You know the drill: If you bring unhealthy food into your home, you’re going to eat it. Learn to work the market and make great decisions where it matters most. This workshop includes a one-hour tour of the brand new Market Basket in Waltham and a discussion of how to identify the most nutritious foods and ingredients, along with strategies for preparing quick and delicious meals, lunches on the go, and healthy snacks.

Where: Market Basket, 110 Market Place Drive, Waltham

When: April 11, 10:30-12

Cost: Cost of workshop is $40 – a bargain considering my private tour rate is $100!

Sign up here! https://fusion.myvolo.ca/club/store/shopcart.jsp?rand=0.12434291278429843

© 2015, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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Hey Sweeties!

I’m re-running this post from last year, to remind you to think about signing up for a summer CSA share this year . . . we’re on board for Picadilly Farm’s CSA again this year and I can’t wait for all that organic veggie goodness to start arriving!

Cheers,

Sarah

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It’s springtime and here in the Northeast, things are greening and leafing and my thoughts are turning to locally grown vegetables. After a long winter of trucked- and flown-in produce, I’m ready for locally-grown: It’s flavorful, fresh-picked and fabulous. How to get your hands on some of that? Your local farmer’s market is a great source, and you might like strolling around, talking to the merchants and picking out your produce each week. Or you might want to join a CSA.

We’ve belonged to at least one CSA for the past four years now – starting with the Shared Harvest CSA for late fall shares and then joining up with the Picadilly Farm CSA for summer shares. CSA stands for “community supported agriculture.” Farmers have locally-grown crops they would like to make available to the public. You sign up with a farm, and every week you get a box filled with local veggies (and sometimes fruits). If the farm is nearby, you might be offered the chance to visit, meet the farmer(s) and pick out some of your own veg. Different farms have different delivery options – if once a week is too much for you, look for once a month. Another option is to split a share with another family. There are organic, conventional and IPM options available.

There is a potential downside – by joining a CSA, you share the risk of crop failures – if the vegetables get eaten by insects, for example, your delivery will be smaller. A drought or too much rain can wipe out a farm’s yield for a particular crop. On the flip-side, if the farm has a good year, you’ll be supporting local agriculture and enjoying some of the tastiest, most nourishing food available in your community.

Why do we love our CSA so much?

1. Everything tastes better. Instead of a zillion-mile journey, CSA produce travels less than 50 miles to get to you. Short of growing your own, it’s the freshest produce you can get, full of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. You’ll taste the difference, honest.
2. It’s a veggie party in a box, every single week. You never know what you’re going to get! Did you know that most people eat fewer than a dozen vegetables regularly? Cooking with new veggies broadens your horizons and helps you expand your repertoire. I’d never had kohlrabi before my CSA, and I love it. Ditto celeriac. Google is your friend for finding good-looking recipes to use, as is your friend, Semi-Sweet!
3. You and your family will develop a closer relationship with food. Belonging to a CSA will enable you to form a relationship with your farmer, understand how your food is planted, grown and harvested and how it gets to your table. It will take you back to a much more simple way of eating – one that dominated before processed foods and rapid-transit. Many farms will have opportunities for you to visit – why not go to the source, and if you have them, take your kids? Nothing like pulling a fresh carrot out of the ground or seeing row upon row of bright leafy lettuce to inspire future generations of great eaters.

If you think you’re interested, check out Local Harvest to find a CSA that’s near you – but get on it quickly. Popular CSAs may have sold all their shares for this summer already . . . if you identify one you like and it’s full, email the farmer and get on a waiting list, just in case – and make sure you calendar the signup for next year so you don’t miss an ounce of veggie goodness.

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

© 2013, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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I know you tune in to Semi-Sweet to read posts about and see lists of my recommended spots to eat and shop, and now there’s another platform to follow my travels – urbantag. It’s launching today, and it should be great – you know how Pinterest gives you a chance to curate all your favs in whatever categories you choose? Well, urbantag’s similar – it lets you curate your own personal collection of places to share with your friends.

In short, urbantag’s an easy way to:

• leave a quick opinion on real-world places
• discover new places from trusted sources
• curate once, publish anywhere

For more info, sign up here: http://www.urbantag.com.

I’ve been made an urbantag “Tastemaker” (love this!) and I’m using urbantag to bookmark and share places I love. I’ve kicked it off by building a map called “Healthy Restaurants and Markets in Greater Boston” that you can view here: http://urbant.ag/02G9Oa. Let me know what you think. Once you follow my map, you can also have access on the go by downloading the iPhone app here.

Now you tell me: What should my next urbantag map be?

© 2012, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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So it’s the third week of the new year . . . how’re you doing on those resolutions?

One of my professional biggies for ’11 is to network more.  Since launching Semi-Sweet in August of ’09, I’ve read and admired so many fellow bloggers, many of them in Boston . . . but have I met any? Like, “in real life” (as L. would say)? Not until last night.

That’s right.  Mama hired herself a sitter, braved the chill, and made for Boston’s South End, where The Gallows welcomed a crowd for what can best be described as the hugely successful launch of the Boston Food Bloggers group.  The Gallows is a cool room – dimly lit, funkily decorated, great big bar . . . but bad for photogs.  So let me paint the picture for you – 150 or so enthusiastic, vibrant and literate folks crammed into a small space, clamoring for delicious vittles cheerfully supplied by The Gallows (poutine?! crazy bacon caramel Chex mix?!), Geoff & Drew’s Cookies, SoCo Creamery and more . . . and all so freakin’ friendly!

This old lady had to wear specs just to make out familiar faces gleaned from teeny Twitter avatars . . . so exciting to finally meet people in person – to hear the “out loud” voices of all these writers and personalities I’d been communicating with for the past 18 months.

And oh yeah, there was swag.  Each blogger went home with a big fat UrbanSpoon tote, full of goodies provided by Whole Foods Legacy Place (Um, hello? a jar of my favorite fig spread? Squee!), b.good, Aquitaine Dedham, the Yard House at Legacy Place, Wicked Pizza, National Amusements cinema de lux, Union Bar and Grille, Island Creek Oyster Bar, Treat Cupcake Bar, Chocolee Chocolates (another fav, discovered on the fabu South End Chocolate Tour last spring), Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps (suitably addicting), Biscotti Babies (betcha can’t eat just one!) and more . . . lots of new inspiration for snacking and dining here.

As I sit here and type this up, joyfully munching on my Geoff & Drew’s chocolate chip brownie cookie I’m excited I’m already on my way to fulfilling at least one new year’s resolution (the slimming down a bit resolution, not so much).  Thanks so much to Rachel Blumenthal (you can check out her fun blog here) and Christine Liu of UrbanSpoon (it’s no joke – she is “mighty in media”!) for putting this on.  This housewife enjoyed getting out of her kitchen and into the mix!

© 2011, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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This spring and summer, I have the pleasure of being part of the Picadilly Farm CSA.  Each week, I get to pick up a box of goodies, grown organically in New Hampshire.  This past Wednesday was my first pickup, and the box was packed with salad greens, radishes, hakurei turnips, cilantro, bok choy, pea tendrils and some lovely red Russian kale. 

I started getting creative from day one – I love the challenge of being presented with ingredients and having to dream up recipes.  I had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge and so we had whole wheat rollups with lettuce, cilantro, chicken, grated sharp cheddar and enchilada sauce.  The next night was steamed tofu with bok choy and pea tendrils over rice, with a sauce made from low-sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, tabasco and chopped cilantro.  It was tasty, and it was pretty:

Saturday night, I sauteed the kale and added spicy Italian chicken sausages, tomatoes and garlic and served that over whole wheat penne with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  Delicious comfort food – and the kale was tender and sweet.

And last night, it was giant salads.  Red leaf lettuce topped with halved cherry tomatoes, sliced radishes and salad turnips.  I added some buffalo chicken meatballs from Trader Joe’s (pretty good and heat ‘n’ eat to boot!) and this delicious ranch dressing, inspired by a recipe in Eating Well magazine:

Combine all those in a jar and shake it up – preferably a little bit before dinner so that the flavors have some time to mesh . . . it’s creamy, tangy and a great compliment to the spicy meatballs and crisp lettuce.  Here’s what the final creation looked like:

 So hearty, and healthy . . . and once you start making your own ranch dressing, you’ll never long to go lookin’ for that hidden valley again!

Eating veggies this fresh spoils a girl . . . even for premium produce the likes of Whole Foods’.  There is just no substitute.  I’ll keep filling you in on what I’m doing, and for even more inspiration, check out this great blog, A Bushel of What? 

Do you belong to a CSA?  What’re you whipping up from your spring share?

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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D. and I had dinner at Phillip Tang’s newish place, East By Northeast on Saturday night, and it was superb.  Another small place, though, so timing is everything (I’d say strive for 6:00 if you don’t want to wait) – although the crowd waiting to be seated isn’t as big as it is at Coppa.  But you know what?  It should be. 

This is another small plates concept – and I’ll go on record here as saying I’m thrilled that this concept is taking off.  One, the portion sizes at some places are monster – just too much food for one person to handle, and two, I love trying lots of different things on a menu.  Whether it’s my first time at a restaurant or my twenty-first, I dig variety.

Tang creates Chinese-influenced plates using locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients.  And it works.  These are traditional Chinese recipes prepared with a fresh perspective.  The flavors are clean and the combinations original – pork and fennel dumplings with tender wrappers were topped with a tangy herby vinaigrette and placed atop a puree of onion and fennel that made me want to lick the plate.  Hand-rolled rice noodles, chicken and shitake mushrooms were tossed with house made XO sauce and finished with what Tang refers to as “fried crack” – finely cut garlic (maybe grated?) which is baked to sweeten it first, then fried so that it becomes crunchy and, well, like something you can’t stop eating.  Tang’s sweet potato chips were cruchy, a little spicy, a little saucy, and not at all greasy.  And his “baobao” sticky rice was amazing – tender rice filled with 8 (an auspicious number in China) different little bits of tasty things.  The scallion pancake here is thicker than you’re probably used to – but wonderfully crispy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside.  It comes accompanied by a sauce that was faintly mustardy but which still had the tang of soy.  The sautéed kale came along with spiced rutabaga relish, lemon and garlic and was tender and very tasty.

East By Northeast has a funky selection beers, (really, how can you resist a name like “Butternuts Porkslap Ale?” Especially when the can features two smiling swine bumping bellies!?) a few cocktails and wines to choose from, and some delicious house made sodas.  I had the lime/cilantro soda and it was outstanding – sweet and herby and refreshing.  It’d be perfect on a hot summer day.

The service was awesome – the people who work with Tang believe in the product, they’re friendly, unassuming, and helpful.  They hustle.  The place was hopping and yet we never felt like we were waiting for a need to be met.  This is a place we’ll come back to, again and again – because the menu changes often, there’ll always be some tasty surprise awaiting us.  We’re sure of it.

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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On Saturday morning, I headed out in the chilly rain to gather some appetizers to take to our friends’ house that evening.  In old-world-style, I made a couple of stops – collecting my favorites from Sevan Bakery(Watertown) and Eastern Lamejun (Belmont).  At Sevan, I got some hummus (theirs is the only purchased hummus L. will deign to eat), some whipped feta spread (really, you’ve GOT to try this – whipped feta and red peppers – so yummy I want to put my face in it), and some muhammara (Aleppo pepper, walnuts, pomegranate molasses – rich and a deep rich flavor unlike any other – great as a dip or slather it on baked chicken or fish). At Eastern Lamejun, I bought ½ dozen meat lamejunwith garlic and a bunch of house-made pita chips. 

Have you ever had lamejun?  They’re delicious – a piece of very thin round dough is covered in minced meat (lamb, beef, and E.L. makes them with chicken, too) and spices.  You heat ‘em and eat ‘em.  They even freeze well.  By the way, keep this idea in your back pocket, because they’re a great summer convenience food – think 2 or so per person and whip up a nice fresh salad – stuff salad inside the lamejun, roll and eat.  Dinner, done!

Anyway – this is all a long lead-in to today’s recipe.  Because I had a minute to browse at Sevan, I sought dried bean inspiration.  I came away with a big bag of dried chickpeas, just like mama used to make.  As you know, I’m trying to eat fewer canned foods, and one of my canned-goods staples is chickpeas.  I came home and cooked up ½ the bag to use later in a recipe.  Now be forewarned – should you get bold and try to cook these at home, they take a super long time to cook – something on the order of 2 hours!  Not for the faint of heart . . . but you’ll be richly rewarded for your efforts.  Freshly cooked chickpeas are firmer and more flavorful than their canned cousins.  And much, much cheaper.

This easy Armenian recipe is not only tasty, but it’s a nutrient blast – chard, chickpeas, lycopene from the tomato paste and a little olive oil to help you absorb all the nutrients . . . do yourself a favor and serve it over brown rice, at least, to keep up the momentum!

Chard ‘n’ Chickpeas (adapted from this recipe at The Armenian Kitchen)

Heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the onions until they’re translucent.  Add the chard and sauté until it is wilted.  Add the chick peas, tomato paste, broth and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cover and simmer on low heat until the chard is tender, about 20-30 minutes.  If you have any Aleppo pepper on hand, it’d be awesome in this dish.  I sadly forgot to pick some up that day!

Serve over brown rice pilaf.

Serves 4.

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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Last Thursday was a banner food day for this food-lovin’ mama.  I had lunch at Coppa with a couple of friends, and let me assure you, it’s just as fab for lunch as it is for dinner.  But I do urge you to try both – because while the menus have some overlap, there are far fewer cooked dishes at lunch.  The crostini are superlative, and the pizzas are scrumptious, but you’ve gotta try the pastas and the meatballs, too.  Lunch was a lot less crowded, so if you’re in the ‘hood (or desire a field trip), you should definitely give it a whirl.  Note also that the patio is now open – too cold for us to eat there last week, but it’s in full sun at noontime and would make for a truly spectacular lunch or dinner experience when it warms up.

Later that evening, I attended a great event at the New Art Center in Newton called “The Art of Making Food Beautiful.”  The evening was divided into two halves, a sweet and a savory (my kinda event!); mine started with sweet.

John Pergantis, the owner of Party Favors, demonstrated cake decorating technique.  Party Favors is well-loved around Boston for its fanciful decorations and tasty cakes.  They can create pretty much anything your heart desires in terms of cakes – in fact, they did a 3-D Tigger cake for L’s first birthday that was truly amazing.  While I don’t have the patience to do any serious cake decorating (if my cakes have 2 layers, well, that’s somethin’), it was interesting to see how these famous goodies are frosted.  And did you know that Party Favors’ delicious butter cream frosting is made from only butter and powdered sugar?  (I always add a bit of milk or cream to mine.)  They apparently beat it forever to get all the air out.

This is what their finished product looked like.  I love the monkeys! 

 Next, each of the attendees got to try her hand at cake decorating.  Party Favors provided us all with white-frosted chocolate or vanilla cupcakes and set us to work with various icing tips and colored frostings.  Here’s the creative and energetic D.H., hard at work on her masterpiece, which she promptly devoured.  I didn’t even bother with the formalities, I just dug in.  It was, of course, delicious – moist and flavorful and the frosting was to die for.

In the next half of the evening, Jeff Founier, the chef and owner of 51 Lincolnin Newton Highlands, talked about his food and art.  Like many local chefs, Fournier is focused on fresh, local food, served simply.  Fournier also spoke about translating his love of clean, bright color and simplicity from canvas to food.  He had some great examples on hand – the vibrant colors in his paintings were picked up in squeeze bottles of bright purees  (think pinky/purply beets and brilliant yellow bell peppers) and made for stunning stripes of color on plates of über-fresh ceviche and carpaccio. 

The food was tasty and his tips helpful.  When asked what “mere mortals” can do in the home kitchen to jazz-up food, Fournier brought up vinaigrettes.  He said flat out that no one should be buying salad dressings – they’re so easy to make (sound familiar?) and gave a few off-the-cuff recipes like a citrus vinaigrette with OJ, shallot, champagne vinegar and canola oil; an easy bleu cheese dressing with buttermilk, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, bleu cheese and white vinegar; and a “smoked strawberry” one with grilled strawberries.

And his advice for a great way to get your dinner guests’ attention? Contrast – either in flavor or in temperature.  So think bursts of intense flavor layered with more subtle ones, or something cold or hot added to a dish of the opposite temperature. 

 It’s always interesting to hear chefs talk about where they find their inspiration and I definitely would like to try 51 Lincoln – the menu changes based on the season, the chef’s whim and the availability of ingredients – sure to make it a fun and interesting dining destination.

I happily waddled home that night, visions of paté, charcuterie and cupcakes dancing in my head! 

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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Happy Friday, everyone! Some of you saw this post from mid-day the other day, but for some reason, my feed burner didn’t pick it up to let all the feed subscribers in on the action.  Would you take two minutes today to fill out my little survey?  Let me know if you’d like to participate in a Semi-Sweet Supper Club.

We could try new restaurants, cuisines, explore a new neighborhood, etc.  I’ve drafted a very short survey to get a read on your interest and availability.  Click below to let me know what you think – even if you’re not interested, I want to hear that, too!

[polldaddy survey="408BEA53B396B205" link_text="Take my survey"]

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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Happy Friday, friends.  Been another loooong week at chez Semi-Sweet.  More sickness and misery, this time me.  Better weather and a spring cleaning slated for this weekend and I am full of hope that next week our luck will turn around.  Cross your fingers for us, will you!?

But now it’s almost the weekend, and my thoughts turn to dining out.  I’m still thinking about dinner at Coppa  two weeks ago.  It was that enjoyable. While we sat stuffing our faces, D. and I agreed that it was one of our more memorable meals in recent history.  And we eat a lot.

We’d heard good things about Coppa, Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette’s newish South End enoteca, but it’s a small place (40 seats inside) and we’d heard that the wait was crazy (2+ hours, easy) . . . until later at night (read: 11 p.m. or so).  We’re waaaay beyond the going out anywhere at 11 p.m. phase of our lives, so we knew that we’d have to show up on the front-side to get a table at this hot spot.  Cue the sitter at 4:30 – we parked and walked over, arriving at 5:10 p.m. (Coppa opens at 5:30).  We were the third party in line.  The line eventually stretched around the corner, and not everyone made it in for the 5:30 open.  You’re hereby forewarned.

So, Coppa’s an “enoteca,” which is technically a wine bar, or a place where the wine comes first, food second.  But let me assure you, this coming from a virtual teetotaller, the food does not come second at Coppa.  These small plates of luscious Italian treats will be a highlight of your visit, for sure.  And even better, you’re encouraged by the very friendly staff to linger as long as you like – you can place an order for a few plates and drinks, then order more as you go along. Food is cooked to order and is served as it comes up, so if you need things in a particular order you need to let your server know.

D. and I ordered a boat-load of food, and ate all of it: 

• Meatballs al Forno – rich, super-flavorful meaty tidbits, moist with house-made lardo;
• Arancini– delightfully crispy on the outside, gooey with fontina cheese on the inside;
• Ricotta Stuzzi, crisp bread with fresh warm ricotta on top, a standout; 
• The Bruschetta de Cannelloni, was very good, but not as stellar as the other things we tried;
• The Brussels sprouts with pancetta, pecorino, and horseradish were so outstanding, even D., an admitted B.S.-hater said they were delicious.  For anyone who enjoys Brussels sprouts, they were pure heaven;
• The sautéed broccoli raabe with garlic, chili flake and golden raisins was so good I could’ve made a meal off it alone;
• The Arrosto di Peppe, (roasted sweet peppers with Turkish spices, feta, and aged balsamic) was good, but the flavors were flatter and less exciting; and
• Cavatelli di Pollo, a seemingly ordinary dish, elevated to outstanding.  The combo of house-made cavatelli, chicken sausage, slow-cooked broccoli and oregano with the teeniest bit of tomato sauce had amazing depth of flavor.

Coppa has only a beer/wine/cordial license, but they do such a good job with what they’ve got to work with.  D. had a couple of nice reds by the glass, and I enjoyed the “Italian in Vermont” cocktail (prosecco, maple syrup, blueberries) which was creative, fresh and delicious.

We didn’t even venture into the great-looking wood-fired pizzas or Bissonette’s house-made salumi (selection varies weekly).  Nor did we have room for dessert.  But N.B., South End Buttery is across the street, so you could score some sweets for later and walk-off a little bloat before tucking in for more . . . .

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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