Delicious, well prepared food isn’t always beautiful, and beautiful food is often tasteless. Such is the situation encountered over and over again at large scale events. Fundraisers, foodie dinners, farm-to-table, you name it. Every now and then though, my theories become fried in the over-used cooking oil and proof does indeed come out in the pudding.
Who brings produce and plants from their garden to an interview just to make a point? Linda Walton and Lynn McKittrick owners of the hurricane Sandy wrecked, River Front Cafe in Sea Bright, NJ wanted me to understand their concept of good food.
The vegetable gardens this season have become a mixed bag of problems and prodigious produce. Colorado potato beetles have turned up and devoured one of our tomato plants. The words ewww and ick came out of me several times. However, other plants are a goldmine of green for the kitchen.
Writing about food can give you some unique opportunities. Sent to cover a local restaurant that would be featured on a major news show in the near future, I went in with low expectations. Thinking the news team would consider me in the way, the experience was completely to the contrary.
Do you see what I see? Doing a bit of a happy dance because I beat the deer to the first crop of green beans. Everything tastes better when it is fresh from the garden. Crisp, delicious and so versatile, green beans are one of my favorite vegetables.
