Rooter to Tooter at the Feed Store

First up, Pig three ways. Plated together was Chicharron , a Pig ear salad and some Pork tenderloin. Chicharron is deep fried pig skin, you see them often in the local taqueria. I have never tried them. Deep fried pig skin just never sounded to good to me. Now when Chef Cooper is offering it I don’t think twice. It’s good. It is what it is, ya got your skin, there’s a little fat on it and it’s been deep fried. It’s all Berkshire pig and like I said before, I know the farmers who raised that pig. Riverview is an organic farm in Ranger, Georgia. They provide some of the top restaurants and food shops in the Atlanta area with pig and produce. You can read for yourself about Berkshire pigs and the Riverview farm right here. RIVERVIEW FARM

So that’s what the chef’s at the Feed Store have done. They got themselves a Berkshire pig and they went to town with it. The menu is full of pork dishes, so I guess they will get a fresh pig quite often. I don’t think they are ready to serve the ears and the skin and the fat, well they are serving the fat, as in “pork belly” dishes. So when some folks like Stacey and I walk through the door, I bet the chefs get excited and say to each other “let’s see what we can get the Hartleys to eat”. So working with that snout to tail, rooter to tooter, nothing goes to waste attitude, Cooper serves us pig ears. We eat them of course. They are deep fried and are served to us on a green salad with some kinda dressing, I have forgotten that detail. The Tenderloin was sliced and served with fresh blueberries and a little blueberries sauce. Never had pork and blueberries, but as a rule I like fruit and meat together. This was a good plate of food, pig parts ya don’t usually get served, although these days your more likely to see strange pig parts popping up at some restaurants. This plate is not on the menu so if your eating at the Feed Store ask your server if the Chef has any pig ears laying around.

The Feed Store has a new menu going these days and like I said, lot’s of pork. One dish ya got to try WHEN you eat there is the Surf and Turf. I’m not sure that’s what they are calling this dish, it may be. What ya get is a beautifully seared scallop resting on a beautiful slice of pork belly, which is resting on sweetgrass goat cheese and tomato grits and topped with green tomato relish. This dish will make you slap your granny. These guys have come up with a really amazing menu, I can’t find anything on it I wouldn’t like to try, and I plan on trying it all.

Le Cordon Bleu

Chef phoned the other day asking if I might like to join him Sunday at the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute for a day of chef demos and an outdoor market. I would set up a booth and sell my art along side of farmers, cattle farmers, cheese makers and others in the food industry. Hell yea, count me in, I love events like this.

From what I learned after participating in the event was this. The Atlanta chapter of Slow Food has teamed up with Le Cordon Bleu and formed a “club” at the schools campus. I believe this was their first effort together and it was a fund raiser for Slow Foods. Whole Foods was one of the sponsors. Whole Foods Market also employees Chef as the Southeast prepared food manager and soon to be the face of their “VALUE GURU” campaign. Click on all three of these to learn more about each. They are all three really good institutes, doing good for the benefit of all, weather “all” know about them or not.

I got to say I really love working with folks in the food industry, especially the likes of those who practice a smart and sustainable way of doing business. I met a fellow named Will Harris and he raises cattle. His farm has been in his family for 141 years and in 1995 they decided to take a more pure attitude to producing beef. Today the cows are grass fed, they are given no antibiotics and no hormones are used to speed up growth. I tasted his ground beef at the market, really, really good. Lean and clean. He gave us a small pack to take home and we had burgers on the grill.

I talked to lot’s of chefs from around town and was happy to learn lot’s of them were familiar with my art. More then one of them introduce themselves as “fans”, that was real cool. One chef show me a tattoo he had of a pig and told me one of my paintings had inspired it. Hell to the yea!

Other vendors there were, Sweet Grass Dairy with their award winning cheese. Antico mercante, they import some of the best cured meats and cheeses from Italy. Whippoorwill farm selling organic produce and some top named chefs did cooking demos. Pure Vida, Woodfire Grill, Rathbuns, Dynamic Dish were some restaurants doing demos.

I hope they do more events like this, it was great success.

Whole Foods Markets

After posting yesterday, Stacey sent me this article. I don’t know where she found it but it really gives you an idea of how Whole Foods is pro-active and the positive approach they take to doing business. Very much UNLIKE companies such as Wal-Mart who seem to do just the opposite, as in putting the small guy out of business. Lot’s of folks complain about the prices at Whole Foods, but doing business like they do ain’t cheap and the effect on the community is priceless.

ATLANTA (May 23, 2008) – Whole Foods Market recently provided more than $500,000 in low-interest loans to three Georgia producers. Sweet Water Growers, Via Elisa Fresh Pasta and Harris Family Heritage Beef all will use this loan money to grow their businesses right here in Georgia.

The Local Producer Loan Program at Whole Foods Market makes $10 million available annually for low-interest loans to small, local producers. An extension of Whole Food Market’s efforts to expand the availability of quality, local, differentiated products for customers, the loan program supports the communities in which the company does business. This program also strengthens Whole Foods Market’s partnership with local producers and therefore reinforces the value of environmental sustainability.

Harris Family Heritage Beef at White Oak Pastures (http://www.whiteoakpastures.com/), Georgia’s leading grassfed beef producer, was able to complete a long-awaited on-farm facility designed to process beef according to rigorous humane animal treatment standards and to minimize environmental impact with its loan.

“Having this plant on our farm means we will never again have to load cattle that were born and raised here onto an 18-wheeler,” said Will Harris, founder and owner of White Oak Pastures. “It is more humane for the animals and without a doubt better for the environment to have a closed production loop on the farm.”

Prior to completion of the 5,329 square-foot facility, White Oak Pastures transported its cattle to a processing plant 100 miles away from the farm in Bluffton, a journey that stresses the animals and contributes to global warming by expending fossil fuels in transport. The on-farm facility will allow White Oak Pastures to significantly expand production and distribution of its beef. Whole Foods Market started carrying the company’s fresh steaks, roasts, and ground beef at its butcher counters in 2007.

Another local farm and family-run business dedicated to bringing fresh culinary herbs and specialty greens of the highest quality to the South United States, Sweetwater Growers, Inc. (http://www.sweetwatergrowers.com/), just received a loan, which enabled the addition of two new greenhouses in order to grow more fresh micro greens, basil and other herbs.

“We currently produce 100 cases of the living products right now and will be able to produce 400 cases once construction on the new greenhouses has been completed,” says James Dault of Sweetwater Growers Inc. “Whole Foods Market has increased their orders with us by 50% since last year, and I hope they continue to grow with me.”

Via Elisa Fresh Pasta (http://www.viaelisa.com/), a genuine fresh pasta shop in Atlanta, received a loan that will pay for a pasta cutter that enables increased efficiency and productivity. Previously, the company cut all of its pasta manually but will now be able to provide additional product with the use of this new machine. Via Elisa uses 100% organic flours, 100% organic semolina, eggs from free-range hens and luxurious cheeses imported directly from Italy and can now provide customers and outlets such as Whole Foods with a larger supply of authentic, homemade Italian pasta.

“Via Elisa has been a Whole Foods Market local vendor for four years and during that time, more and more stores are carrying our products,” says Elisa Gambino, owner of Via Elisa Fresh Pasta. “This demand was too much for our tabletop cutting machine, and the loan from Whole Foods made it possible to purchase a new and much faster cutting machine. The increased speed without an increase in labor costs helped us offset the recent increase in egg and flour prices without changing our exceptional ingredients. Thanks to Whole Foods, we are now faster and more efficient!”

“The Whole Foods Market Local Producer Loan Program was set up specifically to assist farmers like Will and James, and specialty producers like Elisa” said Joey Herndon, vice president of purchasing, Whole Foods Market South Region. “By offering support to their expansions, we are able to strengthen our relationships with local producers and support the development of specific products.”

The loan program minimizes fees, interest rates and paperwork for independent local producers, however, loan recipients must meet the following requirements:

• • Meet Whole Foods Market’s Quality Standards
  • Use funds for expansion (e.g., buy more animals or new equipment, expand crops) and not operating expenses
  • Meet Whole Foods Market’s Animal Compassion Standards (for meat and dairy producers)
  • Have a viable business plan and adequate cash flow to service debt

Here in Georgia, three recent recipients of the local loan program include White Oak Pastures, Sweetwater Growers and Via Elisa Fresh Pasta.

Whole Foods Markets

After posting yesterday, Stacey sent me this article. I don’t know where she found it but it really gives you an idea of how Whole Foods is pro-active and the positive approach they take to doing business. Very much UNLIKE companies such as Wal-Mart who seem to do just the opposite, as in putting the small guy out of business. Lot’s of folks complain about the prices at Whole Foods, but doing business like they do ain’t cheap and the effect on the community is priceless.

ATLANTA (May 23, 2008) – Whole Foods Market recently provided more than $500,000 in low-interest loans to three Georgia producers. Sweet Water Growers, Via Elisa Fresh Pasta and Harris Family Heritage Beef all will use this loan money to grow their businesses right here in Georgia.

The Local Producer Loan Program at Whole Foods Market makes $10 million available annually for low-interest loans to small, local producers. An extension of Whole Food Market’s efforts to expand the availability of quality, local, differentiated products for customers, the loan program supports the communities in which the company does business. This program also strengthens Whole Foods Market’s partnership with local producers and therefore reinforces the value of environmental sustainability.

Harris Family Heritage Beef at White Oak Pastures (http://www.whiteoakpastures.com/), Georgia’s leading grassfed beef producer, was able to complete a long-awaited on-farm facility designed to process beef according to rigorous humane animal treatment standards and to minimize environmental impact with its loan.

“Having this plant on our farm means we will never again have to load cattle that were born and raised here onto an 18-wheeler,” said Will Harris, founder and owner of White Oak Pastures. “It is more humane for the animals and without a doubt better for the environment to have a closed production loop on the farm.”

Prior to completion of the 5,329 square-foot facility, White Oak Pastures transported its cattle to a processing plant 100 miles away from the farm in Bluffton, a journey that stresses the animals and contributes to global warming by expending fossil fuels in transport. The on-farm facility will allow White Oak Pastures to significantly expand production and distribution of its beef. Whole Foods Market started carrying the company’s fresh steaks, roasts, and ground beef at its butcher counters in 2007.

Another local farm and family-run business dedicated to bringing fresh culinary herbs and specialty greens of the highest quality to the South United States, Sweetwater Growers, Inc. (http://www.sweetwatergrowers.com/), just received a loan, which enabled the addition of two new greenhouses in order to grow more fresh micro greens, basil and other herbs.

“We currently produce 100 cases of the living products right now and will be able to produce 400 cases once construction on the new greenhouses has been completed,” says James Dault of Sweetwater Growers Inc. “Whole Foods Market has increased their orders with us by 50% since last year, and I hope they continue to grow with me.”

Via Elisa Fresh Pasta (http://www.viaelisa.com/), a genuine fresh pasta shop in Atlanta, received a loan that will pay for a pasta cutter that enables increased efficiency and productivity. Previously, the company cut all of its pasta manually but will now be able to provide additional product with the use of this new machine. Via Elisa uses 100% organic flours, 100% organic semolina, eggs from free-range hens and luxurious cheeses imported directly from Italy and can now provide customers and outlets such as Whole Foods with a larger supply of authentic, homemade Italian pasta.

“Via Elisa has been a Whole Foods Market local vendor for four years and during that time, more and more stores are carrying our products,” says Elisa Gambino, owner of Via Elisa Fresh Pasta. “This demand was too much for our tabletop cutting machine, and the loan from Whole Foods made it possible to purchase a new and much faster cutting machine. The increased speed without an increase in labor costs helped us offset the recent increase in egg and flour prices without changing our exceptional ingredients. Thanks to Whole Foods, we are now faster and more efficient!”

“The Whole Foods Market Local Producer Loan Program was set up specifically to assist farmers like Will and James, and specialty producers like Elisa” said Joey Herndon, vice president of purchasing, Whole Foods Market South Region. “By offering support to their expansions, we are able to strengthen our relationships with local producers and support the development of specific products.”

The loan program minimizes fees, interest rates and paperwork for independent local producers, however, loan recipients must meet the following requirements:

• • Meet Whole Foods Market’s Quality Standards
  • Use funds for expansion (e.g., buy more animals or new equipment, expand crops) and not operating expenses
  • Meet Whole Foods Market’s Animal Compassion Standards (for meat and dairy producers)
  • Have a viable business plan and adequate cash flow to service debt

Here in Georgia, three recent recipients of the local loan program include White Oak Pastures, Sweetwater Growers and Via Elisa Fresh Pasta.

More on The Order of Myths

Margaret Brown is the film maker responsible for the film “The Order of Myths”. She is from Mobile, Alabama and worked with about 400 hours of footage to put the documentary together. She has another documentary out about Townes Van Zandt, “Be here to love me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt”, which I plan on getting. It’s at amazon. com. Here is a short interview with her and some other sites that have written about the film. Check them out for more info and thoughts on “The Order of Myths”.

http://blog.spout.com/2008/03/12/sxsw-2008-interview-margaret-brown-of-the-order-of-myths/

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/27/review-the-order-of-myths/

http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2008/07/review_carnival.html

Going Forward, Kicking and Screaming

I grew up in beautiful downtown Mobile, Alabama. I’m in love with the place. I haven’t always been in love with the folks that live there or some of their attitudes, but I have always loved the city. I think I have felt sorry for Mobile, it has been stuck in neutral for a long, long time.

When I was 12 years old we moved to the Garden District, downtown. When I was 16 I went to work at a clothing store on Royal Street that had been operating in the Port City for a long time. I watched it happen, I know what I’m talking about. This would have been 1978ish and downtown Mobile was fast becoming a waste land. Other than lawyers, banks and businesses that catered to the state docks, not much else was happening there. Mobile was a town of “old money” and the old money liked things just the way they were.

Now days with the help of new blood and some forward thinking people like David Bronner , (just click on his name and see read about some of the great things he has done for Mobile and the whole state of Alabama) Mobile has started to get itself together and started making some progress moving into the future. It didn’t hurt that hurricane Katrina wiped out so much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans. Many people and businesses have relocated to Mobile. That, along with some really large companies setting up plants in the area, Mobile is getting a very needed financial boost. And from what I read in the news paper this morning it seems attitudes are moving into the future as well.

Last night at the beautiful Saenger Theater, in beautiful downtown Mobile the documentary “The Order of the Myths” was screened. A film about the Mystic Societies and history of Mobiles Mardi Gras. Finally, all got a chance to see it. It has been on the film festival circuit for about a year now and is finally hitting some theaters. Much has been written about this film and the word controversial is always brought up. The folks back home have been worried that it was all about race and the unfortunate segregation of the Mardi Gras organizations.

Well I must tell you how happy I was to wake up this morning and read in the Mobile news paper that, The Order of Myths received a standing ovation after the reels stopped rolling last night. 1762 people attended and there was a Q and A session afterwards. From what I can get from the news paper folks were generally happy with it and I’m not surprised. Like I have said before, we’re southern not stupid. We get it, we know like every place on earth Mobile has problems and they need fixing. I’m just happy to see we are moving ahead, forward, into the future even if there is some kicking and screaming.

After all the negative I had heard from folks, even though they had not seen the film, I was moved to tears when I read this line. It was a comment about the Q and A session, it read “Some audience members used the question period to state their appreciation for the film - and their love of Mobile Mardi Gras.” These are the people that are gonna make Mobile a better place, people that can love it and know it’s got some growing to do.

Funeral Crasher’s

I am starting a new “dinner club” if you will. It’s gonna be called the “Dead peoples Food Dinner Club”. I’m sure you know where I’m going with this, asking yourself why haven’t I thought of this before. Well it takes a special way of thinking to come up with ideas like this and I guess I’m just a special kind of thinker.

THE COOLEST GUY I KNOW - A PERSONAL HERO IF YOU WILL

It started about a year ago. Stacey and I went to Mississippi for a funeral on her dads side of the family. After the service we hightailed it back to the airport to catch a flight home. There were later flights that we could have gotten that day, but for some stupid reason I thought we needed to hurry home. As it turned out the flights were delayed and one thing led to another, we didn’t get home early at all. After all this I got to thinking about what if we would have stayed for the dinner that was at the local church, what had I missed by trying to hurry home. I talked to my father in law and questioned him about the food they had at the church. His report made me cry. Then it made me mad. How stupid of me, I should know better, the food is always gonna be good at a country church funeral party. So that’s when I got to thinkin I need to stick around next time, hell spend the night if I have to, cause the food I missed was probably some of the best southern cooking you can get you hands on. Nothing makes an old lady do her best cooking like a dead person. God bless em.

So lately I have been calling my mom and dad, my in-laws, aunts and uncles, just about anyone I can think of to see if anyone had died and if so where is the funeral. I’ve had a little luck, a distant cousin I really didn’t know died and the funeral was in Tennessee, in a rural area. I knew this would be good for a true southern meal, and I was right. I didn’t care that I didn’t know a soul there and I don’t think anyone gave me a second thought. Just dress nice, show up and know the dead persons name and your in like flint.

Problem is people I know just don’t die often enough and it’s against the law to really help them along, if ya know what I mean. So here’s what I’m proposing, start searching the small town newspapers. The obits are always easy to find in these small town papers and there is always enough information on the deceased to get you in the door and a spot at the buffet line. I bet we won’t even have to get on airplanes, I bet there are probably funerals almost everyday, in some remote area that is in driving distance.

This could be big. We could make 4 and 5 day vacations out of this idea. Hit the road, the two lane road, maybe even the dirt road, grab the local paper and find yourself a dead person. Put on a nice shirt, comb you hair, go to the wake, find some angle to work on how you knew the dead person and enjoy a great, southern country meal.

So are ya with me. Who’s in? Let me know cause I’m ready to roll.