cucumbers!

We were warned. The package on the 'Yamato' cucumber seeds said that if you don't intend to trellis them, you might be disappointed. We were. They turned out bitter and curved; not straight and sweet as promised.

The kicker is: We love cukes. So the fact that the ones we grew weren't great really breaks our hearts. Hopefully, next year, we'll pick a variety that works out better for us.

To satisfy the craving, we go to the farmers' market to pick up some 'Kirbys' to use in a salad that includes onion, tomato, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Or I turn them into pickles, using the 14-day pickle recipe that is a family tradition:

1. Fill a bucket 2/3 full with cucumbers. Add 1 cup of canning salt, and cover with cold water. Let sit for a week, weighing down the cukes with a plate to be sure they're covered at all times.

2. On day 8, remove salt water and replace with boiling water. Let sit for a day.

3. On day 9, remove water. Slice cucumbers into rounds. Add 2 tsp. powdered alum and cover with more boiling water.

4. On day 10, remove water. Replace with more boiling water.

5. On day 11, remove water. Boil 3 cups sugar, 5 cups cider vinegar, 5 cinnamon sticks, and a healthy pinch of celery seed in enough water to cover the cukes. Then cover them with the mixture.

6. On day 12, remove water but reserve and bring to a boil. Then pour over the pickles.

7. On day 14. Remove water but reserve and bring to a boil again. Put pickles in Mason jars; pour boiling water over the cucumbers. Cover with flats and lids and scald jars to seal.

***This is part of the great Summer Fest 2010...check out the other blogs participating.

staunton grocery rocks

What a meal it was.

First, an appetizer of squid stuffed with chorizo, giving it a salty smokiness—a glorious surprise when eating a squid dish. It was like that sea creature and the spicy Spanish sausage were meant to be together (who would've thunk?). My favorite part was the small curled tentacles that sat underneath the main body, soaking up all of that lovely jus. Yum. And lucky for me, Steve, my sweetheart of a husband, was happy to relinquish them all. Maybe he gave them up because we were out celebrating our fifth anniversary?

Next I had a salad of heirloom tomatoes, big wedges of sunny yellow and deep red flesh, seasoned simply with salt, pepper, olive oil, and basil. So simple, yet so delicious. Talk about letting the ingredients really sing.

Steve had a salad of fresh (sweet!) peas, cucumber, and fresh ricotta. Another amazing display of simplicity at its finest.

For the main course, we both went for fish. He had salmon, served atop the aptly named beluga lentils (which look like caviar and taste like heaven). I had cod swimming (not literally) in the most flavorful broth, accompanied by "Jefferson beans," which we think might be the same as the long beans we're growing in the garden. Ours are good, but chef Ian Boden's are better.

By the time the dessert menu arrived, we were simply too full. But the "chocolate soup" lingers in our minds—as much because our top-notch waitress revealed it's what all the waitstaff ask about when the night is over ("Got any of that chocolate soup left over?") as for its bizarrely intriguing name. All I know is we'll certainly be back again.

savoring Staunton

As anyone who has strolled along Beverley Street comparing menus, or loaded up at the vibrant Saturday morning farmers’ market there knows, Staunton is a real find for food lovers. Recently, the Staunton Convention & Visitors Bureau also realized just what a culinary reputation the Queen City was gaining and launched the “Savor Staunton” promotion to help spread the word.

“Our intention is to celebrate farmers, artisans, and chefs, bringing these vital figures together for enrichment, education, and darn good food,” says Sheryl Wagner, director of tourism. Darn good food, indeed.

Here’s just a partial list of our food-centric favorites in Staunton:

• Cooling off with a big fruit smoothie at Mugshots Coffeehouse & Café.

• Staunton Grocery’s amazing appetizer of grilled asparagus with coddled egg, arugula, and pickled spring garlic salad.

• Stopping by George Bowers Grocery to pick up some Caromont artisan goat cheese and getting tempted by all the other local goodies they stock, such as honey, Blue Mountain Brewery beer, and Polyface eggs.

• Eating Cranberry’s "yeast ’n’ malt" waffles with local maple syrup for breakfast…at 3 p.m….just because we feel like it.

• The rustic filone, a country Italian bread made fresh at Newtown Baking.

• Zynodoa’s grilled honey-brined Polyface pork loin served with Wade’s Mill Surryano grits.

• Rewarding the kids for behaving at dinner with a scoop of gelato from the Split Banana. (Come to think of it, the adults behaved well enough to deserve a scoop, too.)

• The Farmer’s Brunch at Mockingbird on weekends, especially the chorizo hash made with T&E spicy sausage and Singing Earth potatoes.

• Sipping a steaming cup of creamy, complex masala chai and eavesdropping on the always lively conversation at Darjeeling Café.

• Indulging our inner Cookie Monster at Bittersweet Bakery. And our inner Pie Monster.

• Figuring out what to do with all those beautiful peaches we bought from Critzer Family Farm’s table at the Saturday morning farmers’ market at the Wharf parking lot.

Whew, that was even a longer list than we thought it would be...and it’s bound to grow longer this fall, with Staunton’s very first Locavore Fest on Labor Day weekend, and the Staunton BrewFest in October. Thanks Staunton, we could just eat you up. Yum.

as American as cherry pie

It's hard to say which is better—a bagful of juicy, sweet cherries from Spring Valley orchard near Batesville or sampling a few of these late-spring fruits under the tree that bore them, atop a slope with a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains.

After opening for the season last Friday (a couple weeks earlier than usual), Spring Valley has welcomed a steady stream of stone-fruit lovers to pick their own cherries.

Last week, we made the pilgrimage and spent about a half hour collecting two bags of 'Summit' cherries—a red variety that is sufficiently sweet, but with a subtle tartness that makes them even more fun to eat. (A general tip for cherry picking: Leave stems attached so fruit will keep longer.)

We left the orchard with enough for two pies. But by the end of the car ride home, we had enough for only one pie...and a family of juice-stained chins. What a gloriously sticky mess it was.

Because of the relatively fleeting cherry season, there are just a few more weeks for pick-your-own at Spring Valley (owned by the same family that runs Chiles Peach Orchard and Carter Mountain Orchard). Sometimes the fun of picking cherries is that you wind up with much more than you can eat out of hand. The best solution? Pie, pie, and more pie. The one pictured here I made using a recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking. Here it is:

fresh cherry pie

crust:

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, extremely cold and cut into small pieces

Ice water

filling:

5 cups cherries, rinsed and pitted

3/4 cup sugar (or less for really sweet cherries)

3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. First make crust: Mix together flour and salt to completely incorporate. Work in the butter using a pastry cutter or two knives (as if you're cutting up a big plate of spaghetti)—until the mixture has coarse crumbs. Add ice water, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture just holds together to form a dough. Turn dough out onto floured surface; shape into a ball (without working the dough too much). Cut in half, and place each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. For filling: Mix together cherries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes, to allow juices to seep out.

3. Remove disks of dough from the refrigerator. Roll out one disk to about 1/4 inch thick. Place in a 9-inch pie pan, and adjust so it hugs the sides.

4. Pour filling into dough-lined pie plate. Top with the bits of butter.

5. Roll out second disk of dough to 1/4 inch thick; cut into strips. Wet the edges of the bottom crust, and lay the strips of dough over the filling in a lattice pattern. Put pie plate on a baking sheet, just to catch any drips as it bakes.

6. Bake for 30 minutes. Rotate pie. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake 25 to 35 minutes more, until crust is golden brown. (If the edges start to brown too fast, cover with an apron of foil.) Let cool before cutting. Serve plain, or with ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

get thee to an orchard

Carter Mountain Orchard opens for the season this Friday, and we couldn't be more excited. Getting back to orchard season is one of the great glories of the year. And this year marks the premiere of the Spring Fling Craft Festival at Carter Mountain. It'll include music, crafts, hayrides—but we're headed out there for the food and wine tastings. Saturday and Sunday (4/17–4/18), 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

While we're talking about Carter Mountain, the good folks who run it (along with Chiles Peach Orchard) are putting together a cookbook of local foods and want a peek into your recipe box. Send your favorite recipe (with peaches and/or apples, natch) to CMOCookbook@yahoo.com. It may be selected to be part of the finished collection (scheduled to come out this summer).

kids in the kitchen

A great food event with a great message: This Saturday (March 27) at Albemarle High School from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Charlottesville Junior League is hosting Kids in the Kitchen—put on around the country with the goal of reducing childhood obesity. Our local event will feature interactive stations to teach children about good nutrition. For example, the Blue Ridge Eco Shop will be manning a gardening station to demonstrate how growing your own food is fun and healthy. There will also be a pediatric dental station that will show how a healthy diet leads to healthy teeth. And even a make-your-own-cookbook station. For more information about the national program, click here; for information about our local event, call (434) 293-4482.

mark your calendars for the Virginia Wine Expo!!

Wine and food lovers rejoice. From February 26 to 28 the Virginia Wine Expo takes over the Greater Richmond Convention Center for an amazing food and wine event that celebrates local vintages, chefs, and restaurants. As a visitor, you get a Schott Zweisel crystal wine glass, from which you can sample from more than 350 bottles of wine, crafted by the winemakers in our area, including:

Afton Mountain Vineyards
Barboursville Vineyards
Barren Ridge Vineyards
Blenheim Vineyards
Burnley Vineyards
Cardinal Point Vineyard & Winery
Delfosse Vineyards & Winery
Democracy Vineyards
First Colony Winery
Flying Fox Vineyard
Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery
Horton Vineyards
Jefferson Vineyards
Keswick Vineyards
King Family Vineyards
Kluge Estate Winery & Vineyard
Pollak Vineyards
Mountfair Vineyards
Rebec Vineyards
Rockbridge Winery
Stone Mountain Vineyard
Sweely Estate Winery
Veritas Vineyard & Winery
Virginia Wineworks
Well Hung Vineyard
White Hall Vineyards
Wintergreen Winery