The Chef & the Mini’s on Mother’s Day (also the day he flew to Italy)

For the next 18 days I will be a single mom. The Chef will be travelling across the homeland of my grandmother, La Bella Italia, while I wake up every morning at 5 to get the mini’s ready for school. He will be dining on the most delicious food in the world, drinking wine every night, and going to sleep amongst fields of olives and grapes while I tend the chickens, mow the lawn, and rear our children.

What. A. Dick.

Trying not to sob on Mother’s Day

I kid, I kid. I’m actually crazy excited for his journey. In fact when the opportunity came around he wanted to say no (3 weeks is the longest we’ve ever been apart), but really, how many chances to go Italy does one person really get? I forced his hand. The first week of his journey starts in Trento, a city in Northern Italy that my dear nonna (grandma) mother was from. Trento located in the Alto Adige valley is a pretty spectacular Italian city that I was lucky enough to live in during my twenties. When the Chef found out he would be headlining a culinary tour of Italy, I suggested that he check out Trento for inspiration for our newest restaurant (coming to University Square this fall). Trento has a pretty cool history because it has changed hands from Austria to Hungary to Italy over the past hundred years and is actually autonomous from Italy. Look it up people. The food, the people, and the culture all take their autonomy very seriously and I thought spending a week there would give the Chef an interesting perspective to Italy. I wrote to an old friend at the emigration office and asked if a stay in Trento would be possible for the Chef. Before I knew it, a spectacular itinerary landed in my inbox. The Chef was well on his way to enjoying a week in Trento that would offer him ” a wide range of different experiences to create a relationship with:

• local Trentino Chefs including Michelin Chef
• family hotel owners who follow traditional Trentino cooking traditions
• educational culinary academy to learn modern and traditional Trentino cooking techniques
• world-known wineries and distillers
• local products and producers: olive oil, grappa, carne salada, and more”

Sounds great right????

After his week in Trento he will head south for a travelling culinary tour. He will spend 2 weeks eating, cooking, and drinking his way down to the heel of the boot and then will fly back up to meet the kids and I for our first ever NON WORKING vacation. Well kinda sorta non working. The Chef’s book deal is signed,  and I am still working on my proposal, so I am sure there may be some book work to do. But other than that, NOTHING, NADA, NONE.  Just family, food, and fun!! The kids are ecstatic for the trip, Miss L can’t wait to eat pasta every single day and Catcher can’t wait to go to the city without streets. I myself am eager as hell for these next 18 days to pass!

18 days and this is me! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Share/Save

It is ridiculous how much I love these chickens. Never in my life did I ever think I would be rushing home as fast as I could at the day’s end just so I could hang out with a bunch of squawking girls. Our chickens have become e a solace for me. Learning about them has been such an interesting and fulfilling experience and I highly recommend backyard chickens to anyone whose city allows it.

Ginger, Acorn, Bear, Squid, Trout, and Bunny get busy on the homestead

Share/Save

Sometimes it seems like our plate is packed so full that it hurts to breathe. I love what we do and I love the life we have chosen but man oh man sometimes I just need a break. This past weekend I took that much needed break at Farmer Lee Jones’ house. The Chef was cooking an all vegetarian dinner on the farm to raise money for the Culinary Vegetable Institute. Normally I like to escape to these dinners by my lonesome. I cherish meeting new people who support things we love (hi Ryan!!) and I love to enjoy the Chef’s food. This time however, we were without a sitter so I called up the good farmer to see if the kids could sit in. He happily obliged and the kids and I headed up to the farm.

When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find that Farmer had arranged for two local high school girls to hang out with the mini’s in the luxurious upstairs loft of The Culinary Vegetable Institute while I didned with the big kids downstairs. The Chef filled up my glass of wine and soon I was off on a crazy and delicious all vegetarian adventure. Here’s what I ate:

Greenhouse Tavern Spreads, Smears & Breads

Noodlecat Tsukimono Platter

Appetizers

Lettuce Soup with Spring Herbs

Beet and Sorrel with Radishes, Almonds and Poppy

Togarashi Edamame

Tomato Miso Jam Rangoons with Cream Cheese

ENTREES 

Sauteed Ramps and Fiddleheads with Garlic Shoots and Bernaise

Spring Supple Quinotta with baby Fennel, Favas, Pecorino, Peas, Poached Egg, Fresh mint and

Farmer’s Cheese

Ramp Gnocchi with Morels and White Asparagus

Mustard Greens Salad with Thai Basil, Apple Kimchee and Ponzu

Ramp Rice Cake with Spicy Peanut and Tofu Puree

Udon with Spring Onion Confit, Fiddlehead Ferns, Vin Braised Boomers, Garlic Scapes and Miso Pistou

My favorite dishes were the lettuce soup (recipe to come soon!) and the ramp gnocchi. SO. FREAKIN’. GOOD. The lettuce soup was so light and airy I felt like I immediately lost ten pounds while eating it. The gnocchi was not as delicate as I normally like it but the ramps added in made each piece I ate, a pop of crunchy earth. Super yum to the max.

The Earth to Table Dinner that the Chef does is easily one of my favorite events of the year. I love that the Chef is really really good at is cooking vegetables in ways that every person would enjoy. He cooked 105 vegetables that night and 110 people left the farm happy, healthy, and full.

The Culinary Vegetable Institute is an inspiring place. If you have the opportunity I highly recommend checking out an Earth to Table dinner or their annual Veggi U Food & Wine Festival. Super fun time, crazy chefs, and wicked awesome food. Team Sawyer will be representing this year in July and we would love it if you could join us on the farm!

Share/Save

Our relationship began that day. We were instantly friends and soon inseparable. He told me he loved me after three months. I was 17 and my parents were going through an awful nasty horrible no fun divorce. At that time, love was a curse. Love was cruel. Love cheated and love left. Although I said it back to him, I knew deep down I wanted no part of it. A month later I broke his heart.

We found ourselves back together a year later. Unbeknownst to him, his mother had invited me to his high school graduation party and I decided to go. The moment I saw him, I knew what had happened in the past was exactly that. We would become friends again. Years passed and we remained in each others lives. He became my best friend and I his.

Roomies

We found ourselves as roommates in Manhattan after college. Our apartment tiny, dirty, and old. Our friendship, strong as ever. I moved to the city on a whim of brokenheartedness and he was there to pick up the broken pieces. He showed me the city through it’s food and I quickly found myself in love with it and in love with him. Our life together started shortly after his 23rd birthday and hasn’t slowed down since.

9 years ago…

Happy Birthday Jonathon. 

Our journey together over the past 17 years has been outstanding.

It’s funny, but even back then, I always knew it was you. 

Here’s to 32 more years!!

Share/Save

Rock Hall Induction Week 2012

What a week we had during the rock hall induction. We hung out with William Shatner  talking food, muses, and kindred spirits. We laughed at Aziz then had dinner with him. We rocked out to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and rode scooters behind the restaurant with our kids. We taught kids and families that eating healthy is not only good for you but something you can do with the entire family as we did, making  homemade goldfish for Healthy Kids Day at the Q. We hung out on rooftops as we danced with our kids, once again falling in love with our little city.

Life is good.

Life is crazy.

Happy in Cleveland are we. 

Share/Save