Urban Farm Video

Here it is! Click HERE to see our latest episode of "Farm to Table Foodie". FINALLY finished putting it together, just in time for you to make a delicious winter recipe in your own home. Hope you and enjoy it! RECIPE BELOW.

Butternut Squash Creamy Pasta Sauce

By Becky Bowler

2 cloves garlic

½ onion

2 small tomatoes

2 medium carrots

1 red bell pepper

1 can light coconut milk

1 veggie bouillon cube

2 cups Butternut squash puree and 1 cup butternut squash cubes

½ cup Nutritional Yeast

½ t Basil

1 t Thyme

1 t Oregano

½ t Red Cracked Pepper

1 ½ t salt

½ t black pepper

½ cup or more water/veggie broth, if needed to thin

Peel and cube a large Butternut Squash. Steam the cubes until tender, approx 20 minutes. Puree about 2 ½ cups of the cubes to make 2 cups of puree.

While the squash is steaming, sauté garlic, onion, carrots and red bell pepper in a couple tablespoons of water or vegetable broth until tender. Once tender, add coconut milk, tomatoes, 2 cups of pureed butternut squash, 1 cup cubed butternut squash, nutritional yeast, and spices and herbs. Mix well and simmer to blend flavors. Serve over rice or pasta or use as a hearty soup.

Urban Farm/Market Shoot

The Hoop House Farms

BEAUTIFUL rainbow chard....you really don't see it this colorful in the supermarket

In the garden

Last weekend I had a great time with my mama in town. We hit up the Rosie O’Donnelle show, did some shopping, I was able to do some home cooking, we hung out and she was able to witness the filming of our new video to be released within a couple weeks. Friday we were able to go to Growing Home’s Urban Farm in South Chicago. They are a great non-profit organization that builds urban farms to help boost economic activity in communities and provide local, fresh, organic produce in areas that are considered food deserts. They even create jobs for those who may have troubles finding employment due to homelessness, previous incarceration, or past substance abuse. They were super friendly on our visit and their farm was BEAUTIFUL!!! So well organized, clean, and colorful. It was the coldest day that we have seen thus far in Chicago but the sun was shining. The next morning we followed them to the Green City Market up at the Penny Notebaert Museum. Walking around the market both inside and out, was very refreshing. It was amazingly warm and sunny out so it made for a beautiful morning. We walked around the market, picked up some delicious local fresh produce and were ready to get back to the kitchen for the lastest creation. Stay tuned for the video and you will have a yummy new recipe to try out this winter! I know it was a favorite of many last year :)

P.S. Don't forget to "Like" us on facebook so you can keep up on the latest videos and happenings.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thyme-2-Travel-Productions/250105368371324

Behind the Scenes shot compliments of Mom Bowler

Me and my mama

PRODUCE SHOTS

Sweet shot of the Brussels

Radishes

All color carrots

Just missed that little red berry!

Awwww Man! I was sooooo close! I just missed cranberry harvest in Wisconsin. I have a very interested farm though and they are ready for me to visit. It WILL happen next year so be ready to see me in the waders walking through the cranberry lakes and showing you an awesome recipe! Did you know that Wisconsin produces more cranberries than any other state in the nation and produces more than half of the entire world's supply!!!

Man! Super excited about those cranberries but I guess that is all a part of the process of planning ahead and mother nature does not wait for the Farm to Table Foodie! So in the attempt to drown my sorrow with the missed harvest we will move on. Thanksgiving is fast approaching and what is the most well known food on the table for that gluttonous holiday? You guessed it! The TURKEY! Looking at Turkey farms soon hopefully. Little nervous about this one. Don't worry we are just gonna visit them while they play. We all know what happens in order for them to go in the oven so it isn't really necessary for me to broadcast that step. Stay tuned!

Farm to Table Foodie Pumpkin Video and Recipe

The Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend, Sari and I had an amazing day in the pumpkin patch. It was PERFECT weather and we got there before the parking lot filled up with hundreds of cars. The fields were full of pumpkins and the place was packed with families of all shapes and sizes running around the property. It was quite interesting to see that they also had Camel rides and a giraffe on site. Hmmmm... I wasn’t real sure what that was all about but the pumpkins were plentiful so that is all we cared about. Check out the video HERE and the recipes below. ENJOY!

WHY WOULD YOU BAKE A PUMPKIN?

You can make:

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Bars, Pie, Scones, Pancakes

Pumpkin Risotto

Pumpkin Ravioli

Pumpkin puree can substitute oil in baking. Use a 1:1 ratio

Freeze the puree in 2 cup portions if you aren’t going to use it all.

DIRECTIONS FOR BAKING A PUMPKIN:

BAKING WHOLE: Wash the pumpkin and place it right on the oven rack with some foil on the bottom rack under the pumpkin to catch any drippings. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes depending on the size. Then cut in half and scoop out the guts in the middle. Use the flesh for puree.

BAKING IN HALVES: Cut the Pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and guts. Place the halves face down in a shallow pan filled with about about 1/2 inch of water. Bake at 350 degress for 35-60 minutes. To check, insert a knife through the skin and when it slides through easily, the pumpkin is cooked.

ROASTING THE SEEDS:

Rinse the seeds and release them from the pumpkin guts. Lay on a paper towel to dry. After the seeds have dried spread them on a baking sheet and season with: honey and cinnamon, salt and cayenne, parmesan and italian seasoning, etc. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. You may want to shake them up during the baking process.

FEATURED RECIPE:

Pumpkin Mousse

2 cups fresh pumpkin puree

1 ¼ cup macadamia nuts or cashews

12 dates

1 ¼ cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk

Pumpkin Spices

2 t cinnamon

1 ½ t nutmeg

½ t ginger

Bake a small/medium pie pumpkin. Scrape out the flesh and set aside. While waiting for the pumpkin to cook soak the nuts in the almond milk for a couple hours (Soaking overnight is recommended if using a regular blender). Soak the dates in hot water for about 20 then drained. Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth.

*You can eat this mousse alone or put it into a date/nut crust, pie crust, tart crust, make parfaits or freeze as an ice cream.

Farm to Table Foodie Apple Video and Recipes

Wow! I have been super neglecting this blog lately. So many things going on and trying to edit the Apple Video was one of them. It is finally complete! Check it out! Just click HERE !

See the recipe below!

FYI....I am setting the wheels in motion for a possible move back to Santa Cruz by early next year. Who knows what that will look like or when it will happen but I am very excited about it. So much to pursue there and I am ready to make a place my home.

In "Farm to Table Foodie" news, I will be hopefully shooting a piece on pumpkins in the next week or two so be ready for the video and a great recipe in a few weeks. Hope you are all having a beautiful fall and enjoying the yummy harvest foods. Feel free to drop me an email if you need any ideas for your latest Farmer's Market pickup or you just want to say hi!
info@thyme2travel.com

Best - Becks

On the Fly
Apple Pie

Ingredients

Filling:
7-8 Peeled Sliced Apples
1 T Cinnamon
1 cup apple sauce
4 finely chopped medjool dates
¼ cup of whole wheat flour (or substitute with gluten free flour)
Topping:
1/3 cup nuts (use any variety or any mixture of cashew, pecan, macadamia, almond, walnut)
10 medjool dates
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup flax meal

Method:
Peel and slice enough apples to fill a 9x13 baking dish about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with 1 T Cinnamon, add applesauce, chopped dates and flour and mix well. In a separate bowl mix the rolled oats and flax meal. In a food processor mix together the nuts and dates. Add the nut/date mixture to the oats and flax and mix well. Crumble and press the oat mixture on top of the apples. Bake for 30 minutes at 375

OTHER DELICIOUS RECIPES

Apple Sorbet
Serves 10

Ingredients
2 cups homemade applesauce (see recipe below)
2 cups %100 apple juice
2 Teaspoons lemon juice

Method
Puree in blender or food processor. Place in shallow dish and freeze at least 6-7 hours. Serve
by scraping into curls with a soup spoon or ice cream scoop.

Apple Sauce
Ingredients
4 Apples, peeled, cored and chopped (Use sweet apples such as gala, fuji, honeycrips or pink lady)
3/4 cup water
2-3 dates
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method
In a saucepan, combine apples, water, dates and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork for chunky or blend in a blender or food processor for smoother sauce.

Apple Time!

Sunday, Sari and I hit the Illinois highway on a GORGEOUS day to go apple picking. I swear, everyone and their dog decided to do the same thing on that very day. We went to a large orchard about 1 1/2 hours outside of Chicago, Kuiper Family Farm, and were amazed to see the how big it actually was and how many people were there. On one side of the country road was a enormous pumpkin patch and things going on for the kiddos and on the other was a huge parking lot (field) of hundreds of cars that lead up to the main barn and apple orchards. Apparently this was a very popular place. The line was probably about a 2 hour wait to pay and get your apple picking bag.

Luckily we were sly and took a shorter route which I won’t go into greater details about. You can ask me in person ;) (We didn’t hurt anyone nor did we cost the farm any money). They had a large variety of apples such as honeycrisp, golden delicious, empire, and roman. Families were all over the place and there were plenty of apples to be picked. It was such an awesome experience that I recommend to anyone. You get to get out into the field, spend time outdoors in the fresh air, be active, pick fresh fruit, and take part in a piece of nature. LOVE IT! We spent a couple hours filming and playing around before we hit the road again.

So many apples!!! Too bad these were all left on the ground to rot :(

Eve in the orchard

Film time - I'm saying something very imformative ;)

The beautiful cinematographer

How do you like them apples?

Next up, was the Long Grove Apple Fest. We decided to take the back roads about1 1/2 north-east-ish and appreciate the two-lane quieter roads with a little but more countryside scenery. BUT along the way I saw a sign that we were driving through Bartlett, Illinois and remembered an article I had just read about a movie thriller that was being created based on the urban legends of this road in Bartlett, Illinois called Munger Road. (Check out the story: http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-movie-munger-road-inspired-local-myths-murders-161600009.html ). I told Sari to google map it on her iPhone to see if we were close. Well, we were only a mile away and decided to drive the quiet eirey road over the railroad tracks just to say we did. I can definitely tell that it could be very creepy at night. Sari loves that stuff and wants to go back in the evening some time. Me? Not so much!

The Festival!

Back to the apple-day..... we made it to Long Grove and like many festivals I have experienced lately, I was disappointed. You would think that when something is called Apple Fest, there would be tons of booths selling apples and apple things. Well, there was one booth with apples and cider, another one with apple martinis and one bakery, the Applehaus, selling pies, donuts, and apple treats. The rest were crafts and tons of carnival-like JUNK food. And this was not just some tiny festival. That drives me crazy! Make it about the apples! The two lines for the Applehaus, one on each side, were probably a 2 hour wait. Do you think we waited? NO! Do you think we still got something? YES! Man, we are good! Sari slipped a guy in front of the line a 20 and asked if he would buy us a pie :) No problem. The pie is called a brown bag pie but it comes in a box. When we opened it, we were in a little shock but no longer wondered why it seemed so heavy. There was a huge carmel dome over the top that protected the flaky crust and apple filling and it was half wrapped in brown parchement paper.

Wow! Someone was actually selling apples at AppleFest!

THE pie!

But, what seemed to be one of the most popular things to buy at the Fest was a big let down. I am so glad we didn’t wait in line. The flavor was pretty blah and the filling was not well gelled together because you could see all the little clear pectin chunks mixed in with the apples and cinnamon. Total bummer! Oh, well, I was going home soon enough to make some fresh apple recipes of my own that I knew would be much better. We were late told by passersby that we should have tried the Apple Donuts but we were NOT about to wait in line. We could see them cooking them up though and of course they did smell pretty tasty. After a quick walk around we saw all that we cared to see and hit the road again. Back to Chicago!

The infamous Apple Donuts we could small, see and grab (if we really wanted to) but did not taste

Overall, it was an awesome fall day and if you have an opportunity to get out to an orchard in the next few weeks, I absolutely recommend it. It’s Apple time!

P.S. Hopefully we will have the video ready to post by next week.

Oktoberfest 2011 - Chicago

Oktoberfest, Oktoberfest.....oh how American’s will adopt any country’s tradition or annual festivity in order to drink and be merry :) This one is a little be more dear to my heart. Why? Well, it’s a German festivity of course! Although, I so wish that I was writing this from Munich right now, I will have to settle for Chicago and it’s Americanized version.

Oktoberfest is a 16-18 day beer festival that is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It runs from late September into the first weekend of October. As one of Germany’s most famous events, it has typically more than 5 million people in attendance every year. The original Oktoberfest, starting in 1810, was more of an agricultural show, promoting Bavarian agriculture. Not until 1887, did Oktoberfest Staff and Breweries come into the picture. Now it’s all about the beer; from 120,000 litres of beer poured in 1910 to now around 7 MILLION liters served. Traditional food is also widely available such as: sausages, pretzels, potato dumplings, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, and cheesy noodles. (See my post on Germany for more on beer and food at http://thyme2travel.blogspot.com/2011/07/germany-beer-bread-and-sausageor-is.html)

BUT.....as I said early, we American’s are well capable of adopting popular worldly traditions and Oktoberfest is no exception. You don’t have to be Germany to take in the experience, although it can never live up to what takes place in Munich. We’ll do what we can! There are hundreds of Oktoberfest celebrations all over the United States, with the largest one, surprisingly, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Chicago does it’s part by putting on a a couple 3 day celebration with beer, brauts, music, and family activities. Last night some friends and I went to one up in Southport. Much to our disappointment, it felt more like we were at a carnival as they served funnelcakes, deepfried twinkies, cheese fries, crab rangoo....oh but they did have some Super Pretzels and Oscar Meyer Weiners. The beer wasn’t even Oktoberfesty. Uninterested in just an excuse to drink and eat horrible food, we decided to skip the overpriced outdoor activity and head over to Lincoln Square where the more authentic German culture resides. We made our way to the Chicago Brauhaus and were able to get a seat to drink our litre Oktoberfest beers and sample some pretzel, sausage, sauerkraut and german mustard. I recall us saying several times how it made us REALLY want to be in Germany at that moment. It made my heartache as I was reminded of all that I loved about being in Germany, and it wasn’t even the beer, sausage, or pretzel. Maybe the mustard tho ;)

P.S. Apple picking has yet again been postponed due to the gloomy weather. I promise it's coming though!

Blackberry Peach Tart

After picking all that fruit at the farms this last month, I had to freeze some since I couldn't use it fast enough. Today I pulled out some peaches and blackberries...a perfect day for baking. It's rainy outside and the cool, fall air is flowing in through the open windows. I LOVE FALL!!! I love the smell, I love the colors, I love the ambiance, and I love the food.

With a little butter from the freezer (because I RARELY use it), some coconut oil, stone ground flour, and sugar in the cupboard, I concocted a shortbread-like tart shell. I used about 2 cups of flour, 1 cup sugar (maybe a bit much), 1/2 cup butter, and 1/4 cup oil. After mixing it together I pressed most of it into a pan and baked it on 350 for about 10 minutes. Next I placed the peaches and berries on the crust and crumbled the rest of the shortbread mix on the top and baked it for another 45 minutes. Turned out delish! A few things I would change next time? - Bake the crust a little longer first and maybe use an egg instead of the butter and oil so the crust would bind a little bit better. All in all, still good stuff and super pretty! The best part.....I picked the fruit myself and got to create a special treat with it to share with friends! I love Farm to Table! More to come!

Extraordinary Berry Farm

Here is the product of my very first editing project in iMovie. You are not allowed to judge my abilities or shall I say, inabilities. This is the first of hopefully many mini video blogs on local farms and foods. Don't expect video professionalism just yet but it will come :) Hope it makes you smile as much as it does for me!

NOW POSTED TO YOUTUBE WITH BETTER QUALITY @:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKmHeMxfn4w

Filmed Sept 2nd, 2011

What's Next?!!!

Last weekend Sari and I hit up the Berry Farm again and had a blast. We did some filming on the farm and are hoping to post a little video some time soon. Although I’m not doing much traveling for the rest of the year, there are still plans to film some little local food videos, so be ready! We are working out the logistics of how to quickly piece the videos together and post them to the web, so thanks for your patience.

At the Extraordinary Berry Farm in Michigan, we were able to set up a little station in the field and I did a food demo with the fresh berries we picked. The owners of the farm were awesome! They let us do whatever we wanted and were very informative both on and off camera. I loved their philosophy on fresh farm in-season food and how they love providing their farm as a “U Pick” farm so that people can come for the experience and bring their kids and have a great time. I absolutely recommend a visit if you are ever in the area near Benton Harbor, MIchigan. Such a beautiful area and a wonderful farm. I will definitely be back there again.

*** The Berry Demo

*** Fresh peaches from the orchard across the road

*** Jokes with my buddy, the owner - such a fun, cute, man

So what’s next......Later this month we will be doing an apple episode on a orchard near Chicago and the following month we’ll be hitting up the pumpkin patches. Also, watch for my Wisconsin Cheese Tour in October. Lots to come so be sure to stay tuned......local, in-season, fresh, fun food. Love it and hope you do too!

Thyme 2 Travel Productions completes their first ever Sizzle Reel

At 2 am this morning, Thyme 2 Travel Productions, TMK Productions, and Goldin Media completed the Sizzle Reel (Series Trailer) for a new food and culture TV series with hopes of one day hitting the National Broadcast arena. Who would have thought that in early 2010, I would move to Chicago, meet a talented TV editor as a roommate on craiglists (who would become my good friend and business partner), watch the movie Julie and Julia, realize that I needed a creative side project outside of work, and come up with an idea that has blossomed into a reality, 1 1/2 years later. BUT I can’t and won’t take all the credit. Without the creative talents of Sari Rosenthal, Ted Kay and Dave Goldin, it could not have gotten this far and I truly believe we have something that is gonna give other series shows out there a run for their money. The flow from beginning to now, although lengthy, has been somewhat of a smooth ride and now that the Sizzle Reel is ready to be seen, this is where it gets a little scary and uncertain.....it is becoming more and more real! ahhhhh! It’s now or never. We will be putting it in front of as many influential people as possible.

Who knows? Is it impossible? No. Is it reachable? Absolutely. Are we ready for what comes next? I hope so!!!

Please throw out some positive energy into the universe as we prepare to embark on a journey into the world of pitching reality TV entertainment.

P.S. We may be posting the Reel to our website in the near future so look for the world wide web premier soon. I will be sure to let you know!

Big thank you’s right now to my family and friends who don't think I'm crazy, believe it’s possible, and support my most-of-the-time, spontaneous and out of the ordinary decisions and ventures. Regardless of where this takes me, it truly means alot.

ALSO.....Shout out to Gerry Richardson Photography for helping me with my photos that have to go along with the pitch! She does such an awesome job and I am excited to watch her grow. Here are a few that Gerry took when I was back in Montana early this month.

You can also see more of her work and her contact info at: www.gerryrichardsonphotography.com

Berry Jam and Salsa

What to do with all those berries!?

With 9 pints of berries, I had to think of ways to use them before they go bad. I’m not sure I could eat them all in the next few days, at least not without a belly ache and several trips to the bathroom, so I decided to whip up some blackberry freezer jam and raspberry salsa.

Freezer jam is a piece of cake. All you need is jars, fruit, pectin, and sugar.

I mashed up about 3 cups of the blackberries, mixed them with pectin and sugar, and stirred it all up. Wahlah! Blackberry freezer jam! I sterilized some jars by dipping them in boiling water and poured the jam inside. One jar in the freezer and one ready to eat now!

With several blackberries left, I kept a pint in the fridge to eat fresh and put the other 3 in the freezer for a special treat later....perhaps blackberry pie or crisp or cobbler or ice cream or margaritas...the possibilities are endless! Stay tuned!

Now, on to the raspberry salsa. I didn’t really have a recipe so I played with a few different ones online and basically made my own.

Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups tomatoes (I used local heirlooms. YUM!)

2 1/2 cups raspberries

1 1/2 cup onions

4 or more cloves garlic

2 habenaro peppers (I only had 1 but added habenaro hot sauce)

2 T Honey

2 t salt

2 T lemon juice

Method:

I was hoping for a more roasted flavor which I’m not sure I achieved but I decided to roast the tomatoes, garlic, and habenaro pepper in the broiler until they were slightly charred. Next, I chopped everything up and put it all into a large pot.

After bringing the salsa to a boil and I let it simmer for about 30 minutes. I think it’s gonna turn out pretty good, if you’re into the fruity spicy salsa flavor. It's in the fridge now waiting to be dipped into with a salty corn tortilla chip.

This recipe made 4 pints and I should be able to plough through and share them before they go bad. You can obviously adjust this recipe to your taste buds and I probably would tweek it a bit next time depending on how it tastes after sitting for a bit.

There was also the option of canning but because I don’t have a canner and my pot wasn’t big enough to give them a hot water bath I’m kinda outta luck. I have actually never canned before so I will have to make that another project in the future. I was thinking of trying some pickling.

Yesterday I was dreaming of owning a big community industrial kitchen......awwwwww....keep dreaming...just for a little while :)

Yeah! I am so excited to be back into the making of local creations. I haven’t done anything like this since my Santa Cruz days and it feels so great! Can’t wait for apple picking!

Michigan Berry Picking Time!

It’s that time of year; local berries all over the place. Love it! I love the harvest season and I am determined to take part this year as much as I can. Today my friend Julia and I made our way to Michigan. We hopped in the car and only had to drive a couple of hours around the edge of Lake Michigan before seeing the sign for The Extraordinary Berry farm. It was awesome. We were the only pickers besides one other person and the bushes were full of delicious ripe berries. We had originally picked a spot from a site online but weren’t afraid to veer off course when we saw the billboard off the side of the freeway; we were happy we did. The owners Chuck and Coco McCallum have been there for 4 years and we were delighted to find out that they hadn’t sprayed the berries this season and they try their hardest not to have to. It is pretty difficult to find many organic berry spots in the area so this was next to best in the clean growing category. Julia and I grabbed a couple big baskets and picked for a over an hour gathering 3 pints of raspberries and 6 pints of blackberries each! I was most impressed by the blackberries and there balloon texture, size, and easy picking. I am having such a hard time describing the way that they felt in your fingers, other than small balloons, filled to the max, ready to burst.

We were sweating from the extreme heat and trying not to wipe or faces with our juicy stained hands but loving it. We could have picked all day! I could definitely be a farmer...or maybe a farmer’s wife so I can just harvest, prep and create things ;)

Our Harvest
Stained hands

My berries made their way back home with me in great condition and I’m all prepped to make blackberry jam and raspberry salsa tomorrow.

Thank you Extraordinary Berry farm. I will be seeing you again.

www.theextraordinaryberry.com

If you are ever interested in picking your own fruit around the U.S., go online to www.pickyourown.org. It’s a great site for seasonal fruit picking and offers information about farms all around the country.

Restaurant Review - Two Chicago Eats - Flying Saucer and Native Foods

Periodically I will be throwing some restaurant reviews on the blog....here are a couple that I hit up this week.....

Flying Saucer....delightful. A great breakfast place! It feels like a small little diner with the long, low bar counter with stools and small booth tables around the walls with the old vinyl chairs. So cute! The food was delish. They have breakfast bowls with brown rice, greens, mexican fixins and tortillas; pancakes both buttermilk and vegan; breakfast burritos; and several lunch items that I didn’t get a chance to check out. I will absolutely be coming back. Thumbs up to the UFO on 1123 N California Ave!

Native Foods...not so impressive. Although I like the thought of having a “clean food” place to eat, this vegan eatery boasted nothing but dishes with fake (housemade) meats of seitan and tempeh and not even spiced to perfection. I mean, I can get down with GOOD tempeh or seitan every once and awhile but it definitly has to have a good sauce to flavor it up. One thing that really drives me crazy in a place like this is that vegan DOES NOT HAVE to mean you have to replace all meats and dishes with tofu and pho-meats! They didn’t even have a regular bean burger; they had maybe one bean option; and most everything consisted of one of the fake meats. Come on! The “chain” feel was very evident as well and made me feel a bit like I was at a glorified vegan Quiznos. AND its in the middle of Wicker Park...one of the most hipster parts of Chicago. One thing that it did have going for it was the “boxed water”...Love it!

I couldn’tresist the picture. Overall, even though I appreciate the effort to be environmental conscious, the supposed attempt to use local and organic when possible and the mission of being healthy and fun, I was not impressed and will probably never make my way back. Sorry Native Foods....Thumbs down from me.

Garlic Prep in the Couch Surfing Scene

As I continue to couch surf and live out of my car, I am enjoying my gypsy-like lifestyle and planning upcoming activities. (Looking forward to moving back in with Sari though this weekend). With a couch to sleep on Friday night, I had a unique food experience opportunity before retiring to bed: prepping freshly grown garlic. I was staying with a good friend of mine and her boyfriend who live in a super cool warehouse loft; a place that portrays much of what I would like my own place to be like if I ever moved out of my car ;) Old wood floors, big windows, mismatch furniture, wide open spaces, decor with tons of character, and an all natural ambiance with evidence of food prep and preservation throughout.

This place, at the moment, will surely never be taken over by vampires. The garlic can be detected several yards down the hallway to the front door but I loved it! My friend’s boyfriend is the farmer of a community farm/garden here in the city and they are in the process of prepping his harvested garlic for resale. They have been peeling and preparing garlic every night for the last week and there isn’t an end in sight quite yet. I bet she couldn’t have asked for a more excited house guest to come over and join them in the “festivities.” Experiencing any new whole, unprocessed food prepping process is right up my alley.

When it comes to garlic, I have usually just grabbed a bulb out of the basket in the produce section of the grocery store or when I get real lazy or need several at a time I buy the stuff that is already peeled completely. This time it was “farm to table”.

He had planted a few heirloom varieties back in November and the harvest was ready in July. After the plants are pulled from the ground, they are hung up in a cool dark space to dry for 2 to 3 weeks. The garden he farms belongs to the Jane Addams Hull House association and he had hung the garlic to dry in the basement of the Hull House. The Hull House was Chicago’s first and the nation’s most influential settlement house turned museum and the association continues to work at improving social conditions for underserved people and the community. I sort of wished he would have waited to tell me that several stories of ghosts and hauntings have surrounded the Hull House and it is a main stop of many of the “ghosts in Chicago” bus tours. HELLO! We were going into the damp, dark, creepy basement! Needless to say we made it out safely with a basket full of garlic plants and none my pictures showed any signs of paranormal activity but just thinking about it was enough to give us all the heebie jeebies.

*** The Hanging Garlic.....see any ghosts?

After our quick self-guided ghost tour, we made it back to the house and started the prep work; first chopping off the bulb at the bottom of the plant, leaving a little horn extending out from the bulb.

***Bulbs still connected to the entire plant

Next, cleaning up the bulb by snipping the roots and peeling away the outside layer while being careful to leave at least one layer remaining to surround and protect the cloves.

If that last layer breaks leaving the cloves separately exposed, it is susceptible to fungal growth and therefore not really good for resale.

***BEAUTIFUL purple hue of the clean prepped bulb.....characteristic of the variety

***The prepping results

Have no fear! If the last layer is punctured, the cloves are fully taken care of. After being completely peeled, they are ready to be dehydrated, pickled, roasted, or cooked into salsas or tomato sauces.

***Yummy dehydrated and pickled cloves!

Let’s just say they are a pretty busy couple working on this years garlic harvest. Very happy to have been able to view the process and at least take part a little bit. I paid my rent in cloves that night.