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In case you haven’t noticed, we love dessert. Whether it’s a simple scoop of Maple Valley Ice Cream or a decadent chocolate molten soufflé cake, we want a bite and then some. And while we are equal-opportunity dessert eaters, one our favorite forms of post-dinner sweetness is pudding. Rice, Indian, tapioca, banana - you name it, we’ll eat it. Did you get the Saveur magazine in which Gabriella G
We have been toying around with the idea of the perfect chili for a while now. Of course, depending on your location and heritage, there are a thousand different variations on a classic. Beans or no beans? Pork or beef? Do you use a whole muscle or ground meat? What cut? And then, what kind of chiles do you use? Researching a "classic" chili doesn't answer many questions as much as it just asks mo
We just love Brassica oleracea, there is no way around it. For somereason though, this fall we have been really into cauliflower. The intensity of our new-ish obsession is fed by the vegetable's consistent presence on the counter at the Meat Market; each week a cornucopia of white, orange, lavender and romanesco cauliflowers come in from Indian Line Farm and The Berry Patch, begging us to take t
As much as we love a good BBQ and summer produce, we’re excited to watch the leaves turn yellow and red and feel the days shorten because that means our meals are starting to change as well. Fall is really our favorite season for cooking. Braises, roasts, Brussels sprouts and squashes... we just can’t get enough. The thing is, most of those autumnal foods require a fair amount of time to prepare.
We are loving our first September together in New Marlborough – perfect weather, the best produce and the late afternoon light?! Amazing! In fact, we fell so in love with September in the Berkshires that we’ve been inspired to get married here, in our backyard, next fall!! Not surprisingly, many of our preliminary wedding-planning conversations revolve around food. Jake works with the most a
All summer long Jake has been talking about bringing a tri-tip steak home to grill - but this is easier said than done. Each steer only has two tri-tips, on top of which they are an elusive cut in the north-east, so they don't last long in the case. Like other one- or two-to-an-animal cuts, like the skirt, flank, or hanger, Jake had resigned himself to missing another summer without one. But! This
In many ways the summer can feel like one long build-up to that first bright-red, juicy tomato from the garden. For months we spend warm evenings strolling through the garden, checking on the state of our staked fruit, patiently waiting for mid-August. And then! We gorge - tomato sandwiches, caprese salad, salsa, fresh tomato sauce, grilled tomatoes, tomato and cucumber salad, canned tomato
We’ve been spread pretty thin lately, slowly settling into our new lives here in New Marlborough, so you may have noticed that we’ve been neglecting the blog a little bit. Though our next post is always in the back of our minds it has been a struggle - between a new kitchen and new schedules - to get into a good cooking, picture taking and writing routine. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t
Moving away from the Union Square Green Market has been hard on us, but the “lemonade” is an excuse to join one of the many fabulous CSAs in South Berkshire County. (A little known fact: one of the first CSAs in America was established right here in Egremont, MA; Indian Line Farm was started by Robyn Van En, Jan Vander Tuin and a group of local community members in 1985.) Though it was a tough dec
While we've waxed plenty poetic about our newly close vicinity to free-ranging animals and bountiful backyard veggies, we've haven't much mentioned the other reason we jumped off the urban cliff: the rich Berkshire community of food-lovers and makers. Between Jake's job at the Meat Market and Silka's at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, we've been so lucky to meet a wide-ranging - and often ove
While we’re still working on planting our own garden, we’ve been lucky to have full access to Jake’s father Tom’s bountiful veggie plot. This season, his radish crop in particular has been out of control! Every day there are more and more brightly colored orbs popping out of the ground. And we have been eating them every way we know how - sprinkled with salt, on buttered bread, poached in her
You may have noticed that we often gravitate toward affordable and overlooked cuts of meat. And why not? Rather than fight the crowds for grill-ready rib eyes, flank steaks and London broils during the summer months, we skip the line and go for flanken. For Jewish grandmothers and Korean BBQ lovers this cut of beef is nothing new, but for most American shoppers it's an unusual looking pie
As we've definitely mentioned before, we're drowning in a sea of fresh eggs - along with all the other backyard chicken owners out there. But, of course, we're not complaining! There are a seemingly infinite number of recipes that use eggs by the coop-full, and we're having a blast experimenting.Lucky for us, we also have a glut of fantastic local bakeries in the area. One of our favorites,
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Around this time of year we generally like to go on a short, relaxing, south-bound escape. After a long winter cooped up in the sludgey city, it's the perfect time to jump on a plane headed for sandier pastures. Last year's destination was Isla Mujeres, a tiny island just off the coast of Cancun. It was the perfect getaway; a long weekend packed with beach reading, bike riding, tequila drinking an
For years now we've been dying to stop by Dominic Palumbo's farm, Moon in the Pond. Given our enormously high expectations, it would have been easy to leave disappointed. But we didn't, not even a little bit.Dom has been at the helm of Moon in the Pond for the last 20 years and shows no signs of stopping. A leader of the Slow Food movement in the Berkshires, he runs his farm on biodynamic princi
The first fruit of the season isn’t really a fruit at all, but nonetheless it's one of our favorites. Each year around this time, Jake's grandmother Jane would bake up her first rhubarb dish of the season and he'd know - with that perfect combination of sweet and tart and that beautiful pink color - that warmer days were on their way.We're thrilled to announce that Jane's fortune telling rhubarb p
The first fruit of the season isn’t really a fruit at all, but nonetheless it's one of our favorites. Each year around this time, Jake's grandmother Jane would bake up the season's first rhubarb dish and he'd know - with that perfect combination of sweet and tart, and that beautiful pink color - that warmer days were on their way.We're thrilled to announce that Jane's fortune telling rhubarb patch
Jake came home from work on his birthday to discover a yoghurt container full of bright green fiddlehead ferns. Now, there is only one person who would think to give Jake fiddlehead ferns on his birthday and it's not Silka. It was our neighbor and family bestie Scottie Mills!Scottie has been a huge inspiration for The Butcher & The Baker posts - it was her Easter Brunch we wrote about a
If you follow us on Facebook, you may have heard that Jake is the new butcher at the Meat Market in Great Barrington - and having a blast! The shop runs on hard work from a great team of passionate people and he's already had the opportunity to experiment with lots of different cuts, techniques... and animals! The other day, the shop got in a farm-raised venison and Jake was thrilled for the chanc
On Easter Sunday, we went to our good friend Scottie's house for her festive and sprawling annual brunch. Each dish on the bountiful table was springy and delicious, but the highlight was the smoked ham made from a super-local (like backyard-local) pig. After fully digging in - for maybe too long - Jake realized that one of the regular guests, Susan Sellew of Rawson Brook Farm, wasn’t there and n
On Easter Sunday, we went to our good friend Scottie's house for her festive and sprawling annual brunch. Each dish on the bountiful table was springy and delicious, but the highlight was the smoked ham made from a super-local (like backyard-local) pig. After fully digging in - for maybe too long - Jake realized that one of the regular guests, Susan Selew of Rawson Brook Farm, wasn’t there and no
As we adjust to life in the country, we are faced with a handful of new culinary challenges. One - which deserves much more discussion than we'll give it today - is that it's ironically much harder to buy local produce here than it was in NYC. Another issue (as the NYTimes warned) is that along with the joys of backyard chickens comes the reality of a constant and consistent supply of eggs th
As we adjust to life in the country, we are faced with a handful of new culinary challenges. One - which deserves much more discussion than we'll give it today - is that it's ironically much harder to buy local produce here than it was in NYC. Another (as the NYTimes warned) is that along with the joys of backyard chickens comes the reality of a constant and consistent supply of eggs that need to
We know, we know - it's all anyone can talk about right now, but we just can’t help ourselves! We love RAMPS! And how can you not?! The sweet, garlicky wild onions are some the very first greens to sprout out of the earth in early spring and their flavor encapsulates the cool breeze, wet earth, and warm sun of the season. Silka started aching for our first ramps as early as February and because of
Perhaps not surprisingly, Passover is one of Jake’s all-time favorite holidays because it's a night on which we use food to tell a story about justice. And this year's seder was particularly momentous because it marked our first full week living in New Marlborough, MA. So we invited the usual suspects to join us for a long night of singing, eating, drinking, and telling stories. Our (semi-
A few weeks back, in the spirit of early spring, we set out to make rabbit ragu over pappardelle. Beside the fact that Jake has had a major hankering for it, we thought the dish was the perfect way to deal with recent cool temperatures' unsuccessful attempt to stamp out our spring spirit. Our grocery list was simple - a whole rabbit and a bunch of carrots from the Green Market and some canned t
This is the longest we have gone without posting since we started our blog, and let us just say that we have the best excuse ever! After months of careful (ha!) planning, we have finally moved to our homestead in New Marlborough, Massachusetts! And in the midst of the big move, Jake spent a week working with students at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton, Long Island, where his lessons covered
This is the longest we have gone without posting since we started our blog, and let us just say that we have the best excuse ever! After months of careful (ha!) planning, we have finally moved to our homestead in New Marlborough, Massachusetts! And in the midst of the big move, Jake spent a week working with students at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton, Long Island where his lessons covered b
Warmer weather is creeping in, but spring produce has yet to sprout. This leaves us with a pretty constant hankering for lighter fare. Enough with the roasts and braises, give us greens! ...That is, until the next time this crazy weather ricochets back to colder temperatures.Recently, Silka has become obsessed with hearty spinach and apple salad. It's a classic combination - greens, apples, some c
Like PB+J's, chocolate chip cookies and chicken noodle soup, most people like their scrambled eggs the way they like them. Or, in Jake's case, the way their mother makes them. Luckily for Silka, Jake's mom makes some killer scrambled eggs! (Warning: If you like your eggs dry, this post is not for you!) Susan - or "Shoo," as we call her - starts her scrambled eggs by adding lots of great dairy (cr
When we asked Harmon of Maple Avenue Farms how he likes to eat his own Sun Fed Beef, he said a rare hamburger, just like Grazin Angus' Chip did. The reasons were similar - it's cheap, easy and a great way to showcase quality grass-fed flavor. Alex, on the other hand, said short ribs. We were pretty pumped about this answer. Not that we don't love a good burger (and boy, do we!) but we hadn’t poste
When we asked Harmon of Maple Avenue Farms how he likes to eat his own Sun Fed Beef, he said a rare hamburger, just like Grazin Angus' Chip did. The reasons were similar - it's cheap, easy and a great way to showcase quality grass-fed flavor. Alex, on the other hand, said short ribs. We were pretty pumped about this answer. Not that we don't love a good burger (and boy, do we!) but we hadn’t po
Because we are such avid devotees of Grazin Angus, we were devastated when they stopped coming to Friday's Union Square Greenmarket. (Even though they cut back for a good reason - the amazing Grazin Diner.) Yes, they are still in Union Square on Saturdays and yes, we still buy their product when we can. But we are often away on the weekends - and even when we're in town we try to avoid the
Because we are such avid devotees of Grazin Angus, we were devastated when they stopped coming to Friday's Union Square Greenmarket. (Even though they cut back for a good reason - the amazing Grazin Diner.) Yes, they are still in Union Square on Saturdays and yes, we still buy their product when we can. But we are often away on the weekends - and even when we're in town we try to avoid the Saturd
As you’ve probably noticed, we’re major lamb lovers. So it's no coincidence that one of our all-time favorite stands at the Union Square Greenmarket is Catskill Merino. If you've never had the opportunity to stop by this lamb and wool haven, you absolutely should make the effort. The wide stall is lined with hundreds of skeins of beautifully hand-dyed wool in the most amazing natural colors, with
On a lazy weekend morning, nothing makes us happier than a big cup of coffee and something freshly baked. The problem with this equation is that, in your pre-pastry haze, you have to actually “freshly bake” something. Enter scones - the easiest thing ever to make, a catch-all for aging pantry staples, and the perfect not-too-sweet-not-too-savory vessel for butter, cream and jam. Seriously, you cou
If you've been reading along you may remember when, in late November, we wrote about participating in a beautiful “Pig Party” at Old Field Farm in Cornwallville, NY. At the end of the post we mentioned that "this [was] the beginning of a very exciting partnership” and on March 1st that partnership was officially premiered! It took two exhausting and exhilarating months of planning, meetings, recip
When we last visited Silka’s family in Wellsville, her mother Tina suggested we invite some friends over for a rib party. After an affirmative squeal of excitement from the two of us, she pulled out six racks of spare ribs from a local farmer and we quickly hit the books looking for the perfect recipe. Rather than do the usual Southern-style barbecue, we wanted to try something a little different.
