What a weekend! Let’s start with Sylvia and her husband Joe, from Pilar’s Tamales who showed up in our kitchen with the most beautiful tray of re-fried black turtle beans I have ever seen. Not only did they look good, they were unbelievably creamy and delicious. Sylvia knows her way around a kitchen, and Joe is a non-stop support. Together with the Thursday night prep crew of Susie Baity Stearns, David Collins, Eva Stern, JD Rubin, Bridgette Carr, Amanda Schott, Nevon Clark, Emily Stearns and Judith Rontal they created two authentic El Salvadorian specials: first, Huevos con Chorizo, with Jeff’s house made chorizo, and second, for our non-meat eating friends, scrambled eggs with salsa ranchero. Both were served with the black beans topped with a simple crema, and fried plantains, topped with a sweetened, cinnamon flavored crema. Both these dishes were made with the wonderful, rich flavors of El Salvador, and the most important ingredient of all– Sylvia’s open hearted love!
Friday morning servers really came through to make another Selma breakfast successful and easy. Thank you Susie Baity Stearns, Laura Wetherington, Matt Burton, Garin Fons, Bridgett Carr, Scooter Merrin, Laura Kowal, Nevon CLark, Carolyn Christopher, Ines, Eva Stern, and Marcie Greenfield.
******************************************
Tammy Coxen is an amazing chef! Check out some photos here. Tammy is organized, thoughtful, creative, committed to local food, and clearly talented. She threw 8 friends of RP & F a fabulous dinner party Saturday night in her cozy home. Check out more photos at Brian Steinberg’s blog Last one Eating! If we are lucky, we will have Tammy cooking up some breakfast soon for FM @SELMA. Thanks to Tammy and all the folks who showed up to the party in our support.
***************************************
Once again, a big heartfelt thanks goes out to the beautiful and fabulous Cynthia Hodges for rounding up a lovely and hardworking bunch of magician helpers including Elizabeth Bruch, Heidi Kumao, Nevon Clark and Erin Schumacher, who turned a bushel of tomatoes into nearly two cases of rich, thick , spicy delicious ketchup for FM @SELMA. This is something we can all look forward to tasting as the potato harvest comes to fruition later this fall. Thank you all for the time and energy you all put into this project on Sunday afternoon.
***************************************
Finally, Jeff and I went on a micro-mini vacation Tuesday evening–micro being the operative word. Ingredients for a micro-mini-vacation include the following: a destination that we can reach in less than 45 minutes on the motorcycle, an activity that includes being outside as much as possible, discovering and eating good food, and time to to ourselves to connect with each other. Why am I sharing this?? Because, our Tuesday evening adventure was a trip out to Grass Lake’s The Blueberry Patch , a sweet little organic blueberry farm where u-pick is the name of the game, along with home made donuts and the monologue of proprietor Steven, who regaled us with stories until we managed to pull ourselves away to fill our buckets with sweet, ripe blueberries. We came home with enough blueberries to fill and freeze two gallons worth, along with deep blue tongues, an indication that we were sampling as well as picking. Sure Grass Lake is a bit of a drive, but the place is way-fun cool, the owners are sincere and friendly, the donuts are fresh and good, and the patch is a nice escape from city bustle. Hope to see you soon around the kitchen, Lisa