Braised Lamb Shanks at Anthology, New Work at Southern Living, Last-Minute Fab Gifts

As you might gather from the title, I have been up to many projects of late. There is much to share, and much will be revealed further, soon. Today, however, marks the fourth feature with Anthology Mag. I have loved producing and cooking up these delicious stories! This one takes a cue from all the wintry weather we've been having, and is robustly savory. Braised lamb shanks anyone?

Check out the full story - and more gorgeous pictures - at Anthology and let them know how much you love it. :)

Switching gears, here are snippets from this month's Southern Living.... we have since parted ways, and this represents the lot of work produced in my last days there. More will appear as bits in upcoming months; I'll post them here as they run in the magazine.

festive blooms for every container - 

a roast story - 

*fancy* shooting products on white - 

Which brings me to..... In my love for - and earnest interest to support - local makers, I wanted to create a little gift guide this year, in case you haven't already aced the list for your dear ones. Inspired by the great photographer Andrea Gentl, who seems to effortlessly curate great collections, I thought you might like a glimpse of what I've come across that inspires me....

1. Organic Neck Warmer - Knit in Los Angeles with enormous needles, this wool roving neck warmer is totally stylish while maintaining a sense of timelessness. The simple novelty of such knitting needles is worth a glance.

2. Soup Bowl in "Crater" Glaze - Support small makers by buying through savvy online shops like Etsy. This stoneware bowl has been on my list for a while, and there's just one like it!

3. Save Bristol Bay - Some of the greatest gifts we can give will help keep the crucial fabric of our planet intact. This pristine Alaskan bay, fed by waters from nearby snow-capped peaks and small rivers threaded from wetlands and tundra, is the best wild salmon habitat on Earth. It faces imminent threat from the proposed Pebble mine (as well as adjacent proposed mining). If we lose this perfection of Nature, we will lose wild salmon as we know it.

4. The Bunad Blanket - Though not local, this indulgent, award-winning piece is woven in Norway of the finest wool fibers, and is so, so beautiful.

5. Glaze-dipped bowl from Terrain - lead-free glaze, handmade in Vermont, USA. I love so many things at Terrain...

6. Hand-poured Birthday Candles - Made from all-natural beeswax right here in the USA. These tapers add drama to any celebration.

7. Hasami Bowl - The simple ingenuity of these modular porcelain bowls makes for limitless uses at the table.

8. Vermont Rolling Pins - I use their European pin for many of my projects, and this one is another I've coveted for some time. Hand crafted, beautiful, and functional. What else is there?

9. Classic Linen Apron - from the fine people at Quitokeeto, this timeless design is constructed in California of natural materials. The flax linen only gets better with age....

10. Beautiful Briny Sea Salt - I was delighted to discover that this small maker creates her toothsome salts right here in Alabama, and I was sold when I tasted her French Picnic blend. Perfect for rubs, as a finishing salt, and more...

11. Save the Orangutans -  Another way to feel good about giving, these imperiled, beautiful creatures could sure use our support. Currently, orangutan habitat is being eradicated (80% reduction in the last 20 years) in favor of palm plantations so that companies can use palm oil in products such as peanut butter, truffles, hygeine products, and more. Please help save these precious creatures from extinction.

12. Balsamic Fresh Fig Jam - Made in small batches in Porland, Oregon, everything from this maker is delicious. I have a collection of empty jars to prove it.

13. Excalibur Dehydrator - this splurge more than makes up for itself with the savings in longterm food costs. Perfect for those preservation-minded folks! Great for fruit leathers, drying mushrooms, and any other fresh produce you may need to save from spoilage.

However you do the holiday season, please, for your own sanity (I'm talking to myself here, with a laundry list of things to do), make room to breathe, kick up your feet to release physical stress  - preferably with a cocktail - and a hug someone (or everyone!) you love. I mean it. It's too easy to become stressed out, and time is too precious to allow all of the "things" to get in the way. And with that, onwards.... :) xxx

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.....