Mother’s Day this year also landed on our 12th Wedding Anniversary, so we decided to celebrate all weekend. Instead of going out to eat, this usually means we eat at home and cook something as a treat. And by treat, I usually mean beef, namely filet mignon. We aren’t huge red meat eaters, so when we want to celebrate, we like to do it right.
We have been to Hedgeapple Farm previously during Family Fun on the Farm weekends that take place in October, but had never purchased any beef there. It was always something we talked about doing, but never made the trip when it was time to buy. This time was different, I was on a mission to eat local so we headed out to the farm.
Hedgeapple Farm raises grass-fed black angus cows and then sells directly to the public from their retail outlet on the farm. If you want to learn more about grass-fed beef, you can read about it here. We knew we wanted to make filet mignon on Saturday night and hubby decided he wanted to attempt brisket on Sunday. Worked for me.
I expected the prices to be more and of course they were. I can’t remember exactly how much more they were than shopping at a warehouse or grocery store, but I remember thinking it wasn’t all that bad. It was definitely less expensive than eating out, plus it was a whole lot better. The woman working there could not have been more delightful and helpful, answering our questions and offering recipes.
I have to admit I didn’t know what to expect as to the taste of the beef. Honestly, before I watched Food, Inc., I didn’t even pay attention to what the cow I was eating had to eat. Never crossed my mind. When I took the first bite, I knew it was going to be very hard to go back to corn-fed beef. Oh my goodness, it had a flavor that I can’t accurately describe and it almost melted in my mouth like butter. Of course, it was a filet and it is suppose to be like that, but the brisket was just as good.
It really did have a different flavor than any beef I had eaten before and we will definitely be going back for more. As I said the cost was more, but I would gladly eat out less to make up for the expense.
You can find Hedgeapple Farm on the Interwebs here. If beef is your thing do yourself a favor and make a trip out there soon. Just make sure you leave some for me.
Have you been to Hedgeapple? Let me know what you tried and your thoughts.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
Photo by me
When Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution was on awhile back, I watched it and became very happy that my daughter takes a packed lunch to school every day. I then watched Food, Inc. and realized that even with Little J taking her lunch to school, we still needed to make some serious changes as a family. The movie did not make me want to stop eating meat, but it did make me realize we need to be more responsible about what we decide to eat as individuals and a society.
It was really driven home for me when we visited a dairy farmer as part of Agriculture Day at Leadership Frederick County. You can read the recap post here. What it all comes down to is knowing the source of your food and eating as local as possible. We need to keep our food purchases local to not only be healthier, but also to protect the food chain. If you want to know what I mean by protecting the food chain, read this.
I’m not trying to scare anyone or be a downer and become some activist, but I do think we need to not take what we purchase at grocery stores at face value. I have started to read food labels much more and am totally shocked by what I see. High fructose corn syrup in hot dog rolls?? Really? Yikes.
Of course, we can’t make everything at home, grow it ourselves, or buy everything local due to expense and accessibility, but it is something that I am committing my family to as much as possible. I have joined a CSA which quite frankly scares me more than just a little bit. There are a lot of vegetables that I have no idea what to do with, but am ready for the challenge. I plan on learning how to make more things on my own and preserve things for the winter months.
Also we will be exploring all the great resources we have locally for getting food from the farm to the plate as much as possible. So while I will still be blogging about all the goodies I like to cook and bake, I hope to provide information on local food as I explore all of our options. I hope that you will share with me hints and recipes to make this all a little easier ;-)
Tell me your favorite source for local meats, veggies, fruit, dairy, etc.?
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
by beth on April 21, 2010
I did it! I FINALLY got back to exercising. It was a small, a simple 30 minute walk in the neighborhood, but I did it. I am notorious for having 1 million excuses as to why I can’t exercise on a daily basis. I always thought it was strange to me that I didn’t like to workout given I was a 3 sport athlete in high school and then it recently dawned on me: I hated practice. I loved the competition part of every sport I have ever played, but practice was absolute torture to me. It was merely a means to an end that I had to tolerate.
Guess what? That’s the attitude I have adopted to get back into shape. I love the idea of being in shape and there are many things I want to do that require me to be in better shape namely family bike trips and hiking. So here it is, my decree to end the excuses and get back into shape. No marathon or triathlon for me, but the goal is to be about 30 lbs lighter, stronger and able to enjoy more family time outside being active.
In addition to the increase in exercise, I hope to change our family eating habits to be more fresh, local and overall healthier. Don’t worry, there will still be lots of goodies to be made, enjoyed and shared here. I can’t give the goodies up. I won’t stop baking or candymaking, so I will need some test tasters. Any volunteers?
So why post this? I believe in accountability and I KNOW you will hold me to my goal and hopefully provide me with support and ideas.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
Last month I took a truffle making class at The Kitchen Studio. First off, if you have never taken a class there you should. What’s better than learning to make chocolate truffles? Making them with friends. I was fortunate enough to share the evening with April and Cathy. I was late, of course, so I missed the discussion and tasting of the different kinds of chocolates, but Cathy was kind enough to get me caught up.
Class was on a Friday night and the week had been pretty tough on me, but ending the week by playing with chocolate
was just what the doctor ordered. Chefs Christine and Caroline did a lot of prep work for us during the day and had prepared the flavored ganaches for us. There was hazelnut, aztec (with a kick of cayenne), cappuccino, and chai tea. Chef Christine demonstrated how to make a salted caramel center. Yes, chocolate, caramel and salt. I was in Heaven.
I have read many truffle recipes and watched them made, but this was the first time I actually got to get my hands dirty. Believe me you will get dirty, but having chocolate everywhere doesn’t suck. To keep the chocolate from melting too much it is advisable to wear latex gloves when rolling the truffle centers. Cathy and I worked with the aztec filling. It was a little harder than I expected, but Cathy tackled it like a pro by scooping it out. My job was to roll them into balls, but some of mine resembled the truffles that the pigs forage, rather than pretty balls of chocolaty goodness. The good news is no matter what they looked like, they all tasted great!
Now it was time for coating the truffles and Chef Christine pulled out the chocolate temperer. This allowed us to put the perfect chocolate coating on the salted caramel truffles. This also marked the beginning of my next culinary adventure with chocolate. Because of this class, I have ordered a chocolate tempering machine that should be here in a week or so. Stay tuned for that.
The class was great and I now have enough confidence to move forward and try truffles on my own as well as many other chocolate concoctions.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
by beth on March 15, 2010
I’m not going to sugar-coat it. I suck at real-life networking. I do OK online, but still panic a little when reaching out to someone I don’t know whether via Twitter or leaving a comment on a blog post. I have no idea why I am this way, I don’t remember some horrible experience that scarred me for life. Of course, maybe that memory is just totally repressed. I am comfortable in a sales meeting or phone call that has been scheduled. I really do love speaking in front of a group, but put me in the middle of a room with people and I’m going to do one of 2 things: 1) Look for someone I know and hang out with them or 2) play on my iPhone. I told you, I suck.
I have become increasingly frustrated by my behavior because I am really missing some great opportunities to meet people. Last Saturday I attended a great event for Women Bloggers hosted by the wonderful Jen and Lara called Momz Share. It was a great opportunity to meet some wonderful women bloggers and I blew it. Totally blew it. I walked into the kitchen, got a drink, found someone I knew and proceeded to have the most wonderful time talking to her, but we never moved out of the kitchen. I did meet a few people on my way out that I had conversed with on Twitter, but did not muster up the nerve to approach anyone totally new.
I spent most of Sunday, beating myself up for this behavior. My biggest fear is that people won’t realize I am painfully shy and they will think I am a snob that doesn’t want to meet anyone. So after I was done beating myself up, I realized I have some more opportunities over the next 6 to 8 months to network at conferences. After the initial panic wore off, I realized I need to change my ways or not even bother attending any of these events.
Now I am on a mission to get over my fear of introducing myself to new people so that I can actually enjoy myself and make the investment in these conference worthwhile. So, I ask you, my friend, how do you get over your fear of networking. Any tips or strategies to help me? Please share.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
by beth on February 25, 2010
If you ever stop by my house and see me walking around in sunglasses, it’s not because I had a rough night. It’s because Little J has discovered photography. While cleaning out our home office during the blizzard, we found an older digital camera and decided to give it to her to use. She immediately started running around the house taking pictures of anything she could find including her toys and Sierra. I could sense her frustration was building until she finally started stomping her feet and ran upstairs. Upon investigation, we discovered the problem was that she couldn’t hold the camera still so everything was coming out blurry.
Enter the tripod. I have a Flip camera with a small table-top tripod, so I attached that to the camera and off she went again. This time she would look at the screen after taking a picture, smile and announce “that’s a good one.” So while I applaud her creative choices in subjects and angles, I’m not a total fan of her work.
She has basically become my very own personal paparazzi. Let’s just say it’s a really good thing the pictures are digital and can be deleted, because some of them would downright scare the poor individual developing the film. I apparently need to teach her more about hair and make-up specifically that Mommy requires both of these things to be complete before anyone should even consider taking my picture. She is notorious for catching me when I first wake up and come down the stairs in the morning. Can you say bed head?I turn a corner, FLASH, there she is. She is especially fond of the surprise attack.
While I don’t want to stifle her creativity, I fear for the career path she is on if we don’t provide some limits. So consider this your fair warning, if you see Little J and her trusty camera know anything is fair game with her.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
by beth on February 23, 2010
My friend Jen’s blog post the other day about reconnecting with her passion for running inspired this post. What does flour, sugar and butter have to do with running? Absolutely NOTHING. I’m talking about the passion part. I have no explanation and I really don’t know when it started, but baking has been my go-to activity when I’m feeling stressed or just want to get my mind off work. There is just something about following a recipe and creating something yummy that brings me so much joy. I WISH running or any kind of exercising did that for me, but alas it doesn’t. Bathing suit season would sure be a lot more fun.
Last week I was preparing for my presentation about social media at the Frederick Chamber New Media and Technology Conference when I began to get really nervous about it. I have presented on many occasions, but for some reason this one was rattling my nerves. Common sense would probably tell me to prepare more, but frankly I knew the topic inside and out. So what did I do? Baked, of course.
Now I should provide a little back story first. During Twitter conversations before the conference I had mentioned that I would bring some cookies to conference to share, so it was something I talked about, but didn’t know if I would have the time. I really didn’t have the time, but the baking Siren was calling me. I went to my list of recipes I want to try. Yes, I have a baking to do list. I am always on the hunt for interesting sounding recipes to add to this list. If you have something I should try, leave a comment below with it please.
The recipe I decided to try that night was suggested to me by @kimthewriter for Homemade Oreos I mean, seriously, how can you go wrong with an Oreo? I checked the pantry and had all the ingredients, so it was time to get to work. As I started measuring ingredients, I could already feel my shoulders begin to relax and a relaxed smile come across my face. I was in the zone. I had Little J there helping me with adding ingredients and shaping the cookies while we listened to some music and laughed. Everything was right in the world. Sappy, I know. Bear with me, I’m having a moment.
By the time we finished, we had a delicious cookie that we both had to keep ourselves from devouring them all. I had relaxed and with one more review of my notes was ready for my presentation. I took the cookies with me to the conference, because next to the actual baking process the next best thing is sharing them with friends. I was happy to leave the conference feeling that my presentation had been a success and my cookie container almost empty. Both were a sign of a great day in my book.
Your turn, hit the comments and let me know where you find your zen. Also give me some things to add to my baking to do list.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
by beth on February 12, 2010
It’s that time of year again. Valentine’s Day. I have never been a big fan of February 14th, probably because I spent most of them single until I met Hubby. Now that I’m married and have Little J, it’s really become more of a family celebration. Usually cards and small gifts for each of us finished up with something fun for dinner at home. I’m big on themes, so usually dinner has a theme to it. One year was Spanish tapas and one was all spicy food.
This year, we are thinking fondue. Little J has never experienced fondue and we figure she will think it is a lot of fun. Especially the chocolate kind. I still haven’t planned out the menu yet, so if you have any great fondue ideas, please let me know.
So keeping in mind that I’m running a pretty G-rated blog here, let me know what you have planned for Valentine’s Day.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
by beth on February 11, 2010
I’m not trying to be a downer on my usual light-hearted blog, but I just feel the need to get this off my chest. I have tweeted it and posted it as a status on Facebook, but I think it deserves more than 140 characters. These snowstorms over the past week have hit local business hard. There was a great conversation about it this morning on Twitter among a lot of my Frederick friends. Sorry I can’t remember everyone in the conversation to give credit to, but you know who you are. :-)
Some of the ways these companies have been impacted are:
- Lost revenue from not being able to be open and shoppers not being able to get out to shop.
- Events canceled or postponed meaning refunds or delayed payment.
- Expenses from paying for snow removal or taking care of any damage the snow may have caused.
- Hourly employees who lost pay because they couldn’t make it to work or work was closed.
- Shipments to companies have been delayed causing inventory issues.
- Mail not being delivered has meant payments are not received.
- Meetings being canceled and purchasing decisions delayed.
- Let’s not forget this is Valentine’s weekend and a day that many retailers, florists and restaurants rely upon.
All of these affect the bottom line for business both large and small, but the smaller businesses are affected more due to their finely tuned cash flow system. One hiccup in the system will throw the cash flow dance off rhythm. I can completely attest to this being a small business owner myself. While being snowed in for a week most likely won’t have a lasting impact on me, things like the recession and 9/11 did. Anything unexpected that causes people to not spend money, whether for fear or being snowed in, can be crippling to the businesses they typically support.
So what can we do? Once your local governments have deemed it safe to travel on the roads, make an effort to get out to your locally owned small businesses and show them some love with you wallet. Our family did this on Tuesday before this latest storm. We wanted out of the house and decided to visit one of our favorite pizza shops for dinner. We have already started talking about where we want to get out to this weekend to eat and for a little retail therapy. I mean Little J and Hubby both deserve a nice Valentine gift after being snowed in with me all week
Finally, don’t just limit it to this weekend. It’s going to take awhile for businesses to recover, so when you have a choice on where to make a purchase or eat, look locally first and know that your purchase is really making a difference.
You know you want out of the house anyway, so get out there and make a local business owner smile.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
by beth on February 10, 2010
It’s no secret that I love food and am trying to improve at my photography skills. My friend Jessica kindly has offered to help me out on the photography front. We met at Moxie a few weeks ago to have lunch and to practice taking pictures of food. The lunch was good, the company was great and actually my photos didn’t come out half bad.
I started with the bake potato soup:
Main course was a grilled cheese with bacon:
Dessert was chocolate cake with strawberry butter cream icing:
And after:
I learned about the Macro setting on my camera which I had used before, but had no idea what it was called or its purpose. You can see the entire set of my photos here.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it:
