Foodie Movie Alert: Deliman

In 2015, foodies should keep an eye out for the documentary called Deliman.  As the movie’s description summarizes, “Jewish culture reflects the heart of a vital ethnic history. As that culture continues to shift and adapt alongside mainstream America, delicatessen food- as its name suggests- remains a beloved communal delicacy. In Houston, Texas, third-generation deli man Ziggy Gruber has built arguably the finest delicatessen restaurant in the U.S. His story- augmented by the stories of iconic delis such as Katz’s 2nd Avenue Deli, Nate n’ Al, Carnegie, and The Stage- embodies a tradition indelibly linked to its savory, nostalgic foods.”

A Tuesday night in Getsemani

Vacations for me always have a tipping point. There is the half where I relish feeling lost and anticipate what every new street will reveal to me, and then there is the later half of the trip when I start to feel local-ish after I have located the places that speak to my soul. In Cartagena, this place is the Getsemani district. My introduction happened incidentally, when my boyfriend took me to a rooftop hostel party, and directly when I went to seek out yoga at the cultural center. From that point on, I couldn’t get enough. The streets are quiet, almost impassable by car, and laced with street art. It is beyond quaint. And now, the barrio that used to be plagued with prostitution and drug problems is now the hippest, coolest neighborhood around. Rings a familiar tune doesn’t it?

The hub of the neighborhood is the open courtyard flanking the 17th century church in the Plaza de Santisma Trinidad. Filled with kids playing soccer, food vendors, live music, and people doing what they do best in Cartagena, relaxing. So where did I go? Well, I was planning to visit Trattorio Di Silvio, a rustic pizza place where we could eat on the rooftop under the stars...but we got distracted by Pacifico and stopped there for the house special,  seafood paella. The meal started off with a bloody mary, of which I am afraid we are ridiculously specific, and aside from missing the olives and us liberally pouring in more hot sauce, I’d say we were happy. Next came the Gaelic Pulpo.

I have become a far more adventurous foodie through having this blog and traveling more...and my father would be pleased to see how much seafood I consume now, despite his then failed attempts in my youth to get me to appreciate it. I get it now...but I still don’t understand people’s love affair with shrimp. But I digress. The pulpo was also a new texture to get accustomed to. It had a strong aroma, that was enhanced by olive oil and what I believe was paprika. It was a chewy piece with the little suction cups from the tentacles popping in your mouth as you ate. I was doubtful at first, but I ended up eating the majority of the dish.

Next came the paella, meaning to eat from the pan, and originates of course from Valencia, Spain. Interesting note: In Spain, rice was introduced to the country by the Moors over 1200 years ago. The Spanish term for rice is ‘arroz’, which stems from Arabic, not Latin like most of Castilian Spanish. The paella that we had was filled with calamari rings, mussels (other pieces of unidentifiable seafood) and topped with an entire lobster and a crab to accompany him. The waiter served us a few spoonfuls and then we liberally squeezed lime over the top and dug in. The flavor was pure ocean, if that resonates with anyone.

After dinner we wandered over to Demente, a tapas bar with a retractable roof and rocking chairs, that has come to be one of my favorite places. A quick glass of cava later and we were out exploring the streets, and me, camera in hand, was in search of street art. Down the street from Pacifico, I found what I was looking for. Here are some of my favorite images.

As somebody with the heart of a revolutionary, here is a final note on why I love this neighborhood, "On November 11, 1811, Pedro Romero, head of the Getsemaní Lancers, led a revolt that resulted in eventual independence from Spain. Since then, the residents have dedicated themselves to maintaining this fiery, celebratory and heroic spirit.” (http://in-lan.com/en/travel/cartagena-re-writes-itself/)

Article: How to use fruit peels to filter your water

With more and more eco-conscious people replacing their bottled water intake (and for good reason) with tap water, there is a growing demand for water filtration devices. But you don't need to go out and buy a fancy device to ensure that your tap water is free from pollutants. Researchers with the National University of Singapore have recently discovered a simple do-it-yourself method for filtering water using nothing more than fruit peels and rubbing alcohol, reports Wired. Researcher Ramakrishna Mallampati originally thought up the method as an easy, cheap way for rural communities in the developing world to purify their water. He found that apple and tomato peels -- two of the most widely consumed fruits in the world -- were remarkably efficient at absorbing a wide variety of harmful pollutants, and that they could be transformed into effective water filters with only minor preparation.

To make use of Mallampati's technique yourself, begin by peeling your apples and tomatoes and placing them in a rubbing alcohol solution and letting them soak. Next, remove the peels and let them dry out. Once they're thoroughly desiccated, simply place the peels in a container of water and wait. After a few hours, remove the peels from the water and it's ready to drink. Mallampati found that the apple and tomato peels together were reliable absorbents of toxic heavy metal ions, dissolved organic and inorganic chemicals, various nanoparticles, dyes and pesticides. Note that the method does not remove pathogens from the water, just a wide variety of pollutants, so you shouldn't use it as an all-encompassing water purifier. But if you're worried about any of these other pollutants finding their way into your water supply, the technique should help make your water much cleaner.

Fruit peel filtration ought to be most beneficial to rural communities around the world that lack access to clean potable water. Fruit peels are plentiful, and often discarded as useless biowaste. Re-purposing them for water filtration will offer a cheap and accessible way for communities to hydrate themselves in a safer manner. "We don't want to do any sort of commercialization," said Mallampati, "so we're working with NGOs that can take the technology to the people and explain it.” Mallampati isn't stopping at apple and tomato peels either. Research efforts are already underway to test other kinds of fruit peels, particularly the peels of fruits local to communities that need clean water the most.

SOURCE: http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/stories/how-to-use-fruit-peels-to-filter-your-water#ixzz3I1FyxiMY

Foodie Movie Alert: The Tasting Menu

"Taking place during the final evening of a world-famous Catalan restaurant before it closes forever (read: Ferran Adria’s El Bulli), Roger Gual’s third feature, following the marvelous, co-directed Smoking Room and the less marvelous Remake, interweaves several storylines and inevitably leaves us wanting more of some of them, less of some and none at all of others. Presales have been brisk for a project that has been designed with a broad audience base in mind. Initially uptight and a little pretentious, Menu takes a long time getting its characters onto the table, with a perhaps disproportionate number of Spaniards and Irish, dictated by production considerations, present on the restaurant’s final night. They include insecure doctor Marc (Jan Cornet, most familiar to non-Spaniards for Almodovar's The Skin I Live In) and beautiful, best-selling writer Rachel (Claudia Bassols), separated but meeting again for the meal of a lifetime; the mourning Countess D'Arcy (Fionnula Flanagan); the mysterious Walter Reilly (Stephen Rea), with whom the maitre d’ Max (Spain-based Canadian Andrew Tarbet) becomes increasingly obsessed as the evening wears on; and Isao Kamiyama (Togo Igawa) and Yoshio Takamura (Akihiko Serikawa), potential buyers of the restaurant, accompanied by gauche, motor-mouthed Mina (Marta Torné, the director’s real-life partner). The first hour strives a little too hard for witty chic, and though it hits the mark only occasionally – the comic timing sometimes runs with less than quartz precision -- there is pleasure in watching the tropes of farce being played out in such hushed surroundings, with notes and gifts being passed across tables and reaching the wrong person. After an hour, they all learn that a boat is sinking nearby and rush out to help, allowing the script to make its thudding metaphorical point that sipping cocktails when someone’s drowning is simply not good form. The food, too, is milked for its symbolism. Over the last couple of reels the film shakes off its self-conscious inhibitions and displays some healthy unruliness, and just as we're warming to a group of characters whose indulgences have been not only culinary but emotional, it's all over. Given that the characters are mostly just sketches and that the script doesn’t seem sure about whether to laugh at them or feel for them, the performances are fine. Flanagan and Rea take their time and ham it up deliciously, despite looking a little lost amongst all the frenzied activity: The most haunting image of the entire film, indeed, shows Reilly sitting alone on a railway station platform as dawn comes up. The film is a food fetishist’s delight, with close-ups of hands lovingly chopping and shaping: but the affectation of it all is neatly exposed later as, after the desserts fail to arrive, head chef Mar (Vicenta N'Dongo) ask her team, “Can you make something out of sea water?” Menu's script could have done with a little more such bite.
Emili Guirao’s photography is richly textured, approaching both dim interiors and sunlit exteriors with equal care. Stephen Mckeon's score is pleasantly melodic, but sometimes seems an odd throwback to the '60s, when la-la’s from a female chorus and lush strings signaled sophistication. The film signs off with The Divine Comedy’s wonderful Perfect Love Song, whose three minutes of elegance and wit the film itself has mostly been unable to match. Much of it was shot not in Catalunya, where it is set, but in Ireland. Languages spoken are basically Catalan, Spanish and English.”

SOURCE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/tasting-menu-film-review-578720

Foodie News: Why The Organic Chicken Crossed The Road

Giant scissors in hand, the chicken crossed Church Street—to get to work grilling some other chickens in the cause of serving healthful food that tastes good. The giant chicken—a prep cook in disguise—cut the ribbon at the grand opening Monday of Chick-Lets Organic Grille at 135 Church St. across from the Green, one of New Haven’s newest restaurants. The restaurant serves chicken wraps, salads, and sandwiches in addition to some specialty items and vegetarian sides. Yesterday, the sides included falafel balls, baked sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, stuffed delicata squash, and whole-wheat mac-and-cheese. After the ribbon was cut, Mayor Toni Harp ordered a wrap—a spinach wrap with spicy Cajun chicken, cheese, spinach, olives, and Caribbean jerk sauce. She had seen the restaurant before on the way to work—it is only a few hundred feet from the entrance to City Hall—but this was her first meal there. “I like it,” she said of the food. She said she is also excited that the restaurant is getting food from local farms and hiring New Haven residents.

One of those New Haven residents is Sherman Atkins, a pot washer and prep cook. He was the man in the chicken suit. He said that about 100 people came in for lunch during the grand opening, compared with the 50 or 60 that the restaurant usually sees during the week. Owner Alberto Giordano said he started the restaurant for many reasons. Prime among them is his desire to bring healthful food to the masses.“There’s such a misconception about food,” Giordano said. “People think healthy food is boring or doesn’t taste good.” His customers challenge this belief. Kathryn Garre-Ayars said she loves the variety of foods – especially the whole-wheat pasta and sweet potatoes; she is president and CEO of the Healthy Eye Alliance, an organization located a few floors up in the same building as the restaurant. And Anne Benowitz, a New Business Development Executive at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, dubbed the food “fabulous.”

Giordano grew up in the restaurant business. His parents owned restaurants, and he earned his keep washing dishes, cooking, and waiting tables. His interest in healthful food specifically started when he was a teenager. Giordano grew up in Milford, and in high school started to play jai alai, a Spanish sport popular in Connecticut at the turn of the century. Players take turns hurling a ball slightly smaller than a baseball at a wall, and trying to catch and return their opponents’ throws. Giordano noticed a correlation between what he ate and his athletic performance.

“When I was young, like every other teenager, I ate fast food,” Giordano said. It made him feel heavy and sluggish. So he decided to experiment cleaning up his diet. “I was amazed at how much better I felt,” he said. Giordano kept playing jai alai while attending college part-time. He got a degree in manufacturing engineering at Central Connecticut State University, but he didn’t do anything with the schooling. He played amateur jai alai in Orlando and Dania, Florida while in college, and moved on to the professional leagues in Milford in 1989 when he graduated. Giordano said that he made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but he didn’t get more specific.

Giordano knew that a career in jai alai wouldn’t last him his whole life—it’s a physically demanding sport, he said, and professionals often retire young. He sought a career that would support him in his future, so he went into the financial industry. He got certified as a financial adviser and worked for a few different companies. But he didn’t like how people were treated in corporate America. He said big companies fail to care about their employees as people. “At the end of the day, I’m with a big company, and I’m just a number to them,” Giordano said. He said that he has seen many colleagues sacked “as quickly as you can blink an eye” for underperforming after years and years of good service. He is still working at a financial services company, PrimePay, as he gets his restaurant up and running. Giordano said he hopes to treat his employees better. He has nine – two cooks, two managers, and five people who prepare food for customers. Atkins, who wore the chicken suit for two and a half hours Monday, said that Giordano is inspiring and “always on top of his game.”

Giordano came up with the idea for Chick-Lets back in 2009. He shared the idea with his family over a dinner out at Carmine’s, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan. “My daughter was on board,” Giordano said. “The rest—‘Are you kidding me?’” But Giordano said his family’s original skepticism has turned into staunch support. Now, he said, they are behind him 100 percent. Chick-lets originally opened in Bridgeport last summer to test out the business concept, said Tyler Gianakos, a manager who owns 25 percent of the company. (Giordano owns the other 75 percent.) Giordano hired Gianakos as an intern in Bridgeport. Chick-Lets still served organic chicken in Bridgeport, Gianakos said, but the clientele there wasn’t that interested in organic food.

“People used to ask for chicken without the organic,” Giordano said. Chick-Lets served some fried foods back then, but Gianakos and Giordano said that type of cuisine wasn’t what they wanted to do. So Chick-Lets moved to New Haven, which Giordano considers a more health-conscious area.  He cut fried foods from the menu—a tour of the kitchen revealed no deep fryers and only two small bottles of cooking oil. Giordano found the 135 Church St. location, the former site of the deli Roly Poly, while walking downtown during a snowstorm in January. He jumped on the opportunity—he made a presentation to the owners of the building, who liked his idea. So he started renovating the space. He had to install more ventilation, plumbing, and electrical systems to support all of the kitchen appliances.

“It was a challenging space,” Giordano said, but he’s grateful for the location. The restaurant sits right next to the federal courthouse and across the street from the New Haven Green. CT Transit stop just a few feet from the door. Despite the location, Chick-Lets isn’t seeing as much business as Giordano would like. Giordano said that the lunchtime line is “out the door,” but the line was well contained in the restaurant on a Tuesday before the grand opening when a reporter stopped by. Giordano said that he is struggling to attract business in the evening. (That block gets less foot traffic then other parts of downtown with more nighttime businesses.) The restaurant stays open until 9 p.m., but after the sun set, there were so few customers that Giordano needed to interrupt an hour-long interview only once.

Starting a business isn’t easy, and Giordano said that he doesn’t expect to start making money for about a year. “We have break-even numbers,” Giordano said. “Some days we’re close to them, and some days we’re really off.” He knows that this is a huge risk for him and his family. “I literally dumped every single dime of my retirement money into this concept,” Giordano said. He runs the risk of getting fired from his job at PrimePay for underperformance—he had to take a bit of time off from his day job to get Chick-Lets up and running—and he also runs the risk of Chick-Lets not turning a profit.

Giordano said he expects his profit margins to be small. “Organic’s expensive,” he said. “I’m paying top dollar.” He buys the vegetables from vendors at the local farmers markets in Wooster Square and on the New Haven Green. The chicken comes from a Connecticut organic farm, but he declined to provide more details citing agreements with his supplier. Every day, Giordano wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and is in the restaurant within the hour. He said that he doesn’t get to sleep until 2 in the morning. He spends a few hours every day doing conference calls for PrimePay.

“My dream is to get this up and running to the point where I can leave corporate America,” Giordano said. Eventually, Giordano hopes to franchise Chick-Lets. He said he wants to open five locations in Connecticut, with each restaurant built within the local community – buying from local farms and supporting the local economy. “I don’t know if it’s possible,” Giordano said. “But we’re going to give it a try.”

SOURCE: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/why_did_the_chicken_cross_church_street/

The pro’s and con’s of coffee

I simply adore coffee. Before I even had tasted my first cup, I had fallen in love with the smell of my father brewing it. After I tried it, my interest only grew. One of my early jobs was at a coffeehouse called Zuzu’s (for those who can remember that far back, it was where The Russell now operates) and before I could work on the floor, I had to take an intensive training course on the coffee growing regions, roasting process, and every other aspect that you can imagine about this little bean.

After all is said and done, who doesn’t love a good cup of coffee? There is just something so “addicting” about it! Then you start to read the news. And news, like religion, can be used to justify any point of view, making the benign subject of your morning beverage into somewhat of a controversial issue. Some pro’s: contains antioxidants, may protect your brain in your older age, contributes to a lower risk for type 2 diabetes, lower risk of liver disease, lower risk of depression and suicide and might even help you to live longer. Now for the pro’s: can cause anxiety and problems with sleeping, and here’s the shocker, can be addicting (!?). So maybe you want to read more: http://authoritynutrition.com/coffee-good-or-bad/ or maybe you are interested in some alternative beverages that will satisfy you in the same way.

Hot Maca: A few tablespoons of maca powder blended in a cup of warm (note: if you add to HOT liquid, then it loses its benefits) almond or coconut milk, with a dollop of raw honey and cinnamon could give you the lift you need in the morning. Maca has adrenal boosting properties, reduces stress, is rich in vitamin B vitamins, C, and E. It provides plenty of calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium, phosphorous and amino acids, promote sexual function of both men and women, relieves menstrual issues and menopause, balances your mood, clear acne and blemishes and assists in general health.

Dandelion Herbal Coffee Blend: Roasted dandelion, chicory root and maca combined together can give you the taste you crave, but in a different package. Dandelion rich source of beta-carotene that our bodies convert into vitamin A. It's also rich in vitamin C, fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, B complex vitamins, trace minerals, organic sodium, and even vitamin D as well as containing more protein than spinach. Chicory root supports digestive functions and the liver, high in antioxidants and toxic to harmful organisms.

Matcha Green Tea: These are nutrient-rich young leaves picked from the tips of shade-grown Camellia sinensis plants. They are high in antioxidants, loaded with catechin, helps you to relax, boosts memory, increased endurance, burns calories, detoxifies the body, strengthens immune system and lowers cholesterol levels. Plus, it’s all the rage these days.

Or, if you want to stick with your standby cup of joe, I wouldn’t blame you. However, I might suggest a small tweak to your morning routine. Go organic and fair trade. It’s better for your body, the coffee farmer, and the world. And try to trade in your traditional coffee brewer (which boils the grounds and makes your coffee taste bitter) for a french press, aeropress, or chemex and experience the real flavor of coffee. And NEVER, add sugar to a good cup!

Foodie News: A Start-up Has Invented Veggie Burgers That ‘Bleed’

I am all for new food inventions. But this?!

A biochemist named Patrick Brown has come up with yet another alternative strategy to produce entirely meatless hamburgers that look and taste very much like meat. That's one above, looking sufficiently burgerlike; it's even got that pristine medium-rare thing going on. Patties now being made by Brown's Impossible Foods are suffused with something called heme, it turns out, a molecule that comes from the roots of nitrogen-fixing plants but has the iron-tinged character of hemoglobin. "I remember this is what it felt like to get punched in the face," Brown tells the Wall Street Journal, relating the instant he realized that the vegan substance could be used to simulate the role most traditionally played by blood in a bloody rare hamburger. Now Impossible Foods has $75 million in venture capital, including cash from Bill Gates and Google Ventures.

The latest high-tech approach is one of three paths for the veggie burger. There are cheffed-up versions like Brooks Headley's Superiority Burger, more hippie-esque approaches like this guy's fully-funded kale burger, and then all the lab forays in a third category. The focus of start-ups like Beyond Meat and Hampton Creek Foods has been on replicating the texture of meat, sinewy muscle fiber and all; Modern Meadow, which is pioneering 3-D-printed meat and leather at its Brooklyn Army Terminal headquarters, closed on $10 million in Series A funding.

These companies produce everything from synthetic eggs made of pea protein to soy-plumped pseudo chicken breasts using perhaps thousands of proprietary techniques, but meanwhile, the industry seems to be closing in on the veggie burger, which remains something of the grail for our collective vegetarian future. At $20 a patty, the Impossible Foods burger may be the closest yet we've come to replicating In-N-Out, so it seems natural it's attracted such ambitious amounts in funding. Why grow the cow from stem cells in a petri dish to make a $325,000 burger, after all, when you can make one with plant blood for $20?

Foodie News: something new to try this fall

If Japan Is Eating Fried Maple Leaves, Why Aren't We?

We're all about snack time in the U.S., where chips, candy bars and trail mix normally reign supreme. But people in Japan are taking snacking to a whole new level -- by eating leaves.

To be fair -- these aren't just any leaves. According to Brian Ashcraft at Kotaku, the leaf snack is called "momiji" or "momiji tempura" and gets its name from theJapanese Maple tree with the same moniker. The maple/momiji leaves are usually found (and fried!) in Minoh City, Osaka, Japan.

"Momiji" can be eaten all year long, and the practice has supposedly been around for almost a thousand years. The maple leaves themselves aren't supposed to taste like much, which makes sense because they're usually preserved in salt barrels for about a year, and then fried in a sweet batter.

Deep-fried leaves sound much more like state fair food instead of a Japanese snack, but there are some good recipes available (we like this Maple Leaf, Pumpkin and Fig Tempura twist) if you want to try and make momiji tempura at home.

SOURCE: Huffington Post

Life on the beach in Colombia is a feast

An afternoon at the beach in Colombia is a real foodie experience. One of my most memorable was when my boyfriend took me to Playa Blanca. As soon as we arrived, he selected some fresh fish for us to be prepared for our lunch while we went snorkeling. After an hour or so, a platter of fried fish, coconut rice, salad, and fried plantains arrived. No paper plates or plastic silverware to deal with either.

As if this wasn’t enough, we continued to splurge. Vendors make their way across the sand offering massages, jewelry, and tropical drinks. But we were more interested in ones hawking food. Dessert included freshly cut mango pieces, and then an array of homemade confectionaries, carried in a large bowl skillfully balanced on top of a woman’s head. 

Delicious fritters of coconut, sesame seed brittle, or a spongy coconut and yuca cake were some of the ones we tried. Each one was tastier than the last. Although I could eat the yuca all day long. Lastly, we also tried oysters! This was my second time trying these little morsels and I would now say I am a fan. One of the vendors came to sit down beside us and then got busy opening the shells to hand to us. 

One after another, they came. Lime juice was squeezed and hot sauce added. By the end of the day, I was quite full, warm from the sun, and feeling like I had been treated like a queen. This is the only way to go to the beach. Now, I am forever spoiled.  

Foodie News: New Brewery in Enfield set to open

Mike McManus, 24, is poised to become one of Connecticut's youngest brewery owners when he opens Powder Hollow Brewery in Hazardville. McManus, who was born in Enfield and graduated from Enrico Fermi High School in 2008, started home-brewing beer when he was 20, a year before he was of legal age to consume it. He said he knew right from his first batch, an apricot-infused American ale, that he wanted to open his own brewery. "As soon as I brewed it, I said this is going to happen," McManus said. "It certainly wasn't my best one, but I loved doing it. I love the practice of doing it, seeing it bubble away for two weeks and the anticipation of it."McManus brewed his first beer when he was living in Vermont while attending Vermont Technical College, where he received a degree in construction management. After college he moved to Baltimore for two years to work for a construction company. With his mind still focused on owning a brewery, McManus quit his job and returned home. For the last three to four months, McManus has been busy working on his brewery, which will be near the Scantic River at 504 Hazard Ave. in a 1929 building he is renting from STR Holdings Inc. McManus has built his bar, his brewing system is in place, and he has filled his space with tables and chairs and has tap handles ready to be pulled. With all of the major construction done and town approval given, McManus must now wait for his state and federal licenses before he can start brewing on site. McManus said he expects the brewery, which will serve samples, and sell pints and growlers to go, to be open about eight weeks after he receives his federal license. No exact opening date has been announced, he said. McManus said he's been saving for the brewery since he was in college, and he's the sole owner and investor. He says he thinks he's ready. "I've been to a lot of breweries to make this game plan," McManus said. "I think I'm prepared.” McManus' game plan is to provide variety, brewing two barrels, or 80 gallons, each day. He has 14 tap handles on the wall behind his bar and he hopes that sometime all of them will be flowing with beer. He said he'll offer four to five flagship beers and three to four seasonal beers while the rest of the space will be dedicated to experimental batches, allowing him to get creative. McManus said he loves stouts and India pale ales, meaning plenty of those will be on tap, including a dry stout he's been brewing since he was in college. He also has a few unique offerings he plans to sell, including a lime basil ale. "I definitely look at all the styles out there," McManus said. "I really like to do these experimental ones. It makes the process so much more fun.”

-Hartford Courant/ 2014

Foodie News: Imagine a tree that grows 40 kinds of fruit

Using a common technique called grafting, artist Sam Van Aken is developing a tree that bears a variety of different fruits. Sam Van Aken envisions a tree with blooms of pink, purple, fuchsia and red that bears 40 different kinds of fruit. 

But this tree isn't just a figment of his imagination — he's hard at work making "Tree of 40 Fruit" a reality. "I'm an artist. So the whole project really began with this idea of creating a tree that would blossom in these different colors and would bear these multitude of fruit," he told NPR. Van Aken, an associate professor in Syracuse University's art department, isn't creating this tree through genetic engineering. Instead, he's using a technique that's thousands of years old: grafting.

 

Grafting involves collecting young shoots or cuttings from trees and then inserting these budding branches into strategic points on a base tree. These grafts are taped into place and allowed to bond with the tree, drawing water and nutrients from it like any other branch. If the grafts take to the tree, they'll start to grow again in the spring. According to Van Aken, grafting is often successful because of the similar chromosomal structure of stone fruit trees.Stone fruits are those with a pit in the middle that surrounds the seed. Examples include apples, peaches, cherries and plums. Van Aken has created 16 hybridized fruit trees that are located throughout the country. The trees' branches are composed of a variety of mostly antique and native stone fruit varieties. He plans to place his first tree in an urban setting at Thomas Point in Portland, Maine. Van Aken has worked with 250 varieties of stone fruit and says his project has really become "about preserving some of these antique and heirloom varieties" of fruit. Currently, his trees are being sold to create an heirloom fruit orchard, and he plans to create a field guide with pictures and descriptions of each type of tree. "Through the orchard — which would be open to growers, nurseries and the general public — I hope to reintroduce many of these forgotten varieties," he said. Grafting fruit trees isn't a new practice. The TomTato — a plant that produces both cherry tomatoes and potatoes — can be purchased by any gardener. Also, many commercial fruit trees are grafted for mass production. Farmers choose a tree that will grow well in their climate and then other trees' seedlings are are grafted onto the base tree’s branches. And in San Francisco, guerilla gardeners are grafting fruit-bearing tree limbs onto fruitless trees along city sidewalks.

 

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/imagine-a-tree-that-grows-40-kinds-of-fruit#ixzz3AKT3uqv4

Foodie News: Dry bars – is England sobering up?

Alcohol is omnipresent," says Catherine Salway, handing me something called a Beetroot Coco-tini. "You can't even go to the cinema now without considering having a glass of wine. But I thought: 'There's a way to cut through that, and do the opposite.'"

Salway is 40, and the founder of a new "gastrobar" called Redemption, located at the foot of the Trellick Tower on Golborne Road, west London. The decor is stripped-down and chic: bare brick walls, neon signs and furniture that a neighbouring social enterprise has made out of other people's junk. Sight unseen, you'd think you were in a reasonably typical urban hostelry.

But that's not quite true. The food here is "pretty much" vegan, but what really sets the place apart is a completely alcohol-free drinks menu. The basic idea, Salway tells me, is to offer people a chance to "spoil yourself without spoiling yourself", and provide a sanctuary of sober calm in the midst of a booze-dominated culture. As she sees it, moreover, her business is on the crest of a wave – as evidenced by a handful of similar projects in other British towns and cities, and statistics that suggest our national dependence on the bottle may at last be starting to wane, not least among people under 30.

Until 2011, Salway was the chief brand director for the Virgin Group. She was also drinking a lot, a habit that developed when she first arrived in London in the giddily hedonistic mid-90s. By now, though, an existential hangover had kicked in: "I was overweight, drinking too much, pretty miserable. And I thought: 'I could just sit here grinding away, doing corporate jobs, or do something meaningful.'"

The idea for Redemption came to her when she was holidaying in a yogic retreat in Goa ("very cliched," she smirks). No booze was available – which, she was surprised to find, gave everyone she was with a pronounced feeling of liberation. "It was only by alcohol not being present at all that we were freed from it," she says.

And so, via an initial "residency" at a venue in Hackney followed by the opening of permanent premises here in September 2013, a new business came into being. With backing from two individual investors and over £50,000 of her own money already staked, Salway says she wants to open up two more branches of Redemption in London. In time, she would like to expand abroad.

"Loads of people have told me I'm going to fail: particularly big property moguls from London, and traditional investors – mainly men over 50," she says. "A lot of people said to me: 'You're mad – London runs on alcohol. It's fuelled by alcohol.' And I said: 'Well, not everybody, and not all the time.'"

For all the collective angst about Britain's drinking habits, our consumption of booze does seem to be changing. According to the Office for National Statistics, the share of people who report having a drink in the previous seven days has been falling for at least eight years: 72% of men and 57% of women did so in 2005, but by 2013, the respective figures had fallen to 64% and 52%, and the amount of alcohol consumed by people on their "heaviest" day had also come down.

The ONS advises a certain degree of caution when it comes to these numbers: not surprisingly, there tend to be discrepancies between how much people say they drink, and the quantities they actually put away. It should also be noted that medical problems caused by alcohol are at an all-time high, and all those headlines about rising middle-aged dependency do not come out of nowhere. The 2007-8 crash and subsequent downturn seem to be a factor in reduced consumption, which might undermine claims that Britain has started to see the error of its bacchanalian ways: could it be that we are as thirsty and dependent as ever, but just a bit more strapped for cash?

As Salway explains, it's generational differences that suggest something really is up. According to NHS data, in 1998, 71% of 16 to 26-year-olds said they'd had a drink in the week they were questioned about their habits – but by 2010, that figure had fallen by around a third, to 48%. "People in their early 20s and teenage years are growing up with parents who get lashed all the time, and that's uncool," she says. "I've also heard that there's a lot of displacement through use of technology. Kids aren't going out to get drunk because they've got so much to stimulate them."

All this has begun to soak into the culture. Not that long ago, foregoing booze during January was a pursuit quietly embraced by a modest number of people: this year, thanks chiefly to the Dry January challenge run by Alcohol Concern, it achieved a new peak of ubiquity (Redemption, Salway says, was suddenly very busy, and numbers remained healthy in February). There is now an online social network called Soberistas, aimed at "people trying to resolve their problematic drinking patterns".

Alcohol charities in such hard-drinking cities as Liverpool and Nottingham now run dry bars, and there are plans to open similar places in Newcastleand Brighton: the latter project is the brainchild of Kevin Kennedy, who once played Curly Watts in Coronation Street, and has experienced life-changing problems with drink. In Norwich, a dry bar called The Drub has started, sampling demand by doing a monthly pop-up. In Chorley, Lancashire, meanwhile, a new business named the Temperance Baroffers a kitsch take on the outlets that spread across that part of England when teetotalism became embedded in the culture of the 19th century; and in nearby Rawtenstall, there remains Britain's only surviving original temperance outlet, whose owners still manufacture booze-free drinks, and make much of a history that dates back around 120 years.

On the night I visit Redemption, among the customers are a trio of twentysomethings, slurping apple mojitos around a long table. Jennifer Moule, 28, and Alicia Brown, 27, are both secondary school teachers; 28-year-old Yassine Senghor manages a club, and is therefore well aware of what a contrast to the prevailing model of socialising this place represents. "The fact that there's no booze makes everything easier," says Moule, who is splitting her time between chatting, and marking Year 11 essays on To Kill a Mockingbird and The Crucible. "You're not distracted: the evening won't turn into something else."

I mention the idea that their generation is less boozy than its predecessors, hoping for some proud statements of 21st-century puritanism. But no. "I had a bottle of malbec last night with my boyfriend," says Moule. "Well, he had a glass, anyway."

"But that's what makes this place perfect," says Brown. "If we were anywhere else, we'd order a bottle, not just glasses."

A few days after my evening in west London, my time at Nottingham's Sobar begins with a bottle of "pre-mixed Berry Bonanza". Located in the city centre, opposite a vast branch of the pub chain Walkabout, this place is much bigger than Redemption, but offers a similar sense of something new: it's more sumptuous than a cafe, definitely not a bar, and though it serves food, it's much less stuffy than most restaurants. The bacchanalia of the notorious Lace Market district, a five-minute walk away, feels like it might be happening on another planet: here, there's a sense of time suddenly slowing down, and conversation taking precedence over everything else.

Opened in January, Sobar is an offshoot of the Nottingham-based addiction charity Double Impact, which assists people in recovery from both alcohol and illegal drugs: £340,000 of the bar's initial finances have come from the Big Lottery Fund, and it makes a point of employing and training people whose lives have been scarred by addiction. Its daily comings-and-goings, though, transcend all that: Sobar's founders reckon that around 85% of its clientele are people with no history of such problems, who have simply been drawn by what Sobar – taglined "0% ABV", which stands for Alternative Bar Venue – has to offer.

Like Salway, the people here have taken advice from the Brink, a dry bar in Liverpool opened by the charity Action on Addiction in 2011. But the initial idea for Sobar came from people whom Double Impact were helping: they said they felt the need for a place that didn't feel treatment-focused, and wasn't housed in anything that looked like it specialised in rehab. Initial discussions suggested a "serenity cafe", which soon developed into something much more ambitious, not least in terms of its city centre location: a former branch of the Nottingham Building Society – the managers of which have leased it to its new tenants for a hugely reduced rent.

"I've seen other examples of dry bars, and they've been stuck in back streets, or in community centres," says Double Impact's chief executive, Graham Miller, 50. "If that's what people do to start things off, then OK. But they should be aiming at city centre premises."

Even if that puts them next to apparent sources of temptation? "That question comes up a lot," he says. "If you get someone's recovery right, that temptation's not there. What's always there is that human desire to get out and socialise. And this is a high-quality and safe place to do that."

Much of Sobar's night-time trade is driven by events: live music, poetry readings – and, says Miller, sets from DJs. Which prompts an obvious question: will British people really dance when they're sober?

"Oh yeah," he says. "I've been here when they've done it."

Sobar's general manager, 36-year-old Alex Gilmore, tells me her clientele is wildly varied, but when I mention all those stats suggesting that increasing numbers of young people are spurning the bottle, she nods in recognition. She explains that all those recent stories about the reckless online drinking game Neknominate brought in people from the city's two universities, keen to find out about something different from the soused craziness that regularly surges through campuses.

There is also a gender factor. "There's not a vast difference [between men and women]," she says, "but there do tend to be a lot of women in here, during the daytime and at night. I think they feel this is a safe environment. If they want something to eat, perhaps with a friend, they're not going to be surrounded by groups of men piling drinks down their necks. So it's probably easier to get the idea through to them than to men."

So it proves later in the evening, when, in between sampling the food (which is great – without booze, I'm told, the kitchen has to aim much higher than standard burger'n'chips pub fare), I talk to Alice Clough, 27, and 21-year-old Fiona Schmitt, both students at Nottingham Trent University, who have come to Sobar for the first time. "I'm not really a big drinker," says Schmitt. "I've done it already – I started to cut down when I was 20. You have to look after yourself in a city you don't know that well. And I guess I grew out of feeling like shit. I just can't be arsed any more."

At a neighbouring table, I meet four men who've come through different problems with booze and drugs, and are now among Sobar's regulars. "I've been in recovery for 10 months. I used to spend a lot of time in pubs: I liked the excitement and all the possibilities of adventure," says Ian Peskett, 32. "Here, there aren't those dangers." He says he comes here chiefly to have a decent conversation. "But also, I don't want to see the place go under. This is my local."

All of them talk about their experiences with intoxicants, and what they see as the singular effects of alcohol. "I spent 17 years as a functioning heroin addict," says 47-year-old Gary Hamilton. "I held down a job, had a wife and child. But two years of drinking flattened me." Compared to other drugs, they tell me, alcohol's effects on mental health should not be underestimated; it has a habit of sparking anxiety and depression that in turn lead on to even more drinking.

On the city streets, distant shouts and clattering heels herald the start of another night on the town: shop windows in a nearby student area advertise home-delivery booze until 5am, and places offering knock-down prices do their usual roaring trade. Inside here, the background music drifts around the room, people come in and out, and a rather different world carries on, regardless.

SOURCE:http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/21/dry-bars-is-england-sobering-up

Event: Food Truck Festival!!

If you saw Chef in the theaters recently, then you have an inkling of knowledge about the hugely popular and rapidly growing food truck phenomenon spreading across the country. As luck would have it, the first Connecticut Food Truck Festival is going to be happening next week! There will be over 50 food and specialty drink vendors, live music all weekend, activities for children, vendors, raffles and more! Get in the know and go check it out. 

Happening on both Sat and Sun (July 19-20th) from 11am to 7pm
Location: North Haven Fair Grounds

Vegan Rasta Food in Hartford’s West End

Rastafari. You say this word and people’s eyes light up with recognition. They think of Bob Marley, dreadlocks, marijuana and reggae music. It seeps of a particular “coolness” factor. Hey, even the rapper, Snoop Dogg jumped on board after a trip to Jamaica and is now calling himself Snoop Lion. I won’t even go into that. So before even telling you about “Fire and Spice,” a family run Rastafarian restaurant, it seems necessary to clarify up a few points about the subject. First, contrary to popular opinion, it is not a religion... it is a way of life. To fully understand the philosophy, I will provide some links to further readings at the bottom of this posting. But here are some pointers. #1. The philosophy is based on the prophesy made by Marcus Garvey at the turn of the century that said Africa would have a new black king, and that man would be the messiah. Shortly thereafter, Haile Selassie I was crowned king in Ethiopia. The burgeoning Rastafari movement saw him as the second coming of Jesus. Selassie however always denied this. #2. There are four symbolic colors. Yellow= wealth of Africa. Red= refers to blood and martyrdom of past Rastafari. Black= for the movement’s founders and call for return to roots. Green= rich plant life in Africa.

Ask Andrew about his reggae album when you see him...

#3. Rastas dislike “ians” and “isms” which epitomizes the “Babylonian” system that oppresses all people. Calling their practice a “religion” or “Rastafarianism” is frowned upon. The philosophy was founded in Jamaica as a tool for empowerment where they could reject Western ideals forced on them from a colonial past, and reclaim their culture and roots. #4. Ital food, derived from “vital” is clean and natural. Rastas consume no salt, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs (excluding herbs), oil and meats. Fish should be less than a foot in length. They see food as a means to create harmony with nature and as medicinal as it shapes one’s “strucha” (Patois word for structure). So what kind of food awaits you at Fire and Spice? Unlike Lion’s Den (see review in November 2011), serving more traditional ital food, here you will find a blend of vegan food mixed with ital. There are two options for dining. Ordering from the buffet, which most people seem to favor, or ordering from a printed menu which offers raw food items, sandwiches, etc. I have not tried this yet. On my last few visits there has been some confusion as the owners seem to be trying to change how food is ordered at the buffet, but are struggling because the customers are accustomed to the way things have always been.

Change is never easy. Especially in restaurants. So as it stands now, if you want to eat at one of the tables in the restaurant, you have a seat and they come take your order. It costs a dollar more. Still unsure why. The favored method by myself and other customers appears to be standing at the counter to select your items (either 3 or 5) and taking them to go. Afterall, Elizabeth Park is a short drive away, and provides a sublime environment to enjoy your food. The buffet selections are fixed and include items such as; jerk tofu, scrambled tofu, bbq pomegranate tempeh, sweet potatoes, sautéed greens, ital stew, pumpkin rice and okra. And if you have never tried Sorrel, this is the time and place. Sorrel is made from the ginger, cinnamon and dried hibiscus flowers. Not only does it taste amazing, but it is very high in antioxidants. Or if you prefer a stronger libation...they sell a few Jamaican beers for the attractive price of $4 each. I highly recommend that you try a Dragon Stout, made by the producers of Guinness.

Fire and Spice, 248 Sisson Ave, Hartford, CT 06105, (888) 367-7970
Website: http://www.firenspiceveganrestaurant.com

Top 10 Foodie Cities 2014: NEW HAVEN!!!!

From the soul food served at Sandra's Next Generation to the falafels at Mamoun's, restaurants in New Haven, Conn., cover the gamut of food genres. Students attending Yale University can get a culinary education simply by walking through downtown New Haven and sampling the cuisine found in the city's eclectic restaurants, some of which date back to the late 1800s.

Among the oldest and most beloved establishments in New Haven is Louis' Lunch, which claims to be the birthplace of the hamburger sandwich. With the addition of Snapple, the menu here is only a bit more complex than it was in the last century. Savory beef served between two pieces of bread, potato salad, chips and homemade pie are the only food items on the menu. They do one thing, and they do it well. On perhaps the opposite end of the spectrum is Claire's Corner Copia, a vegetarian restaurant offering Mexican, Italian and Mediterranean dishes along with sandwiches, veggie burgers and a bounty of desserts. Open since 1975, everything at Claire's, from the spicy buffalo soy chicken burritos to the Lithuanian coffee cake, is handmade with local ingredients. Just as revered as Louis' is Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, which most folks just call Pepe's. Founded in 1925, Pepe's draws crowds with its somewhat unusual pizza toppings. Among the most requested is the white clam pizza, but shrimp, anchovies and over-roasted chicken are also popular toppings.

New Haven residents spend more on eating out than most Americans. Many frequent neighborhood bistros and cafes that get their ingredients from nearby farms. The city's farmers markets make it easy for home cooks to prepare fresh meals.

Other places to sniff out: Prime 16, Skappo, Bella's Cafe, Da Legna

Don't miss: Dessert at Claire's Corner Copia.

(article found at livability.com) 

Event: CitySeed Community Conversation

Foodie Movies!

Two new movies are set to come out soon in theaters about my favorite subject, food. First, there is Chef. In the movie, Carl Casper suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity for its controlling owner, he is left to figure out what's next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife, his friend and his son to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen -- and zest for life and love.

Next, is The Hundred-Foot Journey, based on the bestselling novel by Richard C. Morais. The summary of the film is that Hassan Kadam and his family are displaced from their native India and resettle in a small French town where they open a restaurant. They face obstacles dealing with the proprietress of the French restaurant across the street, Madame Mallory until they eventually end up one big, happy, Franco-Indian family.