Update: Jaemor Farms

A beautiful weekend seemed to be a good time for me to check on the state of north Georgia agriculture. The frost that descended across Georgia and South Carolina earlier this year damaged quite a bit of the fruit harvest. Jaemor seemed like a good place to survey the state of the crops. It may be easy to dismiss Jaemor as touristy, but behind that big stand is a big spread of all sorts of crops. And who can pass up their fried pies? This beauty was filled with dried peaches. The result was a marvelous variation on the standard. The dried peaches gave a more intense flavor and denser texture.

When I made it over to the produce section, I found that they had good stocks of several varieties of peaches and a big crop of blackberries. I consulted with one of the Jaemor staff, who was very knowledgeable and helpful. Given that my destination for this fruit would be pies, he pointed me to some bargains. The blackberries were labeled as overripe and priced 40% off. The peaches were small and 25% off. This is enough to give me two blackberry pies and three or four peach pies. I will savor them during those dark winter mornings as they remind me of summer days.

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Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b

Atlanta etc.: Marilyn Wolf's Food Blog and Restaurant Blog

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