Buttermilk & Molasses

Roast, Brew, Drink

I wish someone would do this for me every morning before I climbed out of bed:

This morning, some friends and I had a "Green2Steam" party, where we start with green coffee beans, roast them in a hot-air popper, grind them, and immediately brew them up in a siphon brewer over a camp stove. Boy, when coffee is _that_ fresh, just-roasted and just-ground, it smells like coffee from some other alternate dimension that's REAL-er than ours.

There's an accompanying video, in case you wanted to practice before coming over.

The Land of Who Knew? (Richmond Pizza Blogs? WTF?)

I knew Richmond was a hotbed of food bloggers. I didn't realize there was a sub-scene of pizza bloggers roaming the streets and dishing on, well, dishes. But according to the ladies at Pizzalicious! there is at least one other pizza-friendly blogging team in Richmond -- the folks at Pamparius. And you know what they say about pizza blogs...

I think what really caught my eye was the fact that everyone (as in both blogs) had more than kind words for 8 1/2, which I've been lucky enough to eat more regularly now that the Visual Arts Center group I'm working with seems to have it with every meeting. It's that good.

Three words: garlic and "oven blisters".

Brandon Eats Tomatoes at Richmond Magazine

If it's late July, it's time for Brandon Fox's annual tale of tomatoes. This time it appears in the August issue of Richmond Magazine, as Brandon has left Style Weekly (where she reviewed restaurants and penned periodic pieces for Belle) to become the editor of Richmond Magazine's Home edition. Just to keep things confusing, Brandon will sometimes show up on her own Brandon Eats site to kvetch about food, gardens and the politics of eating.

In her Richmond Magazine piece, I became the foil to what appears to be an amazing summer for tomato growers everywhere:

In Buttermilk & Molasses blogger John Sarvay's garden, the tomatoes are "doing great -- 8 feet tall and loaded with fruit." Tragically, his yard is infested with tomato-loving wildlife. "As far as harvesting, the [expletive deleted] squirrels have eaten every single close-to-being ripe tomato, so we've gotten nothing."

Unlike PharrOut/RVANews' Scott Pharr who has taken to mocking me on Twitter as he harvests his summer crop:

Tomato Harvest (@sarvay please ignore) http://yfrog.com/5echlj

Salad Shooter: NYTimes Has 101 Summertime Dinner Solutions

Earlier this week, the universe conspired again.

• My wife's doctor told her to try a gluten-free diet for a while. (That means no bread. That's right. No staff of life.)

• The NYTimes published a fantastically simple collection of 101 simple summer salads online.

The rest, as they say, is dinner. Thanks, universe.

Lewis Ginter Makes A Tasty Down Payment

It's no secret that hard times put a lot of pressure on local food banks. The Central Virginia Food Bank is no exception to the rule.

And that's why Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden's commitment to grow 10,000 pounds of fresh produce this summer in their Community Garden is such an awesome effort.

The garden delivered its first batch of goods to the Food Bank -- "182 pounds of yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant and cucumbers." Garden volunteer Janine Butler has more on the LGBG weblog; she points out that you don't need to let Lewis Ginter go it alone:

...anyone who is growing vegetables at home and has a bumper crop can donate their extra veggies. Drop them off at the visitor center here at Lewis Ginter and we will take them to the foodbank along with our contributions. We would prefer donations to be dropped off on Saturday or Monday mornings, 9am-12pm, as we will be making deliveries to the foodbank later in the afternoon. Scheduled bulk deliveries help the chefs’ plan out meals and use the vegetables more efficiently. However, if it is more convenient you can take your donations directly to the foodbank on any day and the chefs will utilize them in the salad or vegetable dish of the day.

Community Gardens Under the Media Grow Light

Katherine Calos inks a nice piece in today's Times-Dispatch on the rise of community gardens in the Richmond area with a spotlight on the city/Ellwood-Thompson/Tricycle Garden's birthed plot of vegetables and flowers growing at the intersection of Thompson Street and Patterson Avenue:

All 29 of the 8-by-12-foot organic gardening beds have been rented for $50 apiece, and about 20 people are on a waiting list, said Melanie Moran, one of the organizers and gardeners. Three children's garden plots and three handicapped-accessible garden plots will be built this month.

"This will be a get-your-community-together thing," said Rhianna Holmes, 31, before a midweek community meeting at the garden. "All the people I'm working with, I've never met them before. There are young people, older people, experienced gardeners, people who aren't experienced at all, a hodgepodge. That's what we hoped it would be like."

And who knew that mighty Chesterfield County had community garden plots? (And has had them since 1981?)

Missing from the otherwise excellent piece are detailed references to the other great gardens around town created by Tricycle Gardens and their community partners; info on the Henrico plots in Lakeside; and Lewis Ginter's community garden, which hopes to put 10,000 pounds of fresh produce into the distribution boxes at the Central Virginia Food Bank this year.

Community gardens, CSA's and farmers markets everywhere. What a great summer for locavores and lovers of fresh produce in Richmond...

Buy Local Guide Is Fantastical (and Free)

 

That something so simple could be so good. I guess you could say that about a good summer tomato, or about the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" guide available at Ellwood-Thompson's (and probably plenty of other spots around town).

A product of the Richmond Area Food System Council (Who knew we even had one!?), the printed guide is attractively designed. Oh, it's also jam-packed with listings of area farmers markets, produce and meat and dairy farms, restaurants who lean local and area CSA/Co-ops.

Get a copy of the guide by shooting an email to rafscouncil@gmail.com -- tell them Buttermilk & Molasses sent you. Or just ask them to send you a copy of the guide. Or go to Ellwood's, buy some food and grab a copy on your way out -- it's red-and-blue and hard to miss. Or save yourself all the trouble and download it as a PDF.

By the way, the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" website is pretty swank, too.

Kendra Feather Gets Her Due in Belle

Brandon Fox chatted up restaurateur Kendra Feather of Ipanema in the latest issue of Belle Magazine (which apparently hates the Internet and is only available on newsstands around town). Brandon posted the unedited version of her story -- complete with sordid details on Kendra's new venture -- on her weblog this week:

With Ipanema’s success and the experience she’s gained getting there, Feather was ready when her friend Manny Mendez of Kuba Kuba offered her the former Table 9 restaurant space on the corner of Park and Meadow. The restaurant immediately following (I can’t even remember the name of the place, Deveron. Do you?) Table 9 only stayed open for two weeks, and Mendez and his partner Johnny Giavos, owners of the building, were looking for a new tenant. Feather jumped at the opportunity to do something different.

The new restaurant, named Garnett’s and opening this summer, won’t be vegetarian, although there will be vegetarian options. Feather envisions more of an old-style, neighborhood sandwich shop with things like Cobb salad and a Croque Monsieur on the menu. Named after her grandmother, Garnett’s will have plenty of sandwiches inspired by other family members as well. “Food is a way to connect with people. It’s a way to care for them . . . I come from the school of thought says, ‘a piece of pie can make everything better.’”

Let the Markets Begin!

It's not a stretch to imagine that not every farmers' market in Richmond will remain standing by the end of the summer -- there are upwards of 20 scattered from Ashland to Chester, from Goochland to Williamsburg. The largest concentration of markets happen to be smack in the middle -- in and around Richmond itself.

Richmond residents (and their immediate neighbors) can choose from the Lakeside market (Wednesdays 8-noon and 3-7; Saturdays 8-noon) or drive a half mile to the market at Bryan Park (Tuesdays 3-7); they can head to the market at St. Stephen's Church in the Near West End (Saturdays 8-noon) or to Crossroads Art Center on Staples Mill Road (Thursday 11-4); they can swing by the Byrd House Market in Oregon Hill (Tuesdays 3:30-7) or the 17th Street Market in Shockoe Bottom (Wednesday 3-7 and Thursday 10-7); or they can drive across the river to the South of the James Market (Saturday 8-1). And if none of that fits the bill, shoppers leaving Ellwood-Thompson's or Whole Foods can enjoy actual farmers' markets set up in the parking lots of stores that already sell produce grown by farmers. First Friday art gawkers will even be able to shop for produce this year at Quirk (Friday 6-10).

I'm not mocking this explosion, this cornucopia. I'm actually a bit elated. But I also suspect I'll be a bit burnt out by late June, and settle down with one or two favorite markets.

If I was a market organizer, I'd be praying for a long, not-too-hot summer -- punctuated by just enough rain showers. Because nothing will put a crimp on Richmond's newfound market mania like stunted produce and lean yields.

It's Berry Planting Time!

Since I'm all about floricanes, how can I not encourage people to head out to Hanover County for a little Pamunkey River raspberry and blackberry planting? Agriberry, a fruit and produce community supported agriculture (CSA) outfit now in its second year, is receiving  mere 12,000 raspberry and blackberry plants that need to be planted on their 10-acre field in Hanover.

...anyone wanting a hands on chance to plant a panel (4-10 berry plants)- now’s your opportunity. We will have that person's name on it once the section is trellised. Watch it grow and produce over the next 10 years. This is a one time only chance to know your food from the roots up!

All (members and non-members) are welcome to join the fun on Saturday, April 11th! Choose either the morning slot from 9-12 a.m. or the afternoon slot from 2-5p.m.! Just email Anne (anne@agriberry.com) your choice by 8pm Friday, April 10th.

The field is located at 4456 River Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23116. Bring your own water, snack, hat or sunscreen, trowel and gloves (not all are thornless)!

Find out more about Agriberry at the SPROUT weblog.