Save Bed-Stuy Farms Yo!

[borrowed from google]

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The Farm and The Farm

[images borrowed from Vanity Fair online]

Suffering from insomnia lately has me up reading all sorts of things. I googled 'The Farm' to get the address of the restaurant my friends and I are going to for my birthday and up popped this crazy hippie commune- well naturally I had to check it out. As I clicked through the pretty disorganized website I started to loose hope, but then I found a link to this Vanity Fair article written about the farm or The Farm. Now this is where I started getting really interested.

This 'coincidence' all ties into to my recent and amazing visit to a few pretty impressive Hudson Valley Farms this weekend (Ronny's, Billiam's, Pete and Rory's, and Severine's). I also wicked visited an anarchist commune in Germantown. I watched and even helped a little as a dear was butchered in a true homstead style. It was such an amazing weekend, and most of all it enlightened this City kid to the fact that all this back-to-the-land reading and chating has a purpose. There is a possibility of people doing this 'stuff.' Screw that, it (a.k.a homesteading) is actually happening, people are moving back to the land, they are turning it to it not only for food and function but for guidance and a new (or shall I say old) way of life.

Check out these communal workers and horse-plow farming techniques.




Is this not the most amazing picture of a family farming together?




I love this clip from the article, because well it sums up EXACTLY how I feel:

Jim, who became an activist while majoring in engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, picks up the conversational thread: "Personally, I needed a break from American pop culture. It's The Grand Distraction—capital T, capital G, capital D. I'm tired of being part of some millionaire's game."

Even more true is the last paragraph of the article:

Albert Bates, now a tribal elder, has to laugh when he hears the hot talk of the rising Farmies. "Those kids are bringing in a lot of energy," he says. "As hippies of the 60s and 70s, we endowed our kids with this meta-program of peace, love, and ecology, and now they're holding our feet to the fire and saying, 'O.K., let's see it.' It's like we sent a reminder to ourselves down through time."

Where's the Slope at: best pizza ever...

[borrowed from NYT]

Greg and Becca old friends from the camp days came to see me in New York today. After I got them lost enough to train it into Crown Heights I eventually found Franny's on Flatbush. We rocked out on sweet pepper and handmade sausage pizza and a clam and cream based pie too. Not to forget the amazing appetizers: crostini tonnato, sunchokes and succulent sausage . I do not know if it was all the amazing Calabrese wine or the unbelievable company, but I may have to conclude that that was the best AND most original pizza I have ever had! Straight up ever. And this is coming from a girl who has frequented Italy! It was written up as one New York Times best voted pizzas- that is no understatement. Hit it up!


After that amazing meal we somehow found room for possibly the most sickening yet delicious brownie sundays that I have ever had in my life at The Chocolate Room.

Conclusion: Park Slope rocks.

Hands down best night and meal I have had in a while!

peace and love,

there is always something to live for when eating well in good company

Jacqueline

What is truth?

"What is truth?" From the Gaudi Cathedral in Barcelona. I took this picture on the first trip Pete and I ever went on together. Four years ago.

I have left Scotland, started a new job (kindergarten teacher), moved back in with parents, left my boyfriend (again), and have (yet again) started the existential debate in my head. I know there are no answers. We are all searching. On the outside of one of the most highly visited cathedrals in the world we see the question that is asked throughout all of time. What is truth? What is our purpose, what is our point?

I know there are no answers. But what I do know (that I like) is the sense of community I have found in Brooklyn, the sense of purpose I feel around my friends, who like me are trying to change just one bit about the world. I know I don't know it all, but I do know I want to be part of changing our food industry and the way we have access to the most basic right on earth: food.

I am about to start a journey: urban homesteading, urban localizing and urban greening. I have no plan yet, just a direction. I will let you know, when I know. For now here is a poem Hannah lent me.


Remember What is most important

It’s not having everything go right;
Its facing whatever goes wrong.
It’s not being without fear;
It’s having the determination to go on in spite of it.
It’s not where you stand,
But it’s the direction you’re going in.
Remember to live not just this one day
And not ad tomorrow’s troubles to today’s load.
Remember that every day ends
And brings a new tomorrow
Full of exciting new things.
Love what you do,
Do the best you can,
And always remember
How much you are loved.

-Vickie M. Worsham.

Sunshine and Sushi

It was a bit of a culture shock coming back from New York - a whirlwind two weeks filled with food, friends and fun. When I was in New York, Jacqueline's amazing mum Deborah took us both out for sushi...I have not been able to get sushi off my mind since returning to Algiers. Luckily, our friend Tim had recently offered to teach a few of us how to make some simple sushi pieces. Check out my rough guide, Sushi for Beginners...

Makes about 20 pieces

You will need:

3 cups of Sushi Rice or Calrose Rice

1/3 cup rice vinegar

3 tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

Nori Seaweed Sheets
Fish - salmon, tuna, crab, prawns
Vegetables - cucumber, avocado, carrot, pepper, onions
Sesame seeds
Red & Black Lumpfish roe
Wasabi paste
Soy sauce

Bamboo rolling board
Clingfilm
Bowl of water

Rinse the rice and place it in a pan with 3 1/2 cups of water. Bring the water to the boil and allow to simmer at a reduced heat for 5 minutes (or until you cannot see any water boiling). Turn off the heat and allow the rice to sit covered until it becomes tender.

Dissolve the sugar and salt into the warmed rice vinegar. Allow to cool. In a non metallic bowl, stir the rice vinegar mix into the cooked rice adding rice and vinegar a little at a time.

Finely peel and chop the vegetables into long strips. Slice the fish into small lengths. Place all the fillings onto a large plate and get everything ready to make sushi.

Cover the bamboo sheet in clingfilm (this helps cleaning up afterwards!) and place a sheet of seaweed down on it. It is easier to make the rolls when the seaweed is in a square shape; bend one edge back and forth until it breaks off and you are left with a more square shaped piece. Wet your hands and pick up a handful of rice, pressing it evenly onto the seaweed sheet. You want to cover the sheet but make sure the rice is not too thick! Keep your hands damp as you do this as it helps stop everything sticking to you.

Arrange your filling along one long edge - be as creative as your imagination lets you. Carefully roll the filling away from you, using the bamboo to help hold and fold the seaweed into a tube. Press firmly and evenly along the bamboo as you roll. If you would like to try sushi with the rice on the outside, cover the seaweed as before and decorate with seeds and roe. Gently lift and flip the seaweed so it is rice down on the mat. Arrange the filling on the seaweed and roll as before.

When you have made a tight tube, you can try cutting it! (Mine tended to go badly wrong at this point!) The trick seemed to be to use the sharpest knife you can get hold of, wet it, and use a confident slight sawing action to cut through it. Arrange the pieces on a plate and serve with wasabi, ginger and soy sauce. Enjoy!

Or try the inside out version...

A little something we made earlier...

More regular blog posts coming shortly...

Love to all in New York!

C

Eat- In and Black Rice Greek Salad

Huewww! It has been so hot hot hot in New York. There is no way you feel like eating anything hot so I have been mixing up some grainy salads a lot lately. This one seems like a no brainer: Greek Salad + Rice - but its the black rice that makes it special.

Black Rice Greek Salad

1 cup black rice (cook to instructions)
chopped basil
halved cherry tomatoes
feta cheese (I used goat's feta)
sliced red onion
Kalamata olives
vinaigrette (1 lemon, 2-3 tablespoons good olive oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar)
season: salt and pepper


(picture of rice coming soon, camera cord connecter is mia :(

In other news:

1. All across the country concerned people are holding eat-ins to petition what children are being fed for school lunches as well as send a message to Congress that goes something like this: "We are not happy about the American food industry, so do something about it already." Check out an Eat-In in you hood

2. I am proudly spreading the word on Roofop Farms and rocking publicity it is getting, from Edible Brooklyn to BBC.

3. Here are some good resources for some grass-fed meat and some restaurants in NYC that use clean and nutrituous products and produce.

Fleisher's

Heritage Food USA

Knickerbocker Meats Inc

Grub Stops:

Roberta's and the Bees they keep

Franny's and their Larder

Back Forty

Savoy

La Cense


4. Check out this aMAZing new project: Brooklyn Farmyards and the video

5. Lastly, in case you missed all there salad recipes in the NYTimes I thought I would send you them again, in case your summer recipes inspiration in waning.

Charlotte meets New York... homecoming

Oh no...we are reunited...can New York handle this? So far it is doing a pretty good job. Charlotte has entered Jacqueline's world with no time to combat her jetlag. No rest for the wicked! She has been introduced to iced coffee (a new favorite), different American cultures, tip etiquette, the art of the metrocard swipe, late night films...and that was only on day one!

We have just come back from a yoga retreat in the Catskills mountains.- the Goddess Retreat. There are no words that will do the retreat justice; it was such a unique and special experience. Lots of laughter, fantastic women and beautiful scenery. We found a new 'goddess' hairstyle courtesy of style guru Annie, ate the most amazingly-healthy-yummy-food created by Marie and Paco, danced the night away with Jaycee and all of the lovely ladies, swapped cooking stories and food movement ideas with Kiki in the car. The power of a

 group of soul sisters eating, laughing, yoga-ing, healing and empowering one another for a weekend is truly astonishing.

In other news:

we have been eating...

seeing friends...

walking & cycling...

shopping...

reading... (Char found a copy of her great-grandmother's book in the Strand Bookshop!)

Today we ate lunch at Ella in Williamsburg. We both had two different salads to eat but the real star of the show was what we had to drink. Yerba Mate Tea Lemonade! It was so hot and Jacqueline spotted another customer drinking a pale yellow-thirst-quenching drink and said ''we will have two of those please!'' Yerba Mate is drunk mostly in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil. It is a tea filled with vitamins and antioxidants and gives you a kick of caffeine (without the negative side effects of coffee).

Yerba Mate Lemonade

1 part brewed Yerba Mate tea (or any other brewed tea)

1 part lemonade
ice cubes

We think you could jazz it up by adding some sprigs of mint or some lemons to this too.

Still to do...Central Park, Kula Yoga classes, Concerts, MOMA, Rooftop gardens, eating - bagels, pizza, cheesecake, sushi, Neighborhood exploring, clothes shopping, dancing, sightseeing ... recommendations are welcome!

C&J

p.s if you want to check out the Rooftop farms being featured on BBC International PLeaSE DO (and see if you can spot someone you know ; - )