tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59933590244153501792024-03-13T21:43:08.343-07:00Adventures of a College FoodieThe reviews, recipes, and ramblings of a food-loving college student.collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-30292678952258548362009-02-28T09:19:00.000-08:002009-02-28T10:43:50.155-08:00Be vewy quiet... We're hunting wabbits... and Wecipes!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SamDQGwbZgI/AAAAAAAAACY/cg8zoHa9oZU/s1600-h/Finchs+Rabbit+Pasta.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SamDQGwbZgI/AAAAAAAAACY/cg8zoHa9oZU/s320/Finchs+Rabbit+Pasta.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307917948547720706" /></a><br />My, what a month February has been. I've continued on my crusade to eat (mostly) at locally owned restaurants and what fun it has been! I've tried out some new places (well, new to me anyway) and found some gems at some of my old favorites. I popped into <a href="http://www.finchsbrasserie.com/">Finch's</a> on my lunch break a couple of weeks ago, and at the encouragement of my stellar server and foodie partner in crime, Sarah (blogmistress at <a href="http://iueats.typepad.com/">IU Eats</a>), I ordered the rabbit pasta to go with a glass of my favorite Cote du Rhone wine. It was a surprising lunch. I say surprising because as a general rule, I don't like rabbit. The rabbit that I've had before was gamey, stringy, and unappetizing, and it was prepared by one of the best chefs in Bloomington! So I figured if I didn't like it under those circumstances, rabbit and I were just never going to be friends. But I was so deliciously wrong about this pasta. The big, wide noodles were amusingly difficult to keep on my fork but provided an excellent base for the vibrantly colored carrots and spinach, the velvety mushrooms, and the tender, delicately flavored, wonderfully delicious chunks of rabbit, all complimented by a rich but unobtrusive wine sauce. YUM. Thanks to Sarah and Chef Jeff for changing my mind about this particular critter, and for providing a fabulously French lunch (all too appropriate since I was celebrating my mastery of the French object pronoun that day).<br /><br />While at Finch's, I also had the opportunity to sample a beer that's been getting a lot of buzz in the local food world lately. It's Brugge Beer of Terre Haute's Tripel de Ripple. Now, I know nothing about beer so I won't even pretend, I'll just provide <a href="http://brewbits.blogspot.com/2008/04/brugge-brasserie-triple-de-ripple.html">this link</a> if you'd like to know more. I enjoyed the beer; it was slightly bitter but in the good way that beer should be bitter, and not offputtingly so, either. And that's about all I can say, because as I mentioned, I know nothing about beer. But go to Finch's on a Wednesday ($2.50 pints and buy one get one half off flatbread pizzas), and try it yourself.<br /><br />I've also had some kitchen adventures of my own lately. As those of you who are friends with me know (and let's face it, no one but my friends reads this blog), I have a petite obsession with the Vegan Decadence Cookies at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/soma-coffee-house-bloomington">Soma</a>. I've been on the hunt for a recipe that would allow me to make them at home and probably save me a whole lot of money since I wouldn't have to stop at Soma at least once a day to buy one. So I found a vegan, gluten-free recipe online that looked like it would yield a similar chocolatey goodness to what I was seeking. The problem: it called for several expensive, hard to find ingredients in order to make the recipe vegan and GF. At this point I thought to myself, "Sara, you are neither vegan nor allergic to gluten, surely you can find a nonvegan recipe that will produce an equally, if not more delicious cookie." And I did! I used the <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001408.html">Triple Chocolate Esspresso Bean</a> cookies recipe from <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/index.html">101 Cookbooks</a> as a jumping-off point, and made a few substitutions to create the best cookies. Ever. You can pretty much follow Heidi's recipe, but I left out the espresso beans and added a pinch more espresso powder, used dark chocolate cocoa, and chopped up a 65% cacao chocolate bar and threw it in in place of the semisweet chips. I also only ended up baking them for about 8 mins, and at 350, not 375, because my oven runs a little hot. You've got to watch and smell them closely, because the dark batter makes it hard to tell if they're burning. Also, make sure to store them in an air-tight container, because they dry out very quickly. But trust me, these cookies are SO GOOD.<br /><br />Alright, that's all from me for now... it's almost 2pm on this lovely Saturday afternoon... time to get out of bed :).collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-52055421064641495502009-02-08T19:29:00.000-08:002009-02-08T20:30:59.481-08:00Slow Food Potluck!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SY-sBE5Yv4I/AAAAAAAAABo/DFy7RzYWXyw/s1600-h/n6843413_49144158_6819.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SY-sBE5Yv4I/AAAAAAAAABo/DFy7RzYWXyw/s320/n6843413_49144158_6819.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300644420932648834" border="0" /></a><br />Slow Food IU had its first potluck of the new year this evening, and it was stellar! We had a record turnout of about 25 people, many of whom were neither friends nor roommates of either Sarah or I, which I thought was pretty impressive. All of the food was wonderful, but my personal favorites were the braised heritage turkey that <a href="http://iueats.typepad.com/">Sarah</a> made and the baked oatmeal that my friend Emma made, a throwback to our days as campers and eventually counselors at good ol' Camp T. I made some vegan cookies that I am calling "Too Good to be True Cookies," because they do not contain flour, sugar, butter, or any of the other ingredients that make traditional cookies so delicious (and so bad for you), yet they are fabulous! I snagged the <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/nikkis-healthy-cookies-recipe.html">recipe</a> (for "Nikki's Healthy Cookies") from <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/index.html">101 Cookbooks</a>, my favorite recipe blog of late. I also made black rice with curried sweet potatoes, a rough recipe for which can be found below.<br /><br />I have also just learned of the creation of <a href="http://www.supernaturalrecipes.com/">Super Natural Recipe Search</a>, a search engine for recipes featuring minimally-processed, sustainable, "real" ingredients. It's courtesy of <a href="http://www.heidiswanson.com/">Heidi Swanson</a>, Recipe Diva Extraordinaire at 101 Cookbooks, author of <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/supernatural/">Super Natural Cooking</a>, and my current personal culinary hero. Go check it out!<br /><br />Since I spent the afternoon in the kitchen, however, I am now long overdue on some homework, so I'm off to put my nose to the proverbial grindstone.<br /><br />Black Rice with Curried Sweet Potatoes<br /><br />2 cups vegetable stock<br />1 cup Chinese black rice<span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"></span>1 large sweet potato<br />1 T. fresh ginger<br />1 bunch scallions<br />salt and assorted spices to taste (I used some pink Himalayan salt that I picked up in Italy, as well as cardamom, sweet curry, and a little nutmeg)<br /><br />In a medium saucepan, bring the vegetable stock and rice to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer; let cook for 30-40 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, peel and dice the sweet potato, peel and mince the ginger, and chop the scallions. Drizzle some olive oil in a large skillet or saute pan (the deeper the better) on medium-high heat and add the potato, ginger, and 2/3 of the scallions. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender (the amount of time this takes will vary depending on how big or small you dice the potatoes). When the potatoes are almost done, salt/spice to taste. When both the potatoes and rice are done, combine them, make any last-minute salt/spice adjustments, and serve. Make someone else do the dishes :-p.collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-28731400057239288562009-02-01T21:56:00.000-08:002009-02-01T23:32:22.861-08:00Confessions of a Blog Slacker<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SYaflbgh2uI/AAAAAAAAABg/wDSriHQMqFM/s1600-h/n6843413_48413184_3458.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SYaflbgh2uI/AAAAAAAAABg/wDSriHQMqFM/s320/n6843413_48413184_3458.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298097477036137186" border="0" /></a><br />Whenever I return from a long hiatus from the Blogosphere, I am always filled with a renewed zest and vigor for blogging, spouting promises about how <span style="font-style: italic;">this time</span>, this time I will update regularly. Truth be told, I am a college student, and an over-committed one at that, and sometimes my life just gets in the way of regular blog updates. And then the events I intend to blog about keep accumulating, and then I procrastinate more, simply because the size of the blog I now need to write seems to be too daunting of an undertaking for my current energy level or amount of free time. It's a vicious cycle, one that I may or may not break this time around, but I will certainly put forth a valiant effort and try. At the very least, Rachel will have something to read at work tomorrow.<br /><br />All of that being said, I have, of course, had a very eventful food life over the last few months. At the end of October, I had the good fortune to be able to attend <a href="http://www.terramadre2008.org/pagine/welcome.lasso?n=en">Terra Madre</a>, a "gathering of world food communities," which took place in Torino, Italy. What. An. Experience. There were 7,000+ farmers, chefs, restaurant owners, growers, producers, vendors, students, gardeners, and other foodies from literally all over the world (I even befriended some fishermen from Iceland), gathered in one place to talk about one thing we all had in common: a passion for good, clean, and fair food. We used the facilities built for the 2006 winter Olympics that were held in Torino, so I think the conference was very appropriately referred to by some as "the Olympics of food." I could easily dedicate several hours worth of blogging to this trip alone, and hopefully I will write more about it later, but suffice it to say this was an eye-opening, life-changing experience for me. I met so many amazing people and made some incredible connections to use in the future. This trip really solidified my desire to spend the rest of my life working to improve the food system.<br /><br />Slow Food IU has been making slow but steady progress this year. Last semester we didn't get much done in the way of chartering with Slow Food USA, but we did begin having regular potluck meal gatherings which have been a lot of fun. This semester we are going to continue with the potlucks (our next one is Feb 8th), and are hoping to get all of our loose ends tied up so we can get chartered before semester's end. We are also hoping to host an eat-in (think 60's style sit-in plus food) later in the semester when the weather gets nicer so we can stage it in one of IU's many wonderful green spaces (I've got my eye on Dunn Meadow right now...). In addition to that, I am hoping we can also get involved with either the <a href="http://realfoodchallenge.org/">Real Food Challenge</a> or the <a href="http://www.ciw-online.org/">Coalition of Immokalee Workers</a>, two organizations I learned about at Terra Madre. The Real Food Challenge is an initiative to get 20% of the food served on college campuses to be "real" food by the year 2020, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is an organization of migrant farm workers based in Florida that fights for better treatment of migrant workers, especially those who pick produce that is sold to giant fast food chains, who are often basically slaves to these corporations. I'm really looking forward to taking Slow Food IU in a direction that is a bit more social justice-oriented, lest we acquire the elitist reputation many Slow Food convivia have (deservingly or not) received.<br /><br />Much to my chagrin, I haven't been cooking much lately. I find it hard to justify cooking anything elaborate for just one person, and I am notoriously bad at eating leftovers, so I have found myself mostly either eating at work, dining out with friends, or eating cereal at my house. It hasn't been an incredibly glamorous existence, but I have eaten pretty well. I've had a lot of free time to experiment with the menu offerings at Jiffy Treet (the local ice cream store where I work, which also has a pretty extensive food menu), and recently had a great discussion with my boss about sourcing more of his products locally. I'm hoping to get grass-fed beef on the menu and perhaps a homemade, hand-pattied veggie burger made by yours truly. I'm also going to try to convince him to source his produce locally when it's in season. I'm really excited about the possibilities here, especially because he has such an open mind about it. When I haven't been eating at work, I've had some great meals out this semester. I've been frequenting <a href="http://www.finchsbrasserie.com/">Finch's Brasserie</a> as often as I have been able to afford it (which is not as often as I'd like on an ice cream scooper's salary), and have thus far loved everything I've had there, including a Cote du Rhone wine that I am head over heels for. I've been trying to eat at locally owned establishments as much as possible (though Jimmy John's still gets a few late night calls from me), so I've also been making regular appearances at <a href="http://www.bluboychocolates.com/">Blu Boy Cafe & Cakery</a> for cupcakes that are a meal in and of themselves, <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/soma-coffee-house-bloomington">Soma</a> for chai lattes, vegan decadence cookies (YUM), and the cute girl that works at the counter, <a href="http://www.runciblespoonrestaurant.com/">The Runcible Spoon</a> for Sunday brunch (Eggs Benedict to die for), and the West side <a href="http://www.bloomingfoods.coop/">Bloomingfoods</a> (just two blocks from my house) for the hot bar, the salad bar, the only good sushi in Bloomington, and the best chicken salad. Ever.<br /><br />And that's as much of an update as I have the time and energy for right now. Hopefully you'll hear from me again soon, but for now, it's off to bed.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />Sara<br /><br />PS: The pic is from a street market I found while exploring Torino...collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-24538612515213364042008-09-21T11:31:00.000-07:002008-09-21T11:34:27.736-07:00Not Food Related, but Important NonethelessOk, so I know this is a FOOD blog, but I read an email today that I feel should be broadcast from the rooftops in every city of this country right now, before we do something eternally stupid.<br /><br />A little political comparison between Obama and Palin/McCain (let's face it, her name might as well be first on the ticket)...<br /><br />We're a little confused. Let's see if we have this straight.....<br /><br />* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic,<br />different."<br /><br />* If you grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, it's a quintessential<br />American story.<br /><br />* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.<br />* If you name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.<br /><br />* If you graduate from Harvard law School you are unstable.<br />* If you attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're<br />well grounded.<br /><br />* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the<br />first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter<br />registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as<br />a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator<br />representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the<br />state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the<br />United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while<br />sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and<br />Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real<br />leadership experience.<br /><br />* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city<br />council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people,<br />20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then<br />you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.<br /><br />* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising<br />2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real<br />Christian.<br /><br />* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your<br />disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a<br />Christian. (That'd be McCain, a real creep, reminiscent of Newt Gingrich<br />serving divorce papers to his wife while she was in the hospital with<br />cancer)<br /><br />* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the<br />proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.<br /><br />* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no<br />other option in sex education in your state's school system while your<br />unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you¹re very responsible.<br /><br />* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a<br />prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city<br />community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values<br />don't represent America¹s.<br /><br />* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI<br />conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until<br />age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of<br />Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.<br /><br />OK, much clearer now.<br /><br /><br />PLEASE choose wisely this November.collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-64408710369333915352008-09-20T11:48:00.000-07:002008-09-20T12:07:53.424-07:00HFLF Conference, Another Trip to the BRC, Slow Food IUMy, it has been a busy couple of weeks.<br /><br />Way back on September 6th, I attended the Healthy Food, Local Farms conference in Louisville, Kentucky, sponsored by the local Sierra Club and Slow Food chapters there. The theme was "Politics of Food," which is right up my alley, of course, and I really enjoyed the conference. Most of the talk was about how to promote sustainability and Slow ideals within the Louisville area, but I think a lot of the ideas are transferable to any locale. Guest speakers included Daniel Imhoff, author of <span style="font-style: italic;">Food Fight</span>, about the Farm Bill, and Judy Wicks, owner of the <a href="http://www.whitedog.com/">White Dog Cafe</a> in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I found Judy Wicks to be particularly inspirational. During her talk, she said this fabulous quote which I would love to turn into my life's work: "I use good food to lure innocent customers into social action." If you don't know about the White Dog Cafe, I highly suggest you check out their website and see what they are all about.<br /><br />The lunch served to us at the conference was absolutely delicious. It was all from local producers and included such wonderful dishes as cheesy grits, chicken salad, artisan bread, honey cake, local ginger ale, and some incredible sausage gumbo featuring chorizo from my dear friends at <a href="http://www.fiedlerfamilyfarms.com/">Fiedler Family Farms</a>.<br /><br />On the way home, Mom and I stopped for dinner at the Blue River Cafe. I had to have some more of that coleslaw! Of course they didn't disappoint, and my coleslaw was just as wonderful as I remembered. My pork tenderloin was excellent as well. I was surprised at it's thickness... it more closely resembled a pork chop than the pounded thin, mostly breading tenderloins one usually finds in Indiana. It was really delicious, though. Very juicy and tender, and the homeade breading was crispy and in perfect proportion to the meat. Yum!<br /><br />Slow Food IU held its first meeting on September 9th, and I was pleasantly surprised to see people that weren't my friends or roomates attend. It was a small turnout, but I look forward to our first potluck tomorrow, and to growing the group a bit more once people know what we're about.<br /><br />That's all from me for now, folks. As Paula Deen says, "Best dishes from my kitchen to yours!"collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-23761004940071410332008-09-02T11:08:00.000-07:002008-09-02T12:14:00.566-07:00Southern Indiana Eating (Near and Far)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SL2CWz3fSnI/AAAAAAAAAAs/B--ZRPKRDJY/s1600-h/n6843413_46393552_8525.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SL2CWz3fSnI/AAAAAAAAAAs/B--ZRPKRDJY/s320/n6843413_46393552_8525.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241488869720803954" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SL2CXAz1T0I/AAAAAAAAAA0/6SmXWdrNAd0/s1600-h/n6843413_46393546_4696.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SL2CXAz1T0I/AAAAAAAAAA0/6SmXWdrNAd0/s320/n6843413_46393546_4696.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241488873195130690" border="0" /></a><br />First, allow me to apologize for the poor quality of these pics (anyone want to buy me a new phone with a better camera?) Great, now that that's out of the way, allow me to talk about how much I enjoyed eating the food in these pics.<br /><br />I took a weekend trip to Southern Indiana this weekend with my father, and on our way home on Sunday I suggested we stop for lunch at the <a href="http://bluerivercafe.com/">Blue River Cafe</a>. You could literally blink and miss Main St. in Milltown, Indiana, but if you do manage to find and follow it as it winds through the tiny town, you will certainly be rewarded.<br /><br />I first read about the Blue River Cafe in <a href="http://www.homegrownindiana.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Home Grown Indiana</span></a>, the book I mentioned in my last post. Since it is a bit of a drive from Bloomington, I hadn't really ever thought about dining there until I was looking through a tourism guide on Southern Indiana that happened to mention the cafe as a great place to eat. Dad and I were in nearby New Albany, so we decided to make the jaunt over to Milltown for lunch. We arrived just as they were opening for the day and were seated and presented with not one, not two, but three menus of food and a "spirits" menu. As it was eleven on a Sunday morning and, in my opinion, a little early for alcohol, we concentrated on trying to decide if we wanted brunch, dinner, or a sandwich (hence, the three menus). I chose the "Avocado Burger," and got the basket, which came with steak fries and coleslaw. Now, as a general rule, I HATE coleslaw. Maybe it's all the time I spent making Steak N Shake's particularly disgusting version of the side dish, I don't know, but I hate it. So when the waitress brought the heaping scoop of slaw nestled on a bed of lettuce to our table, I immediately pushed it over to Dad (who will eat anything) and crinkled my nose like a seven-year-old presented with a plate full of broccoli. Seeing this, the waitress asked if I liked coleslaw. When I replied with an emphatic "NO" she told me that she hated it too... with the exception of the coleslaw she served at the restaurant. She insisted I try it, but I was majorly skeptical, so I took the tiniest of forkfuls, slowly brought it to my lips, and promptly fell in love. This was like no coleslaw I have ever tasted. The dressing was sweet and light, and the cabbage was fresh and crunchy. I couldn't believe my taste buds! And that was only the beginning. The avocado on my burger was perfectly ripe, and an amazingly unexpected taste with the cheddar cheese and ground beef. The fries were very obviously (in a good way) hand cut from a whole potato and expertly fried so that they had a great crunch on the outside but were nice and potato-y on the inside. The whole meal was just excellent, but the coleslaw was really the star. I wish I had some right now.<br /><br />The other delicious meal pictured is the "Duck Confit" salad I had at <a href="http://www.finchsbrasserie.com/">Finch's Brasserie</a> this afternoon, here in Bloomington. As many of you know, Finch's used to be Trulli Flatbread, which I was a big fan of, but I hadn't been in since the big change over to Finch's. The salad I had was a French lentil salad, frisee, crispy pommes, and mustard vinaigrette, as described by the menu. I describe it as tasty, although impossible to eat gracefully, thanks to the frisee. The lentil salad was stellar, with lentils, red onion, carrots, and celery, and what's not to love about crispy potatoes? The real tongue-tempter though, was the duck. It was tender and practically melted in my mouth. Duck is not a meat that I always enjoy, because it is so oily, but this duck was perfectly and simply prepared, and a pleasure to eat.<br /><br />I was also fortunate enough to be dining near a friend who ordered the watermelon sorbet for dessert. He was kind enough to share a scoop with me, and my, am I glad he did. I am not a big watermelon eater, I never have been, but I'm furious at myself for not eating this sorbet all summer. It was full of watermelon flavor, but it was a very delicate watermelon flavor, and it was absolutely delicious.<br /><br />I want to say more about my lunch at Finch's at some point, but alas, the classroom calls. Perhaps I will add more to this later. Until then, eat well!collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-59023528528060979172008-08-26T07:49:00.000-07:002008-08-26T08:34:32.705-07:00Good Eats, New Reads, SFIU, etc.As Summer draws to a close I actually find myself pretty happy about it. For once I am really looking forward to Fall classes and all that the semester brings. I'll be taking an Anthro class centered on foodways, as well as a Caribbean Lit class in which the professor has graciously allowed me to write my papers about food themes in the books we read. I will also hopefully be working more hours at Jiffy Treet (the locally owned ice cream store that employs me), which is great because I really love working there.<br /><br />Slow Food IU is *finally* an official organization at Indiana University, however we still have to charter with Slow Food USA. Plans are in the works to do that during the second week of classes. I'm thrilled that we are getting this off the ground after almost a year of planning and more than a little ball-dropping on the part of many people (myself included).<br /><br />Yesterday I picked up <span style="font-style: italic;">Home Grown Indiana</span>, the latest from my all-time favorite professor and author of the blog at <a href="http://www.myplateoryours.typepad.com/">My Plate or Yours</a>, Christine Barbour. She wrote this guide to good eating in Indiana along with Scott Hutcheson, blogger at <a href="http://www.hungryhoosier.com/">The Hungry Hoosier</a>. The book is subtitled "A Food Lover's Guide to Good Eating in the Hoosier State," and profiles local farmers, restaurants, CSAs, and Co-ops in every region of Indiana. I've not started it yet, but I look forward to using it as a resource as I have recently made the decision to eat only at locally-owned and small or independent places for a while. I'm also going to try to do as much of my shopping as possible at non-corporate businesses. This should be an interesting experience as I am also taking an Anthro class this semester called "Corporations in Culture, Culture in Corporations." I'm not sure yet if the professor will take the class in a pro-corporation or anti-corporation direction, but nonetheless it should provide plenty of food for thought.<br /><br />Recently I had the opportunity to dine at <a href="http://www.boinabraza.com/">Boi Na Braza</a>, a Churrascaria, or Brazilian steak house, in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am not sure if it is a chain or not (it only has two locations, one in Dallas and one in Cincy), but it was one of the higher-end restaurants I have ever gotten to experience, so the restaurant critic in me absolutely loved it. I'll spare you my full review and just note that while the atmosphere was very classy and fun for a pizza-eating college student to experience, I have eaten much better from some local restaurants here in Bloomington.<br /><br />On September 6th I will be attending the "Healthy Food, Local Farms" conference in Louisville Kentucky. I think it is mostly for local farmers and producers in Kentucky, but the theme is "Politics of Food," which I have a great deal of interest in, and there will be some notable speakers, including <a href="http://www.watershedmedia.org/about.html">Daniel Imhoff</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry">Wendell Berry</a>. A farmer friend suggested I attend, and since I am trying to soak up as much food culture as possible these days, it sounded like a good idea. My mom is going to attend the conference as well, which I am really excited about because she is starting to get into some Slow Food stuff and I am hoping she can maybe help spread the Slow word around her part of Indiana, where there isn't much knowledge of the movement or its ideals.<br /><br />I guess that's about all I have to say for this installment of my adventures in food. I think I am going to make bagels this afternoon (which is quite a labor-intensive undertaking), so I need to head to Bloomingfoods and pick up my ingredients.<br /><br />Best wishes of good food and fellowship to you all until the next adventure.collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-50954088904877115732008-08-04T11:20:00.000-07:002008-08-04T11:50:47.357-07:00A Farmer's Market Breakfast<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SJdPN7DY7cI/AAAAAAAAAAU/sLudnKf_7Ag/s1600-h/188761986_89dec1cfae.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SJdPN7DY7cI/AAAAAAAAAAU/sLudnKf_7Ag/s320/188761986_89dec1cfae.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230736592822922690" border="0" /></a><br />Besides its fabulous kitchen, my new house has the perk of being just three blocks from the Bloomington Farmer's Market. So lately I have been loving getting up early (well, early for me anyway) on Saturdays and walking down there for a chat with some of my farmer friends, some fresh produce and other comestibles, and an hour or two out in the sunshine before it gets too hot, as Indiana is wont to do in mid to late summer.<br /><br />This week my sister was visiting, so I decided to pick up fixings for a big farmer's market breakfast. I bought some eggs from Rhodes Family Farm, some fabulous Kentucky smoked bacon from my friend Rebekah Fiedler at <a href="http://www.fiedlerfamilyfarms.com/">Fiedler Family Farms</a>, some fresh mozzarella cheese from <a href="http://www.traderspointcreamery.com/">Trader's Point Creamery</a>, some beautiful garlic from a farm stand I sadly cannot remember the name of, and some zucchini from a small Amish farm stand. Then I stopped by Bloomingfoods just down the street and picked up some parsley and walnuts.<br /><br />Zucchini has been my obsession of late-- I just cannot seem to get enough of it! So I decided to incorporate it into breakfast by making zucchini-walnut bread, a long time favorite of mine. I got that in the oven, then fried up the bacon (which smelled unbelieveable and drew several wayward roommates to the kitchen), poured off the grease, then cooked the eggs in the same pan (I know, I can feel my arteries clogging, too, but it tastes so good!), threw in some garlic, fresh mozzarella, and parsley, and plated it all up for a delicious Saturday morning breakfast. It was wonderful, and I'd like to make it a Saturday morning tradition... we'll see!<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><a href="http://www.fiedlerfamilyfarms.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></a>collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-7570650552344494752008-08-01T20:28:00.000-07:002008-08-01T22:35:56.797-07:00Guess Who?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SJPhsR02olI/AAAAAAAAAAM/KQI82O3g6Hc/s1600-h/HPIM0289.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BRXq-6LYaw0/SJPhsR02olI/AAAAAAAAAAM/KQI82O3g6Hc/s320/HPIM0289.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229771743122858578" border="0" /></a><br />Yay, it's me, I'm back!<br /><br />My deepest and sincerest apologies for completely disappearing for the last 8 months. I needed to figure out my life and what I wanted to do with it. That was painful at times, fun at others, but all in all it turned out well, I think. Anyway, a lot has gone on in my food life lately so I guess I ought to play catch-up (or ketchup, heehee) for a moment.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Slow Food IU:</span><br /><br />Still trying to get off the ground. There is plenty of interest and we have convinced SFUSA to pretty much let us do it our way, but now IU is giving us the run-around. The website for the Student Activities Office is in the midst of a remodeling, I guess, so several of the links are inactive or selectively active, and in this new age of technological savvy of course we are only able to register our group online. So I have been playing email tag with a representative of their office who sometimes emails me back and sometimes doesn't. Needless to say I am quite frustrated by this situation. But I will continue to bombard them with emails and hope they get their act together by the time Fall semester starts in a month.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New House:</span><br /><br />While I was very excited about having a real kitchen when I first moved into my apartment, I soon realized that it is very difficult to cook anything elaborate in a kitchen the size of a modest closet. I had no counter space, very few outlets, a temperamental oven, and so little cabinet space that I had to keep my pots and pans in an additional cabinet I purchased and placed in my dining room. Add to that a hefty course load, a crazy work schedule, a crazier sleep schedule, and very, very little money, and you can probably understand why I ate a lot of macaroni and cheese and peanut butter and jelly, when I cooked at all. I've gotten very familiar with the Bloomington food delivery scene in the last 8 months. But I'm happy to say I've moved into a house with a great kitchen, plenty of space, and roommates who share a love of good food. My only regret is that I have had to go from cooking with gas to cooking with electric, but I am sure I will adjust. Good food has a place in my life again!<br /><br />(The photo at the top of the post is of my new kitchen. There is also a wall of counter space and some gorgeous built in cabinets that are not visible in the pic.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Terre Madre 2008:</span><br /><br />I am very excited to share that in October I will be attending <a href="http://www.terramadre.info/pagine/welcome.lasso?n=en">Terre Madre 2008</a> in Torino, Italy. Terre Madre is a Slow Food-sponsored international gathering of food communities to <span class="testo_articolo">"work towards increasing small-scale, traditional, and sustainable food production." I cannot express my excitement for this venture. I've never been to Europe, so getting to go (for free, no less!) and be completely immersed in Slow culture is a dream come true for me. Terre Madre is running concurrently with <a href="http://www.salonedelgusto.com/welcome_eng.lasso">Salone del Gusto</a>, a taste festival and food marketplace for food producers from all over Italy and the world. Olive oil and Prosecco and prosciutto, oh my!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My Major:</span><br /><br />It was in the midst of Chemistry-C 117 that I discovered that dietetics was not the major for me. C 117 is the third or fourth math/science class required for a dietetics major that I have seriously struggled with. I've managed to pass these classes, but I am steadily lowering my GPA with the C-range grades I have been getting in them, putting some of my scholarships in danger, and for what? The only reason I chose dietetics in the first place was because IU didn't have a major called "reading and writing about food." I looked at the degree requirements for dietetics and realized I would be taking several more math/science classes before all was said and done, and that to me it wasn't worth it for a major that was a poor substitute for what I really wanted to begin with. So I made up my own major. With the help of a professor of mine who is somewhat familiar with my food writing, I have designed my own major, tentatively called "Culture of Food in Writing." I want to explore and participate in food writing of all genres: fiction, expository, journalism, etc. I am also going to double major in anthropology, to get a broader sense of culture, especially food culture, in general, and to set myself up for a possible grad degree in food anthropology. And, by luck or chance, it looks like I will have the credits to minor in comparative lit. Woohoo!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Everything Else:<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br />Since my last update in November I have attended some fun food events. This Winter I attended the Art of Chocolate sponsored by Options for Better Living in Bloomington. Normally I would not have been able to attend this somewhat ritzy event at the IU Art Mueseum, but thanks to the generosity of a fellow Slow Food member I, along with my partner in foodie crime, Sarah, was able to attend. We had a wonderful time, stuffed ourselves with chocolate and wine, and enjoyed the live chocolate artwork.<br /><br />In early summer there were a couple of fun Slow events. The Bloomington convivium (now called Indiana Uplands?) held it's semi-annual potluck and a good time was had by all, as always seems to be the case when interesting people are gathered around good, Slow food. And at the end of June I worked as a server at the Slow Food Chef's dinner, which is paying for my plane fare to Italy this Fall. That too was an enjoyable experience, though sadly I didn't get to try much of the food.<br /><br />I am happy to note that I finally got sick of the fast food machine and quit my job at Steak N Shake after three grueling years. One can only sling steakburgers and put up with drunks and self-important a-holes for so long, you know? Currently I am scooping ice cream at Jiffy Treet, which is at least a locally-owned business, and contemplating getting my liquor license and trying to get in at a Slow restaurant once Fall classes begin and businesses around here start hiring again. I will also <span style="font-style: italic;">hopefully</span> (fingers crossed) be getting a food column in the Indiana Daily Student, IU's newspaper, this Fall. That too would be a dream come true for me, so I hope it works out.<br /><br />Goodness, what a long post. Thanks for sticking with me for an 8-month update of my food life. I sincerely hope to begin updating regularly now. For real this time, haha.<br /><br />Peace, love, and good food, my friends.<br /><br /></span>collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-48193117652320971502007-11-27T18:50:00.000-08:002007-11-27T19:07:30.776-08:00Love ThisChristmas is definitely my favorite time of year. There's just so much love around. Love of family and friends, love of religious traditions perhaps, and of course, love of food. It's just so heart-warming. And so good for my soul.<br /><br />Now that Thanksgiving is over, I've allowed myself to get fully into the Christmas spirit, and I'm loving every minute of it-- especially the cooking. Right now I'm just sitting in my chair, enjoying a mug of homemade vegetable soup, chock-full of aromatic vegetables, homemade noodles, black pepper and other great belly-warming spices, and I even threw in some sweet corn I had in the freezer from this summer. Our little 3-foot tree is up and lit, I can see our outside lights gleaming through the window, Christmas music is playing on the stereo, and the dog is curled up at my feet. This is the life, I'm tellin ya.<br /><br />And there's more in the works! In a couple of weeks I'm planning to give all of my school friends a break from finals and host my own Christmas dinner a little early here at the apartment. I'm going to make a fabulous beef brisket with portabella mushrooms and cranberries, and who knows what else? Enough Christmas cookies to feed an army, probably.<br /><br />Anyway, that's all for now. Back to enjoying the Christmas-y mood and this awesome soup!collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-11624162954162013472007-11-18T23:37:00.000-08:002007-11-18T23:57:54.855-08:00I need to get better at this.Alright. I'm a blog slacker. I'm sorry. I don't even have a good excuse, haha, just that I'm lazy. But stuff has been going on in my food life, so I will take the time to update now as I watch the Dems fight it out on CNN (I'm liking Dennis Kucinich right now, though he hasn't a prayer of winning).<br /><br />About a week and a half ago, we held our second Slow Food on Campus meeting. Everyone gathered at my apartment (though they all got lost first trying to find it), and we shared in some delicious food, including red beans and rice made with local garlic, local onion, and organic beans and rice, made by yours truly, some delicious local beef rump roast with dried porcini gravy, spicy vegetable samosas, local salsa, some sweet and spicy winter squash soup, delicious brownies from BLU, and some other great eats. We also had some great conversation, but we are kind of at an impasse when it comes to officially chartering the group. Our parent organization is asking a lot of us (especially in the funds department) that we cannot come up with out of thin air, and that we are not sure we can ask of our group members when they are only making a cursory commitment to us in the first place since we have no established reputation on campus yet. Arrgh, it's frustrating!<br /><br />Anyway, that's all I have for now. Hopefully I'll have more after the holidaze...collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-71589954289865899422007-10-26T21:22:00.000-07:002007-10-26T22:18:56.613-07:00Long Time Gone!Sorry for the recent absence, it has been a <span style="font-style: italic;">hectic</span> month! Between homecoming and midterms and papers and working like a madwoman, I've scarcely had time to eat and sleep, let alone update the blog. But things are starting to calm down a little, and I'm starting to enjoy college life again.<br /><br />Both my roommate and I have been working like fools lately, so I haven't been doing a lot of cooking, just drooling over recipes online and in cookbooks and making big plans, haha.<br /><br />In other news, though, I've been doing a lot with Slow Food. For those of you who aren't familiar with SF, it's a movement that was started in 1986 in Italy to preserve traditional foodways and to protect things like artisan cheeses and heirloom vegetables from being quashed by the high-speed, fast food lifestyles we've adopted these days. A few weeks ago I attended a potluck dinner/meeting of the Bloomington convivium, of which I am a member, and got to rub elbows with some of Bloomington's coolest foodies while eating some of the best food I've had in a long time. There was a great selection of cheeses, several delicious breads and salads, and some very tasty potatoes, but Daniel Orr of the soon-to-be-opened FARMbloomington made the most fabulous, jaw-dropping lamb I think I have ever had. Granted, I don't have a lot of experience with lamb, but his black vinegar and star anise-marinated lamb with heirloom tomato and mint bbq sauce caused me to renounce my vegetarianism on the spot, haha. It was great food and fellowship, and a fun, food-filled time was had by all.<br /><br />Today my Slow adventures continued. This afternoon I gathered with several other like-minded foodies at Trulli Flatbread on Kirkwood. About half of our group was made up of IU students, while the other half was comprised of several friendly "grown-ups," eager to help us with our undertaking. And what, exactly, was our undertaking? Why to start a Slow Food On Campus group, of course! We shared some delicious flatbreads (my favorite being bacon, potato, and leek) and talked about how we wanted to proceed. We share a lot of interests with a group that already exists on campus, Students For Sustainable Food, so we may combine with them for events and meetings. But for now we are just focusing on getting enough student members to officially charter the on campus group with the parent organization, register as an official student group with IU, draft a constitution, elect officers, etc. We're planning on meeting to accomplish most of this on November 8th (anyone interested is welcome to attend, but we won't really be publicizing the meeting). Then the next step is to utilize all of our resources and open the group to the campus at large and have a big, informational meeting. Then, if interest is high enough, we hope to host a big event on campus sometime in the Spring. That's what we worked out today; if you want more information or are interested in participating, please, by all means, contact me and I will get you more information!<br /><br />Anyway, that's all I have for now. It's way past my bed time ;).collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-7914905416038299772007-09-20T17:20:00.000-07:002007-09-20T17:39:41.273-07:00Grilling AdventuresAs many may know, I've been a vegetarian for about 2 years now, but recently I've been letting humanely-raised chicken back into my life (I'm weak, what can I say?). Well I've found this great Amish chicken at <a href="http://bloomingfoods.coop/">Bloomingfoods</a>, and I just adore it. It's what chicken is supposed to taste like, you know? Anyway, I should also tell you that I never really learned how to grill, because in my family it's kind of a man thing, and I just never bothered to learn. Anyway, my uncle is here in Bloomington this week and he offered today to buy me a grill as a belated birthday present, and I obliged. I had to get a little 18" tailgate-style grill because I am not allowed to have the real deal at my apartment, but, as usual, I work with what I've got. So I set the grill up (quite a feat, if I do say so myself), got it going, and threw the chicken on there. I marinated it beforehand in some Italian dressing for a little while (it makes the chicken juicier and gives it a little more flavor). It turned out deliciously. I served it with some salad and it was a perfect late summer dinner. And so ended my first experience with grilling. It went well and I'm excited to try some vegetables on there.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://bloomingfoods.coop/"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></a>collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-21939275179746913152007-09-18T17:49:00.000-07:002007-09-18T17:53:13.465-07:00Farm Bill FunnyHere's a funny but informative video on the Farm Bill that I came across today:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.foodbattle.org">"foodbattle.org"</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.foodbattle.org/"></a>collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-79790700034222521532007-09-18T15:35:00.000-07:002007-09-18T15:55:05.723-07:00Lost TimeI apologize for the lack of updates here lately, I've been super busy and I had no idea anyone was actually reading this, but as it turns out people are reading, which makes me happy :). I don't have much that's new and terribly interesting to write about but I did pick up some wonderful veggies at the farmer's market the other day and made a delicious meal of them. <br /><br />The last time I got to the market was a couple of weeks ago, but my parents were with me so I got more food than I normally would since, of course, they were paying. I bought sweet corn, green beans, new potatoes, and pears, among a few other things. Dinner that night was a-mazing. We had simply steamed corn and green beans, the latter sprinkled with a little lemon juice and sea salt-- delicious. The potatoes I boiled and hand-mashed with some Applewood smoked bacon, green onion, and fresh minced garlic. They were wonderful. The pears we have been munching on for the last couple of weeks and they still taste juicy and delicious. And that's about all I have to relate for now!collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-16630949376577556752007-08-26T15:34:00.000-07:002007-08-26T15:50:49.487-07:00Smoked Mozzarella MadnessApologies in advance for not having a photo of my cheesy creations, but this all happened last week before my apartment had an internet connection, and my camera was still in the menagerie of boxes that filled my apartment until about Thursday.<br /><br />Anyway, on Monday I went grocery shopping for the first time since moving into my new digs. I bought a membership to the Bloomingfoods Co-op (Bloomington's source for all foods local and organic or otherwise remarkable), and nearly set my debit card ablaze with the amount of money I spent there. Of course organic and local food is almost alway more expensive, plus I had to buy all the basics: sugar, flour, rice, pasta, baking soda, and what have you. So my roommate and I were perusing the cheese section (cue drooling here; I am a cheese fiend), and I threw some smoked mozzarella into my cart on a whim. Actually, I didn't even realize it was smoked, I just saw the part of the label that said "Mozzarella" and figured I'd make pizza this week or something. Well the next night I was making mac n cheese (come on, even food snobs know it tastes good), and my cheese sauce was looking a little weak, so I grated some of the mozz into it and took a taste and nearly hit the floor because it was SO GOOD. The smokiness was just right in combination with the pasta and existing weak cheese sauce. And I thought, "man, this is some good cheese, I'm going to have to try it in some more stuff." So I did. This was the week of smoked mozzarella cheese. We had it in eggs with garlic and parsley (so delicious we had it more than once), we had it grated into another pasta sauce (yum!) and we finished it off (oh so sadly too) sliced on Breton wheat crackers with some great wine as a prelude to a housewarming dinner I hosted. What a wonderful cheese experience :).<br /> <br />This story ends sadly, however. When I returned to the grocery later in the week to purchase some more of this dairy delight, I couldn't find it anywhere! Alas, I will keep looking, but until then, back to plain old mozz it is, I guess.collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993359024415350179.post-52734131713192771692007-08-26T14:51:00.000-07:002007-08-26T15:03:11.807-07:00It Starts<div style="text-align: left;">So this is my blog. To begin, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about me. My name is Sara, and I am a sophomore at Indiana University majoring in Dietetics. I just moved out of the dorms and into my own apartment (with a kitchen, finally), and in just the single, solitary week I've been living there, I've already had some crazy food adventures. I was inspired to blog them by <a href="http://www.christinebarbour.com/">Christine Barbour</a>, a professor I had last year for the class "Politics of Food." She has a truly wonderful food blog that I read religiously. You can find it <a href="http://myplateoryours.typepad.com/">here</a>. Nothing that I write will probably ever come close to the caliber of what she writes, but I work with what I've got, which is decent writing skills, and old digital camera, and a proverbial taste for food adventure. So I guess we'll see what happens!<br /></div>collegefoodie8706http://www.blogger.com/profile/15002484007114360914noreply@blogger.com3