| Chefs hail Tuscan kale
Tuscany gets plenty of adoration for its camera-ready landscapes, its free-flowing Chianti, and its trove of Renaissance art. But now we Americans need to thank it for a vegetable, too. In just the past decade or so, the lovable leafy green known as Tuscan kale has ridden the wave of interest in Italian cooking and rooted itself in Bay Area markets and gardens. "It has really taken off," says grower Noah Barnes of Capay Organic, a farm in the Capay Valley (Yolo County) that supplies several local markets and restaurants with Tuscan kale. Sales have climbed every year in the decade that the farm has been growing it, says Barnes, who watches customers eye the curious vegetable at winter farmers' markets. "People are attracted to it right away just by its appearance." But this elongated kale with the crinkly blue-green leaves and pebbly texture remains a mystery to many.
Travel Back in Time
When Philip Halim Faltas, director of the Coptic Museum, was asked to list the highlights, he responded as any proud museum director would: All the things in the museum are important because it is a very important period of time. When pressed, Faltas admitted that his favorite piece was the fresco of the Monastery of Apollo at Bawit. The fresco embodies one of the most important contributions of the Coptic era: monasticism. Egypt is known as the birthplace of Christian monasteries. During the third century, monasteries sprang up to shelter and support Egyptians who had started to retreat into the desert to pray. The monastic movement attracted the attention of their co-religionists from other parts of the world and sparked the concepts global spread. The fourth-century Monastery of Apollo at Bawit, located near Dairut in the Assiut governorate, is renowned for the architectural and artistic treasures discovered there.
Healing Our World: Weekly Comment
In the gluttonous celebrations so popular today, we seemed to have forgotten the fasting and praying. The celebrations many of us get wrapped up in have little to do with honoring the Earth or our culture. Rather, the holidays present a huge challenge to the environment, our pocketbooks, and our health. A recent study by Environmental Defense calculated that 3.6 million tons of paper were used to produce the roughly 59 catalogs mailed to every man, woman, and child in the United States last year. According to the Worldwatch Institute, only three of the countrys 42 leading catalog companies surveyed reported using recycled paper in the body of their mailings, even though by switching to just 10 percent recycled content, the entire catalog industry would save enough wood to stretch a six foot fence across the U.S.
Peppadew™, Pistachio and Cranberry Couscous with Melting Goat’s ...
1 Put the Sweet Piquanté Peppers, couscous and cranberries into a large bowl and add the hot stock, allowing it to soak in and swell the couscous for about 10 minutes. 2 Fluff up the couscous with a fork to separate the grains, then stir in the olive oil, ground coriander, pistachios, spring onions and parsley. Season with a little salt and pepper, if needed. 3 Preheat the grill. Lightly grill the goats cheese slices until they just begin to soften and melt. 4 Serve the couscous, topped with the goats cheese and garnished with fresh parsley sprigs. Cooks tip: To serve the couscous piping hot, microwave it for 11/2-2 minutes on HIGH, whilst you are grilling the goats cheese. .
Two tourists
One experience sums it all up: peering enviously in through the steamy windows of a well-known clam chowder restaurant on Cape Cod on a particularly vile day, weather-wise. Every time the door opened delicious cooking aromas wafted out. Inside, they - the rich people - were warm and happy. Outside, drooling in the rain, we knew we couldn't afford to go in; the cost of a meal there would keep us on the road for another week or so. We also knew that what awaited us back at our campsite was a waterlogged tent and a DIY concoction cooked on a one-ring gas stove. On such occasions I envied them, the people with money. They experienced their destination to the full while we behaved as if every penny was a prisoner of war. Or did they? Were we really missing out? Does money increase the quality of the tourism experience? We decided to put it to the test by becoming a tourist for the day in Sydney, looking at the best city in the world from both top and bottom ends.
|
