hello, SUMMER!

We prefer to eat "local". The food is fresher and just plain tastes better.

Now that summer is full swing, we've been making the most of the beautiful weekends by heading over to Prospect Park to shop the GreenMarket Farmers Market in Grand Army Plaza.

GreenMarket brings the best and freshest upstate produce, dairy and meat to the very heart of Brooklyn. All food is grown and produced by regional farmers specializing in organic, unprocessed, and free-range products.
I guess it makes perfect sense, but did u know that eating locally grown food is nothing new? A hundred years ago, over 95% of Americans lived on farms. City folk ate food brought by horse and cart from nearby farms. In the 1800's, Brooklyn was the top producing agricultural county in the US. In the 20th century, farms moved west and many local farms were paved over. By the 1970's, New Yorkers complained of brown lettuce and hard tomatoes while local farms went bankrupt. Greenmarket was a natural solution: by selling their homegrown crops in NYC, local farms could stay in business and bring fresh food to city neighborhoods. What began with 12 farmers in an empty lot in 1976 has grown into the largest network of its kind in the country.

If you haven't checked out the great local food offered in NYC, get to a GreenMarket this weekend. It's never a bad idea to eat good, clean food AND support our local farmers.

Enjoy some pictures of a fraction of the recent GreenMarket fare-

we have liftoff...

This past Saturday, June 13th, we threw a sort of "preview" party at the WPA for 11 friends.

The idea was to provide a varied menu to give folks a pretty good idea of what we're all about. We carefully selected several dishes meant to provide a taste of things to come from the WPA.

As everyone began to arrive, J. got things started on the right foot with his take on the Cherry Lime Ricky with vodka, fresh limes and cherries, and soda.

From there, it was non-stop food and fun with great friends, music and conversation!

The Menu

-Mediterranean chick pea soup

-salad of arugula with a spring onion and heirloom tomato vinaigrette

-grilled pork tenderloin with a rosemary/jalapeno marmalade along

with sage cornbread stuffing and collard greens w/apple wood-smoked bacon

-red wine-braised beef short ribs with rosemary-garlic smashed potatoes

and fresh grilled asparagus, topped with corn meal crusted fried onions

-caramel apple pie with bacon in a cheddar crust served with homemade

butter pecan ice cream

-assorted cheeses and fresh fruit

-Gentil, Hugel Alsace 2007 and Sobon Estate Zinfandel 2007

After the dessert plates were cleared, the "rowdiest" guests pushed the table back and an all-out dance party ensued for another hour and a half! Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

Stay tuned for information regarding the next party!

In the meantime here's some pictures from Saturday...

Please, to enjoy!

Sunday Dinner

We had a great day yesterday that ended with an AMAZING dinner last night at home. L. and V. came over early in the day to work on details, details, details. Being the food lovers we are, we jumped at the opportunity to"test" a few dishes for the inaugural dinner at the WPA.

(besides, fresh watermelon margaritas make u HUNGRY!)

I'll post the full menu for the 1st WPA dinner here in the next few days, but here's a little sneak peek...

L. whipped up an amazing salad of grilled rapini and Tuscan kale with slices of delicious apples and freshly grated Parmesan cheese finished off with a garlic mustard dressing. Unfortunately,

you'll have to wait to try this one. We decided to save this little gem for a later date, but it will definitely be on our table soon!

Jalapeno marmalade glazed pork tenderloin followed. AND, I made Mama Ellis' sage cornbread dressing alongside L.'s collard greens with slab bacon. (mmmm, bacon!)
Now, this plate will be making the rounds at the WPA's 1st dinner party!

I'd even wager that we'll see it again sometime after that.

J. made an amazing butter-pecan ice cream and served it with chocolate-dipped meringues. There's no picture because, as you can imagine, it went FAST!

How was your Sunday dinner?

the birth of WPA

Not long ago, J. and I were sitting around with friends bemoaning the state of the economy and the government's choice to hand over HUGE wads of cash to the very people who seemed to have caused the problem. The talk soon turned, as usual, to food. Everyone in the room loved to eat. (L. is a recently-transplanted and very talented chef from Portland, Oregon, even!) We all agreed that the high cost of going out to eat, the likelihood of not enjoying the food, and feeling the need to just save money all were keeping us home for dinner. We went on to trade stories of how work or the job search was going. Those of us with jobs talked about the prospect of future layoffs. It wasn't long before the light bulbs went on!
Since Big Brother wasn't looking out for us, we decided to do it for ourselves. The new WPA was born.
We, L., J., V. and myself, plan to host dinners at home for a select group of 10-12 people occasionally. Every few weeks we will post a date and menu on this blog and email an announcement to our mailing list. The first 10-12 people who email for an invite will be notified and asked to make a very reasonable (way less than the cost of a restaurant meal) contribution and come for dinner at our house. The contribution will cover the cost of a 4-course meal. We will even throw in a deliciously refreshing cocktail to start, and wines throughout the meal. We'll set the tone with great music and a beautiful table, you bring a healthy appetite and desire to kick back and have a great time! (Feel like kicking your shoes off, do it! Feel like dancing, get your groove on!)

After you've been to dinner at the WPA, you'll be allowed to invite people to join the mailing list for future invitation-only dinners. Or, maybe, you will just want to come back again and again!
We can't wait to see you at dinner!!!
-S.

A little bit about the original WPA-
The Works Progress Administration was a U.S. work program for the unemployed. Created in 1935 under the New Deal, it aimed to stimulate the economy during the Great Depression and preserve the skills and self-respect of unemployed persons by providing them useful work. During its existence, it employed 8.5 million people in the construction of 650,000 mi (1,046,000 km) of roads, 125,000 public buildings, 75,000 bridges, 8,000 parks, and 800 airports. The WPA also administered the WPA Federal Art Project, the Theater Project, and the Writers' Project, which provided jobs for unemployed artists, actors, and writers. In 1943, with the virtual elimination of unemployment by the wartime economy, the WPA was terminated.

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."-Franklin Delano Roosevelt