Villa Catignano

This week last year a small group of us gathered at Villa Catignano on the outskirts of Siena Italy in the Italian countryside for Tali and Craig's wedding. After a powerful thunderstorm, the skies cleared and the sun shone down and the most beautiful wedding happened to be.  Auguri dear ones! 

 The gardens at Villa Catignano

 Campo Siena

  

Statue, Villa Catignano 

Streets, Siena.

 

Our lunch of apricots, cherries and melons. 

 

Lu.

 Sam inside Villa Catignano.

   All Photos Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

Little Dickens

 

 

  All photos Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

I stopped to see my friend, Heidi Johannsen Stewart, and one of her three partners, Michael Shannon, tea proprietors of the wildly gorgeous and successful line of artisan teas Bellocq at the New Amsterdam Market last Sunday. I picked up three of their irresistable teas. No. 18, Afghani Chai, a black assam tea with organic red poppy flowers, green cardamon, star anise, ginger, clove and black pepper. It had been on my mind since a cold winter day at the market when they were handing out samples. I had become somewhat obsessed with it. I also picked up what they were calling their "summertime chai", a little lighter than the Afghani Chai and caffeine free. It is called Hindu Holiday. It is a rooibos based chai, caffeine free with cardamom, fragrant cassia, spicy ginger rose, jasmine and marigold petals.

I was, however, most intrigued by the tea called Little Dickens. Little Dickens, was  lovingly created by Heidi and her son. It is full of all kinds of things that kids love. Like Hindu Holiday, it too is rooibos based and caffeine free.  A few of the ingredients in Little Dickens are ginger, cinnamon, mint, chocolate, marigold and a little rose. Steep it, then add a little milk and honey. 

Hiedi feels that scent and flavor not only bring back forgotten memories, but that they also enrich the present. "Great teas can be powerful conduit to unite life's precious moments." I couldn't agree more. Many of my strongest memories are attached to taste and smell. So I decided to pick up some tea to share with my sweet little friend Odette, who just became a big sister this past week. Odette is no stranger to tea drinking, but part of me just wants to hear her tell me all about Little Dickens and what is in it. She is at the amazing, curious and talkative age of three. Having her own tea, like her mom does, will make her feel very grown up. It will be a nice way to make her feel special in these new and sometimes confusing post baby days.

I am upstate and all is quiet except for the crazy morning birds. I think it is the perfect moment to sit on the porch and have a cup of tea. 

Look for Belloq's new atelier at 37 Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn, coming very soon!

You can order Bellocq's teas online at: http://www.bellocq.com/ 

Bellocq's founders, Heidi Johannsen Stewart, Michael Shannon, Young Yoon and Scott Stewart joined creative forces with a desire to collaborate on a shared aesthetic vision, an appreciation of traditional artisan production and a passion for tea.

The New Amsterdam Market

The New Amsterdam Market which opens today for the 2011 season, is one of my favorite New York Markets to have popped up in the past several years. It takes place under the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan side, down at the Seaport. I love it for the highly curated group of vendors, the focus on regional, local, sustainably produced foods and for the simple fact that it takes place on a Sunday and I can lazily make my way down there and shop for the weeks meals. Like the Brooklyn Flea or the Smorgasburg they have prepared food ( Luke's Lobster, Porchetta, and People's Pops and Bellocq just to name a few) to eat on the spot. Come hungry and with a big basket!

The Market is Every Sunday from 11-4.

Some of the  vendors rotate and change weekly. Look at the NAM site each week for a current list of that weeks vendors.

The Market is constantly having special events like The Oyster Festival or last year's popular Smorrbrod Festival. They often have events for kids as well, so keep your eyes on their ever changing calendar and get yourself down to the Seaport where you will feel like  you have truly stepped back in time. It is one of the most special locations in the city.

June 5 Market Vendors:

FRESH PRODUCE, FRUIT & GROCERY
Do Re Me Farm
Flying Fox
Terra Firma Farm
Toigo Orchards
Z Farm

GRAINS, BREADS, CEREALS
Bambino's Ravioli 
Hot Bread Kitchen
Nordic Breads
Orwasher's Bakery
Sullivan Street Bakery

MEATS & POULTRY
Brooklyn Cured
Hudson Valley Duck Farm
Kings County Jerky
Mosefund Farm

MILK, CHEESE, DAIRY
Cellars at Jasper Hill

WINE, MEAD, & CIDER
Benmarl Winery

PRODUCTS OF THE REGION
Kombucha Brooklyn
La Newyorkina
Ledgenear Farm
Liddabit Sweets
Mother-in-Law Kimchi
North Winds Farm
P&H Soda
Pie Corps
Red Bee
SchoolHouse Kitchen
Sour Puss Pickles
Vermont Bean Crafters

MARKET FARE
Blue Bottle
Luke's Lobster
National Crab
People's Pops
Table Tales

SELECTED IMPORTS
Bellocq Tea Atelier
Mast Brothers Chocolate
Nuts+ Nuts
Taza Chocolate

FRIENDS, ADVOCATES & OTHERS
Brooklyn Butcher Blocks
Bowery Lane Bicycles 
Green Mountain Energy
Grill-A-Chef

New Amsterdam Market will be held every Sunday from 11am to 4pm beginning SUNDAY JUNE 5, 2011 at the old Fulton Fish Market which is located on South Street and Beekman Street in Lower Manhattan click here for directions Market Hours: 11am-4pm *note: Markets will not be held on Sunday July 3 Sunday September 4 Sunday November 27 New Amsterdam Market is held outdoors and under cover, and meets rain or shine.  Mushrooms from Vermont Wildcrafters and Market regular's Nova Kim and Les Hook, http://www.wildgourmetfood.com/   All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved A Smorrebrod interpretation from Caroline Fidanza and crew of Saltie (formerly of Marlow and Diner). These ladies collaborate to make some of the tastiest sandwiches in town!

a tree peony.

Right about this time every year, our tree peonies bloom Upstate for one glorious week. Ours bloom a little later than most because of the cold weather and the high altitude of the Catskill Mountains. Because of these factors, we have a very short growing season in general. It takes all of our efforts to get up the gumption to plant a garden year after year knowing many things will never come to fruition before the first frost. Yet, we all do it. We do it because there is something sublimely magical and satisfying in tending a garden. There is definitely magic and beauty in plants. Luckily, my peonies tend to look after themselves, more or less. They don't mind the fickle weather Upstate nor the partial shade of our wooded home. I never had tree peonies growing up. It wasn't until I photographed some for a story, that I became completely and utterly in love with them. Historically, tree Peonies were first present in China and later brought to Japan during the eigth century. Both China and Japan have a long standing love for both herbaceous and tree peonies. Along with being prized for their beauty, the roots and seeds were and are sometimes used for their medicinal properties. It was not until the 1700's that the first  Chinese tree peonies showed up in Europe. In the 1800's Japanese tree peonies made thier way to Europe, where the lighter single blooms gained popularity over the Chinese full double blooms. I have always loved herbaceous peonies having grown up with them as they tend to flourish on the East Coast. These are the more common bush peonies, pale pink, whites and deep reds, that you are most likely familiar with. For me, they always marked the end of school and the beginning of the  long hot Western Mass. Summer.   Tree peonies are different they grow on a hard woody stem as opposed to soft green ones and can with time become as much as five feet high. I feel very lucky to see them bloom knowing they have made it through another long cold Catskill Winter. Summer has truly arrived.

A trusted source for ordering tree peonies is Khlems Song Sparrow. Tree Peonies are planted in the Fall.

   All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

 to see afull gallery of peonies and similiar images go to ; http://www.hungryghostfoodandtravel.com/photo-archive/peonies/

For the love of Pho

Hungry Ghost Contributor Julian Richards writes in from Saigon. Read his tongue twisting tale of Pho.

First morning in Saigon, alone.  Asian jet-lag is akin to being forcep-birthed underwater: thoughts percolate but become slurry en route to the mouth.  Lips are earthworms, eyes jaundiced lychees webbed with capillaries, moist fish balls.  Gerbil tongue.  Moss teeth.  I slither down the staircase of my one-star on Búi Viện, thin haired, darkly bespectacled and retaining water, like a cheap, hungover Elton John.  Out onto the street into a seething pirhana-shoal of motor-scooters.  A suety white man perhaps five years my senior is instantly, mercilessly sideswiped a mere 10 feet from where I stand. He goes down hard, flopping like a carp.  I turn round and go back into my hotel.  The receptionist and her friend look at me gravely.  "Phở", they say.

 

(Pic: Waiting for Phở)

In my first few days in Saigon I ate Phở at every juncture; when I wasn't eating Phở I wished I was. In my hotels, in sidewalk restaurants, brightly lit Phở joints with orange, plastic bucket seats, across the expanse of Ben Thanh Market or famous Quán Ăn Ngon near the Reunification Palace.  I sampled delicate Phở gà with chicken, slightly shrimpy Phở tôm, even faintly fecal Phở bò sách with tripe.  But in the end I always returned to my trusty Phở bò, that fragrant symphony of beefy, noodly dish-water sprung with snivels of steak.  Upon returning to Saigon after a Phở-free week in Cambodia, I got off the bus and immediately slurped down a half fishbowl of Phở whilst watching a rat the size of a groundhog run back and forth at my feet gathering debris to feed its burly, hooligan children.  Mmmmmmm.  For the Love of Phở.