brown goat
the life of city dwellers with a healthy obsession with natureArchive for farmer's markets
this town sounds grand…
carrboro, north carolina.
carrboro you say. and i say, yes!
it’s located less than 4 miles from chapel hill and carrboro has a reputation as one of the most liberal communities in the southern US. it was the first municipality in north carlina to elect an openly gay mayor, mike nelson, in 1995 and the first municipality in the state to grant domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples. in october 2002, carrboro was among the first municipalities in the south to pass resolutions opposing the iraq war and the USA PATRIOT act.
and, it has a fabulous farmers market (every wednesday afternoon and saturday morning and it’s about 5 times bigger than our market), an awesome grocery (with great space for eating and hanging out on the front lawn), fun restuarants and bars, great schools (it’s in the chapel hill school district), and an awesome arts scene (cat’s cradle hosts very cool bands that david and i love).
this small town has put the university of north carloina permanently on our residency destination list…its fun to discover great new places and think about our life there!
kitchen poetry, day 3
as we watch davidson’s first televised basketball game of the season, the delicious taste of dinner still lingers. we made a warming fall meal of roasted chicken, buttered turnips, and baby butter beans. tonight’s dinner was full of firsts: my first time to roast a chicken, my first time cooking turnips, and my first farm bought chicken (d&a farms in zebulon georgia) …i have to say, none of these firsts will be my last.
the chicken was succulent and juicy with a velvety texture. and, the sense of accomplishment after successfully roasting a whole chicken is pretty cool. the turnips caramelized when i cooked them and tasted amazing- i think they might be my new favorite fall vegetable. the butter beans are an all-time favorite of mine and this time they continued to please.
tomorrow i am going to make homemade chicken broth with my farm raised bird. this is the kind of food and cooking that makes you feel cared for.
kitchen poetry–launch, day 1
i gathered inspiration from another blogger to do a week’s worth of posts using the kitchen as the subject. the kitchen is the heart of a home- the center of good smells, conversation, messes (this is especially true in our kitchen), nourishment, appealing meals. i will let this week be sort of my version of kitchen journalism. i will try to capture a good sense of a what a week in my kitchen is like and will not limit the posts to only food.
its a good week to do kitchen poetry since i have created my weekly menu designed solely from my farmer’s market bounty. and, yes, i am “one of those people” who plan, each weekend, a week’s worth of dinners including a shopping list. as of late, my weekly routine has been to walk to my neighborhood farmer’s market on saturday mornings, shop, and then walk home to create my weekly menu based on my fresh farm goods. i am trying my darnedest to participate in a revolution where good ingredients play the central role in reconnecting us with the most basic human values, providing us the deepest delight for our senses, and assuring our well-being for a lifetime. according to alice waters, champion of eating locally, seasonally, and sustainably, the principles of this “delicious revolution” are: 1) eat locally and sustainably; 2) eat seasonally; 3) shop at farmers’ markets; 4) plant a garden; 5) conserve, compost, recycle; 6) cook simply, engaging all your senses; 7) cook together; 8 ) eat together; 9) remember food is precious.
my weekly bounty looked like this:
from my bounty, here’s my menu of dinners for this week:
chard frittata with aged cheddar cheese toast
mushroom and three cheese ravioli with an arugula and goat cheese salad
roasted chicken with buttered turnips
chicken quesadillas with acorn squash
kale and potato soup with multi-grain bread
i only had to buy 6 ingredients from trader joe’s to complete my dinners…it’s all about the art of simple food, cooking creatively, and being open to what the season offers.
roasted butternut squash soup
we made this soup the other night (adapted from bread and honey’s butternut squash soup recipe)when the temperatures dropped below 40 degrees. it warmed our house-just ask our friends who stopped by–our house was smokin’!–and our bodies. serve it with a hearty slice of good bread (we had sourdough pumpkin bread from magnolia bread company) and some butter and it makes a delicious fall meal.
2 butternut squashes
1 1/2 poblano peppers (this adds smokiness to the soup and cuts the sweet flavor of the squashes)
1 medium sweet white onion
1 whole head of garlic
3 skinny carrots
4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
Preheat your oven to 375ºf.
Slice squashes lengthwise, so you can scoop out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil, salt lightly, and place on a baking sheet in the oven. Actually, drizzle everything with olive oil and roast it at the same time in the oven. I wrapped the onions and garlic individually in tinfoil, and left the seeded, halved peppers on a baking sheet, along with the carrots.
Just peek in on everything every once in awhile and make sure nothing’s burning. Pull things out as they get mushy- that’s when they are finished. For me, the peppers finished first, then the carrots, then the onion, then the butternuts, and, lastly, the garlic. Let everything cool so you can handle it easily and heat up your stock in a large pot while you wait.
Blend the ingredients in a food processor or blender until it reachers your desired consistency. (Don’t forget to peel your butternut squash and garlic- the rest of the ingredients can get thrown in whole.) Dump it all in the big pot with the broth and stir it up really well. Serves 4. YUM!
the whole process actually reminded me of making homemade baby food. not that i have ever done that, but i plan to one day and this recipe confirms that it is easy (albeit messy) and enjoyable! it makes me excited to think about my babies eating fresh, seasonal, farmer’s market mush!
a perfect fall saturday
it felt like the first day of fall here in georgia…temperatures in the 60s, the sun shining brightly, leaves falling from the trees. both auburn and florida had a bye weekend, so we decided to take full advantage of the day away from college football by going to farmers markets and heading up to the north georgia mountains for a little hike.
we bought wonderful produce (peppers, swiss chard, napa cabbage, green beans, sweet basil, butternut squash, and the largest sweet potato we have ever seen) from the love is love farmstand at the peachtree farmer’s market and crisp apples, a big pumpkin, and delicious tomatoes from jaemor farms. we also treated ourselves to a fried apple and a sweet potato pie.
we drove to black rock mountain state park in mountain city, georgia and hiked the tennessee rock trail. the hike was easy, but beautiful with spectacular tree coverage and great views of the appalachian mountains.
it was a perfect fall day spent with my husband and dog-ter. now it’s time to go cheer for my red sox outside next to our chimenay.
