Foodie Weekends in the Capital District: Longhouse Revival, Part I

Thousands of regional foodies found themselves at various  harvest festivals, beer festivals, special dinners and so on this past weekend.  It's the Hudson Valley's season to celebrate our world class local food and drink. If you are new to the area or never thought about paying attention to all the corny-sounding festivals, don't miss out just because of a name!!! Watch the local news media and follow the foodie blogs and get in on the good stuff. Enjoy the glow of fine  local spirits and delicious locally produced food.

I went to a Hoptember Harvest Festival - Longhouse Revival sandwich over the three days. Yum!

My harvest festival season has begun with trips near tiny communities, or really just out in the boondocks. I drove into the sunset on Friday night until just about Rensselaerville and joined a few dozen invited guests for an evening that was all about olive oils and getting to know each other over dinner at the Longhouse Revival.

The Revival is one of the various educational activities of Molly O'Neill and her band of fellow travelers.  Her One Big Table organization provides instruction and networking activities for food writers through the Cook N Scribble branch, but the Revival is more magical than a mere educational conference. Once Molly starts inviting people to join in, a combination of talent and brains blossoms and creates a certain alchemy that doesn't occur in just any old workshop. The presence of all of the food, produced by rock star chefs, makes a significant difference. That element alone makes it easy to be extremely happy along the course of the proceedings.

For dinner on Friday I settled in beside Michael Twitty, author and blogger at Afroculinaria (http://afroculinaria.com) and took up an acquaintance we started at last year's Revival.  The dinner/tasting started by tasting the oils by themselves, then progressed to tasting the oils as they were mixed with foods of different kinds over four courses.

Eryn Balch walks us through our tasting with a background of the perfect upstate sunset.

Chef Alicia Walker designed a menu that would "showcase the differences between three basic styles of olive oil". Eryn Balch from the North American Olive Oil Association shared the stage with Alicia and they added background as well as details about the olives.  My dream of learning about food by tasting it among interesting and delightful people was fulfilled.

The lineup for the weekend was awesome - chefs, producers, writers, videographers and pretty much all  of them talented at telling stories.  This year's main theme was Chopstick Nation, The Chinese American Experience.

"including: Jonathan Gold (Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times), Da Chen (author of Colors of the Mountain and writer-in-residence), Kian Lam Kho (founder of RedCook.net and author of Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees: Essential Techniques of Authentic Chinese Cooking), Leland Wong (street artist, biker, dumpling maker and photographer), Anne Mendelson (food historian), Michael Twitty (food scholar and historic reenactor), and Lucey Bowen (author and artist), among others."

Cosmic forces in the form of Zena, Goddess of Fire, led me further downstate on Saturday for beer, and what with that ceaseless curtain of rain on Saturday night, I wasn't able to muster the courage to go out on skinny little mountain roads up into the Helderburgs for a late dinner.

So I bounced out of bed on Sunday morning and got myself  back out there by 8am for the opening workshop which was simply mind expanding. Betsy Andrews (Editor at Large Rodale's Organic Life), Jeanne Baron (Broadcast Journalist),  Sara Kate Gillingham (The Kitchn) Amy Halloran (author and Pancake Queen Bee) and Simona Carini (writer, blogger, photographer and pasta magician) devised a presentation of interviews with discussion about how to make interviews into stories. Penny Delos Santos lent her ideas on photographing for stories.  They illustrated technical aspects  of story making in a clear and accessible way for participants, all while being extremely gorgeous.  It changed my life.  Now I hope it can change my writing!!!

After having my mind blown and doing a little wandering through the festival area I was buttonholed by host Molly O'Neill and introduced to Michael Schwartz of BAO Fermented Food and Drink http://www.baofoodanddrink.com We discussed the unfortunate developments regarding food over the last half of the 20th century and how we need to resume more health-conscious foodways. It's so nice to meet like-minded business people who have found ways to produce not only delicious food, but manage to also maintain the health and productivity of the soils that nourish it. But Michael not only makes good food - he wants to help others do the same, so he's involved in the Organic Food Incubator http://organicfoodincubator.com. The incubator helps food entrepreneurs get up and running in a supportive environment.

A rather magnificent breakfast that included Albany's own Amy Halloran's fabulous pancakes gave me time to try to assimilate all that the morning had inspired and to sit quietly in the emerging sun while contemplating the beauties of the rural landscape.

Then I re-immersed into the Revival  for the Food and Flea marketplace and was transformed again and again. Halleluja!

LorreBob sez: foodies, food bloggers,  local chefs, writers, writing students and creatives of all stripes who are into food should be at the Revival next September. Get yourself out there.

Albany Dish Goes on the Road to "Slow Living Summit: Food, Mindfully"

This week in Brattleboro the Strolling of the Heifers has given life to a Slow Living summit of a 175 or so people who are interested in many issues surrounding food.  The brief list below gives a sense of the talk contents.  The summit format was a chance to have an intense immersive couple of days talking with like-minded food producers, chefs, sustainability gurus and community/foodie activists.


Turning the Tide; Healthy Food for All?
Alisa Gravitz
CEO of Green America
Alisa, an economist and sustainability wonk, says the good news is that we can grow enough organic food to feed everyone.  Studies show again and again that organic farming yields are just as high as factory farming yields.

Food for Mind, Body and Soul
Dr. Michael Finkelstein

Think about what you're eating and feed yourself what you really need. You can unpack that for two hours.

Food Policy: Can We Talk?
Shouldn't we be discussing a food system revolution?
Rob Michalak

Global Director Social Mission, Ben & Jerry's

Well heck yeah.

Land, Legacy, and Leadership: A food entrepreneur's journey
Allison Hooper
Co-Founder, Vermont Creamery

The food business can be a great adventure and take  you places you never suspected you'd go.

The Emergent Agriculture: A new paradigm for the sustainable future of food
Gary Kleppel, Professor, Farmer and Author

Dr. Kleppel provided a close up look at basic techniques that build biodiversity and sequester carbon.

Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate

Laura Lengnick, Professor Environmental Studies and Sustainable Agriculture

[Organic Agriculture BABE]

Laura's talk title is the title of her latest book, which I highly recommend. She tells the stories of award-wining farmers who are developing techniques to spring back after disasters and mitigate weather extremes along with innovating for transformation.  I have a crush on her.

Seed Libraries and Other Seed Sharing Initiatives

Cindy Conner, extraordinary gardener, teacher and author

Cindy gave us all a very comprehensive overview of seed library services and how to get a seed library started. I want to start one!!! Anybody with me?

Brattleboro Coop - lunch!  The Coop was just across the river from our conference so we made the most of their convenient food bar - a fantastic spread of wholesome delicious foods.

Food as Medicine or An Herbalist's Approach to Food

Betzy Bancroft Celest Longacre, Cheryl Wilfong

"Start with your spice cabinet" was Betzy's advice to those who wish to discover useful everyday herbal remedies for common ailments.

The 2015 Summit was one of the most hopeful meetings I've attended where people acknowledged climate change but have refused to believe that there is no way to address the changes we face. With our food policy being affected by knowledgable professionals like these I am encouraged.  But there is still plenty to do in order to assure food justice, resilient agriculture and appropriate policy to make sure we have the best possible food systems in place for the coming century.

Sunday Suppers at Fin

I love Sundays. I just spent the whole stupid week working like crazy and overdoing the working out early early in the day and worrying and doing yard work and chores and fixing things and paying bills and making lists and eating over the sink and making phone calls to BOA who screwed up again with my billing and they put me on hold forever, as did St. Peters, going to doctors and taking tests and being poked and prodded, then, late into the night, running around protecting the innocent from the forces of evil.

Boys oh boys, do I need something GOOD come Sunday.

So this past weekend I made reservations at Fin - Your Fishmonger, in Guilderland, NY, for Sunday Supper. This was only the second offering of their new once-a-month prix fixe with Executive Chef Gabriel Pollow. Chef put together a creative five courser focused on using sustainable fish, giving up to 12 lucky diners a chance to eat well, try new things, meet one another, relax, and feel special. And we did! We ate well, and we laughed and talked and talked about food with others at the table and sipped our BYO wines and enjoyed the bright afternoon sun streaming in the window for almost three full hours.

Our meal started with cold glasses of strawberry and basil soda - light, refreshing, not too sweet. I'm not big on bubbles but it was truly delicious. Warm garlic and sage scented rolls were passed with dishes of salted herby lemony compound butter. These yeasty rolls were really soft and slightly sweet and practically addictive they were so good.

Chef introduced himself and the meal to come. The first course was Gazpacho, not too spicy (Foodie Friend thought it slightly meh), fresh and cold with some crunch and a bit of finely chopped apple and red onion and not too much salt. Considering it isn't tomato season, this was a bit of an odd beginning in some ways, but it DID taste like the promise of summer in a cup. I loved the lime crema for both the added flavor and presentation.

Next was my favorite dish of the event - Shrimp Ceviche - with homemade blue corn tortillas that were super light and crunchy, even with a bit of liquid in the bottom of the bowl. There was a perfect balance of flavors and textures: shrimp, avocado, and cucumber topped with a bit of olive oil and peppery microgreens. Bright and delightful.

Course three was a Quinoa Salad topped with pan seared grouper. Fin, determining that the original red snapper on the menu wasn't sustainable, substituted the grouper. The keen-wah had a lovely bit of finely chopped veg in there, some shallots and mustard and a bit of olive oil, with a good mound of perfectly cooked crispy string beans on top. This dish was beautiful but Cookie and I somehow didn't care much for the fish. It was a bit metallic tasting, a bit bland, too peppery maybe. I don't generally like grouper, sometimes finding it a bit fishy and a bit greasy, although the sauce did help. This was a generous serving and pretty good, but no "wow" "pow" "zip" "bang" superhero punch to it, if you know what I mean.

Then came a Risotto made with a saffron steelhead salmon stock and vegetables, finished with cream and parmesan. Sorry to say I didn't like it at all. It wasn't served nearly hot enough, I thought it was too salty, and it wasn't creamy like a classic risotto (and actually kinda greasy). OK, also, it was very fishy, and even tasted a bit weird, like plastic or something. No one else at the table really liked this dish very much either. It didn't help at this point we were already quite full and the dish was VERY rich, so we mostly pushed this one aside.

The last course was a wonderful Bizcocho, a dense almond cake with almond cream and berries. Simple and sweet and perfectly considered, it was a great way to wrap up. I wasn't going to eat the whole thing, but I did.

It was a real honor to enjoy such a lovely meal in this humble, neighborly, simple environment. I felt like a part of something, somehow, like family Sunday dinner away from home with new friends. The space was bright and light and and comfortable. I loved the slow, relaxed pace and I left feeling full and happy, ready to take on another night of protecting the innocent and another Monday and another workweek ahead. Chef did a great job. I look forward to returning in the future, but I'll give the rest of you a chance to try it first before I hog another spot.

Dinner was $50/person plus tax and tip.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

Clams Got Legs!

Clams got legs, but I date myself. This is one of my favorite all time B.C. comics by Johnny Hart:

Actually they don't have legs but they do have a foot so they can move around. Dragging themselves around, not hopping. For the record.

I really enjoyed the mussels I had with FF last week. With the weather turning cooler I wanted soup so I decided to cook up a batch of homemade clam chowder. I had everything except the clams, an essential part of the recipe (duh). Zena, Goddess of Fire took her little legs for a walk to the grocery store. A good idea also when anticipating something made with cream and butter and bacon.

Canned clams. I hate canned clams. They are often sandy, salty and have a funny orange color. I'm sure there are premium brands you can order online if you are a rich gourmand and planned this meal two weeks in advance. Some of the ones I look at had sodium tripolyphosphate (to retain natural juices) and calcium disodium EDTA to protect color (doesn't really work in my opinion). EDTA is a short term for ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.

Ugh. RUN AWAY!!!

I didn't want to start with fresh clams - too much work with too many other superhero projects in the works, like fold the laundry. I looked in the frozen fish section and found Sam's Clams, a 16-ounce plastic container of shucked clams ($5.99). Ingredients: Clams, water. OOOOOH. I liked that. This is what I found online:

"100% natural chopped clams are hand processed by Blount using the time honored hand-shuck technique because, to date, this method still produces the highest quality meat (heat shucking methods tend to blanch and toughen the meat more than our standards would allow). Our products are guaranteed 100% natural. We do not soak or pack with tripolyphosphate. We use no salt or preservatives. The clams are washed in fresh water, plain and simple. The end result is a healthier, fresher, sweeter, more tender product."

It also had a label that it was "Certified Sustainable" but according to an NPR report the labeling thing isn't reliable (http://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable), but I still felt a bit better about eating seafood, a topic which is very confusing for most mortals (and superheros) but very serious from an environmental standpoint. PRI's environmental news magazine "Living On Earth" had a piece on the radio yesterday about some newfangled inland shrimp farming operation near Boston that's environmentally friendly. We may be able to feel good about eating shrimp again, but that might not be for awhile. The first tankfuls are going to high-end chefs that will treat the food with respect. Time for a meander to Boston, n'est-ce pas?

I left Sam's Clams on the counter to defrost during most of the course of the day while I protected the innocent, sharpened my sword, and vacuumed. They were still very cold with a few ice crystals in the center when I started cooking, so I think I got the timing just about perfect. Just a few seem to have walked away but my cat's just looked at me innocently, then licked a foot. The clams smelled sweet and briney.

The next new ingredient I used for this soup was Trader Joe's Uncured Bacon Bits & Ends ($2.99/lb.). VERY smokey, almost too much, but distinct and flavorful. These were definitely ugly and very fatty, which may be me some day if I don't quit sleeping in on Sundays and eating rich food, so I won't be overly critical as I meander over to the stove and start cooking.



Here's my recipe. The clams were wonderful - tender with just a bit of chew, the bacon added a rich, intoxicating smell, potatoes, butter, cream and salt. A a couple of virtuous veggies. All good.

ZENA'S CLAM CHOWDER
Serves 4 as a first course

• 2 ounces chopped bacon, cooked over medium heat in a medium pot until the fat has mostly rendered and the meat is tender crisp; remove the bacon to drain; reserve 2 tablespoons of the fat in the pan.
• Add 1/2 small chopped onion, l large sliced shallot, and 2 finely chopped celery stalks and cook until the vegetables are tender.
• Add 2 cups of water, and 2 medium sized red potatoes that have been washed and cut into 1/4" dice. Also 1 1/2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce and a generous grind of white pepper.
• Return the bacon to the pot, bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer, covered, while you make the roux.
• In a separate saucepan melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat. When just sizzling add 1/4 cup all purpose flour and cook 1 minute, stirring with a whisk. Slowly whisk in 1 can of whole evaporated milk (or light cream if you prefer). Cook until thickened and bubbly and set aside.
• When the vegetables are tender (about 15 minutes or so) add the clams (rinse these well before you use them, and look out for bits of shell). Don't cook them longer than a few minutes so they don't get all rubbery on you. Stir in the roux. Serve with oyster crackers.

And a beer. It's Sunday, after all! Time to put up your feet, relax and enjoy.

Zena, Goddess of Fire