SLOW FOOD, MAINE-STYLE

Getting a little sentimental with a clam in this photo! This beach was loaded with giant clams, an unlikely event since we arrived after the record storm that closed ports. Thus, lots of molusks escaped the fishing vessels and landed joyfully on the beach. Seeing their advent, I sought to know the secrets of the ocean from the clam itself.

John and I just returned from Maine, seemingly, one of the capitals of Slow Food. The idea of slow food feels new to Utah, but in the East, they seem to speak this language more natively. They've been speaking it longer, that's for sure. The economy in Maine is made up almost entirely of cottage industries which are more sustainable than our industrial way of life out West. It's such a "literal" breath of fresh air. What is it about the West that seems to encourage new, unchecked and out-of-control growth? (St. George in southern Utah is the fastest growing city in the United States.) Though it's harder to get a great paying job in Maine than in Utah, look at the quality of life there. No grotesquely-large homes build with gaudy Greecian pillars on the hill of a small agricultural community. And the big box stores were mostly contained in "mall" neighborhoods. Or in Freeport, which I loved, all the big box stores are housed within old historic structures, or build to resemble them. Even the McDonald's was not allowed to hoist their fiberglass golden arch into the sky.
Looks like it's housed in some old home. In Freeport, everything seems to fit, to belong there.



More about Freeport from Boston Globe travel guide: (Incidentally, John and I were snapped by the photographer and it looks like made the travel guide!)http://www.explorenewengland.com/travel?photo_gallery=maine/galleries/freeport/&pg=9


Obviously fresh lobster, crab, mussels, clams and and other yummy molusks served at local restaurants are all taken from the sea within a short distance from neighboring harbors. From the fisherman right to your plate! Maine lobster is the best. Somehow, eating right from the harbor gives you a sense of place hard to experience when eating in the west. Restaurants here serve food from all over, it seems, so eaters perhaps get a little jet lagged after partaking. Just a thought. Really though, it does elevate the experience when you know you are eating locally-- besides the food tastes better. This lobster roll from Gilbert's in Portland was to die for.



Another great place, in Freeport, is the rustic tavern at Haraseeket Inn. I ate from their buffet: local fish and chips, mussels, hand-cranked pasta dishes, roasted farm veges and fresh berries or rhubard baked up in pies. On the back of their menu was a list of all the farmers and markets where they get their food. Another feel-good dinner.
Look at this Website and note:
Chilled Maine Lobsters from Potts Harbor with dandelion aioli;Organic Greens from New Leaf Farm

http://www.harraseeketinn.com/site/MothersDay07.shtml

And another place I loved, was a market in Belfast. A huge bulk-food section; buckets of cashew and peanut butter. The guy at the cheese counter pointed out all the local cheeses; spigots flowing with Maine maple syrup and lots of fresh produce and cottage-made treats wrapped in plastic and bearing a crafty label telling you where in Maine the treat came from. Loved it!


Belfast Coop's mission: "Fresh Produce from potatoes to artichokes free of agricultural chemicals. . . Competitively priced organic produce awaits your selection from local vegetables and fruits to exotic fruits from around the globe. . . A priority to support local organic and natural farmers. We have in season a large selection of fruits and vegtables. We have free-range and organic poultry products, organically raised beef products and our own hand crafted sausages from naturally raised animals. Seafood products either come from local distributors or from the fisherman directly."

January 12- slow food night

Short post, but this was really a slow food night. We made crepes with fresh eggs from down the road and goat's milk (I don't think anyone knew I used goat's milk), chicken and chilis in a creme sauce, yogurt, and for dessert, sweet crepes filled with fresh berries and topped with melted dark chocolate or powered sugar. It was pretty simple, but we made dozens of crepes. I even had to borrow a few eggs from the neighbors because people demanded, "more, we want more!" Not really, no one was demanding. The crepes induced a merriness that reminded me of Christmas. Everyone ended up singing afterwards while we passed around the guitar.

Christmas tea.. I'm trying to get the gang together for tea and cookies, at the least, this month, since It's Christmas. But we have yet to get our schedules to align.

So December's slow food night, might have to happen spontaneously. If anyone gets hungry this month, just call and we'll throw something together.

Love
Jen

The vices of eating alone

Why a dinner group? Thing is, I don't like eating alone. I think it's criminal. I love to share food. I was one of those kids who wanted to make cookies for all the kids in my elementary school. I wanted to feed the school. I practically did because I have 5 siblings. As a kid I was excited to come home from school and take over the kitchen with my creative and choatic cooking. I think part of feeding others is this: to cook is to create-- and to share what you've cooked is like making others happy with what you've created. It's pretty simple.

I also like the process of cooperating to create things. You know, put the onions and butter in a pan, add fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, taste. . . add sugar, salt, think of what else you need. Then in walks a friend with some oregano and fresh olives from the market. She's also got an idea of what it needs, and sure enough, she was right.



Why

Every month since July, we've been putting on the food- for a Slow Food Night. Follow ours on this Blog, or start your own.
If you join us, we require only three things:

1. Bring a dish you make from scratch, or that you know where it comes from (local food, farm food, organic whole food.)
2. Be able to tell a story about your food, where the ingredients come from or how you learned to cook it like that (it can be a way of sharing your family's treasured recipes with each other.)
3. Attach a link of your Slow Food Night Blog to our Slow Food Waltz Blog.

More about SLOW FOOD and the slow food movement- http://www.slowfood.com/. "Created to protect the pleasures of the table from the homogenization of modern fast food."

Every month we will share our food stories along with photos on this Blog- stories that connect us with our food and with each other.

FOR ALL WHO:

*Can taste the difference between tomatoes from the garden vs. supermarket

*Enjoy gardening- pulling or digging bunches of green leafy things from the soil

One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener's own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race. -Wendell Berry

*View a forest of ripe berries as one of the Wonders of the World (you love to take home buckets but wind-up cramming most of it in your mouth while on the spot)

*Feel slighted when you cook from a package
*Don't like to eat alone (unless you are a parent and need a break from your kids)
*Love to cook, or would like to learn to cook from scratch
*Have inherited a dozen or more recipes that your Mom, Dad, grandparents or great-grandparents used to cook and have handed down

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.

*Love to hear stories and tell stories about the food you are eating
*Like to know where your food comes from
*Care about farmers who care about the land
*Possess a distain for dieting and commercial "diet" food

American consumers have no problem with carcinogens, but they will not purchase any product, including floor wax, that has fat in it. -Dave Barry

*Aren’t afraid of indulging in delicious food

Just think of all those women on the Titanic who said, "No, thank you," to dessert that night. And for what! -Erma Bombeck

School lunch with the 9th grader-

So today I ate lunch at a public school cafeteria: a blob of big fat greasy spaghetti noodles with a little meat and lots of sauce on a rectangular styrofoam plate. It came with a roll and anything I wanted in the "self-serve" salad bar (which I opted out of, knowing the personal hygiene of junior high students going through the line ahead of me.) It tasted like that canned Chef Boyardee stuff. I felt kind of sick after I ate it. I wanted to ask the students, "how can you eat this stuff everyday?" it's a little wierd that during the time that they are growing the fastest, some, or most of these kids are eating the most discusting food imaginable. School lunch is probably good compared with the junk food they down.

Toward the end of our slow food night, we started to get a little silly, maybe it was those beet greens kicking in, but here's what it looked like.



"Toni, cucumber over and visit?"



"I'd love to, but I have a date with my garden- my carrots need some extra attention,"





Here is Toni and Jenie singing that James Taylor song:......"Shower the people you love with veges, show them the way that you feel...."