Chus On Chow

Chus On Chow

A Pair of Enthusiastic Foodies in Syracuse, NY

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Losing the lawn

Posted in Articles by Lonnie
Jun 09 2010
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All this gardening is really about losing the lawn. We simply both hate to mow. It’s loud, it’s stinky, and it’s thankless in wet Syracuse because, like dishes and dust, it just keeps coming back. On top of that, it’s not ecologically sound. Here’s what I found at this cool site, City Dirt:

“If you choose to plant and maintain turf grass, you are essentially eliminating diversity in your home garden. Phosphate based fertilizers, garden pesticides and herbicides have been showing up increasingly in our streams and bays, carried there by over watering and storm run off.”

We’ve been slowly removing turf and putting in vegetable beds and fruit zones instead. It’s a messy process, and while it fascinates some of the neighbors who walk by, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few are a bit peeved, especially at the way our front yard breaks up the long stretch of neatly mowed and chemicalized little front lawns.

Frankly, our yard is a bit of a shambles right now. We decided not to do vegetables in the front yard after a one-year experiment. The big old trees just offer too much shade. Besides, we just don’t need that much space to grow all the food we need.

We removed the boxes but left the dirt. Spinach that overwintered has grown to an enormous height, weeds have overtaken the dirt under the roses, and we haven’t learned how to plant the right things in there yet. I’m starting to get some ideas from the City Dirt site, and have discovered that putting vegetables in the front yard was something akin to the creation of an “edible estate.” City Dirt introduces us to the concept:

“Edible Estates is a practical food producing initiative, a place-responsive landscape design proposal, a scientific horticultural experiment, a conceptual land-art project, a defiant political statement, a community out-reach program and an act of radical gardening.”

“An act of radical gardening”…Don’t know about you, but a phrase like that kind of makes me weak in knees.

Me, too.  Who else in Syracuse committing acts of radical gardening?

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Quick! What to do with strawberries!

Posted in Articles by Lonnie
Jun 07 2010
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And basil!  These are in abundance right now. Salad.

Greens (from the market)
Lots of basil leaves
Sliced fresh strawberries
Sliced jicama (or other crunchy veggie)
Crumbled gorgonzola
Chopped honey glazed cashews (or other nut)
Extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Sea salt, fresh ground black pepper

Yum!

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How the garden grew!

Posted in Articles by Lonnie
Jun 06 2010
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We’ve been gone for the past twelve days. The day before we left, we stuck seeds and a few little plants in the ground. Our dear neighbor watered faithfully while we were gone. The weather was warm. And Oh – My  -  God! Look what happened!

Under the leaves are about three quarts of strawberries all ready for picking:

Two years ago we thought this old rose was dead. This year… nature’s bounty at its best.

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Missing a strawberry birth

Posted in Articles by Lonnie
May 30 2010
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Wouldn’t you know, the day we’ve been waiting for… when the first strawberry in the big patch we made last year is finally ripe enough to eat, and we’re in New York City! My neighbor kindly sent us a picture of the new baby berry:

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Cole & Parks, Victor, NY: meh…

Posted in Articles by Lonnie
Mar 28 2010
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Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows that we love good coffee and will go to some effort to find it in any city we visit. Given that we visit Rochester often and had a fairly disappointing experience the last time, we decided to check out a cafe that had been recommended to us by the friend of a friend: Cole & Parks in Victor, NY, some 20 minutes southeast of Rochester.

Cole & Parks is located in what used to be an old farm house that is now surrounded by a sea of auto-centric suburban strip-mall development. The building is lovely and the interior very pleasant, with rooms on both floors for sitting and relaxing. When you walk in, you are greeted with the sight of a variety of yummy fresh desserts and jars of delights such as lemon curd and Maine maple syrup. There is a giant espresso machine straight ahead and helpful people behind the counter further in to the right.

What there is not is any evidence of coffee actually being served there. And by that I mean there is absolutely no aroma of coffee!  It was the strangest thing I’ve ever experienced in a cafe, like some coffee-neutron-bomb had come in and killed the coffee smell, leaving just the black liquid and some people drinking it.

I asked the young lady attending us how many shots in their cappuccino, and was informed that there’s small, medium and large.  Huh?  She then explained that she pushes one button for small, one for medium, and one for large. Ah.

I asked for the large quantity of espresso but in half the usual milk, no foam. This she did, God bless her. (Some places you actually hear, “I can’t do that.” But that’s another story.) Dave got a regular cappuccino.  We also ordered an apple pie to share.

In short, the pie was delicious. The coffee was reminiscent of coffee – had a roasty flavor and a dark color in the milk, just the way I’d ordered it. But still there was no aroma! I stuck my nose right in the cup and inhaled deeply. No aroma of coffee. It was the dangdest thing. I know the suburbs can be a bit on the sterile side, but this was ridiculous!

Dave said that he was surprised by what seemed to be a pretzel flavor accord in his coffee.  He didn’t find this disturbing, though, and actually liked his cup of coffee.  He went on to say that when he pronounced the name of the cafe and thought about it, he found it slightly disconcerting.

So we’re still on the lookout for good coffee in Rochester. Makes this Syracusan kinda glad to call our wacky city home, given that we often smell coffee roasting just blocks away when we step out the door.

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