This year, it seemed like I was seeing Kingston-based CB’s Nuts in all sorts of places. I saw
them selling at Pyramid before a Mariner’s game in Seattle,
at a few grocery stores, in a recent
Seattle Times article and now, apparently, they’ll appear in a
Seattle foodie delight: Theo Chocolates. Both Theo’s
and CB’s retails stores will carry a new line of chocolates with
CB’s peanut butter Butter Big Daddy, Peanut Butter Buddies and two
flavors of Theo Confections: peanut butter and peanut butter and
jelly.
I think this means I should tour their factory … and purchase
some taste tests.
For the past few years, Cascade Harvest and others have been
asking people to pledge
to have at least one locally grown food on their Thanksgiving
tables.
The promised FreshLocal grocery store in downtown Bremerton
says they’ll really open soon and will host an open
house Nov. 6 timed with the First Friday artwalk.
They’re opening a little later than what was expected when
I wrote about them in September. They apparently were
waiting
for approvals from the City of Bremerton and the County
Health Department, which they now have. They now have to finish
installing equipment and purchase a business license.
Here’s a story I wrote Friday for Monday’s paper. You’ll see it
elsewhere on Kitsapsun.com, but I wanted to share it here too:
Even after the farmers-market tents have been folded up for the
season, locally grown and made food will still be available in
Bremerton.
Members of the newly formed FreshLocal nonprofit corporation
envision a store that sells locally produced goods. It will have an
open floor plan and engage in environmentally friendly practices,
like favoring bulk goods over prepackaged goods and using
energy-efficient appliances, heating and lighting.
“We’re doing everything we can to have a small carbon footprint
and be part of the community,” said Jean Schanen of FreshLocal.
FreshLocal has all but signed a lease at 540 Fourth Street, a
downtown building owned by Diamond Parking. Floor work and painting
needs to be done, and a freezer, walk-in cooler and other equipment
needs to be installed.
Schanen said she hopes to open the store within weeks.
She started ordering merchandise last month, storing it in her
home until the shop is ready. Pounds of grain is on its way from
Winthrop in Central Washington in anticipation of the store’s
opening.
Schanen has long been involved in local food. She’s active with
StartNow.org, a Bremerton
group that encourages homeowners to rip out their ornamental grass
and shrubs and grow an edible garden.
“Right now, local food is about 2 percent of our food supply in
Bremerton. It’s just idiotically small, but people want it so
badly,” she said.
FreshLocal is not connected with Kitsap Food Co-Op, which also
is working to bring a store with local foods to Kitsap County,
though “we certainly support them,” Schanen said.
“I think there’s plenty of room for more than one store selling
local food in Kitsap,” she said.
FreshLocal will sell locally grown and raised produce, dairy,
honey, meat and other products.
Schanen has busily been talking with local bakers and other food
makers. They’ve also talked with Bremerton’s Coffee Oasis about
selling the locally roasted beans.
Members also have talked with nearby
Evergreen Kitchen about renting space to produce some foods
there.
FreshLocal plans to bring in some organic bulk products and a
few environmentally friendly cleaning products, such as locally
made soap and biodegradable laundry detergent.
“We’re not going to try to compete with Safeway,” Schanen said.
“We’re going into try to offer things you can’t get everywhere
else.”
A few local farmers, such as Pheasant Field Farms in Silverdale
and Harlow Gardens in Bremerton, have already sown winter crops in
preparation for the store’s opening.
The idea for the store went too fast for some to put in winter
crops.
“We expect to have lots more farmers involved before spring,”
Schanen said.
I was catching up on even more of my food reading, when I ran
across a great I-shoulda-thought-of-that post from Bainbridge
Island-based Sound Food blog.
I’d like to direct your attention to a story in today’s
paper about a local food, local chef cooking event next
week. Chefs from our Great
Peninsula will use local ingredients — from greens grown
in Silverdale to pork grown in Port Orchard and more — to create
dishes. From the story, “Highlights from the menu, which is still
being finalized, include Jamaican goat curry, Korean vegetable
soup, an Italian vegetable lasagna, French cassoulet, pork chili
Verde and salads with homemade dressings.”
My major criticism of this event is that it’s being held when
I’ll be out of town (though they did schedule it on my birthday),
and I really want to go. So I’m going to have to count on my
friends and blog readers to let me know how it is. If you’re
interested, here are some of the basic details or you can go to
www.localfoodchefshowoff.org
and read Brynn’s story:
Peninsula Local Food Chef Show-Off
What: An event featuring local food prepared by
local chefs
Where: The President’s Hall, Kitsap County
Fairgrounds
When: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 4 to 10 p.m.
Cost: $25 prepaid; $30 at the door; $40 for
couples
Update:
Monica Downen of Monica’s Waterfront Bakery & Cafe sent Brynn
(and share here) this list of chefs and cooks and menu items for
the event:
Kay Lee Jung, Port Orchard
Cheryl Chiddick, Island Jamz, Keyport
Thad Lyman, Brix 25, Gig Harbor
Shelly Lewis, Cosmo’s Deli, Port Orchard
Chris Plemmons, Olympic College and Two Snooty Chefs
Lowell & Heidi Yoxsimer, Hi-Lo’s 15th Street Cafe,
Bremerton
Jeff McLelland, Harbour Pub & Pegasus Coffee House, BI
Richard Kost & Cynthia Jeffries-Cyr, CJ’s Evergreen General
Store, Bremerton
Starting tomorrow, Bainbridge Island ferry commuters will have a
convenient spot Wednesdays to pick up fresh, local produce,
courtesy of
Sound Food.
It’s set up as a speedy grab-and-go, $5 bag of fresh goodies that
Sound Food volunteers put together and hand off (after payment, of
course) to people getting off the 3:45 p.m., 4:40 and 5:30 ferries
from Seattle.
Reporter Tristan Baurick checked out the stand and interviewed customers during its debut
last year, if you’re curious about what they had to say. Over the
12 weeks the ferry stand was open, they sold about $11,000 worth of
fresh produce, all of which went to the local farmers,
Sound Food said.
When I decided to join a CSA, I was prepared for what food
bloggers and other folks said would be an onslaught of leafy greens
in the spring, (and summer, and fall). I saw it as a challenge, an
exercise for my budding creative culinary skills.
This winter, I bought loads of kale and a bunch of chard at the
grocery store, looked up recipes on blogs and even came out with my
own
tomato, kale, garbanzo and sausage soup.
I saw this onslaught as an opportunity to get all the wonderful
vitamins and good-for-you things greens provide, and envisaged a
sudden turn to a healthy-eating lifestyle.
And then I got my first bunches of beet and mustard greens.
Actually, I didn’t even know what they were, and failed to ask
before happily and proudly skipping away with my bagful of fresh
goodies.
It seems that while I was contorting to pat myself on the back,
I failed to look up what “greens” actually meant and in what
variety they come.
But this is not a story of a food failure.
In fact, it’s more of a food rescue.
So with the first batch, I made salad. It was … interesting. Not
that bad the first time around, but not regular, tender-lettuce
salad. It got better the second and third days after I beefed it up
with boiled eggs, bacon and other things that I’m sure negate all
the good-for-you qualities fresh greens provide.
I used to laugh at my friends from the South (land o’ collard
and many other kinds of greens) who regaled me with stories of
things like fried lettuce. I’d just about be on the floor, “You FRY
lettuce? You have got to be kidding,” I’d said. Yeah, it was
mean.
But all this was in my head as I chopped up a heaping helping
from my second batch. I fried it in bacon grease then
scrambled in some eggs and topped it all with crumbled bacon.
I will NEVER laugh at my Southern friends again.
It. Was. Good.
And then, on my third trip to pick up goods, a friendly farmer
at Pheasant Fields FarmRed Barn Farm gave me some
tips and the weekly newsletter included a great recipe of garlicky
greens with Andouille and onions to my weekly newsletter. The
recipe came courtesy of Shannon Harkness of , who says she acquired
it from a Cook’s Country magazine.
I made the recipe from the newsletter with mustard greens and
instead of cider vinegar, I used red wine vinegar (it’s what I had
in the house) and keilbasa (because the grocery store was out of
Andouille). I overcooked the greens a little bit, so they weren’t
quite bright green, and they were a touch bitter, but not
overwhelmingly so, just enough to make it interesting.
So, it seems, I’m coming to love the greens in a multitude of
varieties. If any of you have additional greens recipes, please,
please pass them on.
Garlicky Greens with Andouille and Onions
(From Cook’s Country magazine)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 ounces Andouille sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into
half-moon shapes (substitues include kielbasa or chorizo)
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds greens, chopped
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
Brown sausage: Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until
just smoking. Cook sausage until well-browned, about 5 minutes. Add
onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic
until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add greens and vinegar, cover and cook until greens are wilted,
about 3 minutes. Remove cover, increase heat to high to evaporate
the liquid, about two more minutes.
Yesterday, I tried my first drink of raw milk. I’d been reading
about it here and there in the past couple years as groups of
advocates have been pushing to allow its distribution in East Coast
states. Washington state does allow it.
Standing next to a bright white glass of standard milk, it has a
slightly creamy yellow cast. The raw milk is thick and coats the
sides of a glass. It smells mostly the same, but with a kind
To me, it wasn’t quite like ice cream, as some raw
milk-lovers have expressed, but it was definitely sweeter. The
sweet hits you about mid-drink and a slight tang hits you at the
end with an almost grassy aftertaste. Not grassy like taking in a
mouthful of lawn, more like a fresh almost herb-like aftertaste.
Being whole milk, it was also incredibly thick and creamy and the
taste sticks with you.
A small glass was pretty satisfying. The only thing missing was
a bowl full of strawberries or chocolate chip cookies.
The vast majority, if not all, of the raw milk available in
Kitsap is raw Jersey milk from the Dungeness Valley
Creamery in Sequim.
The farm has about 60 milking cows, said Sarah McCarthey, who
returned to Sequim after college to work on her family’s farm.
The Dungeness Valley Creamery’s Jersey cows — which are prized
for the high butterfat content in their milk — spend seven months
of the year out in the pasture and are fed alfalfa hay in the
winter. They get grain in the parlor at milking time, according to
their site.
The family began selling raw milk about three years ago to get
out from under federal milk price-fixing rules. They were able to
tap into a growing demand for raw milk both from raw milk drinkers
and to supply
Mt Townsend Creamery with milk with about 300 gallons
once to twice a week for their Tomme cheese.
They sell to a variety of stores and have drop-off points
ranging from Port Angeles to Vancouver.
They bottle the milk one day and truck it out the next Tuesdays
through Fridays.
Locally, you can get it (though you may have to get on a list
first) at:
Real Foods of Bainbridge Island, Harbor Square, 764 Winslow Way
E. The milk is delivered on Fridays. (206) 842-3333.
CJ’s Evergreen General Store, 1417 Park Ave. Milk is delivered
on Tuesdays. Call to get on the list (360) 479-2708.
Port Townsend: The Food Co-op, 141 Kearney St. (360)
385-2883.
The creamery also has drop-off spots in Allyn, another in
Bainbridge Gig Harbor, Poulsbo, Hansville, Lofall, Indianola, and
Silverdale. Visit their site (scroll to the
bottom) for drop-point contacts.
Raw milk, though, isn’t without its risks.
The USDA
states, “Raw milk is inherently dangerous.” They
list more than a dozen potentially harmful bacteria present in
milk.
Advocates say that stance is
too tough, that raw milk has plenty of health benefits, and that in
dairies where the cows are well taken care of and the facilities
are clean, the risks are minimal.
For a more in-depth look at the benefits vs. the risks,
read/listen to a report
from NPR last year or a story written by the
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer about the same time.
For now, at least, I’m a convert, though not a heavy milk
drinker. I’ll be trying to use it to make a few food items, and if
I have any success I’ll share.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on it or if you’ve had any
experience with raw milk.
I have officially joined the home gardening/community garden
craze. I am apparently one of 75 million this year, according to
garden columnist Ann
Lovejoy.
This weekend was all about the outdoors, notably, getting my
vegetable and herb garden set. As I explore cooking good food, the
more I crave fresh herbs and produce.
In addition to
joining a CSA this year, I took to filling beds and pots
with a variety of fruit, herbs and veggies.
This isn’t the first time I’ve plopped some vegetables into the
dirt. A few years back, I had a bed full of mass twisting tomato
vines that killed everything else in their paths that produced
masses of basketball-sized tomatoes. Seriously, basketball. OK,
like kiddie basketball. It was a year of plenty of rain and the
poor things never did ripen, despite my attempt to hang them in the
house after nearly half of them exploded.
Thai Basil
I also have rosemary, thyme and a few other edibles scattered
around the flower garden.
This year, we built a raised bed to help drainage, and we
dragged out all the pots that had been stacking up in the shed. I
got all my starts in this weekend, even though the work was nearly
undone by one 40-pound mutt (named Suki) who apparently thought
digging out holes in the bed and scattering the pots all over the
patio was world-class fun. If she wasn’t so darn cute, I might
offer her up here. So, we salvaged what we could and surrounded the
place with kennel wire. We’ll see today if the garden holds.
Sequoia Strawberry
I still haven’t gone all the way, tearing out a majority of my
yard for food, like
some Kitsap gardeners. But it’s a start. So far I’ve got
two varieties of heirloom tomatoes, thai basil, sweet basil,
oregano, greens, strawberries (LOTS of strawberries), sweet peas,
an artichoke, some asparagus, garlic, and some white radishes with
purple centers. It’s pretty ambitious, but if only half survive,
I’ll be happy.
Have any of you started a new food garden or joined together
with others in a community garden? Share what you’re growing and
how it’s going in the comments.
