Niman Ranch Weekend: Farm to Table at the Willis Hog Farmfeatured
Today, LMS contributer Danielle Tsi transports us to the heartland of America to experience hog heaven at Niman Ranch’s farm-to-table weekend. Danielle is a photographer and blogger based in the San Francisco Bay Area who has a penchant for going beyond the plate to tell the stories behind every dish. When she’s not behind the lens, she can be found on her yoga mat perfecting the headstand. *****
Visiting Iowa isn’t exactly the sort of thing you’d do just for the weekend. After all, cornfields and farms aren’t really “weekend getaway” material. But when you’re spending it with Paul Willis and his family, their hospitality and warmth slowly chip away at your pre-conceived notions, until you’re completely bowled over by their Midwestern charm and forced to admit that, yes, you had a damn fine time in Iowa, and would jump on the next chance you get to visit them again.
Last weekend, Niman Ranch invited Lick My Spoon, their customers, partners and a couple of other bloggers out to Des Moines for a porky weekend culminating in their 12th Annual Hog Farmer Appreciation Dinner on Saturday evening.
After an utterly delicious lunch at Centro on the first day, where I met fellow blogging buddies John from Food Wishes and Tina from Carrots ‘N’ Cake, we boarded the bus for Thornton, IA, a town 2.5 hours northwest of the city, where the Willis family and their approximately 300 hogs were waiting to greet us. Driving through endless acres of golden, GMO-corn fields, I found it hard to believe that, just a day earlier, I was racing up the 101 to a jam-packed SFO. Apart from the occasional farmhome, there was not a soul to be seen. Possibly because the only other souls out there at three in the afternoon were clustered in these innocuous-looking structures…
More »
Share
Tomatoes: An Addiction (Early Girl Tomato Sauce)featured
I have a confession to make: I’ve been on a bit of a tomato bender.
I just can’t help it. They are just so irresistible. I’ve been popping cherry tomatoes like pills, sneaking slices and dices of heirlooms into every meal, and lusting after Early Girls.
I recently came across this Mario Batali clip, and learned that there is a word for my ailment. The Italians call it Scorpacciata.
It means, essentially, a feeding frenzy…specifically, on something that is in season. In Batali’s words, it’s when something comes into season, and you “go at it with a vengeance.” You have it in every way that you can, you commit to it, you gorge on it, eating as much of it as possible, because in the real world, that one shining item is only available, in its prime deliciousness, for a small window of time.
Ah, see? The Italians have been doing it for so long, they have a whole word for it. That makes me feel better.
More »
Share
Spicy Avocado-Cucumber Soupfeatured
Today’s post comes from LMS contributer, Adam Carr. Adam is a recent UC Berkeley graduate and social media intern living in Berkeley, California. He has an unhealthy addiction to baguette, brie, and pretty much every show on television.
*****The other day I broke my Yom Kippur fast at a deep-fried food themed birthday party, a veritable paradise of food you experience on a regular basis, but with a glistening, golden exterior. My evening should have been a separate holiday called “Nom Kippur.” For those of you who have not experienced one of these events, you feel very, very full afterward. It’s a fullness that makes post-Thanksgiving feel like a few hors d’oeuvres. Then the guilt sinks in, like a telltale heart that’s been battered and dropped into boiling oil (note to self: deep fried hearts). I was saturated with this greasy guilt, and the only way to relieve it was with something light and refreshing to clear my conscience (and arteries).
That being said, I wanted to atone for my indulgences while still, well… indulging. Enter Spicy Avocado-Cucumber Soup: a light, refreshing soup with a kick. I felt like Sam I Am while pushing this on my roommates, since just about every ingredient in this recipe is green: avocados, cucumbers, green curry paste, limes, and so on. This soup doesn’t have a drop of oil, butter, or cream. It gets its creaminess from coconut milk, which is full of “good” saturated fats, and avocados.
More »
Share
Rock the VOTE! Project Food Blog Challenge #1featured
