Fun Foodie Art and Competition on Etsy

"Etsy artists: light the creative fires! We've got an opportunity for the food lovers in the house".
"As you know, we're very excited about the upcoming Good Food Awards. GFA is also hosting their first annual Poster Design Competition and three winning designs will be on prominent display during Good Food Month, an extended celebration of artisan foods to be held throughout January in hundreds of venues around the Bay Area.
If this piques your curiosity, here’s what you need to do. Pick one of the themes — cheese and preserves, chocolate and coffee, or charcuterie and pickles — or submit to all three. Brainstorm. Snack. Ideally, do these simultaneously. Then create an original design according to the specifications. The deadline is October 1st, and entrants will be notified by October 30th.
What’s to gain? Winning designs will be featured in restaurants, grocery stores (including Whole Foods), galleries, bookstore windows and on the Good Food Awards website. The designs will be the main event posters for Good Food Month, each representing one of the themed weeks. Additional edible rewards include a basket of treats from celebrated local Good Food producers that match your poster theme, and two tickets to the Good Food Awards Marketplace.
In spirit of the competition, we searched Etsy for talented food illustrators — and it came as no surprise that we found an ample supply with a great variety of styles. Feast your eyes on these yummy interpretations and let them inspire your own!"

(I also am really digging the food art that is for sale on Etsy, check em out!)

Fresh and Local, Part III: Pizza made to order at the farmers markets!

     I have been hearing a tremendous buzz lately about these amazing looking pizzas that are being made to order at local farmers markets across the state. They are cooked on a portable wood fired clay oven by a group called "Farm to Hearth" that started up last year.
     Here is their motto: "Farm to Hearth was established in order to showcase our passion for wood fired baking and bring honest, uncompromised food into the community. We are committed to sourcing our ingredients from small scale local farms that utilize sustainable growing practices.This is our philosophy for two reasons: First, to support the farms that are committed to caring for our precious land so it remains fertile for generations to come. Second, to provide our local community with the freshest, most nutrient packed food possible. Food that has not been treated with chemicals or preservatives, sat in warehouses or had been shipped from another part of the world."
      Sounds delicious to me! I can't wait to try them, I am getting hungry looking at the pictures of their pizza creations online. And since I missed today's appearance at Billings Forge Farmers Market in Hartford, I might try to catch them in Coventry this Sunday at the Nathan Hale Homestead farmers market from 11-2. I advise you to try to catch them as well, we'll nosh together and compare tasting notes.

Free Cooking Classes

Free technique classes offered at your local William Sonoma store! I think this is a great idea for getting re-inspired about fall cooking. After all, with the change of weather coming on, the best part of the day sometimes can be coming home to enjoy those warming, nourishing fall and winter meals full of whole grains, apples, pears and earthy spices. For most of my readers, the most convienent location is probably the West Farms Mall location.

TECHNIQUE CLASSES
Presented free of charge, each hour-long-class is dedicated to a specific topic led by one of our culinary experts. Class size is limited, so reserve your space today.

Sunday, September 12
Risotto
A specialty of northern Italy, risotto has earned a place as a legendary Italian dish and is now a favorite outside its homeland as well. Risotto can be embellished with savory ingredients, including cheeses, vegetables, meats and seafood, as well with as sweet additions like dried fruit. As you’ll discover in this class, risotto will quickly become one of the most versatile and well-loved dishes in your repertoire.

Sunday, September 19
Indoor Grilling
Even with the arrival of fall, you can still enjoy the succulent flavors of grilled meats and vegetables. This class will focus on the technique of indoor grilling — how to capture those summer favorites in your own kitchen. We’ll show you how to make classic pollo alla mattone (chicken under a brick) and share tips and other recipes that will inspire you throughout the fall season.

Sunday, September 26
Fall Baking

As the chill of autumn sets in, it’s time to fill your house with the enticing aroma of home-baked goods. In this class you’ll learn to bake tempting cool-weather treats that showcase the best of the autumn harvest, including apples, pears and other seasonal ingredients.

Fresh and Local, Part II: CitySeed and Zinc

     Fresh and Local are definately the "it" words of the year. More and more often I am seeing these words splattered across menus, websites, grocery stores and entering mainstream vocabulary. And restauranteurs are getting the hint that their patrons are starting to get more savvy when it comes to what they are consuming and wanting to know where it comes from. For instance, with as many disasters are we are having, such as with the Gulf situation who wouldn't start to be concerned with the source of their foods?
     If you are somebody who usually patronizes restaurants that strive to offer organic or vegetarian fare, this inclusion of the terms "fresh and local" into mainstream vocabulary comes as a bit of a bore, and you are probably thinking to yourself that it's about time that they finally jumped aboard. Well, the interesting part of this news is that mainstream restaurants are getting the message. One such restaurant is Zinc in New Haven where you can go to enjoy their "Zinc Farmers Market Menu" which is the result of the partnering of the restaurant with CitySeed, the organization responsible for New Haven's farmers markets. The Chef & Owner of Zinc, Denise Appel will collect her ingredients for the menu from the Downtown Market each Wednesday and then create the week's menu from her finds. The four course, fixed price menu will change each week depending on what is available at the market. The menu will be available Wednesday through Saturday.

Denise Appel / ZINC

Here is one of her sample menus:

MARKET MENU
Week of August 25 - 28
Three Course, Fixed Price Tasting Menu
$29 per person + tax and gratuity
$38 per person with optional fourth cheese course*

FIRST COURSE
Roasted Beet/ Fresh Mozzarella Cheese/ Rosemary Balsamic Reduction/ Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Liuzzi's Cheese, North Haven, CT
Urban Oaks, New Britain, CT

SECOND COURSE
Fresh Vegetarian Fettuccine/ Basil + Walnut Pesto/ Roasted Elephant Garlic/ Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes/ Italian Eggplant Caponata
Urban Oaks, New Britain, CT
Stone Garden, Shelton, CT
Rose's Berry Farm, South Glastonbury, CT

DESSERT
Summer Melon Terrine/ Whipped Yogurt/ Basil/ Watermelon Granita
Urban Oaks, New Britain, CT

Optional fourth course*

CHEESE
Kunik Cheese/ Grafton Cheddar/ Local Honey/ Toasted Raisin + Nut Bread
Nettle Meadow Farm, Thurman, NY
Grafton Village Cheese, Grafton, VT
Jones' Apiaries, Farmington, CT

Cocktail Special
Aperol/ Grapefruit/ Splash Prosecco on the Rocks

Websites
http://www.cityseed.org/
http://www.zincfood.com/

Green Velvet and buttery Coconut Soup...mmmmm

You can print this coupon off the restaurant website

     It's been such a long time that Kashmir has been a staple in my dining repertoire, that I can no longer remember the first time that I ate there. Neither can I remember being greeted and served by anyone other than Martin, who has owned the restaurant for 28 years. Despite my going to check out other new Indian restaurants that have opened in the Hartford area, such as Bombay Spice, Indian Oven, Taste of India, etc, I always return to Kashmir. Some of the reasons for this. I crave foods that actually have spices in them. One of my biggest peeves is going to an ethnic food restaurant and the flavors and spices have been mutilated to suit "american tastes", which in my book equals drab, bland, flavorless, and almost inedible. I can't think of a greater travesty to the foodie palate.

     One of the most comforting things about Kashmir is how relaxed it is. I love going there after an especially gruelling day and sinking into one of the green velvet booths, and spoiling myself with a bowl of buttery coconut soup and letting the stresses of the day melt away with each sip. Dinner is always equally pleasurable. Some of my favorites are the Channa Masala, Okra or Baingan Bartha. Best of all, Martin serves your meal with a nice bunch of side dishes; yellow lentils, cabbage and red onion chutney at no extra cost. And you have to make sure to get an order of their nice and buttery paratha bread to scoop up your food with. In case you can't tell, I adore butter. And I adore Kashmir. Maybe that should be where I go for dinner tonight. Hmmmmm.    

Website: http://www.kashmirhartford.com/ (partial menu)

Dinner and a Movie in Hartford

Looks like a fun event happening in Hartford this Friday night at The Charter Oak Cultural Center. The address is:  21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106. Ph. 860-249-1207.

Movie in the Garden

August 27, 2010 7:45 pm
Join us for dinner and a movie outside in our garden. We will be showing Cool Runnings, the unforgettable story of Jamaica’s very first Olympic bobsled team. Free. The movie will be shown indoors if it rains. Dinner served at 7:45pm, movie at 8:15pm.

the team practicing in Jamaica

Quotes from one foodie to another, part II

"We think fast food is equivalent to pornography, nutritionally speaking" ~Steve Elbert
"Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn." ~Garrison Keillor
"Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?" ~Author Unknown
"Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people". ~Elizabeth Berry
"After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual "food" out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps." ~Miss Piggy
"The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." ~G.K. Chesterton
"A bagel is a doughnut with the sin removed." ~George Rosenbaum
"In Mexico we have a word for sushi: bait." ~José Simons
"A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat." ~Old New York Proverb

"It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician." ~Meryl Streep 
"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." ~James Beard
"I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead - not sick, not wounded - dead." ~Woody Allen
"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside." ~Mark Twain
"Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie." ~Astrid Alauda
"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." ~Calvin Trillin
"He who eats alone chokes alone." ~Proverb
"Tell me what you eat, I'll tell you who you are." ~Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
"As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists." ~Joan Gussow
"And, of course, the funniest food of all, kumquats." ~George Carlin