friday food obsessions

New favorite recipe in progress: Four C's soup.

Step 1) Cut the kernels off two VERY fresh ears of corn. Boil the cobs in a large pot with an inch or two of water in the bottom for 90 minutes to make a sweet lovely broth. (Use more water if you want a thin, drinkable soup, less if you want it thick.)

Step 2) Peel and seed 1 medium cucumber. Chop and add cucumber reserved corn kernels.

Step 3) When broth is done, remove from heat and add cucumber, corn kernels, and 1/2 can coconut milk. Puree until smooth with a stick blender or in a food processer/old school blender.

Experimental Step 4) Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped scallions and maybe some cilantro or basil. (I haven't done any of these things to the soup yet, but I'm planning to try it.)

Step 5) Chill overnight for the best flavor. Serve cold. Will make 2 very generous servings or 3 smaller ones.


And no recipe for this yet, but tomorrow I'm going to try to make mini whole wheat calzones with caramelized onions, zucchini, and a very tangy raw milk cheese from my favorite dairy.

P.S. Someday I might figure out what to do with this blog.

oil & water

"In Praise of Tap Water," a recent editorial in the NY Times, just reminded me that I've been meaning to write a post about tap v. bottled water for some time now. In a nutshell: you should stop buying bottled water. Or at least avoid it as much as humanly possible. Why?

- It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to make all those plastic bottles (and that's for the U.S. alone).

- When the fossil fuels burned during shipping are taken into consideration, consuming a one-liter bottle of water means consuming one liter of oil. (stats at Treehugger)

- Only 23% of those bottles are recycled, meaning that billions of these things are turning up in landfills and slowly degrading into toxic plastic dust that contaminates our soil and waterways.

- IT'S A WASTE OF YOUR MONEY!!!! Tap water is safe, clean, and does not cost $1.50 per glass. If you don't like the way yours tastes, a simple filter will fix that.

Instead, why not get into the habit of filling up a bottle from your tap at home before you leave for the day? You can follow No Impact Man's example and reuse a glass bottle or pick up a Nalgene if you want to be trendy.

If you need a visual to help convince you to ditch the bottled water habit, check this out. The photo was created by a blogger at Acterra and quite literally shows you how much oil it took to ship each bottle of water from its source to the author in San Francisco. Uh, yuck. (Originally found here.)

Summer Fling

I am so madly in love.... with my CSA. Seriously. I check the pretty new website all the time just to say hello. All I can think about at work is the stash of vegetables in my crisper drawer. I pine for my thursday pick-up all week long and fantasize about the late summer shares of FRESH corn, ripe plums, and tomatoes. Oh, god, the tomatoes. It's early yet, but I think I may have found the One.

I am so, so happy that I joined. There is nothing greater to me than being handed several pounds of organic vegetables grown less than 100 miles away. "HERE," says Farmer Ted. "You hardly ever buy radishes, turnips, or swiss chard from the Food Coop, but by god, you're going to learn to love all of them. And here's some live purple basil and dill that you can plant in old coffee cups and enjoy for years. It's all yours, girl." Fantastic.

Last night I feasted on local cherries and my new favorite, an impossibly simple radish salad. Tonight: a fritata of swiss chard, plum tomatoes (not from the CSA just yet), shallots (ditto), and parmesan cheese. Tomorrow: a stir fry of bok choy, tempeh, and garlic scapes tossed with sesame oil and soy sauce.

Want to come for dinner?


P.S.: Vinegar as fabric softener seems to have worked, miraculously enough. At least on my clothing. The towels came out pretty scratchy.

Fabric Softener/5th Grade Science Project

About my baking soda as fabric softener scheming: didn't work so well. Anyone who tells you it does is a LIAR. Stiff shirts, irritating sheets. No good. Tonight we're going to try vinegar instead, praying all the while that I won't be smelling like salad dressing for the next week.

I'm lacking the brain power and attention span for a proper post, but a few items of inspiration from this week:

Greenpa's theories about Pushing on Icebergs
Cleaning with vinegar
Making vinegar with fruit scraps

Green Washing (the good kind)

No, this post isn't about greenwashing, but about greening your laundry. I will get around to discussing the most earth-friendly clothing options soon, but an issue very much on my mind right now is washing the clothes you already have. (Laundry day cometh.)

I've received many lectures from eco-conscious friends about the evils of clothes dryers. And it's true-- the average American releases 700 lbs of carbon a year drying their clothes. But I always found drip-dried clothing and towels so stiff and unpleasant to use that I couldn't give it up.

However, it seems that one of the miracles of baking soda is that it acts as a fabric softener (and brightens your clothing) if you add it to your wash. I'm going to try it out tomorrow and, after my clothes have dried on the rack I just picked up (used on craigslist for $5) I will report back on how it worked.

And if it needs to be said: It really is ok to wash your clothes in cold water. I've been doing this for years because I'm paranoid about shrinkage and I swear, they still get clean. Unless you're washing something like scrubs that need to be washed in hot water for sanitary reasons, why use the extra energy?

Greening your NY Transportation

You may be thinking, "Hey, I walk and take the subway almost everywhere I go in the city-- why do I need to think about transportation-related emissions?" That may be true, but how many plane trips have you taken in the past year? CarbonCounter.org estimates that the average American flies 1,055 miles per year, releasing almost one-half ton of carbon dioxide into the air.

Some airlines are already looking into jet fuels blended with ethanol to reduce their emissions, but in the meantime there are other ways to reduce the carbon footprint created by your personal travel.

First, you can vacation closer to home. Do you need to fly to Florida when hundreds of miles of beautiful New Jersey and Long Island shorelines are just a train ride away? Or, if your travel is business related, consider whether a video- or tele-conference call might suffice.

Of course, some trips must be taken. Everyone has family and friends scattered across the globe and experiences a sometimes insatiable feeling of wanderlust. One way to help compensate for the emissions released during these trips is by purchasing carbon offsets at websites like Carbon Counter. Carbon offsets provide funding for green energy, R&D, and design, and therefore help to neutralize the impact of your carbon emissions. (The practices of some carbon offset providers are sometimes unclear or even shady, so it's best to research a company before purchasing offsets. The Climate Trust's Carbon Counter offsets received a positive review in this Consumer's Guide, so I've been using that site.)

Carbon offsets are also a good idea for NYC drivers. Believe it or not, over 1.7 million New Yorkers own cars.* This fact is rather mind-boggling, given the hassles of alternate side parking rules, the horrible traffic, and the high costs of owning a car in this city. If you are an NYC-dweller and a regular driver out of necessity or preference, there are still a number of ways to reduce the pollution emitted by your vehicle.

1) Make your car as fuel-efficient as possible: Keep your tires fully inflated to reduce resistance and thus save on gasoline. Make your car as light as possible by removing items like roof racks when they are not in use, and avoid storing things in your trunk.

2) When it's time to buy a new car, go hybrid: But in the meantime, advocate for the availability of E85 (a blend of 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline that can be used in most cars on the road today) in New York City. Shell is a major supplier of E85 and has many stations in NYC-- send them an email at ShellCustomerCare@shell.com or call 888-GO-SHELL. You can also sign up with the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition to receive updates on E85 availability here. For a list of E85 suppliers across the country, click here.

3) Consider renting instead of owning: Think about the time you spend driving your car to your destination and back again vs. the time you spend driving your car in circles looking for parking spots. What does that ratio look like? Perhaps renting a car only when you really need it is better for you-- especially now that many car rental companies are stocking hybrid cars.

4) Driving because you hate the subway? Try riding a bike: People of all ages commute on bicycles in New York and more bike lanes and greenways are springing up all the time. Check out Transportation Alternatives and Time's Up! for all things bike-related in New York City.

Rose-Colored Dinner

I am such a pushover for foods that are naturally colored in unexpected ways. I always need to get the multi-colored carrots the Coop stocks on occasion. Variegated lemons are irresistible to me. And I find that half the appeal of the Coop's heirloom tomato selection is the amazing variety of colors I can toss into my lunchtime salad. So of course I had to try a package of rosy-red Bhutanese rice.

This rice is only grown in Bhutan, a tiny country in the Himalayas bordered by India and China. Farmers use sustainable, self-sufficient practices out of necessity, as it is difficult to import chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or farm machinery in this mountainous, land-locked nation. Even if this were not the case, red rice grows well without fertilizers and tolerates most common pests, so it is largely unnecessary for farmers to use chemicals on their rice crops.*

Red rice is lightly milled, so it retains much of the fiber-rich hull but cooks as quickly as white rice. According to the distributor's packaging, it is "irrigated with 1,000 year old glacier water rich in trace minerals," a fact that leads some to claim that Bhutanese rice is even more nutritious than brown rice because the plants are able to absorb these 1,000 year old minerals as they grow. I was unable to find specific information about the nutritional content of red rice, but comparable whole grains like brown rice are high in many minerals, amino acids, B vitamins, protein, and both soluble and insoluble fiber.*

I was so excited to try this rice that I decided to make two dishes with it: Ema Datshi, a traditional Bhutanese chili and cheese stew, and a Red Rice Risotto served with a strawberry-plum compote and ginger ice cream.

Everything was outrageously delicious. The stew was simple but well-composed and tasty, even on a hot day. Real Bhutanese Ema Datshi is made with cubes of chewy yak's milk cheese, an ingredient that is unavailable in the U.S., so we substituted feta cheese instead. The stew is also supposed to be unbearably spicy, but being rather delicate-tongued ourselves, we chose to de-seed our jalapenos before adding them to the stew.

And the risotto... oh, the risotto. The ginger, vanilla, tangy fruit, and warm, nutty, creamy rice were perfect compliments and truly sang together in this dessert. If you try any of the recipes featured in this series, make it this one!

Ema Datshi

Ingredients:

1/2 lb jalapeno chilies, each sliced into four strips
2 yellow onions, chopped
3 1/2 cup of water
4 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 tomatoes, chopped
8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb Danish feta cheese, cubed
6 sprigs cilantro

Combine chilies, onion, water, and oil in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and garlic and simmer for 3 more minutes. Add the cheese, mix and simmer for 3 more minutes. Turn off the heat, stir in the cilantro, then cover and let stand for a few more minutes before serving over cooked Bhutanese red rice.

Serves 6

Adapted from Margarita's International Recipes

Red Rice Risotto

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked Bhutanese Red Rice
2 cups half & half
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped out with a spoon
6 tablespoons candied ginger, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
4 tablespoons butter
strawberry-plum compote
2 pints ginger ice cream (or vanilla if you would prefer)

Strawberry-Plum Compote

2 pints strawberries, halved
5 - 6 plums, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons water

Red Rice Risotto:
Combine the cream, milk, sugar, vanilla seeds, and ginger in a large saucepan over low heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Slowly stir in the rice and return to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Warm the compote in a saucepan and reserve. When the mixture is creamy, not thick, add the butter to the rice, and stir to incorporate. Place the rice into bowls, add a spoonful or two of the compote, and top with a scoop of ice cream.

Strawberry-Plum Compote:
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and place over low heat, bring to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, check the sweetness adding more sugar if necessary. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Serves 8

Adapted from WorldPantry.com

Bhutanese Rice Elsewhere on the web:

The rice harvest in Bhutan

Bhutanese food in Outlook Traveler Magazine

Greening Your New York Life: An Introduction

I feel it is important to start this blog by exploring what one's personal priorities might be as they strive to reduce their individual impact on the earth. Is it better to purchase reusable grocery bags or go with plastic and spend the extra cash on the more expensive organic berries? Should you buy organic cotton or bamboo fiber clothing? To recycle or not to recycle?

These are enormous, hotly contested issues that I could never do justice to in a single blog post. What I would like to do instead is give a general overview now of the areas of the average New Yorker's life that leave the biggest footprint and examine each one individually in future posts.

To guide me in this effort I headed over to the library and picked up a copy of The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, written by members of the Union of Concerned Scientists. These delightful nerds suggest consumers focus on three specific areas: transportation, food, and electricity consumption. I will also review clothing choices and household cleaning products, and just might horrify all of us by looking at the impact of dining out versus cooking for yourself.

In some instances I will dare to disagree with the scientists' opinions. For example, I was shocked when The Consumer's Guide suggested that it wasn't worth worrying about our frequent (and single) use of plastic shopping bags and disposable cups. Their argument: these items make up such a tiny percentage of our trash that our time and energy is better spent on other forms of waste. But in the United States alone we consume 2.4 million tons of these non-biodegradable, petroleum-based bags every year. Think about how painless it would be to switch to using one of the dozens of fabric bags you have in your apartment right now as your grocery shopping bag. Or how simple it would be to shove an extra plastic bag into your purse or messenger bag in the morning in case you made an unexpected shopping trip that day. It's such an easy way to reduce waste and oil consumption--so why not do it?

The same goes for disposable cups. If you simply must have a $3 coffee from starbucks, why not bring your reusable travel mug from home for them to fill? And if you have a sink, a sponge, and some dish detergent in your office, there really isn't any reason to use disposable cups every day. And just think of how cool you'd look drinking your coffee from one of these!

I will post ruminations on other easy ways--as well as some more challenging ones--to reduce your impact on the environment in the coming days. In the meantime, go dig out your tote bag collection before you finish your weekend shopping!

Fun with Root Vegetables

It’s not that I’ve never tried any of the more exotic offerings of the Food Coop’s produce aisle. I snatch up cherimoyas and gai lan whenever they’re available, and have sampled crazy things like black sapotes and monster fruits many times. But somehow I failed to pick up a daikon once in my four years of coop membership—until now.

Daikon is a radish with Chinese origins and is an important part of many Asian cuisines. Outside of the Coop you’ve probably seen it grated and served as a garnish, mixed in tempura sauce, or pickled. It is also often made into kimchi along with cabbage, or as a substitute for it.

Serious daikon aficionados (they exist, surely?) might visit Tano, Japan, the world capital of daikon pickling. Following each harvest, hundreds of daikon drying racks (each one as long as 150 feet) spring up across the town to prepare the radishes for processing. Daikon are typically dried in the open air for 10 days, as the withered roots tend to produce a sweeter pickle. Sadly, Tano does not seem to host its own daikon festival, but such festivals do occur in Tokyo and Honolulu.

If you purchase daikon from the Coop, you should not accept the check-out worker’s polite request to remove the green leafy top, as I did, even if this makes it easier to get the radishes on the scale. Not only are these leaves apparently edible and delicious, but they are also chock full of vitamin C, calcium and iron.* The root itself contains 34% of your RDA supply of vitamin C, enzymes thought to aid in digestion, and only 18 calories per three ounce serving.*

Because this was my first daikon cooking experience, I chose a simple recipe that would allow its flavor to shine through—a salad with watercress, bell pepper, and a white wine vinaigrette.


This cruciferous voyage of discovery led me to an important realization: I do not like watercress. At all. I can appreciate bitter greens, but the powerful astringency of those tender little leaves proved to be way too much for me. If you’re not a watercress fan either, you could make this salad with arugula or baby spinach instead and it would taste just dandy.



Watercress, Bell Pepper, and Daikon Radish Salad

Ingredients:

2 tsp white wine vinegar
1/8 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 medium daikon radish (about 1/4 lb), peeled and sliced into julienne strips
1 bunch watercress, rinsed, coarse stems removed
1 red bell pepper, sliced into julienne strips

Whisk together the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Drizzle in the oil, whisking, until the dressing has emulsified. Add the remaining ingredients and toss well.

Note: Daikon has a natural bitterness. If you wish to reduce its pungency, you can soak the sliced daikon in cold water for up to 30 minutes before tossing it into the salad.

Serves 4

Adapted from Epicurious.com

Daikon elsewhere on the web:

Cuddly anthropomorphic daikon
Great photo of daikon drying racks in Tano
Daikon pickle recipe

prison break

It is now day 3 of my vermicomposting experience, and things are going reasonably well. We've had a few attempted escapes--two successful prison breaks, although no casualties yet--but no serious problems. No bugs and, miraculously enough, no smells outside the bin yet, although if you lift the lid, well... it smells like nature at work in there. Today I tried giving some vegetable scraps a quick spin in my food processor to see if that helps speed up the composting process.

Further updates to come, as well as some more interesting posts and, eventually, desperate pleas for people to take compost off my hands.

Stay tuned.

My 137 new pets

Today I picked up a vermicomposting bin from the Union Square Greenmarket. In addition to my ventilated plastic bin I received a cardboard milk (organic, natch) carton loaded with over 100 worms.

As soon as I got home from work today I set about getting my worms settled. The guy who sold them to me told me to soak a newspaper in tap water, squeeze out all the excess water, and shred it into long strips to make the worm bedding. He specifically recommended I buy a copy of the (25 cent) NY Post, and while I think that worm food is one of the few good uses for that particular rag, I chose to give my new friends some higher quality sustenance and shredded an old copy of the Times instead.


After that I gently poured the carton of worms on top of the fresh bedding,


and allowed them to squirm their way under the newspaper. I've had some trouble finding instructions as to when exactly I can start adding vegetable scraps to the bin, so I'm holding off for now, but I plan to mix in some pulverized canteloupe rinds tomorrow. Expect more updates on my worms in the future!

If you live in NYC and would like to get your own: the bin and worms cost only $55 from the Lower East Side Ecology Center, which has a booth at the greenmarket every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm.

Welcome!

I'm starting this blog to document my efforts to try to live as greenly as possible in New York City. I hope to share everything I learn along the way and receive feedback and tips from readers so that we can help each other make the most sustainable, carbon neutral, and generally earth friendly choices possible.

Among the topics I plan to cover in this blog: local green services & businesses; my adventures in indoor composting; a "Meet the Ingredients" series on the frightening chemicals and additives in foods, pesticides, and household products; and lots (LOTS) on local, organic, and sustainable foods.

I look forward to exploring the sustainable city with you!