backyard grub

Herbed Cheese

This little dreamy bowl of flowers and herbs (and it is dreamy-looking not because of my clever 70s photography tricks but because I'm a bad photographer) is just about all you need to make a delicious bowl of herbed cheese. Throw out that sad bag of onion soup mix or ranch dressing and find the little girl at the Durham Farmer's Market who sold me the herbs and a recipe for only $2. More than worth it, I promise you!

Herbed Cheese
1/2 cup cream cheese, small curd cottage cheese, or a mixture of both
1/4 cup parsley
2 tablespoons rosemary leaves
1-3 garlic cloves
edible flowers such as calendula, bee balm, or nasturium
salt and pepper to taste

* Chop the herbs finely by hand or in a food processor.
* Add the cheese and process until well blended.
* Season to taste with salt and pepper.
* Cover and refrigerate. Sprinkle with flower leaves before serving. Great to spread on crackers, toast, or bagels.

You can use the same recipe to make herbed butter, just substitute a stick of butter for the cheese. Herbed butter on pasta...

Love Apples

I went to the Durham Farmers Market today to snap up some heirloom tomatoes. Though the Durham Farmer's Market is smaller than the State market in Raleigh, right now they have a wider variety of tomatoes. Mmm!

At the top are some pretty large Cherokee Black tomatoes with a nice deep flavor. Then, going clockwise, is a tomato I just tasted for the first time last week. They're called Brown Romas. They're about half the size of a grocery store Roma, but the flavor is richer and earthier. These were a nice suprise. Continuing around the clock are Green Zebras-- really zingy. Mmm! Then I have some red cherry tomatoes and some Sungold cherry tomatoes.

So what am I going to do with them all? Because I did go crazy. So far I made a salad with the brown romas, lots and lots of fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, salt, pepper, and penne pasta. I think I'm going to make a tomato cobbler with the different cherry tomatoes. The zebras and blacks, I'll probably just enjoy with a little vinegar and olive oil.

Big News

I have been sitting on something for months that is really exciting (at least for me), and it's time to share it with you. I'm going to graduate school!

Depending on how long you've been reading my blogs, you may or may not know that I'm a working journalist... (I'm a producer for a television station) and, of course I have shared my love of food with you. I also love journalism-- or at least, I love doing journalism and I love what journalism should be to the people and communities news organizations serve. I have been torn between these loves-- for a long while I have thought of opening some type of bakery or cafe, but I wasn't yet ready to leave news. Last year it finally dawned on me that I could try to combine the two.

After looking at a number or programs, I found something really unique that I think fits my goals perfectly. I applied to Boston University's Master of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy program. This program was founded by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, and it is the only masters degree in gastronomy offered in the United States. I'll be able to combine culinary training with courses in food writing, food history, hunger, nutrition, and more.

In the next few months, I'll be packing up and moving to Boston. School starts in September.

I'm not sure what will happen to backyard grub... I'm pretty sure I won't be posting as often between now and September. I'm also pretty sure I will at least continue chocolatada. I am also contemplating a blog of my adventures in the culinary training part of the degree...

Stay tuned!