Simply Alice

Alice Waters is on the front page of the Dining & Wine section of the NY Times today. Alice is someone whom I admire greatly and wish to emulate. When she speaks about food, she seems to always be right on the verge of tears, her passion spilling out with such energy. She is in love with beautiful,sustainable, local ingredients and has done so much over the past 36 years to awaken people to the importance of knowing where our food comes from and that it was produced responsibly and not far from our homes. Alice firmly belives that a great change can be made by simply feeding people a plate of the most beautiful, local ingredients, even if just a single peach. Of course it would be the freshest, most beautiful, locally produced peach at the height of it's season, spilling over with sweet, sticky juice the second you bit into it. But how many people know what a real peach actually tastes like? Nothing like the ones that can be purchased at your local supermarket any month of the year, that's for sure. You might as well eat a cardboard replica of a peach, it would taste pretty much the same! What I love most about Alice though, is that she is just Alice, no bells and whistles, no frills, just simply Alice Waters, a woman in love with beautiful, local food and willing to do whatever it takes to feed people, one plate at a time, a meal that will change their outlook and lives forever.

The Smell of Autumn

Autumn is in the air and there's nothing like the smell of apples and cinnamon wafting through the kitchen on a cool September morning. Local Honeycrisp and Macintosh apples slowly simmering on the stove, infused with a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon, now that's the smell of Fall. The crust is a simple pate sucree, John Boy's Farm duck eggs provide the beautiful yellow hue, the only eggs I like to use for my tarts, they are amazing! I arrange apple slices over the top, brush them with sweet cream butter and then bake. Once the tart is cool, I brush the top with a thin layer of apricot glaze for the shine, and sprinkle on a streusel topping made of butter, flour, nuts, cinnamon and brown sugar. Fresh local apples, combined with a few simple ingredients.....the essence of Autumn on a plate!

Beautiful Beans!

These string beans were so delicious and so green and beautiful! Quickly blanched and dressed with a simple red wine vinaigrette with fresh garlic and lemon basil, yum! They came from Amawalk Farm, a new farm only 2 minutes from my home, it's their second growing season and their first open to the public. They have the most amazing pick-your-own raspberries.....big, beautiful and so sweet! Also heirloom tomatoes, squash, garlic and in the Fall they'll have pumpkins. More and more local farms are popping up as people begin to awaken from the dream of fast, processed, industrial, world traveled food. This makes me smile.......local matters.