August 2011
Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market
Philadelphia, PA
In between wandering the streets of beautiful brownstones in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia, I stumbled upon a farmers market which led to a really relaxing afternoon of reading and snacking on mango donut peaches and blackberries.
To be clear, the following note says “chemical free.” These carrots were gigantic!
and these carrots were quite, quite colorful!
August 2011
Farmers at the Firehouse
Strip District, Pittsburgh, PA
Is there a merit badge for sourcing your fruits and veggies locally?
There should be if there isn’t!
Spearmint & French Sorrel
Cherry Tomatoes
Thyme & Parsley
Green & Purple Basil
Beets & A Yellow Onion
Chives & Italian Red Peppers
August 2011
Farmers at the Firehouse
Pittsburgh Public Market
Strip District, PGH, PA
Marjoram
Any thoughts on how to use it?
Chocolate Mint…
Lime basil.
A kick of citrus!
Elk Cherry Terrine!
Wash it down with a fresh berry lemonade served mason jar style!
August 2011
Lawrenceville, PGH, PA
There’s a new kid on the block- the Lawrenceville Farmers Market. This new kid is on the smaller side, but his personality is big!
There’s a booming voice that makes the Saturday morning feel like a trip to the auction house. There’s a girl by the name of Meadow who has a vision and a love of dirt.
There’s plenty of pretty produce to take home!
Back in June 2011…
Farmers at the Firehouse
Strip District, PGH, PA
I venture this is the most beautiful egg carton I have purchased to date!
A new experiment: lemongrass
These green buds made my day, especially since I feared we had planted the bulbs too late. I didn’t want my coworkers to step on the flowers, so I sent this pictorial alert to watch underfoot (and look into the sky just because the blue was so beautiful when dotted with flowering trees).
Much more to come!
April 2011
Another trip to the Pittsburgh Public Market and another edition of Bacon of the Month from the Crested Duck Charcuterie.
(Vanilla Infused Bourbon Bacon!)
(Kombucha)
We have the taste of pi(e) covered, but apparently, the mathematical constant needed a soundtrack too. If only the two forces could combine in the real world, it would make for a great Pi(e) Social!
NPR wrote this about the musical diddy:
Monday is March 14 — aka 3/14, a date celebrated the world over as “Pi Day,” after the irrational number. This year, to celebrate, musician Michael John Blake had the idea to compose, record and put on YouTube a musical interpretation of the most famous mathematical constant.
His approach? He decided the song would be in C, then assigned each note a number: C=1, D=2 and so on up through 9. Using those assignments, he played the sequence of pi: 3.14159 through 31 decimal places. He assigned numbers to chords, too, but could only play the chords every other note and still make it sound vaguely musical.
Finally, he used pi as the basis for the tempo — it’s 157 beats per minute, which is half of 314. He played this part on several instruments, as you can see in the video above, and layered them to make a song. The result isn’t exactly catchy, but it’s certainly melodic.
“It’s random enough to where it’s kind of odd, but then, because it’s all based in the major scale, it musically works out to where it’s sort of pleasing to the ear,” Blake says. “For me, it has this great combination of pleasant but also slightly weird — kind of haunting.”
March 14, 2011
Just last week my bosses had been teasing me about my less than sunny demeanor, but had they seen my face today at the moment I first heard the word from Erin, “Check out ReadyMade’s homepage,” they would have seen unarguable, pure joy! I was beaming! Seeing this article made me melt like butter and then float to a DIY cloud. I love the mathematical title and the prime location on the homepage banner! I love the slideshow! I just simply love it! Thanks to everyone who helped turn this dorky math pun into a reality far more rewarding than I ever imagined!
March 14, 2011
Happy today foodie nerds of the world! In the QT Pi(e) world, the day began with a quick walk to the neighborhood coffeeshop and one day host of QT Pi(e)s!
Inside my recipe box was our latest print material. I was up late the night before cutting out the book version of the Pi(e) Day stop motion video.
I left the sweet potato swirl pie for the Lili patrons, picked up the apple pies and walked to work. Walking with pi(e)s is very good exercise!
By 11am, the pie plates began to look like this…
At this point, I cut off a tiny sliver just to quality control the situation. The slice passed the taste test!
I clearly need to up the pie production to keep up with my coworkers!
Happy Pi(e) Day 2011 Everyone!
March 13, 2011
Though less baking work than Pi(e) Day 2010 (just perhaps), there were still lots of pies to be made: a sweet potato version for Lili Coffeeshop, our gracious Pi(e) Day host and apple pi(e)s for the more geeked out minds of my day job.
Whole Wheat + Unbleached Flour from Saint Vincent Gristmill
Amish Butter from Minerva, Ohio (about 78 miles from PGH)
Maple Syrup from Milroy Farms in Salisbury, PA. Honey was a reserve supply purchased at the Farmers at the Firehouse fall farmer’s market.
Goat milk chevre and farm fresh eggs
Heavy Whipping Cream from Turner Dairy
Sweet potatoes from Clarion River Organics
For the Crust
16 Tbs Amish butter, cold
1 cup + 3 Tbs Saint Vincent’s Unbleached Flour
1 cup Saint Vincent’s Whole Wheat Flour
1 package goat milk chevre, cold
4 Tbs honey
3 Tbs Apple Cider, ice cold
Whisk together the flours in a medium sized bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut in the cold butter until dough resembles small peas. Cut in the cold goat cheese until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add and incorporate the honey. Add the ice cold apple cider. Use a pastry blender to mix until the dough sticks together. Use your hands as necessary, but do not overwork the dough. Form into 2 discs and cover them with foil. Set aside in the freezer for about 10 minutes or in a refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Remove the discs. On a well floured surface, use a rolling pin to shape the first disc into a rectangle. Press it into the pan. Remove overhanging dough. Roll out the second disc. Press it into the pan. Use water to seal the overlapping seam. Bake for 10 minutes until slightly golden.
For the Sweet Potato Filling
2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup maple sugar
2 eggs
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1 in cubes. Boil until soft. Use a mixer to puree. Blend all the ingredients and pour into the pie crust.
For the Sweet Goat Cheese Swirl
2 goat milk chevre packages
1/2 cup maple sugar
2 eggs
Beat the goat cheese and maple syrup until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir to incorporate.
Spoon dollops of the cream cheese mixture into the sweet potato filling. Use a chopstick of knife to swirl the two fillings.
Bake for 40-50 minutes until center is set.
Gala apples and Apple Cider from Dawson’s Orchards
All the apple pies started with a base of apple chunks boiled in apple cider and water. Once the apples were soft, I drained off the water and added a steady flow of honey and stirred to incorporate. The applesauce was the base, followed by my fancy and then drizzles of maple syrup and buttery flour crumbs.
A special handpie for the little miss coffeeshop namesake!
All packed and ready to transport to work on Pi(e) Day!
Pittsburgh Public Market & Wholey’s Market
March 13, 2011
Farm fresh, free-range eggs, Amish butter and chicken (not pictured bc how good would raw chicken look in this spread?!?) from Wholey’s Market
Sweet potatoes, goat milk chevre, maple syrup, kombucha, onions, turnips and fresh greens from Pittsburgh Public Market, specifically from Clarion River Organics
Meat sticks! Toulouse and Hungarian Paprika (smoked and ready to eat) from the Pittsburgh Public Market, specifically from the Crested Duck Charcuterie
Some of those ingredients became QT Pi(e)s! Can you guess which ones? I had a different pie plan in mind, but inspiration hit me on the spot.
Happy Pi(e) Day 2011! Here’s a little stroll down memory pie lane…
March 2010
The tremendous talents of my friend Magali led her to San Francisco for an artist residency at Kala Art Institute. I directed her to Mission Pie of course, and she sent me a note to report. Thanks Magali! I really love receiving pie reports, in my mailbox, from other corners of the world!
Check out the rest of her Pie Observations!
March 2011
Erin has re-entered the bubble known as academia to pursue graduate education. That means she has Spring Break again! Lucky her! While the Pittsburgh skies were still sending snowy, wet messes, Erin enjoyed some San Fran sun. She sent pictures of one of my favorite San Fran locales: Mission Pie! I had a friend who worked there, so it was a must on my visit to the city several years ago. Someday, I will attend one of the barn dances on their farm.
Here’s the Mission Pie story: Mission Pie is a corner café, bakery, and neighborhood gathering place in the Mission District of San Francisco, located at the intersection of two busy streets and several vibrant, interwoven communities. Our seasonally shifting menu of pies, baked goods and light savory fare focuses on the produce of nearby farms that employ organic and sustainable methods. We are here every day to engage folks toward a deeper relationship with and responsibility to the environments, enterprises and people that sustain us.
January 15, 2010
Pittsburgh Public Market
I thought about it, and then decided, how could I possibly go wrong with a new bacon each month? It was really the lapsang souchong that lured me. Stay tuned. My bacon starts in February! For more on my bacon suppliers, check out their site.
Then I continued around the market for some new things to try.
Pittsburgh Public Market
January 2011
October 30, 2010
Farmers at the Firehouse
Strip District, PGH
What if costumes and doorbell ringing earned brightly colored vegetables? I live in a dream world.
