Rhode Island 100 mile

…has anyone else been having trouble with their tomatoes? Some of our plants are near-dead and hanging on for dear life. We’ve harvested a few tomatoes from them, but there are a bunch that aren’t going to make it…not all of our plants are kaput, though…every couple of days we get a small bowl to eat- which is better than nothing!

                           -Josh

So last night was an active night in the kitchen.  We had vegetables to use up (zucchini and zucchini flowers), bacon to use up, and dinner to cook.  I tried making zucchini chocolate chip cookies – it didn’t come out as planned and I made zucchini chocolate chip cookie blocks as Josh named them.  I got the recipe out of the cookbook Desserts with a Difference that my grandmother gave me years ago.  I think I used to much zucchini so the batter was too thin for cookies but the cake-like bars (aka “blocks”) came out pretty good.  The reason I made it is that our zucchini plant is starting to produce zucchini like crazy.  With the 100 Mile Challenge coming up I needed to make something with ingredients that I won’t be able to use in a week so I settled on this recipe.  I would make it again but I’ll use a little less zucchini.

For dinner Josh grilled up some of Rhode Island’s own striped bass and sauted some carrots.  He put a little chive-butter on the bass and sauted the carrots in some olive oil.  A super-simple meal that tasted super-good!

After having dinner we made one of our favorite side dishes - corn bacon salsa.  This is from Andy Husband’s Fearless Chef cookbook.  My sister gave it to us about 6 years ago and we have made this salsa multiple times.  The recipe is basically corn (I had cooked up some corn on the cob a day before for this dish), lemon juice, parsely, onion, chives, and bacon. 

There are pictures of one of our eggplants, a zucchini, and some of our herbs.  There are also a couple pictures of our dinner and a few pictures of corn bacon salsa prep and the finished product.

As many of you know – Josh has been growing hops (this is Ingrid).  Last year we bought Willamette and Cascade rhizomes from Chandler at Basement Brewhaus in Providence.  We tied some twine to the shed for the hops to grow on but our shed is only about 8 feet tall and hops can grow 30-40 feet so we knew this year we were going to have to try something different.  So we had our 20 foot lightening rod – I mean hop pole – and the Cascade hops went crazy!  (The Willamette are still on the little shed – they didn’t do too much.  We’ll need to move them next year.)  The Cascade went up the twine twenty feet and continued to grow on their own – no twine or pole for about another 6-7 feet.  However, the extra 6-7 feet of hops were not getting enough sun and were not maturing whereas the hops in the middle of the two vines were at the perfect size.  So Josh decided to take the whole thing down and harvest what he could.  The shed looks kind of naked now without the green mass of hops in the front.  Josh measured the usable hops after harvesting – 2 ounces.  He’ll be able to make one batch – about 5 gallons with our own hops – I will definitely try that beer!  Here are some pictures of today’s harvest.

The top of the pole of hops.

The same top but I think this looks cooler!

The actual cutting of the hops at the ground.  Josh cut them at the ground and then pulled the top pole off – it nearly landed on my head but my reflexes are still cat-like (shout out to CJ from an episode of the West Wing – Mickey or Carolyn – do you remember which one that was?) – well – maybe not cat-like but I was quick enough to jump out of the way while still holding the ground end of the hops.

The hops laying on the grass – the vines were so long I couldn’t get a good picture with the light and all.

Josh harvesting.

Part of the harvest – I wonder what kind of beer it will become?!

So in one short week, Josh and I will start the 100 Mile Challenge again.  And I guess Food TV did a show about it – it looks like the families involved did the 100 Mile Challenge for 100 days – wow – over three months!  We’re doing August and September again as so much more is available compared to July and August.  This year (this is the third summer we’ve done it) will be the easiest so far.  There are so many great farmers around and the availability of farmers markets near us has increased since the first year we did it.  On Fridays we have Goddard State Park, Saturdays is Lippitt Park on Hope Street, and Mondays is East Greenwich.  However, there has been an addition in the past 6 months to make our challenge even easier – three Rhode Island businesses have produced a 100% produced in RI bread!  We can buy the bread but we can also buy the rye flour.  I see some experiments with cornmeal muffins with rye flour and rye flour pasta – you never know until you try!  The variety of foods (and colors) as the market has steadily been increasing so this summer will be . . . easier – I won’t say easy!  The pictures below are from our recent market trips and my first time picking blueberries this year – the haul was just over 7 pounds (and it only took me one hour!).  The melons have been cut up and are ready for snacking on and Josh is pickling the carrots (he’s trying one of David Chang’s Momofuku recipes) – can’t wait to try them!

Keeping up with the watering…

I (Ingrid) forgot to mention that while at the Reading Terminal Market on Wednesday morning, I bought a box of John & Kira’s chocolates at Fair Food Farmstand.  I bought a  box of the Delicate Caramel Bees.  Wow – they were so amazing.  We bought them on Wednesday but didn’t try them until we got down to Bethany Beach later that week.  The caramel inside was smooth and soft and gooey – you could really taste the honey that was in the caramel.  Try them if you get the chance!  I got the bees that were regular bee color – gold and black – the red, white, and blue ones kind freak me out a bit – but I bet the honey caramel on the inside is just as good! 

We were home from Italy for less than 48 hours and on Monday July 5th, we were on the road to Philadelphia for two nights.  It was hot, hot, hot, hot!  Josh had read about an indoor market before we went down and once we were at the hotel we were staying at, we saw that there was an ice cream festival going on.  Since it was the last day of the festival and the holiday weekend, we figured that the festival would be winding up- and I’d be able to get a little ice cream.  Well, when we got there, it was one hot mess!   A huge white circus tent with hundreds of people teeming under it vying for ice cream was what we were greeted with.  I could do it I thought, but I just couldn’t!  It was like purgatory – all you can eat ice cream for $5 and I just couldn’t do it – what is happening to me?  I must be getting old!  Thank goodness Josh had read about the Reading Terminal Market because it saved the day!   It is a cross between a farmers market and a super-fresh food court.  I think there are close to 100 vendors inside the wonderfully air-conditioned building (and it is SUPER clean) and there everything from fresh fruit and vegetables, to ice cream, to cookies, to  kebobs, to Amish items, to a beer garden, . . . . These are some pictures from inside the market:

After enjoying some treats at the market – I got a smoothie and Josh got the Philly cheesesteak- we headed back to the hotel and once we had cooled off a bit (did I mention that it was hot ?), we jumped on the metro and went to Citizen’s Bank Park to see The Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies take on Derek Lowe and the Atlanta Braves.  It was a great game – Halladay pitched a full game and it had been a while since Josh and I saw Lowe pitch.  The Phillies won 3 to 2.  We made it to the ball park, watched the game, and were back at the hotel within 3 1/2 hours – very different from our Red Sox treks!  A few pictures from the game below – it was so hot, I didn’t take many pictures.  The food looked good but again – it was so hot, we really didn’t try much like we normally would.

Tuesday we hit a couple of museums – our only requirement was that there was air conditioning!  For lunch we headed back to the Reading Terminal Market – so much to choose from!  We decided on the  falafel platter – the greens were super-fresh and the falafel was perfect – fried, but pretty light.  We were going to try some crepes but we still had dinner that night.

After checking out some modern art and seeing an IMAX film on the Hubble telescope (yes – it was that hot that we watched a short film on the Hubble telescope – interesting and air conditioned!) and getting some lunch, we went in search of two stores that supposedly had good selections of beers that Josh can’t get in Rhode Island.  We first went to Bella Vista Beer Distributors.  Great beer selection – the only problem was that they sold ~99% of their beer in cases.  Since we were walking, we didn’t want to carry cases of beer so we decided to come back the next day before heading down to Bethany Beach and we made do with a diet iced tea, just to hydrate a little before we got to The Foodery.  The Foodery was much, much smaller but did have a good selection.  Josh found a few he wanted and we could buy six packs instead of a case!  We went to the 10th Ave location which seemed like a really cool neighborhood – little stores, great looking town houses, and trees that provided shade (it was REALLY hot- topped out @ 102!).  We headed back to the hotel to cool down and clean up before heading out for dinner.  For dinner that night we headed over to Monk’s Cafe - a Belgium Beer Emporium and Restaurant.  Our friends Chris and Grace had told us about Monk’s – extensive beer selection and excellent food.  We had the charcuterie and frog’s legs to start.  They were both amazing.  It was the first time Josh had frog’s legs and I hadn’t had them in a while.  They were almost like chicken wings – a slightly hot BBQ sauce and they were served with blue cheese – not runny blue chesse dressing  - but sort of a whipped blue cheese.  We also tried to split a small order of Bruges mussels but we were both stuffed and hot and only ate about 1/2 of the order.  Josh was impressed with the beer list and I know if we go back to Philly, we’ll head over to Monks again.  Thanks Grace and Chris!  That night we ended up watching the first episode of HBO’s Treme - it was great!  We are considering getting HBO just so we can watch it.  If you haven’t seen it yet – watch it!

The next morning it was back to Bella Vista Beer Distributors for a case of Bell’s Two Hearted Ale and Duck Rabbit Russian Imperial.  If we were closer to home, we would have had a lot more!  All in all, we found Philadelphia to be a great city – clean, great food, a new sports park, and lots of things to see – hopefully we’ll head down there again soon!

We spent the last few days of our trip soaking in the sights, sounds and foods of Siena…we poked around the shops and explored some of the neighborhoods that most people don’t venture into…here are some shots of what we discovered:

We climbed to the top of the bell tower of the Palazzo Pubblico (finished in 1310). The building proper houses a museum (which we saw after we came down) which holds some incredible frescoes and paintings…our town halls can’t even come close to matching up to this!

View up the stairwell from the bottom.

View of workers getting the track ready for the Palio from the top of the tower.

The bell at the top.

Climbing the tower worked up a sweat and hunger, so we were able to get lunch at one of Ingrid’s favorite restaurants, Osteria Le Logge- right off the Campo in Siena…here is my appetizer; duck with marscapone filling.

Ingrid’s bruschetta with tomato, balsamic reduction and oregano gelato.

My quail risotto.

Ingrid’pasta…

Ingrid’s guancia with mango…

The bistecca florentina I shared with Michael…nothing like a kilo of rare steak!

Some contradas decorate their neighborhoods with lights that depict their symbols…this is the Oca contrada.

The contradas typically have an outdoor meal in the streets of their neighborhoods before the big race. This is the setup for the Selva contrada which was in the neighborhood of Michael’s apartment…little do they know that they would be winning the race the next day!

We were able to track down some microbrewed beer while in Siena. Michael took us to a restaurant that served some really good beer…later in the week we were able to find some in one of the markets in Siena.

…and oddly enough, Duff beer was popular as well. I wonder if Matt Groening knows!

Pageantry before the Palio.

Flags flying in front of the Duomo.

Boys watching the proceedings from above.

Sun breaking through the clouds over the Campo…

Sun setting on the Duomo…and our visit…

                       -Josh

When we first contacted Michael about coming to Italy to visit, we had originally planned to leave on July 2nd.  However, Michael reminded me that Il Palio would be run on July 2nd so we had to stay through at least July 3rd.  Il Palio is a crazy horse race that is run twice a year in Siena – once in July and once in August.  Of the 17 contradas in Siena, only 10 get to run in each Palio and when you are in the Piazza del Campo, without the horses, it’s really hard to imagine even 10 horses running around the “track”.  Sports Illustrated just did a piece on it – mostly pictures – they had a much better view of it then we did!  They have some great pictures of the horses during the final race.  Before the real race on July 2nd, there are multiple “provas” or trial runs.  Josh and I made it to a number of these.  Since the horses are assigned to each of the 10 contradas by lottery that week, the jockeys (which ride the horses bareback – no saddles) need time to get used to each other and running on the track.  The dirt is put down in the Piazza a week ahead of time – it gets watered twice a day to make sure it stays compact and not too cracked.

The picture on the left is the horse for the Nicchio contrada (the scallop) with his handler – in that picture you can see the mattresses they put up on the major corners to keep the horses and jockeys (but mostly the horses) from getting hurt.  The picture on the right is a group of people from the Nicchio contrada – this particular provas seemed like a kids one – they were able to have great seats in the stands and sang the fight songs for each of the contradas.  All the horses are brought in this way and the horse, handler and jockey go into the Palazzo Pubblico.  Once all 10 are there, the jockeys ride the horse out to the starting line.  Typically there are a number of false starts – 9 of the 10 horses are lined up at the starting line (the order is random and different for each practice and for the final running) and the 10th horse hangs back and is the one to decide when the race will start.  Once the 10th horse comes to the starting line, then they are off.  However, if it’s a false start, they all go back to the starting line and they try again.  We couldn’t quite figure out what constituted a false start but it could take anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes of false starts before a prova or final race REALLY starts.

These two pictures are from a prova running.  The jockey and horse in the picture on the right were favored during the week to win the whole thing but that’s not what happened.

These pictures are from after the provas – the contradas walk behind the horse and handler back to their individual stable and sing their own fight songs.  The stables are not what we think of as stables here in the US.  We saw the stable for the Torre contrada – it looked like an entrance to a regular apartment except for the green astroturf over the doorstep.  The street is blocked off so you can only see the handler walking the horse – you couldn’t go into the stable.

The rest of the pictures below are from the final running of Il Palio and some of the celebrations after Selva (the forest) won.  The last few pictures are of Il Palio (it actually means the banner since that is what the winning contrada wins along with bragging rights) arriving at the church of Selva and the final picture is of the banner for July 2010.  If you ever get the chance to go to Siena and can experience Il Palio – do it – it’s amazing to see that kind of passion and wonder and so much tradition!

I (Ingrid) wanted to take Josh to Florence to see some of the big sights there – so we headed into Florence on Tuesday.  We had to stop first at the Mercato Centrale - a large food market that is surrounded outside by vendors selling leather, ktichen stuff, clothing, etc.  We didn’t spend much time outside but went right in to see and taste the food!  The next few of picutures are from the market. 

At the market, we ran into Michael and his colleague Ana who brought their students to Florence for the day.  In addition to buying food for lunch (cheese, meat, bread, fruit), Michael suggested that we visit one of the street vendors for a traditional Florentine sandwich – tripe or lampredetto.  We got the tripe sandwich with hot sauce on it – not super-impressed – Michael told us later that we should have gotten the lampredetto. 

After spending lots of time just wandering among the food, we headed over to the Accademia Gallery were Michelangelo’s David statue is.  Josh had thought it was a lifesize statue so he was a bit surprised to see that it was much bigger – it’s about 17 feet and that’s on top of a large base.  We just walked around it and observed all different views.  It really is an amazing thing to see – all one piece of marble.  We didn’t spend a lot more time at the Accademia – though we did check out the museum of musical instruments which was pretty cool.  We saw some instruments that we had never seen before and still not sure how they were played! 

After leaving the Accademia we checked out the Duomo.   I have to say that I like the Duomo in Siena better.  A couple of shots from the Florence Duomo.

I had also made reservations at the Uffizi Gallery but wasn’t sure if it was going to work.  Somehow everything worked out and we got our tickets and headed into the Uffizi.  We spent about 90 minutes looking around, mostly at the famous ones by Michelangelo and Botticelli.  I have to say that we were starting to get “museumed-out” so we headed across the Ponte Vecchio over to the Boboli Gardens to have lunch.  By this time, Josh and I were both incredibly hot and very hungry – we couldn’t wait to find a shady spot!  We were so hot and tired, we only took a few pictures and somehow didn’t take any pictures of what we ate!  After eating, napping, and looking around the Gardens for a while, we went and cooled off some more with some gelato and then caught the bus back to Siena. 

The rest of the pictures below are from just alking around Siena and then when we had some pizza on the Campo.