Tales of Expansion: Finding a Home for Every Last Crumb
Oh, this is a food blog?
In that case, I have a food miracle to talk about.
Once upon a time, I was an actual regular blogger. I hosted a Bob’s Red Mill giveaway, and 178 people entered.
Ever since that time, I have a received a twice-a-year sampling of new Bob’s Red Mill products. I’m not talking about wimpy little samples, either. I’m talking about multiple full-sized packages of whole grain gold. Continue reading!
In October, I ate food in France.
It looked like this:
Crepes:
Pain au chocolat:
Cafe au lait:
Tapas:
Yes, we went to a Spanish restaurant in Paris and it was AMAZING, as evidenced by the following …
Manchego with quince jelly:
Grilled pulpo:
Cuajada with honey and pine nuts:
Nougat:
Arroz con leche:
That whole meal reminded me of Bilbao, and I loved it. But, I was in France and had to acclimate.
So …
Croissants:
French bread, jams …
… pamplemousse and chocolat chaud:
French onion soup:
Croque madame:
Fruit tart:
Baguette sandwich on top of an ancient medieval church:
Macaron:
Amazing things:
It was rough, but someone had to do it. Never let it be said that I can’t take one for the team.
Let’s talk about the brilliance of September. Especially since we’re just coming off of about 10 weekends in a row of “blizzard-like conditions.”
I miss September.
I took the birthday boy on a whale watch.
(It’s worth noting that we walked to the whale watch from our apartment. I’m so in love with Gloucester.)
And we actually saw WHALES. Like 6 of them. Right next to the boat.
I kept my expectations low because the 8th grade whale watch in 1996 was a horrible flop.
But these were huge WHALES. RIGHT THERE. NEXT TO THE BOAT.
We also took a drive over to Plum Island. Before it got slammed and slammed and slammed by weather disasters. Poor Plum Island.
Our biggest adventure of September involved this out-of-control heirloom tomato situation:
Yeah. It’s a rough life.
It was the best problem ever, and canning was the only way out.
We hunted this down three Targets away and got to work. It was a LOT of work.
The end result, however, was that we had fresh tomato sauce through January. Maybe even February. Totally worth it.
Also, in September, Erik’s mouth accidentally walked into my cheek in the pitch-black apartment when he had no idea I was standing in the doorway. It was very surprising for both of us. This happened:
And, of course, our love affair with Cape Ann continued to blossom.
Cox Reservation:
Squam Rock lighthouse:
Squam Rock itself:
Pretty Annisquam:
Gloucester, I love you.
This past weekend, I became the luckiest eater on earth.
The chef/owner of Erik’s farm holds monthly farm-to-table dinners on the property throughout the summer. Last weekend happened to be the Festival of Tomatoes.
Tickets are $175 per person (eeeeek!!), but since Erik’s working there, he gets to attend one for free …
… and bring me!! 😀
I made it to the farm after work on Friday at around 5:45, just in time for cocktail hour.
I’m not really a drinker, but I’m a sucker for anything with fresh fruit that does not taste alcoholic. This “nightshade cocktail” fit the bill, so I had three in rapid succession.
And I pounced on the hors d’oeuvres, like this puff of amazingness full of oozing cheese.
And this cute farmer.
And the cold tomato soup shooter with mini clam cake (!!!).
And the seared tuna with avocado and micro beet green.
Just past 6, we made our way to the dinner table, appropriately festooned with the stars of the evening.
We could not stop admiring the menu. Here’s Lindsay, Erik’s co-apprentice, modeling the work of art.
We started with buttery bread … slathered in fresh butter.
Mmmmmmmm, butter.
The first course — “Heirloom tomato and eggplant terrine with almond and saffron” — was a masterpiece in itself.
This was perhaps the most high maintenance preparation of tomatoes and eggplant imaginable … and it was also my favorite course.
I have no idea how they managed to plate so many dishes with this fragile tomato mosaic as fast as they did!
Next up: Lemon and cilantro grilled flounder, Wellfleet clams, green zebra tomato with corn, and linguica broth.
Pre-broth:
In progress:
Post-broth:
I don’t think my words can do any of this justice.
(Did I mention that each course came paired with a generous glass of wine?)
The sun started to go down in time for the third course: Ashed Archer Angus Farms beef sirloin with yellow brandywine tomato rosemary confit, piperade, and fresh dug fingerling potatoes and chanterelles.
The glaze was painfully delicious, and the spices in the ash rub were perfect.
Again, I just can’t do this food justice with my words, so I’m going to stop trying!
I was starting to get uncomfortably full at this point, so I let Erik take half my meat (the inside piece — not the yummy outside!) because I knew dessert was coming!
Dessert definitely won the prize for most inventive: plum tomato and almond frangipane tart with basil goat’s milk ice cream.
We remarked that this sort of tasted like pizza … but in a non-weird desserty way.
It worked so well! I’d eat this for dessert every day if I could.
We thought we’d reached the end, but then we noticed that a fire pit had emerged …
… complete with s’mores fixings!
I was so uncomfortably full, but who can resist s’mores on a farm???
In conclusion, I think that Erik should stay a farmer forever and ever and ever!
In the beginning, everything was green.
Life was one big salad …
… or one big squash, depending on the month.
Then, something strange started to happen:
Our food started to turn purple.
It started with purple kohlrabi and purple potatoes.
I came home one day to find purple bell peppers, garlic, and eggplant.
And more purple potatoes with striped beets.
On it went, with purple cabbage, purple lettuce, purple onions. My skin even started to turn purple.
Somebody had to do something about this madness.
(Photo from The Boston Globe.)
Luckily, hope is on the way.
Life has just become more interesting.
The rainbow is here!
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 