Veggie Trader
What do you get when Craig’s List crosses an abundant fruit and vegetable harvest? Veggie Trader! What a brilliant idea – created to connect people who have more veggies than they can manage themselves with people who will trade for or buy the surplus.
While there isn’t a lot of trading going on in my zip code or 10 mile radius, this is a great idea and I have high hopes that the Veggie Trader will catch on.
mkmtDIG, mkmtLIVE | Comment (0)Shake Shack
Who would believe that New Yorkers would stand in line for 1+ hours for a burger, fries and shake? This I had to see for myself so I plugged the address into my iPhone, got the walking directions from my Times Square hotel and started out to Madison Square Park, home of the original Shake Shack. I entered the park and at first, the line didn’t strike me… and then…. I saw it…. In fact, on the website, there is a Shack Cam that helps diners “plan accordingly”.
the line wrapped around one side of the park and there was a steady flow of people queuing up.
I took my place and pulled out Vanity Fair to read about Jessica Simpson and the tell-all interview with Bernie Madoff’s secretary and prepared to wait. There was a party of 6 friends behind me who had been before and this time they had come with beer. I had been told that it could take anywhere between 20-60 minutes to reach the front of the line and with the warm night of perfect weather it was looking like the longer side of 60.
With a limited number of items on the menu, ordering is easy. I went with the cheeseburger, fries and a beer. 10 minutes later, my order was up and I had found a bistro table under a tree to enjoy the fare.
Apparently people like to feed fries to squirrels because there were several running patterns around the tables looking for the most likely offering. The burger was good and so were the fries. I typically prefer thinly cut frites for fries and was slightly concerned when I saw the crinkle cuts sitting alongside the burger but they were tasty and nice and salty. Were they worth the >60 minute wait? Probably not again but for the experience, sure, why not.
When I got up to leave I checked out the line figuring it would have dissipated by then but to my surprise, it had doubled… did this mean the people at the end were in for a 2 hour wait? Only in New York….
mkmtEAT, mkmtGO | Comments (2)Boccalone Friday Food Cart
The food cart phenomena is sweeping the nation… well at least the last two cities I’ve traveled to, NY and Portland, OR and where I live, San Francisco.
Appropriately so, the Boccalone cart arrived in front of my office, – how adorable is the delivery dude in his red hat and Boccalone bike shirt?! 
Several of us queued up in anticipation a good 15 minutes before the scheduled arrival time knowing that supply is limited and the previous week, the goods were gone within 5 minutes. My image of what I was waiting for was quickly squelched when the retro red bicycle rode up the sidewalk with a metal cooler attached like a basket. (I was either expecting the roach coach to putter up the street and park curbside or the push cart with grill and bell that I knew from living in LA years ago.)
Packed in the cooler were 30 mortadella sandwiches with spicy mustard on fresh Italian Bread accompanied with a few sliced pickles. The first 10 people got lard chips. Sadly, I was the 14th person in line but I heard that the lard was good. Is that the same as everything tastes good with bacon? Not sure, I’ll have to try the chips at the Ferry Building and get back about that. The crunchy pickles and sandwich were scrumptious and the excitement of the food cart was a welcome break to the monotony of the average lunch hour.
To find out where the Boccalone cart will show up next follow their Twitter feed @boccalone
mkmtCOOK | Comment (1)FOOD, INC.
Food, Inc. Trailer from TakePart on Vimeo.
Go and see Food, Inc. I hope that it will inspire you to make socially conscious changes as it has me.
First, some facts…
The average person eats 200 pounds of meat per year.
Cows are herbivores; they do not naturally eat corn.
Corn makes cows fat.
Cows get ecoli from corn.
If a cow is taken off of corn and fed grass 10 days 80% of the ecoli in his gut goes away.
Our government subsidizes farmers to grow corn and use it for feed.
It takes 48 days for a chicken to grow before it is large enough slaughter.
They live on top of each other in complete darkness for those 48 days.
Corn is found in Motrin, diapers, and batteries.
In the 1970’s there were thousands of slaughterhouses around the US. Today there are 13.
They are all owned by corporations who have strong ties to the government.
Policy is made to favor these corporations… at the expense of food safety for the people.
Each year contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths.
These companies exploit migrant workforces.
Monsanto is like Microsoft; they own the intellectual property of seeds.
So now you are horrified like I was, here are Ten simple tips to spring into action…
Buy organic fruit and vegetables
Eat sustainably raised meat
Support local growers by shopping at farmer’s markets
Cook and eat dinner together with friends or family
Read labels and know what is in the food you’re eating
Go without meat one day each week
Support legislation supporting healthy food programs in schools and nutritional information at restaurants
It is time to take action.
mkmtLIVE | Comment (1)How Does My Garden Grow
Each time I go to my garden I am amazed by how much things have grown in such a short period of time. Lately, there is always a strawberry or ten to pick and pop into my mouth and the lettuce and arugula has grown so quickly that I no longer buy lettuce at the store. The tomatoes are turning red and there are dozens more blooms that should produce fruit. The cucumber has gone from 1 inch to 8 practically overnight. All of the herbs – parsley, chives, basil, thyme, mint and tarragon are growing like weeds and I bring some home to cook with, for salads, and for garnish each time I go to the garden. I’ve even been giving away the parsley it’s growing so quickly!
In this picture, from left to right is lettuce – the little gem mix plus butter lettuce farther right, Japanese cucumber in the top, tomatoes on the far right and on the bottom from left to right is parsley. thyme (flowering), chives tarragon, arugula, red pepper and the cosmos.
While there are grand plans for what to plant next, I am currently at capacity and will enjoy the bounty through the summer and then revisit what to plant for fall.
mkmtDIG | Comment (0)