Megan Scott has been both a cheese maker and a goat herder. Currently, she’s working with her husband, John Becker, on updates to the American classic cookbook ‘The Joy of Cooking’ and has recently overseen production of their new website. She lives, writes, and keeps chickens in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

Cooking phases

Change in our kitchens

By Megan Scott

April 19, 2013

We all go through phases — hedonistic and healthful, self-destructive and nurturing, persistent and momentary. We are taught from a young age, often by exasperated parents, that these phases aren’t serious.

“It’s just a phase” is a cliché in almost every household, underscoring their transience and thus their unimportance. The implication is that the phase itself is distracting us from who we really are, a sideshow of ourselves; further, that there is something inherently better about staying the same, and something inferior about changing.

But the reality is that we constantly go through phases. Some are extensions of others or perhaps something traumatic occurs, leading to a dramatically different and new phase. Going through a phase isn’t just peripheral — it is a state of being, and no less important for being in a constant state of flux.

Continue reading Cooking phases »

Can you cook a food you dislike?

Squeamishness aside

By Joan Menefee

April 4, 2013

This seems like an appropriate time of year to share the fact that I grew up disliking eggs.

I was not born disliking eggs, mind you. I can recall tucking into soft-boiled eggs with an ardor and noisiness that would embarrass me now.

At some point, though, I revolted against the albumen, or what we call “whites,” and decided that the yolk (why don’t we call it “yellow”?) was guilty by association. It was no help to learn sometime in grade school that an egg was an animal that didn’t quite make it onto its legs, the albumen being the food meant to nourish the fetus or yolk.

Continue reading Can you cook a food you dislike? »

Megan Scott has been both a cheese maker and a goat herder. Currently, she’s working with her husband, John Becker, on updates to the American classic cookbook ‘The Joy of Cooking’ and has recently overseen production of their new website. She lives, writes, and keeps chickens in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

Food ways

Getting eating right

By Megan Scott

March 13, 2013

When I tell people that I grew up in a household where we ate dinner as a family almost every weeknight, I get their attention.

When I tell them that my mother worked full time and that I have two sisters, they are surprised.

When I add that not only did she prepare dinner for us after a long day of work, but she also made us breakfast many days of the week, they are incredulous.

But the facts remain: my mother, a working middle-class mother of three girls, kept us around the family table. We didn’t always like it, and the conversation was not always stimulating, but we ate together almost every night, and regardless of what phases we were going through, we all ate the same thing.

Continue reading Food ways »

Based in Portland, Oregon, Harriet Fasenfest gardens, cooks, writes, teaches, and speaks on the issues of food security and justice. Her book, A Householder's Guide to the Universe, was published in fall 2010. She is currently working on a new book and curriculum guide for teaching householding and householding economics.

Householding CSA update

A recap

By Harriet Fasenfest

March 7, 2013

There are times when a person must go for cover, when life presents obstacles the rational mind cannot digest. At those times, it is best to go all limp and wait for the clouds to clear. Fighting windmills will do no good.

Which is my way of saying forgive my absence, and please welcome the return, for the sun has returned — and just in time for my 2013 Householding CSA order.

But let me not get ahead of myself. First, a recap of 2012.

As you may recall, back in January 2012, my good friends at Dancing Roots Farm and I worked out the terms for a Householding CSA. The objective was to create shares that would allow for big-vat food preservation and storage.

Continue reading Householding CSA update »

Caroline Cummins is Culinate’s managing editor. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and cat in Portland, Oregon.

The field test

Life in the new kitchen

By Caroline Cummins

March 6, 2013

We’ve been living with our new kitchen for nearly two months now. Here’s what what works well, what doesn’t, and what surprised us.

Continue reading The field test »

Joan Menefee has never been a picky eater. She and her husband live in Menomonie, Wisconsin, where they tend gardens in two counties and eat plums and grapes in public parks.

Cooking and connecting

Food happenings, real and imagined

By Joan Menefee

February 28, 2013

For several years now, my friends have organized a bike race, The Saint Valentine’s Day Hustle, on the lake that forms the center of our town. Though I don’t race myself, over time I have learned that the Hustle is an icy, gorgeous romp.

Riders negotiate a series of cycling challenges in order to get their cards stamped. From one year to the next, riders don’t know if they’re going to get wieners thrown at them or have to tie a maraschino cherry stem with their tongues. At race’s end, they leave the lake with frozen sweat clinging to their eyelashes.

Continue reading Cooking and connecting »

Caroline Cummins is Culinate’s managing editor. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and cat in Portland, Oregon.

Choices, choices

How to select kitchen finishes

By Caroline Cummins

February 20, 2013

When we decided to rip out our old kitchen and replace it with an entirely new one, my husband and I knew that we’d be spending a lot of money. But we wanted that money to make sense.

So here’s a list: the major components of a kitchen (referred to in industry jargon as “finishes”), with the choices we made for each one and why.

We prioritized durability and ease of use, which made some selections pricier (appliances, countertops, faucet) and others less so (flooring, tile, sink). Overall, though, this was a middle-of-the-road kitchen — not budget, not luxe.

Continue reading Choices, choices »

Megan Scott has been both a cheese maker and a goat herder. Currently, she’s working with her husband, John Becker, on updates to the American classic cookbook ‘The Joy of Cooking’ and has recently overseen production of their new website. She lives, writes, and keeps chickens in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

Citrus celebration

The fruits of winter

By Megan Scott

February 13, 2013

Citrus is a consolation prize for those of us who make our lives in temperate climes. Of course, all plants have their fruiting season, and there is perhaps very little romance about the whys and wherefores of plant reproduction. But to me, it always seemed merciful that citrus season should fall in the middle of winter, sending its tart-sweet orbs of condensed sunlight into my kitchen.

We buy lemons year-round. Lemon juice is nearly as instrumental as salt and pepper to our cooking, balancing and calibrating dishes that would otherwise taste flat at best, insipid at worst. A juicy lemon can be the bridge from middling to electric, sparkling on the taste buds before cleanly giving way to more subtle flavors.

Continue reading Citrus celebration »

Caroline Cummins is Culinate’s managing editor. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and cat in Portland, Oregon.

Choosing a contractor

Shop around

By Caroline Cummins

February 12, 2013

As I’ve mentioned before, my husband and I took several months to decide whether we really wanted to remodel our kitchen. During that time, we interviewed several different contractors — a very instructive experience.

Sure, you can flip through magazines for design ideas (and we did plenty of that), but honestly, having a variety of actual experts troop through your house is the best way to figure out what’s possible.

Or not, as the case may be. The first contractor we called came and checked out our little kitchen, promised to get us a bid, and then never got back to us, even after a few follow-up calls and emails. The second sent us a pro-forma bid in the mail that seemed like it had been put together for a different client entirely. And the third basically told us that we would have no say in the process whatsoever; the design was up to the designer, not the client.

Continue reading Choosing a contractor »

Caroline Lewis is a Portland, Oregon, urban gardener whose company, Verdura Culinary Gardens, is dedicated to helping gardeners be more successful at raising their own organic vegetables. A licensed landscape contractor, Verdura installs raised bed gardens including trellises and drip irrigation systems, creates custom year-round planting plans, and offers vegetable garden coaching and maintenance programs. Caroline welcomes your comments and can be reached at caroline [at] verduragardens.com.

Prepping the garden

Wintertime tasks

By Caroline Lewis

February 6, 2013

If you are (or aspire to be) a vegetable gardener, you have likely heard about raised-bed gardening. Its benefits are many:

Continue reading Prepping the garden »