Tag Archives: foodie

The Perfect Pairing – Wine and Food

Posted on May 20, 2013 by AnnieRie

Wine in the Garden. At the Howard County Conservancy. Coming this Thursday night. I just saw the menu and the paired wines that will be poured. What I love most about this evening is how the caterers and the wine vendors select those perfect matches to serve. And, of course, the gardens.

Listen to some of these pairings.

New Orleans BBQ shrimp with cheddar cheese grits, would go very well with the Loire Valley Vouvray.

Cucumber cups filled with salmon mousse served with a lightly oaked Central Valley CA Chardonnay.

Or, what would you like with Mussels Provencale? Red or white. Chardonnay or Pinot Noir from Sonoma. They are serving both.

Crab dip. You will have to get me away from that caterer. I love crab dip. Depending on the spice, the Vouvray or the Chardonnay will work, as will some of the exotic wines from Far Eastern Shore Winery of MD.

Jerk chicken kebabs. Definitely a slightly sweeter choice. Maybe a Linganore wine, or the blush styled wine from Far Eastern Shore.

Shrimp salad. Chicken salad. Pasta salads. The list goes on and on. This isn’t a measly set of choices here. I saw at least 15 items including a bruschetta bar, and one I am intrigued with. Spicy shrimp cilantro cups.

Lots of dessert choices in there too. Red wine and chocolate meet your fancy. There is a blended red being poured. A blend of zinfandel, syrah and cabernet. A caterer is bringing cake bites. Something small, sweet and you can experiment with all sorts of different wine pairings.

If you haven’t signed up yet, there is still time. Or, come pay at the door. The party is from 5-8 on Thursday the 23rd. The silent auction has some cool wine and food items too. I saw that they have a private tour and tasting for eight people at Black Ankle Winery. Now that’s a great night out.

See you there?

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Volunteering, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, Howard County, howard county conservancy, Locavore, real food, spring flowers, volunteering, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Use Up the CSA Dinner

Posted on May 17, 2013 by AnnieRie

In honor of Food Revolution Day, which is today. I have collected quite a few of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks over the years, and like his approach to getting people to cook. I decided tonight to share a favorite “recipe” in order to take part (unofficially) in the festivities surrounding this global event.

Anyone who regularly reads my blog knows I love to cook. I enjoy doing new things with my CSA and farmer’s market finds, and we eat mostly home cooked made from scratch meals.

This is an easy favorite for us. One pan pasta “primavera”.

You need whatever veggies look good to you that could be roasted. This time I used kale, spinach, spring onions, red onion, diced red potato and TLV Tree Farm uncured bacon. I made the entire package of bacon over the weekend. In the oven, then put away to use. It probably made its way into five or six meals. For this recipe I used four slices, cut into square pieces. I just put all the veggies on a foil lined pan, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper and oregano. Put in a 300 degree oven for about 45 minutes, in order to get the onions and potato done.

Just before dinner I put four ounces of mixed pasta on to cook, and took out some pesto from the freezer, and those marinated mushrooms I made last week. Here is that recipe on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

I only have one more container of pesto in the freezer. Can’t wait for garlic scapes to come in, so I can start restocking for next winter. I had some greens left from the Burtonsville Market.

This is what dinner looked like. My husband’s plate. Filling, good, easy to throw together, with about two slices of bacon as the meat in this dish.

Pastas are simple standby meals around here. Tomato sauce or pesto from the freezer. A small amount of protein. Lots of veggies, either steamed or roasted. And, for us on a Tuesday night, it emptied the fridge of CSA veggies to make room for the Wednesday pick up.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Wegmans, wordbones and howchow

Posted on May 13, 2013 by AnnieRie

Say what? This title conveys my route to finding howchow and wordbones aka Dennis Lane. I am a foodie, and yes, a locavore, but still a foodie. Hunt Valley Wegmans was an amazing source of foods years ago, when we ran up and down I-83 to PA to visit my MIL.

Rumors that HoCo was getting a Wegmans sent me on a google search which led me to howchow. This post sent me to discover Tales of Two Cities, and all that lovely inside information Dennis managed to find.

I used howchow to find restaurants and checked out a few posts about Wegmans by Dennis. A year or so later, I started blogging. I approached howchow to get linked into his web site, and he graciously helped me with links and references. I owe quite a bit to him in getting me local readers last year.

I then met Dennis at my first hocoblogs party, and we talked about many mutual friends. A week later, after my spinal fusion, I was housebound, so I read his entire blog. WOW, what I learned about living here would fill a book!

Tales of Two Cities gave me more info about HoCo than any newspapers did. For me, though, having Dennis add me to his sidebar, and help me grow my locavore/retiree/west county blog was just one of those unselfish things HoCo bloggers like he and howchow did.

This little blogging community is simply awesome. We really care about where we live and what we do. Missing Dennis’ blog will be difficult for many. Missing his close friendship is something I won’t experience as he was a new friend, but I read in their blogs about the closeness of his friendships with my fellow bloggers and I see their pain.

From my little corner of the blogosphere, I think HoCo has many talented writers who will stand up and blog more to share things all of us love about living here.

The local bloggers are wearing red this week to celebrate Dennis’ life. I have nowhere special to go but here is my “red”.

hocoblogs@@@

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

The Good Earth

Posted on May 12, 2013 by AnnieRie

To till or not to till … that is the question.

We have the tilling debate often. I don’t know if we should. He thinks because we have a tiller, we need to use it. Actually, tilling hasn’t been a problem as it loosens up the soil and makes it easier to plant.

I use black fabric and mulch to keep down weeds. Again, some people don’t like black fabric. I love the fact I don’t have to weed. At sixty, with arthritic knees, weeding is a pain, literally and figuratively.

The weather, of course, isn’t cooperating. I want to put the tomatoes in, but temps will drop tomorrow night to the 30s. I will be covering the herbs and keeping the tomatoes inside until Wednesday.

Although the tomatoes are inside and well, the herbs have been planted. There will probably be row cover going down tomorrow. I don’t want to lose the herbs.

My last request here in the garden for this week, give me garlic scapes. The garlic is doing well, but no scapes yet.

hocofood@@@

Early Bird CSA Week Ten …

Posted on May 8, 2013 by AnnieRie

… the drowning in greens week is here. In a good way, though.

Lots of greens in this week’s selection at Breezy Willow. We got:

half pound salad mix
one bunch rainbow chard
one pound spinach
radishes with greens attached
Zucchini (which I swapped for more radishes)
Asparagus
Spring onions
Three pounds red potatoes

Plus, I picked Great Harvest White Bread this week, and got my dozen eggs.

If that wasn’t enough, I stopped by Miller Library today for Thai foods and cheese, and was swayed into buying this peppery lovely arugula from Love Dove.

You can tell it isn’t sprayed or treated. Those little chomps by insects. I would rather have greens with holes than greens full of pesticides.

With all the greens that came today, I had to use up the kale from last week, as well as the chard from Burtonsville. So, I made a frittata.

A kitchen sink frittata. Throw everything in the cast iron skillet. First, onions, garlic and chard stems. Followed by kale and chard. Add eggs with parmesan, chicken stock, salt and pepper. Let it cook a few minutes then finish in the oven. Served with a mixed green salad and CSA supplied grapefruit.

It does look like we will be eating lots of stir fries and salads this week.

Lovely greens.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Co-Inky-Dinks (or Coincidences)

Posted on May 4, 2013 by AnnieRie

Last night I happened to open Twitter to see the Beard Foundation publication tweets coming fast and furious. Just in time to see a blog I have used to find venison recipes win the individual blog award. Hank Shaw writes this blog. You should check it out.

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. This is one amazing blog if you are looking for food cooked well, from fresh ingredients. His fish and game recipes are my “go to first” recipes when I get something good at the markets. Or, that lovely venison.

Besides, where else can you find wild boar, bear, and um, squirrel recipes. Seriously. You should visit it and read some of his outside the box recipes. Including his veggie ones. Like the one with salsify.

We got salsify a year ago in our CSA. I have been looking for it ever since. I want to try this croquette. I made fritters the last time.

I just tried this mushroom recipe today. I will be reporting on the results when I finally get to taste them. I used my cremini from the CSA. Just enough to make a small jar.

Tomorrow I am heading over to Burtonsville to check out their new market. Orchard Breeze will be there. Maybe rabbit or duck will make its way to my menu, and I can use this great blog as inspiration. Who needs cookbooks when you can use great blogs?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in cookbooks, CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Locavore and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Just Us Chickens …

Posted on May 3, 2013 by AnnieRie

… and other random thoughts on a Friday evening.

It is the beginning of chicken season out at England Acres. The first 100 were processed this week and by now may all be gone. If you want to try some really tasty chicken, try free range birds from the local farms. England Acres offers them every four weeks all summer.

The chickens range in size from four to six pounds. If you want to use them frozen, directly into the crock pot like I do, you need to take out that plastic bag with the giblets and heart, and take out the neck. Those pieces I use to make chicken stock. If you are going to grill or roast the chicken, just pop them right into the freezer and worry about that bag later.

Besides England Acres, other local farms also do chickens. TLV will have them at the markets. Breezy Willow gets them. Clark’s also has chickens in season. Of course, also, Maple Lawn has frozen turkey all year round, and fresh ones for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You can certainly eat naturally raised, farm fresh goodness from all over this area.

If you get the chance to head out to England Acres, say hi to the five little kids in the yard. They are happy for visitors and practically climb over each other to see you.

Other ramblings this weekend. The Sheep and Wool Festival is Saturday and Sunday. I hope to get there but we have guests coming both days. I know Breezy Willow will be there. They will be in the main exhibition hall.

The weather should be lovely all weekend. Markets are opening everywhere. I saw that Love Dove will be in Silver Spring Saturday. I will probably check out Burtonsville Sunday morning to see who goes there. Not that I really need anything, but I would love to find some ramps or fiddlehead ferns. I have never cooked with either of them. Asparagus should be here, and soon strawberries.

hocofood@@@

Grillin’ Chillin’ and Whatever

Posted on May 2, 2013 by AnnieRie

Puttering. Tweeting. Drinking. Planting.

What a lovely spring day. Warm, not humid. Perfect gardening weather. And, grilling weather.

We started out today pulling up black fabric and getting ready to till the garden. I also did some planting of herbs.

Two kinds of sage in the herb garden. Then, I checked out the chives. They are getting ready to blossom.

After pulling up the fabric and cleaning out the garden, it was time to chill. I made a simple punch. Ginger ale. Berries from the freezer. A splash of orange liqueur and light rum. Peach nectar. Served with the Chesapeake cheddar.

A couple of the TLV farm ribeyes on the grill with a side of asparagus and zucchini. My pesto from the freezer. A Breaux cellar selection syrah.

Later, a winechat on twitter with the vawine crowd. Viognier. Mine a 2012 from Breaux. Big and beautiful.

I know why we eat at home often. The food, the wine, the view.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Locavore, Weather, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, gardening, Locavore, real food, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Early Bird CSA

Posted on May 1, 2013 by AnnieRie

Number 9. Number 9. Nine weeks in. Credits to the Beatles for the number nine inspiration. I really love going out to the farm to pick up my CSA share. The whole connection thing. Knowing the source of your food. Knowing the names of the people who run the share pick up site. Feeling like a person, and not a number (nine or otherwise).

We got:
3 ruby red grapefruit
1 eggplant (as you notice, missing, swapped for grapefruit)
1 pound kale
1 pound Brussels sprouts
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms
1 pound green beans
1 bunch huge spring onions
1/2 pound salad mix

I picked whole wheat bread, and the Breezy Willow eggs.

The tops of the onions already went into guacamole. Tonight’s appetizer.

Loving the Harris Teeter near us. I got some organic Haas avocados. And made some great guacamole.

Dinner a one pan baking deal.

Italian sausage, spinach, onion, zucchini, garlic, spring onions, seasoned salt, olive oil, chicken broth. Slow cooked in the oven. Served for dinner with the Great Harvest bread to mop up all that lovely sauce.

Doesn’t get much better.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

To Forage, To Forage

Posted on April 29, 2013 by AnnieRie

YES! YES! YES! The wild asparagus are back!

I wrote about them last year, when I got at least 40 or so spears of asparagus that keep coming up under my crepe myrtle. Saturday there was nothing there. Today. I found four spears in various lengths.

One white one buried in mulch. It will turn green as it emerges. Two more deep in the mulch although one looks a little ragged like something decided to chew on it. Maybe the bunnies.

Today’s rain was welcome as it is nourishing my garlic, my herbs, my greens and these wild plants. Oh, and the tulips. I am lucky that the animals ignore them. I guess having a yard with clover, dandelions, chick weed and whatever else out there keeps them happy and away from my flowers. As I have said often, I am loving spring time.\