apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I don't dare do the math on my garden: divide the total amount of money put into the garden each year by the number of tomatoes, melons, peppers, bunches of sage, etc. we ended up eating. Given all the mistakes I make, seedlings I buy too early only to perish in the spring rains, and cute straw hats that end up in my shopping cart, I'm probably growing $20 tomatoes. But when done wisely, planting a garden can actually save you money on an otherwise steep organic produce bill. Or so the folks at Peaceful Valley Farm, where I buy my garden seeds, would have us think...

We have this pretty great arrangement whereby I keep a canister for kitchen scraps on my counter, and our neighbor, who has a small garden and compost bin behind her apartment, takes the scraps down each week. I use an old flour canister, which works but can be a little stinky and doesn't quite hold enough to get me through the week. Our neighbor is using this beauty from Williams-Sonoma, which holds a gallon of food scraps and has a filter neatly fitted into the lid. It's the Cadillac of composters.

posted originally from: TheKitchn

Last week I visited Tara Kolla at her home, also known as Silver Lake Farms in Los Angeles. Her backyard is a half acre or so of paradise where she grows flowers, citrus and herbs for herself, for market and for a wonderful artisanal ice cream company called Carmela. More on Silver Lake Farms and Carmela in a future post.

Today I want to tell you about one of Tara's crops and what she suggests we do with it: loofah.

It's easy to talk about eating foods grown and raised locally, yadda yadda yadda, but sometimes sourcing fresh, local produce is not so easy to actually do, especially in the dead of winter. Air-freighted asparagus and blackberries are pretty appealing to most palates year 'round. But how far your food travels has a direct impact, or so most believe, on the state of the planet, so it's a question worth giving some thought to.

posted originally from: TheKitchn

This is our Christmas dinner table at Maxwell's mother's house. Maxwell's job was the table, as usual, and he did a gorgeous job with things he found in the yard. I thought this was a nice reminder, as we head into a new — and perhaps more humble — year of entertaining to use what you have.

posted originally from: TheKitchn

I've avoided reviewing products with non-stick cooking surfaces for a while because of the suspected health hazards of cooking on surfaces treated with non-stick coatings like Teflon (PTFE) and its associated PFOA, but I think lots of people are still using non-stick, so I thought I'd do a survey.

I stopped using non-stick a few years ago when I noticed my expensive non-stick All-Clad skillet flaking into my food. At home we now use cast iron for our non-stick needs. We have a 10" Griswold skillet inherited from Maxwell's mother, and a really useful 6" mini-skillet from Lodge I bought and seasoned myself a few years ago. Tell us in the comments below how you deal with the non-stick dilemma.

posted originally from: TheKitchn

Having a sushi-making party? Blue Ocean Institute, the folks who bring you one of the most useful and frequently updated wallet seafood guides, now has a pocket guide to ocean-friendly sushi that you can carry in your wallet and peek at while you decide on your sushi order or stand confused in front of your fish monger.

posted originally from: TheKitchn

A reader recently emailed me after he came across a post we ran in March about not wasting food and told me it was actually the topic to which he devotes his entire blog.

"It's a topic near and dear to my heart, as I write the blog Wasted Food, Jonathan said, "I examine waste throughout the food chain and talk about how to avoid it."

WastedFood.com has some great ideas for cutting back on food waste, both at home and in restaurants, so click through for the rundown on the site, and leave us your ideas.

posted originally from: AT:Kitchen

I'm a pie girl. And when the stone fruits start dropping from the trees, my pie plate begins its annual workout. My mother in law turned me onto a great pie plate from Hess Pottery, a little company in Reeds Spring, Missouri, started in 1979 by Tom Hess. She'd gotten one as a gift, and I've since given it as a gift. The pie love goes 'round and 'round.

posted originally from: AT:Kitchen

Each year we offer some thoughts of buying less, but giving more. For cooks, this is a no-brainer. There are so many delicious gifts that can come from your kitchen, beyond fruitcake and gingerbread houses.

We like the idea of giving gifts that are meaningful without taking up space, excessive packaging or big karmic footprints. (We like getting them too.) This year, we're preserving some lemons and signing up a few loved ones for Slow Food memberships.

Over the next two weeks, we'll be giving you some ideas for giving more, by giving less. Look for posts titled "The Kitchn's 2007 Un-Gift Guide."

Happy, ehem, shopping.

posted originally from: AT:Kitchen

Bees are all the buzz these days. And for good reason. Their critical contribution to agriculture has long been unknown and unheralded by the public.

This fall I had the opportunity to work on the documentary film Silence of the Bees which kicked off the new season of PBS Nature this past Sunday (10/28). The film investigates Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) – the rapid disappearance of billions of honeybees from hives around the world - and shines a light on the vital role honeybees play in our economy and the food we put on our tables.

posted originally from: AT:Kitchen

A reader wrote in some time ago saying that our braising contest had gotten her thinking about oven-ware and wondered what we knew about braising in Chambaware, a product we'd blogged way back in 2004 when we barely knew how to blog.

"They seem like a possible alternative and many things about La Chamba really intrigue me. They are made in Columbia by fair wage artisans from lead free clay and are nice looking pieces. The prices are good and the politics even better."

posted originally from: AT:Kitchen