How Julia Child Became the Story of Red Algae

More from her legend than having watched her on TV, I have respected greatly Julia Child. My family was in the "Today Show" side of early morning shows, so I never saw her clips on "Good Morning America."

Sadly, my first real glimpse of Julia Child's life was in the movie Julia & Julia. I say sadly, only because it seems odd to become familiar with such a culinary giant third hand. However, with all the inclement weather we have been experiencing thus far during this peculiar winter, I was finally able to settle down with her book My Life in France.

I adore My Life in France! If given the chance, I would love to travel to all the locations she mentioned in the books. More than her sentimental descriptions of Paris and the French country side, I adored her attitude towards cooking. Though, once again, I have returned the book to the library and cannot quote the correct page, I remember very clearly she wrote "I detest cooks who apologize for their food." In a nutshell, in cooking, as in most things, we are going to make mistakes. Do the best you can to correct them, and if nothing can be done, accept it for what it is. Use the wisdom from that situation to learn how to do things better in the future.

And, of course, I was enchanted by the food and recipes mentioned in the book! Eventually, I will pick up a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, however, I don't feel that I have the time to devote to it while school is in session. Cooking from Child's masterpiece will probably be a summer project. I'm particularly looking forward to cooking her different sauces and fish dishes. In the meantime, I've been experimenting with quiches and tarts.

It should be noted, that very rarely do I ever cook a recipe as written. In fact, I'm hard pressed to think of a recipe that I have not tinkered with. One of my most frequent changes is using whole wheat or whole grain flour. It does have a different consistency, and when baked can denser than traditional flour.

I began with quiches. I used the this recipe for a whole wheat crust. I must say, this is my favorite new recipe. It was easy to make, came out beautifully, and required minimal labor. I opted for an asparagus quiche. I adapted this Roquefort and Asparagus quiche recipe. Some years ago, I had a fantastic asparagus and goat cheese omelet for brunch at a hotel while traveling. Using the recipe as a guide, I substituted extra egg and goat cheese for the Roquefort and cream cheese. All in all, I was pleased. In fact, this week, I'm making the same dish, but adding some pumpkin, herbs, and tart plain Greek yogurt.

After my success with the quiche, I happen to run into this awesome recipe for a Berry Cream Tart with Coco Olive Oil Crust by the Post Punk Kitchen. Vegan baking fascinates me. I'm more of a cook than a baker. Bakers are scientific in their measurements and so much of the success of the recipe comes down to a deep understanding of the underlying chemistry of a dish. To be able to bake without using any animal products is quite a feat.

Isa Chandra is quite clever. In order to mimic the effects of cold butter in the recipe, she uses semi-frozen olive oil. Semi-frozen olive oil! It's such a simple solution, but not an obvious one. Let me add, that both recipes for tart/pie/quiche crust that have used olive oil have worked beautifully with whole grain pastry flour. Whereas, recipes that use cold butter often turn out so dense and unyielding they could be used as hockey pucks or door stops.

One of the thickening agents that Chandra used was agar agar. I'm familiar with agar from high school biology class. I remember that it was a gelatin substance that grew bacteria. Obviously, it couldn't be pure gelatin, as gelatin is made from bone marrow. I decided that it must be a type of fruit pectin. So after looking at Ellwood Thompson, a fantastic local store, I wound up in Whole Foods. After not seeing in the baking aisle, I finally asked the most helpful clerk there. He proceeded to the food guide, then to the international aisle, where he handed me seaweed flakes! Seaweed flakes! For me, this recipe just became all that much cooler.

After some investigation, I found out that agar agar was not exactly seaweed- in fact, it's red algae. It's often used as a texturizer and thickening agent in different cuisine. Best of all, no seaweed taste.

Though the filling did not have the intense berry flavor I was hoping for, I think they were a success. Thanks, Julia Child, for leading me to toy with tarts and seaweed!

Defending Food

Being somewhat obscure myself, it's very odd that I ever read anything culturally relevant while it's still relevant. If a book appears on The New York Times list of best books, then I probably won't get around to reading it until everyone has long since forgotten about it. This year, I've been a smidge more current in my reading selections.

There are some book that you read for entertainment; then there are others that you read that change how you see things. Of all the different book I've read over the past year, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Easter's Manifesto by Miachel Pollan have really stuck with me. Food is a central part of any one's life and almost every culture. Can you think of a major event where food did not somehow play a part? Neither can I. However, not all food is equal.

The Omnivore's Dilemma primarily looks at where our food comes from. Very cleverly, Pollan follows four meals from start to finish: a fast food meal, an organic meal from Whole Foods, a meal produced at a family-owned farm, and a meal where he grew or collected all of the ingredients. With the fast food meal, Pollan starts by buying a calf and following it as it leaves the farm and goes to the processing plant. Of note to me, is the particular effect of eating corn on cattle. Cows are grazers that are meant to eat different grasses. Corn is often toxic for them. Since most cows now, through a variety of methods, grow at such a rapid rate, they are often butchered before the harmful effects of corn would require that they be put down. Pollan recommends that you buy grass fed organic beef that clearly states on the label that no hormones were used on the cows. Though I've eaten a total number of 3 hamburgers since reading this book, I think I'm more apt to just cut beef out of my diet. Why? Well, one, grass fed organic beef is often out of my price range. Second, I think we rely too much on animal based proteins in our diet.

Since the fast food meal came with fries, Pollan discusses the potato market. As I have already returned both copies of these books to the library, I won't be able to quote exact statistics or cite the correct page number. However, I found it really interesting on the strength of the pesticides used buy potato farms. According to The Omnivore's Dilemma, the pesticides are so strong that farms will not go out into the fields for days after spraying. Though the potatoes are harvested weeks later when the pesticides have had time to work their way out of the plant, it's still shocking to me. The pesticides might not infiltrate the actual potatoes, but they do go into the ecosystem. Who knows the long term effects these chemicals may have. Needless to day, I am now a big fan of buying organic potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams. On average, organic potatoes in my area cost $0.30 to $0.50 more a pound. This I can do.

Though the fast food meal section is a bit scary, the other three sections are just as interesting. Being the uberdork that I am, I was really happy to find that Polyface Farms is within just a few hours of where I live and that, through a local collective, it makes deliveries to different places in my areas. At Polyface Farms, they practice more traditional farming without the use of pesticides or the more harmful practices listed in the fast food section. I haven't been able to make it to the different locations where Polyface Farms does deliveries in order to purchase some of their eggs yet, but I'm hoping that I can in the near future.

In Defense of Food centers around three principals: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." This would seem to most to be common sense. Though that being said, it is not often practiced in modern western diets. Here, Pollan focuses on food verses edible products. Edible products are food stuffs that are highly processed that contain more chemical ingredients than actual food ingredients (like flour or water). Arguably, most of what you find in super markets would be considered to be edible products instead of food.

One of the proponents of this book is that consuming these edible products in large amounts and/or in place of actual food had greatly contributed to the wide spread phenomenon of Western Diseases. Western diseases, in this case, are considered to be type II diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and high cholesterol. Pollan discuss numerous studies that show when populations consume traditional diets (of whatever variety) that eat real food, the incidence of western diseases is low. When these populations adapt a modern western diet that focus on edible products, the rate of western diseases sky rocket. Basically, the edible products reek havoc on our systems.

Type II diabetes runs in my family, so this particular topic hit home with me. Managing diabetes is tricky. Everything has to be balanced- from the different types of carbs you eat to the exact amount of protein you should have in a meal- 3 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards. Not to mention, depending on the severity, you have to eat a certain times in order to keep your blood sugar from spiking or dipping too low. They know that poor diet and lack of physical activities over time can lead to the onset of diabetes. Processed foods normally have much higher rates of refined carbs and sugar that your body metabolizes quickly, leading to spikes in insulin. Changing your diet to revolve around real food- like fruits, veggies, and whole grains- just seems to be an obvious choice.... in my humble opinion.

All this being said, now that I have read these books, just what exactly am I doing differently? I've already mention virtually cutting out beef from my diet and buying organic potatoes. Also, based on the discussion of soy products In Defense of Food, I'm reading the labels to see how many ingredients there are to see how closely it follows the original process. For example, Lite Soy Milk (or at least the brand I have gotten recently) takes soy milk powder and mixes it with water and cane sugar to cut down on 30 calories per serving. Regular Soy Milk has much fewer ingredients and more closely resembles the traditional process of breaking down soy into tofu.

Though I would not currently call myself a vegetarian, I am trying to plan my meals around complete veg table proteins. I'm hoping to eat mostly fruits, veggies, legumes, and whole grains, while eating less processed foods. While grocery shopping I'm going to really look at the ingredient labels. When the chemical additives out number the actual food ingredients, then I'm going to put it back on the shelf. For now, I think that's enough.

(Note: Both pictures came from Amazon.com. I haven't figured out how to put the source under the picture yet.)

Opo Squash

Ask anyone that knows me- I eat weird food. More than anything, I am willing to try most things at least once, the exceptions being: raw meat, anything pickled in beet juice, stinky tofu (though I enjoy the non-stinky variety), things made from chocolate cake, and anything that resembles in anyway lard (and that includes mayo).

This summer, my mother found herself in possession of two opo squashes, roughly the size and shape of Louisville Sluggers. After chopping up and freezing 2/3 of the first squash, and frying the rest, my mom was at a loss with what to do with the second squash. Of course, the week she decides to give up cooking the opo is the week I show up for a visit. By the end of the week, the opo was covered in several inconspicuous plastic bags and smuggled into my car by my mother.

So, upon my return to Richmond, I had a three foot squash that I need to cook up and no idea what to do with it. I had read some where that opo and zucchini are similar enough in taste and texture that they can be substituted for one another. However, that seemed like a waste. It is a unique vegetable that you can't readily find in the markets in my area. Shouldn't I cook it in a dish it was intended for?

Wanting to maximize the veggie goodness, I opted first for Opo in Roasted Eggplant Sauce from Bread+Butter. Though I could not find a melon-baller describe in the recipe, I was able to find a veggie peeler that creates very thin ribbons about the diameter of angel hair pasta. Wanting to use the Opo in at least two dishes, I opted to only use the bottom half of the squash. Do you know how many veggie ribbons 1 1/2 feet of opo makes? Surprisingly, it makes only about 1 1/4 cups. (This opo had a very thick rind). All said and done, it was a very tasty dish, though the opo didn't stretch as far as I thought it would. Since I only have the veggie peeler, I will probably make it more of a dip or spread next time instead of a faux pasta. My husband on the other hand, who views veggies more as dietary obligations than nutritional goodies, would probably just prefer a PB&J.

After the Opo in Roasted Eggplant Sauce, I decided that making another unconventional dish might not be the best. My mother-in-law suggested making zucchini bread or, in this case, squash bread. Why not? I had another 1 1/2 feet of opo to use up. If anything, I learned that not all squashes are created equal. Oddly enough, the opo made the bread sweeter. However, the bread didn't set up as well. I might have put too much squash in, or the opo just produces more water.


So what did I learn from all this?

1.) One three foot squash does not make near the amount of food you think it would.
2.) Opo peeled ribbons do not make the best faux pasta.
3.) You should peel the opo before putting in through a food grinder.
4.) Make zucchini bread with zucchini. The jury is still out on opo-apple pie though....

It all started with a nasty case of bronchitis...

Like many teachers I know, I depend upon summer to recharge my creative and emotional batteries. Though teaching is quite rewarding, it can be taxing, and summer vacation provides an excellent opportunity to pursue, well, anything. Two years ago, I had my summer all planned out. It'd be the first summer in a few years without moving or extensive traveling, and I wanted to take full advantage of the free time to explore Richmond and investigate hobbies I hadn't had a chance to try. I could finally take the belly dancing classes I'd been talking about for years! Given Richmond's great location, I could go hike at the beach one week and at the mountains the next. The possibles were endless.

The morning after my last day of school, I woke up with a tickle in my throat. Not really out of the norm given my allergies, I proceeded to do my first library run of the summer and to go downtown for the afternoon. Within a few days however, that tickle turned into a nasty case of bronchitis. Bronchitis for the average person is no fun. For an asthmatic like me, it's even less so. Though I'm not a fan of making excuses, this case of bronchitis severely limited me to what I could do, and it lasted all summer long. Needless to say, all my plans for dancing, hiking, and exploring were quickly converted to resting, reading, and taking shorter walks. Though I was happy when I finally recovered, I was disappointed that I couldn't accomplish all that I wanted to over the summer.

I was very fortunate the next year to have a full time teaching job at a local public school and was able to teach night class at a nearby university. As much as I loved being able to teach at both locations, I was most definitely worn out by the end of the school year. Remembering the summer before, I decided that this year would just have to be different. Luckily, I found allergy and asthma medicine that controlled my symptoms. Knock on wood, I had stayed healthy.

So, I sat down and plotted what I wanted from this summer. Did I want to travel? Did I want to take a class? Play in different rec leagues? Learn a new skill? Just what did I want to do with my time?

I decided that outside of my time devoted to my family, friends, and dog, I was going to invest in me. I wanted to read an assortment of nonfiction books that would increase my understanding, improve my amateur photography skills, cook new dishes using the abundant local produce, explore Richmond, travel when possible, and be open to new experiences. Ultimately, my goal was to never sit still.

With a few more weeks to go before school starts back up, I'm pleased to say that I've accomplished most of my goals. My husband and I were able to travel to Puerto Rico. I cooked an innumerable amount of new dishes and learned to bake cakes and pastries with only whole grain flour. Thanks to friends who have lived here for years and zombie tour guides (see picture), I was able to see many new facets to Richmond. Though I didn't read as much as I thought I would, I was able to pick up a few new photography books to help me improve my skills. I even trained and ran my first 5k!

As the summer started to wind down, and I started to look towards the new school year, I realized it would have been helpful to me to keep track of all I did this summer. Therefore, I decided to start this blog. Though I doubt I'll be able to do as much during the school year, I hope I'll be able to keep up with most of it. We shall see...