DC Food Blogger Happy Hour - March 3 - Vinoteca

Very excited for the next DC Food Blogger's Happy Hour at Vinoteca! I hope to see you there!

Thanks- Thrifty DC Cook

People that came last month!

Adventures in Shaw

Chaos and Chicken

Chris Zach

Come to the Table

Cupcake Avenger

Dining in DC

Endless Simmer

Every Food Fits

Felony Kirsch

Fresh Cracked Pepper

Girl Meets Food

Go Gastronomy

Gradually Greener

Hungry Traveler

I Flip for Food

Mansion Mogul

Modern Domestic

One Bite at a Time

Souper Girl

Sustainable in the City

The Grand International

Treet Shop

TV Raised Me

Urban Bohemian

Voila!

Wingipedia

National Food Blogger Bake Sale, April 17

National Food Bloggers Bake Sale to benefit Share our Strength and their work to end childhood hunger. On April 17, food bloggers across the US will unite to support the cause by holding bake sales in their states. The event is being organized by the fabulous Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com.

Do you have a favorite food blogger you follow in DC? Wanting to try their delicious recipes and treats they have posted on the internet? What a great way to bring DC Food Bloggers together and raise money.

Funds raised through Great American Bake Sale support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America. Nearly 17 million— almost one in four—children in America face hunger. Despite the good efforts of governments, private-sector institutions and everyday Americans, millions of our children still don’t have daily access to the nutritious meals they need to live active, healthy lives. More information on SOS can be found at http://strength.org/.

Details on location to come...If you are a DC food bloggers feel free to get involved or invite any friends to participate. Have them email Colleen at foodietots@gmail.com to sign up.

Food Revolution

One of the exciting things about being in DC is that I am able to get involved with issues like the Child Nutrition Act through Slow Food. Being in the Nation's Capital - I am able to make a difference and help raise awareness. I have always been passionate about food and how it relates to people. Helping others is also important to me...I feel everybody deserves good, clean and fair food. It is time for us to stand up and fight for the good, clean and fair food in our system.

Changing school lunches and helping children with obesity is becoming more of a national concern and more and more people are getting involved to fight in this "Food Revolution." Slow Food USA started The Time for Lunch campaign this past summer. The campaign kicked-up with the National Day of Action that brought 20,000 people together at more than 300 “Eat-Ins” nationwide. It’s time to give young Americans the school lunch they deserve: real food that tastes good and is good for them! Slow Food's goal was to talk to Congress to help make changes. When Congress reauthorizes the National School Lunch program in 2010, Slow Food members are calling on our elected officials to:

1. Invest in health. Find the funding to give school lunch programs
$1 more per child per day.
2. Protect kids from the junk food sold in vending machines, cafeterias and
school stores. Approve the Child Nutrition Promotion
and School Lunch Protection Act of 2009.
3. Link schools to local farms, and teach healthy eating. Guarantee
$50 million for Farm to School programs.

Image from Front Page Magazine
First Lady Michelle Obama announced a few weeks ago an ambitious national goal of solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight and unveiled a nationwide campaign – Let’s Move – to help achieve it. The Let’s Move campaign will combat the epidemic of childhood obesity through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, and mobilizes public and private sector resources. Let’s Move will engage every sector impacting the health of children to achieve the national goal, and will provide schools, families and communities simple tools to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy.

A new TV show titled, Food Revolution, premieres March 26th. Jamie Oliver, chef, TV personality and best-selling author, goes to Huntington, West Virginia (which has been called the unhealthiest city in America) and tries to change the way people eat. Jamie is inviting viewers to take a stand and change the way America eats, in our home kitchens, schools and workplaces. ABC's website states, "The impassioned chef is taking on obesity, heart disease and diabetes in the USA, where our nation's children are the first generation NOT expected to live as long as their parents. Now that's scary!" He hopes to help get Huntington off that list and start a chain reaction of positive change across the country.

Great article in TIME about school lunches in France. "The French don't need their First Lady to plant a vegetable garden at the Élysée Palace to encourage good eating habits. They already know the rules: sit down and take your time, because food is serious business."

In his new book Food Rules, Michael Pollan states in rule No. 58: "Do all your eating at a table." French children quickly learn that they won't be fed anywhere else. Snack and soda machines are banned from school buildings in France — a battle that is now raging across the U.S. And France's lunch programs are well funded. While the country is cutting public programs and civil-servant jobs to try to slash a debt of about $2.1 trillion, no one has dared to mention touching the money spent on school lunches.

Fed Up With Lunch Project

Photo: Chicago school lunch: Corn chips with cheese sauce, French fries, ketchup, pears in syrup, & chocolate milk (Source: American Lunchroom: What Our Kids Are Eating at School: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)

This is a great blog by Mrs. Q, an anonymous school teacher from an unnamed Illinois public school, who has vowed to eat the same school lunch offered to her students throughout 2010. She is blogging about it to make a difference and bring awareness to the unhealthy lunches the children are eating. This anonymous lady states, "This issue is important now because the Child Nutrition Act is being reauthorized and debated in Congress right now. I realize that everyone is strapped for cash right now. Individuals, companies, states, and countries are losing money. No matter what is going on in this world, we can't forget the kids and the fact that many of them are at the mercy of school districts and corporations for their daily meal(s). It will cost the US more money in the future (healthcare costs) if schools don't address the big problem that is staring them in the face everyday: childhood obesity. No matter how great a school is, it can't control what the kids eat outside of school. But still schools can do better for kids while they are in building."

Here is her flickr account (Group)- where you can view pictures and also take a picture and share it with your own school lunch experience.

I think this is a great way to reach out to people...and to create change. Many kids in the U.S. eat half their daily calories at school. She is becoming very well known and getting tons of interviews. She is worried about losing her job...but I am proud somebody is finally saying something. Her recent interview with Robin Shreeves at Mother Nature News.

Interesting article in NYT talks about how it has been nine months after effectively banning most fund-raising food sales in city schools and how a city panel will vote Wednesday on an amended regulation that will allow student groups to sell items like Pop-Tarts and Doritos during the school day, but not brownies, zucchini bread or anything else homemade. This idea to me is upsetting. Our children do not need to eat processed food filled with junk and preservatives, instead they should indulge in homemade treats and healthier snacks.

Other people working towards this Food Revolution:
Anne Cooper, a Lunch Lady, who revamped school lunch programs in Harlem, NY, Berkeley, CA, and Boulder, CO.
Susan Rubin’s Better School Food.
Blogger Ed Bruske (recently spent a week in an elementary-school kitchen in the nation’s capitol) The Slow Cook.

Ed Bruske wrote about items the children were eating..such as scrambled eggs, “a manufactured product with 11 different ingredients cooked in a factory in Minnesota and delivered 1,100 miles frozen in plastic bags to the District of Columbia.”

Many people are coming together to fight and stand up for the children. It will be interesting to see what will change...and what these handful of people can do. Will it take more people? More people like the teacher? Or more high up people like Michelle Obama. Obama told Josh Viertel in a recent visit to DC..."Show me a movement..and I will make a difference." So I feel that it does take people like the teacher to prove that there is a great need for this...and we are behind it.

Slow Food A Food Revolution is just what kids need...actually what many Americans need (regardless of their age). Everyone deserves to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. And it needs to start somewhere or the next generation of children are in great danger. Food Matters!

"Sweeten the World One Bottle at a Time"

Currently it is the 2010 Winter Olympics. I am enjoying watching the events and footage of Vancouver; however, it is making me miss OITF and my time on tour. Vancouver was on of my favorite cities we went to across the country and Canada. It is a beautiful place to visit with amazing restaurants and outdoor activities. (I even hiked "The Grind" Grouse Mountain where the Today's show is being aired.)

While I was watching snowboarding I was excited to see Hannah Teter, Gold Medalist in Snowboarding Halfpipe 2006 and Silver Medalist in Snowboarding Halfpipe 2010, uses her proceeds of maple syrup sales (her family is from syrup-rich Vermont) and all of her prize money won at snowboarding events to support a village in Kenya.

In 2008 she traveled to a village of Kirindon and stumbled upon a group of women and children afflicted with AIDS who had been kicked out of their homes by their husbands and fathers. Talking with the women they said they needed land so they could have a place to grow food and support themselves. A plots of land could be purchased for $1,000. Little by little Teter helps the women and children buy land so they can survive and provide for themselves. Currently she is also working on a large water and sanitation project (wells, bore-holes, rain water catchment) in Kirindon.

"Sweeten the World One Bottle at a Time" This one-of-a kind, Grade A Medium Amber, Pure Vermont Maple Syrup, is being dedicated to the desperately poor children of Kirindon,Kenya. Through my partnership with World Vision, this project will be helping those in greatest need.Profits from Hannah's Gold maple syrup and wrist bands go to support and bring clean water to Kirindon.

Click Here to Buy

Last year Ben & Jerry's created a flavor after Teter called Hannah Teter's Maple Blondie, which is maple ice cream with blonde brownie pieces and a maple caramel swirl. This is the first time the ice cream company has named a flavor after an athlete. Part of the sales will go to Teter's charity.

I think this is a great way to help others in the world. I am going to look for the icecream and buy a bottle of the syrup to put on my table! Cheers to Hannah and the USA athletes in the Olympics. Feels good to have American pride and to be proud of the athletes that represent us!

Not Your Usual Georgia Farmer

Check out my article on local Georgia cheese in edible Metro & Mountains in their Winter Issue! Georgia Dairies include Sweet Grass Dairy, Flat Creek Lodge Dairy and Cole’s Lake
Dairy. I talk about how cheese farms are rare in GA - but the few around have great flavor and quality.

It is best summarized by Hook: “Cheese is like a good-quality wine. Great grapes equal a great wine; milk is the same way. Next time you shop for cheese, put that extra bit of money in a local cheese. You are supporting a small family farm and purchasing a good, wholesome quality.”

Exploring My New City Through Foodie Events!

I recently moved to DC....slowly breaking away from blogging about Atlanta. I am embracing my new city and reaching out to people in the industry. I am starting to meet food lovers and food writers through these really fun events. I am learning that it is a great place to write about food. It is a great city full of events and organizations to get involved in. So I ignore the cold and snowy weather and came to the table with people to talk about food and what it means to them. To some I find (since it is DC) is a political movement...fighting for issues such as the Child Nutrition Act or 2012 Farm Bill....to others it is a love to cook...and for some fun food related events in the city. All the people love food for one way or the other and share my common interest on how food relates to people in many ways and effecting their lives.


Last night I went to a Food Blogger Happy Hour and met some fun DC Bloggers. I was surprised to meet people there that just love food and do not have a blog - but where interested in starting one or just wanted to meet foodie type people. Others were eager to tell you about their blog....and some just wanted to have a beer with people like with the same interests. I learned about other blogs in the area. I discovered places to eat and places to shop...so it was fun to come together to talk about DC and its food scene.

Some you should follow:

Thrifty DC Cook
the arugula files
Dining in DC
Biscuits And Such

Tonight I am going to the Washington Post to hear from some of DC's most talented gastronomically inclined authors at the reading from the new bestseller "Best Food Writing 2009." The event will include Joe Yonan and Jane Black of The Washington Post, Tim Carman of the Washington City Paper, and cookbook author Monica Bhide, all of whom are featured in this anthology of culinary prose, along with the series editor, Holly Hughes.

Click here for more details...Hope to see you there!

Good Gift For Foodie

Blackberry Farm Online Market

Happy Birthday Mom! My mom loves to cook. My love for food and cooking is because of my mom. She taught me how to cook and how to eat! We love to go to the markets together and find fresh food...and we love to dine out at wonderful restaurants. I planted her a garden last year for Mother's Day. Anything involving food...we enjoy. Most of all we love to cook together!

I always get her something related to food for holidays...cookbooks, cookware, etc. I thought this year something from Blackberry Farm would be perfect for her Bday. I met Sam Beall (Owner of Blackberry Farm) at the SFA symposium this past year. I bought my mom and myself his cookbook...however he also told me about his online market. He was showcasing his book and his peanut butter on this particular night. His cookbook is beautiful - has wonderful photography and recipes. I am looking forward to the spring...when all of his products are in season. I got my mom some Winter Jam, which made with dried fruit (cranberries, apricots, figs, cherries, raisins, dates, prunes), Tennessee Rum, orange and lemon zest and juices, cinnamon and other spices. Chow-Chow! (Her favorite) - A relish of cabbage, peppers, onions and anything fresh in our garden at the time of preparation. And some fried chicken mix with their recipe. Everything on the website looks so good! Happy Birthday mom!! Hopefully one day we can go to Blackberry Farm.










(Mom with Caleb from OITF in her kitchen)

That's Such a Comfort

"Chocolate cream pie! You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That's such a comfort."

-Julie Powell (Julie & Julia)

I love to cook. I bake/cook almost everyday and rarely blog about it. But today was one of those days...and all I could think about was that Chocolate Cream Pie from Julie & Julia. I found a recipe by googling. This one looked the best to me. (I will let you know it is cooling in my frig as I write). This other one looked good by Sunset- picture above. So many options online.

Cooking to me is such a comfort. Honestly the grocery store/markets are my sanctuary. I do my best thinking in there. I enjoy walking up and down the aisles. I enjoy interacting with people and watching the shoppers. I love getting to know the farmers and build relationships. I never make a list. I always buy what looks good and fresh. I plan meals while I am in store staring at the meats or vegs. Sometimes I find something I like a google recipes on my phone in the store - most times I wing it - hoping it will turn out.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! I have to say there is definitely a comfort in the way my house smells. I sure understand why Julia saying cooking brings her joy...cause it brings me joy.

Washington, DC Winter Restaurant Week

Indulge in your favorite dish, relax at your local spot or try something new - with over 180 restaurants on the list - You can find your place! This week is Washington, DC's 16th Winter Restaurant Week. Where one can dine on lunch for $20 and dinner for $35 for a three-course fixed-price meal at some of the finest restaurants in the area.Yesterday I had a wonderful meal at Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert. (Unfortunately this particular restaurant only offered lunch)- but I still had a wonderful dinner of Shrimp and Grits with good spice and flavor. And I also got Beignets for dessert! My favorite! They have good Happy Hour Cocktail List for $6 a drink, which is worth going back for.

Trent's office is above the The Prime Rib...so we ventured over there for lunch today. Figured a good steak for $20 was a good deal and we have been talking about going for months now. I enjoyed the prime rib (their famous aged prime beef, which is roasted slowly in their ovens and served in their natural juices.) My prime rib came with creamed spinach and classic mashed potatoes. With my three-course meal I also had Caesar Salad and Creme Brulee.

Checking out the list for one more restaurant for tomorrow..not sure what I am in the mood for. There are tons of options! Next week I will definitely head to Bangkok Joe's. They have the menu posted online and they are also extending the deal until January 31st. I cannot wait to eat their Traditional Pork Bao (Cantonese BBQ pork bun steamed in a bamboo basket.) I haven't had Cantonese BBQ since Vancouver. Here is an example of a menu:

Fine Thai cuisine and Washington’s first dumpling bar

2010 Winter Restaurant Week
January 11th – 17th

Inspired by the ancient philosophy of the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water), Chef Aulie Bunyarataphan invites balance into our lives with her prix fixe menu. Indulge in a contemporary version of a feast fit for Qin Shihuangdi, China’s first emperor, who commissioned the terra cotta warriors now on display at the National Geographic Museum.

Three-Course Lunch $20.10

First Course

Warrior Dumplings
Crispy dumplings stuffed with black forbidden rice, shrimp, chicken, ginger, scallions, and served with sweet-chili sauce.
(Shaped to resemble ancient gold ingots, these dumplings symbolize hope for a year of prosperity and good luck.)
or
Traditional Pork Bao
Cantonese BBQ pork bun steamed in a bamboo basket

Main Course

Emperor Chicken
Chicken breast stuffed with gingko nuts, Chinese sausage, shiitake mushrooms, sticky rice, and served with ginger-black bean sauce
or
Kang Pao Shrimp
Shrimp with chili paste, rice wine, cashew, snow pea, carrot and ginger,
served with jasmine rice
or
Beef Chow Fun
Beef stir-fried with fresh rice noodles, mushrooms, Chinese broccoli

Dessert

Sesame-Caramel toffee apple, finished tableside

Three-Course Dinner $35.10

First Course

Warrior Dumplings
Crispy dumplings stuffed with black forbidden rice, shrimp, chicken, ginger, scallions, and served with sweet-chili sauce
(Shaped to resemble ancient gold ingots, these dumplings symbolize hope for a year of prosperity and good luck.)
or
Traditional Pork Bao
Cantonese BBQ pork bun steamed in a bamboo basket

Main Course

Emperor Chicken
Chicken breast stuffed with gingko nuts, Chinese sausage, shiitake mushrooms, sticky rice, and served with ginger-black bean sauce
or
XO Scallops
Seared sea scallops with XO Cognac, crispy noodles and baby spinach
or
Xi’an Steamed Fish
Chilean sea bass steamed with ginger-ginseng broth, gingko nuts, box thorn berries, mushrooms, baby spinach and jasmine rice

Dessert

Sesame-Caramel toffee apple, finished tableside

Thanks to a local blog: Here are the Restaurants that are extending restaurant week.

1789 - January 11th through the 31st
2941 - January 11th through January 29th
Art and Soul - January 11th through January 24th
Bastille - January 11th through January 23rd
Bangkok Joe's - January 11th through January 31st
Chima Brazilian Steakhouse - January 11th through January 21st
Circle Bistro - January 11th through January 24th
Co Co. Sala - January 11th through January 20th
Darlington House - January 11th through January 24th
Kinkead's - January 11th through January 22nd
Kora - January 4th through January 31st
Nage - January 11th through January 24th
Notti Bianche - January 11th through January 24th
Oyamel -January 11th through January 24th
Policy - January 11th through January 24th
Jaleo - January 11th through January 24th
Cafe Atlantico - January 11th through January 24th
Perry's - January 11th through January 31st
Redwood - January 11th through January 24th
Restaurant 3 - January 11th through January 24th
Spezie - January 11th through January 23rd
Tuscana West - January 11th
Willow - January 11th through January 23rd
Zaytinya - January 11th through January 24th
Zengo - January 11th through January 24th
Zola - January 11th through January 24th