eggbeater

nyc sweet eating/dessert news.

if a city could have a business card, new york's might read:

nyc, not for the meek.
nyc, fuck the economy.
nyc, you think you know me?
nyc, i'm not what you think. i'm so much more.
nyc. yeah you heard that right.
nyc, whatchu looking at?!
nyc::everchanging.
{untitled} NYC.
nyc. full stop.
nyc. call me, i won't call back.
nyc; not the girl nextdoor.
nyc: many places to many more people.

living in new york city, again, is exciting. full of newness, full of preserving the old, full of possibilities, full of contradiction,      bursting with now and again.

i've always said there's more food press in nyc than any city i've cooked in. it is with these little blurbs here & there that I keep my nose out and about, even though i work in a basement most of my waking hours.

i thought i'd share some tidbits in my bakery & sweet eating adventuring...

perhaps the newest, smallest bakery on the scene is Zucker Bakery on east 9th street beetw 1st - A ave. I have no idea, at the ridiculously low prices she's charging, how she'll pay rent... But check out the perfect rugelach and chocolate ball cookies that look like truffles and taste like lamingtons.

i've recently had the pleasure of eating Jenny McCoy's desserts at Craft. they are seasonal, thoughtful, flavorful and deeply satisfying, in a soulful way. you can go just for dessert! don't miss her perfect ice cream, sherberts & sorbet.

i know a person is not supposed to pick a favorite popsicle. they're all great. especially here, now. but i like New Yorkina best. i like the chunks. i like the heat. i like the balance. i like the logo. i have a professional crush on the owner. her paletas book is fantastic too. i keep it by my bed.

i'm still a fan of Bakeri in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. i love taking myself on a date and getting a sandwich. it gives me an excuse to buy far too many pastries than would suit a single diner. but, i will admit to cheating on this neighborhood bakery with an unofficial bakery... The baked goods at Blue Bottle Coffee on Berry street, just a few blocks away. if you're in the neighborhood, eat at La Superior {the best Mexican Scallions in the universe} and then you can get 2 of everything at Blue Bottle. You will die unsatisfied if you don't eat Stout coffee cake and muster up the courage for the chocolate stout ice cream affogato. seriously. died-and-light-sped-to-heaven manna.

speaking of panty-remover food--> get off your computer right now, and leave your job if you work in nyc, and sprint down to Stumptown* at the Ace Hotel for one [or 2 if you're like me-- one for now, one for the now in a few minutes] drop dead gorgeous ridiculously delicious PISTACHIO PASTE CROISSANT. I hear that they're made by Milk Bar, but they won't answer my queries, {I'm too small fry for their kind}, so I can't confirm the heresay. No matter. if it's your lucky day [meaning i don't get there before you], you can thank me. or slap me. depending on how you react to XXX pleasure.

*for full disclosure i am no longer a fan of stumptown coffee. i have been converted to La Colombe. and now i can never go back.

while not in NYC, Masachusettes' Cape Cod got really lucky when it somehow attracted PB Boulangerie to it's shore. best "american" croissant i've had in years. too bad it's a 6 hour drive away...

not like Liz Quijada needs any press from me, but her baked goods at Abraco [the BEST espresso in nyc. yes, i said it. go ahead, don't believe me. more for me.] on east 7th street, close to 1st avenue are sublime, intuitive, quiet, simple, delicious creatures. again, not a 'bakery' per se, but no matter. go there. early. get the orange blossom water & ricotta babka and tell me i'm not wrong.

some foods, while not sweet, in the sugar sense of the word, need mention.

i was recently one of 9 people at a going away dinner for a Momofuku Noodle Bar waiter and boy do they know how to treat their people right! i ate so many things for the first time i need 4 hands. pig's tail delish, to mix metaphors. if you find the time to be on hold with what i hear is their insane phone reservation system, get the FRIED CHICKEN DINNER. whatever Koreans do to chicken skin, my jewish people can only guess. my hat bows in y'all's direct direction. no joke. zow. delicious beyond compare. and we're not talking stupis little wings with no meat at Momofuku Noodle Bar.

ISA. you have to go there to understand. my words will not do justice to chef Ignacio Mattos, owner/builder/architect/visionary Taavo Somer and their perfect union/collaboration/restaurant. my meal was transcendant. moving. joyous. soulful. brooklyn is lucky. just got better.

speaking of ignacio mattos! he introduced me to O Cafe, not just another 3rd wave cafe. if you're vegetarian [or not], if you're looking for non-Italian coffee culture {yes! it does exist!}, if you're looking for baked goods you may have never heard of, if you're looking for cared for, well-made, fresh, seasonal, reasonably priced light lunch or snacks, go here. the west village can be a bit dreadful, food wise, if you don't know about the crevices.

you might already know how much i love Buvette. i go there on almost all of my weekends. it's not food i get tired of. i wish i did, because then i could try some other restaurants on my radar. while not sweet there is a dish there that changed my life. it sounds like nothing lifechanging though. butter & anchovy toast. i can't explain. don't make me ruin the experience with words. you just have to trust me. there are only 2 desserts at Buvette, but really There Is Only One. chocolate mousse. fuck your diet, this is nyc. i could go on about all the other dishes i always get, but i won't. if you must know-- ask me in the comments section where i have more room to gush.

lastly, i've been up to too much at Peels. not only do i run a bakery inside the restaurant, i'm now responsible for making all the dessert options for Freemans' [our sister restaurant] private dining.

so, in turn, with this last menu change, i increased the Peels bakery by about 25%, not to mention adding a few new items & old favorites to the plated dessert menu.

what i'm most excited about:

six tiny tarts for $12. big thimble sized 'pies,' at 1-2 bites each could be, on any given night, any new or quirky flavor we come up with. yes, you could order them for your next partay. just give us 72 hours notice. the most we;ve made is 700 for the StarChefs event at the beginning of the month.

snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich with arroz con leche sherbert.  Greenmarket apple pie sweetened with apple cider reduction. pistachio-almond macaron with assorted familiar and bizarre fillings... well maybe not eye of newt & batswing, but you get the drift.

        MINCE TARTLETTES! yes! British [vegetarian] Mince on New Amsterdam soil! ($3)

Gluten-Free whole orange & almond cakette [all cakettes are $3] with sour cream cheese frosting. snowball look-alike coconut cream filled cakette.

roasted red sensation pear-chestnut-been pollen crisp tart with spelt-toasted flour & oat crisp topping with chestnut-hokey pokey ice cream.

and a whole slew of packaged items~ Lyle's Golden Syrup caramels, dulce de leche blondies, almond - fruit buttons, tiny chocolate & sea salt cookies, caramelized white chocolate blondies, nut & processed sugarfree granola, valrhona milk chocolate texturally explicit candy {think + feuillitene, rice krispies, maldon,
fried kasha, hokey pokey, cocoa nibs, dried sour cherries and anything else we can think of to throw in.

whole lemon marmalade bars atop brown butter shortbread.

if you live anywhere in or close to nyc i hope you'll consider letting us do [some? all?] your holiday baking. on or close to november first, i'm hoping our website will have our holiday offerings linked in. but of
course if you have questions you can always use the old fashioned machine. the landline telephone.

end note[untitled]

having no idea what kind of art you enjoy/relate to/are inspired by, i myself have recently been introduced to, and fallen in deep like with the work of richard serra. if you need to get out of town, but you don't have a car or love train rides that take you up the hudson river, may i suggest DIA Beacon? or if you're in town and walking along the High Line {my favorite place
in nyc}, consider taking the elevator down 23rd street and opening the big doors of Gagosian Galleries and walking through the massive curves known as richard serra's work. you have until
november 26th.

Napa Grown Organic Produce Summer 2010. In Need of Home. Now.

About two weeks ago Patrick Ridder called me, worried. He'd planted what he calls a garden but what any chef would call a small farm, and he has no one to sell its growing produce to. He got too excited, he admits, when he began buying seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds...

and now he has too much of a great thing on his hands.

Are you interested in buying any or all of it for your restaurant?

Patrick's garden sits on a dash of ground between his house on the levee, and the Napa River. About a mile south of Yountville. The land is CCOF Certified Organic, but between all y'all and me, he farms 'beyond organic,' meaning he doesn't use any nasties, not even the ones the USDA allows for Organic Certification.

His dilemma means that you, or a restaurant, chef or food professional you know, in Northern California, could buy all or most of his garden's bounty, if you act now. 

You will not see Patrick at a farmers market. You will not see a stand by the side of the road. You will not even see a sign leading to the garden, or the fig trees, the cherry orchard or the grapes. Massa Ranch is not a U Pick or an advertised farm.

But, if you want to taste his okra, his 6 kinds of tomatoes, 4 varieties of eggplant, the best, most densely flavored Black Mission Figs from the ineffable Fig Church, roast his beets, make ratatouille with his summer squashes, char his peppers with fire on the grill or braise collards or slice melon or steam Blue Lakes or just wrap your tongue around Quadrato D'Asti Rosso {pepper}, Tondo Scuro Di Piacenza {summer squash}, Thai Long Green {eggplant}, Jaune Dickfleischige {cucumber}, Canton Long greasy-Back {pole bean} and more,

contact Patrick Ridder by leaving a comment here with your contact information. Or hit the email link on his gorgeous blog Root Cap.

Your information will not be published if you leave it here. It will be passed on to Patrick directly.

I hope you take me up on my fruit and veg pimping.

Believe me when I say you will not be disappointed if you do.

Lemon Marmalade Recipe

I used to be afraid of making Marmalade. Afraid is maybe a soft word. I don't want to admit to you all how afraid I was. Scared like a cat hiding under a car scared.

Scared still.

Maybe not, though, for the reasons you might think.

I was scared of making marmalade because I respect it so much. Its craft, its patience, its perfect balance of sweet, gel, bitter, bite, fruit to peel ratio. All of it. When citrus marmalade is right, like so many things, its perfect is quiet, soft, shy.

A je ne sais quoi perfection.

It stemmed from having once, perhaps 20 years ago, done a bit of work for the British Marmalade Goddess June Taylor. June did it the old school way. Really old school, ancient. Cutting thousands of citrus orbs by hand. With a knife. No cutting of corners, no electric machinery.

I even took a marmalade class from her.

But still. Scared.

And then I was forced. Pulled out from under the car by my tail.

By the most wondrous citrus marmalade! Kumquat Marmalade! Anna Hansen, possibly by way of Christine Manfield, had one of the best, most straightforward, citrus fruit marmalade recipes anyone could possess & execute. I arched my back, hissed, and then looked as if nothing was ever wrong with hiding under a big dangerous machine.

When I tasted that gorgeous, bright, fruity Kumquat Marmalade I never looked back. When I landed back in America and began working at 10 Downing all of Florida's citrus was a' raging, I set to task. And marmalade I made! I made grapefruit, lime-ginger, Meyer lemon, Orange-Mineola Tangelo-Grapefruit-Navel Orange, lemon and grapefruit-fennel. If you go into that restaurant now you will still be eating my marmalades. /yeah, I went a little crazy once the fear left.

So, without further waiting & hoping, I give you my "recipe" which is more of a method than anything else.

For real live Recipes please check out Elise's step-by-step instruction for a Meyer Lemon marmalade recipe on Simply Recipes. But beware: it's a time consuming, old school method. And David Lebovitz has a great recipe for Seville Orange.

**TAKE NOTE: For your health & safety if you plan on jarring your marmalade you must follow proper 'canning' procedure.** I am a restaurant pastry chef and am not making marmalade for resale to the public. I am cooling down swiftly & keeping my product refrigerated indefinitely. 

LEMON, ORANGE, KUMQUAT, TANGERINE, MEYER LEMON MARMALADE etc*

• prep your fruit any way you like. I like to think in terms of bite size pieces but I have also been known to shake it up a bit. know that you will lose size when it begins to cook, like a cotton shirt you put in hot water & a dryer on the first go round. your knife should be non serrated and be sharp.
  make sure to discard only the stem end where the little green button resides. taste your fruit! even if they are lemons, eat it rind and all. yes. no whining. you need to know how sweet or sour your overall batch of fruit is. you cannot be psychic about this step. you have to know. for certain. empirically.
• pull, push, nudge out any and all seeds. SAVE YOUR SEEDS!! the seeds are money. do not throw
  them away.
• when you have all your cut up fruit, and your seeds in a separate container, weigh your fruit. write this number {I like to work in grams because they are easier, better, easier to remember & make more sense} on a piece of masking tape. put all your fruit in a container large enough to hold it & the step you are about to take next.
• fill your container with cold water from the tap. you may use expensive water too if you like. the fruit should BE COVERED AND SUBMERGED but NOT DROWNING. my most common mistake is I drown the fruit. you become sorry later, I promise you. if you have OCD and are worried about that fruit that floats to the top you can lay a folded clean dishcloth over the top and put a plate on top of that. but none of that is necessary. place this container in the fridge and affix that important piece of masking tape to the outside.
• in order to make marmalade you NEED a stainless steel HEAVY BOTTOMED pot. your pot should be twice the size of the batch of marmalade you are making. please do not crowd the pot. you spent all this time prepping the fruit and taking out all the seeds...
• you will also need a piece of cheesecloth the size of a dishtowel. you may also use a jelly bag, but you may not use a paper coffee filter. if the mesh on the cloth you are using is too tight, your marmalade will not get thick enough. or, it won't get as thick as if you use cheesecloth.
• the next day {although truth be told you can also cook this two days after you submerge it under water} dump all the contents of the container into your stainless steel pot.
• you know you have just the right amount of water in there when, upon pressing down on the fruit, you feel a mass like washing a sweater in the bathroom sink. if it feels like floating, amorphous fruit, your fruit is drowning and you need to pour away some of your water.
• turn the heat on to medium or medium high.
• do not leave the house.
• but you may want to plan an afternoon activity. the next step, depending on your batch size, could take 3+ hours total cooking time.
• you are cooking your prepped fruit until THE PEEL IS TEETH TENDER. you are not making mush. you do not want a rapid boil. you do not want aggressive water or to stir the mass aggressively. be firm but fair with your wooden spoon or heat-proof spatula.
• AS SOON AS THE PEEL is palatable by way of feel and taste, you are going to measure out 40-60% of the fruit's total weight {which you wrote on that piece of masking tape} in sugar. white sugar. so. if you have 1500g lemon slices, you probably want 750 - 900g sugar. lemons are sour. but if you have 1000g Navel oranges or Meyer lemons you may only want 400g sugar. see? see why grams are better? easier, that's for damn sure.
• now you want to turn the flame down to an exact medium. not medium high, not medium low. call in one of the Three Bears if you can't decide. if you're lucky the Christian Right will not have locked up Goldylocks just yet.
• see those beautiful glistening seeds? touch them. fondle them. feel their slimyness? that slime is natural pectin. fruit protein of the gods.
• dump out your seeds into the cheesecloth. you probably want to have folded your cheesecloth in half, though, so it's not too porous.
• wipe out any excess pectin that's clinging to the sides, with your cheesecloth. every molecule matters. I'm not joking.
• make a little package of your seeds. NOT TIGHT. do not suffocate your seeds. they are like bees-- give them room and you will be much rewarded. tie top with food grade twine or a rubber band. plop in the center of your hot fruit mess.
• stir infrequently, but intentionally.
• do not leave the house. but you may water the garden or dust.
• place a saucer or two in the freezer.
• this is what you are looking for:
• your marmalade is done when it begins to thicken and your bubbles get lazy. yes, bubbles. you want your mixture to simmer on the high side.
• your marmalade is done when the mixture darkens but it is overcooked if it begins to take on a golden hue.
• when you think you're getting close, spoon out a bit of the mixture & drop it onto your frozen saucer. when the droplet firms up instead of melts out it is ready.
• do not plotz if your first batch does not set up stiff like a tight skirt. like a three piece suit. you are making a homemade something wondrous and it will not look like any commercial jam, jelly or marmalade you have in your condiments section.
• when you think your marmalade is done, pour it immediately into a large vessel and place that in a larger vessel filled with ice. or you can leave it out at room temp, uncovered, until it can be handled.
  

*This recipe is good for "soft" skinned fruits. By this I do not mean limes or grapefruits. If you are dead set on making either or both, let me know in the comments section and I will tell you how I deal with these fruits. I definitely do not suggest starting your marmalade making with limes or grapefruits as they are tricky in the frustrating kind of way.

Jonnatan Leiva, chef & Matthew Wilbur, sous. butchering lamb & suckling pig.

 

Matthew Wilbur

 

Jonnatan Leiva

Suckling pig & lamb raised in Vermont by Lydia Ratcliff, farmer extraordinaire.

Greengage Plums & Party Tomatoes

Greengage plums are my new love.

Anything you want to know about them, please read Jane Grigson's chapter on them in her ineffable, The Fruit Book. Her prose is educational & poetic.

But nothing beats eating these mysterious green fruits! Honey, syrupy summer, sweet, meaty. And tiny enough to pop the whole thing in your mouth at once.

Roast them to keep the colour & if jamming keep the flame really low. Cook too far and you'll lose the colour.

I found all this fruit at my local, the Newington Green

greengrocer. I feel ecstatically lucky because London neighborhood shops aren't famous for having fresh fruit, especially seasonal & local British grown fruit & veg.

Party Tomatoes are not a real name. They were renamed by Melanie, my First Assistant, when we worked together at Citizen Cake. They are striped (pronounced with 2 syllables) and also green. I love them muchly and will eat them out of hand, maybe garnished with a pinch of salt, as much as I can in summer.

Royal Blenheim Apricots. buy & eat me now. Northern California & beyond.

Now is the time.
The time is Right Now.
If you live in California, USA or anywhere close by, and you love apricots

{photo by Anita Crotty of Married ...with Dinner}

The Royal Blenheim Apricot is in season right this minute.

AND YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THEM GO EXTINCT IN YOUR LIFE TIME

support the few farmers left growing them.

All this information just in from my favorite group, Bakers Dozen.

Dear Bakers Dozen Members:
The Blenheims are Here!  If you’d like to organize a carpool to pick some up, here are some sources:

 ♦Apricot King—Patty Gonzales’ orchard
Email:  info@apricotking.com
Phone:  831/637-1938

Visit their farm in Hollister, or check them out at these local farmer's markets:

Santa Cruz
2:30 to 6:30 Wednesdays – Lincoln & Cedar, one block off Pacific in downtown Santa Cruz
Los Altos
4 to 8 p.m. – Thursdays, downtown Los Altos
Palo Alto
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Sundays (California & El Camino)
Mountain View
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Sundays (Hope & Evelyn Streets)

 
♦Andy's Orchard
1615 Half Road
Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Store Hours:
10:00am - 5:00pm Weekdays
10:00am - 4:00pm Weekends
(408) 782-7600 and ask for Lorene

or
•    Sigonona's Market (Palo Alto)
•    Cosentino's (San Jose) carries Andy's fruit
•    Local Farmers Market @ Garden Accent
•    11155 Lena Ave, Gilroy, CA 408/846-4555 Thur  2-7 pm
or look on the local harvest website.

More lovely photos can be found on Flickr of Royal Blenheim Apricots on the branch, taken by Spidra Webster.

summer fruit desserts, in London.

I'm back working in a restaurant after what feels like many years. Moving thousands of miles can do that-- separate you from what you know, and remove the ground from beneath your feet. What was a recent experience can feel far away in lieu of disorientation.

For the last 11 years, the ground beneath my chef feet has been seasonal, local, mostly organic fruit; and my moniker, 'fruit-inspired pastry chef,' has been my guiding force. I have picked fruit, worked for farmers at favorite farmer's markets and eaten my weight in citrus and stone fruit many times over. I said for years anad years that I stayed in California for its gratuitous fruit array.

But here in London, fruit is an afterthought. Besides apples and pears in autumn, and gooseberries, elderflowers and strawberries in summer, which few do better than Britain, fruit comes from very far away and few people know when to buy it at its peak. Most fruit and vegetables are here year round, but flown in from various countries and continents catchers-catch can style, making fruit buying confusing at best.

And because few fruits are grown in British soil, they arrive with a high price tag. Using fruit as a primary focus for a plated dessert, here in London, is a bad idea, cost-wise. But also flavour-wise, because seasonal fruit in South Africa or Spain, or even a country as close as France, is probably not picked and shipped as ripe as one would hope.

All this said, I have found trusted places to buy UK seasonal fruit. And the restaurant I work for is produce-centric and we use an amazing produce purveyor, so I feel infinitely grateful/lucky to have well-chosen product close by.

That said, what desserts are on the horizon?

I'm thinking about tahini, white chocolate, bananas, tamarind, black sesame seeds, grapefruit; Thai coconut soup sorbet; manouri, strawberries & pink peppercorns; gooseberries, mint, rosemary, elderflowers & corn; mango inspired gazpacho; buckwheat & chocolate; brown butter, raw sugar, frangipane & nectarines; young coconut, black rice, caramel. For our retail shop I'm contemplating sandwich cookies, chocolate bouchons, Lamingtons, real graham crackers, verbena profiteroles, tart lemon drizzle cakes, peanut financiers, and rich bread & butter puddings.

Moving to a new place means thinking different. Cooking and baking professionally for a new public means learning about their collective palates and historical connections to food, fruit, baked goods, salt. I can still bring me to the table, but I have to compromise too. I can't move forward: careerwise, dessertwise, bakingwise; if I do not take into consideration new soil, new people, new fruit, new seasons, new pace, new price-point, new retail environment, new attitudes about communication/confrontation, new communication styles, new everything, really.

I look forward to changing styles a bit. While I will always be a fruit-inspired pastry chef, I look forward to thinking differently, in a new way, to meet my new surroundings and continue to grow. One can get too comfortable/ too ghetto-ized/ too smug in one's niche/ geographical area/ style. Stuck.

If nothing else, it should be interesting.

MONTEREY MARKET NEEDS YOUR HELP!! PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.
PLEASE go to Friends of Monterey Market and show your support/read about what you can do.
PLEASE WRITE A LETTER.
PLEASE DO NOT SHOP AT MONTEREY MARKET AFTER JUNE 3rd UNLESS BILL FUJIMOTO takes back his resignation.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD THAT MONTEREY MARKET NEEDS EVERY ONE'S HELP to make it clear that Bill Fujimoto IS Monterey Market and his resignation is not an option.
PLEASE MAKE IT CLEAR TO THE ENTIRE FUJIMOTO FAMILY that you will not support a market that places its bottom line before family.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.

If you have eaten ANYWHERE IN THE BAY AREA, you have supported Monterey Market.
If you have ever shopped at ANY FARMERS MARKET, you have supported Monterey Market.
If you have ever blogged about new fruit in season, new fruit available in the USA, climbed upon the great pumpkin interactive sculpture in North Berkeley, or made anything in any home kitchen or restaurant or catering kitchen with any fruit or vegetables, you have supported Monterey Market.
If you believe in farmers, chefs with integrity, great produce, eating seasonally, eating locally, supporting local business YOU BELIEVE IN SUPPORTING MONTEREY MARKET.
AND YOU WOULD CONSIDER SHOWING YOUR SUPPORT TO A MARKET, A TEMPLE, A STORE, AN INSTITUTION that was in need of help.

MONTEREY MARKET NEEDS YOUR HELP.
PLEASE BLOG ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW AND LET GOOGLE AND THE FUJIMOTOS KNOW WE WILL BE HEARD.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT BILL FUJIMOTO'S RESIGNATION.
WE WILL NOT SHOP AT THE STORE IF THE FAMILY ACCEPTS HIS RESIGNATION.
PLEASE TWEET ABOUT MONTEREY MARKET and the petition.
PLEASE TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING.

I love Monterey Market.
I always have.
I always will.
I support Monterey Market from accross the USA and into the United Kingdom.
BUY EAT AT BILLS AND WATCH IT WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW PILED INTO THE LIVINGROOM if you don't believe me when I say this is a place that must be saved!!!!!!

**If you have time to leave a comment here, you have time to write a letter to the Fujimoto's.

What's in Season, fruits & vegetables. Britain, UK

When you're like me, and you love love loves you some fruit & veggies, and you move to a new place, approximately eight thousand miles from where you lived last, and you find yourself on new geography, and the climate is not at all like the one you left, and maybe the people speak your language but they have different names for the vegetables and do not grow the fruits you're used to picking off trees back home, and your local markets are wonderful but not farm-centric,

you can wonder what fruits & veggies are in season month to month.

If you live in London, or anywhere considered Britain, you have a few resources for getting seasonal fruit & veg. And now you have another, What's in Season. A straightforward website with nice portraits of food that grows in the ground, you can be sure I'm posting this on eggbeater so I can refer to it myself.

Thank you What's in Season for letting me know about yourself. I get way too many, "I think you're readers would love to know about--" spam-mails, but this one did seem of interest.

Anyone have any other websites that help you to find local markets & fruit-veg in season?

Petersham Nurseries for lunch at the Tea House.

I just wanted to remind you, and you know who you are, to go to Petersham Nurseries if you have not yet been. I realize that it's quite dear to eat in the restaurant. And that it's a bit far away.
But you know what?
There's nothing like it.
It's gorgeous, enchanting, delicious,
and you can get there by boat or Overground, not just Rail. So there. Easy-peasy.
Need a photographic prod? Here, take a gander.



As a reminder, the cafe serves food just as delicious as the restaurant, but not nearly as expensive.
It's open Wednesday - Sunday 12 Noon - 2:45 pm

I realize there's a notion that expensive eateries are more firmly grounded than more reasonable ones, but I am here to state for the record, as a chef and friend of many a restaurateur, places like Petersham Nursuries need continual support to remain who they are striving to be. The food here is clean, bright, fresh, hearty, nourishing and made with love.
And the Eccles Cakes are not half bad either. {I have knowledge from the inside.}



I hope you make it out here. If you go for the first time because I've leaned on you, can you let me us know what you thought?

Petersham Nurseries. Richmond Surrey, London

you think you have seen some of the most beautiful lands. you think you have traveled and trekked and wandered and adventured. you have seen thousands of photographs and paged through millions of glossy magazine pages and perused countless coffee table books.

your own aesthetic is the envy of all your friends, and enemies. you are a DIYer with a nose for the best deals. you arrange still lifes all over your house and every season you rearrange them like altars to new gods.

But you might never see a more beautiful stretch of acreage until you step foot in Petersham Nurseries. It is a food stylist's dream. And a museum curator's fantasy. Whether you snack and sip at the cafe or sit down for a precious meal at the restaurant, you are in for exquisite beauty like few other interiors, which are also exteriors, can compare to.

Sitting, walking, gaping, oohing and ahhing at Petersham Nurseries is a day well spent. And you can get to it from London's underground! The District Line takes you to Richmond station and then it's a lovely walk down a canal...

Find my photos here.

Heidi's remake of Petersham Nurseries chef Skye Gyngell's Cauliflower Soup with Gorgonzola.

The Passionate Cook writes about an amazing meal in the restaurant.

Keiko at Nordljus, (my partner in crime for our most amazing lunch & day trip), introduced me to this beguiling place in March 2007, by way of her own photographs.

If you find yourself in London, Petersham Nurseries should be at the top of your must see and eat places. Especially in the warmer months...

Eating in London, Heartily.

What you are about to read is not for the faint of heart, or stomach.

Be warned: if you are vegetarian or vegan, press button to turn screen into kitties now.

Americans are infamous for large portions. We overfeed, overindulge, live large and waste wantonly. We are a new country and we're as proud as a teenager with a new car. Seven miles to the gallon? Sure, so long as the wheels are sexy, shiny, and get us laid.

But we're not the only country without control in the portion department. Sometimes food is so rich in spice, flavour, potency, intrigue, intellect, and fatty ingredients; one 250 gram portion of this does not equal 8 ounces of that.

A plate's weight in grams or ounces can determine servings per individual, as can depth of flavour. 

Have you ever put a forkful in your mouth and thought,

"Wow, that's enough.
There's an entire city full of side streets, dead ends, dark alleys and disparate populations in that bite." ?

{The first time I ever felt this was after tasting Indian Lime Pickle for the first time.}

I may look slight, but boy can I eat.
Word.
I'm hungry all the time.
        Some have even wondered if I've made a deal with the devil...
Delicious food be warned: I could eat all of you. And then some.
The more fat the better.

This is a list, in no particular order, of everything I've eaten in the last coupla days in London; land of massive portions, celebrators of butterfat, succulent swine, Builder's strong tea, mince, serious salt and people trained in frying for sport. Hearty Eating happens in London.

No time for shy, yo.
        Dig in.

Grouse with Madeira de-glazed Grouse Heart-Kidney Pate Toast [the color of this pate was black-blue-aubergine. I kid you not. Paynes Grey, to be exact.]
Calves Liver with Braised Endive
Organic Beef Stew with Potato Gratin and Cavolo Nero
Lamb Sweetbreads
Beef Bone Marrow with Parsley-Caper-Shallot Salad and a huge pile of Grey Salt [this is love on a plate.]
Potato Soup with Foie Gras
Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Hazelnuts
Boiled Amersham Bacon with Spatzle [drowning in double cream]
Konstam Castle Cake with Fennelseed Ice Cream and Fresh Strawberry Preserves
Fried Potato Wedges
Lemon-Almond Drizzle Cake with Lemon Confit
Partridge with Chestnuts
Charred Sardine
Eccles Cake with Lancashire Cheese
English Muffin smothered in French Butter
Lebanese [Lemon oil fried] Chicken Livers {Beirut Express 112-114 Edgware Road London W2 2DZ}
Country Chicken Liver with Peach Chutney
Chicken Livers in Double Cream and Mushrooms
Chicken Liver Pate
Apple-Raisin Crumble and English Custard
Black Velvet Chocolate Cake with Creme Fraiche [the first bite of this warmish, silky, deep chocolate cake felt like it looks like getting deepthroated]
Pure Raspberry Sorbet
Lemon Curd & Mascarpone Tart
Whole Orange-Almond Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Chorizo Sandwich with Rocket and Piquillo Pepper
Honeyed Sheep's Milk Yogurt
Victorian Fizzy Lemonade
[Pacific Northwesterner Approved] [on-site coffee bean roasted espresso] Cappuccino {like a speedball this one}
Malt Custard and Shortbread [don't think malted milkshakes; think wheat, hopps, bitters. guinness. think molasses, treacle. what a night feels like with no moon and a lie-down by the fireplace.]

Tomorrow, Petersham Nurseries with Ms. K herself (!!!!!!!), Tapas for supper and then a big dance at Duckie, for a fantastic send off.