Join the Slow Food Movement

signed up yesterday,now for the lifestyle and attitudinal change…......

already doing this in an occaisonal sort of way,need more comitment and focus to gain a more tangible benefit….....

If you live in the US and want to get involved in the Slow Food Movement, check out the first annual Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco – http://slowfoodnation.org/. They are going to have speakers, a market, dinners, panels, and other Slow Food events.

If you can’t make it, groups of individuals across the US will be having picnics on Monday (Labor Day) in support of the Slow Food movement. Find one in your area or organize your own.

My friend Sara and I – who write about living slow at our blog, livetheslowlife.com, plan on going. If you live near San Francisco or you are thinking about going, let us know!

I finally signed up, inspired by a trip to Chatsworth Farm Shop yesterday and the completion of the kitchen.

We already cook 95% of our food from scratch, but I’m keen to start to start buying from local producers. Chatsworth is expensive, but it’s a good place to start as the estate already focuses on selling good food from the area.

Alongside this, I’m also hoping to tie a few other goals such as cooking for friends at home more often and perhaps trying out a couple of cookery classes.

Now that we have a new kitchen, I’ve looked into this again as I am keen to get stuck into my cooking. However, I have discovered that there isn’t a local group in my county to organise events, tastings etc.

In some ways, I would love to do it myself, but I can’t see it happening with my work schedule as it is at the moment. If anyone has any experience of a convivium out there then I would love to hear about it!

It was snowing when the Region 4 computerized telephone system woke us with the “two hour school delay” alert. By sunrise, the wet snow had become a cold dark rain. On such a day, I make hot chocolate. I put a little water into a saucepan with 4 tablespoons of Dutch Cocoa (Peet’s is my preference), 6 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt. Starting with water is important; for reasons never explained, the cocoa does not dissolve in milk. Once the mixture is thick and hot, I add about 4 cups of milk. Sometimes I will add a little vanilla or cinnamon. (To my own cup I will often add orange peel or even chili powder.) The result is very satisfying and so much better than the packets of “milk chocolate flavor mix” sold in boxes of 10 packs with a shelf life in years. Cheers.

This sausage is so cheap I would be suspicious; except that I know they make it on site, sell it quickly and don’t fill it with anything fancy, just pork and spices. There are two kinds: sweet (fennel) and hot. It is never frozen and I can often buy it bulk before they put it into the casing. The old guy that sells it to me is always smiling, but never fast. He is Lino’s dad. He laughs easily and gives slivers of good parmesan cheese to the kids. Lino is usually a few feet away making chicken cutlets and meatballs for grinders.
I always get 10 lbs or more when I make the trip to this tiny market way off the main roads. The kids love the easiest preparation: braised in tomato sauce and stock and served over pasta. I like to mix it into bean soup, or crumple it into risotto. This evening I took it out of the casings, browned it in a pan, deglazed with red wine, mixed with canned tomatoes and then layered it with sliced eggplant and cheese. Then it goes into the oven for a slow hour. I am passing the time on 43T while the smells drift upstairs.

stews, pizza dough. locally grown produce and my own, humble garden. i am actually not going to join slow food itself, because it seems very elitest, but i would say that i have adopted the key principles.

We have 5 chickens: 4 hens and a white rooster. Last Fall we were getting about 3-4 eggs per day, dropping to about 2 eggs per day as the Winter Solstice approached. Production stopped in mid December when a big storm covered us with a foot of snow, although that may have been a coincidence. I am told that it is not the weather that tells the chickens when to lay eggs, it is the light. Eggs farms illuminate their hens 14 hours per day to fool their instincts into thinking that it is May. We have debated the putting electric lights in the hutch and although it is tempting to claim we are opting for the natural approach, we are really just not ambitious enough to set it up. But I miss the experience of very fresh eggs. The yolks are thicker and the consistency will vary depending on the diet of the birds that includes chicken feed, bugs, weeds, kitchen scraps and leftover pasta. I love the warmth of a freshly laid egg in my hand. I continued to check the hutch but was always disappointed even though I was leaving them delicious leftover bean soup and old carrots. Finally, in these longer February days, we got one egg, then another, then another from a different hen, bringing the production rate to one egg per day. One fresh egg per day is a wonderful country luxury, to fry gently and serve over fresh salad, or mix raw into steaming hot rice or scramble in hot bacon grease.

“Let’s cook at our house”, I suggested to our friends, rejecting the take-out pizza proposal. We had just completed a beautiful winter hike around the reservoir and we were hungry. While the kids played computer games, the adults gathered in the kitchen. Our friends envy our easy dining routines and took notes while I made a favorite simple “slow food” dish. I began with two strips of bacon in a non stick pan. Once the fat was hot, I browned boneless skinless chicken thighs (fresh is much better than previously frozen). I removed the brown pieces and deglazed the pan with chicken stock (Pacific – NOT Swanson) and added chopped garlic (fresh), tomato paste (about 2T) and thyme (about 1t). I returned the chicken to the pan and covered it with red wine (cheap and fruity is best). I put the lid on and turned the heat to a low bubble. Then we played music with the kids for about 40 minutes (between us we have 2 beginner violins, a viola, a guitar and a piano). The husbands boiled pasta and steamed green beans. I tested for salt (it usually needs a little) and thickened the sauce with cornstarch and water. We sat down together enjoying the end of our weekend with real plates and cloth napkins. The meal ended with thawed blueberries picked last summer and Italian cookies made on a recent school holiday. The total cost was about half of the equivalent pizza. (The calories was also about half.)