AllanThinks

The Season Is Too Short

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This is the second week of our CSA participation this year, and the first week we have received strawberries. And all we received was a single pint of them.

Next week we will miss out, as we will be out of town. Some friends will take our share for the week. There might be a final pint or quart of strawberries the next week, but they will be about it.

I know we can get strawberries at the grocery most of the year now, but we are trying to be locavores as much as possible. Buying only locally produced, seasonal foods.

It's tough to do, but we do what we can. The CSA program has helped.

But it is hard to resist the nice looking produce at The Fresh Market and Whole Foods. Produce that has traveled thousands of miles to get here.

Semi-Sweet

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Chambers

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This is the last of the citrus. For now.

Naked Gun

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Rosé of Malbec

I took this a week or so ago. We had grilled dinner, and eaten it out on the patio with some good friends. We stayed out way after dark, necessitating the lighting. The lights are by IKEA. I'm not sure where the wine came from, but I suspect it was purchased at Wine + Market in downtown Lex Vegas.

Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/3
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -2/3 EV

As always, clicking on the photo will take you to its page on Flickr, where you can view a larger version of it.

Alison In Reflected Sunlight

 
 
 

 
 
 

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I took this photo this evening when we were downtown at the Thursday Night Live concert at Cheapside Park. The setting sun reflected off the glass of the Fifth Third building, then off the glass of the adjacent Lexington Financial Center, and finally came to rest upon Alison.

Our friend Cathy, from Port Townsend, WA was with us, as was our friend Jason. After the concert ended, we headed to Atomic Café, where we dined on the patio. The food was fantastic, the weather perfect, and the company beyond compare.

Life is good.

Our First CSA Share

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This is the haul for our first week's garden and meat shares from Elmwood Stock Farm. Elmwood is one of two (that we know of) CSA Farms in our area. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.

We've been talking about participating in this program for a while, wanting to do what we can to be more responsible consumers. And we found that we had been buying more of our food from local farms at the Farmer's Market.

So this year we finally signed up.

Included in our basket this week were:

Asparagus
Green Garlic
Spinach
A mixture of three lettuces
A quart of fresh strawberries
A pound of ground beef
A free-range roasting chicken

All of these are organically raised. The newsletter included in the box said they also had radishes, but they must have had limited quantities, as we didn't get any.  But that's okay.

We are very pleased with what we did receive. It was more than I expected this early in the season. 

We ate the lettuce last night, and today at lunch. We had strawberries for dessert. Tonight, Ali roasted the hen, and some of the asparagus. It was all great. We're going to eat very well this summer.

A tip for locals who like fresh, cheap, raw oysters.

A couple of months ago, our friend Agnes mentioned that a local restaurant, The Ketch Seafood Grill, had a special on oysters every Monday night. Fresh oysters at half their usual price.

It has been years since I dined there. Alison and I have been meaning to go for some time, but never made it until last night.

We shared a platter of a dozen oysters on the half-shell. You can get them raw, or steamed. We chose to eat them raw. The dozen oysters only cost $5.95, a real bargain around these parts. Alison noted that that is comparable to what you would pay in the city where she lived in France. With them, Ali had a glass of white wine, and I had a draft beer.

When we were finished, we decided to stay for dinner. We shared a pound of boiled shrimp seasoned with Old Bay, and an order of wood grilled oysters, both very good, and quite affordable.

I am really glad to have rediscovered this place. I have a feeling we will be dining there quite often.

Oh yeah, they also have free wireless internet.

Happy Thanksgiving

Ali and I are staying home for Thanksgiving this year. It's our first time to do that. Last year we drove to Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving Day, and returned to Lexington the next day. In 2005, Ali came over from France for a week, and we celebrated the day at Jo Ann's house.

We decided it would be nice to start a new tradition this year.

We will be joined by Mike, his daughter Justine, and a couple of good friends. We will be dining on roast duck, dressing, green beans, country ham on yeast rolls, and more.

I want to thank everyone who reads and comments on my blog, and I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

Here is my gift to you this day.

	Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant Massacree
	Found at skreemr.com

Peace.

Now is the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance.

Alison and I ate lunch at P.F. Chang's today. You can hear her review of it here. The food was good, but for some reason all I could think about was this 'show'.

Mmmmmm. Chocolate. I Love Chocolate.

Click image for a much better view. Really. Click it. You won't be disappointed.

Those of you who read Alison's blog know of her dilemma yesterday. She wondered whether she should go out in the pouring rain to buy chocolate.

Luckily she didn't have to, as our friend stopped by bearing a small box of Woodford Reserve Bourbon Balls.

Later in the day, I decided I was going to make a batch of vegetable soup for our dinner, but needed a couple of ingredients, so I decided to brave the rain and go to the grocery. Ali came with me. She was suffering from cabin fever as much as I was.

While we were at the store, we bought more chocolate. Not that we wanted to eat it. I just wanted to photograph it. Really!

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Reference

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Here I am doing some research for the dinner party we are hosting for a couple of friends tonight.

We spent yesterday afternoon shopping for it, visiting our local liquor emporium and gourmet food shop, the Liquor Barn. Yes, it is actually called that, and yes, it's huge.

We stocked up on wine and beer, some munchies for before dinner, and deli meats to cook on our raclette grill.

After dinner we are going to watch the Grammy Awards on television. The Police are opening the show!

Sweet!

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À votre santé!

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I took this image late yesterday afternoon as we waited to hear from a good friend about plans to meet for dinner, I've gotten back into macro work since I built a makeshift light tent from a cardboard box and tissue paper.

The night before I took this, I ordered some new camera equipment, including a new wide-angle lens, a Nikon SB-800 flash, and a more sturdy light tent.

This got me all enthused about my macro work. So I set this up and took this photo.

As for the dinner, Alison and I met our good friend Agnes and a friend of hers for sushi at what is the oldest sushi restaurant here in Lexington. Neither of us had ever eaten there. It was wonderful. The best sushi I have ever had. And it was very inexpensive.

After we dined, Agnes accompanied us to a local pub where we met up with the members of the local chapter of Drinking Liberally for drinks, fellowship, and to watch the President give his State of the Union Address.

After that, we accompanied our friend to another local watering hole that is known for having the largest number of beers in the area. This place has almost 500 different brands of beer. It's an amazing establishment.

We had a blast.

Decision 2007: Vegetable and Black Lentil Curry

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I finally decided what to cook for dinner.

I found some crinkle-cut carrots, a red bell pepper, and a couple of stalks of celery in the fridge. I also had a couple of red onions and garlic on the counter.

Veggies were chopped, the four cloves of garlic sliced, and saffron was allowed to bloom in some hot water. This would be used to cook the basmati rice.

The carrots and celery were added to the pan first. A few minutes later, in went the bell pepper and the onion. Followed a few minutes later by the garlic, some gray sea salt, and fresh ground black pepper.

For the sauce, I usually use some good curry paste and coconut milk, but we were out of the coconut milk. So tonight I used a jar of Trader Joe's Curry Simmer sauce and a cup of water.

After adding them to the pan, I put a half cup of black lentils in, stirred it one more time, reduced the heat, and covered the pan. I let it all simmer for 10 minutes.

By the time it was done, so was the rice.

It was very tasty, and we even have leftovers for another day.

Decisions, decisions...

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About an hour ago, Alison and I asked each other, simultaneously, "What do you want to do for dinner?" We do that a lot.

We pondered the question, but neither of us could think what to do. So a few minutes ago, I headed to the kitchen in hopes of finding some inspiration. In the freezer, I found some ground lamb, a couple of tilapia fillets, some salmon fillets, and in the fridge, various vegetables.

Hmmmm. What to prepare? I got out our 5.5 quart Cuisinart sauté pan and set it on the stovetop. In it I could prepare the fish in some way. Perhaps with a glaze or a jar of Trader Joe's Mojito Simmer Sauce. Or I could make a curry. Lamb Curry? Or one with just vegetables and perhaps lentils. And what kind of lentils? We have red, black and green.

I'm still not sure what I am going to do.

Nae on the 'aggis!

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Alison, the kids, and I drove to Edinburgh to do a bit of sightseeing and to have lunch with fellow blogger Katherine on Thursday.

We were to meet at 1 p.m., but it was a bit later than that before we got together, as we were waiting for one another at adjacent buildings. [The Royal Museum of Scotland and the National Museum of Scotland are not the same thing. - Ed.]

Katherine took us to a very cool retro restaurant called Monster Mash where we ate and chatted for a while. Ali and I both ate haggis with neeps and tatties for our lunch. I took the above picture of Ali's lunch and of Katherine seemingly expressing a negative opinion of our choice.

She really wasn't. She was just turning to speak to the kids. But she did pass on the haggis since she is a vegetarian, and I can't think of a dish that is less vegetarian than haggis.

After lunch we wandered around town a bit and then Katherine headed home. We made our way back to the car and returned to Drumclog.

The weather was really nice that day, if a bit cold. We had a great time and have decided we want to return to Edinburgh for a longer visit in the future.

Thanks for all the fun Katherine. It was so great to finally meet you.

ghosts in the coffee house

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Alison and I can't get enough of Third Street Stuff & Coffee.

It is an eclectic gift shop and coffee house in downtown Lexington. We visit at least a couple of times a week, and we like to take our cameras with us.

You never know what, or who, you might find there.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Nigella Lawson is coming to the Food Network! Following several years on the Style Network, her new show, Nigella Feasts will debut October 1st.

I have no idea why the Food Network didn't sign her way back when, but they didn't, and her show Nigella Bites wound up on Style. I don't think there were more than a half dozen episodes of the show that went into perpetual reruns on that network. It still airs there, at 7 in the morning, despite beginning as a prime time show.

The Food Network has already scheduled 13 episodes of the new show, which will air at 1 p.m. A new episode will premier once a week, with frequent reruns during the week.

Whoop!

Local blogger and friend Elle passes on a rumor that Trader Joe's might soon open a store in Lexington.

If the rumor proves to be true, I will be a very happy camper. The closest store to us is located in a northeastern suburb of Cincinnati. It's a two hour drive from Lexington. A drive we don't mind making, but with fuel prices what they are, one we don't make too often. When we do, we stock up.

Incubator

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This is our  Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker in action, making a fresh batch of the best fat-free yogurt I've ever eaten.

Yeah, it's the one I mentioned in this post.

Credit must go to Alison for suggesting we buy the thing a couple of months ago. It has already paid for itself.

And the money we save from now on can be reinvested in more cool kitchen hardware!

Our New Foodie Geek Toy

Feel free to leave expressions of envy in the comments.

Allan's Ad-Lib Indian Lentil Stew

It's been a while since I got all foodie on you, but yesterday I came across a couple of bags of lentils hiding in my pantry. I hadn't cooked lentils in ages, and thought it was about time.

So this afternoon, I made up this dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
• ½ medium red onion, finely diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 pinches of sea salt
• 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 cup green lentils
• 1-2 Tsp Garam Masala to taste

Oh, Please! Oh, Please! Oh, Please!

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I haven't posted any food pr0n in a while...

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This is Chicken Kolhapuri. I fixed this dish last Sunday night and served it over basmati rice.

It was made from a mix that I bought at a neighborhood Indian market called Vishal. I found the mix there along with some others last week when I stopped in to buy a package of my favorite incense.

Vintage

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When Alison, the kids, and I came to Lexington this summer, my sister Jo Ann had left a birthday gift at my house for Ali. It was this bottle of 1993 Dom Pérignon.

We put the bottle in the refrigerator, intending to drink it before we returned to Pittsburgh, but we were so busy that week we never got around to it. Ali said, "We'll enjoy it the next time I am in Lexington."

So, this past Saturday evening we finally opened it. I just had to take a picture. The bottle is just too cool not to.

The wine is really good. The best champagne I have ever tasted. I could get used to it, if not for the price. I searched it on Google and saw what it sells for.

I'm glad I took the picture to remember the occasion. I doubt I will ever drink it again.

Of course, if anyone out there is at a loss for what to buy Ali and me for a Christmas gift...

Plat du Jour

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It was an appetizer buffet, lamb chops and fries, and your choice of a cheese course, dessert, or coffee. We had the dessert.

I make my own gravy.

Recently while wandering around the liquor store, I came across a Cranberry Liqueur that looked interesting. I bought a bottle, and have enjoyed it in a variation on a Kir. In the back of my mind, I thought that it had potential as a cooking ingredient. Last evening, I finally put that thought to the test, creating this sauce that is perfect for meat dishes.

This about sums it up.

Sel Gris de Mer et Fleur de Sel

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Two kinds of sea salt from the Ile de Ré, France. They were a gift from Ali.

The jars are from IKEA.

The Sel Gris, on the left, has a complex flavor that comes from other sea minerals bound to it. It is added to foods during the early stages of cooking.

The Fleur de Sel is a more pure salt, and is added at the end of the cooking process or just before serving.