{weekend reading} NATIONAL EDITION*

NEWS/COMMENTARY/COLUMNS- all food all the time
A great story on NPR this week on year-round growing featuring my friend Georgia and her husband Zach, owners of Tree & Leaf Farm in Unionville, VA. They sell to restaurants and at the Dupont Circle farmer’s market in DC. Congrats!

Mark Bittman turns on the positivity this week with Six Things to Feel Good About opinion piece. As I said on our Facebook page (if you’re not our friend yet, you should we post some fun stuff!) its nice to have a moment of hope in the face of all the negative food systems issues facing this county & planet at large. Small steps…one foot in front of the other…

For Bittman’s blog piece he did his own “national edition” link love with some of the top articles of the week on very important subjects. There are NO “fluff” links in his love… VERY VERY good. Read this post, click on all my links…then head to Bittman to continue the “conversation”. Oh and our local farmer, Bob Comis, whom I linked to last week, got a “hat tip”- SO COOL!

Speaking of Bob Comis, the Schoharie, New York farmer, has another great piece in GRIST , “I Raise Pigs on Annual Pastured Crops. Am I Farming Sustainably?

So the James Beard Award Nominations in writing & journalism were announced this week. Big congrats to Barry Estabrook for his SIX nominiations, his food-news reporting is hard-hitting and through. Various article in Saveur Magazine were also nominated. I haven’t read any of them but I am excited to. They have offered all the stories online in one convenient place.

Christina at SpoonFed has done it again, another great commentary. This time on the issue of dyes used in foods, which are about to be examined by the FDA. She uses St. Patrick’s Day as her jumping off point. Excellent. The Washington Post weighs in on the pending “review” and the new research on the connections between ADHD and food dyes.

Melanie Warner at bnet has another great commentary on processed food: banana twinkies (with no banana ingredient) and Quaker Strawberries & Cream Instant Oatmeal with no actual strawberries and cream as ingredients.

Denny’s has a bacon sundae for their “bacon celebration”. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Food writer, Jane Black, has a great commentary, “Got Farmers?”, on old v. new farmer “And while it’s easier (and often more fun) to focus on new, young farmers – the goat cheese makers and the folks who specialize in baby amaranth greens — persuading older, experienced farmers to grow and sell food again is key to building sustainable, local food systems.” She discusses Appalachian Sustainable Development, a co-op of farmers in southwest Virginia and eastern Tennessee as an example. Interesting read and the comments are good too!

The Washington Post weighs in with an “overview” article on the organic v. genetically engineered crops.

The AP reports, via HuffPost, that a Tyson farmer has lost his looong court battle against the Tyson Corporation in the Supreme Court, they rejected his appeal. Boo. Hiss.

University of Vermont follows UC Santa Cruz & Michigan State with a 5-month Farming Apprenticeship Program. Civil Eats reports.

Defunct-Gourmet magazine has a blog and there is an article “Shut Up, Locavores”. Enough said. Read it.

Google has a new “recipe” search function and it has MAJOR problems; mainly it leaves out all the millions of small blogs and websites such as us!  The kicker, the move was on purpose. Its a big deal as millions of people research & use recipes on the web. I had avoided covering this issue until there was a good commentary on the subject. The piece has finally been written. Food52 founder & NYTimes columnist (and author of NYTIMES Cooking Anthology)  wrote a GREAT overview on why it stinks. Its a very interesting read for many reasons; its about business, discrimination and more. Must read.

TakePart has a great list of 100 must read books on the food industry.

Good has an article about projects being created to help the health & well being of farmworkers in California.

Two posts from Dr. Marion Nestle worth noting: High Food Prices and Processed Foods In Trouble?

FOOD PROJECTS
What to say about this post?! What Julia Ate made boozy-goodness… TRIPLE SEC. Enough Said.

On Mondays, Doris & Jilly answer reader’s food preservation questions. This week: off-season canning, like using frozen produce in canning projects.

Weekly Bite has a recipe for homemade pimento cheese.

Doris & Jilly Cook (again) this time with a recipe for Spring Loaded Carrot Kimchi.

Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking has a great post on reusing dresser drawers as raised garden beds.

RECIPES
Albany’s own Christine of Unspeakable Visions got a totally cute haircut AND made pain-au-chocolat. I was totally inspired by this recipe I used my own GF brioche recipe and made them too!

Local Kitchen has Christmas Limas with Seared Pork Cutlets and Fresh Apple Relish…You know, since winter is still holding us New Yorkers in its grips.

Power food pairings entrees by EatingWell Magazine via HuffPost.

Food52 with Tuscan Fantasy Meals… Ohh they look amazing!

Mochi pancakes by The Kind Diet.

Nourished Kitchen with Onion Bisque with frizzled leeks.

Annie Eats with Classic Mac & Cheese.

Dana Treat has brussel sprouts with tofu.

Braised Fennel by Gluten Free Girl & The Chef.

Finally, Cathy Erway with Spiced Chickpea Stew with Sweet Peppers, Onions and Saison.

* Yeah US! This is our 300th post!