RECIPE: Hadley Grass Fritatta

Asparagus Frittata Locavore

1 T butter

6 local eggs

1/2 C whole milk 
1/4 C cream

1/2 bunch local asparagus, blunt ends trimmed

1/2 C crusty whole wheat bread cut into small cubes

Slice aged goat cheese and 3 asparagus spears for garnish

Preheat oven to 375. Line the inside of an oven proof, 1 quart baking dish with butter. Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Put in asparagus and cook about 5 minutes until bright green and still firm. Place in bowl of ice to cook and stop cooking. Put three stalks aside for garnish. Cut asparagus spears in 1/2 inch pieces leaving tips in tact.  In large bowl, beat eggs with whisk and add milk and cream. Pour into baking dish. Add salt and pepper. Blend in asparagus pieces and bread. Cook for 25 minutes or until the  center is firm. When frittata is out of the oven, garnish with a generous slice of goat cheese. Place three asparagus spears placed in the center. Serve warm with a grassy white wine.

RECIPE: Hadley Grass, Farro & Bacon

Hadley Grass in the Valley.....

Recipe in the New York Times for a Farro Pasta with Nettles and Sausage recipe made me wonder and then begin to substitute. First of all, nettles, are very hard to find, even if you are a locavore. Pasta is diablo (process white flour - no fiber, few nutrients) and whole grain Jesus. This recipe below substitutes nettles with asparagus (Hadley Grass), farro for farro grain for farro pasta and bacon for sausage. (I didn't have sausage. Both sausage and bacon are local.) There was no refined flour in the fertile crescent. Camels, mirages and miracles but no white flour. Instead there was farro, an ancient grain that is on the list of offerings on my grain share.This version of the dish uses farro grain rather than pasta meaning that the white flour is left out.

Farro, Bacon and Asparagus Salad 

6 strips bacon (local from Chestnut Farm or Wells Tavern)

1C farro (local from the Pioneer Valley Grain people)

1/2 C celery, chopped fine

1 C onion, sliced fine

1T red pepper flakes 

10 spears asparagus, tips intact, cut into 1” pieces (see map)

rhubarb jucice (from stewed rhubarb sweetened with honey)

peppercorn juice (peppercorns in jar with vinegar)

Brown farro for 3 minutes, add 1-3/4 water and pinch salt

Cook for 20 to 30 minutes on simmer and remove from heat to cool.

Fry bacon slowly, remove grease, when cooked, transfer to drain on paper bag.

Sautee red pepper flakes in bacon fat for one to two minutes then add asparagus, celery and onion.

Cook vegetables for 15 minutes on low.

When farro is finished, drain and return to pan. When it has cooled, add the vegetable mixture and bacon. By now the onions should be nicely carmelized

Top with grated cheese, if desired and serve in large warm bowls.

RECIPE: HADLEY GRASS SOUP

It's back. Grass, Hadley Style. A MONTH early, but who is counting. "We all know where this is going," said a friend with reference to the early appearance of Asparagus. Maybe strawberries by Mother's Day? 

Wherever we are going, there are worse things than early asparagus, the lovely spears of Valley goodness, pliant and grassy, due to our proximity to the Connecticut River.

Old timers can tell what field it comes from just from the taste. Try this recipe for Hadley Grass Soup and you will taste the Valley. There is nothing in it but a Valley potato, yogurt from Valley cows, chicken broth from a local chicken and asparagus from a field in Hadley

HADLEY GRASS SOUP

RECIPE: Hadley Grass Soup (4 servings)

1 bunch Hadley asparagus
1/2 C + 1/4 C local, whole milk yogurt
2 C homemade chicken broth, unsalted 

Trim ends of asparagus and cut into 1" pieces. Place in boiling water and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Set aside 4 asparagus tips for garnish. When cool, blend asparagus and broth in food processor. Reheat before serving.  When soup is warm, turn off heat and stir in 1/2 C yogurt. Serve in bowls and garnish each with a dollop of yogurt topped with an asparagus tip.  

One serving  - 96 calories, 1.6 g fat, 11.3 g carbohydrates, 9.6 g protein, 3.5 g fiber, 0 mg sodium

RECIPE: PICKLED RHUBARB FREE FOR THE ASKING

RHUBARB IN SPRING AND WINTER

The world is divided into to four groups of people. Those who can do math, those who can't do math, those who like rhubarb and those who don't.  It isn't for the faint of heart but worth pickling.

Why rhubarb? It is like lemon, when pickled provides a juice that makes a killer cocktail and outrageous salad dressing. Plus it is free.

Rhubarb requires creativity. Very fibrous, available in backyards across New England right along with skunk cabbage, rhubarb is not an obvious choice for bringing brightness to food. But rhubarb is the citrus in the locavore toolkit.

FORAGING NOTE:

Timing is everything. Seek the rhubarb in spring, best from people's yards. Stealing rhubarb isn't the worst crime. It isn't as bad as stealing laundry off the line. One way to get it is canvas everyone you know. A friend has a single patch outside her porch. People trod on it all summer long. So I harvested that yesterday.

In spring, make a pie with rhubarb once the strawberries. This combination is legend. Then preserve it, in the form of pickling. If anything is worth the time to boil jars it is the humble rhubarb. Juice from the pickled mixture is worth its weight in gold for flavor, funky different flavor, not unlike pomegranate.

The pink stalks of rhubarb make a nice ingredient in whole grain salads. Jars of pickled rhubarb can hold up in the pantry for over a year. Come January, having the jars there on the shelf is as good as getting a box of grapefruits in the mail from Florida.

RECIPE: PICKLED RHUBARB

    ⁃    1 pound rhubarb stalks (4 to 6 large stalks)
    ⁃     1 cup apple cider vinegar
    ⁃     1 cup water
    ⁃     1/2 C honey
    ⁃     1/2 teaspoon salt
   

In a small saucepan, combine the apple cider vinegar, water, honey and salt and bring to a boil.

Wash rhubarb stalks well and trim to fit into two, clean, wide-mouth mason jars. Slice lengthwise for uniformity.

Pack the rhubarb pieces into the jars.

Once the pickling liquid has boiled and the honey is dissolved, pour it into the jars over the rhubarb, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Tap the jars gently to dislodge any air bubbles. If the headspace level has dropped significantly, add more pickling liquid.


Wipe jar rims, apply lids and rings and process jars in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.

When time is up, remove jars from canner and set them to cool on a piece of newspaper or cardboard.

When jars are cool enough to handle, remove rings and test seals. If jars are at all sticky, wash them to remove that residue. 

Let this pickle cure for at least 48 hours before eating.

Permaculture Garden: Volunteer Day @ Umass

Farm 2 School Pizza Garden

Human Carrot with Maddie Gatzounas 

The Farm-to-School movement in the Commonwealth is having an impact on the town of South Hadley.

A couple of weeks ago on an unseasonably warm day in March, Claire Lamberg and Maddie Gatzounas visited Old Sturbridge Village to learn about the future of school lunch. Politicians, farmers, food service directors, nutritionists and a movie director were on hand for the 2012 Farm-to-School Convention.

Presenters included Kurt Ellis, producer of King Corn, who spoke about his latest initative, Food Corps, Scott Soares, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources who cited a 600% increase in the Farm-to-School participation over the past five years in Massachusetts and others.

From the farming community, Dr. Joe Zgrodnik of Hadley spoke on a panel of growers and said that the biggest challenge to selling food to schools is making it ready for lunchroom kitchens. “We have to get a way to get our peppers processed,” said Dr. Z, a retired orthodontist who farms with his son in Hadley.

Addressing that issue was James Arena-DeRosa, Northeast Regional Administration, Food & Nutrition Services for the USDA. He stated that the federal government is making $5M available for “tech assistance.” “I will make sure Massachusetts gets a shot,” he said.

Both Claire and Maddie came away with the same goal: start composting at home and at school, to start. Since they have worked with teachers and administrators to get the program going in the Fall of 2012 at the High School.

Claire Lamberg, left, Maddie Gatzounas and Dr. Z.

The trip planted a seed. That seed and several others will create a Pizza Garden at Town Farm in South Hadley. ValleyLocavore and members of the Youth Commission will join forces this summer to grow basil and plum tomatoes. These ingredients will be grown for pizza sauce to be shared by all who participate.

Being part of the project means six work days throughout the summer. Those who commit to a day of clean up, planting, mulching, weeding, harvesting and canning, will to to six area farms to see how the experts do it.

There is not grant for this project. It is entirely volunteer. Seeds are donated by Ace Hardware, soil is donated by the town and labor donated by participants. At the end of the season the sauce will be used on pizza made near the farm and enjoyed by all.

This Saturday, April 12, is the first work day. We will be clearing paths, spreading wood chips and planting seeds at the Town Farm on Hadley Street in South Hadley. All town residents over the age of 12 are invited. Those interested should bring a pair of work gloves. For more information call 413-427-4949.
###

Ryan Harb of UMass on Permaculture - Video Series

 VIDEO 

If you're like me, you woke up one morning and thought, "what the _____ is Permaculture?"

In the video above, the Permaculture Committee at UMass demonstrates "NO TILL" gardening on the former lawn of the Franklin Dining Commons. The 12,000 foot sustainable garden will require less resources and is more drought resistant than its more conventional relatives.

How to Permaculture:

Step 1 -  Maintain the micro organisms in the soil by loosening up the dirt with shovels.
Step 2 -  Lay 4" organic matter -- compost over the entire surface of the garden.
Step 3 - Cover with a layer of cardboard to prevent further grass growth.
Step 4 - Add layer of mulch in the form of grass clippings or hay.
Step 5 - Wait five months for micro-organism enhancement such as worm enhancement and then plant.  

Is Permaculture for You? For all of us?

Volunteer times at the UMass Permaculture Gardens all throughout April: Tuesday-Thursday mornings at Franklin Permaculture Garden, 9:00am - 10:30am. Fridays at Berkshire Permaculture Garden 9:00am - 1:00pm! Gain hands-on permaculture experience with no prior experience required.....

Recipe: Goat Bolognese with Italian Cheese

Donna Hulnick, Speciality Foods Team Leader 

"Attention shoppers, in honor of the Crack Heard Around the World, we will be handing out Parmesan cheese covered in chocolate..."

A couple of weekends ago, a great wheel of Parm was split open after being aged for 2 years in Hadley. "The crack heard around the world...." was touted by Whole Foods where a wheel of cheese, the size of a radial tire, was pried in two on a very busy Saturday.

Parmesan, from the Parmesan region of Italy comes in 80 to 90 lb wheels is known as "The King of Cheese" and its subjects were out in force, some wearing crowns. "Have a piece," said speciality associate Issac with a flourish from his station in front of a big window at the back of the wine department where the wheel was inspected by shoppers.

Other store associates mingled about passed out parma pieces dipped in bitter chocolate and parma with strawberries and balsamic vinegar.  OMG.

The cheese monger explained that this was the very first time this cheese would be exposed to air after sitting in a bank vault in Italy. Donna Hulnick, team leader for the Specialty Foods department, instructed me to examine my piece very closely for telltale signs of freshness. In the case of this cheese there was hardly any darkness near the rind, just a little bit of color and it was quite moist. And getting a taste of the nuttiness of fresh cheese also tells the tale of the fact that this cheese, fresh out of the bank vault.

Getting a taste of aged cheese before oxidation sets in is a rare opportunity. This taste was a nutty, rich and not-very-salty parm flavor. Extra for experts: use the rind of the cheese to adding it to stock. Try it, the next time you have a cheese rind around. Basic foods that need a long cook time, like dried beans, for example, get a nice dose of yummy fat flavor when cooked with a hunk of cheese rind. (Yes, be sure to fish it out before serving the beans. After that compost the rind.)

In the recipe below I feature parm (with aged goat cheese as an alternative) for a Bolognese dish with mostly local ingredients.  Goat meat is a bit tough but has an interesting, not gamy flavor. I buy goat meat at the end of each summer at the Northampton Farmers Market. It is sold by Caroline Hillman of Hillman Farms. She sells chevre all summer long, first fresh and then aged toward the end of the season. In August she takes orders for goat meat. It is $75 for a quarter of a goat. That buys you ground goat meat, goat chops and 2 goat legs/shanks.

For a quick meal, a Goat Bolognese uses ground goat meat (pork or beef or in addition to) and requires very little fussing. I treat it like bolognese by adding cream, wine and cooking for a while. The addition of milk and cream make for a velvety mouth feel. I usually try not to use salt and pepper, just because they can mask the flavor of herb.

Serve with wheatberries or just over potatoes if that is what you have that is local. The cheese, of course, is optional but the goat is not.


Goat Bolognese

1 lb ground goat (or ground beef or pork) meat


1 small red onion, chopped fine

½ small white onion, chopped fine

3 small carrots, peeled and chopped into small cubes

2 cloves garlic, crushed


1 cup stewed tomatoes

1 cup red wine

2 tsp fresh rosemary

2 tsp dried sage


1 cup milk

½ cup cream


1/2 C aged cheese, Italian parmasena or local aged goat cheese, to finish

Brown meat, add vegetables, use olive oil if there’s not enough fat in the meat, cook until onions, garlic and carrots are softened. Add wine, bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Then add tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Bring to boil and let simmer for around 1 hour with lid on. Add cream, milk and herbs with salt and pepper to taste.

Is Permaculture Edible?

Ryan Harb, right of the President

At Umass Amherst, students in dorms can opt to live on a 'sustainable' floor.  Last week, Ryan Harb was catapulted into fame when his permaculture gardens won the White House Campus Champions of Change Challenge with the support of 59,841 Facebook friends. It was a close race among students in the US vying for social change. The UMass Permaculture Garden had approximately 2000 votes more than an Arkansas based Food Pantry. Today Harb is being congratulated by the President as one of five Champions of Change for his sustainability efforts. The President said in today's speech said, "If you're not idealistic when you are young then you have a problem."


Harb's success is the transformation of a grass lawn next to the Franklin Dining Commons into a sustainable ecosystem, also known as permaculture. It took two years and many volunteers. 


As Chief Sustainability Coordinator for Auxiliary Services and Enterprises, at UMass Amherst Harb and his team are growing fruit, nuts, vegetables, greens and flowers. He defines the garden as "Sustainability involving people working together to create ecological and edible landscapes."  


There is a permaculture farm at Hampshire College and one in Northampton at the Meadows. Both provide some food in a sustainable ecosystem with no tilling, no lawn and no weeding. This is accomplished by working within the ecosystem. 


Plants can be inoculated with fungi to promote resilience and growth. Pest resistant marigolds and chives are planted are also part of the landscape.  As one grower put it, the real time is setting up the garden, once that is done, there is virtually little to do when permaculture is part of the landscape.

Grandfather of Natural Faming of Japan, Masanobu Fukuok

Masanobu Fukuoka is the grandfather of natural farming in Japan. In his book, One Straw Revolution, he advised that one should “Observe nature thoroughly rather than labor thoughtlessly.”  

UMass Permaculture Group Goes to Washington

"Of that 1,400, 15 finalists were chosen, and five were selected to progress to the “online vote” stage, according to the Globe. After voting closed yesterday, UMass Permaculture was announced the winner...." See Collegian article by clicking above....

Recipe: Goat Loaf

Marty's Goat Loaf 

serves four

Preheat oven to 350

What

1/2 C home made ketchup (cook down 8 plum tomatoes, 1 clove chopped garlic, add 1 t maple syrup, 1T horseradish or hot pepper sliced fine)
1 lb ground goat meat
1 C yogurt or cream
1 egg yoke
1 egg hard boiled
1/2 C greens, parsley or kale, chopped fine
1 C chopped onion, chopped roughly
2 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
1 C fresh hen-of-the-wood mushrooms lightly sauteed in butter (or 1/2 C dried, reconstituted)
2 T bread crumbs, toasted

How

In large bowl, mix yogurt, egg yolk and ketchup.
Add ground beef and fold in the rest of the ingredients, except the hard boiled egg and bread crumbs, with your hands.
Form a loaf around the hard boiled egg (make sure you have peeled it.)
Dredge loaf in bread crumbs.
Grease loaf pan with butter and add a bit of water, wine or broth in the bottom of the pan.
Place loaf into pan and bake for one hour at 350.

RECIPE: Wheat Berry Salad with Pickled Red Onion...when you have no red onion

Recipe: Wheat Berry with Pickled Red Onion

1 C wheatberries

¼ apple

2T whole, raw almonds

2C spinach

1 small onion

1C cranberry vinegar

Ahead of time

Soak wheaberries over night

Infuse 1 C vinegar with 7 or 8 raw cranberries (from the Cape) chopped in half over night

Next Day

Cook wheat berries for 45 min on low until tender

Meanwhile

Peel onion and slice thinly

Blanch onion in water

Mix 1 C cranberry vinegar with 1 t salt and bring boil

Add onion to red mixture and cook for one minute

Remove onion and set aside

Sauté spinach in olive oil or rendered lard until wilted

Chop fine

Toast whole almonds in toaster oven.
Remove and dice fine, not too fine.

Chop apple into little squares

Drain wheat berries

Mix wheat berries with the rest of ingredients, add a bit of oil if necessary

Add salt to taste

Enjoy!

What Comes First? Egg

When momma ain't happy.....

How free is free-range? Backyard chickens are plentiful these days, as can be evidenced by the traveling hen houses that dot the countryside. So pretty, colored free-range eggs can be obtained at stores, by the side of the road and right out of the hen if you are so blessed to have your own flock. Traveling hen houses are designed to be a mobile fertilizer unit.

Joel Salatin, celebrity farmer recommends the flexible fence to reign in free-range chickens.

"If they are let loose, they go all over the place," said Salatin two winters ago at a Northeast Organic Farm Association meting in Worcester. "They shit all over the place," he said. "They go on the lawn, they go on the handle of the lawn mower, nobody wants that, and then they even go up on the porch,"  he said. "Mama don't like that. When mama ain't happy, ain't nobody's happy."

Eggs can be diablo and protein all in one.

Deviled Eggs for a Pot Luck on the farm or community room at the library.

1 dozen eggs + 2 for mayo
1 onion, grated
1/2 tsp horse radish
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup mayo
2 TBL chopped chives
6 long strands of chives for topping

Start eggs in cold water and cover with lid and bring to boil.
Turn off heat and let water and eggs come to room temperature.
Peel under running water. This makes it easier to get the shell off.
Slice hard boiled eggs lengthwise to maintain 'boat' shape of white.
Dip knife in water between eggs for a clean slice of the whites.
Scoop out solid yokes.
Mix together onion, mayo, horse radish, cider vinegar, and chives
Add egg to the rest of the ingredients with fork and mix gently.
Gently scoop all of the egg mixture into the corner of a plastic bag.
Cut little slit in the corner of the bottom of the plastic bag for 'piping effect' (optional).
This will allow you to evenly distribute egg filling in the design of your choosing.
Top with a little cross of chive step to keep the devil away. 

Locavore note: Make your own mayo with eggs and olive oil. A work out with a whisk to get the eggs to emulsify but worth it. Recipe here. *

*Courtesy of Oprah and Tamar Adler

Chicken Hearts for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day can make some people chicken.

There can be a lot of pressure with this holiday. Does she/he want jewelry? If so, how much to spend? Does she think this will be an engagement ring? Would she/he settle for Whitman's Sampler? Best in a situation like to take a unique approach. Food, as in, a home cooked meal says a lot more about love than money does. Let's say, you buy her a bauble for $50. Is she/he worth only $50? If you cook her/him a meal at home, and she believes that food is love, then that would be a loving, genuine and affordable Valentine's gift. If your sweetie eats out a lot, then here is a recipe for something that comes from one of the country's most expensive restaurants yet is quite inexpensive to make at home.

In some markets, you can pay up to $23 for a local chicken. It is not the chicken's fault. Blame regulatory slaughter (processing) requirements.  Growing backyard chickens is one thing, trying to sell them, entirely another. For taste, the locally raised, properly fed chicken is superior but how best to appreciate and more important afford such a luxury.

One way to go is to go little. With chickens, a little heart goes a long way. A great way to consume chicken that is locally grown is to go for the gizzards. Not easy to forage -- you gotta know a guy who knows a guy -- for guy who knows a farmer, but there is no delicacy like a chicken heart on a stick. This recipe is for such a delicacy served at one New England-ish restaurant surrounded by livestock and other representatives of dinner. It is a place where they make their own salt, flavored with tomato and sitting there in a bowl like red cocaine. As for chicken hearts, they are plump morsels are served up on the end of skewers and glazed with something sweet. Pure protein - heart on a stick. Don't be a chicken, give this a try. This recipe is based on reverse engineering plus intelligence from Serious Eats.

Chicken Hearts on a Stick

WHAT

1 lb. Chicken Hearts
2 long, thin wooden skewers

1 pound chicken hearts (local)

Sauce
 
 2 chicken carcasses cut into 6 to 8 pieces
1 cup mead or white wine
1 cup mirin
1 to 1/2 cups soy sauce, depending on darkness
3 tablespoons maple syrup
Freshly ground black pepper


HOW

Sauce:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread the bones in a saute pan and roast until the bones are brown and the fond at the bottom of the pan is beginning to darken, about one hour.

2. Remove the pan from the oven and put on a stovetop. Deglaze the pan with about 1/3 cup of the mead or sake, scraping up the browned bits until the bottom of the pan is clean. Then add in the rest of the mead or white wine, mirin, sugar, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the sauce is thickened, about one hour. Season with black pepper. Leftover sauce will keep in the refrigerator indefinitely if reheated once a week.
 
To grill:

Skewer chicken hearts and set over a medium high flame. When the chicken hearts are almost cooked through, about 2 minutes, baste with the sauce and grill again until sauce is dried, about 20 seconds. Baste again and grill just until the sauce is starting to dry, about 10 seconds. Add pepper if desired.

To serve:

Skewer individual hearts and serve to loved one. Take turns. Continue until there are none left or you get distracted.

Good bye Kale Recipe

Good-Bye Kale Recipe

For a meal we served to guests the other night, I thought that a good send off to our friend would be ease off of the all kale diet by using up the scraps of kale left over from dinners gone by. So I took some beans we got from our grain share, pinto's and cooked them with a bit of olive oil, some left over stock from beets, water and bay leaf. When the beans were nice and soft, I added some ribbons of crispy kale to give it some color and veggie-ness. The marriage of kale and legume was complete in this simple and surprising delicious dish. A legume is basically, a round dried thing that is good for you, not much different than an leafy thing that is good for you together to make for a satisfying meal. Other legumes are clover, lentils, peanuts.

Good-Bye Kale Recipe
Beans with Good-Bye Kale Month kale.

1 half bunch left over kale from Kale Month
2 cups pinto beans
Olive Oil
1-large onion, sliced medium thin

Soak beans over night. Drain, cook until tender with good amounts of olive oil and salt. IF YOU HAVE IT, add a parmesan rind and some fresh herbs. About 45 minutes. Saute onion in oil. De-rib, roll and slice kale into ribbons. Add to onion and cook until crispy. Remove from heat and stir into beans. Add olive oil, salt and pepper with a dash of vinegar or wine, if desired.

This is the last of the kale recipes. February is chicken month, including eggs. Stay tuned!

Recipe: Restaurant Kale Part 2 - Deconstructed Kale

Kale, De-constructed

I love restaurant week in New York because the portions are so small. You go, the place is great, the food famous, the reservation, hard to get. Then you eat and the food is so scant, in such small amounts, that you have to focus on every bite.

That was my experience a couple of weeks ago in at Promenade des Angeleis, on 23rd and 10th. We got there, had to take a cab, rain, and so on. Inside it is early still, only 7:30 and the place is dead. Then our friends show up and speculations are made, newspaper articles referred to and so eventually the food comes, we get soup and a terrine and a fish dish with tiny anchovies and from the regular menu, brandade on crostini...the rest I don't remember but I do remember the kale and during restaurant week, kale is the one dish you get a decent portion of.

Before deconstructing the kale salad, I become painfully aware of the waitstaff. When we are served our first course and then our main course, all of these waiters converge on us at once. It must have something to do with the way they run the place. It seems as if the entire staff has staged an intervention of food and each us is served, by a separate person, simultaneously. It is like we are a car and they are the pit crew. Or we are a foodie mosh pit.

This particular kale dish was ripped leaves, massaged in oil with strips of good prosciutto, the thinnest slice of button mushroom, really not even worth mentioning or even including in the dish but then shaving of parmesean, quite an outstanding delicious bit of parm, and all in a vinaigrette along with unnecessary pomegranate seeds. It was the best kale salad I have ever had and I must say it is because of the quality of the prosciutto, olive oil and cheese -- mushroom, pomegranate seeds notwithstanding. 

Such is restaurant week. Regular people go to expensive restaurants where they get a little window of luxury. Kale really shines in this context where trend and abundance meet in a perfect storm. Kale is cheap. It grows in snow. No one yet has the nerve or has figured out how to make kale expensive so it is one dish at restaurant week that you get a lot of.

Recipe: Whole Foods Kale Kugel

Mushroom Noodle Kugel, courtesy of Whole Foods Market in Hadley

 

This comes recommended by a friend, Sarah Kanabay at Whole Foods in Hadley. She refers to kale as the 'poster child leafy green' which probably is why we love it so. 

This recipe for a dish called Kale and Mushroom Noodle Kugel is as comforting as comfort food can get. I think that I might agree with one individual who commented about the dish that the substitution of ricotta for cottage cheese is a good one. As one individual commented on the store's website, ricotta might suffice rather than cottage cheese, to which I agree. 

ALL of these ingredients can be local. If you are a real purist, egg noodles and the ricotta itself can be made at home with local ingredients. I have not yet tried this but will do so once I can figure out how to make noodles. This recipe features quite a few Whole Foods ingredients which can be substituted, of course. Where is the fun in cooking if you don't get to substitute?

Serves 8

This hearty dish features mushrooms, kale and egg noodles, bound with cottage cheese and sour cream for richness. Use a variety of mushrooms in place of the button mushrooms, if you like.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons 365 Everyday Value Unsalted Butter, plus more for buttering
1 (16-ounce) package 365 Everyday Value Wide Enriched Egg Noodles
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 lb white/button or cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
1 bunch kale (about 3/4 pound), stemmed and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups low-fat cottage cheese
3/4 cup 365 Everyday Value Organic Low Fat Sour Cream

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9- x 13-inch dish; set aside. Cook noodles in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain, rinse and drain again; transfer to a large bowl. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Add mushrooms, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook until mushrooms are very tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in kale and cook until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes; add thyme. Add to noodles, toss and set aside. Whisk together eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream and remaining salt. Fold into noodles. Transfer to prepared dish, press down gently, cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes more. Serve warm or room temperature.

Nutrition

Per serving: 360 calories (90 from fat), 10g total fat, 4.5g saturated fat, 170mg cholesterol, 520mg sodium, 52g total carbohydrate (3g dietary fiber, 6g sugar), 19g protein

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/3112

Whole Foods Note to Avoid Lawsuit: We've provided special diet and nutritional information for educational purposes. But remember — we're cooks, not doctors! You should follow the advice of your health-care provider. And since product formulations change, check product labels for the most recent ingredient information. See our Terms of Service.

GREEN STREET CAFE RIP

Last Saturday night, Green Street Cafe's final supper, the place was hopping. Food, fireplace and jazz were in full swing and although by 7:30 they were out of pirogi in brown butter and lamb meatballs with hand made noodles. But what they had left was better than anything else you can get in town.

GSC owners Jim and John never stinted on quality, never compromised which was why the food was honestly good, why they had their fans, why they were so intense. John and Jim made the soup Nazi look like a neophyte.

For the 20 or so years Jim and John were in business, they insisted, in their way, on perfection from their wait staff, the best food that they could afford and at times could not afford and in summer grew their own produce for the restaurant. There was a grill outside on Fridays featuring lamb burgers, in summer, along with Jim's heirloom tomatoes.

Winter featured a lovely menu including the weird yet delicious duck leg cooked in the fireplace and mussels, cooked in a mustard wine sauce and served with bread.

Always in season was the ongoing battle with next door neighbor, Smith College. Smith was the landlord and has been trying to throw them out for years. Basically they wanted the place back. It didn't fit in with their expansion plans and Jim and John went down swinging. Little details like the wrecked cars in the parking lot that abutted Smith's engineering school (see photo above taken by Paul Shoul) was the latest Green Street's latest retaliation against their oppressors.

Now John and Jim are moving on. "We're doing a CSA," says John. "I want to sell 1000 shares!" he adds, just to throw down yet another gauntlet. But they were good to their staff and to some regulars who called the place home for a while.  Family dinner, a restaurant tradition of feeding the staff before diners show up, was always on the table. This can't be said for most other restaurants. It is pretty old school and requires management that cares and treats the staff like family. Of course, family takes many forms.

In the middle of service on Saturday, the band called Jim over to sing. The place fell silent when he raced down the stairs. Sidling through the crowd to grab the microphone Jim fixed a withering gaze on his guests. "This is dedicated to the staff," he said and began to sing, "You Make Me Feel So Young."

Goodbye John and Jim. You gave more than what you got.

Recipe: Kale Chips

Kale Chips:

Who needs defense when you have Tom Brady and Kale Chips?

•    1 head kale, washed and thoroughly dried
•    2 tablespoons olive oil
•    Sea salt and pepper, for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Remove the ribs from the kale and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Toss in large bowl with salt and pepper. Lay pieces of kale out on baking sheets, dark green side up. Bake until crisp in top half of oven for approximately 25 minutes. Have a look at them every 8 minutes to ensure even baking. Serve while warm, immediately, in a large bowl. Pair with beer. If somebody looks up and says, “Hey, these chips are black!” pass the dip. (Yogurt and lemon with white pepper works well.)

For a more formal presentation, kale makes an elegant entry in its long leafy shape. Just remove stems with scissors and skip the step of cutting the kale leaves. Cooking directions remain the same. Long kale chips can be served in various vessels such as pewter beer steins and other football game ephemera. Pair with a nice Pinot Noir. If somebody says, “Hey, who brought the lawn clippings?” squirt some organic lemon on the chips.

Either way, kale chips are an effective transportation device for salt, like popcorn. But that's cool. They're so healthy, it is impossible to eat too many! Go Pats!

Recipe: Don't Try This At Home Kale

  
Think you have mastered kale? Think again. When somebody says, 'kale chips' (#1000 out of 1000 on the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) can also be a snack food,' you have to try 'em.

So I tried. I tasted kale chips two years ago in Hartford. A restaurant owner passed them out. Delicious black squares salty and with a bit of something else, not sure what. I learned that her kale chips were dehydrated. Don't have one of those machines so moved on in the research.

Discussing kale with some kids in Great Barrington, a woman named Sharon said she loved kale chips and made them all the time.  She baked them in the oven, real hot, oil and salt. Easy!

She said the secret to kale is to make sure it is very, very dry before cooking. "So I leave all of the cut leaves on the table to dry overnight. Then my partner comes home and she says, "Is this an art project?" 

Further investigation revealed several recipes, all of which involved drying before baking. The dehydration method, I ruled out since I don't have one of those machines. Being a locavore, I try to keep the grid to a minimum.

Anyway, I remember the business about drying and take a couple of recipes and put them together. I follow the first steps, all recipes specify cleaning, cutting away the stems and drying.  After drying, baking instructions ranged from 250 to 350, depending on the recipe. I wash the kale and decide to stick the leaves in the oven, very low, to DRY them right away rather than having to leave them out on the table over night. Seems like a quick way to do the overnight method. But it was a one-way ticket to Pompeii. When I took out my sad little squares of kale, they were ashen, like burned notes lire, like an art project. They tasted of blackness.

In the end, we went out to dinner at Hope and Olive in Greenfield, where I knew kale would be on the menu. The place never disappoints, never forsakes our local bounty, no mater what the season. Way out in front of the food curve, Hope and Olive was first to feature mead, hard cider and grass-fed beef on its menu.

Last night, Hope and Olive's Kale Salad featured ribbons of kale. If you try to make this salad at home, massage the kale as described several posts ago, before adding the other stuff. In this case, the other stuff was white rice, sliced beets, the exotic red and white stripped kind, bits of squash, not sure what kind, roasted whole pecans maybe with a hint of sweetness and apple.

It should be noted for those who are trying to make the dish, is that the roots are cut into MATCHSTICKS. This is a step that must not be ignored because scale is important when it comes to mixing this much different food together. You don't want to let the kale ribbons get lost in great lumps of other produce.  How wonderful this salad is. An entire meal.

Can kale the super food also be kale, the super star of snack foods? Stay tuned.

Recipe: Restaurant Kale, Part 1

Bread Euphoira is my morning place, my second family, a source of friendship, coffee, sugar, advice on things. Things such as kale for example. 

Recent forays into the restaurant world investigate how this tough, obscure little plant is playing out in eating establishments across America. Perched on a ridge in the foot of the hilltowns in my little part of the country is a place run by a mad baker and his wife with a stalwart staff including Molly and Sean. Molly wants to learn to how to make kale. Has a friend who grew up on a commune, intentional living, works wonders with kale. Molly specializes in Mac and Cheese and aspires to Commune foods. 


For her, kale is an unattainable feat. We discuss kale for a couple mornings and she, in conversation, pauses for a brainstorm and says, “Oh, right here, he knows how to cook everything, ask him about kale!” Sean comes into the conversation, nods, and recites the following about kale. (It should be noted that he is tall and fair in complexion with dark hair and glasses perched almost a third of the way down on his nose. Molly is a sprite with a great black shock of straight bangs.)  

Sean says: “I always blanch it. You have to blanch it. After blanching it, no vinegar. Kale is too bitter already, do butter. I like butter.” He later adds that oil is OK but definately not vinegar. Sean talks restaurant talk. You will see what I mean by the recipe below. 

So I go home and try it and it works pretty well. Couple of weeks later I go back and discuss kale with Molly again. She blanches at the idea of blanching and I can’t say that I blame her. What is blanching anyway? Steep in boiling water. What is steep, how long is the boil, what kind of boil, what kind of pan? You can use any pan deep enough to take the kale with some water on top to ‘cover.’ Bring the water with some salt to a boil, put the kale in the pot until the it withers a bit, or is ‘shocked’ by the water. This will soften the kale but not overcook it making kale attainable, less elusive, for all mankind, not just those in The Commune.


RECIPE: Sean’s Kale


1-Bunch Kale
Butter (or oil)


Blanch kale until al dente (not too soft, with a bit of a bite)
Serve as a ‘hot side’ meaning warm, on the side, maybe tossed with butter and salt and pepper with whatever else you have like red pepper strips or pickled onions, hard boiled eggs, etc. 

NOTE: wash kale, remove stems and roughly chop before beginning this recipe -- MN

Recipe: Street Kale

"Street Kale" otherwise known as urban decoration. Photographed on 22nd bet. 8th and 9th, NYC

Street Kale: It's what's for dinner....

This urban food, while similar to kale purchased by the man at stores and farmstands, is worthy occupation fare during times of strife. Preparation requires cutting off leaves at the stem with a leatherman knife or tie off with guitar strong then soak for 5 to ten minutes in water bath to remove traces of street urine. For quick consumption, de-rib, roll leaves into cigar shape, cut into little stubs and fry in skillet with ghee, oil for free butter pats found at the breakfast bar in extended stay hotels near Chinatown. If you have enough fuel but no fat or a good knife, de-rib with fingers and blanch kale leaves in boiling water for five to ten minutes. When ready, text friends #dinner.

RECIPE: Put Me In Coach Kale

Source: Recipe Box

Kale is a worthy substitute.

If kale could talk, "Put me in coach," would be its mantra.

Take a random recipe plucked from box unearthed in a basement or estate sale. The basics are there such as salt, fat, acid and with that in place, substitute away. Here, for example, a vintage Newspaper Recipe for Greek Tortellini Salad ("This potluck-size salad can be made several hours ahead.....") has the basic ingredients for a side dish that can sit for a bit under cover and for the ingredients potentially not in your larder, such as a package of plain or tricolored refrigerated cheese tortellini, feel free to substitute with kale.

In this case the other ingredients are peppers, onion, olives, vinegar, oil, mint, lemon juice, sherry, salt, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and feta cheese....more than enough action to make this dish work with kale as the star. Because of kale's star power due to flavor, nutrients, fridge endurance and winter availability, the dish can be made with far fewer ingredients.

A quick massage and ribboning of the kale (see below) with addition of onion, vinegar, oil, an herb you might have on hand, an alcohol you might have on hand (not beer) instead of the sherry, real garlic and some cheese (not swiss) as an option makes for a sustainable version of this Vintage Recipe Box recipe.

Recipe: Massaged Kale

Mountain View Farm: house, barn, tractor, sky, summer '11

Recipe: Massaged Kale

To say that kale is healthy is like saying the earth is round. Kale is so healthy it is at the top of the list that ranks foods by evaluating a range of micronutrients including vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidant capacities. The ANDI score is formerly called the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index and it ranges from produce to dairy with produce leading the pack with a score of 1000 for kale, according to documentation provided by Whole Foods. Carrots have a score of 336 and oats 53, trout 36 and swiss cheese 15, just sayin! By working olive into the nutrient packed fiber of this hearty, hearty, green, the leaves relax and luxuriate in a bath of garlic, lemon and salt. 

Give it a good rub, lots of payback. A massaged kale salad will keep in the fridge with dressing or up to three days.

Massaged Kale Salad

1 Head of Kale

1 T olive oil

honey, about ½ t

juice of one lemon

2 T chopped almonds

salt & pepper

Remove stems from kale with a sharp knife or scissors and roll individual leaves of kale into cigar shapes. Cut width-wise so the kale becomes like ribbons. Place kale ribbons in a bowl and massage olive oil into pieces. Toss with lemon, salt, garlic and add almonds if you like. Pepita seeds are also great with kale.  

Recipe: Jack's Kale Crostini

 Recipe: Jack’s Kale Crostini

This kale on toast delight is from the recipe box of Jack Algiere of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture where the kale is in season, the extended season, that is. This seasonal farmers' market sells produce from Stone Barns' own hoop and green houses and meat from the farm's livestock. At Stone Barns Farm in upstate New York, farming is what farming would be like if millionaires built the place. The buildings are originally the dairy and hay barns that made up the Rockefeller estate. Food in situ, food at the market and food in the restaurant where menu features seasonal dishes in multiple courses, is worth a visit. Stone Barns is a non-profit farm and education center. The restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns is located on the farm as well. Both are open to the public.

Kale Crostini - Jack Algiere, Stone Barns, NY

Ingredients

1 lb kale, deribbed

1 t salt, or to taste

¼ to a third C olive oil

¼ C grated Parmigiano cheese

1 lemon, juiced

½ t cumin
2 anchovies

1 handful of almonds or pine nuts

Procedure

1.     In a skillet, sauté kale in some of the olive oil, to darken.

2.     In a food processor, pulse the garlic, the remainder of your olive oil, anchovies and nuts.

3.     Add the sautéed kale to the food processor. Pulse a couple of times to roughly chop.

4.     Finally, add the salt, cumin and lemon juice. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Pulse until the mixture reaches your desired consistency.

5.     Slice your loaf of peasant bread or other crusty bread.

6.     Lightly toast the slices of bread in an oven, until golden brown.

7.     Spread the kale mixture on the bread and enjoy

Recipe: Kale with Farro and Chicken Soup

kale with farro and chicken soup

Sick boyfriend, two days after Christmas, looking for something simple, easy to digest, healthy and without sugar or caramel! In fridge is a couple of chicken legs from our meat share (Chestnut Hill Farms) and on the top of all the cupboards are jars and jars and jars of grain, we just received from our grain share (Pioneer Valley Heritage Grains) so what else but a chicken soup with faro, an ancient grain that I don’t know how to make yet. Turns out the farro gets cleaned then toasted then cooked with 1.5 C water until water is absorbed. The rest of the dish is business as usual and after a day he was all better, the boyfriend, that is....local chicken and grain make all the difference.

1 C farro

2 chicken legs

1 onion

2 peeled parsnips

1T thyme dried

pepper grind 2-3

1 large clove garlic

2 C carrots, diced

2 onions, chopped roughly

1 bunch kale, stems removed, cut into thin strips

¼ C apple cider

1 C chopped carrots

Clean and brown faro and set aside. Make stock with chicken legs, onion, parsnips, thyme and pepper by bringing 2 quarts of water to a boil over the ingredients and reducing it to simmer for 45 minutes. When stock is finished, strain out liquid and set aside the meat. Return stock to pot and add carrots, parsnips and farro. Bring to boil and let simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, remove chicken meat from bones and shred meat. Set aside. In large cast iron stock pot, sautee 2 onions with kale, cut very thin in 1 T olive oil. When browned, add apple cider. Simmer on low for 10 minutes. Add stock and pieces of chicken. Bring to boil, cook on low for 10 minutes and remove from heat. Serve warm in large bowls with crusty bread.

Recipe: Dino Kale Sunny Side Up

Dino Kale Sunny Side Up

Grab some kale out of the snow or off the shelf at the store or off a dusty table at your deep winter storage CSA. Cut it up into ribbons, discarding the ribs. If it is at all possible, get what is called "Dino" kale which is so named because of its wrinkled form. Dino kale is sweet. This recipe calls for a nest of fried kale with a fried egg on top. Take the ribbons of kale and drop them directly into a fry pan of almost,  but not quite smoking oil. Remove after around a minute. They will be almost, but not quite, brown, yet nice and crispy. Blot to remove oil using a cloth, not a paper towel....not the Shroud of Turin either....and salt lightly. Fry an egg and gently place it on top of the nest of kale. Deep winter acts of love deserve bumper stickers.

WEEKEND FORAGER: Wine, Wenches & Whole Foods

Recently my mother
lost the whole notion of a yearly, holiday 'cookie party' and replaced it with something entirely different.

Instead of women from the neighborhood coming over in the late afternoon bearing shortbread and chocolate kiss peanut butter cookies in metal tins, there will be only wine. No food, just wine.

Since my father died, she hasn't been the same. After a few weeks of mourning, she moved into hyperactivity. Things were being eliminated. Old clothes, papers and now the cookie party, out the window. The idea for "Wenches and Wine" came from her sister in New York. So now, typical mom gifts such as a scarf, a nice book or a tasteful print are out the window. This year mom is getting booze for X-mas. Her favorite is "chard" of the Three Buck Chuck variety.

A trip to Whole Foods in Hadley (no wine at this Trader Joe's) to test the latest holiday samples revealed two surprises: Wine fit for a discerning wench and Veggies (some) fit for a locavore.

VEGGIES

Marqulela Stevenson (pictured above) offered shoppers endive boats last week at Whole Foods. Parked just inside the front doors, Marqulela offered samples of the veggie with a dipping sauce. It was a rainy night. Many shoppers came by and devoured bits of endive boats that contained tofu from Connecticut, and watermelon radish from Vermont and carrots from Winter Moon farm in Hadley. Oh, holy night. I learned from Marqulela that the carrots, 500 lbs of them, are periodically hauled to the store on a bicycle from Winter Moon Farm on Bay Road to Rt. 5. Dipping sauce: peanut butter, rice vinegar, lime, soy, sesame oil, none local, delicious and might be replicated with maple syrup, rhubarb reduction, sea salt from the Cape and melted butter. But that is for purists.

WINE

In the wine department a is guy giving out samples of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot which sells for $35.88 per case. Called "Three Wishes" the wine comes from California vineyards with wine to spare. According to Don Williams, head of the wine team at Whole Foods Hadley, this is not just extra wine with a Whole Foods private label, it is quite "quaffable." Two reasons: recent years in California have produced consistently good vintages; and vineyards have made quite a bit of it. The wenches found "Three Wishes" to their liking. Responses ranged from "lighter" to "maybe just a third glass." Patsy will give a case to her sister who will share it with New York wenches.

The California wine isn't local but the negative carbon footprint carrots from Hadley are a plus.

Have I got a brisket for you!!!!

 

Stevie Pierson, author of "Brisket, a Love Story"

At Stone Barns in NY, a woman talking and gesturing and signing books shared her concept for happiness and love: Brisket. If you have a chart that shows what the cuts of beef are on a cow, you will see that the chest of the animal, No. 7,  is known as "Brisket." Next to the word "Brisket" on the cuts of beef chart is the explanation, "Jewish Pot Roast." If you have a meat share, ask for brisket and if you go to the grocery store, pot roast or brisket will buy you an economical cut of meat for a song.  But it is protein plus sugar that really nails it. According to Pierson, brisket + onions is the perfect combination. The book "Brisket, a Love Story," outlines many, many other ways to attack the chest of a cow. They include comment and recipes by a constellation of foodie super stars including the doyenne of Jewish Cooking, Joan Nathan, the dynamo of Italian cooking Mario Batali and many others, some just regular people.    

Brisket Recipe: via Joan Nathan, via "Brisket, a Love Story"

Recipe:

My Favorite Brisket (Not Too Gedempte Fleysch) Adapted from Jewish Cooking in America, by Joan Nathan
Serves 10

Basically, this is what you'd offer your future in-laws to ensure their undying affection. This is a taste-great, feel-good classic Jewish brisket, but while the recipe has been in the family for years, Joan is not averse to a new tweak or twist: Add a jar of sun-dried
tomatoes, dry or packed in oil, for a more intense flavor. Or add a 2-inch knob of ginger and a few large strips of lemon zest to the pot. Remove them before serving. Note: Not Too Gedempte Fleysch  means "Not too well stewed." I didn't know either. - Stevie Pierson, author, Brisket, a Love Story

2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (5-pound) brisket of beef
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 onions, peeled and diced
1 (10-ounce) can tomatoes
2 cups red wine
2 stalks celery with the leaves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig rosemary
1/4 cup chopped parsley
6 to 8 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Sprinkle the salt and pepper to taste over the brisket and rub with
the garlic. Sear the brisket in the oil and then place, fat side up,
on top of the onions in a large casserole. Cover with the tomatoes,
red wine, celery, bay leaf, thyme, and rosemary.

Cover and bake in the oven for about 3 hours, basting often with the
pan juices.

Add the parsley and carrots and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes more,
or until the carrots are cooked. To test for doneness, stick a fork in
the brisket. When there is a light pull on the fork as it is removed
from the meat, it is fork tender.

This dish is best prepared in advance and refrigerated so that the fat
can be easily skimmed from the surface of the gravy. When ready to
serve, preheat the oven to 350°F. Reheat the gravy in a pan on the
stove. Some people like to strain the gravy, but Joan prefers to keep
the onions because they are so delicious.

Trim off all the visible fat from the cold brisket. Then place the
brisket, on what was the fat side down, on a cutting board. Look for
the grain (that is, the muscle lines of the brisket) and with a sharp
knife, cut across the grain.

Put the sliced brisket in a roasting pan. Pour the hot gravy on the
meat, cover, and reheat in the oven for about 30 minutes.

WEEKEND FORAGER: Chocolate Under Glass

Pop-Up Heavenly Chocolate

At his permanent pop-up shop on the first floors of Thorn's, chocolate mogul Bud Stockwell is celebrating beauty, the holidays and his new digs with rows and rows of hand made chocolates festooned in crystallized ephemera. At the new pop-up (yet permanent) Heavenly Chocolate, candy resides under glass in the prow of a curved wooden counter that is manned by pretty women.  They are expensive, (the chocolate) they are sophisticated, they come wrapped in gold and they never disappoint.  Most of the chocolates are hand made, mostly by Bud, who spends lots of his time bent over a boiling vat of molten cocoa, dipping and carefully rolling -- that is just for the truffles. Other varieties of perfection include a rosemary flavored caramel and an edible little Santa Claus. Locavores will appreciate that rosemary, mint and pear flavorings come from Bud's garden. This claim can only be substantiated by tasting the stuff.

If you are in the mood to shop and nibble, check out the new Heavenly Chocolate on the first floor of Thorn's. Just walk in the front door and list to the left toward the stairwell at the back. The chocolate will be there, under glass waiting to jump ship.

-MN

Fill your bowl....