Food Bloggers Tour at New Whole Foods in Chevy Chase

I am very excited to join my DC Food Bloggers in a tour of the new Whole Foods Market in Chevy Chase!!! I will let you know how it is! I am sure it is much nicer than the one in Glover Park. I could honestly spend all day in a grocery store...so I am thrilled to be part of this pre-opening sneak peek tour! Stay tuned for more.....

May 5th! Food Blogger Happy Hour

Come celebrate Cinco de Mayo with DC's Food Bloggers! CHEERS!

This month’s DC Food Bloggers Happy Hour, Wednesday, May 5 (6-8 p.m.) is being held at family-owned, Restaurant 3 in Clarendon, VA (2950 Clarendon Blvd). On Wednesdays, Restaurant 3 offers $5 martinis in the bar and lounge. They will also have $3 drafts. For the Food Blogger happy hour, we will be in the reserved lounge area. Click for more information.

The Healthy Schools Act

Over the next few weeks Congress will vote on some important bills focusing on Children and School Lunch Programs. I feel it is important to understand what is going on in DC and try and help make a difference in the community. By speaking out and supporting the people that are making change...we can come together and help kids get the healthy and well-balanced meal they deserve.

Check out this Alice Waters' Interview: It is very Interesting about Healthy School Lunches and current Bills on the table.

In this interview Alice Waters talks about DC and what Bills are being put before Congress. She states....

"We’re working to bring it to Washington, D.C. A bill has been introduced by the D.C. City Council called the Healthy Schools Act and sponsored by Councilwoman Mary Cheh, which would make school meals healthier and more nutritious; increase the amount of local and fresh fruits and vegetables served in schools; increase exercise and physical activity in the schools; as well as promote school gardens, recycling, energy reduction, and other green initiatives. We are part of a coalition of groups, called "D.C. Schools on the Move," all working very hard for this. I’m quite hopeful and invite every one of your readers in the D.C. area to join in supporting this very important effort.

There is also a bill before Congress, the 2010 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill, which gives USDA authority to set nutritional standards and expand the use of local farm products in the school meal program. We’re very encouraged that the administration is putting its muscle into getting more money for healthy school lunches. It certainly helps that the first lady, Michelle Obama, with her Let’s Move! campaign, has made ending the obesity epidemic in children her number one priority. If we can get Congress to pass this bill this spring, it will affect what the kids are eating at school next fall. Again I am very, very hopeful."

Currently the Healthy Schools Act is being talked about and decisions are being made.

In December 2009, DC City Council representatives Mary Cheh and Vincent Gray co-introduced the Healthy Schools Act of 2009. The Bill contains many important Farm to School initiatives, as well as other initiatives designed to improve the health and well-being of District schoolchildren and to “green” District schools. The Healthy Schools Act Hearing took place on March 26, 2010. The bill is now in the process of being finalized, before the voting process begins, with the goal of the legislation being in effect when school resumes in August 2010.

Yesterday the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment voted on the bill. Today (April 20^th) the Committee of the Whole will vote, and on Tuesday May 4^th the entire council will take a final vote to pass the bill as a law!

Here are some of the other highlights of what this bill would do (From The Slow Cook):

* Allow students to eat breakfast in the classroom in schools where more than 40 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals.

* Require a minimum 30 minutes for lunch.

* Eliminate trans-fats and introduce specific nutrition standards, including weekly portions of vegetables, over a four-year period.

* Regulate the amount of sodium in school food, but still allow more than the most recent USDA standards for commodity vegetables.

* Continue to allow snack and junk food, but in managed portion sizes.

* Continue to allow vending machines outside school lunch rooms, but no longer stocked with sodas, sports drinks, ice teas or other sugary beverages, including “fuit juices” with minimal actual fruit.

* Prohibit “foods” containing more than 35 percent sugar by weight, but continue to allow flavored milks some are now calling“sodas in drag,” as well as 100 percent fuit juices that are dense with sugar by virtue of the fructose they contain.

* Encourage schools to serve minimally processed agricultural products that are sustainably grown on local farms, and without the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics and hormones.

* Establish a school gardens program to aid in garden construction and incorporate gardens into school curricula.

* Eliminate Styrofoam and other non-recyclable materials from school lunch rooms and report on recycling efforts.

* Begin a pilot composting program for school food waste.

* Require minimum levels of physical exercise in grades K through 8.

* Establish “wellness centers” in the city’s high schools.

* Nutrition standards, including ban on sugary beverages, would not apply at sporting events. But foods not meeting the standards could not be offered as prizes or incentives in schools.

What can you do to help:

1. Sign the D.C. Farm to School Network’s in support of farm to school in the Healthy Schools Act.

2. Contact your councilmember and ask them to VOTE YES for the Healthy Schools Act on Tuesday May 4^th! Get your councilmember’s contact information here, and download a sample letter to email or send here.

3. Stay Connected - Check Mary Cheh’s site and signing up for her email alerts. The D.C. Farm to School Network is also keeping track of the bill here.

Information given by: DC Food For All

Blog - Better D.C. School Food - Better D.C. School Food is the official blog of Parents for Better D.C. School Food.

Whoopie Pies!

Stop by the DC’s Historic Eastern Market from 9:00 am until Noon Tomorrow (Saturday, April 17) for the Share Our Strength - National Food Bloggers Bake Sale!

Be sure to buy a Come To The Table "Whoopie Pie" or Lemon Square. I am spending all day cooking away...here are a few pictures to see whats going on in my kitchen. Buon Appetito!

Happy Birthday Bella!

I got these really cute bones for Bella from Three Dog Bakery in Richmond, VA!

Ruth Reichl Comes To DC!

Ruth Reichl spoke at the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program at the National Museum of Natural History on Monday night. Joe Yonan, editor of The Post's Food section, led the discussion with Ruth as they talked about her new book, her future in the food/magazine industry and her new style of food writing via twitter!

Ruth Reichl was the last editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, a former food critic for the New York Times and the author of numerous books, including the memoirs "Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise" and "Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table."

Ruth spent a lot of her time with Joe talking about her latest book, "For You Mom, Finally." (Which I got for me and my mom for Mother's Day.) She started to write this book when she was asked to give a speech for an award she was winning. She noticed that the day of the speech...would have been her mother's 100th birthday and decided to write about her mom starting with "I wake up every morning thankful I am not my mother..." She goes on to talk about her mother's life and the reasons she is thankful she is not her mother. Her mother was never allowed to pursue her dream job (because she was a woman) and was pressured into getting married at a young ago. Ruth's mom instead, wanted Ruth to live a better life. I cant wait to read the book...she looked at her mother's old letters and wrote the book in honor of her life.

Ruth and Joe then started talking about her years at Gourmet. Ruth really changed things with the magazine and gave it the name and honor it deserves today. She felt there was more to food/life than a big elegant dinner party to write about. She started writing pieces about farms, chefs and farmers relationship, and food and politic. She said her staff had the appetite to change the magazine and make it what it is today. She said she started writing for her readers...because her readers never failed her. However, with times changing the ads were not selling - which was the main reason the magazine failed. In its last year sales dropped from 1350 to 400.

"I got to live in a time of magazine, that will never come again. During that time...if you give a reader what he wants, it will pay off. It is so sad that those days are over." -Ruth

However, Ruth does have faith that something new and exciting will come to the industry. She gave me hope and inspiration that I am not in a dying industry. She talked about the wonderful things going on in the food industry...and the rise to make change to things like what children are eating.

To end the evening on a happy note, Joe talked with Ruth and her haiku-like tweets. In a recently article by John Kessler in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, John writes about how Ruth may have invented a new genre of food writing. Example of her tweet: "Sun spangled morning. Tiny yellow birds. Peeling tangerines. Fresh warm bread, cold sweet butter, apricot jam." With only 140 characters....what a beautiful way to write about food.

I enjoyed the evening and loved meeting one of my favorite writers and role models in the food industry. Even though Gourmet is no longer being published...for years Ruth gave us stories on more than just a recipe or critic. She filled our minds with knowledge on how food relates to other, race, and politics. She helped me become the curious food writer I am today...and she taught me how to go the extra mile when exploring a food article.

Share Our Strength Bake Sale

I am cooking for the Share Our Strength - National Food Bloggers Bake Sale. It will be this Saturday, April 17, from 9am-12noon at DC’s Historic Eastern Market. Here is what I am bringing! I will post pictures tomorrow of cooking and packaging. Please look for the Come To The Table label for my special treats!

Lemon Bars

Shortbread Crust:

1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (25 grams) confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar
1 cup (130 grams) all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Lemon Filling:

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 (80 ml) fresh lemon juice (approximately two large lemons)
1 tablespoons (5 grams) grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons (25 grams) all purpose flour

Garnish:

Confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar
Lemon Zest - The yellow outer rind of the lemon that contains the fruit's flavor and perfume.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) pan.

Shortbread Crust: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press onto the bottom of your prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

Lemon Filling: In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to combine. Fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling has set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

To serve: Cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar. These are best eaten the day they are made but can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Yield: 16 - 2 inch (5 cm) bars

Recipe From Joy of Baking

I am also making Whoopie Pies from the Whoopie Pies Cookbook by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell. They look great! I have be wanting to get the pan every time I go into Sur La Table...I thought it was a good time.

Chocolate Whoopie Pie

1 2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 t salt
4 T butter
4 T vegetable shortening
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 t vanilla
1 cup milk

Filling

Classic Marshmallow
1 1/2 cups Marshmallow Fluff
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 T vanilla extract

or

Classic Buttercream
3cups confectioners' sugar
1 stick butter
3-4 T heavy whipping cream
1 T vanilla
pinch of salt

(Mix on medium speed for 3 mins)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift dry ingredients. Beat together butter, shortening, brown sugar on low speed. Increase speed to medium and beat for 3 mins. Add egg and vanilla.

Add half dry mixture and half milk to batter. Add 2nd dry and milk.

Drop 1 T of Batter onto baking sheets (lined with parchment paper). Or Use Whoopie Pans from Sur La Table. Bake for 10 mins.

DC Food Blogger Bake Sale to Fight Child Hunger — This Saturday!

I am excited to participate in the first-ever National Food Bloggers Bake Sale this Saturday along with many wonderful DC Food Bloggers.

Nearly 1 in 4 children (17 million kids) in the US do not have enough food to eat. This weekend, Share our Strength kicks off their annual “Great American Bake Sale” campaign — where volunteers across the country host bake sales to raise funds for SOS’s efforts to end child hunger.

The DC bake sale will be held this Saturday, April 17, from 9am-12noon at DC’s Historic Eastern Market. Our table will be outside near the farmers line! Please stop by!

I am not sure what I will be making. I am spending all day tomorrow looking through cookbooks and making my grocery list. I bought really cute boxes from World Market to package the goodies in. I am just not sure what will go in it! Details to come! I have a mile long list of things to do today and tomorrow..and then I can focus all my time on the Bake Sale. What a great cause and a great way to get involved in the Food community in DC! I hope all my food friends in Atlanta also have a great turn out. Cheers!

Some of the local bloggers who will be participating:

• Martha of A Measured Memory
• Jenna of Modern Domestic
• Kenneth of Indoor Garden-er
• Marie-Noelle of Lunching in the DMV
• Cathy of Mrs. Wheelbarow
• Maiy of Beans Rice Life
• Amber of Live Love to Bake
• Colleen of FoodieTots
• (Me) Sally of Come to the Table

Next Food Blogger Happy Hour

I Hope to See You There!