Mast Brother's Chocolate

.

I have tasted Mast Brothers chocolate and it is everything they describe it to be. This is a beautifully shot portrait by The Scout - well worth viewing in it's entirety. Bonus: there is a sailing connection!

Found via ABCD Designs

Truck Farm

Truck Farm photo by Ian Cheney.

I have passed this parked truck many times on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook this summer. Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis had the ingenious idea of growing veggies in the flat bead of a 1986 Dodge truck. And what ingenious idea is not complete by filming it these days? Truck Farm is no exception and has documented it's progress with a solar powered cab mounted time lapse camera. The folks at Wicked Delicate have created a series of videos complete with quirky soundtracks that sing the story of Truck Farm.





For $20 you can subscribe to the farm are received an 'unknowable amount' produce, a dvd of the short film and an invitation to the WD Truck Farm Summer Picnic. Not close enough to picnic? Subscribe anyway and you'll get a bottle of smokin' hot sauce made from the Fall habaneros pepper crop.

Clambake!

I'm trilled to share that Reiter8's Recycled Sail Luggage Tags have been featured in an Food & Wine / Etsy article!

The Food & Wine site features a lovely slide show of images and yummy recipes by husband and wife chefs Gabriel Frasca and Amanda Lydon of the Nantucket restaurant The Straight Wharf on Nantucket Island.

Photo by © Buff Strickland

'As the style editor for Food & Wine, Jessica Romm gets to combine her twin passions for excellent food and amazing design. Every month she tracks the best in tabletop, choosing stunning plates, glasses and other serving pieces to showcase in the magazine. To start off a new series of Food & Wine summer party picks, she shares a few of her favorite nautical Etsy Finds for the perfect clambake.'

'These luggage tags would be great wrapped around napkins. They are a fabulous party favor, since guests can use them again and again.'

I love the idea of giving them as favors! And using them as napkin rings - how creative is that?!

Among my favorites of her picks are:

Alyssa Ettinger's Mason Jar Lantern:



These beautiful block print napkins by Julie Peach:



The sturdy bowls and mugs by Dodge Station Pottery:



And this enamelware pot by Cabin Windows:



There are many more, so I urge you to read the Etsy article, check them out and start your shopping list!

Have a great weekend!!

Sugar and Ice

Snow Day!!

We were up at 5:30 listening to the radio hoping to hear the announcement that we dared not speak of last night to to ensure that weekend homework would be completed and to avoid children being bitterly disappointed this morning. Then it came: All NYC schools will be closed today due to the snow storm. Fantastic. After traveling all week last week, I needed this extra day.

Growing up in New England, after a good snow storm and a morning full of fort building and snowball fights we would sometimes be treated to maple syrup drizzled over fresh snow.

This afternoon offers the perfect opportunity to indulge.

1 c. maple syrup - the real stuff!
snow - piled on a dinner plate
pickles (optional - see note below)

Bring maple syrup to boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to avoid it boiling over.

The mixture is ready 6 to 7 minutes after it boils (255 degrees on a candy thermometer). It should stiffen when dripped onto a plate.

Remove from heat and cool for 2 minutes before pouring over the snow. The syrup will turn onto lovely chewy sweet drizzles of maple.

After sampling the syrup, bite a pickle. I never do this but it's to cut the sweetness. Enjoy!

I (scream) Tunes

Actually, Ice Cream Tunes.
The Summer edition of Edible Brooklyn is out. How I love this local, beautiful to look at, seasonal, free magazine. It's always expanding and I casually hunt for it when I travel. They just announced that Edible Manhattan and Edible Pioneer Valley will be launching this fall.

But back to the summer issue: A visit to the Queen's Hideaway is planned and I'll be on the look out for Hot Bread Kitchen's products the next time at the Brooklyn Flea.

But the quirky joy of this issue was the introduction to Michael Heast's 'Songs for Ice Cream Trunks'. If you've ever spent time near a parked ice cream truck with the 4 note tune on a loop for 15 mins, you will appreciate Mr. Heast's efforts. See him in action building a ice cream cart and playing his tunes here.

Happy Summer.

Dream Away

There was barely enough time to breath this weekend. I left our dining room in mid sail bag chaos and packed it in for a weekend in the Berkshires. We barely stopped moving.

One of the highlights, and there were many, was the reveal when we went out to dinner at the Dream Away Lodge in Becket, MA. Driving, driving, driving through the dark woods and wondering if we were on the right path paid off when we turned on 1342 County Rd to see a small parking lot filled and beyond a white house with a wrap around porch sprinkled with colorful Christmas bulbs and neon signs.

There were families milling around the front yard fire pit. Being a bit late for our reservation, we b-lined it for our table, through the porch, past the colorful bar and stealing a quick peek into other kitsch packed rooms that were later filled with live music.

We were dining with old friends not often seen which left us with plenty to talk about which was good because somewhere between the new cook and the party for 25 our dinners got very lost. Luckily, the food was tasty and ambiance is enough to lure us back for another try and enough to recommend it to others.

Alas, it's Monday morning, back in Brooklyn and back to tame the chaos...

Bagged

Was skipping around the blogesphere and came across Peter Carpenters mother's day post and a photo of THE cutest Reiter8 bag use to date.

Say hello to George (and the Blue Star Middie).

Peter's blog is a lovely commentary on food and fathering and lots of other bits of info, advice and observations.

Thanks for posting Pete!

It's Fresh

I'm always excited to see the latest issue of Edible Brooklyn - the quarterly free magazine all about the boroughs food scene - and the Fall 2007 issue is out.

Everything about this publication is delicious. The articles are varied and informative. The photography is absolutely beautiful. And not to be overlooked is the heavier weight paper it's printed on.

Edible Communities Publications currently offers 38 regional issues and more in development.

Browse through the current issue and archives here

Pick up Brooklyn issues at these locations

Fall 2007 cover photo credit: Michael Harlan Turkell