Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you are wrapping it up at work and heading home to your loved ones. 

I just wanted to quickly pop in and say that we had a great time on Sunday, devouring tons of sweets.

The talented Chef Chad Durkin showed us how to make whoopie pies and an adult chocolate milk.  All throughout the demo, he shared great tips such as ways to "repurpose" ingredients -using beet juice to dye red velvet cake, infusing vodka with coffee beans to make fun cocktails, and creating your own vanilla extract by submerging vanilla bean pods in bourbon or rum.

Martin Brown, from Little Baby's Ice Cream, was also there serving up some delicious chipotle chocolate ice cream and vegan ice cream made from coconut milk, chocolate and peanut chews (who knew peanut chews were vegan?).

Thanks to Albert Yee who was there to capture it all for us!

It certainly has been a whirlwind few weeks, what with our great fund raiser at The Cantina (where we welcomed 6 new member-owners), our presentation at the Dickinson Narrows Civic Association (4 new member-owners) and last night's appearance at Drexel University for the screening of Urban Roots (1 new member-owner... but we were all the way over at 31st and Market... that's like traveling to Cleveland and having someone join the Co-op!) And by the way, I really do recommend that you see Urban Roots. I have it on DVD if you want to borrow it. So our unofficial count as of yesterday, according to board member Cassie Plummer's posting on Facebook, was 175 (plus 1 from last night, we'll call it 176). And we're not slowing down. Tonight we take a little break to kick back and celebrate the International Year of the Cooperative with the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance, a newly formed group linking together many of the established and start-up co-ops in the area. The event will take place at Fergie's Pub, upstairs, at 12th and Sansom starting at 6pm. Free appetizers. Cash bar. Great opportunity to see people you've met through the process of becoming a member or attending one of our previous events. I said we'll be kicking back to celebrate but if you really want to make it a great night, bring that member-owner application and check for your equity that you've been holding onto for the last several weeks. And, of course, on Sunday we invite you all (member-owners and not-yet-member-owners) to "Love Your Co-op" with Food Network challenge veteran and pastry chef Chad Durkin. Join us for chocolate, cheese and wine tasting as well as a demonstration by Chef Durkin.  He’ll be demonstrating an easy to make at home dessert that you can replicate for your loved one on February 14th. In addition to the demonstration, you can enjoy complimentary chocolate, cheese, wine, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, and a chocolate fountain with fruit, pretzels, and pound cake! This is a ticketed event and there is an afternoon and an evening session. Space is limited and at just $12 per ticket ($7 for member-owners, free kids younger than 12) available tickets are going fast. Click here for more details including links to buying tickets online. Join the Co-op today and you can still get that discounted ticket price. And we haven't forgotten about your youngest member-owners. On Wednesday, February 29 from 5pm to 8pm, we're hosting Kids Night at the Grindcore Coffee House (SE corner of 4th and Greenwich - between Dickinson and Tasker). Parents with young children are encouraged to attend to meet and greet with other co-op parents and kids. We'll have fun crafts for the kids to create with and will be showing cartoons on a projector. Delicious coffee, teas, and treats are available in the coffee house (a member of our Shop South Philly Program) which specializes in vegan and sustainable practices. Finally, block off Saturday, April 28th for our 2nd Anniversary Celebration at the Passyunk Gardens. We'll have live music, raffles and an after-party at Devil's Den. More details to follow. Just don't plan anything else for 4-28, mmmkay? Because hopefully we'll be celebrating our 250 Founding Members that day as well!

 

It's weird how little I talk about couscous. Couscous means quick, easy, vegetarian dinner here. So we were having one of those nights where you sit on the couch and go back and forth with, "I don't know, what do you want to eat?" And I listed off ingredients we had handy and Sous Chef Brian was like, "Couscous! With artichokes! And spinach!" All irritatingly enthusiastic, and I was like, "Ok, with sundried tomatoes?" And he was like, "Yeah!" All irritatingly enthusiastic. And ten minutes later, we had dinner. Couscous is what we do around here when we're dangerously close to saying, "There's nothing to eat." Are there veg in the freezer? Is there couscous? There's dinner.

Couscous is not some mysterious grain, like quinoa, though we tend to use the two interchangably around here. Couscous is just pasta. Tiny pasta. I like to imagine someone taking a handful of spaghetti and chopping it into tiny bits, but that probably has nothing to do with how couscous is made.

There is just one trick to couscous, and it's super important. Don't cook it in water. That's boring. Sure, it's pasta, and you cook your fettuccine in water, but you also put sauce on your fettuccine.

Other than that, do what you want, it's couscous. Use the veg you have, and the herbs you have, and go to town. Get your liquid boiling, add your couscous, turn off the heat, move the laundry from the washer to the drying rack and eat dinner. Easy.

We had just made vegetable stock, so I had that handy. Veg stock is awesome for couscous.

To make six servings of couscous and veg, for dinner tonight and lunches throughout the week, start with two cups of stock.

Gather your veg.

I started with frozen artichoke hearts, chopped up.

And mystery greens. This is frozen arugula, but I had intended to find spinach or chard. The freezer is getting a little sad, and the summer's goodness is pretty much gone.

And I had soaked some dried tomatoes in hot water to plump them. They actually weren't "sundried" tomatoes, they were just "dried tomatoes" from Margerum's. They weren't quite raisin-dry, they were more moist to start with and it seemed like they had more flavor in the end. I soaked them in about a half cup of near-boiling water while I got the rest of the food together, so maybe 5 minutes. I chopped those up and added them to the stock and veg, with their soaking water, which was full of tomatoey goodness.

I added some oil and garlic and basil.

And brought it all to a boil.

Added the couscous, covered the pot and turned it off.

After about 5 minutes, I stirred it a bit and added black pepper

and Parmesan.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="There's no light above my stove, so staring into a pot is just going to be dark."]

[/caption]

10 minutes later it's tangy with the tomatoes and the parm, and creamy, especially with the artichokes. But you can use whatever veg are crowding your fridge and freezer.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.


Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Couscous


• 2 cups Vegetable stock


• 1/2 cup Very hot water


• 1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes


• 1.5 cups Frozen (or other non-marinated) artichoke hearts


• 1 cup Blanched or frozen greens (spinach, chard, arugula)


• 1 tablespoon Olive oil


• 1 tablespoon Minced garlic


• 4 teaspoons Minced basil


• 1/4 cup Grated parmesan


• 1 teaspoon Black pepper

Instructions

• Soak dried tomatoes in very hot water. Set aside.


• Defrost and chop vegetables.


• Add stock (mine is unsalted), oil, artichokes and greens to a large pot. Add dried tomatoes and soaking liquid. Heat to a boil.


• Add couscous, garlic and basil. Stir. Turn off heat. Cover. Let sit 5 minutes.


• Add cheese and black pepper. Stir.


• Serve warm or cold.

Details

• Prep time: 3 mins


• Cook time: 10 mins


• Total time: 10 mins


• Yield: 6 servings

 

Apparently some groundhog saw his shadow today.  I don't have too much faith in this Punxsutawney Phil creature but if winter continues like this it really wouldn't be that bad, would it?  My little ivy is certainly enjoying itself.  Look at the little baby leaves!

I realize that ivy grows pretty much anywhere but it's encouraging on the second day of February to see a little new growth.  Yes!  That's what happens soon!  Even if the groundhog said otherwise.  While we're on this subject, does anyone else get nervous that they'll wake up on the day after Groundhog Day and everything will be eerily the same and it'll be just like Groundhog Day the movie?  Except this time it's real life and there's no Bill Murray or Andie MacDowell and you actually do have to live one day over and over?  It's a legitimate fear, I think.

Ivy's pretty great, though.  It's always green and grows in the shade, it can grow up things or on the ground, and if it grows someplace you don't want it, you can just gently lift its little (strong!) feet and put it where you want it to go.  The only thing I do to mine is to coax it up the fence and away from the tree.  So easy!  For a lovely article about ivy, I suggest this.

But ivy isn't the only thing growing - this little one is getting bigger and bigger:

Feverfew!  It looks like a weed because it pretty much is, but I did get some pretty white flowers out of it last fall.  There used to be sunflowers in this pot and this makes me miss them.  I'm definitely growing sunflowers this year because they're so HUGE.  I love being dwarfed by my plants.

And soon it will be time to start planting seeds!  Groundhog, even if you are right about six more weeks of winter it doesn't matter to me since I can start growing things inside my nice warm house.

Are you following the South Philly Food Co-op on Twitter? Besides following us to get the latest updates from the co-op as well as occasional bits of pithy and hilarious food and community knowledge, please check out our curated lists. First and foremost are those that make up the lifeblood of our community, our Member-Owners. We're also following the great businesses who have joined us in the Shop South Philly program. Finally, if you're interested in what other co-ops around the city of Philadelphia are doing please check out our growing list of other cooperatives organizations in the area. So drop us a line and let us know you're out there or if you should be added to one of our lists.

Today I thought I'd go in a bit of a different direction:  history!  I've been looking through a book about the history of botany and I thought I'd share a bit.  This book is called Herbals, Their Origin and Evolution:  A Chapter in the History of Botany, 1470-1670 and is by Agnes Arber.  The first edition is from 1912 but I have the second edition which is from 1953.  Ms. Arber covers lots of different things in this book, from Aristotelian botany to how the herbal was used all over Europe to the history of plant description and classification.  Since I don't want to bore you to death, I thought I'd just show you some of the pictures because it's pretty uncanny how good and accurate most of them are.

First off, an herbal is a book explaining the uses and descriptions of plants.  Many of these focused on plants that were used for medicinal purposes but later they moved more towards classification.  The Greeks wrote the first herbals (that we know of) but starting in the 15th century, as all that knowledge was being re-discovered during this time called the Renaissance, Europeans picked up on it too, with expanded herbals and even early plant classification.  The later drawings ("later" being the 17th century) are meticulous and sometimes include animals that often live near the plants.  They also usually draw not only the plant but also the roots and sometimes the nearby habitat.

The earlier drawings often include details from a well-known story or myth about a certain plant.  Take the narcissus, for example:

Now this doesn't necessarily look like the narcissus flower, but the point here is clearly to illustrate the myth of Narcissus -- you know, the guy who can't stop staring at his reflection and eventually dies (of...starvation?  I was never too clear on that one.)  But I just love the fact that someone thought narcissus should have little Narcissuses (?) growing out of each flower.  In 1491.  Because...obviously.

It's also interesting to see how the pictures evolved over time.  Here's a water lily from 1499:

And here's a water lily from 1585:

I think it's pretty amazing how much more detailed the one from 1585 is in comparison with the one that's less than a hundred years older.  But the earlier one definitely gets the shape of the flowers and the leaves right; I'm thinking especially the shape of the leaves, which to me are obviously water lilies.  The later illustration retains that familiar leaf shape but adds more detail.

But the really interesting ones are the ones that are super accurate.  Here's a strawberry plant:

It totally looks like a strawberry!  Right down to the fuzzy stems and serrated leaves.  And here's a potato:

I like this one because whoever drew it knew to include both the plant and the roots with the potatoes.  And if you've ever dug potatoes out of the ground you probably know that that's basically what the roots look like.  And of course the flowers and leaves are highly and accurately detailed.

Check out this giant iris!

It's towering over that bird!  Just kidding.  I assume realism (in size, not details) was not this artist's main concern (as Ms. Arber so delicately puts it, "the want of realism") but the addition of the water bird shows that irises grow in moist areas like riverbeds and ponds.  Pretty smart.

The classifications are also interesting, and I couldn't resist including this one:

These are all grouped together because they are scorpion-like in appearance.  And they really do look like scorpion tails to me.  Not my first thought but maybe this person really liked drawing scorpions and finally had an excuse to draw one.

Lastly I'll leave you with one more, and it's one of my favorites:

I can't really describe this better than Ms. Arber herself:  "The picture of a lime-tree, in which birds of unusual aspect are perching..." (page 201).  Unusual aspect indeed!  She goes on to note that if the leaves, trunk and grass were actually to scale with the man-birds we would lose a lot of important detail.  But I like to think that the man-birds are actually that big.  Terrifying!  Although from their expressions (especially the one in the middle) I have to assume they are very mild-mannered creatures.

I hope my little foray into botanical history wasn't too boring.  Hey, at least you got some man-birds out of it.

To make sure that I'm not doing anything illegally, here's the full citation for the book, where all these pictures and quotes come from:  Herbals, Their Origin and Evolution:  A Chapter in the History of Botany, 1470-1670 by Agnes Arber, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S., F.L.S.  Second edition, rewritten and enlarged.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1953.

URBAN ROOTS
Screening and Discussion
Tuesday, Feb 7th, 7:30 p.m.
Bossone Research Center (3140 Market St)

Urban Farming is the topic of the timely documentary film by Tree Media, Urban Roots, which explores the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit, Michigan. The Westphal College at Drexel University will host the Philadelphia theatrical premiere of Urban Roots on Tuesday, February 7th at 7:30 PM in the Bossone Research Center (3140 Market St.). Food grown locally in community gardens and urban farms is starting to make a positive impact for families faced with food challenge issues in Philadelphia. A panel discussion following the film with members of Philadelphia’s urban farming community, local food advocates, and the film’s director, Mark MacInnis, will focus on Philadelphia urban farming and how to get involved.

Prior to Urban Roots, there will be a screening event of Clay Hereth’s documentary short West Philly Grown at 6:30 PM. Clay’s film tells the story of the Mill Creek Farm, an urban farm at 49th & Brown Sts in West Philadelphia that grows a variety of organic vegetables, herbs, and fruits in addition to providing educational programs on urban farming. Please consider arriving early as we’ll be providing information on Philadelphia’s urban farming movement and ways you can get involved. The event is $5 for the general public and free with a Drexel ID, for more information call 215-895-1029 or visit www.drexel.edu/westphal. Event is presented by Drexel Green, The office of University & Community Partnership, Westphal’s Film & Video program and Westphal’s departments of Architecture & Interiors and Media Arts.

Panelists include:

• Dr. Eugenia Victoria Ellis: Drexel professor and co-director of the Drexel Engineering Cities Initiative, moderator


• Chris Bolden-Newsome, Farmer Educator, Bartram’s Gardens


• Phil Forsyth: Orchard Director, Philadelphia Orchard Project


• Ryan Kuck: Co-Founder Preston’s Paradise and farm manager Greensgrow


• Mark MacInnis: director, Urban Roots
  


• Dan Pohlig: Communications committee, South Philly Food Co-op


• Johanna Rosen: Co-Founder/Co-Director, West Philadelphia’s Mill Creek Farm


• Sarah Wu: Mayor’s Office of Sustainability

 

Are you are looking for something to do for Valentine’s Day?  Show your love by attending our Love Your Co-op event on Sunday, February 12th!

Join us for chocolate, cheese and wine tasting as well as a demonstration by Pastry Chef, Chad Durkin.  Chad was the Executive Pastry Chef at Susanna Foo’s restaurant, The Water Works Restaurant and Lounge and has competed on several Food Network Shows.  He’ll be demonstrating an easy to make-at-home dessert that you can replicate for your loved one on February 14th.  (Don't worry, it's not the gingerbread house pictured below!)



In addition to the demonstration, you can enjoy complimentary chocolate, cheese, wine, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, and a chocolate fountain with fruit, pretzels, and pound cake!

When: Sunday, February 12, 2012
Where: 842 Wharton St, Philadelphia, PA 19147 (Board Director’s Home)
Session 1: 2:00pm to 5:00pm (Demonstration begins at 3pm)
Session 2: 6:30pm to 9:30pm (Demonstration begins at 7:30pm)
Tickets*: $12 each ($7 for member-owners**) 

Reserve your tickets by going here for the afternoon session and here for the evening session.  (Each session is limited to 30 people so get your tickets now!)

 *Parents: Kids under 12 may attend for free and do not need a ticket!
**Members: To receive your member-owner discount when purchasing your ticket, enter your membership number under the promotional code.  Example: Member62

We hope to see you there!

I played with a lot of different names for this, but the reality is, it's honey mustard dressing. It's not thick, creamy, guilt-laden dressing though. It's light and made of food, and it's tangy and sweet and zesty and everything you need to brighten up a lazy salad (mine is just lettuce and onion). It's fat-free, if that's your game. Phrases like "Light honey mustard salad dressing," and "Fat-free honey mustard salad dressing" sound like they refer to a dressing with something missing. This one isn't missing anything.

This is the go-to dressing at Saturday's Mouse HQ. I make a few others, but they're more complicated than three ingredients in a jar. Two minutes from plain lettuce to salad.

So get yourself a jar. Make sure the lid fits tightly.

And open up the cupboards. Red wine vinegar, honey and your favorite mustard. You can use the mustard that makes you happy here, if you're into spicy mustard, do that, yellow, sure, deli, that's fine, whatever you like. I always use brown mustards and I like it best with very grainy mustard.

It's three parts mustard,

three parts honey,

and two parts red wine vinegar.

That's it. Give it a shake. This is where you appreciate a well-sealed jar.

And top your salad.

Keeps in the fridge for at least a week like this, I haven't tried for longer.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 tablespoons mustard


• 1.5 tablespoons honey


• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Instructions

Start with a mustard you enjoy. I like this best with something grainy. Put a tablespoon and a half in a jar.  Add as much honey.  Add a bit less vinegar.  Shake.  Eat.

Details

• Prep time: 2 mins


• Yield: 3 servings

This is what I'm thinking about today, in no particular order:

1.  Crocuses!

Yet another flower that blooms before most others.  I'm going to try to plant some crocus bulbs and see what happens - you're supposed to plant bulbs in the fall.  But last year I planted some in January and most of them grew beautifully and added some nice spring color.  I often forget about crocuses (I have some sort of idea in my head that I used to hate them as a child but I can't for the life of me figure out why) but now I think they are pretty and are much more than just Easter flowers.  And they're where saffron comes from!  So I think if you grew enough crocuses you could harvest their stigmas (three per flower according to wikipedia) and dry them and have saffron!  But please no one do that without checking a few other sources since there could definitely be important details that I've missed and I don't want anyone poisoning themselves by eating crocuses.

2.  Moving on!  I don't often pick up Grid but I actually think it's not a bad magazine and it's definitely good for keeping abreast of environmental/gardening goings on.  And here's what I saw today:  a workshop this weekend on gardening on your roof!  I've always been curious about gardening on roofs - we have a flat section of roof that would be great for a garden.  Unfortunately, the roof is leaky and since I do not own my house I'm reluctant to do something that could cause the whole roof to fall in, but it's definitely an idea I've stored away for the future.  As the above link points out, green roofs are really good for lots of things, from rain runoff to temperature control for both your house and the surrounding area.  Win win!  I'm not going to this but I'd thought I'd share in case anyone is interested.  Do let me know if you go!

3.  Lastly, I'm having a bit of trouble and am wondering if anyone could help.  That reads like I'm about to say something very personal and slightly embarrassing, but actually this is about my CSA.  Ha!  I signed up for the Greensgrow winter CSA which started back in December.  I really like it!  I went in on a Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA share (with three other people) when I lived in West Philly about five years ago but even though I was only getting a quarter of a share each week I still struggled to eat all those veggies.  But it was also awesome because it forced me to eat weird vegetables that I wouldn't have tried on my own and definitely made me eat healthier.  The Greensgrow CSA is every two weeks and comes with milk in a returnable glass bottle (YES), a different cheese every time and a choice of dairy (Pequea Farms yogurt, which is easily the most delicious yogurt I've ever tasted, a dozen eggs, butter or tofu.)  I've tried to eat everything each time but I'm failing.  Last Saturday we got acorn squash, onions, carrots, kale, beets and more that I can't think of right now.  We roasted the squash and sauteed the kale with garlic and onions and ate some carrots with hummus and have yet to do anything with the beets and the rest of it.  When I looked at the languishing veggies this morning, the carrots were shriveled into little orange witch fingers (you know what I mean?)  I'm doing this with my boyfriend so it's two of us eating and it's still hard.  Does anyone have any tips?  I seem to end up getting home from work starving and staring at some root vegetables that I'd have to roast for an hour and end up eating something like tortilla chips instead.  We're going to try planning some meals (something we both loathe but maybe this will be some sort of good lesson or something) and also picking up things like bread and meat to make more complete meals.  I should note that Greensgrow has a meat option but with my previous CSA experience I assumed it would be pounds and pounds of meat and I don't even like meat that much.  Turns out its a very reasonable amount of meat...next time.  So...any tips?  Other than "be less lazy" cause I already know I have to do that.