chitown2beantown

Hot Dog

We've lived in this apartment complex so long it's embarrassing. I think after living in 5 states in 5 years we gave up and just stayed put. I've been fairly ambivalent about living here for a long time. People come and go so quickly we never really knew our neighbors.

That is until we got the pooch. Now I can't walk out the front door without being greeted by someone who knows me, or more likely, knows Kaia. Sometimes people I've never seen before call out her name.

So this Fourth of July was spent with the people and the creatures we spend an awful lot of time with lately.

Turns out it takes a village to raise a puppy.

Plus, there was good food. I didn't make this cake, but I wish I'd been that clever.

The cake was made by Kaia's BFF's owner. Below is Thelma, the puggle. These two are practically inseparable. It's something of a dog park joke. Kaia will sit at the fence of the dog park and look towards Thelma's apartment. And Thelma will sit at the window looking out at Kaia. There are other puggles around, but Thelma is special.

The big drama of the dog park this week was that a corgi named Hot Dog went missing. Yesterday at the picnic, the owners strolled up with Hot Dog and everyone went nuts. Fitting to welcome Hot Dog back at the barbecue. In addition to Hot Dog, they own possibly the world's smallest dog - a toy Maltese. It's half the size of a cat. 

And since apparently this blog seems to have morphed into one almost completely about food and dogs, like Stephanie's, I'll leave you with a couple pictures of me grilling pizzas for the first time. This was a hit.

Crank up the grill. Close the cover for awhile. Then just plunk down the dough. Let it cook for a couple minutes until toasty on one side. Flip it and quickly add the toppings to the now crispy side. My best pizza tip is that fresh basil helps any pizza along. Close the cover. Wait a few minutes.

And shazzam, a cook-out crowd pleaser.

As fun as the 4th of July dog park picnic was, a big part of us wishes we were in Michigan with family. Especially after we heard my parents got to go to the Merritt Speedway Night of Destruction again this year. Nothing says 4th of July quite like school busses racing around a dirt track in Northern Michigan.

A night out at the races was my dad's father's day present, so I'm very happy they went. My father-in-law's father's day present was a blog! Lucky him. :) He's a talented and enthusiastic woodcrafter, so we set up a blog called The Carpenter's Square as a surprise. He's done a great job getting it going, so check it out! If you have any wood finishing questions, you now know someone to turn to. Maybe he'll do a Q & A post.

Anyway, that's us lately. Out at the dog park. Or at the Blue Hills hiking with Kaia. Or at Stoddard Neck Park letting Kaia swim. Last weekend we even went to Stoddard's with Thelma, which was a big hit. So yeah, eating and dog watching. That's what I got for now.

One Local Summer: Week Four

I keep aiming for something more snazzy with my One Local Summer meals, but this week ended up being a simple salad of veggies and fruit from the farmer's market.

I never would have put this salad together on my own, so with the condition of only including items that are grown locally, I had a chance to try some new flavor combinations. The salad was dressed with a locally made cranberry dressing and included lettuce, broccoli, fresh peas, and redcurrants. I can't seem to eat a meal without some protein and carbs, so I added on a slice of sourdough I bought at the market. Yeah, I know...not locally flour but it was locally made bread. The 100% locally grown meal is still escaping me, mostly because proteins and starches have been harder to come by, at least until the potatoes come in.

I did snag some Stillman's ground beef this week at the Quincy Farmer's Market. It was frozen solid at lunchtime so I'm saving it for another meal - maybe for a Fourth of July cook-out. I wasn't expecting there to be meat at the market. The woman who accommodated me and my handful of one dollar bills and quarters said they did pretty well in Quincy today, so meat will likely be making a come-back. That's good news for me. Next time I will bring more cash!

To my lunch, I added glass of milk from Thatcher Farm for a little protein, which I was able to pick up at a local small specialty grocer, The Fruit Center Market. The store does a good job of carrying some locally produced items, like ice cream and soda, although I've become disappointed lately that the fish mongers inside can't tell me which fish was caught locally. The store does not do a great job of carrying locally grown produce. The week they had strawberries and that's it. Like Whole Foods, they label where the produce was grown, but almost all of it is from California and Central or South America. Probably most people prefer their food to come from somewhere afar. It's more exotic maybe? I generally find that it rots quickly, whereas my farmer's market produce lasts over a week and sometimes two.

While the 100% locally grown meal still eludes me, I've had some fun this week whipping up some other meals with locally grown ingredients, including some red currant muffins for today's breakfast and some yummy kale with garlic and dried cranberries for dinner. I've never had kale, and with this easy recipe, I'll eat a lot more. Even Matt ate it. For serious, it was good and you should try it.

In the fridge I also have some beets to try out, maybe roasted and blended into this dip. I have some turnips too. Gotta find a recipe for those. Fresh red currants, kale, beets, and turnips are all new to my palate, so it's been an exciting week experimenting with early summer produce!

Ahead this week - strawberry picking and jam making! And maybe a trip to another poultry farm.

Hey, I remember you

Before I left town last week, we got to do the coolest thing -- reunite our pup with her sister. Amazing thing this internet. We'd sent pictures and our blog link to the adoption coordinator at Great New England Dog Rescue and to the foster mom in Tennessee. The links made their way to Kaia's sister's owners. Her "mom" left a note on our Flickr account. I left one back on hers. We started exchanging emails. Then, boda-bing, we set up a reunion time at Peter's Park in the South End. The girls had been apart for over two months.

Meeting up with Fosca's owners was a great chance to share some laughs about our puppies' shenanigans, compare notes about how similar but unique they are, and to get some tips from another couple whose lives have begun to revolve around a high energy fur ball.

The day we adopted Kaia, Matt and I very briefly met Fosca, formerly known as Flopsy. I asked to see her, and when she was brought out of the kennel room, she bolted around the room. She was just a bit smaller than Kaia, but likely the more spritely one. See for yourselves. Here is a puppy video Matt put together, of them saying goodbye the day we picked up Kaia for adoption and then meeting up with each other again last week at the park.

Unfortunately, they do not have all their sisters with them as sister Cottontail is somewhere in Connecticut. Fosca and Kaia's reunion wasn't exactly hugs and kisses at first. Just some sniffs. Typical dog greetings. We weren't sure that they "recognized" each other as sisters. But within minutes, it was very clear they have a strong kinship. They played for over two hours, teaming up when playing with another dogs, trotting around together, and keeping an eye on each other when separated.

Hey there pretty lady, nice to see you again. Your floppy ears are the best.

My first impression of Fosca was dead on - she is more spritely. Kaia didn't have a chance.

Fosca says, hey there sister, what you looking at? How'd you get to be so tall so fast? Maybe it was that stick of butter you snatched from the counter in your new kitchen.

Maybe biting your head will get you to pay attention to me.

Yeah, yeah Fosca. Now let's go see what's going on over here.

Kaia!! Chase me!

I can't believe you just figured out that these big blocks are here for us to climb on!

Just try to keep up with me Kaia. You may be bigger than me, but I'm faster!

Let's take a water break.

Yeah, you think you're so clever teasing me with that ball, but I gotcha.

Fosca -- you're wearing me out sister. I'll just sit here...for awhile...and...catch...my...breath. But I'm keeping my eyes on you. Go socialize your way around the park, and I'll just sit here and wait to pounce on you.

Oh no, she got me again! How does she do that?

What? It's time to go? Are you serious? But I could keep playing all night. Kaia on the other hand... You might wanna keep her away from the butter so she can keep up with me next time.

Girls, we will try to meet up again later this summer. Maybe Kaia, you can show Fosca how you like to splash and play in the water. And Fosca, you can show Kaia how fun it is to go off leash at the big dog park, once you learn to pay better attention and come back every time you're called. That sounds like fun now, doesn't it?

One Local Summer: Week Three

I just got back this afternoon from an amazing trip of a lifetime with one of my favorite people. Our travels took us from Wilmington, NC, to Myrtle Beach, SC, to Athens, GA and finally to Atlanta. We had an amazing time, and we made use of every second to experience our shared loves, like music, food, sightseeing, and hanging out together.

I'm a bit tired to share every amazing detail, but it's Sunday which means a post about one locally produced meal I ate this week. But before I get to my One Local Summer post for the week, I feel the need to publish a retraction and an apology for saying in my last post that REM started to suck after 1991. My friend Stephanie and I saw them last night in Atlanta as the finale to our 4-day 30th birthdays road trip. REM you blew us away. I started to feel like one of those Beatles girls, particularly during the encore when they played Pretty Persuasion. I about lost my cool.

Oh, to feel 13 again. Except for the part where I realized 75% of the audience was over 30, and that I've become one of those approaching middle-aged people who buys overpriced concert tickets to see their favorite band from middle school. Now I understand that phenomenon. So if Paul McCartney made you weak in the knees when you were a teenager, I recommend blowing your budget and flying to Liverpool the next time he's playing there. You won't regret it.

During the concert and after, I felt guilty and a bit disappointed in myself as a fan for having totally written them off for the last, um, 17 years. They were my first musical love and I guess like most first loves, it's hard to see them change. To make up for lost time, I am going to give some of the newer songs a listen now. For sure I'm downloading the entire Atlanta set list and the new album. Michael Stipe, with your microphone gyrations, your megaphone, your moaning vocals and your urgent political speeches, you still got it. Even though I didn't know your new songs very well, I enjoyed your performance very much, so I apologize. I'm glad you guys didn't break up the band.

Since REM was the band that first gave a voice to my budding environmentalism, it is appropriate to talk about the local eating we did before the concert -- definitely the culinary highlight of our trip. We had an outstanding local dining experience at Watershed Restaurant in Decatur, Georgia. It is partially owned by one of the ladies who stole my heart away from Michael, Mike, Peter, and Bill.

The Indigo Girls also hail from Georgia, so I was happy we were able to add an Indigo Girls related stop to our pilgrimage.

The restaurant specializes in regional, Southern cuisine and supports local organic farmers. We started out with some yummy cocktails. I was excited to realize that citrus is relatively local to Georgia, compared to New England. My drink featured raspberries, mint, gin, and citrus. Here's my adorable travel partner posing with our citrusy cocktails.

Next we ordered a starter, and luckily Stephanie knew that pimento cheese is a Georgia specialty. Perfect with the celery, which was too green, fresh, and tasty to not be locally grown. The cheese was heavenly. We wanted to lick the bowl clean.

Before we ordered our entrees, I asked our waiter which selection had the most locally grown produce. He said to go for the vegetable plate, and said that they buy produce that is local and organic. The vegetable plate changes daily depending on what produce is available. I had a yummy plate of Southern style vegetables: stewed tomatoes, black eyed peas, okra fried in white corn meal, greens, green beans, and a cornbread muffin. Loved it all, especially the black eyed peas and the delightfully salty fried okra.

With food this tasty, we couldn't leave without dessert. We choose to split the Georgia Pecan Tart with Shortbread Crust.

Short of walking into the kitchen and grilling the chefs or buyers about where each ingredient came from, I can't imagine a dining experience that would cater more to a locavore. The only thing I would have changed is adding some information to the menu about the local farmers whose produce the restaurant regularly uses. Overall, a truly lovely restaurant housed in a renovated gas station - another nod to sustainability.

There was also a restaurant in Athens, called Farm 225, that featured local and sustainable foods. We wished we could have eaten there, but they weren't open for breakfast Saturday morning when we were in town and looking for some grub. Next time I'm in Athens, eating there will be at the top of my list of things to do. As always, there is never enough time on a good trip. We wanted to visit a farmer's market and the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, but had to cut them from the schedule when our time in Athens was running out too soon.

Georgia, motherland of some of my early musical influences, we loved you so much!!! I will be back. More on our wonderful time in Athens later this week!

Pilgrimage

1991 was a pretty good year to be 13 years old. Stephanie and I had been friends since sixth grade, and have been ever since, but eighth grade was definitely our year. While the other girls were in puffy dresses and Z cavariccis, we were rocking the black, the Chucks, the vintage, and discovering Urban Outfitters back when it was way cooler. We were reading Spin and Rolling Stone and Sassy.

Eighth grade would not have been eighth grade without the REM obsession. It is the defining feature of our 13th year. The only fan letter I ever wrote was penned with Stephanie to the band, and it was 10 pages long. We had every album, and knew all the lyrics even though they didn't publish linear notes and we didn't have access to the internet, that I can remember.

1991 was before Automatic for the People, and before Bill Berry left the band. Before, I'm sorry to say, they started to suck. But this year, they seem to be making a comeback. And since we're turning 30, we decided it was finally time for our long planned pilgrimage to Athens, Georgia. REM is playing in Atlanta and we're going to be there. For the first time ever, we will be seeing the remaining three band members play live, instead of watching them on VHS over and over and over again.

I'm still a little annoyed at them for not breaking up at the millennium like they promised, because they didn't want to be one of those aging hipster bands. But, now that I'm almost 30, aging hipster doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

So wish us luck on our 13 going on 30 pilgrimage. I'm leaving tomorrow.

And just curious, if you could take a pilgrimage of a similar sort, where would you go and who would you see?

One Local Summer: Week Two

Well, I did make it to the farmer's market this past week which felt great.

I was surprised by how much produce was being sold already. I picked up some lettuce, a huge bag of arugula, green onions, and broccoli. I also bought a jar of ancho mole, which the Food Project's youth made, and some more Boston honey. This year they also have a bakery stand, so I went home with a baguette and some pound cake. I kind of kicked myself for not picking up some spinach and kale to try making a green smoothie. Sounds a little intimidating, but I want try it once or twice and keep an open mind. Plus I still have fruit in the freezer to get rid of ASAP, since strawberry season has arrived.

So, again this week, I was challenged by the one local summer challenge. We went down the Cape Friday night to go camping with the pooch and to visit Provincetown (sorry, forgot the camera battery so we had a camera vacation which was nice), and on the way back home we stopped by Bongi's Turkey Roost in Kingston to pick up some turkey sausage. I was very excited to get my hand's on my first locally produced poultry, since Matt has crossed beef and most pork off his "will eat" list.

Disappointingly, turkey sausage was not meant to be. I was told they no longer make the sausage, as it wasn't worth their while. Instead I picked a turkey pie out of the freezer since we'd made the trip. It was a decent consolation prize. Later, I kicked myself again, this time for not buying a pound of sliced turkey to take home. I was distracted by the fresh or frozen whole turkey signs, knowing without a second thought I am in no shape to wrangle a whole turkey this week. Plus, there's no room in the freezer and I need some more counter and cupboard space before I can go crazy, buy a meat grinder, and try sausage production. Maybe some other day. Don't put it past me.

So without any turkey sausage, I needed to move to plan B for my one local summer meal of the week. In the process, I made myself finally own up to the fact that the one local summer challenge requires keeping it simple and to not counting on any specific ingredients. After the turkey disappointment, we made a quick swing into Whole Foods, and since I hadn't blown my budget on turkey sausage, I sprung for a quart of organic locally grown strawberries. They became the focus of my one local lunch today.

I enjoyed a lettuce and arugula salad, with strawberries and locally made cranberry dressing. I followed it up with some more strawberries on that farmer's market pound cake, with some hand-whipped crème fraîche that I bought last week. It was all delicious.

I'm trying not to get frustrated with what I can't find locally. It's been harder than anticipated, and it's easy to get caught up on how so little locally grown food is available outside of farmer's markets, and how it is challenging, at least for someone like me who is not a farmer, to put together a whole meal that is 100% locally grown. In the process of trying though, I'm learning a lot and become even more aware of how much I'd have to live without if our industrialized farming and transportation system ever collapsed. Flour, ketchup, sugar, olive oil, not to mention the obvious beer, soda and bananas. I'm sure it'd be close to impossible to sustain our population in Massachusetts if no food was available from outside sources.

It wasn't always this way. According to UMass, Massachusetts loses an average of 42 dairy farms a year. That probably explains why it's so hard for me to find milk and cheese that is produced within a 100 mile radius. I can find milk that is processed locally, but the milk production happens in Vermont or New Hampshire. I can easily find locally made ice cream, but I have no idea where the ingredients come from.

The lack of farms, distribution channels, and good labeling (i.e. product of the USA) also explains why I'm feeling a little like I could make a part time job out of chasing down the spectrum of meat, dairy, vegetables, fruits, and grains that would produce a typical meal for me, especially since I live inconveniently outside of the Cambridge/Jamaica Plain/Somerville trifecta where there is a higher concentration of farmer's markets and CSA drop off points.

Yet, it makes me feel hopeful that good people, like the folks at the Food Project who bring together suburban and urban youth to farm together, are trying to buck the trend so that in June I can enjoy some fresh foods grown outside of California, Mexico, Florida, New Zealand, and South America. And I'm excited that I've been including many more locally grown and regional items in many of my meals, and running across unexpected finds on the grocery store shelf, like canned apple sauce from a local apple farm. So despite the occasional disappointments, the challenge is still very worth the while. I'm not perfect at this, but I'm learning and eating well.

Pupparazzi

Check it:

From: admin

Date: Jun 10, 08

Good news! We've chosen Kaia to be our featured Puppy on Thursday, June 12.

- Daily Puppy editors

Our pup is going to be famous. All those hundreds of puppy pictures are coming in handy. She will be the featured puppy on www.dailypuppy.com this week!

This made us crazy happy. Silly, we know.

This website came in handy when we were deciding whether to get her, since it featured the only husky/australian shephard mix I could find on the internet. And now that she's grown up a bit, they bear a striking resemblence. Here's Odin the Husky/Aussie Mix.

Fooled you. You thought that was Kaia, didn't you? At least for a second. Naw. Here she is...

There she is! Our beauty. Check out more pictures on Thursday. :)

One Local Summer: Week One

A few weeks back I decided to participate in One Local Summer, a challenge to eat one completely locally grown meal a week. Everything in the meal (except spices and oil) is supposed to be produced within 100 miles of where you live, or at least locally by your own definition of local. After signing up, I've been thinking about it a lot and wondering if it was really possible for me to do this. I've been doing a lot of internet research and have found that I can get a lot more food than I thought locally, like milk, eggs, and meat, as well as surprisingly items, like johnnycake corn meal mix from Rhode Island. But I've also realized that there are key items I can't get locally grown. Like flour. And sugar. And baking powder.

This was opening week of my favorite farmer's market at the Food Project, but my work schedule took a left turn and I was no where near the farmer's market when it was open. This happens to me frequently. So I've been researching other options and trying to memorize which farmer's markets are available on which days in which parts of the metro Boston area, so if I happen to be in the area, I can swing by. One of the reasons to adopt a locally produced diet is to reduce carbon emissions from food traveling long distances. I realized if I'm driving all over Boston to get local foods, it kind of defeats the purpose. So Friday early evening, after getting stuck in traffic, I missed yet another farmer's market that was relatively close to where I was. That's when I decided to swing into a Whole Foods that was right on my route for a local foods challenge.

What could I buy at the beginning of growing season at a Whole Foods? Not much I figured. But I was surprised actually. Thanks to their signage, which identifies locally grown and produced items, I snagged quite a few items.

• 1 lb of freshly caught cod from Gloucester, MA
• 6 organic cage free eggs from the Country Hen, Hubbardston, MA
• 1/2 gallon of milk from High Lawn Farm, Lee, MA
• Boston lettuce from Absolona Greenhouse in Chepachet, RI
• 2 hydroponic tomatoes from Waterfresh Harvest in Hopkinton, MA
• bag of parsnips from Manheim Farm in Whately, MA
• bag of yukon gold potatoes packaged in Chelsea, MA, grown in Maine (>100 miles?)
• goat cheese from Westfield Farm in Hubbardston, MA
• tub of creme fraiche from Vermont Butter and Cheese Company (>100 miles?)

Even after picking up these items, I was a little worried about constructing a full meal. I have some regionally produced items in the fridge already, like Cabot's butter and Vermont yogurt. And some local produce in the freezer. I thought maybe I'd just show you a strawberry-peach smoothie I'd made in an attempt to clean out my freezer of last year's produce. Yes, a smoothie is a full meal in my book.

But I decided to get a little more creative. I realized that maybe I need to take the Sandra Lee Semi-Local approach to this challenge. I'm a beginner and there's a steep learning curve to sourcing local products. And, let's face it, I'm not an ultra-strict person and 100% adherence to the rules seems to be missing the point to me. There are different philosophies buzzing around in this localvore movement, and I'm okay with a little flexibility. So I settled on a meal that was more than 90% local. Good enough for a first try.

I've never eaten parsnips, so I decided to try a recipe for parsnip fritters. It required 1/4 c. of flour and a tsp. of baking powder. I decided to go for it, since trying a new food seems like an important outcome of this challenge for me.

Here they are: carrot-like and ready to be peeled.

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And then grated and looking like a heaping bowl of cheese.

And here the fritters are frying up in little pats of butter. Mmmm butter.

The final meal consisted of herb and goat cheese scrambled eggs with tomato, parsnip fritters drizzled with Boston Honey, and a glass of local milk.

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't sold on the parsnip fritters, and neither was Matt, so if anyone else has ideas for how to cook up delicious parsnips, I'd gladly give them another try. But the eggs with goat cheese and herbs, I'll definitely be cooking those up again. Yum.