Undone Chocolate bars with Himalayan sea salt get dressed up for the holiday. Courtesy of Undone Chocolate.
My story on DC’s own Undone Chocolate appeared on The Jewish Daily Forward this weekend.
Check it out:
Tag Archives: food
Five percent for empowerment: Supporting a community kitchen
Zucchini by Rhea
Today, 5 percent of all grocery bills at Whole Foods in Silver Spring will go toward empowerment. That is because those dimes and dollars will support the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Shared Use Community Kitchen.
Not all 85 subscribers to this blog live in the D.C./Maryland area, so I won’t go into detail about the 5 percent day (though if you are in the area, you should go!) Instead, I’ll tell you about this kitchen. According to the project site:
For the past three years, a group of dedicated individuals have been working hard to renovate and reopen the commercial kitchen located in the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church.
Once completed, the kitchen will be available as:
1. an incubator for entrepreneurs to start small food-based businesses,
2. a classroom for teens, seniors, and anyone to learn about healthy eating, and
3. a production space where donated food can be prepared to be sent to local food banks and homeless shelters.
I’m proud to be a part of this kitchen as a board member of the Crossroads Community Food Network, one of the partners in launching the new space. Crossroads is all about food access and empowerment — empowerment to eat healthier food (through the Crossroads Farmers Market and Healthy Eating Program), to earn a living wage from preparing food (the Community Kitchen and Microenterprise Program), and to embrace the cultural foods of your own community and others’ (all of the above).
I look forward to the funds and attention this day can bring, and appreciate the community contributions and support we receive. By reading this post, you’re already part of the empowerment. So thank you!
New food writing: “Passover, with a strictly biblical flavor”
I’m pleased to share my article “Passover, with a strictly biblical flavor,” my first piece in the Washington Post Food section. I hope you enjoy it!
As I mentioned before, you can also catch me tomorrow from noon to 1 in the weekly online chat Free Range on Food. I’m honored to be invited, even if my fingers shake on the keyboard every time I think about it! Softball questions welcome.
Many thanks to the gracious and knowledgeable people I interviewed, the daring friends who tasted my recipe trials, and to everyone who gave me feedback.
Thank you for reading, and happy Passover!
Thanks for a great Fair!
Cross-posted from DC State Fair
Thank you to everyone who came out today to celebrate DC talent at the DC State Fair in the heart of the Barracks Row Fall Festival. And congratulations to the winners of all 19 contests!
Want to relive the day or catch up on the events? Our fourth annual Fair is all over social media — both in words and pictures. Take your pick:
- Check out the DC State Fair Twitter feed and #DCStateFair
- Go to our Facebook page
- Keep an eye on our website (right here!) for a list of winners
A special thank you goes out to our contest coordinators, judges, and volunteers. You made it all possible!
Delight and dread for a new gardening season
The Mid-Atlantic winter may not have produced a Snowquester, but it’s still spitting out frosty nights. Soon, even those will become a threat of the past, bringing in — to my delight and dread — a new gardening season. Just like the one depicted above. Continue reading
My guest spot on The Thinkingest
When fellow writer Bill Lascher invited me to appear on his podcast, The Thinkingest, I took one look at the title and knew I’d found a home. Our conversation, largely about overthinking food, just came out. What is my (over)thinking regarding the White House Kitchen Garden, who advocates for food access, and bringing lunch to the office? How about Bill’s take on the proliferation of bacon? Find out in the blog post and podcast. Also follow Bill’s progress on a book about Melville Jacoby, the first Time Magazine reporter to die in the line of duty.
Filed under Community of writers, Other arts
Stereos the shopkeeper
This is the best shopkeeper in all of Santorini. His name is Stereos, Greek for “solid.”
Stereos heaped extra figs into our day trip provisions, sold big water bottles for half a Euro, and treated us to an impromptu local wine tasting. “You, speak first. Which one do you want?” He said to me. The varietal options were Dry Red or Sweet Red.
Meeting this bedrock mensch was just one of my adventures in Greece and Turkey this August. (Yes, all went well despite some trepidations). I look forward to sharing more soon.
Filed under Travel
Beach reading for the sustainable food set
My latest piece on Grist.org went up today! For this one, I collaborated with Grist food editor Twilight Greenaway. I’m a big fan of her reporting work and editing style, so this was a great honor. Check out “Can’t-miss summer reading for sustainable food fans.”
Filed under Uncategorized
Cooking up summer abundance
Smooth, sun-kissed summer squash. Crispy cucumbers. Billowy leaves of rainbow Swiss chard. Sure, they sound lovely, but have you tried dealing with 10 or 20 pounds of them every week–in a household of one?
Figuring out what to do with all of this takes a huge bite out of my daily spark of creativity–creativity I would like to apply now and then to other pursuits, such as writing. And to my day job that, you know, is going to pay the bills come fall.
Here is the latest innovation I use to trudge through the tide of veggies (recipe and more ideas after the jump): Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
A great week for Freex
Videofreex stand in the garden at Maple Tree Farm, with the author’s father standing second from left. Special thanks to Jon Nealon for providing this photo.
The Jew and the Carrot recently published a piece I wrote about my father and food, “The Unlikely Beginnings of a Jewish Cook“. Overall, this has been a great week for the Videofreex. In addition to my piece, in the past seven days news and conversations have appeared in the Woodstock Times and Muff’s Modules and More. Not bad for a small group that made their last tape more than 30 years ago. Perhaps best of all, yesterday the upcoming documentary Here Come the Videofreex hit full funding.
Filed under History, Other arts
Rhea Kennedy Morgenstern, writer 