Two children, organically grown.

Less than five years ago, three young adults departed from Wilmore, Kentucky. Two got married and moved to North Carolina where today they are raising two children, organically that is.

The sun's rays carry me over the hills...

Everything is done with one hand on baby.

Sometimes two hands on baby, therefore "spoon in mouth."

Multi-tasking at its finest. Also seen: feeding baby, talking on phone, & eating lunch, simultaneously, of course.

Grilled cheese renaissance on IKEA plate (gets no better).

Salmon melt. Toaster oven, 1.5 hr lunch break. Family of four & two naps. Check.

Chunky chocolate. Looks are deceiving...no sugar added!

Stawberries, pre-chocolate drizzle.

Good things come to those who wait for strawberries to chill in the fridge.

Meal 1: Late Saturday night dinner. I keep meaning to organize my recipes like this.

'shrooms, beef slaughtered by your neighbor (for reals), and pasta.

This is local, folks.

Hands moving faster than fugitives on the run. That are some RED tomatoes.

Backyard bliss. Mountain view.

Ricky's "old" favorite: Green beans, rice-like feculent, baked chicken. Some things don't change: Everything tastes better with loved ones.

My 5-day affair with Penelope, the 2012 "candy apple red" Camaro.

Lawrence, Judge Richard Boner, Ricky D.

No matter what, there's time to read the rhyming Bible (LOL).

I recently escaped to the hills of North Carolina, only to be caught in court and sentenced to 30+ years in prison for second-degree murder. Don't judge me, but only half of that is true... The other half applies to man I will not name whom I saw sentenced.

During my time in court and at my friends' homestead (Rick is a court reporter), I learned that fast-paced doesn't have to mean "fast food." I also learned that "breast [milk] is best," but that doesn't apply to me right now.

In my recent Whole Foods adventure (the one where I discovered fromage blanc in Lexington), I literally took pictures of the buffet (yeah, I did) in order to re-create "Garlicky Greens" and some other interesting dishes. I came back from North Carolina with a very similar sort of result, if not more profound. Reminds me of studying language out of a textbook versus studying language out of my own culture (and in another one!). What I mean is, I'm an experiential learner, so now that I've seen a host of recipes cooked well, and cooked quickly, I am confident I can recreate many of them.

Here's an incomplete list. Check out the pictures too. Take time to appreciate all that Ricky & Aidan have going on behind the scenes and send up a prayer for them and their two wee ones, Aolani & Micaiah (Side note: If you eat organic food, odds are you might give your children really earthy names like Kale or Barley.)

Breakfast:

-Frozen fruit smoothy with green veggie powders, bananas, and juice

-Whole grain organic, chocolate chip pancakes with real organic Maple syrup. Y.U.M.

Lunch:

-Salmon melt (sliced bread, organic canned salmon, tomato, munster cheese, basil or other)

-Tuna salad at local diner.

Dinner:

-Pasta Farfalle

-Tacos w/...of course organic ingredients. Guac' is good on tacos, people!

Snack:

-Organic chocolate covered raisins (great for the muchies...with moderation)

-Organic strawberries covered in organic dark [sugarless] chocolate (Needed sugar!)

-"Mexican Pound Cake," We hit up the "Tienda Mexicana y Libraria Cristina" not a combo I see every day. But my point being, try a local bakery for a sweet treat before dinner, the French call this "gouter" [goo-tay] and tend to eat cakes at 4/5pm and have fruit or cheese for dessert at the table. Often "gouter" is reserved for the young...or young @ heart. Me voilà.

Do you have any...er...Fromage Blanc?

"Use sour cream for crème fraiche and cottage cheese for fromage blanc." Thanks to Whole Foods in Lexington Green, I may never have to say that again! The lumpy consistency of cottage cheese has always been a bit unsettling for me, like it knew something I didn't. So, I will happily oblige fromage blanc and Whole Foods next time I set out to prepare a flammenkeuche.

Happy tension: while it is lovely to buy everything on your ingredient list without substituting or going without, there is something to be said for resourcefulness, culinary creativity, and oui penny pinching. So it is with minimal regret that I express to you, niche-blog reader, that I may indeed reach for the lumpy gloop of cottage cheese despite the availability of "France's answer to yogurt" (fromage blanc).

Cottage cheese & my local, or not so local :-/, Kroger, Meijer, or Wal-Mart offer the fromage substitute at a much less posh price than Whole Food's real-deal "white cheese" as it could be literally rendered. Now if you are unfamiliar, the mystery ingredient I'm alluding to is of the consistency of let's say Greek yogurt and without added sugar and/or raspberries, etc., has been known to make yours truly gag. This is, of course, much to the chagrin of many a Frenchman as the semi-precious commodity is a treat even for them.

So feast your eyes, if not your fingers and your taste buds, on these products, available for the right price, in your Whole Food's chilled dairy section. Bon appétit!

Chew on this

Accents are a fascinating thing. Perhaps because I live in Kentucky, the punchline of more than a few blagues, I appreciate the underdog when it comes to linguistic hierarchy. The video below gives examples of French accents and more than that, the très typique, albeit annoying, prejudice against Québécois French by the French living within the métropole. Or should I say those that speak "so well [they] don't even have an accent" to quote the French interviewee. Also featured is a belgian explaining how Brussels speak differently than Liège, Burkina Faso & the Cameroon, etc., etc. Not much attention giving to accents within France though unfortunately. Bonne écoute!

Les accents de la francophonie by upindetv

Garlic is my new cologne

Here are few of my recent attempts at real live cooking & baking. I'm rediscovering suppressed cooking energy and the joys of smelling garlic in my fingernails when at work. Bon appétit.

Old Faithful in the background is the recipient of all my culinary trials, for better or worse.

Sundried Tomato Pasta & Cannellini Beans (A+) Leftover Rotini w/roma tomates & spinach & red pepper flakes (A).

Pate brisé recipe still kicking from '08. Merci, la France. Vous etes la reine de cuisine!

Fun.with.butter.

The universe of blueberries revolves around the brown sugar sun.

Please still be pretty after I cook you!

Fantastisch!, and it didn't stick!

Pie Party! In the shadows, but not the night, Sally Myers enjoys a bite!

Now this looks gross, but I will forever remember trying to "powder" almonds with a butcher knife (still need a food processor). Actually, I rather liked the crunch factor!

Bless the Lord, O my soul. Turns out eating a giant mushroom like a steak is delicious! Cranberries, Kroger dressing, green salad help fill the plate and added great variety.

It's a flamer!

And just like that my interest in cooking more than cereal & frozen pizza is whetted! What a gut idea to have invited some freude for a German evening. This evening's menu: Strasbourg's famed Alsatian Flammenkeuche served with a green salad mit Reisling & other white wines as the perfect liquid compliments.

Meg's gile finger tantalizes the spinach & organic lettuce.

Halo beautiful! Flammekeuche (a.k.a. tarte flambée) isn't served flaming, but it is strikingly delicious!

Guten Appetit! Danke für der eis wein, Lucas.

Non-committal veganism

"Patchwork religion" is a term which defines many people I know. We take a little of this and a pinch of that, "once around the bowl of this" (Rachel Ray), and presto: We're a Cathrabic Athenihumanist. As if that were possible.

Anyway, this is not a religious discussion; it's about food. More specifically food without meat, or eggs, well, mostly :).

For as long as I've been cooking for myself, I've never really enjoyed cooking meat. I see the frozen patties of this or that, and I wonder how to prepare them. I also have a financial aversion, monetary tick, bref, a need to be thrifty at all times. Chalk it up to my teacher salary & upbringing. This is to say that not cooking meat is a great way to save money.

In other news, it was during a recent meeting with some Christian friends of mine that I found myself drawn to a book called The China Diet. The Lord uses some pretty unique instruments to get my attention. So while my friends were discussing the plight of Samson, Delilah, and the Nazarite vow, I was Providentially distracted by this book. In spiritual terms, I'd been "searching" for healthier foods for a while. The book practically jumped into my hands like my friends dog jumped over his coffee table. I mean some things one just has to notice.

New list of heathy foods to try in tow, I began to think, "I can do this." I already like almonds, blueberries, whole grains, and lots of other recommended things. But wait, limit limit crackers (TRISCUITS!), olive oil (EVOO!), and fish. Avoid cheese, yogurt, & meat?! Who are these people? Well it turns out they already have a club; they're VEGANS! [insert blood curdling scream].

Don't worry; they're not coming for your children like "they gays," "the liberals," "the gay liberals," or anyone else (James Dobson), they seem like a rather harmless, albeit weird bunch. Possibly more cat lady weird than "Keep Austin Weird" sort of cool hipster weird... at least judging from the profile pics from some of the vegan websites I found. (Thanks for the recipes "Ilovecats2day." Ok, I made that up, but it's not far off some of the freundlich vegan recipe-sharers I borrowed ideas from.)

So, there I was, sitting in my red Wal-Mart camping chair on my self screened-in porch, ready to take the almost vegan plunge. I suppose, then, that ultimately this experience is rather like a conversion after all...only I'm not sold yet. Turns out the recipes are fun to prepare, easy, and I can basically mix a lot of them together to create new things.

Here's where vegans and I disgree, however, and I become more of a patchworker myself. If the meal sucks, I'm still going to add cheddar cheese. As for yogurt, I might start adding the optional h just to flaunt my desire to still partake of a nice, chilled yoghurt. Additionally, I'm not going to frantically beat soy powder to bring about the possible Big Bang of vegan eggs ... well at least not until I get my hands on a food processor. Finally, I will eat meat. I have frozen bacon in the freezer and there will be more flammenkeuche! Kesha, I guess you're [almost] right, I will "Drink that Kool-aid" after all.

For now, I'm humbled by the power of legumes (beans and so forth) and feeling healthy & happy each time I prepare my own meal. Plus, I had a pie party! (Williams-Sonoma Blueberry Crumble Pie is not on the vegan list.) Adam & Eve knew what they were doing eating berries and plants...well until the forbidden fruit (oops!).

Here's to tofu ... that word has way more attitude than it's reputation allows. Letcha figure that out.

-L

La Vache qui rit au Kentucky?!

Bonjour Kentucky! So it turns out that "Fromageries Bel Incorporation" has been producing their cheeses (Laughing Cow, Boursin, Mini Babybel, etc.) in little 'ole Leitchfield, Kentucky, since the 1970s*. Grayson County/Leitchfield is about 2.5 hours from Lexington. Field trip? Anyway, having discovered the cheeses abroad and then returning home to discover them in my local grocery, this news makes me rire.

Apparently things are going really well and Americans are eating even more of the stuff than the French. Something like 8,000 tons to 6,500 (tv5.fr). I suppose when we do something, our motto is quite literally "Go BIG or go home." Furthermore, it's somewhat ironic (or sad?) that this stuff is currently being billed as "so healthy," and that in reality Americans are getting fatter from the French dairy product. We all have our growth areas... No pun intended.

Gaining weight eating French cheeses? Who's rire-ing now? Damn cow.

*The cheeses are also produced in le Wisconsin and le Dakota du Sud.

http://www.gcnewsgazette.com/view/full_story/1501229/article-Leitchfield’s-Bel-Cheese-plant-to-be-featured-on-Food-Network-National-Exposure

http://www.tv5.org/cms/chaine-francophone/info/p-1914-7-jours-sur-la-planete.htm