Summer Wedding at Tabard Inn, Style Me Pretty Post

On this first truly cold day of the year I enjoyed seeing the post on Style Me Pretty of a wedding full of warm weather flowers I did at the Tabard Inn this summer.  There were so many personal touches– the bride collected old vases that held the centerpieces, she wore vintage jewelry, the invitation was based on a watercolor painted by the brides grandmother...it was a pleasure to collaborate on this one.

Jubilee Photography did a fantastic job documenting the day.  Check out the photos on the recent post at Style Me Pretty.

Kate Beck coordinated the many details that made the whole event.

Cardoons

Cardoons are crunchy, with a fresh artichoke flavor.  They are related to the artichoke, both are members of the thistle family.  In years past I have had a hard time finding a regular source for them and have occasionally seen them on order lists from purveyors and at farmers markets.  This year one of the growers at Path Valley Cooperative is growing lots of them and I am thrilled!  The season is only 4-6 weeks long and will be ending shortly.  In the mean time we are enjoying them. This moment my favorite way to eat them is tossed into a salad.  The preparation is a little tedious but well worth the effort–

Separate the individual stalks and lightly peel the outside of each stalk removing some of the outer skin.  If you skip this step your cardoons will be stringy.  Slice the cardoons into 1/8 inch slices and put immediately into water with lemon juice and salt and bring to a boil.  Drain the cardoons and cover with fresh water, add lemon juice and salt.  Repeat this process one or two more times until cardoons are tender and not bitter.  If you cook them too many times they will become mushy.  Once the cardoons are cooked I season them with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Enjoy them on their own or toss them into a salad.

Super 8 Film by Kate Headley of My Friends Lauren and Josh

http://vimeo.com/17266317This film by Kate Headley, was filmed on super 8 and old vintage cameras and makes me grin for so many reasons–  The medium that Kate uses captures the mood and tone of the day in a unique way.  I adore Lauren and Josh and felt honored to be a part of their celebration. In addition to doing the flowers for the wedding they came to my house before the wedding for photos and Josh actually saw Lauren for the first time in her gown in my garden...fun to see that all captured in this film!

A Gift, Shishito Peppers

A close friend who always travels with gifts of perishable produce passed through town for the Thanksgiving holidays.  He came bearing shishito peppers which we had never tried before. Our friend prepared them by roasting them over high heat in a heavy bottom cast iron skillet seasoned with a bit of grapeseed oil and sea salt.  They only cooked for a few minutes until there skins were blistered and they were browned in spots– instantly a new favorite!  Luckily he brought lots and left us with a large bag full which we have been enjoying for the last couple of days.  Sadly we are close to the end.  This morning I did a little internet research and found shishito seeds and ordered a bunch from Kitazawa Seed Co. Hopefully next summer we will succeed in growing our own.

The peppers are for the most part mild but occassionally you hit a hot one.  The skin is very thin and it is easy to devour them in quantity.

The peppers are originally from Japan.  The ones  gifted to us were grown in Phoenix, from what I understand they are somewhat hard to come by but are gaining in popularity throughout the Southwest, especially in the Santa Fe area.  Hoping we will be growing some here in DC this coming summer.

Late November Garden at 1508

I am enchanted by the garden right now–  our first and only  persimmon of the season from our young trees is ready to pick,  tender sorrel and baby curly mustard greens are at their very best and we have been enjoying them in salads nearly every day, fall roses are in bloom and mixed in with them are deeply colored rose hips, wild porcelain berries in all shades of blues and purples are one of my favorite things to include in flower arrangements this time of year, all the leaves have fallen off the fig trees and the bare branches are dramatic and without the leaves the garden feels expansive, the oak leaf hydrangea leaves are vivid nearly neon red, we are using the thriving red ribbed sorrel and curly parsley to season our favorite fall vegetables...

Roost Flowers and Sugar from Sunshine

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Becky Devlin and introduced to her work through her Roost Website and Sugar from Sunshine Blog.  She has a 7 acre flower farm in Virginia Beach and also is a floral designer.  Her work is gorgeous and I am a fan of her philosophy. I am quite flattered that she did a blog post about my work (below) which includes photos by the talented Kate Headley. I have been enjoying her website and blog, check them out!

Designer interview: Sidra Forman

Monday, November 22, 2010

I could gush on and on about Sidra Forman and her endless talents: floral designer, gardener, chef, community activist. I read an article featuring Sidra’s designs in the Summer/Fall issue of Washingtonian Bride and it made me re-visit her website and blog. (I had checked out her site in the past and loooooooved her work, but don’t remember exactly how I landed there). It was a great article called “Green Day” about sustainable, local and organic flowers.  The article immediately caught my attention, both for the obvious reasons, and because it also featured fellow cut flower grower and friend, Andrea Gagnon, of Lynnvale Studios in Gainesville, Virginia. But that’s a different post for a different day (soon!). As you can see from the photos, Sidra’s designs have an unfussy, organic quality to them. Her main priority, when choosing the flowers she uses is “finding the best flowers available”. She says, “during the warmer months in D.C. I use local growers and supplement what I grow in my urban garden. Other times of the year, I rely heavily on flowers from other parts of the year including Holland. I buy only from sources that sell flowers that are raised with practices that are mindful of both the earth and the laborers.” The amazing photos are courtesy of the talented Kate Headley, someone whose work I also admire greatly.

Sidra started out arranging flowers for a restaurant that she owned with her husband and brother more than 15 years ago. She started getting requests to design flowers for events and when they decided to close the restaurant, she turned her focus to floral design. When I asked her to describe her design style, she said, “I get the best flowers that I can and try to get out of the way.” I love that!  Her philosophy really shows in the natural way her designs let the blooms speak for themselves.

It amazes me that Sidra arranges flowers for about 40 events per year and still finds time to help head up The Farm at Walker Jones, an urban farm connected to a Washington D.C. public school. I read through the blog for this amazing project and love seeing the photos of the kids eager to learn and readily tasting all sorts of foods from the gardens. And maybe I was hungry, but I think my favorite post is Sidra’s recipe for Zucchini Cake, which I can’t wait to make.

When I asked her what she feels makes Sidra Forman Flowers unique, she said, “I enjoy the collaborative process with my clients, hearing what they’re looking for and then figuring out together a version of that original version.” Three things she’s loving right now?  “Porcelain berries that grow wild in my city garden, the foliage from my leather leaf viburnum plant, and dutch anemones.” Life doesn’t get much better than that.

Check out Sidra’s website to see more of her floral design, home restaurant, gardens and yummy food at www.sidraforman.com, read her blog at www.sidrapractice.com and check out her labor of love, The Farm at Walker Jones at www.wjfarm.wordpress.com/ .  Thanks so much to Sidra for sharing herself and her work!

Happy Thanksgiving, Thai X-ing

It has been a fall full of Home Restaurants, large floral events and a bunch of other cooking and food growing projects.  A couple weeks ago we started discussing Thanksgiving plans and Martin-Lane said she wished we could have Asian food.  For months now we have been meaning to go eat at Thai X-ing which is a small restaurant just blocks from our house.  I called to see if they would be open on Thanksgiving and when they said they would be I immediately ordered carry-out for Thanksgiving night.

OK, there was some Thanksgiving cooking that went on here at 1508– I taught a Vegan Thanksgiving Class at the house a couple weeks ago and had a chance to cook and eat stuffing, cranberries two ways, sweet potatoes...  John cooked a Fall Festival Feast with four Pre-K classes and their families at Walker Jones Educational Campus last week which included turkey, stuffing...

Today there was no time spent cooking, I went for a three hour walk/run.  This afternoon we all went to a movie before picking up the carry-out.  The food was delicious, thoughtfully prepared with subtle flavors, herbs and spices– something special.  As a nod to Thanksgiving there was pumpkin coconut curry and pumpkin in the sticky rice dessert as well.  Happy to have tried the new neighborhood restaurant, we will return shortly.  Happy to have taken a day of rest and a break from tradition.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Vegan Thanksgiving

On Friday morning a group came over to 1508 to discuss vegan Thanksgiving food.  Since a large part of the meal is the side dishes only a few tweaks to make some dishes vegan is necessary. We chose dishes based on traditional combinations and the best available ingredients.   Also these can all be served with Turkey on the side for any meat eaters.  Dishes were comprised of seasonal ingredients from our home garden, The Farm at Walker Jones and other mostly local sources.

We cooked, we talked and then we sat down to enjoy our work.  This is what we made.

Stuffing: Wild Rice (slightly undercooked and seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper), Cannellini Beans (I used fresh beans but dried would work fine), Celery (thinly sliced), Cardoons (sliced, blanched and drained four times), Sage (finely chopped), Apple (grated, the variety I used was Mutsu), Shallots (roasted and peeled), salt and pepper to taste.

Chanterelles and Local Chestnuts:  Season Chanterelles with grapeseed oil salt and pepper in a hot over for 5 minutes add chestnuts and roast for an additional 5 minutes.  To peel chestnuts cut chestnuts in half place in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil, remove from water and with a dinner knife separate chestnuts from their shells.

Roasted Parsnip: Peel parnips and cut in half lengthwise.  Cut each piece of chestnut in half again lengthwise.  Remove core and then cut into thin strips.  Season with grapeseed oil, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar.  Roast in a hot oven till deep brown and caramelized but before they burn.

White Sweet Potato Soup:  Cut sweet potatoes in half, season with grapeseed oil and roast cut side down in a hot oven until tender.  Remove from oven and remove skin, puree in blender until very smooth adding water until soup reaches desired consistency.  Add fresh rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts: Cut a tiny bit off the bottom of each brussel sprout and cut each sprout in half.  Season with grapeseed oil, salt and pepper.  Roast in a hot cast iron skillet until browned on one side, turn sprout over and cook until the second side is browned.  Take care not to overcook!

Raw Cranberry Sauce:  In a food processor process on and off until mixture is still chunky and not totally smooth– organic cranberries, sections of a orange, a bit of orange peel, walnuts, sugar and salt to taste.

Cooked Cranberry Sauce: In a medium saucepan combine organic cranberries, thinly sliced onions, balsamic vinegar, a little water, sugar, salt and pepper to taste.  Cook over low heat until cranberries are soft an flavors meld, about 20 minutes.

Roasted Kale with Garlic:  Season kale and peeled roasted garlic with grapeseed oil, salt and pepper and roast in a hot oven until kale starts to crisp.  Lightly coat with balsamic vinegar and return to oven for five minutes.

Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal (as good quality as possible) 1/2 cup flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cup almond milk ¼ cup finely pureed silken tofu 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2 ounces melted earth balance

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl mix all ingredients until just smooth.  Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, add additional Earth Balance to coat the bottom of the pan.  Pour in batter and let cook on the stove top until the edges begin to set, about 4 minutes.  Place in oven and cook until done.

Pumpkin Caramelized Ginger

4 cups pumpkin puree

2 cups brown sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

4 tablespoons crystallized ginger chopped

1 cup silken tofu pureed

4 tablespoons brandy

1 tablespoon bourbon

Puree all ingredients in a food processor and pour into individual ramakins or a pie shell.  Cook at 350 degrees until set.

Cashew Cream: Cashews soaked in water for at least an hour.  Puree in a blender until very smooth, add agave nectar to taste.

Candied Pecans:  Coat pecans with honey and roast in a 350 degree oven until caramelized.

...I burnt the candied pumpkin seeds that can be prepared the same way as the candied pecans.

Caramel Sauce: In a medium sized pot combine 1 cup water and 3 cups vegan sugar and bring to a boil.  While that is heating in a separate pot heat 2 1/2 cups almond milk and set aside 1/2 pound Earth Balance cut into small pieces.  Once sugar mixture begins to boil watch closely and let it cook until it turns a deep caramel color.  Carefully wisk in milk and Earth Balance, the mixture is extremely hot and can burn.  Once the sauce cools if it breaks place in a blender to re-combine.

A Fall Salad, Dinner November 6, 2010

Saturday night we had an enthusiastic group of diners from all over the country who came to relax and unwind after an intense work weekend.    The last few dinners we have made a version of a salad that incorporates many complex and diverse fall ingredients and flavors– this weekend we will make a similar salad with slightly different ingredients as some of the late summer early fall ingredients are no longer available– new just available ingredients will take their place. Saturdays Salad:

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce from The Farm at Walker Jones, roasted chestnuts from Toigo Orchards, blanched cardoons, raw marinated celery root, roasted brussel sprouts, roasted salsify and baby lima beans (the very last of the season) all from Path Valley Cooperative in Pennsylvania and Chanterelles from Oregon.  Each item was prepared and seasoned separately and the salad as a whole was dressed with Laudemio Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Raw Coconut Vinegar an ingredient that we just recently discovered.

Saturday's Menu

Passing

Grilled Eco Friendly Foods Poussin on White Sweet Potato with Mustard

Romanesco Soup

Whitmore Farm Eggs with Burgundy Truffle

Eco Friendly Foods Hangar Steak on Carrot with Yogurt

Roasted Parsnip

Roasted Baby Beet

Lemon Verbena Vodka Martini

Chateau de Vaux, Vignoble Sainte Francoise Blanc 2007

Seated

Fall Salad

Goisot Bourgogne Cotes d'Auxerre Chardonnay, 2008

Pacific Halibut with Basil Mashed Potatoes, Baby Leeks and Turnip Greens

Pillot, Bourgogne Rouge, Les Grands Terres, 2007

Jasper Hill Farm Clothbound Cheddar on Walnut Cracker

Olive Oil Rosemary Cake with Roasted Honey Crisp Apples, Caramel Sauce, Creme Fraiche and Candied Pecans

Mini Chocolate Cakes with a Bite of Frozen Chocolate

Take Home

Warm Seeded Bread

This Weekends Wedding

Saturday my friend, colleague, client, Walker Jones Farm Volunteer...is getting married. I often say that my favorite part about doing flowers for weddings is the collaboration.  To-Be-Weds usually come to me with ideas, we sort through them, narrow the vision and see how it will work seasonally, logistically and budget-wise. The event always incorporates these discussions with lots of additional input from event planners, caterers, the venue, friends, family...

I got involved in the planning of this wedding right after the engagement.  Venue changed from out in the country to in the city but the overall design of clean, simple, warm elegance is what we talked about months and months ago.  I cannot wait to see it all come together.

Some of the details I am excited about:

-Early anemone's, ranunculus and hyacinth from Holland are available and local white dinner plate dahlias...I look forward to seeing them all together.

-Both the ceremony and the reception are within walking distance from my home/studio.

-The bride is a designer and sourced a gorgeous piece of open weave material to use as the chuppah cover.  We bartered chuppah for the fabric.

-As a nod to Halloween we will have 3 pumpkins each weighing more than 150 pounds!

-The bouquet will include cotton balls from The Cotton Man in North Carolina.

-All of The Hive at 1511 is working on this one and I am particularly excited to see the surprise scrap metal sign and the photos after the fact by Kate Headley.

-For the rehersal dinner the decoration is small pumpkins on weathered copper trays, after the dinner Friday night the pumpkins are going to be donated to The Farm at Walker Jones, they will be available for kids from the neighborhood at the Farm on Saturday morning.

-For outside seating we are using bales of straw, this will also be reused as mulch at the Farm after the wedding.

-The bride wrote me an email last night saying she is STRESS FREE!!

Early September Wedding Out of the City

As I turned the corner with a van full of flowers and saw Merriweather Manor in Leesburg, Virginia at the top of a large hill I realized why the joyful bride and groom had decided to make the voyage our of the city.  The weather was glorious, the air easy to breathe and it felt like we were far from DC. The overall feeling was  relaxed elegance and we used deep colored local dahlias and zinnias as well as big limelight hydrangeas at the peak of their seasons.

I worked closely with Erica Fredericks from Design Cuisine on the details, she made it all come together.  This was the first wedding that I worked with photographer Tara K. Hopefully there will be many more in the future, I adore the photos.

Mid-October, The Farm at Walker Jones

Lots is going on over at the Farm at Walker Jones.  The herbs and greens that we planted late and mid summer- collards, kale and chard are thriving in the cooler damper weather.  We have harvested dozens of Racer pumpkins and there are still more than a dozen left.  They have been the starting point for many school snacks such as pumpkin bread, pumpkin pizza, pumpkin cookies, roasted pumpkin seeds with raisins...Recently planted turnips, carrots, claytonia, salad mache and black seeded simpson lettuce have replaced many of the mid summer crops.  We plan to put winter hoops over part of the farm so we can continue to grow and harvest during the cooler months. Neighbors and students have been taking food home with them.  We used some farm ingredients to cook for the Walker Jones Back to School Night, some of the classes are eating school snacks made from farm produce and excess produce has been donated to DC Central Kitchen.  Saturdays from 9:00 to noon have become our volunteer day, we have a great turn out, get lots of work done and it's fun...no prior farming/garden experience necessary...just show up and there are usually snacks provided.  A teacher from WJ, Mr. LaRue has set up a bike clinic during volunteer Saturdays and has been fixing bikes for anyone with a bike problem.

Since the school year started classes have been coming out to the Farm regularly to participate in various farm activities that are coordinated with classroom curriculum.  Younger kids are counting and observing, older kids are learning about various components of soil and doing math calculations...

The last couple of weeks have had some indoor days and we started setting up a kitchen classroom that we plan to use throughout the winter.  We are cooking with Farm ingredients and bringing the outside lessons inside.  The below post from the Walker Jones Farm Blog gives a little taste of what has been going on and what is to come for the colder months ahead.

Ms. Camp’s third grade class made their first trip down to the emerging kitchen classroom on the first floor today. Several other classes have been there before them as the weather has turned wet and chilly during these early fall days, and I believe the children’s assessment of this new feature of our farming program sounds something like this coming from little lips – “Yum!”

Farmer John began with a run through of all the safety tips necessary for this type of exercise. “No one touches the chef’s knives. Not yet. By the end of the year, all of you will be cutting up food, but not yet.” There were also reminders about crowding and being careful about the induction burners and the edges of the pans. Every head in the class nodded in agreement, every voice sounded their understanding. And then the fun began.

Everyone watched as John sliced the apples, and showed the students the ingredients that would make up their snack today – kale, apples, sunflower seeds, raisins, oil, salt and pepper. They tasted each of the ingredients individually before the cooking began. To mixed reviews. Especially concerning the raw kale.

Then the students lined up to each side of the table and took turns adding the ingredients to the pans as John tossed and tossed and stirred a little.

The smells filled the room. The kids took up the forks. And as John loaded up two large plates for all to share, I took off down the hall to deliver a taste to Principal Martin. Who loved it and left not a spot of food in the bowl.

I raced back down the stairs from where I had found Ms. Martin, anxious to try a bite of third grade culinary magic. But this is what I found.

I imagine it tasted wonderful. At least twenty or so smiling faces would seem to suggest so. Who said kids won’t eat kale?

Chocolate and Beet Dessert

Made this dessert for an open Home Restaurant over the weekend.  I think I might repeat for a dinner this coming Sunday. Dense Chocolate and Beet Cake with Coconut Based Frozen Beet, Candied Cashews and Ecuadorian Cocoa Nibs.

We grew the beets, always love the chocolate and beet combination but the color exceeded my expectations.

October 7, 2010

Looking at the kitchen table today in the middle of many projects I thought– I should take a photo. I found the Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms on a run this morning in Rock Creek Park.  They will be part of a dish at tomorrow nights Home Restaurant.  We grew the green tomatoes and they will be made into a roasted green tomato sauce and be part of tomorrow nights meal as well.  The dahlias are from Bob Wollam and the roses, porcelain berry and chocolate vine are from our home garden here at 1508 and ended up at Hitched this afternoon.  Happy Fall!!

Two Small Home Restaurants

Last weekend we hosted two small Home Restaurants, one a get together of old college friends another was a birthday celebration.  Both groups were a pleasure!  As of late we have had lots of wine lovers dining here who have come with their own wines.  Usually Tom, the wine importer we work with brilliantly matches wines with our menus.  Happily we have a few on the books, in the near future, that we will be working with him on.  The  group last Saturday night did a fabulous job of thoughtfully matching the menu with wines from their cellars...And brought me the awesome drink caddy that I used as a flower container in the photo for this post...Thanks!!! Menu October 1 and 2 2010

Passing

Chilled Zucchini Soup with Squash Blossom

Grilled Whitmore Farms Rabbit on Carrot with Beet Ketchup and Baby Leek

Corn Cake with Honeycrisp Apple Sauce and Salsify

Crispy Eco Friendly Foods Bacon with Green Beans and Watermelon Radish

Scrambled Eggs with Sorrel

Jerusalem Artichoke Salad with Lemon and Herbs

Dom Perignon, Champagne, 1990- magnum

Seated

Roasted Pacific Halibut with Beets, Chard and Roasted Potato- Salty Baguette

Domaine Des Comtes Lafon, Meursault, 2006

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Tomato, Fresh Canellini Beans, Cipollinie Onions, Wild Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms and Grey Oyster Mushrooms- Spelt Focaccia

Mount Carmel, Brewer-Clifton, 2008

Eco Friendly Foods Poussin with Okra, Eggplant, Kale, Shallot and Rhubarb Sauce- Pumpernickel Bread

Grayson Cheese and Walnut Cracker

Domaine de la Pousse d'Or, Pommard 1er Cru Les Jarollieres, 2005- Magnum

Roasted Figs with Frangipane and Chocolate Sorbet

Chateau Coutet, Sauternes-Barsac, 2000

Bites: Rosemary Oatmeal Cookies, Olive Oil Apple Cake, Muscadine Grapes

Take Home: Flowers, Sesame Bread