This weekend I attended a meditation retreat in Manhattan. I didn’t have time to bring my own food so I went to a salad bar to get something nourishing. Sitting all day seems like it would be easy, but it requires a lot of energy.

The food seemed to arrange itself in my take away container. Shredded yellow squash wanted to be next to bright purple/pink beets. Working with fresh, real ingredients makes it easy to let the food be naturally delicious and beautiful. If it were the season for yellow squash that would’ve been even more brilliant and tasty, but sometimes you have to make a compromise with your choices so you can get your good food and get through the day.

“Solar energy lights our days and fuels the plants that prey animals eat before they’re eaten by predators. We eat the sunshine stored in those plants and animals, burning it for energy, which we spend to work, cook, make love, play music, pursue games. And we’re so connected to every other life-form on Earth…”

This quote speaks to how interdependent we are on this small planet, how the natural world has it’s own intelligent systems that we are apart of. It benefits all for us to honor that natural balance.

This has been an amazing winter in Brooklyn. Relentless snow storms have made for many magnificent winter mornings in Prospect Park. The weather in New York has been unusual all year with powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes, blizzards, and hail. I am one of those people who accepts that human activities are causing climate change in ways that are described in this article in the New York Times. While I’m enjoying this winter more than most, I do so with an increased commitment to environmentally responsible living. If you want some more information about environmentally conscious food choices, watch this compelling video of a presentation given by the President of Slow Food USA. Although I realize if you’re willing to watch the video, it’s likely that you already agree with me.

Back to the souffle…goat cheese souffles were a perfect breakfast food to have after we returned from a long snowy walk. Vermont Butter and Cheese Company goat cheese and NY State pastured eggs were the stars of this dish.

Recently I participated in artist Tracy Candido’s Community Cooking Club. She describes the project as,”…a socially-engaged program that provides opportunities for friends to prepare, cook and eat food.”

The guest chef was Martha Bernabe, prop and food stylist in New York City. Her recipes were all adjusted for gluten-free eating, which is something I don’t often employ in my own eating habits, have done for others.

The menu for the evening:
Delicata Squash Savory Cookies
Pan Seared Brussels Sprouts
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Garlicky Mashed Potatoes
Bacon, Egg and Frisee Salad
Cheesy Spicy Dutch Baby
Fried Chicken Gluten Free Style
Hot Date Cake with Toffee Sauce

The fried chicken was done with sweet potato flour which was a delicious change from the usual fried chicken. Also, the date cake as out of this world delicious. Most significantly, I had a fantastic time cooking with the thirty or so other participants. In my experience, at times in large cooking classes at accredited cooking schools there is a sharp competition in the air, as people try to prove they have mastered the techniques. I recognize this is a necessary and important aspect to cooking school that encourages students to develop accurate kitchen skills. The difference with the cooking club and the part I really enjoyed about it was the ease with which people were working together, asking questions, and sharing ideas about problem solving to make the meal.  This joint ownership and participation created some delicious food. We couldn’t have wine with the meal because we were in the NYU kitchen, but I don’t think anyone noticed because we were too busy enjoying the experience.

We loved the warmly austere interior of the restaurant. We loved the pie. We loved the staff, especially chatting with Chef Nate Smith. He was kind to answer all of our questions about his crust, specifically how he achieved the billowing crust mushrooming out over the beef pie top. We loved the bottomless Kelso.

Here is the menu from 12/12/10. Sorry, no photos turned out because it was too dimly lit and I was embarrassed to use the flash.

“Leafy Greens and Herbs

Beef and Stout Pie

Cranberry and Sage Pie with Honey Cream

Complimentary locally brewed beers by Kelso of Brooklyn will accompany each pie.”

If I could figure out how to spell it I would use the Dutch word that is pronounced hoo’.cklie to describe our Thanksgiving experience: warm, cozy, and secure. The word is perfect to describe being indoors on a chilly night enjoying a delicious candle lit dinner with family.

We warmed things up with bright orange colors, beautiful persimmons (shockingly inexpensive at $1 for a whole bag) that I picked-up from an honor system table in front of a house in Rainbow Valley, CA right next to my family’s flower farm.

Menu

Butterflied Amish Pastured Turkey with Bacon Herb Butter
Cider Gravy
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower with Red Kale, Red Pearl Onions, and Purple Carrots (or as my math enthusiast brother called it, fractal cauliflower)
Jellied Cranberry Sauce Wreath
Brussels Sprouts with Maple Syrup, Coriander, and Bacon
Wild Mushroom Stuffing with Chicken Liver

Chocolate Pecan Pie
Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream