Falafel

As far as falafel goes in DC nothing can compete with Amsterdam Falafel in Adams Morgan. The fixins bar is crazy good, roasted eggplant and fresh beets--...Fresh cucumbers... Pickled veg... We visit often! No matter how formal the dinning experience appropriate to the occasion nothing beats just plain good falafel balled and cooked to order... Our only complaint was the pita bread but recently they have rectified that with really good whole wheat pita.

We live on the other side of Logan Circle so sometimes we can't make it over to AFH. Fortunate for us a new Falafel joint opened near us at 6th and H. What's exciting about Urfa Tomato Kabob is that they bake their own middle eastern style bread for their swarmas and falafels. No amazing fixins bar but if you are stuck in need of a bite near Verizon Center and Burma (a favorite) is FULL check them out. Urfa deserves credit just for recognizing that bread is a crucial factor in the making of any sandwich.

"To Taste"

In response to, “what do you mean by 'to taste' in the pickled garlic scape recipe?”

This is something we have discussed, thought about and practiced for years. This question brought us back to a familiar discussion and with the help of John here are some thoughts:

"To Taste" is something we read often in recipes... What exactly does this mean? What sort of logic or underlying principles does the direction "salt and pepper to taste" constitute? What is challenging for the novice cook or anyone involved with creating an aesthetic experience for themselves or others is the ability to hold multiple concepts, tastes, flavors or senses in the head at the same time without negating or overpowering any of the contributing forces. For example take the first time one makes lemonade–usually the first experience with cooking we have here in the United States. We start with Lemons, Water and Sugar and we slowly start to build... squeezing fresh lemons... adding sugar... stretching with water or ice... this process is enabled by the act of tasting... I taste-it seems tart-I add sugar... I taste again-it seems sweet-I add lemon... I taste again-it seems too strong-I add water... what is going on is tiny adjustments where all the ingredients form a tension without canceling each other out... I want to taste lemon AND I want to taste sugar AND I want to taste water (yes water is important flavor/texture to lemonade) AND I want to taste the mixture we call 'Lemonade'... This is the logic of the 'AND' as well as the logic of taste where every flavor you add to a dish stands on its own and at the same time contributes to the tension of the whole without canceling the other ingredients out in the counter-actualization of a mixture... The process of "to taste" is really the logic of paradox (an apparent contradiction that implies that things are distinct while not being separate). "To Taste" becomes more difficult when we add more that three ingredients–for example while making a curry you want to feel free to add something like cardamom but you don't want this flavor to dominate yet you want it to stand on its own in a tension–taste distinct while not being separate, a non-dual truth.... Another way to think about this way of cooking is through music and contrapuntal composition. Take Bach's Goldberg Variations, through the entire piece rarely is more than one note played at the same time. The harmonies, resonances, discords and resolutions are the tensions created in-between the striking of notes at different times–apparently contradicting single distinct notes not separate and creating a whole. In other words each ingredient (note) can stand on its own as is, however contributing to a larger whole this single ingredient (note) enters into a series and an artichoke's artichokeyness becomes apparent by contributing counter discords and resonances in its mixtures with other ingredients (notes).... "To Taste" amounts to "Cooking By Ear" the working title of a book I am working on with John.

Daisies


In our first garden on 3rd and M street in NW we grew zinnias, cosmos and nastursium. This was the garden of chefs and not yet florists. That is to say that the Nasturtiums, although delicious, were always destroyed by aphids, the Cosmos were gorgeous in the wildness but hard to use or keep alive in large arrangements and Zinnias a flower a Rupperts' guest once described as earnest always seem to burn up so early in the hot DC summers. When we closed Rupperts I ventured out into the Flower business–doing flowers for the Georgetown boutique Relish as well as many other public and private clients. Needless to say our garden adapted to new needs and when we moved to 6th street the description of an earnest flower stuck with us. And in our most recent iteration of 'earnest' we have been experimenting with DAISIES. We have grown different types of Shasta daisies but have had the most success the varieties Becky and Snowcap. We find it difficult to cut these Flowers when they begin to bloom in June and turn our backyard into a wild meadow–but alas the more we cut the more grow and more importantly fresh cut, they contribute generously to my work as a florist. Also because of a recent daisy blight it is pretty much impossible to get these daisies unless you grow them yourself.

I recently did a Wedding for gardeners where I used blooming pea shoots, herbs and of course big bunches of Daisies– I found creating for gardeners incredibly intimidating, much more than creating for other florists or cooking for chefs... I later received an e-mail saying how wonderful everything was and how they appreciated the time put into the project... Gardening or growing anything is just about as earnest as it gets... To have an abundance of Daisies is a very fortunate thing...


I was recently contacted by Nole who has a website, Oh So Beautiful Paper," primarily dedicated to paper that also includes sources for other beautiful things especially ones that pertain to entertaining and weddings.
I enjoyed perusing the site since I too am passionate about paper and printing.
Oh So Beautiful Paper just made a post about my flowers…check it out! A huge thanks to the talented photographers in my life- Erik Johnson, Abby Greenwalt and Jay Premack. Your photos make me look so good!!!!

Garlic Scapes


A garlic scape is the chute that pops out of the bulb of garlic every spring–similar to a tulip. The farmer then snips off the scape in order for the garlic to mature properly. My question is where have these been? Have we traditionally disposed of these amazing greens? Maybe farmers have been enjoying them all along? I mean we have had garlic forever but only in the last ten years have we found scapes in the DC farmers market circuit. Today we got a huge bag of them from our CSA Clagett Farm. Every year in early summer we find as many as we can and pickle them. Someone at Rupperts even came up with a martini using our pickled version of this succulent green bean like vegetation... Pickle, grill or roast–treat them with the honor traditionally reserved for asparagus and you will have really made something from what I am assuming was traditionally discarded or kept by those in the know...

Pickled Garlic Scapes
Clean garlic scapes removing any dirt or brown spots and place them in a large bowl. Combine cider vinegar, water, salt, agave nectar, black pepper corns, and mustard seeds in a pot. Taste the mixture and adjust to taste, add more salt or agave nectar if necessary. Bring to a boil. Once mixture is boiling pour mixture over the scapes taking care to cover them completely. You can eat the scapes immediately or even better store them in the refrigerator and let them continue to pickle. They can be used in so many ways including chopped and added to salads, paired with roasted poultry or on their own.

Wild Alaskan White King Salmon


Navigating the waters as it pertains to seafood is tough. Healthy not sustainable, sustainable not healthy, blah, blah, blah... how about just good! Fortunately we work with Prime Seafood who is dedicated to selling only sustainable and healthy seafood....We are working on a menu for an upcoming catering party in which we want to create A. a cold main course and B. a seafood dish. To serve an elegant salad as a main course is something we use to do at our restaurant Rupperts. However to do this we need a pristine piece of protein, there is no masking with temperature or sauces in a cold or room temperature dish (most cold dishes should be called not hot dishes because flavor thrives at room temperature). Spring is the time of year to serve wild Alaskan Salmon because they migrate to fresh water where they can be caught. This Salmon is not local but unlike most local mid-Atlantic fish it comes from a healthy and robust population and is not over fished. We found 'white king salmon' and we are so exited about serving this rarity with peas and morels... No one is sure exactly why these fish are white but they are much more delicate and the flavors are perfect for our dish... Spring is the time when we can all enjoy eating salmon but make sure you are getting WILD Alaskan Salmon!

Eat or Gift Cookies

We had the opportunity to bake cookies all weekend to sell at the Twin Springs Farmers Market. Recipes that I usually make in small batches I times-ed by 5 to make over 800 cookies... We had fun cooking together, but also spending the day at the Market. The Saturday Twin Springs Market is in a church parking lot where John and I both grew up (Montgomery County, Md). It is run by Jimmy and has been for over twenty-five years--way before the DuPont Circle Farm Market was even a thought... What is amazing about this market (besides the STRAWBERRIES) is the people who show up there– show up every week, line up long before the market opens, and have been for the last 25 years... evidence that the so called food revolution should be thought of more in terms of an evolution and that we should be wary of so called food revolutions that ignore many pleasurable apparatuses and practices that are already in place... We hear over and over again what we are doing wrong, when maybe we should focus on is what we are enjoying right...

June 26, 2009 Restaurant 1508


Restaurant 1508, Number 3
Friday June 26, 8:00
1508 6th street, NW (between P and Q)

The June 6 restaurant was amazing, we can’t wait for the next dinner so we decided to do the next one, June 26th. For details about the June 6 menu and wine parings see the June 7th post.

This menu may include:
Apricots, Cherries, Corn, Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Okra, 1508 Fava Beans, Peaches, Locally Raised Poultry….
Herbs and greens from 1508 6th street, most other produce is from the members of the Path Valley Farm Collective located in south central Pennsylvania.

Reservations- I will accept reservations for parties of one to eighteen until full (eighteen being the maximum dinner guests for June 26). If there is space it is possible to reserve an entire table for 8-10 guests.
Please share this invite with potentially interested diners that you know.

Reserve via email- j.sidralane@verizon.net

Please advise if you have any food restrictions or allergies, vegetarians are easily accommodated.

Hope you can join,
Sidra
sidraforman.com
sidrapractice.com

Another Saturday Night @ 1508

SATURDAY... We had another AMAZING night at 1508... We celebrated a Birthday and an impending Birth... We shared with Old Friends and made some New Ones... Looking at June 26th for the next event...Stay Tuned... and in the mean time Check out this slide show of John making buckwheat noodles (above) and the menu, including Tom's UNTOUCHABLE wine choices (below):

In the Garden

Mussel Salad with Parsley and Lemon
Grilled Spring Onions with Thyme
Hand Cut Buckwheat Noodles with Sorrel and Borage
Carrot Cornbread with Rhubarb BBQ
-Derrick's Lemongrass Infused Martini
- (Dom. Brazilier) Coteaux du Vendemois Rose Gris 2008

In the Dining Room

Morel Broth with Mashed Potato Scone
- (Mestre-Michelot) Bourgogne Rouge 2006

Asparagus, Radish, Egg, Lemon, Mustard and Curly Cress with
Sesame Bread
- (Gerard Boulay) Sancerre AOC 2007

Lamb Shank with Peas, Kale, 5 Grain Gratin, Marrow Mint Butter and Spelt Foccacia
- (Vaudieu) Chateauneuf du Pape 2005

Tomme de Montagne with Pine Nut Crackers

Lavender Shaved Ice with Strawberries and Cashew Cream
- (Paillard, Pierre) Brut Rose Bouzy Grand Cru NV

Beet and Chocolate Cake with Candied Beets and Popcorn

Cornmeal Cookies
Coconut Chocolate Chip
Vanilla Cake with Mint Icing

As always we have been so fortunate to work with people, farmers, wine guys who love what they do and we love them for that and it is just FUN to share with anyone interested in enjoying food, friends and LIFE!

Louise Fresco

As a thinker about global sustainability Louise Fresco challenges the one dimensional solution of returning to our past agricultural methods as a fix to the present. She confronts the issues of poverty, hunger and technology concluding that a mixed solution incorporating old methods with new innovations will holistically nurture our planets citizens and environment.
Check out her talk , Feeding the Whole World, on TED. (it's only 15 minutes)

Fresh, The Movie

Link
I felt very fortunate to see a premiere screening of the movie Fresh, last night. The filmmaker, Ana Sofia Joanes, says Fresh is, “new thinking about the way we eat”. This perspective comes from examining individuals involved in sustainable farming and food production and the juxtaposition of their methods with those of conventional farming.
The movie featured the inspirational farmers Will Allen, of Growing Power, and Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. They were in the audience to speak on a panel and answer questions after the movie. As the movie ended, they walked to seats in the front of the theater for the discussion amid a moving and enthusiastic standing ovation.

Joyful Wedding Flowers

The wedding I did for this weekend was a joy. The bride had a unique love for non traditional color combinations, funky vases and was open to whatever local flowers were available. The wedding was held in an old historical house and we placed lots of little beautiful and mismatched vases, brimming with local colorful flowers, on bookshelves, ledges and basically anywhere that could hold a vase. The brides bouquet was primarily white but there was some yellow incorporated into it because that is a color she has an affinity to. The bridesmaid dresses were a neutral graphite color and I was encouraged to use any colors I wanted for their bouquets. The flowers cooperated and this was the first week that I was able to get coral and deep red peonies, mock orange, snapdragons, ammi, spirea and garden roses. These and many other flowers were incorporated in the joyful arrangements. The photo is of my work table but I will post photos from the event when I get them back from the photographer.

District Weddings

Deep into the wedding season right now! I am excited about my upcoming weddings, at least one each weekend for the foreseeable future. Local flowers are at their best and my garden is full of beautiful flowers that I am incorporating into bouquets and arrangements. This time of year I am also meeting many new couples to discuss plans for fall and winter weddings as well as Spring 2010.
A few days ago I was featured on a local wedding blog, District Weddings, that is a great resource for anyone in the wedding planning process...check it out.

photo- jaypremack.com

First CSA Share Of The Season

This is the third year that we have joined the Clagett Farm CSA.
Yesterday we were excited to collect our first share that consisted of strawberries, rhubarb, pop corn, salad greens, asparagus, green garlic and a few basil plants. Getting food through CSA' s which stands for Community Supported Agriculture is a delicious and economical way to get fantastic local produce at a reasonable price while supporting a small farm. To find a CSA near you check out Local Harvest.