Come on out for another Sunday evening at Philly Community Wellness (1241 Carpenter Street) on May 22nd from 6 pm to 9 pm. This week we'll be catching up on co-op news as well as having some cookbook fun. Did you miss the Spring Community Forum and want to learn more about the South Philly Food Co-op? Looking to trade in some of your tired neglected cookbooks for some new-to-you dish descriptions? Want to meet your neighbors who are also interested in bringing more local, healthy food options to South Philly? Come to our May Community Event: we'll give an update on our progress thus far, talk about our next steps, and then have a cookbook swap (participation in the swap isn't a requirement for attending). If you like, bring 1-3 cookbooks and we'll swap them out Yankee Swap style. Make a trip to your local used bookstores if you don't have any cookbooks that you are willing to part with. Please RSVP on our Facebook page or email [email protected].

The following South Philadelphia event for tomorrow came across our desk and we thought it would be worth sharing. This is a great example of the community doing more to take control of its own food production. Efforts like this and the co-op can help bolster food security and promote health, security and equity in our neighborhoods. SOUTH PHILLY TEEN ORCHARD PLANTING When: Tuesday, May 17 @ 4pm Where: 2029 S. 8th St, South Philadelphia Join in on this orchard revitalization and replanting! United Communities, PHS, PUFFA, Teens 4 Good, and POP are collaborating in redeveloping this orchard site as a vital community gathering space. We'll be mulching and planting with the Youth Leadership Council and other community volunteers. Click here to RSVP for the event. Rain date: Tuesday, 5/24 @ 4pm.

It was over 130 years ago, not long after a group of South Philadelphia immigrants opened the first co-op in America at 917 Federal Street, that another group of immigrants, this time Italians, followed their friends and neighbors to South 9th Street to sell fresh fish, fruit, and vegetables. Next came butcher shops, serving the best meat in the city, and eventually cheese shops, restaurants, and bakeries. Together these entrepreneurs formed the Italian Market, the largest outdoor continuous market in the country. Though the character of the market has changed significantly with a diversifying popultion of Mexican tiendas and taquerias, Asian eateries and groceries (hmmm....pho), and even music clubs, the Italian Market remains a Philadelphia landmark.

If you haven't been, this weekend is the time, as it's the annual Italian Market Festival, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm . Check out the Procession of Saints, live music from the WMGK house band, a brand new half ball tournament to benefit the Mummers, and so much food and ice cold Peroni that even your Nona might think everyone is full enough. If you love sausage (and who doesn't), Esposito's Meat is celebrating its 100th year in business by stuffing a 100 foot sausage. It's the kind of event that just might entice you to make your home in South Philly like it did me. That's not to say you shouldn't also check out Jazz on Colorado Court at Lucky Olds Souls on Saturday. We'll have co-op members there on hand with plenty of information and smiling faces. Not for nothing, but youse are gonna have a great weekend.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Garden as of May 11th"][/caption] Welcome back!  This will be short because I don't have too much to say (finally!).  Things are moving along and I'm happy to say that thanks to all the sunny days my waterlogged plants have finally dried out and I'm trying to stick to the schedule of watering them lightly every day. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="More garden. Still May 11th"][/caption] I'm being totally serious here when I say that watering every day will be the hardest part.  Mostly because of my job which keeps me away from the house from 8-6 Monday through Friday and my tendency to not go directly home after work.  I'm on the lookout for some sort of self-watering system so I don't have to completely change my lifestyle (and kill my social life) so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!  Sadly I don't have a hose (or even an outdoor spigot) so I'm looking for ideas with some sort of reservoir for the pots.  But for the foreseeable future I'll by relying on my two friends here: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Watering can friends"][/caption] And hey!  Some of the mint was used for juleps on Saturday [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="Pretty and tasty"][/caption] But there's still a lot of it.  I have a feeling I'll be cutting this back all summer. Because I can never leave well enough alone, I have been noticing some strange things going on with the lower leaves of some of the plants, like this: I'm hoping this is from transplanting and the leaves getting stuck to each other rather than little insects or slugs, but I'm going to keep an eye on it.  Also I've noticed that some of the little eggplants have what look like little bites in the leaves: But again, I'm going to watch them and see where that goes.  I'm obviously not going to use any pesticides but I know that there are some gentler solutions like diluted soap and water that can help if things really get out of control.  For now the eggplants look pretty good and lots are getting new leaves: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="Someone figured out how to use the zoom on her iPhone!"][/caption] This one, however, is worrying me: I think it got pretty wet and maybe never dried out.  We'll see! I've also been reading this book: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="Hippies"][/caption] And it's pretty informative!  It's definitely geared more toward those who have an actual yard and garden as opposed to containers, but it has lots of tips on composting, pest control using natural methods, and just general gardening knowledge.  ALSO they totally endorse using your hands instead of a spade to work the dirt (the chapter is called "Spadework?  No Thanks!") since spades disrupt the natural layout of the soil and plants already there.  So hey, getting your hands dirty is fun and helpful! One more random thing:  as I was walking through the Gallery on Sunday I noticed a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society display and stopped to look.  There was no actual person there because the Gallery is eerily empty on Sundays (what's with that?  I love the Gallery) but the display was all last years winners of the City Garden Contest.  Here's the website and pretty much anyone can enter as long as they have a garden!  I'm actually thinking of entering just for fun because sadly there's no cash money prize.  But if anyone's interested the deadline to enter is June 10th and then judging is during July and August.  You can also volunteer to be a judge if you want.  I think it's cool that they have a container garden category, as well as garden block and urban farm categories.  And there's also a children's garden category for all you young gardeners.  Anyway, the rules are basically that the garden has to be within the city limits and it can be an individual or community garden.  I highly recommend checking out the display at the Gallery (it's right inside after you go down the stairs at 9th and Market) if you're interested - I can't seem to find any pictures of last year's winners online but there was one grandfatherly-type man who grew insanely large squash in his little backyard.  I also think it's cool to see what people can do with just a little space. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="Tiny tiny feverfew"][/caption] On the indoor front, my feverfew and basil have sprouted and are ADORABLE as little baby plants always are.  I especially like the basil (shh don't tell feverfew!) because they already smell like little mini basils. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="Mini basil"][/caption] Since they're still babies I've been misting them and I'm just waiting until they're big enough to put outside.  I've still got more things to start inside so hopefully this weekend is the time for that. That's it!  I'll be back next Thursday with another update. Sarah DeGiorgis has lived in Philly for five years and is finally starting to feel like a true Philadelphian, though she still detests cheesesteaks.  She enjoys reading, watching bad tv, eating and cooking good food and digging in the dirt. Catch up with her continuing efforts to grow food in South Philly by clicking here.

Anyone that knows me knows that i just love chick peas. I eat them all the time and I am constantly looking for new recipes on how to dress them up for the next meal. Di Bruno Bros. has a great recipe for spring time. Recipe:

• 1 pound of chick peas
• 1 medium red onion sliced thin
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
• 1 tbsp chopped preserved lemon
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped oregano
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
• 4 oz crumbled goat cheese, like Bucheron
• Salt and pepper to taste
• For the dressing
• 3 oz Imported red wine vinegar
• 6 oz extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 filets of anchovies

Directions:

• Make the dressing by rendering the anchovy filets in a sauté pan with a little of the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook lightly for 2-3 minutes. Cool slightly. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the anchovy mixture and vinegar, then whisk in the olive oil.
• Toss with the remaining ingredients, chill for one hour, serve. Serves 4-6.

Oyster House is one of my favorite restaurants in Philly, though I can only truly indulge in the experience once or twice a year. I distinctly remember visiting the old restaurant as a kid on a weekend trip with my dad and trying a small taste of his turtle soup. I love the vibe of the new restaurant and anyone who knows me can tell you that eating fresh seafood is one of my greatest pleasures. Being a Marylander, eating crabs in the summer has always been a must and there isn’t a plate of oysters that I’ve ever left unfinished. Through Oyster House’s consistent Facebook posts and email blasts (talk about a local business that’s good at staying on your radar) I learned about chef and cookbook author Aliza Green’s book signing of her new book: The Fishmonger’s Apprentice. The event also included a cooking demonstration and seafood discussion so signing up was a no-brainer. I have been learning to cook for the past year or so with steady progress in skills, technique, knowledge and confidence, yet I still find the hardest part of preparing any meal to be sourcing the ingredients. This is one of the reasons I am excited about a Co-op in South Philly. Having a say in what comes to your food supplier is a great start. Uncertainty in knowing where your food originates most of the time is also why I have the least amount of confidence in cooking some of my favorite foods to eat: seafood. It all boils down to knowing your ingredients, where they came from, and what to do with them. Aliza’s demonstration included pickled herring, sauteed calamari, and filleting an entire shad. Her insights were intelligent and her guests included the head of Samuels & Sons Seafood Co. and their expert fillet-man, one of the few who can actually properly fillet a shad and extract its roe. Just learning about a few new ways to prepare a fish I’ve never thought about buying was a real confidence booster and made me excited to visit Ippolito’s more often and ask “what’s fresh?” Here’s a few things I learned: go to a reputable fishmonger, ask what’s freshest and what’s in season, don’t be afraid of the smaller oily fishes, always ask for ice, keep on ice until the second you are ready to prepare your fish, try to prepare within 2 days of purchase, pickled and smoked fish can be a great way to enjoy seafood without worrying so much about its spoilage. For those of you who are obsessed with seafood and want to start preparing it more in your homes I would highly recommend checking out Ms. Green’s book: The Fishmonger’s Apprentice. It’s a great place to start understanding seafood as opposed to your traditional recipe based cook books that have the same old methods for searing tuna, grilling shrimp, baking salmon, and sautéing tilapia. Fortunately we Philadelphians live in a major port town in the Mid-Atlantic offering us a great selection of both local and international seafood. I may not be jumping into steamed cockles and broiled skate just yet, but I will be asking more questions, taking more risks and definitely buying more seafood this summer. Martin Brown is a musician and arts administrator currently venturing into the ice cream business with Little Baby's Ice Cream (www.littlebabysicecream.com). Being a Maryland transplant his favorite food is crabs, as a South Philly homeowner his favorite food is anything he grills in his backyard.

On which committee do you serve? I am a member of the Outreach committee and also serve as webmaster and de-facto IT coordinator. What do you do for a living? I'm a software developer at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. How did you get involved with the food co-op? An old friend and Steering committee member, Julia Koprak, sent me a message suggesting I attend an Outreach meeting since she knew it was something I'd be interested in. After seeing the passion the members already had at that early stage of the game I was hooked. Why do you want a food co-op in South Philly? It was food that originally brought me to South Philly. I'd lived all over the city but after an amazingly enjoyable weekend stuffing myself at the Italian Market Festival a number of years ago I knew that South Philly was where I wanted to make my home. My original motivation in joining the co-op was to further improve our local food situation by bringing better access to high quality food to South Philly. While we our blessed with amazing restaurants, sandwich shops and delis, great ethnic shopping options (be it some of the quite good corner stores or the Asian supermarkets), sometimes it can be difficult or expensive to find simple, healthy, and fresh options in South Philly. As my involvement with the co-op has deepened I've also come to realize that the food co-op is an amazing way to connect with members of the community that I might otherwise never get to know. Why should people join a food co-op? Let's build our community while we increase our food security and improve the health of our environment and our neighbors. What is your favorite meal to cook and why? I have to admit, I rarely cook, because I am blessed with a wife who cooks as well or better than my skilled mother and grandmother. Though I was the only kid who said he wanted to be a chef on the first day of kindergarten I've graduated in adulthood to dishwasher-in-chief and lead taste tester. In my college years I did make a mean bowl of fancied up ramen.

In 1984 I was in kindergarten, my dad worked at a graphic design firm at 20th and Sansom, and I would always beg my mother to take me downtown on the bus to visit my dad at work. I loved to see him, but what it really was about was the inevitable lunch out. At a restaurant. At my favorite restaurant, the only restaurant I was aware of at age 5, The Frog Commissary. To this day, Steve Poses remains one of my culinary heroes. I have never met the man but I want to personally thank him for making me aware of how good food can be. Back home, one of my mother’s regular meals was the Steve Poses recipe from his Frog Commissary cookbook for Thai Peanut Flounder. Though I would often turn my nose up when my mother made fish–she was famous for over cooking the crap out of it–I knew it was “the Frog guy’s recipe” and flounder is so mild and unassuming that this dish was a favorite of mine: crunchy, nutty, and a little spicy. Over the years I’ve tweaked the recipe and find that you can use this all purpose coating and marinade technique for most lean protein (chicken too!). As an alternative to fluke/flounder, Tilapia is pretty similar in flavor and texture but without the high price tag. Or for a splurge, if you are fancy, use Halibut, which is in season right now! Serve this with steamed rice and Chinese broccoli sauteed with sesame oil and thinly sliced garlic. Thai Peanut Fluke Prep time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes Serves 4 people

• 4 4-6 oz pieces of Fluke (or other white flaky fish)
• 3-6 tbsp canola oil

For the marinade:

• 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
• 3 tbsp mirin (or sherry)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sriracha

For the coating:

• ¾ cup AP flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp sriracha
• ¾ cup panko bread crumbs
• ¾ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped finely
• ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients for marinade in a ziptop bag set inside of a large bowl, add in the tilapia and marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Remove from marinade and pat the fish dry with paper towels.
• In a pie plate, mix the eggs, water, and sriracha and season with a small amount of salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Tear two 12-15 inch pieces of parchment paper and set on the counter. On the first piece place the flour and on the second piece place the panko, peanuts, and coconut. Using the parchment as an aid, mix the panko, peanuts and coconut. This step could also be done in two pie plates but why create more dishes?
• Start by coating the fish with the flour, then tap off any excess and place in the pie plate that has the egg mixture. Coat the fish in the egg mixture well. This is the glue that makes the coating stick.
• Lastly coat each piece of fish in the panko mixture, pressing it thoroughly onto each piece to make it stick well.
• In a large saute pan, heat 3 tbsp of canola oil over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes until the pan is very hot but not smoking.
• Add 2 pieces of fish and cook 3-4 minutes on one side without moving the fish, turn fish and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.
• Repeat step 8 with remaining fish.

Since Thursdays are our "Sarah's Garden" days, it only seemed right to include the following announcement which found its way into our inbox yesterday. The Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia have informed us that on Saturday, May 21st at 1pm at the South Philly Library (Broad and Morris Streets), they are sponsoring a book and plant sale that includes a free workshop by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The plant sale follows immediately after the workshop with all proceeds benefiting the South Philly Library. The workshop promises to help people who want to learn how to create beautiful small space gardens and will cover topics like container gardening and window boxes. I've been reading Sarah's posts with great interest since I'm trying to get my own backyard vegetable garden going. Anyone who gets into this activity and does it without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides can really start to appreciate how refreshing it is to eat food free from those chemicals. It's one of the many reasons for supporting a food co-op so YOU can make the decision to have such carefully and sustainably grown food available to you (especially when, as is likely to happen to me, your backyard harvest isn't all you hoped it would be).

Hello again!  Things are moving along in my little corner of South Philly.  My garden has gone from this: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Not really a garden..."][/caption] to this: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="...garden! and..."][/caption] and this: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="...more garden!"][/caption] Nice!  So now everything is outside:  "everything" being the beefsteak and beauty queen tomatoes and the eggplants.  I still have other things to plant outside, like sunflowers and summer squash, but I only have so much precious weekend time.  There are also some tulip and daffodil bulbs that I planted very late in the game that have started blooming so I decided to let them keep going and focus on replanting all the tomatoes and eggplant.  Here is the raised bed now, with daffodils and one red tulip hiding amongst all the mint: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="So much mint"][/caption] A note on this mint:  it's crazy!  But seriously, this is the third year I have had this particular mint plant and every year it comes back stronger than ever.  It requires NO work (except the occasional thinning out of the plants unless I want it to take over the entire backyard) and in the winter I just cut it down and it comes right back up in the spring.  It's great to have though, even just to throw a few sprigs in some iced (or hot) tea or just plain water or iced coffee.  And things like mojitos and juleps are fun (the latter especially if you're having a Derby party this Saturday) but a sprig of mint goes well in pretty much any drink.  You can also throw some leaves in salads and it pairs well with lots of lamb dishes.  Versatile! Anyway, the actual planting of all the tomatoes and eggplants took both Saturday and Sunday afternoons (sure, I could have started in the morning and gotten this done in one day but my weekend mornings are reserved strictly for sleeping and brunching.)  I planted 28 pots in all and went through three BIG bags of potting soil and two smaller ones, plus another bag of my trusty compost.  The biggest obstacle this time around was water.  Thanks to all the rain we've been getting, everything was really wet.  The potting soil had been sitting outside, so all three big bags were wet - the one on the bottom was actually closer to mud than soil.  There are also two large metal planters left over from a previous tenant and they already had soil in them from last year.  Unfortunately that was also pretty muddy and there are no drainage holes in either of them so I had to use other pots.  I actually had some luck with just cutting the bags open and leaving them in the sun for a while to dry out the soil on Saturday, but Sunday I started running out of soil and the sun was not as strong.  Long story short I ended up using one of the metal planters for some beefsteaks surrounded by eggplant: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="Please survive?"][/caption] We'll see how that goes.  And here are the plants right after I planted them, looking a little droopy and over-watered and sad: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Sad plants"][/caption] Two days later, they are less droopy but I still haven't watered them yet, which shows how wet the dirt actually was. Another challenge was (again) actually transplanting the plants - untangling them from themselves and attempting to keep as many of the roots intact as possible.  Even the beefsteaks, which were all at least about a foot tall, had insanely delicate roots.  I'm going to get really scientific on you here, so get ready:  roots are really important.  Even more important than the part above the ground, since a plant gets the vast majority of its nutrients and water from the soil (this is also why good soil and compost are important.)  Here's a picture of one of the little eggplant's roots so you can see how big they actually are in relation to the rest of the plant: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="What am I doing with my hand?"][/caption] Kind of like that overused analogy of an iceberg, the biggest part of the plant is actually what you can't see!  So you want to be very careful when transplanting to try to get as many of the roots as possible.  I actually found it easiest to just dig in there with my hands - this way I could feel the roots instead of just shoving a spade down there and breaking lots of them.  Of course, then your hands will end up looking like this: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="Attractive!"][/caption] But getting your hands dirty is fun, right?  I thoroughly enjoy it, but do be prepared to have dirt under your fingernails at all times.  No more manicures for a few months. The plan in the coming weeks is to make sure what's outside doesn't get too wet/dry/cold and give away some of the smaller pots of tomatoes to make room for more plants!  I am also starting some more things inside:  basil and feverfew.  I've never grown basil from seed and I'm not entirely sure what feverfew actually is other than I love the name and it has pretty little white flowers. Just for fun, here's a picture I took of two of the daffodils.  Look at them poking their little heads through the chair! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="Cuties"][/caption] So stay tuned!  I'll be back with another update next week. Sarah DeGiorgis has lived in Philly for five years and is finally starting to feel like a true Philadelphian, though she still detests cheesesteaks.  She enjoys reading, watching bad tv, eating and cooking good food and digging in the dirt. Catch up with her continuing efforts to grow food in South Philly by clicking here.