Personal

by gansie

Eating Jonathan Safran Foer

I haven’t read the book yet. I’m actually scared to.

I emailed with my friend Tim yesterday and I told him about my latest purchase and what I did on Tuesday night. Liza (of ES) and I saw Jonathan Safran Foer speak about his new book, Eating Animals. As I wrote to Tim, I’m afraid that after I read it my pending vegetarianism will be cemented. Or I will only eat properly raised animals. Ugh. I just don’t know.

I’ve been on a mostly vegetable diet for the past year and a half. There are a ton of reasons for the slow conversion, but reading Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, his New York Times Magazine pieces) has been undeniably influential. And of course my ritualistic dedication of eating what the farmers are selling at my local market has enthusiastically showed me how to eat produce with the seasons.

Andrew Sullivan, of Subway fame, introduced Foer at the 6th and I Historic Synagogue in DC. I had no idea that the already segmented gay Republican is also a vegetarian. He started with a story of his own book tour in Scotland. He’d been hammered with questions regarding his sexual orientation and was then innocently asked, “Do you eat meat?” With laughter from the audience, Sullivan joked with us that there were several possible answers to that question. He replied, however, that “No, never. It’s the only thing I can truly justify.”

And then Foer came on and pisted me off.

by BS

Pardon Our Turkey Dust

Hey ES-ers! Your favorite food blog will be trying on some new looks this Thanksgiving weekend, so please don’t freak out if things start to look a little different around these parts. ES will be back to normal (but looking slightly more fabulous) next week, and ready to hear all about your face-stuffing weekend adventures.

If you’re still looking for T-day inspiration, check out A Procrastinator’s Thanksgiving (bad chefs!) or listen to our turkey cooking ideas on the ES podcast (now available on iTunes!)

(Photo: ~sage~)

by Russell Warnick

ES Local: Dining in DC’s (Not So) Gaybourhood

Every city has one — a gay neighbourhood ( fine — neighborhood to you yanks). L.A. has W. Hollywood, Chicago has Boystown and San Francisco has the Castro. Here in DC we have Logan and Dupont Circle. They’re the center of gay life, business and pride.

But the recent uprising of restaurants on 14th St here in DC has some of my friends and I thinking about how the current transformation is changing the neighbourhood, from a GLBT dining perspective. Over the last few weeks we have seen the opening of Masa 14, Birch & Barley and ChurchKey along with the upcoming developments of Diamond District Seafood Co., Estadio Restaurant and Cork and Fork. None of these restaurants appear to be GLBT owned or run establishments, which is strange due to the predominantly gay neighbourhood in which they reside.

Unlike Playbill Cafe, I am not suggesting that any of the existing restaurants such as Cafe St. Ex, Rice or even Bar Pilar were ever exclusively gay-centric, but walk into any of these on any given night (along with Commissary, Logan Tavern or Posto) and you will find a predominantly GLBT presence; they are simply considered part of the “gaybourhood.”

in Personal / Rants & Raves / Trends 7 comments

by Lyndsey

The Turkey Torch Has Been Passed

My mother, growing increasingly vegetarian, and increasingly averse to preparing animals of any kind, made it clear to us that last year would be the final Thanksgiving where she would make the turkey.

My brother and his girlfriend, being vegetarians themselves, could not take over the reins of the turkey-makers in the family, and so the duty now falls to my husband and me. In preparation, I have begun compiling and reading all of the turkey recipes I can get my hands on. I am amazed at the wide variety of recipes I am finding. How can it be that there are so many turkey recipes out there?

in Fowl / Holiday / Personal 7 comments

by gansie

10 Things I Learned From One Day as an Assistant Manager of Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market

Sitting on my couch, drinking a stout with my friend Gee and watching the Phils losing game, I saw an email come in from the director of the Mt. Pleasant Farmers’ Market. Rebbie’s usual assistant couldn’t make it and she asked if I would be interested in helping her out on Saturday. I replied immediately with a YES.

Those of you living in The DMV will know about the relentless rain in the past few days. But as I emailed a few neighborhood friends to visit me, I wrote that never was I so excited to be out in the rainy cold for five hours on a weekend morning.

I mostly stood by a table that said “market manager” and when I was asked questions I would have to hope that the actual manager would be close by. I also took charge of the credit card machine: shoppers can swipe their debit cards and receive tokens in exchange. So besides learning how to work that gadget, I picked up a few other things from being on the other side of the market.

10 Things I Learned From One Day as an Assistant Manager of Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market

1. Access. Farmers markets, of course, provide sustainably grown produce and artisanally crafted breads and cheeses to the community. But who is that community? Markets are finding ways to accept government food assistant programs to make sure that everyone can enjoy thoughtfully grown fruits and vegetables. I learned that one kind of program only allows for purchases of fruits and vegetables and not breads, cheeses or flowers. I agree with Belmont, who worked for a vendor this market season, on this one: “never underestimate a well placed bunch of flowers to lift the spirits.”

2. Gold Lamé Tights. Many shoppers remember to bring cash so in the large gaps of time between the debit card-token exchange, Rebbie, Patrick (see #3) and I dished about market fashions. Yes, someone pulled it together to wear gold lamé tights before noon.

3. Bike Repair. Farmers markets offer more than just food. Mt.P holds a free bike clinic and showcases local musicians. In the most crappy of weather that was Saturday not many people brought by their bikes, which left more time to chat about food and the point of slouchy boots.

4. Honeycrisps. This type of apple is so trendy right now. I don’t usually favor one brand over another, but 80P started requesting this one by name. While waiting for the bathroom key (see # 5) I asked the orchardist why honeycrips were so popular. Apparently there cell structure is different than most apples and they have 4 times the amount of pectin. If I understood this correctly, pectin makes the apple crunchy. Therefore honeycrisps are hella crunchy. Don’t even think about baking with them.

5. Bathroom Key. The bathroom key is the hottest item at the market.

in Lists / Personal / Trends 7 comments

by BS

ES Takes Over the Web, Episode 16,249

[photo redacted]

gansie: i HATE the picture

HATE

HATE

HATE

BS: OMG

it’s great!

gansie: UGH

BS: really?

you look hot

gansie: my eyes are squinty

but whatever

it’s fine.

it could be worse.

…

That’s just a taste of the many, many, many anxious gchat messages exchanged this week in anticipation of gansie’s Washingtonian magazine photo shoot (!!) Don’t miss the accompanying article, in which our DC bureau chief dishes out some advice about recipes, farmers markets, cookbooks and more. OK fine, she mostly talks about eggs. Obviously.

The Blogger Beat: Endless Simmer [Washingtonian]

in Personal 17 comments