Category Archives: Local Businesses

Really Great Customer Service …

Posted on February 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

… begins and ends with communication. And, accommodation. And, great products.

With crazy weather approaching, we wondered “How will Friends and Farms get our weekly items to us?”

We shouldn’t have worried. We got emails this morning, linking us to the updated page about inclement weather. Followed a few hours later with more information.

Do you want to come in tonight to pick up? Extended warehouse hours. Facebook pictures of staff filling extra baskets for those of us who pick up tomorrow.

We got there at 4:15. Lots of people there. Efficient drop off of bags and name taking. Extra staff shuttling baskets out from the warehouse.

Communication that bread wasn’t available as The Breadery delivers the morning of pick up. Do you would to come in over the weekend, or get two loaves next week?

I got home and noticed, in the insulated bag, my quick frozen green beans were missing. Popped off an email.

Got a response back in ten minutes from Tim, one of the founders. Apologies and choices. Did I want to pick up this weekend with the bread, or have it held until next week?

Since I want the bread for Sunday breakfast and for the egg salad I want to make for the weekend, I am popping over to pick up.

What did we get though? A winter “CSA style” basket is definitely regional, and definitely seasonal.

Hydroponic Bibb lettuce. Grown in high tunnels in the winter. Hamlin oranges from Florida. These juicy oranges are perfect for making salads. Like my fennel and orange salad. One humongous cabbage. There will be “blind pigeons” next week. My MIL’s recipe, using some sausage and ground beef mixed, with rice and some of that really flavorful tomato puree we got.

We also got two large red onions. Again, my go-to onion for salads. These are firm and fresh. So much nicer than what I find in the grocery stores.

Grape tomatoes to make a Bibb and tomato salad. Eggs (which I now get weekly instead of milk). My favorite Amish yogurt, which I now get biweekly (substituted this instead of the biweekly eggs others get).

I love the customization flexibility. I really enjoy the variety of the meats.

This week there was a “breakfast” meat. Fresh turkey sausage. The main source for beef, pork, and lamb we have been getting is Wayne Nell and Sons near York PA. We also got two rib eye steaks, perfect for a Valentine Dinner. And, chicken.

This week, boneless/skinless chicken thighs. I am thinking of all sorts of things to make with this chicken. Freebird is just awesome. You can enter your package code and “meat” the farmer who raised this chicken.

Really happy with Friends and Farms, enough to write about them often. We just renewed our subscription for 13 weeks.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Community, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged community, cooking, CSA, farms, Food, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Tuesday Night in Turf Valley Towne Square

Posted on February 11, 2014 by AnnieRie

Before the snowmageddon being forecast. We went out to meet friends for dinner.

Facci has lots of company now along the main street in the newly developed “Towne Square”. Last spring I blogged about the anticipated center, built between Marriottsville Road and the Turf Valley resort properties.

With Facci there closer than Maple Lawn. Grille 620 closer than Stanford Grill for steaks. Xitomate now open for good Mexican. Red Parrot for Asian.

And, of course, Harris Teeter, for getting all those supplies before the snow hits.

We heard some news from Gino, who was bussing tables and visiting, that Pisco, his Peruvian restaurant, will open sometime in April.

That should be a welcome new ethnic restaurant over by Trader Joe’s and Costco.

We also heard that Facci will be adding a roll back roof on the outdoor seating and a few new surprises in design.

It just keeps getting better for dining out options, out here.

By the way, Tuesday night is half price selected wine bottle night there. And, happy hour daily from 3-6 includes half price appetizers.

The highlights of tonight’s dinner included very nicely made calamari. Hand made pasta, a pappardelle with a Bolognese sauce. Dessert, hazelnut gelato with espresso and whipped cream, shared.

After dinner, we hit Petite Cellars to grab a box of Italian pinot grigio, and off to Harris Teeter for some rolls for sandwiches, coffee for the Keurig, and some cream of coconut for some baking I want to do. No toilet paper or milk or loaves of bread.

They were doing a brisk business tonight with people getting ready for the snow. Will this be another bust, or will we really get snow?

Glad to see crowded parking lots and many people enjoying the new center.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Restaurants, West HoCo, Wine and tagged community, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, weather, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

The Peanut-iest

Posted on February 8, 2014 by AnnieRie

Sometimes it’s those little local items that bring fun into cooking. Like those Virginia raw peanuts we got in this week’s basket from Friends and Farms.

Raw peanuts. This isn’t the first time I have used raw peanuts in cooking. A few years ago I got peanuts out at the Common Market in Frederick and made peanut brittle.

This time, I decided to use the peanuts to make spiced nuts. I roasted them. Spread them out on a pan and added molasses, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and Old Bay.

I didn’t take pictures this time. But, they taste great, even if they are a little messy looking.

Great snack while watching the Olympics.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Posted on February 4, 2014 by AnnieRie

Ordinarily I am not a big fan of chicken breast. Usually too dry and without the taste that legs, thighs and wings have (at least to my taste preferences).

I tried a new technique for me, and made a very satisfying dinner tonight. Half the chicken in dinner, and the rest will become a chicken corn chowder base in a day or two.

Made in a stir fry pan. Here is what I did.

I had a pound of boneless chicken breast from our first Friends and Farms basket. I wanted chicken pieces that were moist. So, I started out with the chicken fat that had been skimmed off the stock I made with a whole chicken last week. I heated it up in the pan and added the chicken in strips and cubes. Let it cook slowly in the “schmaltz”. Pulled out the chicken and removed all the fat from the pan.

Put in my base.

Remember that jam jar dressing recipe from last week? Made with maple yogurt and Dijon mustard. Well, over the weekend I made another batch right in the mustard container, using equal amounts of mustard and yogurt and adding the cider vinegar and oil in the appropriate ratio. I put some coconut milk in the pan, about six ounces, added two teaspoons of flour, salt, pepper, and a healthy squirt of the mustard dressing. Made a white sauce. Added about four ounces of my oven roasted cherry tomatoes, taken from my freezer. Put the chicken back after adding another couple of ounces of milk to get the consistency I wanted.

A little sprinkle of tarragon, and of paprika. Kept on a low simmer while I made some of the Pappardelle’s pasta from Secolari.

I used about four ounces of the pasta that made two servings of pasta. Added about half the chicken mixture. That leaves me with half a pound of chicken to make the soup later this week.

The finished dish. I was considering adding cheese, but it was fine all by itself.

Served with a Maryland Chardonnay from Big Cork. The 2012 vintage. Perfect match to the creaminess of the sauce, this big chardonnay balanced the meal. The salad. Made with the Bibb lettuce from last week’s basket.

I have to admit. It is easy around here to eat locally, even in the dead of winter. The chicken. The tomatoes from the freezer. The schmaltz from a local roasting chicken bought last fall. The yogurt in the dressing. The lettuce. The wine.

I am glad we signed up with Friends and Farms for the winter. Gets me into making new dishes, and expanding my recipe collection.

Now I need to pull the frozen corn from the freezer and make that soup soon.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, CSA, farms, Food, foodie, heirloom tomatoes, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, value of CSA, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

A Super(bowl) Basket

Posted on January 30, 2014 by AnnieRie

This week’s Friends and Farms small basket.

A nicely sized assortment of protein, dairy, produce and fruit. But, my favorite part of it was the inclusion of “big game day” items.

Like the chicken wings, and the ground beef (to make sliders perhaps?).

This week, besides those, we had a pound of Salvadoran style chorizo and eggs, as our breakfast items. I already made the chorizo in tonight’s dinner.

I choose yogurt instead of milk. This week we got peach flavored. And, frozen strawberries. I am thinking about making strawberry peach pops to have for dessert while watching the game Sunday.

We were supposed to get romaine this week, but had a substitution. A large head of Bibb lettuce.

It is happily resting in water in the fridge. Some of it, along with a few of the pea shoots, and the grape tomatoes became tonight’s salad.

The dressing on that salad was made with some maple yogurt dressing using that yogurt from last week’s delivery.

My super bowl menu. Buffalo style wings. Sweet potato fries. Sourdough crostini with various toppings. Strawberry peach pops.

Dinner tonight. Besides that salad above.

Chorizo. Baked on top of kale, apple, and crouton “stuffing”. Served with a sweet potato. Most of which came in this week’s and last week’s baskets.

Who needs grocery stores?

hocofood@@@

Jam Jar Dressings

Posted on January 28, 2014 by AnnieRie

I have posted before about making my own salad dressings, using a small jam jar to mix them up.

This time I am experimenting with the Pequea Valley yogurts we get in our Friends and Farms basket. Last week I chose maple (partially to use with the granola I have been making). Maple yogurt makes a very flavorful dressing with mustard.

These are the primary ingredients. Equal parts yogurt and mustard. I used 1/4 cup each. You can double or triple this recipe depending on the number of people you are serving. I got about five ounces of dressing using this recipe. Enough for at least four salads.

The original recipes I found in numerous places on the internet. They used plain yogurt with maple syrup added. I used this delicately flavored maple yogurt, with one tablespoon of pure maple syrup added.

Two tablespoons of olive oil. One Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste.

Tonight I served it over romaine, with chopped carrots, celery, scallions, radishes and shaved Parmesan.

The other half will be served with some garlic sausage tomorrow night for dinner. My husband liked the thick rich taste of it, and said it would make a great dipping sauce for sausage.

Making homemade dressing is simple. Plop it all in the jar, cover it, and shake. No preservatives. No extra sugar. You can adjust the amount of maple syrup, and use plain Greek yogurt for a thick dressing.

PS, it is also way less expensive than buying those jars of dressing in the stores.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, local businesses, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Monday at the Mall

Posted on January 27, 2014 by AnnieRie

I am not usually a Mall person. I think the last time I visited Columbia Mall was when we bought our new ovens from Sears. A very long time ago.

My husband, has his hair cut at Cavallero. Right across the way from the scene of the shootings last weekend. For 35 years, he has been going to “Rex’s Place” which became Cavallero. He was just there earlier this month.

For me, the locavore and small business advocate, my only recent dealings with the Mall have been specialty stores, like Secolari.

A family owned business that opened before Christmas.

To show support for the stores, we were there around 2 PM today, right after the Mall reopened. I went in and tasted olive oils and vinegars. Bought a few things. Met Casey from cookieride. And a few Chamber of Commerce members.

My husband popped over to Starbucks to get a small coffee. Ran into the governor’s entourage. That was interesting.

The Howard County community wants to show that we support the people who work at the Mall. That we know they need to get back to work, and they need our business to continue to succeed.

It was a bittersweet afternoon. The tribute to the victims at the entrance. The fire and police presence. The reporters and cameras. Not the normal Monday afternoon scene.

If you get the chance, and love good pasta, olive oil, honey, sea salts, and vinegars, stop by Secolari and welcome them to Columbia. Try the white balsamic vinegar with the black truffle sea salt.

I will be making some interesting dishes using their ingredients to compliment my next basket from Friends and Farms.

And, caring about the health of the businesses in my county. My home for almost four decades. Which is still an amazing place to live.

hocoblogs@@@

#hocounited

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Posted in Commentary, Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged commentary, community, cooking, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Loving the Basket

Posted on January 23, 2014 by AnnieRie

Of Friends and Farms goodies. Here, in the dead of winter, it is nice to pick up some fresh veggies, like kale and onions.

Besides these fresh veggies, we had apples and carrots in the bags at the pick up point.

The carrots and those onions will be great in a slow cooker pot roast. We had a chuck roast this week, and some “processed” items.

The tomato puree, with the chuck roast, carrots and onions will form the basis for a pot roast.

We got a piece of sharp cheddar cheese today. Matched with apples, a good snack or dessert.

I chose Maple yogurt this week. We also had cod in the bag, which became part of dinner tonight.

What am I missing? Oh yes, Breadery bread.

This week I chose Montana white bread. To use for toast, and for a couple of recipes that need bread.

While I was there, I picked up a dozen eggs, and a half gallon of apple cider. It is nice to have extra items available to augment your basket.

Can’t complain at all. This is a great deal for getting fresh and flash frozen items to make it through the winter.

hocofood@@@

The Sausage Inspired Frittata

Posted on January 18, 2014 by AnnieRie

The beef sausage just screamed, make something with eggs and sausage.

The Friends and Farms basket contained eggs, potatoes and sausage. All great ingredients to make a frittata (or a Spanish tortilla). The difference, flipping in a pan or finishing in an oven. I chose to finish in the oven.

My cast iron skillet has a cover that doubles as a shallow frying pan.

This morning I slow cooked the sausage in the oven. All of it. Half went into tonight’s dinner. The other half will be used in another dish. I also parboiled the potatoes we got. Peeled and sliced.

Some became potato salad. One went into this dish. Along with some chard from Harris Teeter and a few scallions.

The sausage, scallions and chard were all cooked first. Then I added five eggs that had been whisked with a splash of milk, salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence.

Cooked on the stove top until the bottom set, then finished in a 350 degree oven, sprinkled with Parmesan, cut and served with a salad.

The bibb lettuce from F&F also.

A simple Saturday night dinner, served with a Virginia wine.

Early Mountain does make one very flavorful Pinot Gris. It went well with the frittata.

A very good beginning to cooking with our new source for food. Thanks, Friends and Farms. Today, a frittata. Tomorrow, venison black bean chili.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Friends and Farms, Intro

Posted on January 16, 2014 by AnnieRie

My first “basket” from the local company bringing regional, seasonal foods to the area.

Friends and Farms.

Yes, I know. I was supposed to be in a winter CSA. They canceled due to lack of a minimum. It gave me an opportunity to try out Friends and Farms.

I have talked to them a few times. We shared exhibit space (I was volunteering for the Conservancy) at the Wellness Fair last summer. I wasn’t sure I wanted a meat, dairy, produce, fruit and fish supplier. But, they have great options. Like sample baskets. And, four week or thirteen week subscriptions. Individual, Small, Large, and Vegetarian options.

Flexibility to substitute. So, I signed up for a small basket, for four weeks. After my first pick up today, I will be using them until CSA season starts.

I really am impressed with what we get, and their use of regional suppliers from small farms, fish suppliers, butchers, bakers (I wonder if they have candle stick makers). Seriously, some familiar suppliers and some new finds.

I like having a few weeks advance planning calendar. Makes meal planning easier.

Enough words. What did we get? A small basket will supply 2 people for 2 or 3 meals daily.

First, the meat element.

Wayne Nell and Sons supplies much of their meats. We got chicken breasts, country style boneless pork ribs and beef sausage. You can opt out of pork if you wish.

Every other week you get a breakfast style meat with eggs. The opposite week it looks to be seafood and something else, like a cheese choice.

We don’t drink (well I don’t) milk, so we opted for the Pequea Valley yogurt option. This week we got Black Cherry. I could have substituted a different flavor if I didn’t like this one.

Eggs. An Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) butternut squash puree. I am thinking hummus maybe, or lasagna to use more of those lovely Pappardelle pepper lasagna noodles bought at Secolari the other day.

The rest.

Bibb lettuce. Hydroponic tomatoes. Potatoes (plus a bonus of a few sweet potatoes, as some of the white potatoes may have a bit of freeze damage on them). Two lovely Portobello mushrooms. Two pink grapefruit from FL. A bag of dried black beans. A jar of McCutcheon’s pickles.

And, bread from The Breadery. I chose the option of variety, instead of having them give me the same bread weekly. You pick a loaf from the assortment displayed. I chose 5 seed bread this week. You can also swap the bread if you are gluten free, or on a low carb regimen.

I really like the options. We already had bread with dinner tonight, and the beans will be soaked and cooked tomorrow.

Chicken stir fry this weekend. Egg salad sandwiches, using some pickles. A frittata with the beef sausage crumbled in it. Using some eggs. Potatoes.

This is exciting. I like the thought processes that put together the baskets.

Check them out. They have pick up spots all around Howard County, and they are really convenient on Gerwig Lane, just off Broken Land and Snowden River.

hocofood@@@

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