S510.

the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S 510) is going to be voted on tonight. the house voted on its version in 2009.

michael pollan and eric schlosser did a nice op-ed in the nytimes yesterday about the whole thing (no surprise there). they actually mention that americans were outraged about the Wright County Egg inspection and salmonella scandal of late summer, which i don't really believe.

but they ended with a super quote from teddy roosevelt (who is always awesome):

“Unfortunately,” he said, “the misdeeds of those who are responsible for the abuses we design to cure will bring discredit and damage not only upon them, but upon the innocent stock growers, the ranchmen and farmers of this country.”

pretty sure that says it all.

joe's bakery.

austin adventure, day two.
(yes, i realize that i have yet to discuss day one.)
blake took me to joe's bakery for breakfast tacos. and mexican pastries. i had two tacos: potato, egg, and cheese & miga taco con todo (migas, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, and cheese). i am pretty sure that most people in the place were regulars. LOVED it.

of course.

i ate tacos 3 mornings of my austin thanksgiving eat-a-thon. also, treats from 2 food trailers. and 2 texas cameo apples. and thanksgiving, with pinata!

posts to come.

wah.

the insane cookies at the biweekly policy seminar. the size of my head. maybe bigger.

please note that someone actually placed each individual m&m into the top of the cookie. they are not mixed into the batter. the whole experience was silly.

the hens.

there are hens at casey's house. in raleigh. in the city.

lady city chickens. including one named elvis.

i am really excited about these hens, mostly because they are literal egg-making machines. casey likes eggs at least as much as me (maybe more, it's unsure) and sometimes he brings eggs to my house. yes.

they are all different colors and sizes and are super good. LOVE.
so i photographed/videoed them for y'all.

bake. it. up.

so it begins. the baked explorations adventure. this morning, nutella scones. no skimping in this book--dark cocoa, lots of nutella (they even tell you how to make your own!), toasted hazelnuts, heavy cream. mmmm.

this was a pretty easy recipe; you don't even need a stand mixer. or a mixer at all. but, the dough was especially dry and wouldn't stick so i added some extra cream. i know, the problems of the first world...

but really, they are pretty awesome. see everyone's here.
this adventure is going to be really fun. i have to make sure i don't stop riding my bike; my belly is going to get HUGE.

writing writing writing

i spent the last month(ish) writing a literature review on food safety. it makes a person the opposite of hungry. i continued to eat my way through the assignment, but with lots of meals like this one: grilled cheese on rye with lots of arugula and sauteed kale and turnip. it's done, and i am baking.

yes, sir.

i just ate cold matzo balls (a childhood fave) and am ready to get in bed and watch some tv (on the computer). back to the blog soon. paper complete, for better or worse.

(i am also starting to think i need a "childhood" tag for reminiscing. to compile everything in one place?)

i know.

dearest,
i am a little behind writing this blog and my paper, which is due wednesday. and then i'll be back.

the baked explorations extravaganza starts next week! and then, thanksgiving. the best food holiday ever. and so much more.

xoxo,
smashedgoods.

baked.

baked explorations.
the most talked about cookbook in the interwebs.
well, maybe. i see it A LOT. so i bought it; it arrived today.

i told my friend, renato, one of the baked masterminds, that i wanted to bake my way through the new cookbook. like julie and julia but better and cutier. and then, he posted a link on facebook to a group that is doing that very thing.

i am joining up. i love the idea of a nationwide (worldwide?) baking club. shira is probably best going to benefit from this adventure. she does not even know it yet.

ready? set.

with bows.

and then shira and i decided that when eggs are gifted, they should have little bows. the cutest!

inter-library.

this ode of sorts is sort of for lindsey, the bestest librarian.

i love the library. like big fat nasty love. miles and aisles of books and journals and magazines and films and even records and photographs if you dig deep enough. it's probably apparent that i spent lots of time in the local library when i was small (smaller).

and, i am one of those people who continue to use the library; i love borrowing books. i enjoy the entire system of it all; it makes sense i am back in school, committed to the library for many more years (well, 4).

one of the coolest things about being a member of a library is the inter-library loan feature. if you want a book that your library does not hold, you can request it and they will have it sent from another library. any library! it could come from anywhere!

so, i wanted (needed) good meat for a paper i am writing. i put in a request, unsure if it would be possible; i mean, it's a cookbook. but then, it arrived! in 4 days. and it's awesome; i actually recommend it to you meat-eaters and cookers out there. it's almost 400 pages of intelligent writing and seemingly easy recipes: a meat bible.

and now? i plan to order all kinds of cookbooks via ILL and test them out before i buy! how smart. i can't believe it took so long for me to come up with this plan; i did borrow ina garten's parties! book once, but i thought nypl only had it because it's like a party guide.

how wrong i was.

so exciting.

my friend, casey, has hens. at his house. which means that sometimes he brings me eggs. (photographs to come.)

for now, last weekend's breakfast: fried egg, salad of tomato, cucumber, & basil, various greens with onions, and sourdough toast. and carrots. one of those eggs came from one of casey's hens. you can't tell right now but the yolks are much orangier than the ones from the grocery store (yes, even the organic, free-range blah blah).

secretly.

once a year, usually in the darkness of winter, i eat a box of velveeta shells and cheese. i love it. it's got a weird packet of cheese that i know would survive nuclear fallout and pasta that cooks way too fast. is it because it is enriched? i have no idea. and truthfully, i don't really want to know.

but i always preferred velveeta to kraft mac n'cheese (which the canadians just call "kraft dinner"). i thought the powdery cheese, as a child, was even more bizarre than the processed velveeta. you can't use the whole packet; it's just too damn cheesey, but that means you can eat it again the next day. and then i am satiated for another year. i go back to over-thinking everything i put in my mouth.

oh! upon further research, i learned that velveeta is a kraft product. they just dominate the mac market. don't talk to me about annie's or any of the versions they probably sell at the cooperative. potentially tasty, also with a powdered cheese, but not the taste of my childhood. the taste of zoe's, maybe.

to say.

three nytimes articles that are practically permanent tabs:

• recipe for preserved lemons. shira asks what i will do with them once i make them. no idea. but i want to make them.
  
• an article on food stamps, now know as SNAP. thank you, lyndon johnson, for making this program happen, and damn you, michael bloomberg, for suggesting that low-income earners should not get to choose what they eat.
  
• more on punch, and my old hood in brooklyn. it's the punchiest.
  

oh. my. god.

the barefoot contessa is on hulu. my life is complete.