communal table

notes from Uganda

2011-10-08T20:52:00.021-04:00

Diesel trucks carrying men and goods
rumble down the rutted road that runs north/south

through Gulu and then to Southern Sudan.
Shocks are worn, the road is narrow, the traffic is alarming.
Listing overcrowded busses hurtle at terrifying speed in both directions.

Motor bikes weave, bicycles balance,
children hauling jerry cans of water trail goats on strings.
Pigs wallow in puddles in ditches on the side of the road,

pigs, and Malaria carrying mosquitoes.
Traversing short distances takes all day.

Red dust settles on everything.

Along this road clusters of thatched huts
house extended families. No running water, no electricity.
Along the road hawkers sell coal and cabbages.
Now and again there are Primary Schools, NGO’s, Churches,
cell phone towers and Government boreholes.
Now and again we pass trading centers,
leftover shops from the camps tha

t housed thousands
during the war that just barely ended.
Turn off this road past Atiak to find Earth Birth, a maternity center founded towards the end of the war by Rachel, daughter of a guitar playing Oregon Rabbi, and Olivia, a Jersey girl with bright red hair who practices Native American Shamanism.

Let me tell you,
pregnant women walking as fast as they can looking for help,
die giving birth along this road or if they get there,

they bleed to death or die from infection in ill equipped hospitals.

Babies die faster.

The war is over, but still, girls who were sex slaves of soldiers,

or concubines to Warlords die with the children they bare.
Happily married women too,

delivering five, six kids before age twenty five,
walk this same road, and many of them die too.
I have come here to Northern Uganda to celebrate the work my friends are doing,

and to help prepare food

as they host a weeklong International Midwifery Symposium themed on Birth and War.

The place is a construction site. The new compost toilet replacing the wretched hole in the ground does not yet have its door. The mud hut I sleep in is still wet.

But the clinic’s birthing rooms are in constant use and the kitchen’s up and running.

It is Nighty’s kitchen. She cooks for the staff and day-workers
and the women who labor in the clinic.
Girls from the neighboring orphanage who study English
and Tailoring and Catering in school have come to help us cook.
We are feeding 50 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA’s) from neighboring villages

and 20 student midwives from around the world.

We wake to cock’s crow starting breakfast at first light.
There is good Ugandan coffee, packets of milk that requires no refrigeration,
black tea and honey.
Nighty teaches me to make the morning chapattis; fried flatbreads.
She shows me how to make the dough by handfuls and texture,
and to roll the dough with an oiled beer bottle.
I worry about serving deep fried food but realize not one person I’ve seen is overweight. Calories here mean something different than at home.

The whisk I brought is great for scrambling eggs,

which cook up white because of the chicken’

s anemic diet.

Chapatti and eggs one day, and Mandazi,
a vanilla scented doughnut served with mango jam the next.

I have brought Nighty three cookbooks:
a children’s book full of illustrations,
and two books about African American cooking.
The recipes use similar ingredients to what’s found here
and are written with simple words.
In between breakfast and lunch we sit together and read.
Nighty is delighted. These books comprise her entire library.
Centuries ago there was the Columbian Exchange
and things have kept shifting ever since:
American corn replaced millet and sorghum
and our peanuts, peppers and tomatoes became staples.
In exchange, we got rice, collards and slaves.

Today I learned to pick white pebbles from broken rice piled on a white cloth sac,
also to winnow old beans from a heap.
The women laugh with good nature because I am so slow.

Chickens underfoot squabble mercilessly, then pick the gleanings.

The girls from St. Monica’s feed smoky fires, tend pots of beans,

recline on papyrus mats talking

and laughing, waiting for maize porridge to boil.

They carry water from the well,
and bend over buckets washing dishes on the ground.
The green scrubby I brought to wash vegetables
turns out perfect to strain passion fruit pulp for lunchtime juice.

Nighty walks up to the kitchen with a flat stone I cannot lift balanced on her head.

Her son Stuart is strapped to her back.

We pound dry roasted groundnuts and sim sim in a heavy mortar with a heavier pestle,

then kneel in the doorway to grind the nuts to paste on the stone.
This is blended with slow cooked greens and eaten with boiled yams.

Along with rice and beans and greens,

I make frittatas and pasta and salads to keep the visitors happy.

There is no oven, only wood fire and a rickety two-burner run off propane tanks.
On Olivia’s daughter Zora’s first birthday I make pudding instead of cake.
We light candles and top the pudding with flowers from the garden.

There is no fridge, no sink, no place for garbage.

We compost, feed chickens and stray dogs and burn the rest.
I bask in privilege not hauling water and work hard to train myself to wash up less.
The visiting midwives eat at plastic tables under colorful umbrellas,
using forks and spoons. They speak of breech babies and placenta praevia,
and if they are lucky and the suns position lets them get online,

check emails from home.
I sit by the serving platters waving away flies and chickens,
and toddlers with dirty hands.
The TBA’s line up for bowls of maize flour porridge and beans cooked by the girls,
which they carry down towards the clinic
where sit on mats and eat with their hands.
Music wafts our way from where they eat.

Today we decide on meat.
Zora’s baby-daddy visiting from Kampala for her birthday
chases down El Jefe, the mean white cock.
In the service of humane slaughter I offer use of my prized Japanese knife.
The knife’s blade is not suited to cut through bone,
but using it rather than the kitchen’s dull knives seems a blessing.
Everyone laughs because I’ve never killed a chicken before
and because I’ll snap pictures but will not cut the chicken’s throat.
Killing the chicken chips the knife.
I decide I’ll leave it for Nighty.

A soak in boiled water makes it easier to pluck the birds.
The washtub stinks of blood. Wet feathers stick to my hands.
We sit on the floor eviscerating birds with a broken knife,
separating ours and theirs; breasts and thighs vs. head, feet, wingtips, and offal.
I flavor our broth with bay leaves and thyme brought from Brooklyn.
and Nighty uses Royco; a bullion she favors to season everything.
The pots simmer for hours. The broths are delicious. The meat is tough.
At dusk scattered chickens cluster near the warmth of the cooking fires
until Dante the new top cock calls them to roost.

2011-06-17T22:35:00.008-04:00

Coming off an intense week of cater work: two different conferences whose organizers wanted a healthy, thoughtful alternative to corporate fare. Both menus included vegetarian, vegan and "sustainably humanely raised" meat alternatives. We used minimal fat, whole grains, limited sugar and wrapped every tasty hearty thing in recyclable or compostable materials (not that we were able to arrange for garbage/compost pick-ups.) It was a positive statement for the conference organizers who wanted to include "practice" with their theory- and it was good solid work for Deena and I, albeit exhausting; 480 hand-made meals over five days. We've had other cater work of late- a Japanese inspired vegetarian menu for the NY Zen Centers' Contemplative Care fundraiser- and a Liverpudlian menu of Lobscouse preceding a lecture on "Strawberry Fields Forever." Nice work when we can get it. I love cooking menus that offers eaters thinking along side their chow.

However, Communal Table Salon Suppers and What's Cooking Club seem to be at a standstill. Bummer! We tried hooking up with 61Local and the Chautauqua series... but sadly haven't been able to raise a crowd, so we're rethinking. This is the hardest stumbling block- raising the crowd. If only if only if only all it took were a fb note or tweet- but no! It's the hands-on networking away from the stove... the part I'm least adept at.

Our last salon, Sing for your Supper was a wonderful blend of singer/songwriters singing in celebration of spring and delicious small plates that reflected each voice. Lyricist Sarah Safford, singer/songwriters Sara Bouchard, Las Tres Leches (Jessie White, Havalah Collins and Renee Skuba,) jazz artist Debbie Deane, and opera singers Nathan Baer, Aley Kent and Alie Shaper generously shared unique renditions and fantastic original work. So much talent in one little room- and still we didn't fill the house. Seems no one’s good at reeling in the paying customers.

I blogged about Sing for your Supper before with detailed descriptions about the songs and food, but the post got lost in cyberspace and I can’t get myself to recreate it. What stands out now, weeks later, was how different the evening was from most Communal Table affairs because it was divided into audience, and entertainers (the singers and the plates) rather than the usual gathering of “participants.”

Communal Table events are ‘food’ productions that aim to be thought provoking, invite participation and encourage storytelling as a part of every meal. Mostly we’re coming from a catering head- and have interest and investment in food politics, sustainability, and for Deena, vegetarianism. But both of us came to food by way of art- so there’s a underlying shuffling of aesthetics and cultural content that moulds what we put on the table; an undertone of art. Perhaps differentiating between food and art isn’t terribly important- but the focus and slant of any endeavor affects the relationship with the viewer/audience/participant/consumer.

Each year I get it together to write one art 'grant' application that proposes to bring cooking and eating into an artists’ studio (not that I’ve ever get the grant) There’s precedence of this- artists Corwin Hewitt http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/arts/design/03chan.html and Rirkrit Tiravanija http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rirkrit_Tiravanija for example. With their work as inspiration I dream of an evolving menu that marks time, place, mood, history- that plays with the senses, the beauty of the still-life, and the commensality of breaking bread. I’d like to create a space that nurtures dialogue… in the way domestic kitchens nurture family, except recontextualized because of the frame around the experience asks for critical consciousness. The viewer engages and therefore changes the event- but the room, kitchen, food, etc. also stands on it's own; a 3-d real-time tableau.

I’ve harbored hope Communal Table salons would move in a direction that could realize this ideal, but our events fall short on the art-side and settle more as didactic tasty workshop kinds of things. It is a wholly different relationship we create with our participants... a pop-activism rather than a cultural re/framing. Perhaps this is because of compromises Deena and I make working together- our visions complimentary but not necessarily shared, or because we attempt to make money from the salons and try to make them pop/topical/accessible, or simply because didacticism is simpler to pull off than the leap to art.

Earlier this year I shopped a proposal to teach art students… and came close (but no cigar: not enough enrollment) to getting Parson’s to hire me to teach a studio art class that combined hands-on cooking and eating, with performance, installation and some art history/theory thrown in. A timely ephemeral hybrid but hard to sell. Here it is again; a good idea missing paying customers.

Or maybe its me missing some essential point, or off on a twisted, dated tangent.

Recently, the Experimental Cuisine Collective hosted a day long symposia looking at the foundations of Modernist cuisine. This branch of cooking blends technology and an understanding of the physics and chemistry of taste with food, sometimes offering never before imagined flavors and textures. Though most practitioners pooh-pooh discussion of art vs. craft, and often refuse discussion about cultural context, they work in a highly aestheticized manner... the food is gorgeous. Mostly these White-Male-Scientist-Cook-Geeks are unconcerned (and unapologetic) about accusations of elitism. The way they see it (I think) is that technology should be exploited. Theirs is the avant garde.

The BK Swappers, a wildly successful DIY food-swap meet-up will be at Smorgasbord, the wildly successful artisanal food/flea market in Williamsburg on June 25th. People scramble for tickets to these usually sold out events- and at the market stand in long lines waiting to taste home-cured, pickled, fermented, authentic, homemade, old-school delights. Every entrepreneur has a heartwarming story, but I don't know- it's business albeit alternative albeit it's business, business, business.

What I'm trying to wrap my thoughts around are how food events draw crowds, and if food events are art events, and if they are- how the relationship with the audience is conceptualized. Where is the nurture in these events? What inspires? What's funny? What does the audience take away? What sticks when the food is gone?

Sofrito from the Fesival of Ideas

2011-05-09T13:12:00.006-04:00

Here is my Sofrito recipe as promised to the many wonderful passersby at the Festival of Ideas http://www.festivalofideasnyc.com/ where Communal Table joined with FarmCity.us Chautauqua artists for a day long festival exploring food and storytelling.

http://www.farmcityforum.org/design/upcoming/chautauqua/

CT invited folks to "taste the neighborhood" by dipping bread in "flavor bases" that typified the foodways of various cultures that have historically co-existed in the Lower East Side. We had a delicious slow-cooked oniony "schmaltz," albeit a vegetarian version, to represent Eastern European Jews, a spicy Chinese chili oil, and a pan-latino Sofrito. (As a side note- there was great debate all day with Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Spaniards, etc. as to whom originated this flavorful combo of sweet peppers, onions and herbs.) We asked tasters to "listen" as the flavors in their mouth told their brain a story about history and culture, and to be aware how each taste told a different story. Then we invited guests to tell their story by writing a recipe (or simply food notes) that typified their own cultural "flavor," even if that flavor was hybridized or adopted or only imagined. We collected wonderful recipes and stories. My favorite was from a young girl who explained her mother is Korean and he father Norwegian- and so her diet is forever split between rice and potatoes. What a delicious way to grow up understanding difference.

I was proud to be complimented on the Sofrito as it is not fundamental to my heritage- though I've eaten my share as a lover of comidas Criollas (in fact both my sons first taste of solid food was mashed yellow rice with black bean gravy from the Dominican place I got my morning coffee from.) To find a sofrito recipe I flit about on-line and leafed through cookbooks before making a hybrid version that included tomato (not traditional for Puerto Ricans but common in the D.R.) pimento stuffed manzanilla olives, capers, green, red and jalepeno peppers, garlic, cilantro, parsley, dried oregano, salt and pepper. I blended these to a smoothish puree, then sauteed the mix in annatto oil (veg. oil colored orange by warming it with achiote/annatto seeds.) Other times I've made sofrito I jarred the puree raw and kept it in the fridge for a week or two- adding a spoonful to start a batch of rice, or beans, or a chicken, but for the Festival of Ideas I cooked the sofrito because it was being tasted as a dip for bread rather than as a seasoning. It's hard give accurate proportions- for the street fair I made a gallon of the stuff in several batches- each one slightly different. Per batch I used a large spanish onion- (approx. 1 1/2 c. minced) 2 or 3 large green peppers, 1 or 2 small red peppers (all the peppers seeded!) 2-3 plum tomatoes, 4-5-6+ cloves of garlic, 2 seeded jalepeno peppers and approx. 1/2 c. olives and a T. of capers. Also a big big handful of cilantro and a couple of sprigs of parsley (stems and all) and salt and pepper. All this mixed in the Cuisinart.

The Chinese-style oil is a combo of peanut and toasted sesame oils and red pepper flakes.

Deena's delicious vegetarian onion "schmaltz" was made coarsely chopping onions and slow roasting them covered in oil until the onions begin to brown. This takes several hours, resulting in a perfumed house and the schmaltz makes a perfect base for sautéing vegetables or flavoring potatoes, etc. Brings to mind a wonderful old Yiddish tale...

A young woman just learning to cook asks her Bubba, "what shall I make for breakfast?" and the Bubba answers "Shana'la, fry an onion in some schmaltz then scramble in an egg."

"And Bubba, for lunch?"

"Madela, men nempt a tsibaleh (take an onion), then brown a chicken liver, a little salt, some pepper, a crust of bread."

"And supper?"

"Fry the onion, then the chicken. Some pickles on the side."

"And Bubba, dessert?"

"Oy mamala, fry the onion..."

"Bubba! An onion for dessert?"

"Of course, always the onion so your house should smell good, then maybe a bissel of cake."

Sing For Your Supper

2011-04-16T21:28:00.000-04:00

Buy Tickets HERE

Communal Table's What's Cooking Club BentoFun

2011-04-05T15:40:00.001-04:00

This Sunday April 10 4-7PM in SoHo NYC

Lunch becomes a composition and a thing of beauty in the Japanese Bento Box. Have some fun with Japanese CharaBen (character bento) and geek out making rice ball bunnies and sushi frogs. Or eschew silly fun and go all elegant with traditional Japanese arrangements. Either way it's a great way to make a meal.
We'll supply the ingredients and the tools, you bring your imagination- and maybe some wine or other drinks not usually associated with box lunches.

25.00 per person
RSVP required
BUY TICKETS HERE!

want to know more about this whole Bento phenomenon?
check out the links:
kawaii bento

gacha gacha bento
elegant bento

bento 4 Japan auction

Oh, boy, ticket prices reduced to $20

2011-03-27T14:52:00.000-04:00

Covered Dish: A Potluck of Ideas is this Wednesday, March 30
6:30PM @ 61 Local Public House in Brooklyn
Tickets have been reduced to $20.00 so get one and come on by!
BUY TICKETS HERE

Believe me, it's a terrific deal- the food will be great, you'll be in excellent company and the beer and wine is fab. 61 Local is really beautiful- if you haven't been there yet, it's worth checking out.
Come talk, listen and eat. Everyone has a potluck, church supper, school picnic, family reunion story..... what's yours?

Covered Dish: A Potluck of Ideas

2011-03-17T11:47:00.001-04:00

BUY TICKETS HERE

Pie²+∞♀(and 1 ♂)= ☺+many Kcal's

2011-03-16T20:41:00.007-04:00

am still nibbling pie three days later- herbed spinach with olive oil crust, lemon meringue, and then there were the slices distributed round the neighborhood to pay off or conversely, create debt: two kinds of chocolate, arborio pudding glazed w. apricot jam, yeasted Wisconsin/Belgium-style prune, and pizza dough "rustica" with cheeses, sausage and ham. And that's only to name a few. The real celebration is a bunch of folk- some having never met, coming to "our Communal Table" to bake pie, together. Welcome to What's Cooking? club.

the What's Cooking column

2011-03-02T20:58:00.010-05:00

Probably the coolest thing I made since the last "What's Cooking" post was apple fruit-leather: un-sweetened apricot applesauce spent 20+ hrs. atop microwave safe plastic-wrap (so it could be easily peeled-off) on a sheetpan, dehydrating in my oven. Turned out really delicious- a bright sweet concentrated flavor... toothsomely chewy- and it would've taken shorter if my oven had better controls... (it's supposed to take 8hrs. @ 140∘ but mine kept shutting off.) This would be a good thing to put in (a better oven than mine) before bed... and then viola! the perfect snack sometime mid-day or next day or whenever- as this is a preservation technique from days-of-yore and the stuff stores well w/o refrigeration.

I brought it to this month's PST (the salon I cook for where different people present a talk each month and the meal relates to the talk.) This month featured Lincoln Bickford, a PhD, MD whose talk (in part) was about his journey across the world seeking healing, and spiritual healing techniques that enhance Western medical practice. Lincoln suggested I look to Taoist or Ayerverdic recipes for inspiration- and I did make Kitchari, a spiced basmati and mung bean "pilaf" recommended for easy digestion, paired with organic chicken broth & matzoh balls (from my own ethnic healing traditions) with a scoop of alphabet noodles to represent the healing power of words. This was served with iron rich sauteed greens, high in antioxidant blueberries and dark chocolate (and the fruit leather.) It was an amusing contrast to last months meal that focused on the fortifying properties of "comfort" foods- that meal was a butter, egg and cheese feast while this months was lightness and simplicity, but both aimed to taste of nurture and well-being.

Another cool thing this week was to lend a hand to friend Mihir Desai, who was preparing a collaborative performance/meal with Natalie Jeremijenko at Postmaster Gallery, focusing on climate change and agriculture. The five course menu was laced with the tastes of smoke, ash and soil. I got to nibble as we sculpted, squirt and scattered ingredients into gorgeous array, but found a number of the tastes overly intense for my palate. Mihir's food is a festival of Modernist cuisine. An engagement with sensation that in ways places sense experience over deliciousness, but the attention to detail and aesthetics are phenomenal. One fantastic dish was a slice of ash coated goat cheese aside a button of pineapple, ginger and caper geleé, paired with a scallop that lay under a smoke filled glass, which when lifted allowed charred applewood and orange peel scent to waft to your nose. Mihir has this great smoke gun that looks like a hot-glue gun, and all sorts of foamers and dehydrators and digital water-bath thermometers.

I'm trying to explore the gap between Mihir's work and Communal Table's, not by way of judgement, but because I want to understand the vastness of food's possibility. Mihir's work, more than many of the chef's working with technologically based cuisine, is content driven, layered equally with theory and narrative- so I'm baffled by how strongly I feel it diverges with ours, though we too try our best to layer these things. There is something about the demand of focus on isolated sensation, something about the technological showmanship, something masculine vs. the feminine focus on commensality and nurturance Deena and I tend towards. Perhaps it's highbrow vs. low/pop, excitement vs. comfort, or perhaps this is hopelessly cliched and the binary hopelessly simplistic. While I was so happy to have been able to see, smell, touch and taste a bit, I admit I was pleased go home and eat a big bowl of pesto noodles and chicken parmesan with my son.

In contrast, this past week Communal Table cooked for the NES conference @CUNY which was also about climate change and agriculture. http://opencuny.org/nature/blog/ The food organizing committee was committed to "walking the walk;" offering a "sustainable" meal to conference participants. We sourced local (Bed Sty. chicken's egg salad sandwiches,) used organics (grain salad with watermelon radishes) and seasonal (homemade beet, carrot and onion pickles.) Offered vegetarian, with vegan and gluten free alternatives, and served everything on recycled or compostable "paper-goods" that were actually brought to a community garden in Queens for composting. There was soup too, and dessert and home steeped herbal iced tea-- The meal was colorful, healthful, tasty and full of love-- everyone was thrilled, yet it was far from sustainable! Why? Because there's no way to charge enough for Deena and I to earn anything even near minimum wage producing such a meal. Mihir's extravaganza served 20 in a fancy Chelsea gallery for a price I couldn't afford-- and his costs and equipment are underwritten by arts grants. Communal Table put out quality food for 125 guests@ under $10 a head, which stressed the Academic's coffer... it's hard making sense.

Pie-a-palooza

2011-02-28T08:22:00.005-05:00

Can't quite remember whether pi measures circumference or diameter or if it helps figure out relationships, but I am thinking about shepherd's pie, pizza pie, and my mom's instant graham cracker My-T-fine pudding pie, and oh yeah, Marcella Hazan's rice pudding pie glazed with apricot jam. Deena's talking about hot water crust meat pies a la the UK except in a vegetarian iteration, which may not sound sexy- but the savories and hand pies Deena's put out in the past, preceed her!

What pie's in your eye?

Never wrestled dough before? We'll teach ya!

Communal Table's What's Cooking club meets next Sunday afternoon 3/13 (as close to 3.14159265 as we could get.)

Remember- cooking club is conceived to be a real club- like: we're all equal participant members who want to cook things together we might not be so willing to attempt alone in our own kitchens! It's a chance to try an ambitious recipe, learn skills from each other, or taste something new. CTW'sC club has set the theme for the next two months- pie, and then 4/10: Bento Fun!, but after that it'll become a collective decision making process. We're thinking rather than Communal Table buying ingredients and charging you, dear reader/eater, we'll all contribute enough to share and nibble and take home a bit to share with family and friends, (ahh, so much for CT becoming a lucrative business-- why not at least create a fantastic community of cohorts!)

Though the theme for pie is set, the specifics of what we'll be cooking are not yet. Details'll come from back and forth emailing as we collectively set a menu and figure out ingredients, who buys what, etc. SOOOO, PLEASSSSE... email if you wanna come. Tell us your ideas, or come and contribute even if you haven't a clue... we'll put you to work!!!!!

hmmm... my techno-saviness is zilch... so email me directly rather than through any other obscure portal: amenyc@earthlink.net RSVP is required so we get enough ingredients, etc.

2011-02-16T14:21:00.000-05:00

Stone Soup

Story reading, crafts, and stirring the pot together....An event for adults and kids alike inspired by variations of the folktale -- Stone Soup. Participants encouraged to bring an ingredient, a favorite family recipe and a story to share. Design a personalized cover and sew the binding for your own 'cook book' of soup recipes. Folks will taste the veggie soup which they helped make as a group.

Sunday February 27 2011

4-6:30PM

61 Local

61 Bergen Street

Brooklyn, NY 11201

25.00 Adult ticket

one child admitted with each adult ticket additional child tickets 5.00 each

Ticket price covers food, chef supervision, storyteller, artist-led craft workshop and supplies. Each adult ticket entitles you to one child's admission free. Additional children's tickets will be $5.00 each. Tell us your child's school and we will donate a $1.00 of the ticket price to their school's PTA.

Communal Table: Stone Soup is part of "Chautauqua," a series of twenty plus unique food-themed Assemblies curated by Derek Denckla of FarmCity.US and hosted by 61 Local Public House in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, a new establishment dedicated to locally crafted food. Farm City Chautauqua aims to create community through food (and vice versa), assembling a series of innovative and diverse events and exhibitions harking back to historic cultural gatherings held in rural farming communities all over America. Launched in 2010, FarmCity.US is an action-research project exploring social, cultural and financial ways to invest in the growth of urban agriculture.

the What's Cooking column

2011-02-15T11:10:00.004-05:00

Communal Table is wanting to expand our voice in the blogosphere, as we are also working to expand our scope. We've begun taking the steps to incorporate, get insurance, Dept. of Health certifications, and 'official' (legal) kitchen space. Each leap requires a (monetary) commitment as well as thought and discussion about what Communal Table is, how our partnership works and what we want to work towards. I've blogged a bit about this- and will continue to because it's interesting- defining and developing a public voice.

The salon suppers stick to their themes- What's Cooking club is about collective cooking projects- but there're all sorts of other food and art related tangents Deena and I engage and would like to share and so increased blog presence will lend Communal Table backstory. We're both constantly cooking- and use bits of this and that to create meals to feed family, frequent guests and catering clients... and then there're lectures, workshops, markets, books-- our food immersed lives. Please too, we're eager to engage you- our reader/eater. Become a voice at our Communal Table rather than chimera consuming unread words!

In my kitchen this week: defrosted Dufour puff pastry dough I'd had too long... was thinking of vol-au-vents because book club is coming for supper (8 - 10 members) and vol-au-vents are mentioned in the book... but it turns out I'll be running around the day of the meeting and have to prepare in advance, so I'll make cheese sticks the night before as they require no last minute futzing. I made bacalao fritters with salt cod that had been languishing in the back of the fridge... guess book club will be tapas-like and I'll get a clean icebox outta the deal. Got some amazing liverwurst from Flying Pig farm (Union Sq. Greenmkt.) to serve w. home pickled turmeric onions and hardy rye, and a jar of Divine Brine beet caviar from the Food Shed farmer's mkt. on Atlantic Ave (great w. goat cheese.) Oh yes- gorgeous red and yellow cippolini onions to baste w. Balsamic, and baby fingerlings to roast and toss w. herbs. Marcona almonds, dried pears and homemade preserved Clementines in cardamon clove simple syrup over ice cream for dessert (tore the recipe from an old Martha Stewart mag I rescued from a dumpster in New Orleans.) Tonight's supper: wiener schnitzel, pan fried zucchini with dill, and egg noodles. The cutlets are from Lancaster Farm Fresh- an organic co-op. The label says "cruelty-free/grass-fed," so once you get past the slaughter of a baby animal... My mom used to make cutlets but I stopped eating veal in the 80's when there were international cruelty protests... then last week at the Park Slope Food Co-op: pink, lean, and my purchase would support an organic farmer's collective...

Food events: The Experimental Cuisine Collective (ECC) meets Wed. 2/16 free and open to whomever's lucy enough to get to an afternoon lecture! http://experimentalcuisine.com

This group from NYU brings science, food and the humanities together in really interesting ways- this time welcoming 'Ideas in Food', collaborators working with 'molecular gastronomy' techniques- hot water baths, pressure cookers, foam... http://www.ideasinfood.com

On my computer: I'm excited to be working on writing a curriculum for art students that uses food as an expressive medium-- am hoping upon hope I'll get an opportunity to teach such a class in the near future!

15th C, illuminated manuscript: Diners in tubs- talk about food as performance!

Also working on the Umami Food and art festival www.umamifestival2010.com fundraiser that's coming up at the Astor Ctr. end of March. We'll be showing an incredible new video by Terri Hanlon about the father of French cuisine, Antonin Carȇme, called "Meringue Diplomacy." I'm looking for folks who might like to make and display fanciful edible architectural wonders à la Carême! Please spread the word. There must be someone who wants to bask in the glory of spending hours creating awesome edible edifices for art and food loving patrons. The gala'll be really fun. Incredible hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, gift bags and sweets.

Still from Terri Hanlon's "Meringue Diplomacy "flying pink meringue and all!

The ASFS listserv http://www.food-culture.org has had a fascinating dialogue analyzing "foodie-ism." Looking at an intersection where food, like fashion, becomes "high culture," Elitism, desire, and status conjoined with necessity and hunger. It's an age old story still relevant- how do we bring eco-consciousness, and connoisseurship into concert with food justice?

Enough all ready except to say-- all of this is totally within Communal Table's scope.

What's cooking club

2011-02-14T16:38:00.008-05:00

Sunday came and went and we didn't have enough people who'd rsvp'd to 'cooking club' to hold a formal event... but I had already bought stuff for Mole and tamales so I packed up my shopping cart and dragged it to a friend's and we made Mole and tamales anyway. If I may say- the Mole was delicious- rich, complex, spicy! We used dried ancho and anaheim peppers fried in Flying Pig lard (from the farmer's market) then soaked, pureed and blended with toasted almonds, pumpkin and sesame seeds, toasted pepper seeds, spices, and bits of butter fried bread and corn tortillas. Add Mexican chocolate and homemade turkey broth and let it simmer for an hour... pretty much Diana Kennedy's recipe. The tamales on the other hand were kinda heavy. I'd blended corn flour (masa harina) with broth, lard, butter and salt- mixed it for a long time in my trusty kitchen-aid, hoping it would become airy/fluffy... but the masa was flavorless and sodden- and the fillings not exciting (roasted green poblanos w. queso fresco, or turkey with salsa verde.) They looked pretty (hmmm- no camera these days- gave it to my son who's spending the semester working at Our School at Blair Grocery down in NOLA http://schoolatblairgrocery.blogspot.com ... look at his pictures (with my camera) and think about donating to the place!) But, back to tamales: pretty and tasty are not synonymous.

What was missing from the evening was Deena and chocolate- but what was lovely was the relaxed pleasure of friends cooking together, accomplishing a complex recipe, expanding our oeuvre, being okay with it not being great. All of this has led to excellent discussion about what cooking club is or can be, and what makes it different than Communal Table salon suppers (but still part of Communal Table.)

CT salon suppers are carefully choreographed entertainments blending stories with a meal designed to enhance a theme that changes each time but reflects what Deena and I are thinking about. There is often a political bent. There is often hands-on practice. There is always invited 'speakers'. The meals are mostly all vegetarian, something Deena is adamant about and I am willing to accept most of the time. When we do these suppers we think ourselves producers. (In fact, we have some wonderful events coming up with FarmCity.US at Local 61, exploring the ways cooking creates community http://farmcity.us/chautauqua-events-61-local/ )

What we want from What's Cooking Club on the other hand is a chance to collaborate and stick our necks out and get our hands dirty trying new things. Rather than 'producing an event' we're looking for collective participation- including coming up with what to cook! At first, we modeled this on CT salons- where we post a theme, set a price, prep everything, do the shopping... but we realize we'd rather put out a call for fellow enthusiasts who'd like to spend a Sunday once a month tackling a complicated recipe or exploring foods in a new way. I'm hot to make pȃté. Deena wants to explore probiotics and raw foods. Together we're eager to play with Bento boxes and 'charaben'. What we'd love is feed-back from you, dear reader/eater. What would you like to make? Then we'll post it here or facebook and raise a crew and figure out where and who's bringing what and have a good ol' cooking time together.

And, please, come to our salon suppers too!

New Series: Communal Table Cooking Club

2011-02-02T18:49:00.000-05:00

Introducing a new series:

Communal Table Cooking Club

One Sunday afternoon a month we’re scheduling a few hours to just have fun, get messy and take on cooking projects you might otherwise not. We’ll sip wine or tea, tell stories and make enough to share tastes of what we’re cooking, and take some home for later.

Come to one, a series, or come to them all. Just make sure to reserve in advance as we’re limiting group size to make sure we all get our hands in. Family Friendly (and hmmm, might make a good date!)

Locations will be in Brooklyn and Manhattan for now, and in the warmer months we’ll offer Upstate workshops too, using local farm goods for seasonally apt projects! More dates to be announced soon and let us know if you’d be interested in hosting!

Cost per person: $35 includes materials and snacks. Please bring a bottle of wine, beer or your beverage of choice to share.

Holy Mole!

Sunday 2.13 2-4:30 PM

It’s scientifically proven chocolate is good for you, plus it’s almost Valentine’s Day… ‘nough said.

Together we’ll put a pot of vegetarian Mole up to stew then busy ourselves making chocolate peanut butter cups and hand rolled, decorated chocolates and truffles. Once the mole’s cooked we'll make tamales, a traditional accompaniment that goes along with it. We’ll taste some on the spot, and take some home along with assorted chocolates!

Mathematical Pie

Sunday 3.13 2-4:30 PM

(π = 3.14) Dough + Filling = Pie!

Lets crank up the oven and get baking.

Savory Pies, Hand Pies, Shepherd’s Pie, Sweety Pies! We’ll have recipe’s and mini-tins and pins on hand, and share our skills with dough… but please!!! bring your favorite recipes too. We’ll exchange ideas and tips and tastes and stories.

BentoFun

4.10 2-4:30 PM

A meal becomes a composition and a thing of beauty in the Japanese Bento Box. Have some fun with Japanese CharaBen (character bento) and geek out making rice ball bunnies and sushi frogs. Or eschew silly fun and go elegant with traditional Japanese arrangements. We’ll have ingredients and pattern books and various cutting tools on hand and you can follow the rules or be wild. Bring your cameras ‘cause what you make will not only look good, it’ll taste delicious and will quickly be consumed!

2011-01-20T16:19:00.006-05:00

Last week I went to a workshop in Hoboken to learn how to make this fancy sushi. The top picture is supposed to look like a rose and the squiggly yellow line that outlines the flower was made with a flat sheet of omelet (something Deena's really good at making (she has a special square shaped pan) and it happens, years ago, to be one of the first things she made that I tasted, which really impressed me and subsequently led to our working together.) The green frog faces were colored with some kinda seaweed powder and the pink... some kinda dried fishy substance. The eyes are cheese sticks. You make a log of this stuff and slice it to make individual pieces of sushi. It was fun fun fun learning the patterns for these "chara ben" but my delicate palate burned after too much MSG (the colorings were full of it.) The challenge for Communal Table will be how to make these cheerful taste treats w/o the chemically taste.

Bento is something we'll be exploring in our new Cooking Club (though not till April.) Our first cooking club event is chocolate for Valentine's Day. We'll be making Mole and tamales and peanut butter cups and truffles... and the next one after that will be a Pie Party! (Sunday 3/13... the next day is 3:14, the expression of the ratio between circumference and diameter... or something- ya know, pie!) The idea of cooking club is to make things you might not do yourself- but is fun with a bunch of friends... Deena and I'll get the ingredients and you bring wine... and then we sip and cook and tell stories and taste and make enough of whatever it is to take some home too.

Another thing were up to is working with Derek Denkla and FarmCity.US again-(last fall we did a pickle making, urban farmer event.) This time it's a series of events that explores ways food and cooking create community. It'll be at a bar called Local 61 http://farmcity.us/chautauqua-events-61-local/ All the events are cool- but the one I'm so excited about I can hardly wait is called Counter Culture... a riff off the MOMA show Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen (well worth a visit.. http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1062) We're gonna set up a whole bunch of kitchen gadget 'stations' and everyone'll move from gadget to gadget to make parts of our meal... mortar and pestle, toaster oven, blender... we even have a recipe for a microwaved cake-in-a-mug for dessert! It'll be a crazy dance and cacophonous concert turned delicious tasty chaos!

And another thing... we're working to figure out how Communal Table can go to street fairs and markets and do workshops in school, etc. Excited to develop the hands=on aspect of what we do, so we can bring our blend of stories and food to a wider variety of audience/participants. For this we need to navigate the Dept. of Health and food vendors licensing and make the rounds of rental kitchen space too- 'cause to sell food in public it has to have been made by properly sanctioned hands in a proper place. It's an interesting path to explore, though it kinda makes me want to run and hide or pull out the stops and just make wild edible art... commerce be damned! The flip side: getting to talk about food with all sorts of people- to make and take and share our brand of mindful thoughtful tastes... well- maybe it's worth it after all. Moving in this direction has got Deena and I talking- we're locking horns on the veg. vs. meat debate- and struggling to define our overriding philosophies of food making and feeding people and art. I tend towards complication and messes and D. towards streamlining and elegant simplicity... Can we make this work?

It's fascinating to become conscious of the philosophical, cultural, and social aspects of food practice. Cooking and eating is wonderfully rich when you peel down the layers- every aspect speaks of ethics and dreams.

2010-12-19T14:37:00.019-05:00

Quick, quick, (one month later...) I better get this blog up about the Fry Baby affair before it's forgotten, (like that BP affair :( this past summer....)

Culinary oil, essential oil and oil oil was the topic de jour... so much fun sliding between concerns about fossil fuels, carbon footprints and the health-giving/detracting qualities of different fats, and then getting to taste a variety of nut oils (Almond, Hazelnut, Sesame, Peanut and Walnut) and cocktails flavored with essential oils. Julianne Zaleta from Herbal Alchemy Apothecary http://www.herbalalchemy.net/ brought a set of essential oils (concentrated distillations made from herbs, barks, seeds, etc. One tiny drop will distinctly flavor several ounces of vodka!) Everyone mixed and matched a vodka concoction to their tastes to take home... (I made black pepper and blood orange.) Julianne also made a delicious cocktail: Fig infused vodka mixed with pear nectar and cardamon essential oil... We were off to a good start!

Our menu featured small plates from a bevy of crude producing nations: Homemade fresh-from-the-griddle Pita with Middle-Eastern Dukkah: a 'dip' of toasted seeds, nuts and spices... tear a piece of bread, dip in olive oil, then dip in the nut mixture. Venezuelan Areapas con Queso, Russian Borscht "shots," Gulf Coast Catfish Po' boys, Canadian cheeses (Canadian oil reserves if you include the 'sands' are 2nd in the world to Saudi Arabia! O how the US must envy our sisters to the North and South!) Alaskan Salmon Mousse and an assortment of Persian deserts. As folks were chowing, Sean Naughton from Bowery Lane Bicycles http://bowerylanebicycles.com and Jeff Prant from Transportation Alternatives http://www.transalt.org lead a brief albeit intense discussion about positive ways we can impact our local environment by using less fossil fuel (hmmm, what about those crazy new bike lanes?) And then... my favorite always: we skid into storytelling. Deena gave a great rendition of the seasonally appropriate Chanukah tale- accompanied by hot from the fry pan potato latkes served with dual dollops of apple sauce and sour cream. Rodney followed with a fantastic original Koan about finding Buddha in the every day- a wild tale of Buddha's journey from fossil fuel to bicycle chain oil... I can't do justice... you have to read it yourself... it's posted at the end of this blg... Our resident poet Pat followed reading a beautiful poem by Elisabeth Bishop called Filling Station. http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182897 and BTW- Pat's poetry blog can be found at: http://notinthenewstoday.com All this pleasure was in the amazingly comfortable, gracious home of Katherine and Don and their sons, here in Bklyn. They have a fantastic open kitchen, a beautiful yard, working fire places and great music! Thanks for opening your home to Communal Table!

We're excited to let you know in addition to our (near) monthly salon suppers- we'll be launching a once a month Sunday evening cooking salon starting at Don and Katherine's in mid-February. We've plans for a Bento making workshop- a celebration of all things pie- a dumpling fest... Deena and I'll provide the ingredients and some recipe ideas... and we can all work together making enough to enjoy some while we cook- and some to take some home. Keep posted for updates... Our first scheduled date is Feb 13th- we'll be playing with chocolate in honor of St. V... truffles and Mole and tamales too!

Diatom Buddha

by Musho Rodney Alan Greenblat

Once many long ages ago, in a time beyond all reckoning the Buddha was born in the form of an primordial sea organism called a diatom. He was single celled but lived in a massive colony of billions of other phytoplankton. He was a wise diatom, and while others of his kind swam about aimlessly, floating though their lives and becoming ocean floor sediment, the Buddha Diatom taught a path of simple awareness and joy in being a diatom. Of course, one day, the Buddha’s life as a diatom came to an end, and he became sediment buried on the ancient sea floor.

Over millions of years he was buried deeper and deeper. This was a long period of profound meditation and quiet. As even more millions of years went by he was compressed by enormous heat and pressure. Eventually he had become a thick brown flammable liquid. It was a dark existence, but as all different kinds of existences come to an end, the Buddha Crude was pumped up by men who had drilled a deep well. He splashed momentarily into the sunlight and then was put into a secure tank to be transported to a refinery. At the refinery the Buddha Crude was progressively heated and separated by distillation. After traveling through a complex system of processes he emerged at the end of a pipe as lubricating oil, and was placed in a can. The can was placed in a box in a warehouse, and eventually shipped to a distributor. The can that the Buddha Oil happened to be in was sold to a bicycle shop.

One day a young woman named Kimberly brought her bright peach pink bike with a wicker basket to the bicycle shop. The chain was squeaking and she thought it might have come out of alignment. The repair man looked carefully and said “It looks OK. Let’s try a little oil.” Unknowingly the oil that he dripped onto the chain was the Buddha. Immediately the chain stopped squeaking, and Kimberly’s bicycle rolled smoothy down the street.

http://www.whimsyload.com

Don't Be a Fry Baby! This Saturday

2010-11-15T23:45:00.000-05:00

This Saturday Nov 20th

Sat Nov 20 in Park Slope Brooklyn
Communal Table invites you to explore essential oils as well as the slippery essentialness of oil to our culture. Dip, Sip, Rub and savor the richness, lightness and pleasure of an ingredient that has also inspired our culture's greediest and most destructive behaviors.
It's going to be a great evening.

Be sure to RSVP

2010-11-04T16:55:00.021-04:00

Mushrooms and Moonshine was marvelous. Fantastic everything... the weather (gorgeous after a week of rain), the people and the fungi- I'm almost at a loss of what to write so used am I to finding the bit I'm critical of and writing about that...

We had incredible guidance from Paul Sadowski of the NY Mycological Society

http://www.newyorkmyc.org/nymsfuse/news.php who agreed to join us not knowing who we are... just 'cause he loves fungi and has faith in the goodness of mushroom lovers. Everyone

gathered for a foraging walk through nearby Beebe Hill State Park (aglow with autumnal splendor!) and then Paul lead an identification discussion before cocktails and supper at Deena and Rodney's beautiful Columbia county home. I should be able to write about all the fungi we collected (some were edible and we tasted them the next day at breakfast) but I was too busy in the kitchen getting supper ready... so MAYBE one of our guests will post a comment about what you found!!!!

Cocktails were Martini's with mushrooms instead of olives, and hors d'oeuvres included homemade pickle canapes, marinated button mushrooms, glazed shiitakes and crimini confit. First course was a light dashi broth with an assortment of dried and fresh 'shrooms Deena foraged from Chinatown in NYC. Entree was spinach, chard and ricotta Malfati (dumplings) with sage scented brown butter, sautéed Portabella's, Chanterelle and Oyster's deglazed with whisky, cider glazed Kachoba squash, and herbed roasted red onions. Salad was gorgeous heirloom tomatoes whose colors echoed the forrest. It was heavy Umami (a Japanese word describing the fifth taste sense: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and the elusive Umami which incorporates foods high in natural glutamates.) Lots and lots of earthy flavors and a celebration of blustery fall. Dessert was gingered maple cake with creme fraiche, maple glazed pecans and cider caramel. While we were eating Deena spoke a bit about her experience making Apple Jack (hard cider) which we served later in the evening (along with s'mores) around a campfire...

Next morning... we had the incredible fortune to visit Ukulele Sara's island house- an 1920's speakeasy turned summer house on a tiny island in Lake Kinderhook. We canoed over for delicious mushroom and tarragon fritatta's, plum kuchen, caraway shortbreads, cream scones and good strong coffee (to help counteract the Jack wooziness from extended storytelling round the fire.) Sara serenaded with a ballad about the island's history and shared a brand new love "duet" between a dying tree and its symbiotic mycelium that she had composed in the wee hours of that very night. Folk songs followed, along with mimosa's and good cheer.

Communal Table's idea for this particular salon supper was to bring to the table the magical quality of fungi (which is it's own Kingdom of our Earth's five: animal, vegetable, multiple celled bacteria, single cells, and fungi,) and relate this to the storytelling aspects of fantasy kingdoms: fairies and ghosts and whatnot. Plus there's the whole bit about the psychotropic aspect of certain mushrooms... and the charge we feel dabbling in the potential for poison: defying death with every bite. There is certainly an element of a hunt, fungi foraging, but it goes beyond the thrill of the find- somehow there is an "otherness" that frightens, repulses and ultimately attracts. I think this aspect- being on the edge (yet eating and drinking heartily with friends) is what made this salon supper so successful. We so love to push boundaries yet are so relieved to do it safely, without consequence.

Mushrooms and Moonshine

2010-09-26T13:23:00.000-04:00

pickle heaven

2010-09-20T17:32:00.004-04:00

We pickled 'em good then pickled some more- offering snacks, pickles and pickle making to 120 people over two gloriously sun filled days in the garden at Old Stone House. Folks coming off the Farm City tour bus (run on compressed gas) having made rounds of several Bklyn farms were greeted with chilled Brooklyn Brewery beer and a plate of goodies featuring produce from some of the farms. Calaloo Empanadas (calaloo from East NY Farms!, Schenk Ave. betw. New Lots and Lavonia, mkt. Sat. 9 - 3) Corn Pudding with Tomatillo Salsa (ingredients from BK Farmyards, Kingston @ Winthrop, mkt, Wed. 3:30 - 7) Roasted Delicata Squash with Ethiopian Berbere spice rub (Delicata from Hattie Carthan Community Garden, 645 Lafayette Ave., mkt. on Sat. am- plus drumming circle, eggs, bread baking and cooking demo's) Garlic and Herb Roasted Red Onions (the Secret Garden Farm and Bushwick Farmer's mkt., corner B'dway and Linden, Wed. 10 - 6 ) and shots of Gazpacho made with cukes from Added Value in Red Hook. Cooking demo's (eggplants and okra) and pickle tastings added to the pleasure- and folks were delighted to fill a jar of their own to take home and enjoy later in the week. These are refrigerator pickles made by marinating raw vegetables in a salty sweet brine. They're not canned or fermented so they only last a week or two in the fridge... but they're fun and easy to make and are perfect on sandwiches or with cocktails!

. We'll be serving some of these pickles on rye bread with butter at the next Farm City event on Fri. 9/24 (along with other snacks including Deena's homemade peanut butter cups!) This is a fundraiser featuring a reading by Novella Carpenter, author of "Farm City" and an alt-country hoe-down with music by JD Durante @ The Commons, 388 Atlantic Ave starting at 7pm

Other Communal Table news... our next upstate salon supper (Oct. 2-3) is selling out fast- "Mushrooms and Moonshine" a week-end extravaganza with mushroom foraging, Apple Jack, and Ghost stories round a campfire, followed by a canoe ride to a tiny island for mushroom omelets the next morning...

Upcoming in Nov.- "Don't be a Fry Baby," a salon supper in NYC that explores essential oils and oils essentialness!

Farm City

2010-08-15T10:12:00.006-04:00

As research for of the upcoming Communal Table pickle making workshop at the Old Stone House in September, I've been visiting the farms we'll be buying produce from (the farms are part of a tour during the Farm City event... itself part of Crossing the Life festival http://www.fiaf.org/crossingtheline/2010/2010-09-ctl-farmcity-tour.shtml which we'll be part of. This past week I visited the East NY Farmer's Market over on New Lots Ave, the Hattie Carthan Community Gardens in Bed-Sty, and BK Farmyard's acre on the lawn of the High School for Public Service in Crown Hts. All three of these gardens nurture youth empowerment, community activism and food justice, and the markets offer fresh and affordable vegetables in neighborhoods fresh vegetables are hard to come by.

Tooling around in my car, getting lost (poor sense of direction) and becoming found, seeing my beloved city anew with each foray, I am forever awed by the expanse of NYC- by the vast riches of culture but also by the scope of poverty and the divides between neighborhoods. Often, driving through the vastness of Brooklyn I despair the possibility of creating a more just and peaceful world. These markets are bright spots bursting with goodwill and hopeful energy, and for me, getting to talk with people I would not ordinarily meet is a joyful experience nearing the spiritual.

I bought half a dozen empanadas, tasted peanut punch and spice bread, learned about a new squash varietal and saw the magnificently lewd red seeds (?) that are inside a ripe bitter melon. I saw people taking care, kids proud and learning, listened to the sing song of vendors, smelled the perfume of sage. I realized again that in the narrowness of daily life the assumptions and thoughts that flow from limitation must be vigilantly challenged, and that a wonderful way to do this is to stand in a market and take it all in. Then take the goodness home and cook something to share with family; it is a joyful experience nearing the spiritual.

Meanwhile, it made me realize Deena and I have to totally rethink the menu we're planning for the Farm City Tour. Weeks ago, writing the proposal for this event I was thinking about what might be ripe during Brooklyn's September, and I ran these produce selections through my brains storeroom of tried and true recipes. I didn't even think to consider bitter melon or cucuzza squash or callaloo or peanut juice or spicy empanadas. What was I thinking?

Brooklyn farms are most importantly about her people and their stories, more so than about the actual vegetables. The acreage is small but the yield is mighty. Communal Table's great opportunity will be to pickle and preserve a tiny bit of it.

2010-08-06T21:19:00.012-04:00

Meat proved hard to present:

not 'cause some feel it's wrong consuming flesh- or because of CAFO's (concentrated animal feeding operations) or rGBH (artificial growth hormones) or the disproportionate acreage devoted to corn and soy to feed livestock when the same acreage could feed humans, or even the manure generated green gas gasses trapped in the stratosphere.

For me it was because of the hands-on attention grilling meat requires, and the particular kitchen lay-out of our hosts gracious home. Instead of being "front of the house" at our party I spent the whole night tending stove.

In the days before the event Deena and I ran about

speaking with butchers- finding out the where and why of what

they were selling- mostly we bought from shops Suzanne Wasserman, our film-maker guest speaker recommended, so we knew we'd be able to get reputably raised and interesting cuts. Fleisher's in Kingston actually gifted a dozen plus chorizo sausages (thank you Jessica and Joshua!) As usual our menu ideas changed daily. I wanted meat appetizers but a veg meal that focused on the grains and grasses we feed to livestock- Deena (vegetarian that she is) thought otherwise... then I worried there wouldn't be enough and did the usual adding and adding, while D. tried to pair things down.

We had Malaysian Jerky, Liverwurst canapés and grilled steak with shredded Shiso to go with Bloody Martini's, and a Carpaccio and Arugula first course. This was followed by grilled Flanken (thinly sliced beef rib,) Chorizo, Lamb and Apricot kebobs, Grilled chili-rubbed Corn, Oats, groats and barley salad with eggplant and mint, and sliced heirloom tomatoes (to say nothing of the lemon shortcakes with blueberries and cream.) All local/organic and from what I can tell, sustainably grown... (by young white folks... hmmm!?)

The meat of the matter however (for me at least) is the storytelling. Viewing Suzanne's clip of "Meat Hooked" touched upon our collectively focused, reawakened effort to eat consciously- and after viewing, a vocal few passionately engaged in dialogue about slaughterhouse regulation and whatnot. Called to table, the conversation broke into multiple threads. We'd set a beautiful long outdoor table (and re-set and wiped it down multiple times before we all sat down because of intermittent drenching showers.) Long, flower-strewn tables look cool- but do not engender group conversation... so aesthetics aside, the table proved a detriment to the conversational engagement we'd envisioned for the evening. Missing too was Deena's or my gentle nudge to steer conversation, as we were cooking-away apart from the

crowd.

There is no doubt Communal Table puts out a mighty spread- as beautiful, tasty and thoughtful as could be- but what's still elusive is our intent to use the meal as a forum for storytelling. Pat read Roald Dahls "Lamb to the Slaughter" a masterful story- albeit long, and despite the glorious setting, fine food and flowing drink, folks squirmed; so not used to extended listening are we. Ukulele Sara sang several sexy songs about pork chops and butchers, author Steve Stern and graphic novelist Sabrina Jones shared "Hippie Hog Butcher of the Ozarks" which'll be published in the upcoming World War 3 issue # 41 "Food Chains" (that I'm co-editing! www.worldwar3illustrated.org) Beck amused with tales of raising cattle... It sounds like plenty- and we had invited each of these specific stories, but there followed no eruption of spontaneous storytelling or impromptu poems. Is there hesitation to engage with each other and the food in dialogue that shares our histories and dreams? Or was it that it's such a consuming effort to turn out food for 30 that I am missing the nuance of experience? Is this actually happening during our Communal Table salons?

Also, not to burden any potential readers to this blog- there's still the financial conundrum. No matter what we charge it is both too expensive and not enough to cover costs (this event was $55 per guest.) I bring this up not to complain, but because its interesting to ponder how as a culture we value food and entertainment, and how paying for an experience sets up hierarchical expectations between server and served. Deena and I are hardly ground breaking activists, the political consciousness we mark at table is gleaned from the populace. We're hardly ground breaking culinarians either, though our spread is mighty fine. These traits alone garner paying crowds to workshops or restaurants and underground supper clubs. Nor are we offering a bohemian basement where for five bucks cover and a beer you can hear young poets. We're trying to combine: political passion, exceptional and thoughtful food and engagement with all of this through storytelling( and on occasion hands-on making or tasting things.)

I know there's a marked divide between front and back of the house experience... I'd so love for our guests to use this blog space to offer feed-back and suggestions as to how we can combine all these experiences into an evening's salon.

With luck, our upstate NY, October 4th salon might just bring all these elements together. We've invited NY Mycologist Paul Sadowski to lead a mushroom foraging walk, which'll be followed by a mushroom supper and then a bonfire 'round which we'll serve homemade apple jack (and demonstrate how its made) and tell stories from the realms of fungi, fairies and ghosts.

Here's a list of the butchers we used:

Jessica and Joshua Applestone of Fleisher's http://www.fleishers.com (chorizo)

http://www.flyingpigsfarm.com (liverwurst)

http://www.aberdeenhillfarm.com (lamb)

Jake from Dickson's Farmstand in Chelsea Market http://www.dicksonsfarmstand.com (beef)

The jerky was like sweet, salty, spicy candy and came from Malaysia Jerky at 95A on Elisabeth St. http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2009/03/malaysia-beef-jerky-in-chinatown-nyc.html

2010-07-11T12:57:00.011-04:00

Communal Table serves scores @ summer arts event; menu is luck of the draw....

Umaimi food and

art

festival,

www.umamifestival2010.com was invited to show artist's shorts @ rooftop films www.rooftopfilms.com at the Old American Can Factory www.xoprojects.com in Brooklyn. Communal Table was invited to serve supper at the Maker's Market in the Can Factory prior to the films, and snacks at the party following the movies.

To meet the art and craft of the event we wanted an engaging menu that would push folks to think of food on multiple levels, so we designed a deck of playing cards where each card represented an aspect of the food we were serving, no written descriptions of the dishes, just images or words indicating texture, color, locality, etc. Folks bought carnival tickets (3 for $5) which purchased a chance to pick cards from the deck which in turn determined what they'd get to eat.

Random selection made folks anxious... "what if I don't eat something, or have an allergy, or don't like what I get?" "Can I trade one card for another? Can I have a special deal?"

We hired two young actors (my son and his best friend!) to be barkers and they were fabulous, practicing sleight of hand "Pick a card, any card..." tricks. The playfulness drew people in.

Deena and I then talked our heads off encouraging people to make connections between the physical, cultural and political attributes that are inherent in the foods we eat. Along with 'pink' (roasted beets with goat cheese)

'green' (salad with green goddess dressing) and 'shapes' (skewers of fruit) there were cards that pointed to cooking and eating styles ('raw' jicama slaw, and 'handy' cheddar and chutney sandwiches.) Some cards that set up relationships ie: 'global/local' (imported basmati and lentil Mujaddara served with a hard-boiled urban-farmed Bklyn eggs.) All told there were eleven cards including a wildcat Joker... which lead to discussion about who decides what's to eat; how and where it's grown, what it costs, and who gets to eat it.

The Meat of the Matter

2010-07-08T22:19:00.000-04:00

We're getting really excited about this next dinner! And it's coming right up, so RSVP fast if you want a place at the table.

In addition to Suzanne Wasserman, we have passionate chef and butcher Jeremy Stanton joining us.

Please note that this event is in beautiful Columbia County NY and not in NYC.

2010-06-22T09:40:00.004-04:00

Met Derek Denckla : www.thegreenest.net at Chavalla's, satisfying a craving for their black bean soup (which I usually pair with ceviche de camarones... but didn't this time as Deena's admonishments against the shrimping industry are lodged in my brain... hey, what about the poor shrimpers livelihood?) Derek's asked us to blog about our process developing the apres farm tour pickling party we're doing as part of Farm City; part of the Crossing the Line festival (http://www.fiaf.org/events/fall2010/2010-crossing-the-line.shtml) We'll be feeding around 120 folks using produce and eggs from brooklyn farms, and we'll guide them to make refrigerator pickles to take home as a souvenir. I think, rather than buying canning jars I'm gonna start collecting and recycling nice jars with lids, so save me any good ones!

Over lunch we wrestled with how pure Communal Table should to be about using locally sourced ingredients... when we catered the FI:FA press launch- we used ALL local, but spent so much time foraging all over bklyn and paying top dollar for ingredients: we barely broke-even. This is a constant dilemma: how to not go broke while embracing urban agricultural and locally based artisanal product? For Farm City we're thinking of a ratio: 60/40-ish, positioning bklyn products and produce where they'll really make a difference- but not necessarily absorbing them into everything... this is not to say we won't continue to use mindfully produced goods for the better bulk of everything we do... it's just you have to strike a balance. It's a ridiculously complex equation: money + time + labor and equally as important: meaning. There're stories behind the goods and stories created with their consumption that affect experience and action- and this is the part Communal Table gets to play with!

A bulk of our discussion was about the shape of the party... menu of course is based on the farmer's dependence on sunshine and good fortune... but the feel of the party comes down to table arrangements and the materiality of the dishes. It's one show with waiters and trays to the strains of violin, another with an all-u-can-eat brass-band buffet and yet another if we set a long table down the terrace of the Old Stone House. So many hats to wear... forager, chef, designer, actor... it keeps this work engaging even when we don't break-even.

Later that same afternoon...

Preparing for the pickling part of Farm City I attended a canning workshop sponsored by http://www.foodsystemsnyc.org/

Guest speaker Sherrie Brooks Vinton http://sherribrooksvinton.com/ gave a wonderful demystifying demonstration that has me rearing to boil up a bunch of jars! I'm gonna try beets and plums and turmeric onions, and steep the last local strawberries in Vodka- all suggestions from Sherrie's book Put 'em Up!

2010-06-09T13:02:00.010-04:00

I'm just back from eating my way through the Hawker stands of international Singapore where each nationality has it's own market and food court... Malaysian, Indian, Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Arabic... (also European, Australian and American.) The things I fell

most in love with were fresh fish congee loaded with ginger (an amazingly satisfying and inexpensive breakfast) and freshly squeezed limeade made with tiny Calamansi limes.

One of my favorite things in the markets were booths that specialized in flavored tofu and veggies including okra, eggplant and bitter gourd stuffed with tofu (one buys these by the pound to put into broth with noodles.) We made black chicken broth one evening which is supposed to be particularly nutritious. On the whole- sweating mightily in the heat left me feeling cleansed... and daily lap swims kept me feeling fit. Also an abundance of pineapple, mango, mangosteen, dragon fruit, etc.

On daily walks through different neighborhoods and parks I saw

monkeys, giant lizards (3 -4 feet long!) incredible flowers and a

host of amazing food stuffs I'd never before encountered! Also

spent 2 days snorkeling off Tioman Island off the east coast of

Malaysia- amazing coral and fish just right there below the surface. This has been my first trip to Asia and getting a glimpse of all this wildlife, so much culture, so much deliciousness, I feel my world has opened and expanded 100 fold! Can't wait for more!!

2010-06-07T18:39:00.011-04:00

A lull in CommunalTable salon action filled by so much:

We donned shopkeeper aprons at Etsy's New*New NY spring sale in Williamsburg... baked our hearts out and had the pleasure of one-on-one interaction, but it seems impossible to get beyond break-even with this quality of goods- handmade peanut butter cups, all butter lattice top pies, pumpkin whoopie pies, Basque tartlets, layer cake with buttercream like from your dreams...

The exciting things that came from this were a connection with the Green Harvest CSA from the Farm at Miller's Crossing in Hudson, NY (we hope to do an event with them this fall) and a chance to firm up our friendship with the Fine and Raw Chocolate folks.

We served their amazing truffles at FI:FA this past week at a press party to launch September's Crossing the Line Festival that Communal Table will take part in.

We'll be a part of Farm City, an event highlighting urban (particularly Brooklyn) agriculture, so for the launch event we went all out with a Bklyn urban agriculture/artisanal menu.

Homemade wild yeast crackers, windowsill herbs, honey from local bees, Deena's pickles, L. I. Sound Brooklyn-style chowder, eggs from BK Farmyard's Crown Heights chickens, produce from Eagle St. Rooftop Farms in Greenpoint and Added Value Farm in Red Hook. Also Manhattan Special Espresso soda and Joyva candies: both 100 year old businesses that started with pushcarts on the Lower East Side. You get the drift!

In September as part of the festival Communal Table will offer a pickle making workshop and feed folks with produce from several Bklyn farms!

The next event up... before we get back to our salon suppers (and we have some really fun suppers planned!!!) will be selling snacks at the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus, Bklyn on July 3rd, http://www.rooftopfilms.com

when Umami: food and art festival will be showing food/art films on the roof top.

2010-04-10T23:41:00.016-04:00

Deena was hooked into the politics of fish but the lure for me is still the story. Rob could talk endlessly about fishing and Rodney forever finds Aesop-like Buddhist-style fables for each Communal Table. Bless Ukulele Sarah, who came with laryngitis but croaked nonetheless a rousing "cockles and mussels alive, alive-o." Vince, our fishmonger host answered countless questions (folks are hungry for fishy information; we navigate murky waters.) There was a beautiful moment when Paul Neuman http://www.caterernyc.com told a story about his late fishmonger father, and Vince who'd not met Paul before tonight but knew and respected Paul's father from the fish world, told Paul what an inspiration his father had been. Made both men feel good- and everyone else too.

Listening to Vince's reading of a decidedly masculine passage from a Dave Eggers tale about pulling and pulling a fish from the sea, I suddenly 'got' fishing as man's attempt to mimic women's pushing and pushing babies from the water of our wombs. Push, pull, what's the difference; wiggly slimy things emerge.

And then there was beautiful Kacie with her photo album of harvesting wild sea vegetables. To me she seems a water sprite of sorts in her row boat on the sea, but for her it's all a days work.

When I checked-in with friends in the days following the dinner, many said... "o, I had a tale I could have told... but, but..." The work of marking and telling the stories food inspires takes a mindfulness we resist, perhaps because storytelling is so revealing. Communal Table gatherings are meant to nurture political/activist insight along with our very human impulse to tell a tale... that is, to share with others the stories we hold dear. In my mind this engagement marks a life well lived, and if we can do it while eating heartily, amen.

Fish Tails and Tall Tales

2010-04-08T17:13:00.003-04:00

photo Paul Lamarre

I had an exquisite lunch the other day at Savoy. Good company, charming host, beautiful service and of course their consistently satisfying and luscious food. Savoy is well known for it’s thoughtful, seasonal, local menu. The quietly elegant space was the perfect spot for an hour spent relaxing and savoring a few moments together over tasty bites. It made me remember why I loved it so much way back when it opened in 1990. A quietly self assured place in the midst of the noisy and ostentatious restaurants in NYC, not afraid to take an ethical stand and gently remind diners where their food came from. Many more places have since followed Savoy’s Peter Hoffman, into the territory of intelligent dining, but for me it remains the favorite.

Why then, did I leave there feeling uneasy? Was it the Butter Basted Monkfish on the dinner menu? After reading Taras Grescoe’s Bottomfeeder, I was sufficiently convinced that Monkfish was dangerously overfished and that the bottom-destroying trawling used to catch them was reason enough to keep them off all restaurant menus. But, after thinking about it, what really bothered me was that I didn’t ask about it.

At Fish Tails and Tall Tales, our most recent Communal Table dinner, I entreated everyone to talk to their fishmongers, grocers, waiters and chefs about what fish they’re buying and selling and letting them know that we’re interested in supporting sustainable fishing practices and don’t want overfished and harmfully fished or farmed species. Emphatic entreaty! In my reverence for Savoy, I shied away from asking a simple question, “How is it, when I have heard so much about Monkfish being overfished and it’s capture so environmentally destructive, that you are serving it tonight for dinner?” I really should have asked. Had I asked, I would have been moderately relieved to find out that there are two somewhat less harmful gill-net fisheries in New Jersey and in Canada supplying Monkfish to the market. I’m still not happy to see it on their menu, and I wouldn’t order it. But dialog is important. Get the facts and let vendors know what you care about. I promise to be more assertive in the future.
photo Paul Lamarre

Today’s post from Mark Bittman addresses the issue of consumer confusion at the fish counter.

photo Paul Lamarre

Communal Table is really all about storytelling and we thank everyone who brought a story or poem along to share. Thanks to Mark Federman from Russ and Daughters for sharing his expertise and love for herring and it's lore, Rob Hauck for his enthusiasm, joy and stories of fishing and Kacie Loparto for demystifying the world of sea vegetables.

Vince Bruns was an amazing host and his shad boning demonstration was absolutely spectacular and edifiying. Thanks to Vince also for procuring the finest, freshest seafood for us to serve on that balmy March evening.
additional photos Mary-Anne O'Sullivan

For more information:

The End Of The Line also available from Netflix

Bottomfeeder by Taras Grescoe

Swimming in Circles by Paul Molyneaux

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance

Surfrider Foundation

2010-03-04T19:13:00.004-05:00

2010-03-04T19:06:00.000-05:00

I’m back from Pamplona and London. Food, films, friends. Best of which was that it meant two weeks with my sister. That was the lovliest part.

In Spain, I was at the Punto de Vista International Documentary Festival where in addition to full days in dark movie theaters, I spent a lot of time eating. Eating with some of the most interesting possible companions. Filmmakers, journalists, writers and artists- three meals a day, everyday. I came away satisfied and happy and ready to get back to work.

CommunalTable Fish Tails and Tall Tales is on Saturday March 20, 2010.

Seating is limited, make sure to RSVP early.

2010-02-12T16:49:00.002-05:00

oh boy! When Communal Table hosted beekeeper Andrew C. at our Apples-n-Honey salon, a film crew came with him... and here's a clip from their footage!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r_Bujutr_o

by Nastya Shorstova, MFA Candidate in Television Production at Bklyn College

2010-02-09T15:28:00.005-05:00

Wanted to post my two cents about pickles and roots- and share the gingerbread cookie recipe a couple of people asked for. Thanks to everyone for making Pickles and Roots so fun! I'm still all pickley with a new batch of kimchi fermenting on my counter, and assorted jars of quick pickles in the fridge: ginger marinated daikon, shredded turnips with toasted sesame and Campari soaked figs I use on homemade pizza.

I served sauerkraut the other night to the poetrysciencetalks gang. PST is a salon I've been cooking for for the last four years- a different talk every month and a meal before the talk that reflects the evenings theme. This month a biologist (Dr. Tyler Volk from NYU) was talking about death (and its essentialness.) I made shepherd's pie (biblical references to shepherd's aside, the medieval term for pie was "coffin," and in our culture we have a tradition of carrying a "covered dish" to funeral parties.) We also had an assortment of moldy bleu cheeses, and the sauerkraut; both examples of symbiosis, where one organism (penicillium or lactobacillus) thrives at an others' expense... plus, sauerkraut's a dish put by for winter (winter being a metaphoric, seasonal kind of death.) We finished the meal with Devil's Food cake!

I bring this up in part to share bits about what Deena and I do aside from Communal Table, (Deena's at a film festival in Spain right now, visiting markets in the Basque region between reels (lucky!!!) and I'm putting the finishing touches on some of the upcoming Umami: food and art festival programs www.umamifestival2010.com

But also.... like PST, Communal Table is ideas as well as supper. The thing I love about C.T. evenings is how busy and happy everyone seems... making, tasting, reflecting and sharing poems and stories. Pickles and Roots was an easy theme to play with: roots being our roots and traditions, and pickles rich with metaphor as in: in a pickle or being pickled.

Deena's blog post brought up shared Eastern European roots, a culture whose food traditions are rich with pickles... but we also share roots in the NY arts and food communities, and we've both raised families in the contemporary NYC art/food worlds, grazing globally. I wonder what our children, who've tasted so many different flavors, consider their culinary roots?

I think I love food because it's hands-on (mouth-on) story telling. I'm super excited about the next Communal Table salon- Fish Tales. Our guests include a fisherman, a fish monger and a 2nd (or is it 3rd?) generation purveyor of the ultimate Jewish delicacy: lox-n-bagels. Along with their expertise what each shares is a love of stories- about fish, food and family. We're wrestling with the politics of salmon, thinking about sea vegetables, and collecting stories about "the one that got away!" Save the date: March 20th- the vernal equinox... and for traditions sake we'll stand eggs on end- then boil 'em to serve with a sprinkle of fish roe...

Gingerbread Cookies:

1/2 c white and 1/3 c. brown sugar

1-1/2 c. white flour and 3/4 c. whole wheat flour

1-1/2 t. baking soda and 1/2 t. baking powder

1 T. cocoa

2 t. ground ginger

1/2 t. each: ground cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, salt... etc. I play with what's on hand

1 c. butter

1 egg

2 T. molasses

1 c. each: ginger nibs, dark chocolate chips (I buy "disks" of candied ginger and chop them)

sugar for rolling cookies in before baking

Combine dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients. Stir in nibs and chips. Roll dough into balls and roll balls into sugar (sometimes I add spice to the sugar too... a bit of extra cardamom or allspice...) Space on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350.

Sometimes I slightly under-bake the cookies so they stay soft and chewy and use them to make ice cream sandwiches... Van Leeuwen makes a great ginger ice cream... but vanilla or chocolate is great too.

Communal Table's Winter Salon: Pickles Roots and Preserves

2010-01-29T18:09:00.005-05:00

What a pleasure to chop, mash and generally make a grand mess with a great group of pickle fresers. Yes, fresers. That’s what my grandfather would have called us for our gluttonous pickle gobbling. I’ve had several good reports on the take home kimchee project. I think even my Yiddish Grandpa could have learned to love kimchee.

The pickles of my youth were the kosher dills, sauerkraut and pickled green tomatoes of Ashkenazi Jews in New York. They were the pickles my grandparents and great grandparents ate. The pickles of my adult life come from culinary traditions far from my own background, but readily available to me in my vast New York City backyard. Pickles from China, India, Japan, Lebanon, Korea, Mexico appear at my table regularly. For my own family, a Japanese umeboshi is as comfortingly familiar as a half sour dill.

Our Pickle tasting featured a number of homemade and purchased pickled and preserved treats. Moroccan preserved lemons, Russian pickled beets, Japanese pickled garlic and lots of others. I have to say the unanimous favorite had to be the pickled prunes (prunes!) that we served before dinner with some bocherondin. The easy to make recipe came from Seattle’s Boat Street Cafe via Molly Wizenberg in a story on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12111218

(We also tried the pickled grapes from the same source, which were wonderful, but not quite as spectacular as the prunes.)

Annie Hauck-Lauson treated us to her spectacular Kapusta, which for anyone who, like me, has not had any previous exposure to this dish, is a combination of sauerkraut (also known as the kapusta) cooked with onions and fresh savoy cabbage to produce a meltingly tender, savory dish.

Roots made appearances in crudite, Polish potato vodka, sweet potato shochu, ginger beer and rum cocktails, watermelon radishes and striped beet salads and in Oden, a a thoroughly warming Japanese Farmhouse stew and one of my favorite wintertime dishes.

Spicy ginger cookies sandwiched creamy ginger ice cream for a sweet surprise ending.

These great cookies are a frequently requested speciality of Ame’s, chewy and tender, but with a delicate exterior crunch and a sharp ginger kick.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Communal Table’s Winter Salon! It was a great success thanks to you. Special thanks to Nancy Ralph (http://www.nyfoodmuseum.org/)

and Annie Hack-Lawson( http://www.foodvoice.net/) our guest presenters. So interesting, so charming and such marvelous dinner companions.

ODEN

This vegetarian version is a comforting light dinner homey enough for family, lovely enough for company. The light gingery broth is also deeply soothing for nursing a cold or stomach ache. Like most soups the flavor deepens with an overnight rest in the refrigerator. I like to ladle leftovers over a pile of cooked udon noodles in a deep bowl.

Oden traditionally contains a variety of fishcake items. I am vaguely suspicious of these products, their ingredients and manufacture. I don’t love them, so it’s easy for me to dismiss them entirely. If you like them, they get added toward the end of the cooking as they are pre-cooked. Another characteristic ingredient that I leave out is konnyaku a jello-like paste in block or noodle shape. It’s flavor is so unremarkable that I can only imagine that it gets added for it’s texture, which is, rubbery. It’s easy to find here in NYC, so by all means add it if you like. I never miss it.

Here is my non traditional take on the classic stew.

makes a big potful 8-10 servings

a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms

1 large strip of kombu

3-4 inch piece of un-peeled ginger cut into 6 pieces which will be distinguishable from the other vegetables

1 large or 2 medium daikon peeled or scrubbed and cut into 3/4 inch rounds or half moons

1 foot long stalk of burdock peeled and roll-cut into small chunks

3-4 carrots peeled or scrubbed and roll-cut into chunks

2-3 parsnips peeled or scrubbed and roll-cut into chunks

1 medium rutabaga peeled and cut into large bite size chunks

water to cover

3 TBS Mirin or more to taste

1/2 cup Tamari or soy or more to taste

garnish (optional)

broiled tofu slices

chopped scallions

Japanese hot mustard

grilled tofu slabs

sesame oil

Place the shiitake, kombu and ginger in the soup pot with about 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes.

Add the vegetables all at once and add enough water to just cover. Return to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.

Add the Mirin and Tamari, cover loosely and simmer until the vegetables are tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes.

Remove the mushrooms to a cutting board with a slotted spoon and either slice them into strips or halve them according to your preference.

Remove the kombu and divide it into 4 inch lengths. Slice these lengthwise into approximately 1/2 inch strips. Tie each strip into a simple knot for an edible kombu garnish.

Return the shiitake and the kombu to the pot.

Fish out the 6 chunks of ginger and discard.

Serve in individual bowls with a slab of grilled tofu and any of the other garnishes.

In Japan the scallions and the mustard (or maybe even some bonito flakes or grated daikon) might be served alongside in a separate small dish.

For our attendees as well as any pickle lovers who may be interested, here’s a list of a few of our favorite sources. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just some of our frequent NYC haunts.

M and I International

249 Brighton Beach Ave

Brooklyn, NY 11235

Sahadis

187 Atlantic Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11201-5696

(718) 624-4551

Russ and Daughters

179 East Houston Street

New York, NY 10002-1024

(212) 475-4880

Han au Reum — 25 W 32nd St, New York, NY 10001

Kalustayans
123 Lexington Avenue

New York, NY 10016

Sunrise Mart

4 Stuyvesant St., 2nd Fl. (at 3rd Ave.)

212-598-3040

Gâteau Basque

2010-01-06T14:14:00.002-05:00

By the time cherry season arrived this summer, I’d developed a full blown fixation on a cherry pastry I had never even tasted. I’d read, researched and dreamt about it, but I hadn’t yet tracked down a slice for a bite. The elusive and intriguing confection is a Gâteau Basque from the Pays Basque region. It’s a cookie like tart that first caught my attention in Mark Kurlansky’s “The Basque History of the World” where Kurlansky describes a visit to the Gâteau Basque Museum to see a pastry making demonstration. A pastry that has a museum dedicated to it!

For all the devotion paid it, the Gâteau Basque is kind of homey and simple. A sweet pastry crust encases a filling of Basque Itxassou cherries, or pastry cream. The crust varies somewhat from place to place, but tradition dictates that the filling is always Itxassou cherries or pastry cream. It is considered audacious to even use cherries and pastry cream combined in one tart.

I might consider pastry cream an option in Winter when beautiful fruit is hard to come by, but to use it when fresh cherries were in season locally seemed perverse. Basque cherries aren’t planted here the Northeast, so I made my first experiments with local sour cherries and later when sweet cherries came into season I tried those. Both were absolutely delicious. I have to confess, that in my next experiments I did brazenly try some unsanctioned fruits. I loved it with plums with lemon zest, gingered peaches, and apples and brandy. I’m hoping to visit San Sebastian this Spring and I hope that this information will not be used against me. I think the traditionalists are missing out.

We have two orchards in our area that grow black sour cherries. They only open up for picking one day a year. This scarcity keeps demand and interest fairly high and there is an awful lot of anticipation for these cherries among devotees. As far as I can tell these are Morello cherries and they really are pretty special. They’re not sweet enough to be good snacking cherries, but they’re not too sour either. They’re just the essential cherry flavor in a lovely, juicy package.

I don’t know how Black Sour cherries compare to Itxassou cherries in flavor, but I loved them. They make awesome jam, are stunning in savory dishes and wouldn’t you know it, they make an amazing filling for Gâteau Basque. I’m not willing to submit completely to convention , but I am eagerly looking forward to next summer’s harvest of black sour cherries, and a whole year of nearly traditional Gâteau Basque.

Gâteau Basque

10 inch springform pan

or six 4 inch french tart pans

dough
14 TBS butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp rum or tequilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 1/4 cups plain flour (sifted)
filling

1 1/2 - 2 cups sour cherry confiture, creme patisserie or other fruit filling

Cream the room temperature butter in a deep bowl using a whisk or an electric mixer, until light and creamy.

Mix in the sugar until it dissolves.

One at a time, add the egg and then the yolk, mixing between each.

Stir in the rum.

Sift in the baking powder and flour, mixing in by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula to avoid over mixing.

Place the ball of dough in a plastic storage bag or wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours, preferably overnight.

preheat the oven to 350°

Butter and flour your pan.

Divide the chilled dough into 2 pieces, the larger piece being roughly 2/3 of the total.

Roll the larger dough into a circle large enough to line the base and up much of the sides of your pan.

To transfer the circle, wrap the rolled dough around your rolling pin and center it over the prepared pan. Gently push the dough into the edges of the base so it fits snugly into the corners.

Spread the confiture or other filling evenly over the base.

With the remaining dough, roll out a circle that is just larger than the diameter of the pan. Use a rolling pin to center your dough over the filling.

Seal the top crust by pressing all the way around with your thumb.

Trim away excess dough so that the surface is flat.

The extra dough can be re rolled and baked alongside as cookies or used to decorate the top crust.

Lightly egg wash the top crust.

Decorate the top of the Gâteau by drawing a pattern with the back of a spoon or arranging your scraps decoratively to the surface. Eggwash the back of the scraps to make sure they stick.

Cut a small a vent hole in the top to avoid cracks.

Bake on the center rack for 1 hour. Check after about 40 minutes to make sure it’s not browning too quickly. Cover loosely with foil if it looks like the edges will be too dark.

Remove to a cooling rack for at least 1 1/2 hours.

When cool, run a knife around the edge to make sure its not stuck anywhere and remove the pan. It should feel fairly sturdy. Run a knife gently underneath and remove the pan bottom.

Can be made one day ahead and kept at room temperature. Freezes beautifully.

The loveliest Gâteau Basque of all is here:
http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/2008/05/gateau-basque-and-birthday.html

2010-01-01T11:14:00.008-05:00

We're getting our winter Communal Table salon together... pickles and roots- hearty sharp flavors using what's seasonally available. We have our activity planned (making sauerkraut) and our invited experts... Nancy Ralph, director of the NY Food Museum and ring-leader of the yearly Pickle Day festival, and Annie Hauck-Lawson, co-author of Gastropolis: Food and New York City and master Kapusta maker.

Deena and I are in the fun emailing back and forth stage.. trying to narrow down the menu- there're so many roots to cook so many possible ways. Deena has her Asian vocabulary- and we share Eastern European roots- and there're all those wonderful South American and African tuber dishes... yams, yucca, ginger, turmeric, jicama, daikon... Then there's dessert... we're thinking conserves, preserves, crystalized and oven dried... start thinking winter preservation and it opens a huge can-o-worms... maybe we'll just bake gingerbread.

I've been practicing pickles at home with my son who's home for the holidays from college- cabbage and toasted sesame seed sauerkraut sitting in a jar weighted with a cup of odd metal relics collected over many years. The first taste was too salty so we rinsed it and are letting it ferment some more. Then there's a beautiful sharp pink turnip kraut, gorgeous vinegar-pickled red onions, bubbling lacto-fermented cucumbers... and sourdough starter brewing in a bowl. The kitchen's pungent, lively and alive!

Roots and pickles are a perfect metaphor for family, history, and memories, and offers perfect inspiration for the poetry part of our salon... guests bring poems (home-made or store-bought) to read as we linger 'round the table. This is one of my favorite parts of the salon evenings (or is it that with the meal served and eaten I finally relax?)

We've also started planning our Vernal Equinox Fish Tales Salon. Our fish-monger friend has offered his loft and his expertise... we'll make some kind of loxy treat, feast on who ever is running at that time and share fish tales... the bigger the better!

2009-11-28T15:05:00.001-05:00

Come see us in December!

Communal Table will be providing delicious food for hungry holiday shoppers at these two great events in New York City:

Holiday Handmade Cavalcade

Saturday Dec 5 from 11AM-8PM

@Openhouse Gallery

201 Mulberry Street

New York, NY 10012

http://www.handmadecavalcade.com/

Hello Zen Holiday Market

Sat Dec 12 + Sun Dec 13, 11AM-7 PM

@The Village Zendo

588 Broadway (btwn Houston + Prince)11th floor

New York, NY 10012

Hello Zen Holiday Market 2009

Autumn Sweethearts Pairing- Apples and Honey

2009-11-01T16:21:00.011-05:00

Our second gathering, this time honey and apples. Cleared and straightened my kitchen, and set a long mismatched table across the length of the living room. 15 guests came together to make and bake pies, taste apples and honey with beekeeper Andrew C. from Silvermine Apiary (www.cthoney.com) and sip Meade and hard cider made by Nathaniel and Thatcher Martin (www.manhattanmeadery.com) Two of the honeys were NYC local (East Village and Fort Green) and both had just been harvested. Brooklyn was a dark amber while Manhattan was golden and light- seems each boroughs' bees have their own particular nectar. There're tons of websites with details about harvesting and if you're really interested in bee news: <www.nyc-bees.org> I attended one clandestine harvesting in Bklyn. (beekeeping's illegal in NYC) and the beekeeper had the coolest tools- a spouted, bellowed fire box to direct smoke at the hives that blocks the warning scent the worker bees give off to warn of an intruder, and a plug-in knife that's kind of like an iron that's used to melt the wax caps the bees make to seal their honey into the combs. As you glide the knife across the comb, chunks of honey embedded wax falls from the frame- and chewing on this warm wax was heavenly!

Crowded in my kitchen everyone got to hear Nathaniel discuss yeasts effects on the sugars in honey and apple wines, and to taste his remarkably dry honey mead (Brooklyn Buzz) and a cider he made from hand picked Central Park apples. While rolling dough and slicing an array of apple varietals, guests nibbled canapes of honey drizzled Gorgonzola Dolce and toasted walnuts. Once the apple pies were in the oven, dinner was served. A fall vegetable pie (layers of butternut, kale, beautiful chanterelle mushrooms, roasted cherry peppers and goat cheese baked in a fillo crust) and rich brandied apples tossed with caramelized onions. Then we had a green salad with a honey apple cider vinaigrette before moving onto Deena's grandmothers' old-fashioned apple cake with homemade honey ice cream.

As we lingered over dessert the party turned into a honey, apple poetry share. Pat brought Keats, Gertrude Stein and a particularly wonderful Robert Frost called After Apple-Picking. Rodney shared original rhyming couplets, Andrew quoted Winne-the-Pooh on honey, and Sara and Molly played a ukulele duet. Then everyone took their warm pies home.

Deena and I are still figuring these events out- we love the mix: seasonal local products and artisans, hands-on cooking, a satisfying meal and poetry- I feel we have the "practice" part of the evening honed, but I'd like to see the "performance" part step more into focus. More poems and music! Also, we're just still figuring out how much to charge- our first event cost us a lot, this one we almost broke even... maybe next time we might even earn a bit of a salary putting these things together.... We're already planning our winter event: pickles, preserves and root vegetables. I'm working on lining up some pickle makers and taking sauerkraut and kimchi workshops... and dreaming about a fabulous potato turnip gratin recipe I have.

After Apple-Picking

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Robert Frost

welcome to communal table

2009-02-27T22:03:00.002-05:00

communaltable brings art, ideas, activism and food right to the table. We sit down with writers, performers, artists, scientists, chefs and friends to talk and listen and to share wonderful meals. Join us.