers.  What started out as a college hobby, and what brought Will and Liz together, has evolved into a holistic approach that would make Joel Salatin proud: animals live happily in their natural ways, work is done largely by hand, and they use tried-and-true methods like compost and permaculture to grow healthy, amazing food. To nourish yourself and your family with the food a small farmer toils over day-after-day is about as elemental as it gets.

Each week, they do the bulk of the work pulling the (literal) fruits of their labor from the earth. For all my years in New York's aggressive hustle, I was set to task in keeping up with their schedule. Will quipped, "we're *reasonable* farmers" when we asked if they start before sun-up....So we toiled from 6 a.m. on, from one chore to the next, and it was a race against the sun bearing down on us all.

Thank you Will, Liz, Ava Rose, Denise, and Brian for sharing of yourselves. You are helping others to grow their appreciation of what it means to grow food.

 

"Ma mere" with Ava, as mama carries food scraps to the pigs

During the hottest hours, we retreated to the "swimming hole," a falls-fed flowing stream

I hope by now you have fallen in love with this pastoral view.

At sundown, the eleven-hour day only represented the beginning. After everyone gathered for a gratifying dinner of herbed goat's cheese, homemade bread, fresh sliced tomatoes, home-smoked bacon, and a veggie stew, the next tasks were to sort and wash the day's take, and complete the evening milking and feedings. This was work carried on into the latest hours of the night, followed by just a few hours of sleep before driving it all to market. And let's not forget: week in and out Will and Liz and farmers just like them oblige many a curious (if not demanding) market patron, with cheer, smiles, and patience, on just the vapors of sleep..... pretty awesome indeed.

We love being reminded of the care put into each tomato sitting on our counter at home. Each morsel is enriched by the relationships we have - and continue to - cultivate. Please support small, local, family farms. You'll eat worlds better and have the satisfaction of knowing that you are directly supporting members of your community. If you want to learn more, here, here, and here are good places to further your own understanding. Share this story with friends, and say "hi" to the folks providing us all with good food.  

Finding Time and Losing It

I'm having a hard time managing the life I used to have with the new one I have committed to. I feel badly about not having the chance to birth (and complete) new stories here. It's kind of funny, actually. When I started the blog, I thought it would "be good to do" and worried about what my voice would be "out there," wondering what I would write about. And now? I pine to have time to create personal work and share my adventures here with you all.

It's not that I'm not taking pictures. Quite the contrary. I am shooting more than I ever have... It's the personal, down-time which lacks. My hope is that this is all part of a larger transition, and that I will be able to work stories in again as a more regular part of my life. That - as everything settles - this space will show itself.

But for now I live in the margins of my larger commitments, practice some yoga at home - to of course offset the gobs more eating I do in the SL test kitchens (oh boy) - and say hi to my pussy cats and wonderful home.

Here's to living, those great and small moments I cherish.....

One of our sweethearts, Maya

Some of the numerous *leftover* bouquets around our home, thanks to a stylist who creates arrangements for local weddings

Personal artifacts in my world...

At this point, my work is now appearing in the magazine! I thought to share some outtakes from the current issue. These are some of my favorites, from a Birmingham-based what's-great-around-town story. I hope you'll agree....

Good summer sipping at Little Donkey

 

Not much has changed since when they opened in 1907! At the wonderful Peanut Depot

 

A favorite meat& three destination: Johnny's, on left

One more thing -

I'd done a series for a Manhattan restaurant which is soon to go live, work shot on my very last day in the city. No pressure. :) 

Working with the chef was great. His talent for bursts of color, freshness of ingredients, and interest in seasonal fare aligned with my own philosophy for good eating, and he trusted in our collaboration. So good. Here are a few of my favorites, with more you can be sure to look forward to.....