Heading to Italy today. Not sure what the internet situation is going to be like at the villa, but if I’m able to update, I will. Otherwise, see ya back on the 25th! I’ll have my Murray’s Cheese class and sad garden update then!
My Day In Cheese At The New Amsterdam Market
•September 15, 2010 • 1 CommentIf I could do it all the time, I would work markets. I had the greatest time being outdoors and talking with many people and representing a great, natural, handmade product. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the greatest, but thanks to the FDR Drive where the New Amsterdam Market is located under, we were well covered. The turn out was pretty good and we sold about 50lbs of cheese! I was able to meet up with Taylor, cofounder of Good Food Jobs, “a gastro-job search tool designed to link people looking for meaningful food work with the businesses that need them” (I also took the “Finding Your ‘Whey’ in the Cheese World” class with her at Murray’s Cheese, but that’s another post!) Her company was making sure everything at the market was running smoothly.
We got there around 10:45am and started to set up:
Mom representing
My parents posing
The whole gang (minus my brother, who’s at bootcamp in the Army and Dr. Awesome)
Food porn. ‘Nough said.
What was cool is that this one guy came over from WFUV and just started randomly interviewing my father about the market and about his product, which was great publicity. Our awesome family friends Linda and Bob came down to the market to help support us and told the interviewer that it’s great cheese. They also brought some yummy rugula for us to much on for the new year (or Jew year 🙂 ). Shout out to my friend Holly who also made her way down!
While my dad was busy answering questions, cutting up samples and pieces to sell, I was handling front of house. A woman from Homemade Brooklyn came over and gave us her fruit compote to go along with our cheese. We also had someone from Mother-in-Law’s Kimchi come over and trade us some cucumber kimchi for some cheese.
And someone from Kombucha Brooklyn came over to give us a growler of their fermented tea, which I must say, tastes very interesting. I think it was a mixture of black and green tea. Kind of refreshing. I also had to run over to my nordic breads to get some rolls. Can’t leave the market without that! There was a man across the way from us sampling his charcuterie called Brooklyn Cured. His name is Scott and made this country pate (pork, orange zest, port wine) served on some crusty bread. It was delicous.
I don’t think he has a website yet, but you can contact him at scott.bridi@gmail.com to learn more about charcuterie, taking classes or consulting. He’ll have his own stand at the market this weekend. Update: Here’s his website: http://www.brooklyncured.com/
At the end of the day, I went over to the Hudson Valley Duck Farm people to see if I could barter some cheese for one of their products. I ended up getting their duck sausage with cherries and gizzards. Dr. Awesome shopped the market while I worked and we made a nice ragu with the sausage and cherry heirloom tomatoes that we roasted. We finished it with some homemade whole wheat pasta that someone gave us right before we packed up for the day. All the fresh ingredients made this dinner ridiculously delicious.
We’re going to be at the market again on October 10 and November 14. Be sure to pick up some cheese for the holidays! I suggested to my dad to apply for the first annual Good Food Awards which “celebrate the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsibly produced.” They “grant awards to outstanding American food producers and the farmers who provide their ingredients.” The categories are beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles and preserves. The cows that my dad gets his milk from are all pasture fed and everything he puts in the cheese are all natural ingredients. I think he has a good shot at winning. It’d be a great recognition for all the hard work he does and also how his product helps support a local farm.
The next post will be about my sad garden (which Dr. Awesome calls it my “Charlie Brown” garden) and about my class at Murray’s Cheese with Taylor.
I’m heading out to Italy on Friday, so expect some updates on there with tons of photos and European yums!
Class Tonight, Photos Tomorrow
•September 13, 2010 • Leave a CommentHello all! My family and I had a blast at the New Amsterdam Market yesterday. Sold lots of cheese and met lots of great people! I’m taking a class at Murray’s Cheese tonight with one of the founders of Good Food Jobs. She used to work there and the class is about making your “whey” into the cheese world. I’m really excited.
Market update with photos coming tomorrow!
The Tale Of The Sad Cucumber
•September 7, 2010 • 1 Comment
Well, even though other cukes are growing, this was the first. I have a photo of it from a few posts ago and it seemed to be growing normally, but this is what I ended up with. I don’t know how that happened. It seemed like the base was just getting bigger and bigger while the rest curled up and wanted to stay tiny. I decided it was time to pull it off the vine. It pricked me too. Those things are thorny! I have about four more growing. Hopefully they’ll get a bit bigger before I go to Italy. I’m worried that they’ll die before I get to harvest them (if that ever happens). My pole beans are sprouting some flowers, but I think the frost will take over everything pretty soon. The summer squash are growing new leaves, but I think that’s a lost cause for the season. Sprout Robot has sent me a ton different of seeds. We’ll see what I have left after vacation. Then I’ll be trying my hand at planting some fall veg.
I’m going to be writing a post about raw milk. My father brought some home from a farm. He uses it in his cheese, but I’ve never had it in liquid form before. If it wasn’t so fattening, I’d be drinking it all the time, that’s how good it is. We were using it in coffee and I was also just drinking it plain. I think it’ll be an interesting topic that not many people know about and understand.
Don’t forget, the New Amsterdam Market is this weekend! My father and I (and possibly my mother and Dr. Awesome) are going to be selling some cheese! Come down, enjoy the great food that’ll be there and say hi! September 12 from 11am – 4pm. I’ll be live tweeting all day.
Tompkins Square Park Greenmarket Feast
•September 1, 2010 • 2 CommentsSince this blog is primarily about greenmarkets around NYC, we visited one that was right around the corner from us. The Tompkins Square Greenmarket, held on Sundays. It’s definitely not as big as the Union Square one, but you’re still able to find great ingredients from local places.
The guy we got the fresh eggs from said they last up to 6 weeks because they gather them that week and sell out every weekend. Really fresh. We haven’t used them yet, but I look forward to that day. In light of all the salmonella drama going on, this should be a wake-up call for knowing where your produce comes from. Scary stuff!
On the menu were the cipollini onions, creamed swiss chard (not pictured), mushrooms with shallots and a burger. The only thing we didn’t purchase at the market was the burger. And the end result was this (please excuse the paper plate again!!!):
Everything was so good. Swiss chard is like a more flavorful spinach. We roasted the cipollini onions (which, as you can see, were huge!) and pan cooked the mushrooms and shallots. It was actually a quick dish to throw together and very simple to make. We bought some other stuff, like new potatoes, onions and carrots. Had the lamb provencal dish tonight and tomorrow, with the leftovers, we’re going to make roasted carrots.
I know it’s hard to shop like this ALL the time. Some people might not have resources near them. Even if you’re able to do it once a week or once a month, it makes a difference.
In New Amsterdam Market news, Berkshire Blue is definitely on for September 12, the first fall market day of the season! I’ll definitely be there this time.
Heading up to the Berkshires this weekend. Hope everyone has a yummy Labor Day!
I YUM New York 