Storing & Sharing the Foodie Love

Aside from my love of all things comestible, I am one super-huge geek of a computer nerd.  As such, I have often found myself standing at the crossroads of Food Ave. and Geek Street wishing that I could find a perfect solution for categorizing and storing recipes, places I find on the web food related, and ingredients all with one handy-dandy software solution.

I've tried recipe-based websites, but they are generally limited to operating within the site itself, and cutting and pasting items from the interweb can be hassle when those sites do offer an 'add-your-own" solution...just too time consuming.

Recipe software has also been something of a let-down.  First, there are no good free solutions, which are my favorite.  It's not that I wouldn't shell out some cash for an application that worked great, but none of them work great.  In fact, many of them lack some key features like tagging or sharing.

"Enough Negativity!"

Ok..Ok....calm down.  So what is the best solution for recipe storage?  Well, I have no idea, but I know what I've found to be the most useful app for recipe storage...among other things.

Evernote is a very dynamic, note-taking application that allows for some really creative online (and offline) storage.  I simply created a "New Notebook" called "Recipes", shared it, and began to fill it up with recipes from all over...my kitchen books (which I could scan into the computer and add), Websites/Blogs...and even just enter a few things from memory.  Evernote stores pictures, text, video...all the things I was looking for.

Better yet, I installed it on 3 machines...and the program syncs up to the web-account you create when you install the app.  This means that...assuming I am at or near a computer with internet connectivity, I am near my recipes (and any other notes I take from the web).

Even better still, I can make any of my notebooks public, so my personal recipe stash can now be shared with any or all of my friends.  The web page is completely searchable, so if you want to look at all of the recipes I've collected with CHICKEN as an ingredient, just search chicken and voila! 

Now, Evernote won't create a shopping list for me, or tell me what I have in my pantry already, but honestly...even with a stand-alone or web based app that could do this, it would take a ton of constant input and updating to manage, and well, I'm just not that organized.  I can jott down the items I need, or even send them as a text message to myself, which I often do.  If I had an iPhone, or a Windows Mobile smartphone, Evernote would integrate simply, and I could access all of my recipes on the go.  Another great feature if you are an iPod Touch user is Offline Notes.

Maybe I'm wrong here.  Maybe Evernote isn't the best app for recipe storage and management.  If you have a better way to do it, hook me up!  I'm not stuck in my ways, and I'm not selling Evernote, so I'd love to hear how YOU store your recipes.

Keepin it Real...Cheesy!

I don't know if anyone in the entire universe loves cheese more than me...ok...maybe someone does, but my affection for firm dairy products goes deep.  I have to thank my dad for introducing me to cheese beyond American processed (still a staple in my house, but by no means alone in the fridge).  He would bring home Wedges of Parm and Prov and Blocks of Sharp Farm Cheddar, would grab a knife and a hunk of crusty bread, and plop down with me in front of the TV to watch The Dirty Dozen or Bridge Over the River Kwai...it was a 2-man cheese fest!

Over the years, my fondness, and pallete for cheesy tidbits has grown exponentially.  Like my father, I would always wrap the extra bits in Plastic Wrap...but those days are over.  Cheese needs a bit bit more love (and breathing room) than plastic wrap allows...thus :

http://www.formaticum.com/shop/product.php?productid=16216&cat=0&page=1&featured 

[From the Formaticum Site]
Finally, cheese storage is made simple! Formaticum sells cheese paper specifically designed to keep cheese fresh and delicious. Our two-ply cheese paper simulates the cheese cave environment.
It’s time to start treating cheese like any other highly perishable product – and that means proper handling and storage. There is a common misconception that cheese can last for long periods of time. Not true! Most cheese has a finite shelf life.

Only whole wheels of cheese are aged. Once a wheel is cut into retail-sized pieces, the cheese is much more delicate and susceptible to rapid deterioration. This is when proper handling and storage can mean the difference between eating vibrant and delicious cheese or dead and rotten cheese.
Our two-ply cheese paper maintains proper humidity and allows adequate oxygen exchange to keep cheese alive and tasty. Formaticum cheese paper will be the difference between good cheese and bad cheese.

November Continues...

Well, unfortunately the November meeting was canceled due to a total lack of organization on my part.  I would very much like to thank everyone who got back to me (which was everyone...btw).  You guys rock, and based on the emails I've set December 1 as our next meeting date.  The interest level is still high, and hopefully you guys will be posting on the site as well.

I'd like to make a recomendation: Reikers Market is my new favorite place to hang out.  Ok..not really, but the bacon is unbeleivable!  As a kid, I can remember my father and I taking a regular weekend trip to the butcher for all of our protien needs.  It was a magical place, albeit a bit gory, and I was excited to see beef being ground up in front of my eyes, or picking out the soup bones in the fall.  Much of that process has shifted to supermarkets, where the work is hidden behind big cold metal doors and the meats are sold all cleanly wrapped and packed for display.  The connection to the food seems lost.

Many years later, when I began working in the food industry, I was elated to once again connect to the Primal Cuts, and my meat education grew.  I found myself taking home entire, chain-on filets and carving them up to my specs...not the predetermined cuts of the mega-market.  It was during that time that I discovered Reikers, and the wonderful folks who work there.  Oh..and the double smoked bacon!!!

Bacon

We smoke, double smoke and triple smoke our own bacon, so you can choose the level of intensity!

It's become a weekly pilgrimage for me, and I know that as my son's desire to cook grows (and it's growing...I can't even go into the kitchen without my little shadow), he'll learn to enjoy trips to butcher as well.

If you know of any other Butchers (or anyplace cool in NE Philly or surrounding area) we should be checking out...let us know!

Had a great time.

Had a wonderful time meeting everyone and enjoying the samples. I believe I will get some of the cheese for the holidays. It's always good to have on hand for impromptu get togethers.Here is my kitchen tip for the week. Economic times are tough... make your own gourmet coffee at home. I love the flavors used to make a good Mexican coffee. For a 6 cup pot, put the first 2 scoops of coffee in to the filter, then put a scoop of unsweetened cocoa and at least a tsp of cinnamon, then add the remaining 4 scoops. Then brew. If I am feeling especially fru-fru, I put a little chocolate whipped cream on top of my prepared cup. So much cheaper than getting Starbucks or even Dunkin Donuts, and so much better! You don't get that artificial chocolate taste from the high fructose corn syrup chocolate substitute they use.-
Ciao- Leah

The First Meetup: A Success!

The First Philly Wholesale Gourmet foodie meetup at the Grey Lodge was a blast!  Thanks to all who attended...and an open invitation to anyone who likes to cook with new and interesting ingredients remains in place.

I broke out a few snacks to start with....a duck leg confit that I cut up and passed around, as well as a block of interesting artisan cheese from Roth Kase, their Homestead, which had a really nice, nutty flavor.

As soon as I was sure we would have no more takers, I broke out 3 ingredients that I had either used and loved, or wanted to try. 

First was the Vanilla Sea Salt, which I have never tasted.  It was AWESOME!  Not sure how I'll use it first, but I suspect it will end up on some fruit first, being the easiest place I can think of to apply.

Next we moved on to Sweet Thai Chili Sauce, which I use frequently.  Great on chicken, fish or as a dipping sauce for spring rolls, it has an infinite number of uses and I experiment with it often.  Everyone enjoyed it and I think I even managed to convert a few 'eggs with ketchup' folks to give it a try.

Finally I broke out some Thai Purple Sticky Rice.  While we were, of course, unable to sample the rice, I was happy to break out the 10# bag and give everyone a sample to cook up at home.  I love this stuff, and it's been some time since I've cooked it so I'm eager to get into the kitchen and chef-it-up with my remaining product.

Jim, exec chef at the Grey Lodge, was kind enough to prepare some samples of his Thai Marinated Flank Steak sandwich, a really flavorful dish!  The marinade was potent but not overbearing, and the grilled onions and scallions added great Thai flavor (the fish sauce on the back end was really nice, very mild).

Overall, a great first meeting.  Thanks again to all who attended, and if you missed the first one, be sure and come see us next month!

Ingredients Used : 9/28

This weekend was a rainy, miserable one in Philly, especially if you were going to hang out in the park. I had just scored a ton of Canned Tomatoes and being far too lazy to put them away, I decided to stay dry and stay inside to make sauce and some meatballs instead.

My sauce recipe always starts the same way...a bit of finely diced onion, a few garlic cloves halved...both sauteed until a bit translucent. Then I add a bit more olive oil and a can of tomato paste (I like to cook the paste...seems to 'bold-up' the flavor a bit), and finally after about 3-4 minutes, I add the tomatoes...2 cans crushed, 1 can whole (squished by hand into a pulpy mess), and 1 can sauce. A bit of red wine and a few tablespoons of balsamic, 1 tablespoon sugar, some fresh ground black pepper and a few pinches of salt (sea salt, fine grind).

Now, usually I add a bit of dried basil, a bit of garlic powder, and a bay leaf....but not so this time! I decided instead to add a heaping handful of dried OREGANO, leave out the basil and add only a tiny bit of garlic powder and a few pinches of chili flakes. MAN! POW! After about 2 hours on the stove I could smell that oregano and tomato combo. Now, don't get me wrong...I love oregano and use it all the time in modest amounts, but this time I really went nuts and the results were delicious!

I think that everyone who is serious about making home-made sauce has their own personal combination-lock of flavors/ingredients that evolves over time. I tend to like my sauce a bit spicy sweet (for a while, I would start the sauce with the addition of shredded carrot, but I have since left that method behind in favor of just a small bit of sugar), but this new batch of sauce opened me up to a new array of bolder, more herbal flavors that both my wife and son decided was tastier, more interesting, and decisively the direction to take.

FYI: I also made the oregano a big part of the Meatball recipe this time as well, which really complimented the sauce...however a few meatballs received more than their fair share of the herb, which overpowered a bit.

Other Ingredients that made the Hit-List this weekend :

Smoked Sea Salt (again...in the meatballs..nice flavor)
Pearl Onions (oh..did I mention I made something of a beef stew in the crock pot as well?)
Caramelized Onions (yes..I made them myself...who buys them?) (in the crock w/ beef stock for the stew)

A Place and A Time

Thanks to all who have responded to the posting on the Philly Blog forum. Looks like we'll be able to get together at The Grey Lodge Pub. The second floor is very nice, the beer selection is wide and varied, and the food is tasty! All-in-all it's a great venue for a Foodie gathering and much thanks to Scoats, the Pub Owner for contacting me and showing some interest in the concept.

The first group meeting will be October 6th at approx. 7pm on the second floor.

Great ingredients make great dishes!