running with tweezers

Attack of The Killer Tomato Festival 2010!

This past Sunday brought the second edition of what has become my favorite Atlanta food event - Attack of the Killer Tomatofest, which is a benefit for Georgia Organics. The organization does so much for area farmers, raising awareness of locally grown food and helping network growers, retailers and consumers together to spotlight the diversity and deliciousness of eating local. Georgia Organics is involved with many events throughout the year but this one has become a local favorite of not just me but of the entire food community in Atlanta, as evidenced by the sell-out crowd that braved the scorching heat & blaring sun to sample the best tomato-based dishes & drinks created by the best chefs and mixologists in the Southeast.

In case tastes by Atlanta legends such as Gerry Klaskala and Kevin Rathbun wasn't enough, this year's festival brought incredible chefs such as Chris Hastings from Hot & Hot Fish Club in Birmingham and Mike Lata from Fig in Charleston. There was so much deliciousness in one place, I can't begin to tell you about it all. To see photos of just a few scenes from Tomatofest, check out my Flickr set here. You can see more photos from the event both at Georgia Organic's Facebook page (there's a list of the winners there, too), as well this great recap post over at Foodie Buddha.

It's about time - The Atlanta Food & Wine Festival!

Last week, a group of Atlanta food fans gathered in the top floor loft of one of the city's newest (and most talked about) developments, White Provision. Initially, our purpose here was unclear - the invites were very hush-hush. However, with one of Holeman & Finch mixologist Greg Best's incredible cocktails in our hand and a spectacular view of downtown,  we knew it had to be good. One good look at the signs around the room gave it away - our fine city was finally going to get it's culinary credit: The Atlanta Food & Wine Festival.

The brainchild of Dominique Love and Elizabeth Feichter, they've modeled the festival after those happening in Aspen and South Beach. Atlanta is a town with incredible chefs...and they've assembled them into the Founder's Council, whose food we were lucky enough to sample throughout the evening. Chefs such as Anne Quatrano (Bacchanalia), Linton Hopkins (Restaurant Eugene), Hugh Acheson (Five & Ten), Kevin Rathbun (Rathbun's), and Shaun Doty (Shaun's) will be helping steer the direction of the festival. The event's focus on Old and New Traditions - as well as warm welcome to those things from across the region - should prove to be spectacular.

Spectacular only begins to describe the food we tasted that night: a slightly curry flavored pulled duck slider with dried fig relish from One Flew South (an Atlanta airport culinary destination without question), Alabama white BBQ sauce on the burgers from Yeah! Burger, Miller Union's sublime smoked trout salad, and Anne Quatrano's blueberry & Meyer lemon semifreddo were only just a few of the many highlights.

The Atlanta Food and Wine Festival takes place in Atlanta, Georgia on May 19-22, 2011. There will be tastings, demos, and seminars that span those 4 days. Go ahead - mark your calendars. For more information, you can visit the event's website at http://atlfoodandwinefestival.com/.

please blog responsibly

Stepping on my soapbox here on RWT isn't something I often do. I've had my tongue in cheek rants in the past but they've still had a little levity. However, an exchange I had at the recent Taste of The Highlands event planted a seed in my brain that I just haven't been able to ignore. The owner of a fairly well regarded local restaurant approached our group - comprised of mostly non-restaurant review bloggers - and asked who we were. Once it was clear to him that we weren't part of the offending party, he revealed his disdain for the local food bloggers and the impact that their opinions - often based on quick glimpses at one time experiences - have on their business.

At the time, we all sort of gave each other the side-eye and went on about our business. The following week, as I read negative after negative review of Atlanta establishments (both new and longstanding), I have to admit there might be some truth to his argument. These days, the restaurant review bloggers can be considered an expert with no background in the etiquette or ethics of their field. Some folks are blogging irresponsibly. There. I said it.

Don't get me wrong...I'm all about the Internet being an open forum to express ideas and pass along information. I did it myself with this here blog. However, from day one, I've made the conscious choice to post about cooking, life stories, and unique experiences I can share with readers. When products are pitched to me, I immediately pass along the caveat that while I will try most anything a company wants to share with me, I will only present positive reviews and uses for their product on my blog. Why? Because being negative and controversial is too easy. Let's face it - there is a lot of mediocre out there, whether it's a product or restaurant or service. Spicy words and scathing reviews drive a lot more traffic to a blog than the warm-and-fuzzy stuff. It's much tougher to seek out the good stuff (and do real research) and highlight the positive - something bloggers like The Blissful Glutton have grown to do and earned a great deal of credibility & respect in the process.

The bloggers aren't the only ones to blame here. The excitement by companies and the faces of their PR machines caused them to jump on the food blog bandwagon as a way to get free publicity and peddle their wares. They've often not quantified who is qualified to speak on the topic of their business, their restaurant's style of cooking or the service they provide. Now, the pendulum has swung in favor of the bloggers and the weight they carry, much to the dismay of those representing a business who gets a review based on an off-night or a bad batch.We need to get to a point where those pushing restaurants and products really target those who best fit the image and market their trying to reach.

All I'm saying here, folks, is think before you type. I know this is demodé but cliches are around for a reason - there might be something to be said for not saying anything if you don't have something nice to say. Silence or lack of information about something often speaks volumes. At the very least, don't let your judgment be swayed by Google Analytics or the lure of free swag. Please continue to go out, stimulate the economy, and let people know how you feel about it...but do so in a way that is educated and well thought out. Visit a place more than once. Give things a second taste. Walk a busy service in their shoes. You'll be rewarded by a better blog, more credibility and the respect of the entire community.

waking from my Sugar Coma...

 

I do apologize for the delay in posting. I've been in a whirlwind of work. I've also been recovering (with water and salty snacks) from the amazing event I got to take part in two weekends ago - the Sugar Coma redux. So many of you have commented on the post & photos from the first edition of Sugar Coma...I just had to share this latest tour with all of you. I took close to 300 photos that day...and as much as I would like to share every detail with you, this post is just the frosting on the cupcake of all we experienced that day.

I was so tickled that the creator of Sugar Coma, my brilliant friend The Broke Socialite, asked me to the be official "Sugar Mama" for the tours. Yes...you read right....I said tours. So that meant twice the caloric, delicious Sugar Coma fun. Fear not - I had my roomy jeans and my water bottle with me as a support team. It was a wonderful day of trying new dessert spots in Atlanta, meeting folks I've known from the on-line world, and making some new friends. There were also cupcakes. Lots and lots of cupcakes - the ones shown in the top photo are beautiful little creations from Cami Cakes. 

This was how our day started. Folks, this was at 8 am at No Mas Cantina. They put out quite the delicious spread and got us caffeinated with Mexican hot chocolates and coffees. It was at this point that I almost phoned and friend and asked for a delivery of Tums. Did I mention this was our first stop?

Like I said, there were a lot of cupcakes. These little treats were a riff on your usual coconut cake variety. They're topped with cream cheese frosting. I declared that day that anything can be used as a vehicle for cream cheese frosting. Thank you, Highland Bakery, for these bites and for being so dedicated to quality ingredients & cruelty free chocolate sources.

I've sung the praises of Cacao many times on this blog - most recently in my post about the Food Bloggers Bake Sale. Kristen, the owner of Cacao, is fiercely indie and thoughtful about the sources of her ingredients. She travels to far-away lands, sleeping in hammocks and facing not-optimal security conditions to get the best ingredients possible for her creations. The fruits of her labor? Chocolate like you've never tasted before - she was named one of the best new American chocolate shops by Food and Wine. The Love Bar is one of her signature items, which you can order on-line.

Needing a little break from all of the sugar, one of my new favorite spots in Atlanta - Noon Midtown - had a brilliant idea: some savory bites to take the edge off. These BLT bites were little stacks of the best early spring tomato i've ever had, beautifully smoked bacon, and toasty brioche. By the time we reached this stop in the tour, everyone's eyes opened wide at the thought of something lunchy.

That having been said, Noon also put out the sickest sweetest single bite on that tour: profiteroles made from cult-doughnut phenom Sublime Doughnut. Sliced down the middle, stuffed with vanilla ice cream and a mound of roll-em-yourself chocolate sprinkles....there were no words. 

 

Peachy Treats was a revelation in that "I-can't-believe-I-didn't-think-of-that-first" kind of way. Seriously, ya'll. It's a color customized candy catering/buffet business. They'll customize your candy choices, color-coordinate them to your shower or reception, set up and break down the display. All you have to do is contact them. There are wonderful little cello bags included so guests can take a goodie bag to go. This buffet was at the communal lunch and everyone in attendance audibly squealed when the word "candy" was announce. So much fun! 

The afternoon tour had a very sophisticated, relaxing stop courtesy of 29 Spa at The Mansion on Peachtree. Stepping out of the elevator, our group let out a group sigh of happiness and relaxation when we entered the spa. So beautiful and calming in a way that is more upscale and refined than your typical spa - no New Age bubbling brook soundtracks here. We were treated to a glass of wine, fresh berries, bites of chocolate...all while getting a tour of the space & hearing more about their grape-based skincare line. I just adored this stop and have been dreaming of booking a massage there soon.

Our last stop on the afternoon tour was a place I just had to share. Off the beaten path in a neighborhood called Castleberry Hill, The Wine Shoe is a charming little store. The owners try not to carry wines that are overly expensive or wine that you can get just anywhere. We were given several tastes, which were paired with sweet bites from private chefs Chris Arpante and Bren Herrera. 

Of all the noshes I had there, I just have to show you these little vanilla custards topped with a delicious blackberry mirror and fresh berries. After having so much rich, chocolate-y stuff pushed your way during the day....having a glass of white wine paired with this little treat was heavenly. Chris has been a blog cohort and friend of mine for some time and is now branching out into pastry - visit her at Mele Cotte. 

As you can see, it was a fully delicious experience. There are plans in the works for Sugar Coma tours all over the country, as well as other boutique tour experiences. Keep up with all the future event details on The Broke Socialite Does... Facebook page!

Atlanta's Food Blogger Bake Sale - The Recap!

It's been another busy week of work and travel...and I wish I had gotten this post up sooner. I didn't want to just throw something up and call it done. This was a very special event for me and the outcome of Atlanta's first ever Food Bloggers Bake Sale was quite remarkable. It was a gorgeous morning. Lots of folks came out to both help, visit and do some shopping. In the end, our little ol' bake sale raised over $1600, all of which goes to Share Our Strength! Thanks to the hard work of the bloggers, the bakers, participating businesses and restaurants and all the other volunteers - as well as those who donated online. None of this would have happened without you and I am eternally grateful.

Everyone donated their time, their kitchens, or both so generously...I need to give all of those that took part a shout-out. Please visit their blogs or businesses to thank them for giving so selflessly to our cause:

• Lisa Hanson, owner of Cabbagetown Market, was so instrumental in the success of the Bake Sale. She gave so much of her business's space, her personal time, the use of her tent. She also made some killer pickles & banana puddings! Her market reopens - even better than before - on May 1st. Go check it out!
• Patti from Anatomy of a Dinner Party was totally the cruise director of the Bake Sale. She manned the cash register, took photos of everyone, and just bubbly & amazing. Her oatmeal cookies were incredible too!
• Tracy from Sensatiables brought over some of the best jams I've ever had - the caramelized onion is incredible as an accompaniment to savory dishes. You can visit her on her Facebook group page here.
• The wonderful folks from Maison Robert, a local pastry and confection shop, brought over freshly baked croissant, brioche and flourless chocolate cake. Those savory baked goods were gorgeous and a huge hit!
• Daphne made chocolate-mint marvel cookies. Yum! Her website is www.daphnesashin.com
• Ashley, who has a great food blog over at The Quick & Dirty Cook, contributed her Triple C Cookies.
• Thanks to Kirk Parks at Rathbun's for those double layer chocolate & peanut butter brownies. Rathbun's is one of the most popular restaurants in town - GO if you haven't!
• Is there anything more magical than homemade marshmallows? New addition to Atlanta's restaurant scene Miller Union donated boxes of homemade strawberry & chocolate covered marshmallows
• Cacao, just included in Food + Wine's Best New American Chocolate feature, sent over heavenly (and so beautifully wrapped) brownies.
• Betty from Trouble With Toast whipped up several whole Key Lime Pies (which is one of my faves - i took one home with me!)
• Local foodie & poodle lover Emily made her grandmother's rhubarb cake recipe - and stuck around to help out at the sale. It definetely seemed to be a fan favorite at the sale!
• Amy from Scratch, a local Atlanta bakery, outdid herself with Southern "Pecan Pah" Bars, Pumpkin Bread and two types of scones. Her baked goods are DIVINE - visit her website here. 
• Allison brought a slew of margarita cookies (a recipe she adapted from Smitten Kitchen). They were delicate & had great margarita flavor! 
• Maggie Sweeney, who runs a pastry business here in Atlanta, made everyone a little woozy with her grown up alcohol-soaked cakes. They're INCREDIBLE! Her gluten-free carrot cake cupcakes made a believer out of me - you would have never been able to tell the difference. She is on Twitter as CakeHag
• Chris from Mele Cotte was an angel during the sale. Not only did she bring a TABLE full of goodies, she was sweet enough to make awesome name tags for all of the volunteers & stick around to help. Her beautiful cupcakes & cookies put smiles on folks young & old that day.
• Mandy, who writes the Atlanta Dish blog, made one of my favorite types of cookies: shortbread. Her version had rosemary in it - yum!
• Wanda, whose lovely blog is The Teacher Cooks, brought a variety of beautifully packaged treats. The recipe for the chocolate chip cookies she baked is on her blog! 
• Nic and Katie, who tag team a pretty awesome blog called We Whisk Away, had the hit of the Bake Sale on their hands. Their Salted Caramel Brownies & Salted Cinnamon Chip Cookies nearly incited a riot. Do check out this brownie recipe - it was the talk of the day! Thanks to both of them for volunteering that morning, as well.
• Amrita, whose blog is Once Upon A Dessert, brought tiny, sweet little macarons and Japanese blueberry cheesecake bites to the sale. She's a relatively new addition to the food blog crowd in Atlanta so drop by & see her blog. 
• Thanks to Besha Rodell from Creative Loafing for the Lamingtons - an Australian treat that I had never seen before. We had to Google it...and they were delicious! 
• The Blissful Glutton knocked out a batch of Mexican Wedding Cookies that went quickly at the sale & caused people to hoot & holler out of their car windows upon tasting them.
• Meredith Ford Goldman, food writer for the AJC, was kind enough to donate a gift certificate for a custom made cake of the buyer's choice. The lucky recipient? A 2 year old, who was going to get a fancy birthday cake from his parents purchase. So sweet!
• Ashia, who has a great blog called Clueless Fashionista, came and hung out with us food bloggers while baking up a batch of vanilla chocolate cherry cookies.
• My food styling assistant - and the person who keeps me from chopping off a finger or tripping over a light - Abby made a huge batch of doggie treats in flavors like bacon & Italian-inspired. Even the pups got a treat at the Bake Sale!

quite a handful

Now that December is in full swing, it's my turn to join the throngs of food bloggers that are focusing on all of the upcoming holidays this month. Until Christmas, I'm going to try and focus on food and drink recipes that would compliment the plethora of holiday parties/cocktail parties/celebration dinners that are gearing up to take place.

I am also very curious about snacks that aren't so, well, carb-laden. I dunno about you but I am beginning to feel like my bathrobe is a little tight. Between all of the yummy festivities around Thanksgiving, doing recipe development on some soups, and just a general lapse in my healthy habits...I'm feeling a little puffy.

In an effort to right that, I started thinking about roasted chickpeas. They've popped up in a few restaurants here as a sharable snack and I've seen them on a ton of websites and blogs (Kalyn has a great recipe, as well). This is a healthy-ish high fiber snack that you can easily whip together with things you have on hand - my batch came together in about an hour after rummaging the pantries. It's great because you can make some on-the-fly nibbles for last minute cocktail get-togethers that pop up. Feel free to use this recipe as a guide - you can adjust the salt/heat/spice on these to suit your liking. The key here is to get them as dry as possible before seasoning and roasting - it makes all the difference, believe me.

Roasted Chickpeas

• 2 15 oz. cans garbanzo beans
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. garam masala powder
• 1 tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp. chipotle powder
• 1 tbsp. salt

- Preheat oven to 400F.

- Drain garbanzo beans in strainer and rinse thoroughly. Allow to sit and drain until dry. Pat the garbanzo beans dry to remove as much water as possible. 

- In a large mixing bowl, combine all spices, salt and oil. Carefully combine garbanzo beans in bowl and coat completely with spice mixture.

- Pour beans onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake in oven for 40-50 minutes. My batch took the full 50 minutes but I would check on your batch at 40 to make sure nothing is exploding/burning.

- Allow to cool and serve.

and the winner is...

Wow! Judging by the number of people who entered this contest, the world is even more obsessed with chocolate than I even realized! Thanks to everyone who took part!

The winner of the copy of Max Brenner's "Chocolate: A Love Story" - chosen by Random Number Generator and not a white fuzzy paw pointing at a comment on the screen - was comment #16, which was posted by Anne from Anne's Food. She said:

"Oh, It's hard to say just one thing, since chocolate is so wonderful, but I think my absolute super-indulgence is chocolate mousse. I make it with a dark, but not bitter, chocolate, and it's sinfully good."

I will be contacting you via the email you provided here in your comment. Congrats! 

a little bite

It's a gorgeous Saturday morning and I'm getting ready to hit the road again. I'm on the road to Asheville, NC for a long weekend with my friend Helen. She writes a little blog called Tartelette - have you heard of it? I'm totally kidding - of course you have. It's stunning and fabulous and about 30 other adjectives that I could use off the top of my head. There will be some food adventures and some sightseeing going on before Monday, which is the National Gingerbread Competition. I'm a total food dork and got totally giddy at being able to see it in person instead of bits of it on TV. I'll have a full report when I get back.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a little nibble with you from a shoot I did this past week. Scratch is a new-ish line of baked goods here in Atlanta. Amy, who is a total sweetheart, asked me to take some shots for her of some of her goodies. Folks, they're delicious. Really delicious. So delicious I couldn't have them around the house for fear of eating them all - everyone I came in contact with last week was given huge chocolate chip cookies, the most divine pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and the stunning rugelach you see above. Scratch also does morning yummies like cinnamon roll scones and several kinds of muffins. She also ships outside of Atlanta. Just sayin'.

Eat on $30 - Days 6 & 7 - The wrap-up post that almost wasn't.

It's now been three days since Eat on $30 ended...and I haven't been able to write a wrap-up or put down my conclusions about the challenge until now. The story of the last two days goes: for us, the challenge ended on Saturday with not so much a bang but a whimper - and that would be me whining. We spent Friday evening (after a trip to Trader Joe's for pasta, sausage, canned tomatoes, and cheap wine) at home enjoying our most luxurious meal of the week - sitting down with protein and a bottle of wine was quite the luxury. Saturday morning, we woke up at 5 am to help out at Mike's company flea market, where I had the OMG of allergy attacks. I sneezed and blew my nose for 4 hours and felt generally horrible. Let's not even talk about the free chicken biscuit I got...which fell in my coffee cup and was deemed too soggy to eat it (but I actually considered it for a second - that's Eat on $30 for you).

The rest of our day was spent at the farmers market and at home readying ourselves for the party Sunday night, climbing up and down ladders, hemming curtains, mopping the loft. Arduous physical work all day...and only eating a piece of bread with butter and leftover lentil soup. The day continued like this until around 10 pm when, after 15 hours of going and doing, I called the challenge. We sulked over to our neighborhood place where I ate the best tasting-most poorly cooked burger ever, washed it down with a glass of red wine, and went to bed. Not exactly the ending I had planned. I was riddled with guilt and felt like a failure for not making it those last two hours...but fatigue trumped guilt in the end. Before our late dinner, we were coming in UNDER budget by about $2. 

The next morning...we really didn't eat anything. At all. We were head down getting the loft and all the food ready for folks coming over. For those that didn't know, we had a "break the fast" party Sunday evening...and asked people to donate $10 per person, all the money going to Project Open Hand, which I talked about it a previous post. I was disappointed that more of the Eat on $30 crew wasn't there...but our friends turned out and were so generous with their donations. As people noshed on gravlax crostini, BLT deviled eggs, Mike's famous latkes (rosemary ginger version this time), Jen's insane ginger chewies, and Betty Joan's pumpkin cupcakes...the pitcher we put out for donations began to fill. It was a great evening filled with  lots of laughter and good conversation. I had more wine than I did food - neither of us ate much at all Sunday being focused on the party. We have raised - including donations from folks via PayPal that couldn't attend the party - somewhere close to $300 just by having a cocktail party. I'm getting choked up about it now as I did when I made the toast to everyone at the party on Sunday.

Those are the logistics. So what do I have to say about the challenge? I've come out of this week pissed off. Angry. Incredulous. Disappointed. Enthralled. Energized. Motivated. We talked some at the party about how doing this challenge changes you. You don't look at food the same way. You don't shop for groceries the same way. Something in the back of your mind is making you account for what you buy. Not waste food as much. Let me tell you...it doesn't go away. This challenge has inspired a lifestyle change by both Mike and I. Cooking at home more. Saving bones and veggie scraps for stock. We've been good about tallying our budget. It's changed me forever on a personal level...and I'll be doing this challenge again soon.

What about beyond that? I've made it a point to do whatever I can to help give back to the community I live in and focus on hunger issues and charities that deal with them. I'm determined to educate myself - and by association, those around me,  about hunger issues on a larger scale. Being a "foodie" is a privilege of the middle to upper class and does not excuse me from knowing about the struggles of the rest of the world. Just because I *can* go into a store and haphazardly throw anything I want into a shopping cart doesn't mean I should...and it doesn't mean others CAN. Ignorance is something I can remedy and I can't choose to ignore it anymore. We folks here in the food world - and especially bloggers - live in a world that few get access to. Let's not forget that as of today, ok?

This challenge would not have been possible without the other bloggers that took part. They've done a really wonderful job about chronicling their experiences, being honest on how it made them feel, and how this week has changed them. There have been many really thoughtful posts and my heart is full because you took the time to do this with me. Please visit their blogs, get involved in the dialogues there and see the changes their making:

• Carrie Neal - also from Atlanta - is blogging at carrienealland and tweets under@carrienealland
• Susan is our newest participant! Her blog Doughmesstic is just great. She's on Twitter - @doughmesstic
• The amazing and fabulous Jen - who blogs from Colorado at Use Real Butter - can be followed @userealbutter
• Paula of the gorgeous blog bell'alimento is taking part! Follow her on twitter@bellalimento
• The Broke Socialite of the eponymously named blog can be followed@brokesocialite
• Betty Joan is a fellow Atlantan who blogs at Trouble With Toast . She's actually been doing it THIS week but will be posting about her experience while we're all doing the challenge. You can find her on Twitter @bettyjoan.
• Atlanta food blogger Jimmy of Eat It Atlanta will be taking part in a crash course week before a wedding he has to be in. Follow him @EatItAtlanta. 
• Robert - @rdyson on Twitter - is also taking part from Atlanta. Check out his bloghere. 
• Mike - who took part last time and made a blog especially for the challenge - will be doing it again. You can also follow him @boutte. 
• Zach is kicking off a new blog with this challenge - Mise en Face. Follow him@drzachary.
• Kristina will be taking place from Tennessee via her blog TNLocavore.com and@TNlocavore
• Another Susan, this time of Frugal Hostess, tweets @frugalhostess
• Diana of  A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa is on Twitter @dianabauman
• Hailey of Hail’s Kitchen blogs and tweets from Utah -  @hailskitchen
• Joining the party today is Maybelle's Mom who blogs at Feeding Maybelle. You can find her on Twitter @feedingmaybelle
• Also newly taking part is Atlantan Biz, who blogs at Wisfulfillment.

Since I said earlier in the week that I'd post my lentil soup recipe, here it is. The photo is definitely from the "looks like crap, tastes like delicious" files. What can I say? You eat a lot of brown food during Eat on $30. This soup is a lighter version of lentil soup than you're used to and could be made year-round. 

Lemon and Rosemary Lentil Soup - makes 6 to 8 servings 

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup lentils, uncooked but sorted through for stones and broken pieces, rinsed and drained
• 6 cups water
• 1 large rosemary sprig - half of the leaves removed, chopped and reserved
• 1 lemon, cut in half, juiced but fruit & juice reserved
• salt and pepper, to taste
• garnish ideas: olive oil, parmesan cheese, chopped herbs, green onion

- In a large stockpot, melt the butter. Add garlic and saute until cooked but not brown - 2 minutes or so. Add lentils, water, chopped rosemary and sprig, lemon juice and the juiced lemon halves, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours - cooking time will vary depending on your lentils. Remove hard rosemary sprig and lemon halves. Once cooked, taste your soup and season again if necessary. If you want your soup thinner, you can add more water or some stock and heat through. You could also puree this soup if you like it that way. I garnished mine with a little Parmesan cheese and chopped green onion. Serve immediately. 

Day 5 - Eat on $30 - This is my brain on $30 a week.

Day 5 really isn't any big deal, food wise. After a half day of thinking I was having an aneurysm from the caffeine withdrawl, my trusty sidekick Abby came to the house bearing some coffee beans in a plastic bag - I traded these for her paycheck so I think I'm still in the black. Outside of that, eating on this budget becomes pretty routine. The sweetie has been taking big turkey sandwiches and hearty soups. I made another gratin, which I ate half of for lunch and we split it for dinner with the leftover chicken thighs from earlier in the week. No big deal - we even still have cookies to bake for after dinner treats. Dare I say I'm probably gonna come in UNDER budget? 

It's not so much the actual PHYSICAL part of the challenge that is the tough part for me. It's amazing how you adjust to a food level after just a few short days. For me, the rough patches have been the emotional ups and downs and the lifestyle and personal philosophy changes that are hard. All I've done for the past week is think about how I take food for granted. I think about the produce that goes to waste in our house because we get lazy and don't cook. It's even prompted us to set a food (and going-out-to-dinner) budget that is a dramatic departure from where we were before this challenge. There's a spreadsheet and everything, I tell ya.

You know what? This challenge is EASY for me - no doubt about it. I get to live this life for a week - or however long i CHOOSE to - and go back to whatever life I want after this. I have the tools to cook - times 10. I have the KitchenAid, the immersion blender, the good knives, the proper containers for food storage. I'm also armed with the knowledge of basic cooking and the art of improvisation with food. I can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as they say. I also have the luxury of TIME. Hours to prepare sauces, soups, separate proteins into portion sizes, make chicken salad from leftover roasted chicken. I have easy access to the Internet so if I don't know how to do it, I can find out.

Not everyone's life is like this...and I know it. I am spoiled by all the things I have and all the things I know.

The average person who receives financial assistance in Georgia - which is 57% of working families in this state - doesn't have the luxury of time and skill. How do we encourage people, some of whom don't have stoves in their homes, to eat healthfully? How does someone working two jobs - or one full time job with one or more children - have the energy and resources to do this? As I said in an earlier post, the effort it takes to plan meals, shop in advance and know where every dime goes is so overwhelming, it's no surprise that many people resort to the Value Menu. 

This campaign I've taken on here at RWT is just the tiniest little whisper in what should be a crowd of voices trying to help people get basic cooking utensils, extra produce leftover from CSAs and markets, and arm them with the basic knowledge that boxed food isn't better and that they CAN feed themselves and their families in a more nutritious way. How do I, just one frustrated and (feeling a bit) helpless person, make this happen? I'm not sure - this challenge for me doesn't end on Sunday morning. I continue on thinking about these issues and doing whatever I can - in however large a way is possible - to make improvements. 

The photo from this post was taken by my dear friend Tony Clark and MacGuyvered up by yours truly for a magazine editorial a few years ago. I still love this photo.