Terroir of the ‘burbs
December 19, 2006
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Encountering a stand of claytonia perfoliata during the morning constitutional
So it’s not like my folks ever said, ‘Find yer own dang food!’ it’s just that I’ve always really enjoyed foraging. In fact it’s their own dang fault since identifying plants, particularly the native and poisonous was a prominent feature of every single walk outside. The first father-daughter walk of my visit was filled with amazing fragrances; oak leaves and oak leaf mould, datura, tangerine, pepper tree, smoke and luculia. Parfum of Northern California. When we came upon a stand of miner’s lettuce (purslane) and I instinctively commenced harvesting, my dad rolled up some big ‘oy vey is mir’ eyes and watched on nervously lest any posh neighbours drive by and spy me stealing the weeds, the preferred hors d’oeuvre of horses.
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Dad checking out the leaves, looking like Larry David.
Dear Dad,
Thank you for teaching me about miner’s lettuce and many other edible herbs and weeds that thrive in spite of suburban sprawl.
Also, thank you for teaching me how to make turkey and chicken soup. Although we will probably never agree on how many poultry skeletons should ideally occupy one single bowl of soup served to the table, whether that bowl of soup should be cloudy or clear and how many generations we would need to go back in time to find an era in which bone-sucking was actually acceptable, it always gives me great satifsaction on many levels to make this delicious broth and to not stir the thing which must never be stirred.
debra at 7:22 | Comments (2) | post to del.icio.us
Sprout Salon Tonight promises to be parfumistic
December 15, 2006
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Culiblog covergirl Iva Supic loves her up some sprouts
While in another part of the world a loved one mourns the loss of a loved one, pouring over every verse of the Quran en famille, here in the Polar Circle it rains, blows and pours and we narrowly avert a Sprout War.
Now that the dust has settled, and the sponsorship agreements for the final month of the Grow Yer Own Dang Food Sprout Restaurant have been sealed with hearty handshakes and teary phone calls, we can get back to the important matters at hand. Take a look-see at who’s sponsoring us (!):
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Harvesting the pea shoots at Van der Plas Sprouts
Van der Plas Sprouts is the main sponsor of the Grow yer Own Dang Food sprout restaurant and is a true sprouting pioneer, constantly expanding their assortment with new varieties. The entire crew at Grow Yer Own Dang Food is literally addicted to the highly aromatic sprouted herbs, like coreander and fennel. This company is passionate about elevating the use of sprouts and this is what I most love about them. Some of their famous clients include El Bulli, so I guess we’re in good company.
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An assortment from Koppert Cress
Aside from being one of the Netherlands biggest suppliers of ‘micro-greens’, Koppert Cress is the originator of the ‘cressperience’. Seriously, Koppert Cress thought up that word. The cressperience is a sprout tasting room avant la lettre and gawd knows how I love avant la lettre and a parfumistic approach to their sprout assortment. (I thought up THAT word.)
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Mung bean sprout production at de Peuleschil
de Peuleschil (which means, the pea shell in the cute Dutch language) is Netherlands biggest producer of 100% organic sprouts. Although sprouting doesn’t involve chemicals (it’s just water, warmth and darkness)- de Peulenschil is proud to use seeds that are 100% certified organically produced.
Each one of these sprout growers brings something important to the experience that I want to create at the Grow Yer Own Dang Food restaurant. Culiblog is not into monoculture; not in agriculture, and also not in sponsoring agreements. We believe in healthy, diverse markets for thriving local growers. Diversity is culture afterall.
Tonight, December 15th, Mediamatic will host a Dinner Party Salon, serving, surprisingly, micro-green cuisine.
There will be origami.
There will be nerd yoga.
And other things.
If you want to dine, you’ll need to respondez s’il vous plait +31 (0)20 638 9901. But if you just want to sit passively like a bump on a log and listen to folks go on and on about their projects (including me), fold a little paper, fold your body and be done with it, you can just show up.
Time: 20:00h
Location: Mediamatic’s Night Garden, Post CS Gebouw, ground floor, Amsterdam
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Culiblog covergirl Iva Supic en double with sprouts
debra at 10:38 | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Compost heaps of the rich and famous
December 14, 2006
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The Seyferth house sports a compost heap!
Well, at least of the famous. This is a shot of a compost heap in the back of the in-process home being built by designer/architect Christoph Seyferth. Although the house isn’t even finished, I was pleased to see that the happening kitchen infrastructure was already in place. This bodes well.
In the beginning of December I travelled far south below the rivers to discuss co-curating an exhibition about food and the Dutch landscape at the brand spanking new NAi dependance in Maastricht with its brand spanking new director Guus Beumer (additionally director of the Marres Centre for Contemporary Culture). The meeting took place on the drive down from Amsterdam so that once we were finally in Maastricht we could do some location scoping and focus on checking out Guus’ new domestic pied à terre. The house designed by architect/designer Seyferth is truly beautiful and almost, nearly, barely, just about to be finished.
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The kitchen in the guest flat isn’t yet completely installed but the artists-in-residence joyfully ad-hocked this fab food prep setup together. Some folks are just inherently stylish!
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User testing in the eventual Seyferth House kitchen
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Under the first floor, looking towards the garden.
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The stairs are wrapped in agricultural polyweave.
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From the garden looking up!
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La façade
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Not even moved in and the ambience already rocks!
I’ve been told that if I behave myself (whatever that means) I can come over for dinner once or twice and eventually worm my way in for an extended stay.
- Christoph Seyferth’s website
- More Nederlands Architecture Institute Maastricht right here
- the website of the NAi Maastricht
debra at 14:45 | Comments (1) | post to del.icio.us
