Y'all want some freebies?

While storming Farmers Markets and small town shops in Tennessee & Kentucky, and picking up random assorted southern/appalaichan treats and oddities, I thought of you, my foodie and blog friends. I wanted to bring you back a few odd little num-nums as a treat for those of you who have my same crazy love of down-home foods. That was the plan. Fate and a doofus or two at United airlines unfortunately intervened.

I swear that I had bought more than this for y'all, but in the ensuing "your-suitcase-isn't-lost-lost, we-just-don't-know-EXACTLY-where-it-is-right-now" incident, something somewhere got lost FOR REAL.

At any rate, without sounding too much like I am apologizing for giving you something for free, I ask you to accept this humble, wee assortment of Appalaichian goodies, courtesy of moi.



Here we have some "candied" jalapenos, country ham from the self-proclaimed Hamtown, USA of Cadiz, Kentucky, and lastly, some whole pecans in their shells.

I may get whacky and throw something else in here. Something knitted, perhaps? Anyway, if you're interested in throwing your name in the hat, simply say so in a comment and I'll randomly select a winner in 2 weeks time. (I need time to knit something cute!)

Thanks again for reading my blog. I appreciate you all more than you know. :) Chelle

First Fruits / In which I show my age by referencing a Three Dog Night song

April is here and my yard and garden are starting to show it. My cherry tree's blossoms are just starting to pop open, and my rhododendrons are going crazy. I was also able to harvest my first "crop" of the year, rhubarb.



I pulled just 4 stalks today, just shy of a pound's worth, and will pull a few more once or twice a week, washing, chopping and freezing it as I go, stockpiling it for future desserts and wine making. Rhubarb wine was the very first wine that I ever attempted, and it turned out (if I may say so, myself) mighty fine. Just ask Jeremiah, he'll tell you.

Notes from the Road

I'm still in Tennessee with the fam, and the weather here is sooo nice. Especially compared to what I left back home - rain, wind and brrrr. Besides the lovely weather, hanging with my cutie-boy nephews and exploring a new state, there is another major benefit to travelling to a place where spring has most definitely arrived - fresh strawberries!

Just before leaving my garden I noticed this year's first strawberry bloom. Here in the east, the Farmer's Markets already have big beautiful strawberries for sale, and I've been hoovering them down like a maniac. I've also picked up a few distinctly southern oddities at the Nashville Farmer's Market - pickled sweet jalapenos, sorghum syrup, and a few other southern delights. I think I feel a giveaway coming on... ;)

Happy Egg Day!

Since we'll be out of town on Sunday, I thought I'd wish you all a Happy early Easter today.



May your day be filled with sunshine and large quantities of chocolate. :)

Headed down South, to the land of the pine

Ok, well I guess that south is somewhat relative in this instance. When you live in Washington State, pretty much everything is south.

The point that I'm trying to make, however, with my Old Crow-quoting title, is that I am psyched to be headed out to Tennessee in just a few days. The land of BBQ, twangy ballads and bourbon. Hello yes.

I get to gorge on grits & gravy, re-aquaint myself with my dear old friend, Mr. Daniels and I get to hang out with my super-cute nephews. I'd take this vacay over the beach any day.


My brother-in-law with his handsome lads, Eric & Ryan :)

To Market, to market...

Today we took the kids on a little outing to Seattle. Being the foodie-geeks that we are, we naturally had to hit the Pike Place Market while we were there.



Did I bring a list of things that I needed to get? No. Am I ever that organized? No, not usually. So instead, I like to make a little game of my wigged-out, schizoid market shopping called Now what in the heck am I going to make out of all of these oddball things that I just HAD to have from the farmer's market? aka - my own personal version of Chopped.

Here's what I'm working with for this week-


Apple Pork Bratwurst, Nuremberg Sausage, Blueberry Vinegar, Wild Ramps, Fresh Morels, Blood Oranges, Red Pepper Jelly & Garlic Pepper Jelly (hubby's choice)

A few meals that immediately come to mind are:
*Breakfast-for-Dinner - Omelette of fresh eggs, sauteed ramps and apple-pork sausage
*Homemade Pizza with Morels & Sausage
*Spring Greens Salad with a blueberry/blood orange vinaigrette w/red pepper jelly glazed Wild Salmon.

I love the challenge of using new & unusual ingredients in my cooking, and I honestly can barely control myself at farmer's markets. Everything is so fresh, and handcrafted and a little bit weird - just my style. I'd have gone much crazier with the shopping were we not about to leave for a 9-day vacation, a week from today. That isn't to say that we didn't live it up a little. Olivia tried her first - and likely last - kumquat. I only wish that I'd had the camera out to capture the squeezy-pucker look on her face when she chomped into it. We also caught the requisite fish-throwing show and stopped at my husband's all-time favorite market shop, Uli's, where they sell, I kid you not, Bacon Sausage.



I think my watch started running backwards at this point. Not to be outdone by meats within meats, the produce also brazenly asserted itself.



I was seriously in food-geek heaven. Thank goodness that we only go to Seattle once a month, or we'd be broke and weigh 400 pounds each.

Jamie Oliver and the Ugly Truth

I watched the second episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night and... yikes. Have you tuned in?

The gist of the show is this - Chef Jamie Oliver has come to Huntington, West Virginia (the most unhealthy/fattest city in America, according to the Center for Disease Control) to change the way that people feed themselves and their families, with a particular focus on adding fresh foods to school lunch programs. Who could possibly have a problem with someone willing to get their kids excited about eating fresh, healthy foods? As it turns out, the very people who you'd expect to advocate for these kids - school principals, cooks, nutritionists and worst of all, their parents.

I was straight-up thunderstruck by how completely apathetic most of the adults in charge of nourishing these kids were. One cafeteria cook defended the quality of a pre-cooked, processed chicken nuggety-thing by pointing out that chicken was the number one ingredient. By what margin is it number one? And what about the other 20 four-syllable ingredients?!?

Even for a organicy-granola girl like me, this has been a wake up call. I don't feed my kids too much of anything that comes in a package or box, and they can recognize and name most fruits and veggies on site, unlike an entire classroom of kids on the show, who only understood what a tomato was after it was revealed that ketchup is actually made from tomatoes.

My husband shared my outrage and kept saying The kids in our neighborhood would know all of those veggies! And he's right. We are lucky to live in a time and place where nutrition, health, variety and simplicity are very much of value. Our daughters' school even has it's own gardens that the kids plant, maintain and harvest to eat themselves and share with the food bank. They know where food comes from and what it takes to make it happen. The same cannot (yet) be said for the kids of Huntington, West Virginia, nor could it have been said for many kids of my generation, growing up in the 70's and 80's.

I'll be the first to admit that I grew up eating the standard lower-middle class fare of the 1980's - pop tarts, frozen pizzas, twinkies, drive-thru burgers and orange soda. I also had a weight problem from an early age. It was the product of a perfect storm of hectic lifestyles, a shift in value away from farms and food to cities and status symbols, and vast, convincing misinformation campaigns by processed food manufacturers that assured our parents that sugar-laden, fatty, highly-processed breakfast cereals were the right way to start their kids' day because they contained 8 essential vitamins and minerals! Sure, it will keep you alive, but for how long?

Making people stop and think about what they are putting into their bodies, and more importantly, what they are teaching their kids to put in their bodies is what Jamie's Food Revolution is all about. Check it out and sign the petition, if you are so inclined. But most importantly, feed your family well. For starters, if you need a chemistry 102 textbook to decipher a food's ingredient list, don't eat it. ;)