Dungeness Crab in Canada

Creyde's family enjoy the local sea spoils on Vancouver Island, BC!

Evolutionary Organics

black crim heirlooms
Two words to describe this organic produce stand: scrupulous and sumptuous. Evolutionary is at Union Square (south end) on Wednesdays and Grand Army Plaza on Saturdays.

Beast in Brooklyn

We spent Sunday evening in a beastly place on Vanderbilt Avenue... its a restaurant that looks like a bar but doesn't taste like a bar at all. Our leisurely dinner was of duck breast salad, beet salad, fried manchego, seared scallops, and lovely calamari. Dinner is "tapas" portions, which is perfect for Sunday grazing. I will definitely return to BEAST again!
Recommended!

Julie's Farm, Glover Park, Wash. DC~

Julie's well-endowed amaranth

Meet Dino... King of the Garden


Julie's tomato harvest!

A Thing of Beauty...

Tarts!

Italian Grandma and French Grandma (of which I have neither) Tarts...
These two turned out well, better than the mini-tarts we made the first time. The 9" pan accomodates more custard and innards and less crust. They take a long time, but Antonia was patient... and we finished half the prosecco before we ate! This time I added some good old lard to the butter for the crust, although I am still not able to make the dough behave yet~ dough must obey!
Italian: smoked mozzarella, plum tomatoes, green and purple basil, and a bit of egg and cream custard.
Provencale: dijon mustard, herbs d' Provence, gruyere, plum tomatoes, zucchini, and a lot of custard.
~These were adapted from the recipes in Once Upon a Tart

Bianca

Tomorrow am is my 5:45 shift at the Park Slope Food Co•op. This workshift has become a truly educational foray into the world of cheeses for me. Every month I find something new in the back of the walk-in, and I enjoy testing everything (for quality control). A vegetarian friend recently asked me about cheeses made with vegetable rennet, and coincidentally yesterday I came across one at the Union Square Greenmarket. It is made by Hawthorne Valley Farm and tastes pretty darn good. It is a fresh cheese, comparable to goat, but has an almost sweet edge to it. Definitely worth trying!

Little D's - alternative to Applewood?

After much anticipation, Erin and I went for our long awaited trip to Applewood (applewoodny.com) tonight. Our stars must have been out of alignment as tonight was the "meet the farmer" dinner, so the restaurant was "closed" yet full of happy diners eating with the farmer. How can they ALL eat with the farmer? Anyways, we settled for the new place across the street, Little D's, which wasn't bad. New mushroom for both of us: hen of the woods.
(Maitake). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_of_the_woods)
This restaurant is better than average~ 7th ave between 14 +15 St.
The raddichio, however, is from my sisters garden in Washington DC!

Antonias Plate- Chez Panisse

This, I will let Antonia explain in her comment... to be posted! Beautiful!

Street Farm

I love this guerilla street garden on 6th avenue. The corn has grown about 8 feet tall and the amaranth is squeezing out from between the stalks. Its doing so well I wonder if its BT corn, although there are no ears yet. Is that a pollination issue?

Blueberry Currant Scone

By request, a recipe. This recipe was adapted from the buttermilk scone recipes in Once Upon a Tart
By the way~ if you are ever on Sullivan Street you should stop into this cafe, and walk the neighborhood. Joe's cheese (?) across the street makes wonderful fresh mozzarella.

Blueberry Currant Scones

Recipe makes 10 scones. Make certain you have a big enough oven rack to accommodate this, if not, make a half batch or figure out something else. Eat within two days. Store in paper bag.

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
20 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 large fresh eggs
3/4 cup cold buttermilk
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1 cup red currants
Two mixing bowls, Food processor, and Parchement paper

Start:
Wash blueberries and currants in strainer and leave on a paper towel to dry.

Position oven rack in center and preheat to 400. Line baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper

Dump dry ingredients into food processor bowl and pulse to mix.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs. Then whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla. Put aside.

Remove butter from fridge now and cut into pieces. Add to food processor and pulse for about 20 seconds until the butter is mixed into the dry ingredients and it looks like crumbs. Don’t overmix. It should be dry and crumbly.

Dump flour-butter mix into a bowl. Pour wet ingredient mix over the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon or your hands until no dry flour is visible. Don’t overmix. Stop after a minute, just mix the ingredients but don’t go crazy.

Add the berries and mix them in. Don’t smash them, just mix.

Drop the gooey blobs in 1/2 cup portions onto the parchment paper-covered baking sheet. They should be irregular shapes, not perfect balls. This makes them more fun to eat.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Do the toothpick test to check the insides if you want. Take them out and cool on a plate or something besides the hot baking sheet so they don’t keep cooking on the bottom.

Creyde's Farm

O jardin culinaria...its on the fire escape... no thats not to code, I will have to take care if my creme brulee propane torch gets out of control...

Currants

Currants are from the family Saxifragaceae... I am wondering what do with these, maybe a ginger-currant creme brulee? I want a propane torch! Is that a fire hazard in the kitchen?

Fast Food

A favorite fast food in Creyde's kitchen is bread and cheese. I eat it while cooking, right there standing over the kitchen counter. The bread is ww sourdough from Bread Alone and the cheese is Monte Enebro from Spain. It is a delicious semi-soft goat milk cheese that Rob Kaufelt of Murrays calls "bizarre and exuberant". The rind of ash and mold gives it an intense flavor, it is somewhat two-toned: soothing inside, with a salty and powerful ring near the rind. The best thing to wash it down with is a glass of red from the bottle that was left from the weekend at the bottom of the fridge. Thats fast food!

Egg Tower

The hens and I collaborated on this work, we are testing the form for architectural applications...

Night Baking

Welcome to Culinaria Creyde! This is our first posting... embarking on new food and landscape adventures. Tonights endeavor took place in the smallest kitchen in Brooklyn. Currant and blueberry scones... a first for Culinaria Creyde. Stay tuned for further adventures!