Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

We recently took a local trip to the LA Flower Market, one of the oldest flower markets in the States (located reasonably/surprisingly close to down town LA). Now sadly many of the flowers are flown in from other parts of the world where historically most of the offering was locally grown. This got me to thinking about India and their floriculture; not just because of the food project - but also because we picked up a nice bunch of tropical flowers grown in remote parts of the world.

India has a rich history there with references to flowers in ancient Sanskrit classics like the Rig Veda (C 3000-2000 BC) and Mahabharata (prior to 4th Century BC). India's vast natural resources and wide ranging climate conditions allow for growth of tropical flowers virtually year round somewhere in India - very similar to California and the Pacific Coast. Most flowers these days are grown and sold for individual and bunch sales e.g. marigold, jasmine, chrysanthemum, aster, crossandra, tuberose etc. India's growing economy means the appetite for roses, carnations, orchids, etc. will likely grow. Not sure that means the imports we receive will be redirected to India or that red roses on Valentines Day will be the next big business opportunity in India. Something we'll look into a bit.

NY Times Coverage

Below is a bit of free press we received courtesy of the NY Times. The editors included her comment in the Highlights section for comments that are particularly interesting or thoughtful. Good job Lisa!

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/bittman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/the-savory-breakfast-department-progress/?sort=newest

Lisa
Los Angeles
February 7th, 2011
8:24 am
I am eating my savory breakfast of dashi with tofu, spinach, shitaki, and udon as I read your column. When I moved to California from Back East in the mid-90's I stayed briefly at a Residence Inn the clientele of which was largely Japanese corporate travelers. They served traditional Japanese breakfast of rice, dashi, miso, and pickled vegetables. I was hooked. Here are a couple of posts from my blog with recipes for some savory breakfasts. I hope you enjoy them. http://projectparatha.blogspot.com... and http://projectparatha.blogspot.com...

Pink Cloud Sparkling Meadow II

Pink Cloud Sparkling Meadow II

We used to be very "in" to shakes and juicing several years back.  The name of this one is a take off of one of our most delightful ones which had a guava juice base and a similar colour.  The Junger book has brought back many fond memories of making interesting and healthy juice mixes; although now we are aided by a Vita Mix which makes quite a difference.  This concoction is a take off of the recipes in Clean. 

The base is a nut milk; made with equal portions of brazil, walnut, and almonds.  1 cup of nuts is placed in a bowl to soak for 2 hours with 2 cups of water.  The nuts are then drained and added to the mixer with 2 cups of fresh water and run for 2 minutes.  Many folks like to strain the remaining nut  meat from the milk - I like to leave about half in. 

To prepare the shake, add one cup of nut milk to the mixer, a teaspoon of agave, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of blue berries, a handful of raspberries, and some cardamon.  If the fruit is frozen mix for 1 minute, otherwise 30 seconds.  This drink delivers a euphoric feeling and really will provide a lot of energy to your day.  If you want you can also add some protein powder - if you do go with something that has a vanilla flavour to it. 

The drink is not so much Indian, despite the spices, as it is a good start to a day and part of our overall food journey.  We hope you enjoy this one.

Clean and Corn Bread

Well, there is some news with this recipe. The corn bread came out nicely. The key dry ingredients: 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup corn flour, 1 pinch red pepper, 1 pinch garam masala, 1 pinch sea salt, 1 tsp baking powder. Wet ingredients: 1/2 cup cooked corn kernels, 1 cup 2% milk, 1 tbspn cold pressed olive oil, 1 tbspn CA honey from the farmer's market and 2 eggs. Great with a dipping sauce and probably would be nice with a curry.

Lisa bought me a copy of Alejandro Junger's Clean this week and reading through it; it looks like many of the ingredients contained in this recipe, at least for me cause inflamation - eggs and dairy and potentially the corn. Clean is a wonderful way to detox, without the dangers of a water only, or water/maple syrup/pepper, or liquid only process. The book takes the reader through the types of items that cause inflamation, irritation, etc. to our systems, how to go through a temporary process of restarting/rejuvinating our bodies, and then offering sensible/non-extreme views as to what one might do going forward. We'll write some more about this and the advantages of the Clean method over other methods. Without a formal immersion yet, I am pretty convinced it works based on what I've seen with Lisa and my own very limited recent experience. About a week and half ago I cut out eggs, and particularly egg whites - which I had been consuming like they were going out of style, on a hunch from Lisa that they were causing this odd red spot on my neck. According to my doctor I don't have an allergy to them but, ... eliminating them from my diet cleared up the rash thing quickly. Even a small taste of the corn muffins brought it back slightly. So no more corn muffins of this ilk for me. If you don't have an issue with corn or any of the other ingredients you'll love them.

Indian Corn Breads

We have not done much with Indian corn and griddle cakes on this project yet. In the Spring time in the States corn-based breads have a long and storied history, particularly in the SouthEast. They also have their roots in the South, the Civil War, back-yard family gatherings, and various different events/moments that conjure for some a very complex tapestry of experiences and emoitions when we talk about corn bread. The town of S. Pittsburg, TN even hosts and annual corn-bread festival replete with eating contests, cook-offs, etc. This evening we'll take on a fusion project of making Southeastern corn muffins, think Baltimore style with good bits of corn in them - and look to infuse them with a delectible Indian spices or possibly a dipping sauce. More to follow.