Kate Arding: A Cheese Wiz

This week, Kate Arding, founder of the national consumer cheese magazine Culture, graced Ithaca with her presence. Kate lead a tasting of five of her favorite cheeses and talked about some of her favorite farmstead operations. Kate has worked for both Neal's Yard Dairy in London and Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes, CA. Not a bad repertoire, not bad at all.

Clockwise from 12 o'clock:

-Stichelton [Collingthwaite Farm, Nottinghamshire, UK] - raw cow's milk

-Ewe Bloom** [Prairie Fruit Farm, Champaign, Illinois] - sheep's milk

-Cabot Clothbound Cheddar [collaboration with Jasper Hill Farm, Vermont] - cow's milk

-Montgomery's Cheddar** [Manor Farm, North Cadbury, Somerset, UK] - raw cow's milk

-Red Hawk [Cowgirl Creamery, Marin County, CA] - cow's milk

**My favorites of Kate's favorites

Steve Bridges of Manor Farm taking samples of his Unpasteurized Farmhouse Cheddar, to check if the cheese is ripe and aged to its full potential

Another Transcendental Evening (A taste of Bologna)

Round two of italian food and wine night.  This time, we headed straight to Emilia-Romagna for gnocchi alla bolognese.  Throw some Barbera d'Alba, Barolo, and a few good pals into the mix, and you've got yourself one hell of an Italian feast.  

2001 Bovio Barolo, 2004 Moccagatta Barbaresco, 2004 Il Palazzetto Sangiovese di Romagna, 2005 Calabrigo Primitivo di Manduria, 2007 Bruno Giacosa Barbera d'Alba (my favorite...jammy fruit, violets, and earth)

Bovio Borolo wine decanting in none other than a wooden salad bowl ;)

...we had to get it back into the bottle somehow!

Homemade gnocchi mmm

Letting the gnocchi meld with the flavors of the bolognese sauce: carrots, celery, onion, garlic, dried chili peppers, canned tomatoes, parmigiano-reggiano, 2 parts beef: 1 part pork (we would have used pork belly if we had been in bologna, sigh), and olive oil

you can almost smell that, can't you?

Parmigiano reggiano grated over the top.  How do you tell if the gnocchi is just right: if you can pick it up by pressing the back of your fork into the pasta, and it sticks.

The verdict for our gnocchi...success.

Boston: TORO

On Sunday I turned 21..wooo!  No, I could not just go anywhere, so I went to Toro, a dark and happening pincho and tapas bar in Boston's South End.  At Toro they're whipping up delicious typical Spanish tapas like patatas bravas, pan con tomate, and croquetas, along with the unexpected like house-cured beef heart, grilled corn with espelette pepper and aged cheese, and Rioja braised short ribs.  Once again, Boston did not disappoint.  And no, they did not card ;)

Toro's cocktail + vino chalkboard menu.  I ordered the Fresita, a cocktail made with strawberry and rhubarb simple syrup, gin, seltzer, and lime.

The bar was stocked with everything a 21 year old could want: bottles of Garnacha, Tempranillo, Albariño, St. Germain, Canton...

A very well designed/mesmerizing open kitchen.  

Compliments to the chef!

Toro's Caramelized Caipirinha (they caramelize the limes in a pan with sugar before they muddle them to put in the Brazilian rum-based cocktail)

Escalivada Catalana: marinated wood-roasted eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes with sherry vinegar and olive oil (served cold like an Italian caponata)

The winning dish of the night: Rioja braised beef short ribs with armagnac-soaked prunes and potato puree

The house specialty: Corn grilled a la plancha with alioli, lime, espelette pepper, and aged cheese.  Artery clogging and TO DIE FOR.

Give me churros y chocolate over a birthday cake any day!

*We drank: 2006 Arrocal Tempranillo from the Ribera del Duero region of Spain (in the NW).  Made with 100% Tinto Fino grapes.  Verdict: juicy, silky, persistent, YUM!

ITHACA: Khmer Angkor (Cambodian Food)

Top 3 Favorite things about Ithaca/Cornell:

1) Cambodian Food at the Farmer's Market

2) Cornell Cinema

3) Male Architecture Students

...in that order.

The traditional Cambodian street food at the Khmer Angkor farmer's market is transcendental.  This is what I imagine Cambodian food tastes like in Cambodia.  This is like having my own Cambodian mother cooking for me every Saturday and Sunday.  The purple sticky rice with mango and the spicy chicken curry with sweet potato, pineapple, bamboo shoot and coconut milk are Last Meal on Death Row, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, lick the bottom of the compostable paper container in which they are served good.

Purple sticky rice with sweetened coconut milk and mango

Chicken curry with sweet potato, bamboo shoot, pineapple, and basil

Kmer Pancake: omelette filled with ground meat or vegetables and mung beans, seasoned with basil, garlic, and chopped peanuts.

Seasoned sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf. Yum.

ITHACA: Market Report

Oh, I have been to open air markets. I have been to them by the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, where chefs like Alain Giraud (former chef at Bastide), Suzanne Tracht (of Jar), and Suzanne Goin (Lucques/A.O.C.) all peruse California's glorious bounty. I have been to Richard Lenoir market in the Bastide, Paris' biggest outdoor market, where I leisurely walked past the poulet roti, pate, foie gras, saucisson, fresh chevre, and stalls brimming with produce fit for gods. And yet, the Ithaca Farmer's Market stands out in my mind as being the most magical of these markets and, more importantly, the most welcoming. So Los Angeles and Paris are sprawling urban centers of culture, art, and architecture. Well, what is Ithaca's unique selling point? This is FARM COUNTRY. And where there are farms, there are farmers, who care about what they're doing and bring their goods each weekend to the microcosm of happiness, beauty, good food, and good feeling that is the Ithaca Farmer's Market.

Macro Mama's (macrobiotic) kale salad and green bean salad

That's ^ pretty freaking awesome

A Macro Mama serving up some curried cauliflower

GOURDZ

A rainbow of sweet peppers

And to think, I've never seen fresh Quince apart from in a paste beside my cheese

Fall's Finest

Solaz Breakfast Burritos (I am from CA, and these still rank up there as some of the best I've ever encountered. Whatdya know, the owner's from CA as well)

On a closer look: Calabacitas filled burrito (zucchini, corn, and mushroom)...yum!

Egg, cheese, sausage, potato, spicy salsa in a warm, homemade tortilla

The Piggery may be one of the coolest stands at the IFM. Their farm is located in Trumansburg, where they raise heritage pigs and make alllll kinds of charcuterie out of the oinkers. (Including amazing sausage, bacon, pate, ham, confit)

The market is next to Cayuga Lake, so you can eat your cambodian food right on the dock

Every good morning ends with a little ukulele

ITHACA: Dilmun Hill Student Farm

Today I went to Dillmun Hill, the Cornell student run organic farm tucked into a plot of land next to the Cornell apple orchards.  This place is like a secret little paradise hidden from the hustle and bustle of the ivy league institution of which it is a part.  Rows of sustainably grown swiss chard, spinach, leeks, turnips, squash, flowers, herbs, garlic, you name it (if it's in season) sprawl over a field of nutrient rich soil.  The farm has a composting system that is aerobic and broken down by cute little thermophilic microbial bacteria, and we got to turn the compost with pitchforks...giving us a taste of real-life sustainable farming.  Veggies were eaten straight from the ground, we all learned a little bit about farming, lacrosse was played with pitchforks and pau pau fruit, and everyone had a really good time.

American Gothic w/squash and leek?

Dimun Hill WELCOMES all students for volunteer farm work Mondays and Thursdays at 5pm

I see spinach salad with pecorino, pine nuts and currants in the immediate future...

Cornell Apple Orchard in the distance

Leeeeeeks

Peace spinach

We picked colorful swiss chard too

lettuces, butternut squash, squash blossoms, and green beans

They let me take home a butternut squash...so i ran home, boiled it with green apples, chicken stock, thyme, bay leaves, garlic, salt, pepper, and apple cider vinegar to make a delicious Butternut squash soup! Topped it with a lil creme fraiche, you know how it is.  Good day all around.

ITHACA: Xeo's Cafe

A great new Vietnamese cafe has opened in Collegetown, located at- wait for it- the end of my street (the corner of Linden and Dryden).  All the ingredients are sourced locally from small, New York state farms.  These people (or person, rather, since one young kid, Sebastian, owns and operates the entire business), care about what they're making and where it comes from.  They are staying true to their roots and want to offer a culinary treasure to Cornell students who are too used to Collegetown's other offerings, most of which have no culinary origins or inspiration.  Thanks, Sebastian.

Bánh Mi (vietnamese sandwich): French baguette with smoked ham, sausage, pate, mayo, pickled daikon, carrots, and cucumber, cilantro, and a dash of soy sauce.  So fresh, so light, so yummy. [makes me want to photograph it in a garden]

The inside of Xeo's modest shop, located at College & Dryden Ave.  Can't wait till he has Vietnamese Iced coffee sweetened with condensed milk!....dangerous, it's on my way to class...

A seasonal still life of ginger, peppers, and squash