Fertile Crescent

This past weekend at the grocery store, I tried (as usual) to find local fruits and berries, especially since California is all dried up, which is also typical and annually occurring. Thirsty berries from a huge conglomerate in Watsonville, California that also bought land in Mexico for an artificially induced, year-round growing season? WHY?! 

Because the system is crooked, that's why. And here I was, looking for them new strawberries designed by Rutgers University (http://news.rutgers.edu/news/better-tasting-strawberry-developed-rutgers-makes-its-debut/20150510#.VYgkFvAYFV4), which will be commercially available next year. (Note: Jersey, y'all can grab them at a nearby farm stand NOW, you lucky "sumthin'-or-othas"). Yeah, that accent's "phresh". Keep it! It'll keep 'em on point about who you are.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes: the futility of growing in a semi-arid climate and calling it "climate change", which is up there with spending billions of dollars to tunnel underneath Lake Mead, so them crazy-asses in Vegas (never the most legit town, but when are desert outposts square with the rest of society, right?) can drain it like a bathtub: http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/water-environment/they-re-getting-ready-pull-the-plug-the-bottom-lake-mead-photos. 

It's so fucked up, I don't know how to address the basics behind such rottenly bad and obviously corrupt thinking, but here it goes:

1) Growing is better near available and replenishable fresh water: http://www.tenshadesofgreen.org/shade2.html

2) Deserts do not grow as well as fertile river valleys, because....

3) ....life grows in valleys. See also: "The Seat of All Mankind" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertile_Crescent) and Chapter One of The Holy Bible (http://biblehub.com/genesis/2-14.htm).

I really can't make it more simple than that, so if you don't get it, go take yet another class "Special Ed". No! I'm done with your tired ass. NOW, GO!

Christ on a....I will NOT tolerate another Great Depression or Dust Bowl from your dumb ass. I really can't this century. I CAN'T.

Your homework is posted here down below, and yes, you need to click on the link to see the information provided, so DO SOMETHING:

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/EI168.1 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19955191, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainmaking, 
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl.

I love you, and I want you to GROW: bit.ly/1N8G6ds

Oh, snap!

Absolutely no bullshit on this label and it's locally made. Nice!

You know by now that I am an open advocate for local foods and sustainable resources, that includes supporting our area's agricultural enterprises, be they big or small. Because of this "trend" in consumer buying, "Marketeers" edge in on this niche by any means possible, in search of The Almighty Dollar. How to describe the vicious amped-up caffeinated energy of an ad/promo/marketing personnel accurately? Crazed "Rah Rah!" phony cheerleader type (a.k.a. the "Positivity Princess" from Lego The Movie: http://i.imgur.com/YzcY3AC.gif) addicted to running marathons lest reality catch up to her? YES! 
Bob the Sales Guy with serious mother issues and deep-seed neuroses in plural? Double down! They're like the douchebag office people who don't run companies or start them or make anything, but they will pillage your work to rip you off if they can, without totally killing you off, like a parasite does. Yeah, like that.

Healthy and tastes great: it IS possible to have both.

Same thing with consumer brands and the a#@holes who manage them. They will, in literal truth, kill people off with their poisonous food stuffs to make a buck off that nice Grandma on her fixed Social Security income, or anyone else who gets in their way. Not good people, is what I'm telling you. Up there (in terms of "bad") with a pharmaceutical rep or tobacco company lobbyist in Washington. 
Like, total scum, but of the rich white kind, which means they look down their noses on the poor people who are addicted to the sh%t they sell. Kinda like, if the folks from Soylent Green (both the movie and the book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green) had much less of a conscience. Yeah. They care that little about your ugly, painful, tragic death and huge medical bills. Try selfish, of a monstrous "Godzilla" type size.

Do the work and read. It's not that hard.

So, what to do? No worries, Mom's here. Well, first, you read things. Like, a lot of things, and don't ever stop reading. The worst thing you can do to a "Shopping Monster" is to carefully read the ingredients printed on packaging and the product label.  My mom taught me early on to do it (and how to pronounce the pesky and obscure Latin-based terminology in make-believe foodstuffs, because "Dr. Diane" was also in  food science), and now I'm telling you all about it.

Bitchin' product with great ingredients "Made in the USA". Yay!

There's been some great changes in the fight for our health and that of our children's children, the brightest being the more frequent availability of US-based goods. I'm not some jingoistic isolationist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingoism) looking to inbreed for weirdo reasons. Far from it. I actually believe in commerce and trade as someone who does business at an international level. I also do know that most big producing countries, like China for example, do not have federal bodies like the USDA (http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome) for quality-control or the FDA as a consumer watchdog agency (http://www.fda.gov/) because, like aforementioned "Food Gangsters", they do not care whether you and your family live or die. I know! That's so bad.

Real food made here and certified by a trade organization.

I do find some great things that I want to continue to share with you (http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2015/01/like-water-for-chocolate.html), including local products that may also by Non-GMO certified (http://www.nongmoproject.org/), not because I get paid to promote products, because I don't. Want to know my "ad revenue"? You're looking at it. A word-based Google Ads feature that I can control with the type of content I publish by attaching word labels to posted features, and that can go away anytime I want it to. For the record, I think my mom got one payday from them for $11.00 that I asked her to cash and keep, and that was years ago.

Wow! An actual New York State herbal farm product. Cool!

No, I do it because it's the right thing to do and I believe in it. Like, for reals and stuff. Because I would never trust anyone who told me one thing and then did another. Hypocrisy is the worst form of evil in my faith, and now you know about that, too (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23). A wise person once said that you don't have to remember to tell the truth if you don't lie, and I couldn't agree more. It's the season for it, so why not start now? You'll feel better for it, I promise. I've been to Hell and back, my peeps, and it lives in an office building. An "April's Fool", indeed.

Oh, I see. Joke's on me, as a hidden "f#ck y@*" I didn't see coming.

Flew the Coop

Yep, you read it right: "Backyard Chickens for Beginners" bitches!

I believe in the great educational institutions and huge agriculture of New York state like its' yesterday's news, and it totally is. We've been doin' this a very long time. Every once in awhile, I get a whiff of "Big Agra" out west trying to co-opt our rep as the so-called American Heartland, and here's the problem with that kind of thinking: a semi-arid desert does not a fertile river valley make. It really just doesn't make it. Oh sure, you can artificially prop it up as a competition with the use of freely given government hand-outs, but the thing is, we have all of human history on our side, like the way water flows downhill. It's a part of our nature, and I'd love to have you on board with me.

Special thanks to my peeps at Cornell (my oldest bro's Alma Mater for grad school) for keeping our history alive through these small, local satellite programs that serve as outreach to the community. We need you! And I will be in touch with you in the future about growing chickens for their fresh eggs in my backyard. Can't get more organic than that! Future neighbors, please take note now: hens do not "cock-a-doodle-do" at dawn like a male rooster, so know your stuff beforehand. Thanks friends, and please keep reading.  
You are my audience.

http://rocklandcce.org/ 

http://rocklandcce.org/events/2015/04/07/-backyard-chickens-for-beginners

Summer Foods

Fried pork chop with onions.

Plated.

Summer pasta with onions and Jersey-fresh green squash.

Angel hair pasta with broccoli, onions, and a light cheese sauce.

Fully plated, with toasted bread on the side.

Oven-roasted chicken, seasoned simply with salt and pepper.

So flavorful and juicy! Hittin' it hard.

Homemade chicken salad with ripe Hudson Valley apple and diced onion.

Eggplant tomato sauce with shells.

Breaded chicken breast with mushroom sauce and side of shells.

Shells with a mushroom and onion sauce.

Pork cutlet breaded with seasoned quinoa oatmeal.

Shells with meat sauce.

Sweet Cherries

My life, in a bag of cherries: 
bilingual, Oneontan, sweet, and always in season.

Food: Creamy Pasta

Penne and sausage and zucchini and cream. Oh, my!

We have a bounty of perfectly beautiful, succulent green squash from New Jersey pouring into the store with a rich profusion that screams "Cook with me!" Yeah!! I've waited months for this kind of produce. 

Sometimes I treat my kitchen and pantry items like an episode from the cooking show Chopped: What can I make from what I have on hand? It's actually really fun, without the intense on-camera pressure, berating, viciously competitive saboteurs, and the brutal, insanely quick time line.

A bowlful of pasta perfection!

I decided to combine the squash sitting so perkily and prettily on the refrigerator shelf with some leftover penne, pecorino romano, a little light cream, all natural sausage flavored with spices, sea salt, and natural flavorings, tossed into garlic and onion fried in coconut oil, all items I bought on sale and in season. Mmm, mmm, mmm!
Take a look for yourself, and see.

Welcome to summer, readers! Today is the first day.

The Blooming Onion

A wild onion, right out of the ground.

I've loved wandering around in the woods as long as I can remember. There are so many cool things to discover: ponds filled with tadpoles swimming furiously in every direction, bugs zipping by with their shiny, iridescent wings glinting in the sunlight; all manner of plants, trees, flowers, grasses and shrubs of too many varieties to count.

In recent years, I've returned to the landscape of my youth in the Hudson Valley to discover anew it's now "hip" culinary status (like the much more lauded and touristy Napa Valley, for which I am also glad of our relative obscurity), as an area with an incredible bounty of wild edibles, abundant in their profusion. Such is the case with the rich river valleys that serve as the traditional birthing grounds of our species, like the ancient river delta of the Nile and the holy Ganges in India.

My lovely specimen, now in bloom.

Here I find a native type of grape, there dandelion greens, once disparaged as the poor fodder of immigrants (http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2013/06/nature-edibles.html), now elevated to trendy, gourmet status as a health food, along with the many other types of onions, garlic, and greens you can pull straight from the ground, once the stems reach the right height. I've eaten food immediately after it's pulled from the dirt, wiped clean on my shirt, and there's nothing fresher or better in taste to compare it to: http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2013/06/food-farming.html.

I pulled one such specimen from the ground several weeks ago, and I liked it so much, I put it in some water at home. Lo to me now, it budded indoors, at the exact same time as the varieties I see outdoors during my daily walks, noting changes and details to the landscape with kind, loving attention. I don't know if I yet have the temerity to cook with such a common "weed", which is what we considered native plant species many years ago, because they've been set up to be a far cry from the perfectly modified, factory-cultivated, "pretty" produce that's sold at grocery stores at a considerable markup, but I'm working up to it. Enjoy the fruits of your labor this week, my friends.

A red wild onion variety, also in bloom, outdoors.

Food: Springtime Bounty

Stuffed Eggplant with Chicken Sausage, tomato and onion..

 I've been reaping the benefits of locally grown fresh vegetables for weeks now, taking pictures of dishes that look particularly savory.  
Let's dive in!

Skirt steak with fresh Jersey string beans & boysenberry sauce reduction.

New Jersey is called The Garden State for good reason; they produce an extraordinarily huge selection of very high quality fruits and vegetables, making it a veritable gardener and chef's delight. So, when I see them highlighted at my grocery store (which is a mere five minute drive from the Jersey border), I dive in with all my senses, smelling and sniffing for freshness.

Warm radish and string bean salad with honey glaze.

One week I used green beans in my cooking, the week prior it was eggplant. Think of sustainable cooking like the greatest culinary game you ever played: what can you make with what's available and in season? Try it. You might just come out a better chef.

The Last Days of Shishmaref

Like so many people this time of year, I've been dragging around town half-heartedly doing errands, in an effort to get my chores done before a full-blown cold settles in. I'm really tired, necessitating lots of tea, napping, and the elimination of dairy products from my diet, at the suggestion of a local barista and my doctor alike. While I rest up with that run-down feeling, I've been catching up on t.v. with a few DVDs from the library.

"The Last Days of Shishmaref", a documentary about a region of Alaska and the native Eskimo people who live a traditional lifestyle there, is a visually arresting movie. It's wild America at its most beautiful.

The climate is quickly changing in a warming trend that's been dramatically effecting the seasons for a long time now, with the polar ice caps melting to catastrophic effect. Bearing the brunt of this global impact are the Inupiaq people, who have relied upon seasonality to provide for their families for over 4,000 years.

Worsening storms from enormous ice melts and longer warm seasons have caused so much damage to their small island, that the tribe has already moved their homes back from the shoreline once. Sadly, that's not enough to save it. Shishmaref will soon be totally under water. 

The good news is that part of the mainland has been reclaimed for their tribe. They will still have their ancestral hunting grounds and fishing territories, though serious adjustments will be made by their moving. They have been an island people for a very long time.

While the wheels of government adjust slowly to our everday realities, the fact is this: relocation is extremely costly to people and the environment. The move for Shishmaref costs about $186 million, money that could have been spent on sustainable, eco-friendly tenchonlogies a long time ago. What say we make the wheels of change move a little quicker? The indigenous people of the Americas were here first. It's only fair: http://www.thelastdaysofshishmaref.com/shishmaref3/cms/cms_module/index.php

In this global world we live in, we are all neighbors.