by rivka
on October 23, 2010
Hi friends! Long time no see. I’m taking some time to let marriage soak in, and that means less time to blog. While I’m away, my friend Jeremy Brosowsky is sharing his method for preserving the last of summer’s bounty. And DC folks — Jeremy has a fantastic new company called Compost Cab, the perfect solution for us urban folk who want to compost but don’t have a garden. Check it out.
Gather ye rosebuds, my friends. And by rosebuds, I mean tomatoes. We’ll likely get another head-fake day or two, when the warm air makes it feel like summer even though the quality of the light is glaringly fall. But make no mistake: summer’s over. Last-gasp time, folks.
For the next week, maybe two, you’re going to see sad, lonely crates of tomatoes looking out of place among the hardened bounty of early fall at your local farmers’ market. No, they’re not as good as their mid-summer cousins, the ones so vibrant you want to bite into them like they’re apples. These fall tomatoes need to be coaxed out. But, oh, is it worth it.
For much of the past couple of weeks, I’ve been plowing through 100 pounds of tomatoes — that’s two bushels, if you’re keeping score at home. Most got sauced. But some 25 lucky pounds got oven-dried. It’s the apotheosis of the fall tomato. And it couldn’t be much easier.
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by rivka
on October 18, 2010
Wonderful readers: many of you have been reading since the very beginning, over three years ago, when I took the plunge into this public space. You’re great, and perhaps a little crazy, for keeping on reading all this time. Sometimes I ramble, other times I disappear unexpectedly, and yet, you stick around to see what comes next. You’re great like that; thank you.
Today’s a day for thanks of another sort. Today I’ve got a ring on my finger, a wonderful wife, and a weekend full of amazing memories to carry me. D and I are the luckiest people on earth.
Yesterday was an absolutely, positively magical day. If you live in DC, you know that the weather yesterday was as perfect as DC gets. Not a cloud in the sky. Our friends are the most spirited, funny, loving bunch, and we continue to feel about as blessed as two ladies can get. Now, we’re married, and we are simply filled to the brim with joy and blessing.
I guess it just proves some risks are worth taking.
photo by my amazingly talented friend Gaby Schoenfeld.
In my day-plus as a married lady, I’ve learned that part of the game is heeding your wife’s requests. I won’t be posting pictures of D. That said, I hope you enjoy the photos I do post, which hopefully will give a taste of how beautiful the day was.
(For all you curious folks out there, I promise more pictures once we have them.)
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by rivka
on October 14, 2010
Where we live, time is running out to make this sauce. Tomatoes are on their last legs here in the Northeast, and I’ve been alternating between panic and panicking on and off for the past three weeks about their impending disappearance.
By now, you’ve seen posts on cream of roasted tomato soup and sundried tomatoes. Everyone’s trying to squeeze the last little bit out of summer’s tomato bounty, and really, who can blame them? I’ll be doing the same — there are many jars of oven-roasted tomatoes in my future — but for now, I’m chopping the last of those tomatoes raw into my bowls of pasta and enjoying them in their juicy, fresh state while I still can.
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by rivka
on October 7, 2010
Yes, yes, yes. I love pickles. Pickle anything, and I’ll eat it. Cucumbers. Tomatoes. Green beans. Grapes. Cherries. Watermelon rind. Cauliflower. Beets. Eggplant. Are you bored yet? I could keep going.
If you ask my fiancee how she feels about pickles, she’ll tell you she’s crazy for the sweet bread-and-butter variety, that she slaps ’em on every burger or dog she eats. She’ll also tell you that I’ve gone mad, and that our house is turning into one big canning jar. Really. And you know what? She’s kind of right. I have gone a bit nuts. We’ve got five quarts of pickles so far, and I’m not done yet. How could I be, when only cucs have been bottled? I’ve got three green tomatoes waiting to meet a similar fate, and two heads of cauliflower, some beets, and a bag of baby eggplants aren’t far behind. Think this process too complicated or confusing? I’m here to set you straight.
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by rivka
on October 2, 2010
It’s true, I haven’t been in school in five years. A working girl doesn’t know from summer vacation, and there’s no annual school supplies shopping spree at Staples anymore. I miss summer break, and, like any school supplies nerd, I miss those colored sticky tabs I used to use to mark key pages in my textbooks. After five years in the workforce, I’ve somehow managed to wean myself off the small thrills of being a student (even the discounts at JCrew, which I’d love just about now). But there’s one school-time habit that’s still going strong, one that I imagine will continue for years to come. At the profession-steeped age of 27, I’m still making myself back-to-school snacks.
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by rivka
on September 28, 2010
First of all, can I just say? Your comments on my last post were awesome. I am so on board for knife-sharpening, pie crust, roast chicken, and everything in between. I simply can’t wait to get started with our kitchen resolutions. Huzzah!
This past Sunday, bubbling with excitement about your responses, I went to the farmers’ market, drumming up some crazy ideas for things to make. Sometimes, when I’m at the farmers’ market, I try to channel Alice Waters. I think about what her trips to the market must be like — lifting fruit close to her face, sniffing for freshness, really getting her nose in there to find that peach that’s just bursting with sweetness, and deciding after her trip what’s on the menu for that night, for the rest of the week. My trips aren’t always as whimsical. Yes, I pick what’s freshest and plan a meal around my purchases — but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t made the same pearl couscous-mushroom-zucchini-goat cheese dish three weeks in a row. Once I hit a routine that works, I tend to stick with it for a while.
But then it became September. (Um, when? What? I’m getting married in under three weeks. Whoa.) Newly freed from the shackles of nights and weekends at the office, I suddenly realized that tomatoes! and peaches! and corn! are just shy of done for the year. Eek! Better get cookin’.
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by rivka
on September 23, 2010
This past weekend, I an invigorating, inspiring Sunday in Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Kitchen. In five hours’ time, we blanched, shocked, peeled, and squished tomatoes for canned crushed tomatoes. We roasted the heck out of tomatoes, carrots, garlic, and onion for roasted tomato-vegetable soup. We charred, peeled, and chopped peppers for roasted poblano salsa. We chatted all things food over salad greens, fig vinegar, pistachio oil, cheese and baguette, and brownies, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the pressure-canner. We dunked big jars of tomato mush into a boiling water bath, then listened to the music of “ping! pop!” as the lids snapped into place. We perused cookbooks and canning guides, gushed over Dorie Greenspan’s lemon cream tart and Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s own tamari almonds. We got giddy about dishes we love, laughed about Food52 cooks we stalk, and commiserated about recipes that had unexpectedly let us down. I left feeling a renewed sense of kitchen productivity, and — more importantly for you, dear readers — a renewed drive to share what I’d learned, share the things I’ve been thinking about.
It starts here, today.
I’ve always had a list of kitchen aspirations: dishes I’d like to learn to make, techniques I’d like to master, skills I’d like to acquire. For too long, that list has been relegated to the back bit of my brain. No longer. This is the year to learn those skills, conquer those fears, make those delicious things.
Today, I’m launching a new feature: Kitchen Resolutions. You’ll see it on the left side bar. It’s a short-but-growing list of things I’d like to accomplish this year. Yes, it’s a bit random — everything from “sharpen knives” to “confit a duck” and more — but that’s the idea. They’re here, and they’re public — now I’ve gotta do’em.
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by rivka
on September 17, 2010
Ok y’all, I’m a bit late posting this, and you’ll have to forgive me. But then – and I mean immediately; do not pass go, do not wait for September to drift into fall – you must get off the couch and make this soup.
Just last week, the dog days of summer seemed a permanent fixture. Now, as I’m walking to the farmers’ market, I find myself rubbing my hands together, picking up that pace a bit, and reaching for….a cardigan. Fall’s crept up on me again. Every year, I bemoan the end of tomatoes and nectarines, my shortsighted lack of urgency in eating as many of those beautiful beefsteaks and heirlooms as possible. Now I’m making a mad dash for those tomatoes, eating a peach after lunch every day and one in the evening as well, trying to cram as much of the rapidly depleting summer produce down my craw as time will allow.
My fridge is only so large; not, apparently, large enough; those 5 pounds of peaches that I bought last week have softened, ripened, and softened some more. Last night, I came home to some peaches practically begging to be eaten. Ditto the beautiful red tomatoes, which, seemingly suddenly, after a short stay on my counter (never store tomatoes in the fridge; it ruins them), were near-overripe.
I didn’t have quite enough tomatoes to make a sauce-making project worthwhile. As for the peaches, in the past week, I’d made two cakes and a crostada with them and some nectarines. I needed a change of pace.
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