Archive for August, 2008
For the Locals :: Black Olive Opening
Here’s a Public Service Announcement of sorts for all you lovely readers that reside in Philadelphia, particularly in the Mt. Airy neighborhood. The restaurant, Black Olive, is officially open for business. This mid-range eatery is an extension of the already operating Black Olive delicatessen. The restaurant is all vegan with most items on the menu having a southern flare (Taylor, you’d best come be the final judge on how tasty this all is).
I attended their grand opening soiree Friday evening where they were serving a smattering of their dishes as lite party fare, including vegan crab cakes and African peanut soup (both scrumptious). I was most taken with the chocolate pie though. Silky creamy and chocolately…and vegan to boot!
Their website doesn’t appear to be up and running just yet (http://blackoliverestaurant.com/flash/BlackOlive3.html). Their phone number is 215.247.5100. The restaurant is located just off Germantown Avenue on E. Mt. Airy Avenue in the heart of bustling quirky Mt. Airy (oh beloved ‘hood o’ mine).
I’ll be going for a full dinner some evening soon and will report back. In the meantime, give this new business some of your business to show support for local eclectic dining options.
A Comeback Story
Growing your own food has a lot of joys. Nothing tastes as good as a tomato plucked from the vine and immediately popped in your mouth. And it’s hard to be beat the feeling of satisfaction of seeing a boring blank plot of dirt become lush with vegetable plants over a few short months. Those of us that are twisted enough even find a genuine sense of accomplishment after each weeding session as we look back along the tidy rows free of would-be competitors for our precious plants’ water and nutrients.
But what most of us that grow our own food think about the most are the frustrations, or rather the “challenges”, because there are always a lot of them every season. In my garden this year, I’ve had to battle with flea beetles on my eggplants that distort their leaves and make them less productive. I’ve had squirrels come in and strip every last ear of beautiful popcorn off the corn stalks in just a few hours. The pepper plants have a disease, phytophthora blight, that has stunted their growth and production. My poor summer squash succumbed with squash vine borer in a display of withering agony.
I realize listing out all of those problems with vegetable production probably isn’t the most appetizing subject to choose for a food blog. But I wanted those of you who don’t get the chance to grow vegetables to know a bit more about some of the struggles associated with it. Many of the insect pests would be easier to control if I used insecticides, but that’s not really an option in my book. So you do what you can to negate their affects naturally and do your best to develop a zen attitude towards nature’s ying and yang. Fun fact for you – less than one percent of all bugs are considered pests by definition. How many of you would have guessed a percentage closer to 90? Sometimes it feels like that!
In the vegetable world, just like in our world, there are inspiring “human interest” stories full of courage and defiance of the odds (can you tell I’ve been watching my fair share of the Olympics?). In my garden this year, that story happens to lie in my bean patch. As alluded to in an earlier post, Mexican bean beetles were infesting my lovely tri-colored mix of bush beans throughout the month of July. Despite my best efforts to flick them off one by one, the larvae, bright yellow hairy egg-shaped fellows, took big bites out of the bean leaves until they were skeletal looking. With so little leaf surface, the bean plants’ ability to photosynthesize was seriously compromised. The bean crop was slowed and rather deformed to the point that I decided I’d just pull the plants out and cut my losses.
The Unthinkable
I turned on the heat the other night! Do you know how crazy a statement that is for mid-August in southeastern Pennsylvania?? It’s utterly unthinkable. But the unthinkable happened when the normally muggy hot night time temperatures started falling to the 50s this week. The 50s!! I adore autumn weather so I was in my glory, sporting sweaters for my early morning work in the garden and wearing my favorite threadbare hooded sweatshirt while I studied on the porch in the evenings.
I immediately started thinking about all the stuff I needed to get done in the garden before frost, like dividing some of perennials and digging out the sweet potatoes. I had to stop my racing thoughts and remind myself that it was still just August and that things will no doubt warm up again for quite some time before autumn is truly here. I have to say, though, that if it stayed like this, I wouldn’t complain a bit.
Besides thoughts of putting the garden to bed for the winter, I started craving soup. And not just a light summery soup either. Nope, I wanted a hearty thick soup that warms you from the inside out. A ”stew” really… I started looking over the basket of produce I’d just brought in from the garden and contemplating my options: lots of yellow cherry tomatoes, a big bunch of King Midas carrots, and some lovely tender Black Beauty eggplants. A quick search and I found the perfect recipe: Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup.
Cartoons & Ice Cream
Growing up, I didn’t have television. At the time, I was understandably a little bitter. Today, I can see how it really helped to shape my creative side and develop my love of words since reading and writing consumed the time most kids spent watching TV. I did, however, get one reprieve a week from the no-TV rule. My grandmother lived just a hefty stone’s throw away from our house and Saturday mornings were spent in her living room, watching cartoons.
My grandmother was, and still is, everything a grandma should be, namely indulgent and fun. She’d often spoil our lunch by giving my brother and I big bowls of ice cream. She always had dozens of flavors on hand in her chest freezers in the basement. But vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter, strawberry, cherry, and rocky road couldn’t tempt me. Without fail, I’d always pick mint chocolate chip. I loved the green color, the fresh coolness of the mint and the frozen crunch of the chocolate bits.
For the longest time, I thought that funky green color always came with anything flavored with mint. See, for as many lovely vegetables and fruits grown around our house, we never had many herbs, including mint. When I began growing mint for myself, I have to confess I was a little disappointed that it didn’t impart that cool green hue to all my dishes.
What it lacks in color, Homemade Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream makes up for in flavor. It’s ridiculously fresh and refreshing (yes, there’s a difference between the two). And this version is much creamier than any I’ve had. Fortuitously, the basic recipe I used to make Lavender Ice Cream has proven the perfect base for any herbal infusion. It’s super quick to make too compared to the more traditional custard base, without sacrificing any consistency.
Glazed Carrots in Lavender Vinegar
Okay, who’s the wise guy? C’mon, this isn’t fair! How did it get to be August – the fifth day nonetheless – already?!?! I swear someone’s just messing with me and somehow got my wall calendar, my phone calendar, my computer calendar, and my multiple inbox calendars flipped forward in the middle of the night while I was blissfully unaware in my sleep. That’s got to be it!
Well, on the off chance that it IS really the fifth day of August, now’s a great time for a chilled side dish that will perk up your wilted lunch breaks or make you look like a rock star at your collective family’s week “down the shore” in that beach house you all rent every year. Glazed Carrots in Lavender Vinegar sounds really ooo-la-la, but it’s really an easy-peezy dish to make.
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