the peach and the fugitive

I never knew the peach before arriving in East Point. Of course, I had bought peaches before--sad, shriveled creatures picked well before their prime and aged in corporate grocery distribution centers before being stocked in a well-lit produce section. I liked them in pies well enough, but couldn't really stomach them as fruit. They lacked any tartness, any character, and the sweetness never seemed to make up for its mealy texture and lack of balance.

But then I came here, and I hit a peach orchard. The score was a complete bucket full of Elberta Reds, picked mainly by my little traveler. And the bounty was good. The sweetness of these peaches sat inside a firm and meaty texture. Suddenly I was eating peaches every day. Devouring them whole. Taking them with me to work. Sweating for the next score.

Which brings me to peach syrup. I pick my peaches at Gregg Farms, a quaint orchard in Griffin County. In addition to peaches, blueberries, and corn, patrons can buy peach ice cream, peach jelly, peach preserves, jalepeno-peach jelly, and a variety of pickled goods like chow-chow. And, I discovered on the last trip, peach syrup. It sits in a beautiful tabasco-style bottle and sports a rather cozy looking cinnamon stick.

So, for the summer's last fling, I will need to make a peach cocktail. My default would be a rather boring "rum peach": dark and light rum; peach syrup; lemon juice, garnished with a cinnamon stick. I haven't tried this, but I assume it would be good. But I've also found this one on Esquire Magazine: David Brown's Bitter Peach:

• 1 oz Gran Classico Bitter
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1 oz peach syrup
• 1 small egg white
• Dash Peychaud's Bitters
Combine ingredients, except for Peychaud's Bitters, with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Top with Peychaud's Bitters.

Results will be forthcoming.

Aquavit

My globe-trotting correspondent Katy Gunn has recently asked for aquavit recipes. To my shame, I have never had aquavit, so I cannot make any solid recommendation. All I know about this Scandinavian staple is that it is grain based, but usually herbed with caraway, dill, or anise, rather than the juniper flavor that accompanies gin. Most of the first recipes I have found treat it like gin, combining it with all manner of sweet and fruity liqueurs and lemon juice to achieve either a martini-like or collins-like drink. Without tasting it, I can go no further. So let the games begin.

Norwegian 'Brunost' Brands

Just a little post for the Fugitive Professor and others that are interested from the first Norwegian post - these are the brands of 'Brunost' (Norwegian Brown Cheese) I have seen in the supermarket here in Andalsnes (Norway). All these are slightly different. The brand seems to be consistent (Tine).

Remember to make your pancakes extra sweet - just shove a slice of this cheese into a folded over pancake. Great dessert after lunch!

Lutefisk and other Norwegian Traditional Curiosities

Another glorious hike we took yesterday led me to this stunning view of the mountains and valley we live around in these here parts:

At one point it got a bit treacherous and I found myself reduced to a quivering helpless baby as I clung to rocks around me, sweaty hands and all, looking to either side and viewing a drop that could easily have resulted in 'the end' of Katy Gunn.. My boyfriend helped me up without any fear and once in a safe location I proceeded to cry as I expunged the panic attack I repressed while climbing. Still, ALL WORTH IT. :)

As I look down from the cliff top, I see water so clear and blue it makes me want to dive down and swim around in it. Norwegians obviously love their nature too. The mountain behind our apartment is visited daily by locals who climb to the top as part of their weekly (if not daily) exercise. We passed an older gentleman in his late 60s hiking down the long trail we did - roughly a 6 hour hike - wow. I can only hope my body is in such good working order at his age. Norwegians clearly have a true love for nature and the experience of being out in it. Their traditions have also grown out of the environment in some curious ways. 

There is tradition in culture, and then there is the evolution that takes us beyond that, bringing new practices into place. Both, I believe are important. Tradition reminds us that humans have been through a lot, and a ritual has been created to remind us of what is important. This serves us for both psychological and emotional reasons I find, and we are losing connection with tradition more and more as technology invades every aspect of our lives. Evolution of tradition also breaks us free of old mind-sets, moving us into an improved, more forward-thinking future as a species. This is essential to better living and I'm behind it all the way.

And on that note, I will now bring up Lutefisk. People from Minnesota with a Scandinavian background are sure to chuckle as I write this or at the very least know what I speak of. For centuries Norwegians have dried cod - as did the other Scandinavians - and have eaten Lutefisk. But Lutefisk is not dried cod. Lutefisk is the result of a process involving cod that frankly, I do not find so appealing :) First you take the dry cod - then you soak it - a LOT - for days in water. Then you soak it again in a water and lye solution for several MORE days until it loses half its protein content resulting in a sort of gelatinous meat state. Soak again in water. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I have to, because this is the process. Mmmmmmm. By the way - Lutefisk is the result of all this soaking and that is how you buy it from the grocer. This is not a process I would recommend trying at home. :)

Should I try preparing this 'fish' with some sort of side? My boyfriend wrinkles his nose and shakes his head 'no'. I'm inclined to follow his lead. How did Scandinavians come up with this one? There are many folk tales involving vikings, etc. as to why the fish met the lye solution resulting in this. None of them are known to be true. :) I AM curious how this came about, but for now it is a mystery. I think I'd rather try and catch a fish - a practice I find many other Norwegians doing on the beaches here in Andalsnes. 

Dried and salted cod or 'Klippfisk' as Norwegians call it is made here and exported - Spain consumes a lot of it - I remember eating many 'bacalao' dishes while I was in Sevilla (dried cod in a tomato sauce). Dried cod has apparently been on the market for over 500 years, although now due to overfishing, other white fish have replaced it somewhat (stockfish). Traditionally the fish was hung in droves near the sea and dried in the open air. Then came the salt to make it tastier, and now it is often dried in an electrically heated room (hello technology). It is used in a variety of world cuisines - Jamaican, Portuguese, Brazilian, Spanish dishes… The Norwegians are famous for exporting it. 

Of course, being in a small village it appears my options are limited in terms of getting a variety of fresh fish, which is a big part of Norwegian cuisine. If you go to other coastal cities (Sandefjord, Trondheim, Bergen, Oslo, etc.)  I'm sure there is more to choose from. So far, it appears that Norwegian cuisine, like many others I have tried, is based first on the fundamental fresh foods found or farmed here in nature - the fish, berries  (we picked wild blueberries on our hike up the mountain), plants, animals that appear and then altered slightly (cured meat, or dried fish), then put into dishes. As with any culture that is lifted up economically, many more creative versions of traditional cuisine appear, and I'm certain I will run into those as I branch out to other locations. 

For now, I'm content having my summery open-faced sandwiches for lunch - smoked Mackerel with pepper and chili flakes with tomato, or salmon with fresh goat cheese and cucumber, dill on top, shrimp sandwich, etc. - a good break from songwriting, indeed. Above all the big message staying here has been NATURE - soak it in. Get outside - breathe the fresh air, eat the fresh food around you and enjoy the glorious view. Heaven I tell you. :)

fertilizer

boring post--just to record that I fertilized the rest of the garden today: peppers, eggplant, roses, etc. Everything I missed last week.

The last Cherokee Purple of the first harvest are ripening on the vine. I've nicknamed one of them Baby Jesus. It's fabulous.

Fjords, Farming and a few bites..

So here I am, plunked down in a little village in Norway called Åndalsnes. I'm here to spend the month with my wonderful man before heading on to Copenhagen to perform in the Songwriter Festival - more good people and music ahead - YAY! In the mean time, I'm enjoying the iconic fjord landscape while scouting out local eats and naturally grown fruits and veggies.

Where, in the HECK, you might ask, is Åndalsnes? I'm sure most of you have heard of the Norwegian Fjords - spectacular mountain walls that tower over waterways running for miles from sea to the valley mainland…. Right? If you haven't, here's a picture to give you an idea of what this looks like - we went to nearby fjords (Geirangerfjorden for one) just the other day to soak some of this in.

Geirangerfjorden 

Åndalsnes is one of the administrative capitals in the Northwestern region of Norway (specifically, the Rauma valley).  It's like Lord of the Rings all over again, here. The sheer size of the walls on these mountains is sublime - there's just no other word for the reaction they produce. It's been almost always chilly since I've arrived - somewhere between 50 and 70 degrees - on really warm days, it may reach 75 Fahrenheit, and this is the summer time.. During the winter it is colder and there is plenty of snow.

Let's get back to food - that's why I am writing, n'est pas? While I was on the boat traveling through one of these fjords, the loudspeaker caught my attention - there were small FARMS on these incredibly steep mountain walls. See picture below - that tiny white house is a FARM on the mountain - you can also see the slight field below the house. I got dizzy just looking at the way the houses were resting on a slant.. One story told of a farmer that grew apricots and apples, others had sheep, goats and some cattle for dairy. I'm still in disbelief. Most farms were abandoned in the late 1950s. Living circumstances could not have been easy and were most definitely isolated.

Family Farm on Fjord Wall

Interestingly enough, these mountains are warm enough to grow fruit and not so cold that you can't farm a bit. Cascading fresh glacier water abundantly falls from the mountain walls and flows down the hillsides into the valleys. While contemplating steep hill farms and family clashes within them, I had lunch, which consisted of sheep + goat sausage, accompanied by potato salad and mustard. The sausage was quite strong - earthy in flavor, but balanced out by the sides and mustard (which was slightly sweet). I will try it again before leaving the country :)..

Sheep and Goat Sausage with potato salad

More abundantly grown (and farmed) in the Rauma valley these days (closer to Andalsnes) are potatoes, strawberries (we found some wild ones growing right by the road - see pic below), blueberries (which also grow wild in the forest mountains we went biking through), rhubarb, and most likely others that I haven't come across. Right now I'm just reporting on what I see around me.

Wild Strawberries growing on the mountain trail to Trollstigen

Also well known is the abundance of fresh salmon - which they do also farm in this region (I witnessed one on the way to a nearby village yesterday) and catch wild here as well. The salmon supply has been somewhat depleted in the last two decades due to a virus infecting the fish - which they are trying to fight and restore to the area. Sea Trout have increased in numbers during this time, so there is plenty of that here for consumption.  The salmon here is incredible. I've been buying large quantities of it lightly smoked (lox) from the grocery store and devouring regularly. In the frozen food section you see whole fish vacuum-sealed - pollack, salmon, trout, etc. I will often make lunch with smoked mackerel and tomato on top of fresh bread - sooooo good. 

For now I'll leave you with a common Norwegian dessert/snack they have here, which I tried for the first time on the boat. Don't mind the spoon from my coffee in the background.. :) A slice or two of 'Brunost' - what some would call Norwegian Brown Cheese is stuffed within a folded-over pancake - the type we Americans eat for breakfast. 'Brunost' is basically caramelized goat cheese, which tastes slightly salty and very rich in flavor. A slice alone would be too much, but stuffed in a pancake it is DELICIOUS. 

Svele M  Brunost - Norwegian dessert

And heck, here's a picture of me - happy as a clam on the chilly boat through the fjords. More Norwegian food discoveries and cooking to come!

fertilized the out-of-control tomato plants

Yesterday I fertilized the tomato plants. There was much rejoicing. I also fertilized the peppers and the eggplant, yada yada yada.

I am not sure what to do with the tomato plants. They have all grown out of control. Top heavy, loaded with big fruit, gnarled and angry in some cases, distressingly tall in others. I've staked them all now, given that they destroyed the cages that I initially placed them in.

I don't know what to do. I want tomatoes to continue through October, but I am at a loss as to how to control these crazy vines. The harvest so far has been brilliant, so may it continue.

This is a huge platter, so imagine these tomatoes as fist to two-fist size...

New Yorker Wandering Abroad

I've lived in New York City as a songwriter and performer for 11 years - more specifically in the often-labeled 'hipster' neighborhood of Williamsburg (in Brooklyn). I am not a hipster, FYI - although some have accused me of this. If hipster means someone who creates their own sense of fashion and does not operate through the main-stream norm in terms of culture and lifestyle, then yes my friend, I am officially a hipster. I am NOT a yuppie-turned-ebay-vintage-designer-clothes-shopping asshole with no taste for quality and a bad haircut to impress their wanna-be lawyer friends (other definition for hipster created by jealous onseekers of the original 'hipster'). Nothing against lawyers or e-bay shoppers, of course - I am just trying to make a point. I hope it's coming across given my history with the neighborhood..

More preferably, I claim to be a 'New Yorker' - especially having lived through Bloomberg's term extension, the last major blackout (complete with all-night fire grilling on the sidewalk and little to no looting), so-called 'Hurricane Irene' (which ended up being a tropical storm), and the all-too-dark memory of September 11th - which good friends of mine witnessed up-close as I was on my way to move into the city. I was thankful I hadn't arrived yet...

New York is both a wonderful and depressing place - it's loud and exciting, lonely and cruel, colorful (both in personality and creativity) and diverse beyond any other city I've known in terms of sheer numbers (of different nationalities and cultures within a confined space). This all can be both thrilling and overwhelming when you are a newcomer, depending on how you handle yourself while in its grasp. Truly, all possibilities are on the table - complete with disaster or triumph at the end. I've most recently described New York as a wonderful lover but a terrible wife. You want it again and again, but it won't take care of you. You must always fight for the right to enjoy her and survive her at the same time.

But onto the next phase - my travels as a musician have recently taken me further East to Europe, where I will be for the next 6 months. Stops will include Norway, the U.K. (London), The Czech Republic, Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark (Copenhagen), and potential others. Having lived in New York City with so many diverse food options, a person can get quite spoiled - in fact, down-right snobby about food. But as we all know, New York is a land of immigrants - of people from different cultures everywhere, bringing traditions with them to create their own version of whatever their imagination ignites. This is what makes it such a wonderful place. But the traditions come from everywhere else, not New York.

So my contribution to this blog will be as a wandering traveller exploring local cuisine wherever I land - attempting to make a few of those dishes and perhaps adding my own New York flair to things as I go. Music is what has brought me here, but being the hungry food-obsessed girl I am, this will be a project close to my heart as to eat good is to feel good, and in turn is to live well! Buon appetito!!

latent fertilizing

garden, west view (during rainstorm)

I unfortunately missed a post about my last fertilization, which occurred sometime before I left town on July 4. I'm waiting to fertilize again given the massive rains we have received this last week. The soil is soaked and soaking more every day. No extra water needed, and no need to dilute the fertilizer just yet.

Single Malts?

Caol Ila (pronounced: Cull Ila). Smoky and sea air. Artisanal.
Cardhu. Smooth and mellow speyside.
Glenkinchie.The last lowlands distillery. Light, fresh, and creamy.
Clynelish. Traces of smokiness (not hardcore like the islays). Highland distillery.
Dalwhinnie. Malty sweet clean taste.
Glen Elgin. Speyside. Sweet, honeyed, light. 
Glenkinchie. light. floral. blend?
Knockando. perfect balance. 
Lagavulin. peaty. peaty. peaty. Islay.