Farm Fresh Vacation

It's Thursday and that means a dissection of one of the New York Times' Food section 's articles. the one that really caught my eye was an article about farm vacations. This is where you pay to live in a tent for a week and do farm chores and pick veggies and fruits. This would be an interesting vacation for me, considering most of mine are usually down in Atlantic City by a pool with a pina colada in hand.

The article, written by Kim Severson, tells of his and his family's week spent at a farm in upstate New York. here he and his partner and child got too pick vegetables and feed chickens.This is a wonderful experience for anyone, especially children . A farm vacation can not only teach about basics but also about global warming and the part agriculture can play in getting the planet green again. Another plus is that each tent (yes you stay in a tent but ieach also has its' own toilet facilities) does come with a wood burning stove where vacationers can make meals with fresh picked produce. Some farms offer goat cheese and tomatoes along with eggs for homemade pizzas and omelets. It is a good way of getting back to our farming roots and appreciating the land.


Agritourism , as it's formally called, can also be in the autumn too. There are farms in Vermont where tourists can not only enjoy the beautful fall foliage but also tap maple syrup and handle livestock. Some farms offer grape harvesting and taking care of smaller barn animals like the farm's cats. There's also apple and pumpkin picking along with some other usual chores. America isn't the only place to offer agritourism. Italy's lush Tuscany has vacation farms where visitors can pick peaches and strawberries in the summer and truffle hunt during autumn's early days.

If you're looking for a different vacation , one with fresh food , then go try a farm vacation. Being out in the fresh air and eating just picked veggies and fruits will do you and your family a world of good. Despite the vacation's starkness, there is a kind of luxury in agritourism.

Another Fine Jersey Diner The Coach House

I live in New Jersey where there's a diner or two in every town. There are so many but a few do stand out. One is the Coach House , which has two locations, one in my old hatching ground of Hackensack and the other in North Bergen (just outside New York City). Both offer restaurant quality food and variety. The prices are pretty OK too.


The original Coach House was on the site of the North Bergen location and started there in 1939. It was just a small joint where workers from local Jersey City, Union City and North Bergen could go for a quick sandwich or a burger. The Hackensack location as added within the last twenty years and both are currently owned by Greek lawyers. I love the North Bergen one which is more of a huge restaurant than a diner.The soup and salad bar are my lunch and dinner favorites. There are different soups designated for different days(try to get there on Saturday for the beef barley or potato leek). The salad bar is grand with a huge variety of different saladss. and green treats. You can stock up on a pea salad along with taking few dolmades or stuffed grape leaves. Every so often the salad bar offers free fresh baked banana bread. I love the Coach House on Christmas and Easter mornings when I can get a holiday breakfast after church services at my family's churches. The omelets are huge and could feed six . There's also a generous helping of hash browns and toast too.

What makes the Coach House also unique is their bakery. Their cupcakes are better than at the ones at the magnolia across the near by Hudson. They're bigger fluffier, and also have a better flavorwhich is more cakier. The icing is a wonderful mound of homemade butter cream topped off by either a strawberry or an Oreo cookie. The cupcakes come in vanilla and chocolate with either vanilla, a cookie infused vanilla or strawberry icing on top. The Coach House also produces some yummy homemade chocolate chip and cookies that they sell at the counter. Bring a bag of these home for some dessert or snacking. Theyre buttery and crisp and also are studded with walnuts to counterbalance the chips.

Jersey is known for its' plethora of diners but few stand out. The Coach House of both Hackensack and North Bergen does. Go to either location to have some of the best diner food in the state and in the NYC metro area!

The Little Rice Book

My cousin and her husband recently gave me a neat little cookbook. It's all about rice and different recipes for it. The books contains every kind of recipe from savory to sweet. All different kinds of rices are also used, from basmati to arborio from long grain to short. For a rice fanatic like myself this book is a dream come true,


The books is simply called Rice and Risotto and was compiled by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen. The author herself has written numerous cookbooks from Jewish to French cuisine along with interesting books on Southern cooking and a slew of recipe books just on desserts. Her paean to rice is amazing. There are my favourites in here, the widely popular Risotto Milanese to the little known peas and arborio dish risi bisi. In between Wolf-Cohen also adds in easy risottos as well as pilafs and gumbos along with rice stuffing. There are Vietnamese dishes that call for rice flour wrappers and Mexican dishes that require rice mixed with broken pasta. Every corner of the globe is covered here with special emphasis on risotto dishes. There are so many of them here ranging from seafood to vegetarian wild mushroom to easy to classic.

Another aspect of the book that's appealed to me. is the variety of the dessert dishes. There are variations on the classic rice pudding, from a sinful dark chocolate one to a a creme brulee type with a glazed top. There's also a flan influenced Spanish style rice pudding that looks heavenly. Other sweet rice treats include rice pancakes, New Orleans fried rice cakes (a take on the famed beignet ) and shortbread made with a combo of rice and wheat flour.

Rice & Risotto is the book to get if you're a rice enthusiasts. There are so many different recipes you'll never get bored with them. They're tasty for any part of lunch or dinner.

Julia Child - A Culinary Star Reborn

Thanks to the summer's blockbuster hit, Julie & Julia foodies are rediscovering Julia Child all over again. We have a lot to thank her for. One, she got us Americans away form all that Fifties food like meat loaf and molded Jello and two, taught us how to have a more sophisticated palate. Thanks to her people could have boeuf bourguignon instead of beef stew and cassoulet instead of beans ad franks. She opened our taste buds to a new and wonderful world : French cooking.


Child is enjoying a revival and with it her most famous book, Mastering The Art of French Cooking. It is the best way to learn about the complexities of French cooking and Child also demystifies it as well. be warned however. The book was published in 1961 in a n era where butter and fat were used freely and people just didn't worry about cholesterol, heart attacks and clogged arteries. Some recipes call for an entire stick of butter while others are big on different meats and fats. This is course the best of French cooking and why the cuisine always has a melt in your mouth flavor. If you do have the book , make the recipes only on monthly basis . They're just too rich to be eaten on a weekly one.

There are also several other classic chefs out there you may want to research. TV also brought us the Galloping Gourmet, Graham Kerr from Scotland and England. He, like Julia Child, used large amounts of butter lard and cream in his cooking.If you want more recent vintage, there's the great master Jacques Pepin along with the Two Fat Ladies (both were believers in the butter fat, and cream approach to cooking) Of course they can't compare to Julia but some of their recipes are worth testing and trying out.

If you get the chance not only see Julie & Julia but pick up Mastering The Art of French Cooking. As a foodie you'll appreciate the wonderful dishes and flavors. As a cook, you'll appreciate the artistry that goes into creating a dish. You'll also appreciate the artistry and talent of one of our greatest chefs Julia Child.

More S'Mores!!!

This is the time for camping and campfire treats. That means bring out the s'mores. These fun , gooey sweet treats have been a staple of summer since the turn of the last century. Everyone knows them. Everyone loves them. Who doesn't? They're a fun mix of our favorite flavors and foods .


S'mores are as American as apple pie and maybe even better tasting (sorry pie lovers). They just basically toasted marshmallow sandwiched between a square of milk chocolate and two graham crackers. The heat from the marshmallow melts the chocolate to a creamy goodness and it then squishes between the graham crackers. You can also make s'mores in a microwave however you don't get the crispy burned marshmallow coating though. The treat was invented around 1900 with the advent of its' newly mass produced ingredients. The recipe spread from one campsite to another and the name just came about with people asking for more of it. The recipe debuted in the Girl Scout Handbook 1927 edition.

Most people stick with the traditional recipe of plain graham crackers a square of Hershey's milk chocolate and a toasted marshmallow You can create a more decadent version with any dark chocolate and chocolate graham crackers. I've also found out that there are flavored marshmallow./s which come in different flavors like cinnamon and mint along with chocolate (they're called Plush Puffs and you can order them at www.plushpuffs.com) . You can use these to make wickedly tasty s'mores!Another variation is to layer a thin coating of plain or crunchy peanut butter on the graham crackers before adding the chocolate and marshmallow.

Before the summer is out, treat yourself to that hot weather standard, the s'more. You'll be making more and more of them after one bite. They're just a fun snack.

Garden Parties FLowers in Your Cocktails

There;s a trend now of using flowers to flavor drinks. instead of decorating rims or shooting merrily out of glass herbs and blooms are now being added to cocktail ingredients. They leave a different, more sophisticated taste to liqueurs, They also enhance the drinks' taste as well.



You have to be careful with floral drinks. As with scent , a flower's taste can be overpowering and cloying. Roses may be a romantic idea to put into the drink but rose syrup can b e overly sweet (think of what it does to Middle Eastern pastries). Settle on flowers that work well as teas such as chamomile, nasturtium and wild hibiscus. They only delicately flavor the various ingredients . Another idea is to make a simple syrup and then add the petals. This works well for lavender and some roses. You can also apply this to making dandelion schnapps using regular schnapps, simple syrup nd dandelion heads.

Another idea is simply buying flower distilled spirits. You can try elderflower liqueur, primarily the French St. Germain. It's made with the blossoms of the Swiss elder tree and has a faint lilac smell taste to it. This is the only flower infused drink I know of on the market. For anything else you have to do blend it yourself. Liqueur companies, may hover get onto this trend and we may start seeing nasturtium and wild hibiscus spirits within the next year or two by 2012.

If you want to add a breath of a summer garden to your cocktails then add flowers. They're a new twist and a new taste. Pick a bouquet today for your next party

The Fight Against Ice Cream

In yesterday’s Food Section of The New York Times there was a great debate about the ice cream man. it’s hard to believe that this symbol of America and summer could be knocked around, yet there are parents out there who hate the very sight of him or sometimes? Why? There’s a whole menu of reasons.

The article, written by Helen Stapinksi deals with parents who do no like the Good Humor man or or any other ice cream vendor. Sometimes the reasons are legitimate, The truck rolls around at dinner time leaving kids screaming and desirous for a treat. Sometimes it’s the drivers themselves who don’t represent wholesomeness. Some are dirty , some even vend drugs as opposed to pops. Some parents don’t like the amalgamation of chemicals binding the ice cream. My opinion is let them have the ice cream but 1)make sure the truck and vendor are clean and two 0 save the stuff for dessert.

Of course parents could also make their own ice cream. Nowadays it’s easy to make ice cream and freeze it into molds. You can then have the kids dip them in chocolate or sprinkles along with cookie crumbs You can also make healthy ices and frozen smoothies , using real ingredients like fresh, soy or rice milk along with yogurt. This will teach kids that the home made kind can be both fun and good for them.

What do you foodies think? Would you let your kids go wild when the local ice cream truck pulls up? Or do you restrict them and offer them something homemade and better?