Snow Soup

Hi loves! 

On Wednesday I got a little crazy in the kitchen with the gorgeous and talented Patrice of The Fantastic Mr. Feedbag.  I am normally not the easiest person to share a kitchen with- but we did great together, and turned out a killer meal.  Patrice may or may not have tried to kill me with an immersion blender and hot soup.  I'm not one to say.  Check out our recipes with gorgeous photos for Potato Leek Soup, Kale with White Beans and Bleu Cheese, and Pink Grapefruit in Agave/Ginger/White Wine.  Make them all together.  You won't regret it for a second.


I was supposed to be meeting friends for a beer tonight, but instead I'm draped across the couch watching Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and gorging myself on snickerdoodles.  We went on a bit of an epic adventure this morning out to Blue Mussle Cabin, and all I've wanted to do since is move as little as possible.  Lazy bones! 

 

There is going to be some major photo uploading happening when I'm back in Seattle.  For now I'm off to bed!

Food, Lately

Clockwise from top left: Popped amaranth salad with summer veggies and fresh goat cheese; upside-down tomato tart; grilled sockeye, arugula, and re-fried black beans with leeks and white wine; frozen Discovery Park blackberries.

I realized the other day that I barely post recipes anymore.  This isn't due to a lack of cooking- I am in my kitchen cooking from scratch almost every single day.  The problem is that I forget that it's exciting and new.  It's just dinner- who cares, right?  Most of my cooking is about using up the things that we have in our fridge and cupboards, and more often than not- I don't have a clue how much of what I put into a dish.  That popped amaranth salad is actually from a few months ago, and I was so excited about sharing it- but then I never did.  It seemed so simple, and so obvious that I felt a little like I might be insulting some of you by posting it here!  I forget that everyone thinks and cooks differently, and often we don't think to change our routines unless prompted.  My cooking style is unique to me, and my recipes are too.  The recipes that I get the most excited about are the ones that use ingredients that I already know and love- but put them together in new (to me) ways. 


I'm working on writing things down, taking more pictures, and remembering to share.

Farmers Market Haul

Let's play a little game, yeah?  Take a look at that picture for a minute (click on it twice and blow it up nice and big!)  Look at everything in it, and calculate how much you think each item cost.  Tally that up, keep the number in your head, and then scroll down.  And for the record, this is:

1 huge bunch of basil
1 small bag full of braising greens (not all of it fit in the bowl)
2 Walla Walla sweet onions
2 types of zucchini
2 purple sweet peppers
1 green hot pepper
1 pound of tri-colored green beans (yellow, purple, and well... green)

All of this is organic and locally grown.  All of this is seasonal, picked within the past 24 hours, and all of this I bought three blocks from my house, most of which was directly from the farmers who grew it.

Okay ready to scroll down???

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We spent $11.50.  Eleven dollars, and fifty cents.  I will tell you right now that if we had gone to the grocery store half a mile away and bought all of this, it would have easily cost us close to $20 and the quality would have been far inferior.  If we had bought eggs this week the difference wouldn't have been much different.  One dozen organic, free range, certified humane eggs at the grocery store costs $4.50.  They cost $5 at the farmers market, and I trust those statements far more when I can talk to the farmer face to face.

I know that not every community has access to farmers markets.  If yours does- do you shop there, or elsewhere?  Why or why not?  Bonus points (yeah, I'm counting!): leave me a comment and let me know how much you thought this all cost before you scrolled down!

Giveaway! One Pound of Fair Trade Organic Coffee from The Green Coffee Bean Company!

My good friend Brittany helps run a wonderful little coffee shop based out of Ketchikan, Alaska, and has offered up a pound of wonderful fair trade, organic coffee to one lucky reader!

 

Hello!
This is Barista Brittany from The Green Coffee Bean Company. We are proud to be hosting this month's giveaway!  We're a little coffee shop in Ketchikan, Alaska, where we roast all of our coffee in small batches with lots of love!

We are giving away one pound of our super delicious coffee of the month (which is also Fair Trade and organic), Ethiopia Harrar Longberry. Here's a little bit of info about the Harrar:

"The district of Harrar is located in the Northeast area of Ethiopia at about 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level . Longberry is a large, long-pointed bean. They are grown by hand on small peasant plots and processed carefully by the traditional, dry method which brings out characteristic wild, blueberry undertones, flowery aroma, medium acidity and heavy wine-like body. A very special treat with any blueberry dessert!" It's delicious and one of our best sellers, so we're happy to be sharing it with you!

To enter the giveaway, go to our Big Cartel shop and find a coffee that you'd like to try, then come back here and leave a comment with the type that caught your eye.  Extra entries can be made via Twitter. Tweet about the giveaway- and be sure to include a type of coffee, and @renaimarie to make sure that your tweet is seen!  One blog entry and one Twitter entry per person, and please remember to leave contact information in your comment so that we can reach you if you win!  The giveaway is open until the end of the day August 24th.  One winner will be chosen randomly and announced here on August 25th.
 
As our gift to all readers: for the rest of the month you can enjoy a 20% discount on all of the coffee in our shop by using the code "GHOST" at checkout.
Feel free to fan us on Facebook at or follow us on Twitter!

 A strong Coffee by the naked snail

Thanks, and good luck!