Monthly Archives: August 2011

On Childhood and Irene

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Today brought with it a wistful moment of nostalgia and a sense of home that I wasn’t expecting.  I’ve been tracking Irene in a oddly focused way since hearing she was going to come have a visit in the lovely hamlet of Watertown, MA thinking it would be a fun reprieve and a good excuse to stay in all day and watch tv or read.  I didn’t anticipate opening windows to smell home and have a sense that I was ten again and running through blueberry fields come crashing down on me.

If you know me, you know that I grew up in the middle of a 50 acre low bush wild blueberry field in rural Downeast Maine.  You know that I am passionate and obstinate about my blueberries and refuse to eat any other berry than those that hail from Maine.  
As a small child one of my favorite parts of the summer was the time when there were local high-schoolers trudging away in the fields trying to rake berries so they could replace their wardrobes for the school year.  I would lay a blanket out in the backyard of our big farmhouse and read in the sunshine while everyone else toiled away in the fields getting sunburnt and turning purple.  On those long whiling August days I would always lift my head and stop, staring over the rakers bent double and moving slowly down their rows.  I could smell the berries around me – the alcoholic slightly fermented berries, the leaf-litter of the warm ground below, the spice bugs that were inevitably stepped on, raked or just panicked and let off a puff of smell (something between nutmeg, clove and walnuts).  It was all there carried to me on the wind that blew over the crest of the hill we lived on.  It was always the same.  The smell was a constant for me that will always mean home.
Photo via: boston.cbslocal.com
Imagine my surprise when I woke this morning and opened the window to listen to the rain when I could smell blueberry fields in Watertown.  I was home.  I was nostalgic for fresh berry pie and long hay fields that tickled my legs.  I wanted to be a kid again, home watching the blueberry rakers and reading a novel by Roald Dahl in the sunshine.  I felt like I’d been given a gift and a reminder to appreciate the small things. So this hurricane that has admittedly caused many stress and heartache has caused me an indescribable amount of joy.  Just for bringing me this spicy-sweet-earthy scent and reminding me of sunshine and the carefree-ness of childhood.

Craft Brew at the Boston Local Food Festival

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Photo Credit: http://www.bostonlocalfoodfestival.com/

Beer.  We all (ok, most) love it.  From a hearty stout in the depths of winter, to a citrusy summer ale – beer soothes stressful days and always makes sitting in the sunshine better.  Is there really anything better than a well-made craft brew?  I’m so glad you agree with me!  Now, let me discuss how I plan to celebrate this fondness for beer (and other imbibe-ables) at the Boston Local Food Festival.

Those of us over at BLFF central have spent the past year garnering feedback and working to create a second truly awesome event for the city of Boston to enjoy even more than they did last year.  With that in mind, we have set up another (drumroll, please) BEER TENT!  We took all of last year’s feedback and applied it to this year’s event (our space is bigger!) and we will have scheduled tastings, during which time tasters can drink and hang, but afterward they can go back out and enjoy more of the awesomeness that is BLFF.

What is craft brew, you wonder?  Our definition of craft brew over here at HQ is small-batch, locally sourced and alcoholic (because what fun is brew without the wickedness?) bevvies for the 21+ set.  We currently have Cambridge Brewing Company, Watch City Brew, Poverty Lane Orchards, and Blue Hills Brewery on board and will keep you updated with more brewers as we receive confirmations.  The tastings will be 2 oz pours for as long as your ticket allows you to hang out in the Daily Catch Seaport Outdoor Grotto (otherwise known as our tasting venue).

So, what’s the scoop on imbibing in all of this delicious craft brew awesomeness, you wonder? Well, aren’t you lucky that you’re here.  Craft brew tastings will be in three two hour blocks (11-1, 1:30-3:30, 4-6) so if you have your eye on one of those blocks, you should make sure you follow @bostonlocalfood on twitter and facebook so you can be the first to see when craft brew tickets go on presale :). Each block will be capped at 225 tickets so GET YOUR TICKETS EARLY.  Remember, we SOLD OUT of tickets last year, so don’t be the sad kid when you go to get tickets day of and they’re gone.  That’s no fun for you as you walk around the festival getting thirsty and wishing for a brewski (while your friends are merrily tasting their afternoon away). Just saying.

So come to Boston Local Food Festival, have a beer, chat up a local (and truly amazing) brewer of the beverage you are imbibing and have an AWESOME time.  I know I will.

Reminder: The Boston Local Food Festival runs for one day only!  October 1, 2011 from 11 am to 5pm.  It will be a lot of fun, look for more information about it here in the near future!

Irish Brunch at Tommy Doyle’s

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Some weekends you just need to go out for breakfast, either the fridge is empty or you’re slightly hungover and cooking isn’t on the agenda.  So you go out.  Typically when these occasions arise BF and I will walk up the street and go to either the Deluxe Town Diner or Uncommon Grounds, sipping large cups of coffee and eating more food than we can physically hold.  But we always miss bloody marys and breakfast cocktails at DTD or Uncommon so sometimes we motivate and go further afield – hopping the 71 and riding it into Harvard Square for a dimly lit quiet bar.  We head for these bars with the thought of an iced bloody mary and delicious breakfast food.  So we went, BF and I, into Harvard Square for brunch at Tommy Doyle’s.  We had initially planned to head to Tommy Doyle’s for a late lunch after going on a Tour of the Harpoon Brewery but we were hungry as we left our apartment at 11.  So a quick google search later we learned that Tommy Doyle’s had just rolled out brunch!

We hopped the bus and headed into Harvard for brunch at Tommy Doyle’s.  We walked in and they told us we could sit anywhere.  Immediately a waitress with a lovely irish lilt came over and handed us menus.  BF and I both ordered bloody marys, a jalepeno infused one for him and a cucumber one for me.  The bloody marys were delightful with fresh horseradish flavor.  The cool cucumber bloody mary was perfect for a hot summer mid morning drink and BF’s tasted delightfully of the jalepeno flavors.

After receiving our bloody marys we ordered our brunch entrees.  For BF a traditional Irish Breakfast with over easy eggs and for me an order of Eggs McManus.  We basically inhaled the brunch leaving the plates empty and a bit buzzed.  The Eggs McManus was fantastic with Irish bacon and perfectly poached eggs.

BF’s Irish breakfast offered a wide range of delicious breakfast foods, most of them meat and starch.  While hard to share (because we are just occasionally not very good at that) I loves TOmmy Doyle’s fro brunch, and the best part?  Our bloody marys came FREE with the purchase of a full brunch meal.  We spent $26 and got and amazing brunch fro two people and we’re already planning a return brunch trip 🙂

Tommy Doyle's Irish Pub on Urbanspoon

Honeyed Nectarine Oatmeal Pancakes

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Sometimes you need to make delicious food on a rainy Sunday morning, it’s something that makes all gloomy days brighter.  I love these pancakes on any weekend morning, they are nutty and wonderful with a flavor that is only enhanced by the addition of nectarines and a cup of delicious coffee.  I don’t make these often, and usually save them for a special occasion when someone who leans toward gluten-free food is coming to my apartment for brunch, but when I do make them there are very rarely leftovers.

Specifically, I made these pancakes over Easter weekend when BF’s parents were visiting.  His dad was bowled over, I’ve been getting a weekly email for this recipe to be posted since.  There are various reasons this post didn’t go up earlier, bad pictures being the big one but also a lack of oats in my house as a contributing factor.  But, when there were finally oats in my house (again) and time was on my side I made these gems but, of course, I modified them to be better than the ones I had been making.  I added nectarines.  I would have added peaches but when I went to Russo’s the peaches were unripe and hard as rocks, so I grabbed white nectarines which were fragrant and perfectly ripe.
I made these pancakes thinking there would be leftovers for a “later-in-the-day” snack, what a fool I was.  When topped with nectarine infused maple syrup BF couldn’t stop eating them, and I liked them spread with a bit of butter and rolled up like a crepe.  The nuttiness of the oats really enhances the whole pancake, please use the oat flour – you really won’t regret it, the pancakes are still light and fluffy even in their gluten-free state.  Yes, you have to prepare for these pancakes, but it’s totally worth it.  After sitting overnight in buttermilk the oats break apart and offer a tenderness that absorbs the honey making them not to sweet and decadent without actually being decadent.  Make these for a friend, they’ll love you for it.
Honeyed Nectarine Oatmeal Pancakes
Adapted from The Inn at Fordhook Farm via Orangette
Note: I make these pancakes entirely gluten-free by using oat flour and I like them better that way.  I also use honey instead of refined sugar since I feel like it really brings out the flavor in the oatmeal.  I laid thin slices of nectarine on top of these pancakes but next time I make these with a stone fruit I’ll probably just chop the fruit and add it to the batter.
2 cups Buttermilk
2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup Oat Flour
2 Tbs Honey
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
2 large Eggs
1/2 cup Butter, melted and cooled
1 Nectarine, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
The Night Before:
Combine the buttermilk and oats in a medium sized mixing bowl, stir, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
The Next Morning:
Remove the buttermilk and oats from the fridge and set it aside.  In a second bowl whisk together the oat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add the honey, eggs, and melted butter to the oats and buttermilk mixture, mix until fully combined.  Add the dry ingredients to the liquids and stir until fully combined.  Fold in the nectarine pieces.  The batter will be thick.  Warm a skillet/griddle to a medium-high heat and brush/spray it with vegetable oil.  Drop the batter onto the griddle by scant 1/4 cup fulls onto the pan.  Cook the pancakes until bubbles start to form on the edges and the underside is lightly browned.  Flip the pancakes and cook the second side until it is browned.  Repeat, until all the batter is gone.  This makes 12-15 pancakes.  And they are delicious.  Serve the pancakes warm, with real maple syrup (I chopped a second nectarine and added it to my maple syrup, it was amazing).  You will definitely not be sorry for the time these took.  I promise.