Tag Archives: local businesses

Frustration

Posted on July 29, 2016 by AnnieRie

That would be how this week has been. One that frustrates me. Why? Premature replacement of very expensive appliances.

This would be my seven year old fancy fridge. Which decided to fail a week ago. You know you are in trouble when this is the temperature in your freezer.

With the setting at -2 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thankfully, I have a chest freezer in the basement. Not particularly full at the moment because we haven’t started the food processing from the garden. I managed to salvage all the local meat, and cram it into the chest freezer.

The verdict from the repair person. Somewhere there is a seal leak. Typical in these refrigerators. Could be over one thousand dollars to fix. If we can pinpoint the leak with injected dyes.

Not happy. Our older, not fancy refrigerators lasted decades. All of them. Not seven years, like this one. Spending close to 50% of the purchase price to attempt to fix it is not an option.

So, today a new behemoth came into our lives.

I use a large refrigerator because I have large amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables.

I want room for salad spinners. Fruit. Vegetables. Fresh dairy and deli. This is not a repository for a few processed items. It is the storage unit for a CSA basket, and for farmer’s market finds.

This past week we did quite a bit of frantic cooking. Those items I thought may have been defrosting, as they were in the top of the old freezer.

Some bison. Some bacon. A hanger steak. Catfish. Most of it local. Good for the Buy Local Challenge.

I did do a very good frittata with local bacon and eggs. My tomatoes.

Overall, I suppose it’s not the most traumatic of weeks. Not a bit annoying. Refrigerators shouldn’t fail after seven years.

Oh, by the way, Bray and Scarff is awesome, when it comes to recommending good repair people and when it comes to absolutely fantastic delivery and set up teams.

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Posted in Commentary, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged commentary, cooking, Food, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Low Hanging Fruit

Posted on July 24, 2016 by AnnieRie

The Maryland Buy Local Challenge began yesterday. An annual event that encourages people to buy from our local farms and small businesses that support farmers in the state.

With all this heat around here, who is in the mood to cook? Still, you can participate in the challenge in cooler, creative ways. Like visiting local wineries.

We visited a new one for us, last weekend. Up in Thurmont. With weekend music. Catoctin Breeze.

A bonus up there is the relatively close location to a covered bridge over a babbling brook. A perfect place to get you toes wet, and cool down.

On your way to or from the winery, you could stop in at Catoctin Mountain Orchards for some fresh fruit and other homemade goodies. Made with mostly local fruit, they have all sorts of desserts you could bring home.

Or, you could head out on the Maryland Ice Cream Trail.

Other options. Visit a brewery.

Or, pick berries at Larriland, or another pick your own place.

Hmmm, berries, ice cream, wine, beer, desserts, do you need anything else?

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Posted in Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged community, day trips, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Going for the Green

Posted on July 12, 2016 by AnnieRie

In wineries. Black Ankle Vineyards is an amazing place to visit if you want to see a “green” winery.

Sitting there on the patio, looking up at the living roof.

Noting the solar panel, on your way down to the building. Once inside you can see the straw construction, and the reclaimed material in their counter tops, along with many other examples of how they continue to reflect their love of the land, and their dedication to sustainability.

We hadn’t been there in a while. It is one of the closest wineries to our home. One of the priciest in Maryland as well. They tend not to participate in festivals. They do a very good business with sales on site. In the past, we found very few wines available year round. They often sold out of the most popular varietals.

Friday night music, with hundreds picnicking on the patio and the lawn.

This visit, we went on a Sunday. Still, one very busy place.

They are adding a new outdoor tasting area, to handle the crowds on popular days.

We did a tasting, and rejoined their wine club.

Sat outside and enjoyed a glass of rose and of the Reserve Chardonnay. With a local cheese, from Cherry Glen. One of the two great goat cheese producers in Maryland.

Glad we took a day trip out there and reconnected. They are still making outstanding red and white wines from estate grown grapes.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Wine and tagged farms, Food, local businesses, MD Wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

In Search Of

Posted on July 9, 2016 by AnnieRie

Replacements. For my favorite restaurant and favorite food source.

I was pretty shocked and, for lack of a better word, bummed, when Bistro Blanc closed. It was our “Cheers”. Our local bar, where we could order a burger and a bottle of good red wine, not expensive. We could sit and chat with the locals. We could banter with the bartenders and the owner.

We celebrated many special occasions there. My husband’s 65th birthday, with all the trimmings. Prepared to what I wanted, by Chef Diego. Paired with wines from my cellar. Surrounded by close friends.

I really hope Raj finds a new home soon, and opens again. But it won’t be walking distance from my home, like the old location.

Then, another hit.

Friends and Farms ceased operations. That was a real blow to us. We have been customers for 30 of their 46 months of operation. Phil and Tim created a friendly family style business. Personal service. Care for the customers. Some of the best meat and seafood we could buy.

I miss them greatly. That weekly visit to tease the staff, and pick up their specials. And my staples.

I know I won’t find another one stop shop to fill that gap.

We did visit Local Homestead Products in New Windsor yesterday. They could satisfy my local cheese, dairy, egg and meat requirements. But not the seafood.

I have been buying at Annapolis Seafood when visiting my mom in her senior apartment. Good stuff there, but not the same as that freshly prepared fish from Reliant, that Friends and Farms provided.

Homestead sells beef, chicken, pork, lamb and goat. Once I work my way through my freezer, they may be my go-to source for meat. They also sell Pequea Valley yogurt, Shepherd’s Manor Sheep Cheese. Trickling Springs dairy. All sort of eggs, including quail eggs.

Yesterday we picked up some sausage, wax beans and ice cream. Just to try them out, and establish a baseline.

Those other really great products from Friends and Farms. Like the peanuts, the rice, the tomato puree, things we enjoyed and bought regularly. Now, back to markets and farms. No longer a one stop shop.

Why is it that we don’t support local businesses? Chains stay around, while good small businesses struggle. I suppose cheap does beat out quality around here.

Needless to say, it is sad we can’t keep the small places in business.

The rumor here. Dunkin Donuts will go in where Bistro Blanc was located. Great. Another chain to hurt K9 and Coffee next door to it.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Howard County, Local Businesses and tagged commentary, community, Food, Howard County, local businesses, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

An All American Dinner …

Posted on July 6, 2016 by AnnieRie

… on an All American holiday.

Fourth of July. One of my favorite holidays. Mainly, because we relax. We grill. We watch the illegal fireworks out here in west county.

So, what did we do this year, in the cold, dreary, rainy weather?

We still cooked a meal using mostly local ingredients, and a local wine. But, we couldn’t easily grill. Besides, it was too damp and miserable to stand out there and grill.

We started with a local flair on the classic gin and tonic.

Made with Catoctin Creek Gin. A fairly local distillery in northern Virginia. By the way, their rye is awesome for a classic Manhattan.

The last steaks from Friends and Farms, who unfortunately went out of business last month. Leaving us to scramble for a new source of outstanding meat and seafood at reasonable prices. More on that in a later post.

As for the side dish, enter my zucchini.

Yes, friends, lock your car doors. It is zucchini season. We have zucchini many days of every week. This was simple. Baked with my onions and a can of diced tomatoes (I am finally out of tomatoes in the freezer). Served over Pappardelle’s pasta, picked up at Casual Gourmet.

Highlight of this meal, the wine.

Another Virginia product. This one a keeper. 2009 was an excellent summer here in the midAtlantic. Hot, mostly dry. Perfect for red wines. RdV is the best of Virginia. This bottle, bought at Bistro Blanc the night before they closed (what is it with my favorite places closing this year?), it was big, bold, a baby. It needs more time to develop.

The meal?

Pan fry the steaks. Add some steak sauce. Serve the zucchini-tomato-onion bake over the pasta. Open wine. Celebrate the 240th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

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

ISO @mdsbest Wineries

Posted on June 17, 2016 by AnnieRie

What makes an exceptional winery? Do we have any here in Maryland? I hear people say there aren’t any good wines from Maryland. Obviously, they aren’t looking in the right places.

These days we have many very good options to find viniferous grapes being grown, blended and bottled, to make very, very good wines. I just spent some time looking at this year’s Comptroller’s Cup wines, from the latest competition (not sure what the difference is between Comptroller’s Cup, Winemaker’s Choice, and Governor’s Cup, but we seem to have many different competitions).

It prompted my husband wanting to take a trip to Boordy. Maryland’s oldest winery.

I actually wanted to go to Old Westminster, but they weren’t open during the day. They won the latest competition. For their Malbec.

We will get there sometime soon, as we haven’t been visiting for the past year or so.

As for Boordy, it was OK. Not great. They used to have a very good Chardonnay, but the latest vintage didn’t impress. We drove there to try the Albarino and the Viognier. Personally, Black Ankle makes a better Albarino and Big Cork, a much better Viognier.

It’s summer. White and pink wine season for us. Since I am a “locapour”, championing local wines, I try to stock my beverage refrigerator with light wines that do well in the heat of the summer.

In our experience so far, Black Ankle, Big Cork and Old Westminster are our closest wineries producing outstanding wine. And, right up there. Elk Run.

If you are into local foods, expand a bit and try local wines. You may be pleasantly surprised these days.

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Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Wine and tagged day trips, Food, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Regional and Seasonal

Posted on June 7, 2016 by AnnieRie

Blurring those lines again.

And making decisions that give people more options for good food. While keeping their businesses profitable.

The old Community Supported Agriculture model used one or two farms, without all sorts of add on options. It was great in good years. Not so great when flooding, or drought, or extreme heat or cold, impacted the yields. We see now how two of our major food sources have expanded their horizons and brought in farms from farther away.

I can hear it now. “but it’s not local. Not from our state(county)”. Maryland is a very tiny state. 42nd in terms of area. You know, if we lived in Texas, we could be more territorial. Just for fun, I put my map on my iPad over the state of Texas. Moved the view to Maryland. I could make it all the way to SC if I put MD on top. Or all the way to upstate NY if we were on the southern edge of the page.

Thinking regionally is a good thing. It gives us access to fresh food from a surrounding area that may not have had all the rain we did.

Cast in point. Our CSA, Lancaster Farm Fresh is bringing food in for their wholesale business from farms south of us. When they need to meet demand in the CSA, they occasionally use that wholesale produce for our boxes.

Like these collards last winter.

If you want a sense of what drives these decisions, read this interview with our CSA founder Casey Specht.

The refinement of our CSA model into a full service food delivery system is a remarkable journey in seven years.

Then, take a look at what Friends and Farms is doing. And excerpt from our latest newsletter. Phil’s Farm Field Trip

“With 14 days of rain in a row and little relief in sight, we decided to send Philip on an expedition to find both sun and spring produce among his many friends in the Carolinas. He finally encountered the sun in Newton Grove, NC, and the produce was not far behind. Burch Farms in Faison was busy at work harvesting leafy greens and a little further down the road, strawberry harvest was just wrapping up. But the real purpose of the trip was a little further South at the Farm of Chalmers Carr where the season’s first peaches were being harvested. Because our local harvest was decimated by the late winter storm, we are asking Mr. Carr to start shipping peaches to us within the week. We know it is early, but we can’t risk a “peach-less” summer. To top the trip off, Philip stopped by the Pine Ridge pecan orchard to visit what we hope will be a bountiful fall harvest of paper shell pecans. So far, so good!”

I can’t wait to order those pecans.

I have done quite a bit of my shopping from them, in addition to getting my protein and dairy bag. Just this past week.

Checking out the refrigerated items. Picking up my favorite yogurt. A few cheeses. Not to mention the butter I normally buy from there, Trickling Springs butter. I do love how our food services add so many items from small farms and vendors to their inventory.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Locavore and tagged CSA, Food, local businesses, Locavore, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Summer Weekends in Old Town

Posted on June 3, 2016 by AnnieRie

With tonight’s First Friday events in Old Town Ellicott City, the summer fests and markets and events begin in earnest. It doesn’t get more interesting than Yappy Hour at the Wine Bin, or movies on Saturday night, or just strolling Main Street and eating at the restaurants.

On the first Friday of every month, the shops stay open late, until 9 PM or later. Check out the events page to see the latest.

As for the movie schedule, the refrigerator magnet always lets you know what will be playing on the outside wall of the Wine Bin.

Tomorrow if the weather gods cooperate, they will be showing Grease. Tonight is Yappy Hour, again check the weather notices on their web site.

Our other favorite activity on Friday nights, when the weather isn’t as awful as it has been this year. Wine and goodies on the upstairs patio at Pure Wine Cafe.

I’m inclined to buy those lovely rockfish tacos. Maybe with a side of truffle fries. A nice light white wine.

I also have been known to stock up on summer wines at the Wine Bin, like this goody.

A good boxed wine from Spain. Trust me on this one. You want it in your fridge.

My other favorite activity in Old Town. The Saturday morning farmer’s market.

People who are lucky enough to live there. They get the best of small town and “city” living. In a walkable community.

If we could only get this rain to go away.

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Restaurants and tagged community, Food, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

… Plus You Get Strawberries*

Posted on May 21, 2016 by AnnieRie

Strawberry season is upon us.

Gorman Farms opened this past week. Details on their web site. TLV Tree Farm is bringing strawberries to the Howard County Farmers Markets in Oakland Mills, Miller Library, Maple Lawn and HoCo General Hospital.

Larriland has a notice up on the web site. Look for picking to start sometime next week. I will probably be there, as usual.

It doesn’t take long to fill a basket.

One basket is roughly ten pounds of berries. Two baskets make twenty pounds, where you get the price break. I come home and start processing. This is the easy part.

Just hull them. Clean them up a little. Flash freeze them and put them in small bags or containers in the freezer. Perfect to drop into lemonade or wine or a cocktail.

A little harder. Make puree and freeze it in ice cube trays.

Put one of these in a glass of wine. Chills it perfectly and makes your own wine cooler.

When we are ambitious, we make crisps and crumbles and pies and shortcake, but mostly we just enjoy the fresh berries.

*The quote from Ron Finley’s Guerrilla Gardener TED talk, a favorite of mine. “gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do, especially in the inner city, plus you get strawberries”

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Wine and tagged farmer's markets, farms, Food, gardening, local businesses, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

All Over the Map Friday

Posted on May 13, 2016 by AnnieRie

Because. There are so many things happening that I can’t focus on just one.

Like how happy we are to have rhubarb and garlic greens and scallions to celebrate spring cooking.

Like the fun we have in the rain while leading field trips.

Like looking forward to grilling season with all the good food we get from local vendors.

We’ve already done the hanger steak but if the sun actually hangs around, I will be grilling chicken wings. Drenched in butter and hot sauce.

Tomorrow, I will try to hit the River Hill and Ellicott City opening day. Glenwood, I’ll save for my regular weekend trips but I want to check in with Copper Penny at Ellicott City. Their market in AACO lost its site, so I am glad they found a new home next to the Wine Bin.

Speaking of the Wine Bin, we need Rose wine. And they have lots of it.

After I help with check in for Hike to the River at the Howard County Conservancy I am off to check out the markets.

Now do you understand why this post is all over the map? There is so much going on, and it’s that time of year when we love to get outdoors. Click on my links to hear more.

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