The Happiness in Health

Scotland the Great

Ω December 5th, 2011 Ω Tagged 1890s mountaineer, Ben Nevis, black pudding, callanish stones, cullins, Edinburgh, Edradour distillery, haggis, Isle of Harris, isle of lewis, isle of skye, Luskentyre Beach, old man of storr, Scotland, Talisker Distillery, travel, Uig Beach, whiskey Ω 34 Comments

Before we get to the greatness that is Scotland, I’d like to thank all of you for your insightful comments in my last post about eating “real” food. I enjoyed reading about your food philosophies – a selection of comments (bold by me):

While I am a huge fan of many processed foods (ahem, peanut butter, canned beans, canned soups, etc) I thank my mom for getting me started young at taking whole and fresh ingredients and cooking with them and using them any recipe. I honestly think it’s lack of cooking skills that prevents so many people from buying fresh foods, and resorting to packaged pre-made foods. It’s tough when you’ve never learned how to even use a stove! (The Candid RD)

I heard [Michael Pollan] speak about two years ago, and I really liked that he was “real” and admitted to not being “perfect.” He also made a real big point about cooking real, healthy, and cheap foods like beans, etc. I think too often people say eating healthy foods is too expensive and too difficult. But it really doesn’t have to be. (Andrea’s Wellness Notes)

I have something more to add in the food philosophy question: eating while relaxed and calm is hugely important to me. I never have lunch in a hurry or standing or at my desk while working if I can avoid it (and I am planning my day in a way that I can), because the time pressure and stress make me not eat well at all. (Christa)

Keep the great comments coming!

On to today’s post: Many moons ago (and by “many”, I mean “three”), my family and I traveled to the west coat of Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides. Why did I wait three months to share my pictures with you, dear reader? I’d like to write that in the midst of various projects of dubious importance and uncertain relevance, I lacked time; but, the truth is … I forgot. Oops.

Let’s look at those pictures!

I didn’t realize that the knee-high leather boots I brought to hike in were so unusual until we were hiking down Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in the British Isles) and a man who had passed us earlier in the day came up behind us and commented, “There’s the lady with the great boots!“  I thought I looked pretty snazzy myself – or, as my sister D said: “You look like a 1890s mountaineer.”

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Yeah, okay, I guess I can see her point.

A few more highlights of western Scotland and the Outer Hebrides:

Gallan Head, Isle of Lewis:

Luskentyre Beach on the Isle of Harris (yes, Scotland has wonderful beaches!):

“Cave” on Uig Beach, Isle of Lewis:

Near the Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye:

On the Isle of Lewis:

Yes, I went inside the abandoned stone house – in retrospect, perhaps that was a poor idea (note the collapsing stone roof – I won’t post pictures from inside the house, because I want to preserve the illusion that I have some common sense (hint: see gallery below for evidence that I do lack sense)):

Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis – unlike Stonehenge, you can actually walk up to these (as evidenced below):

A gallery of more Scotland images (Note: The pictures should have captions, but apparently they don’t show up unless you click the “i” icon in the upper right corner of the gallery):

And, a gallery of what I’m sure you’re most interested in: FOOD! I’ve noticed that whenever I travel to a new place, many of my travel plans revolve around trying local foods – what better way to learn about a new locale than to sample its delicacies? For more examples of eating my way through new locales, check out THIH’s Travel Page.

As seen in the album above, I sampled several Scotch whiskies at the Talisker and Edradour distilleries and found that after a dram or two, all whiskies taste pretty much the same. I also had the opportunity to try both black pudding and haggis (black pudding = delicious! haggis = okay). Recently, I acquired some canned haggis (yes, canned) so that I can cook it up over the holidays with some neeps and tatties (that’s rutabaga and potatoes, cooked and mashed separately). Stay tuned for my disastrous attempt at cooking haggis!

In the meantime, click through the album below for some delicious meals I enjoyed while in Scotland:

Finally, during our Scotland trip, I had the opportunity to swing down to London and meet a dear friend with whom I’ve corresponded for seven years, but never met in person until this past summer.  Hi, Christa!

Take care, gentle reader!

Q: Have you been to Scotland? (I know YOU have LeQuan ;) ) Have you ever tried black pudding or haggis?

AND

Where is your dream place to visit?

» Filed under Favorites, Life, New Foods » 34 Comments

My Afternoon with the Wildman

Ω April 10th, 2011 Ω Tagged acorns, black birch, dandelion greens, eating Central park, field garlic, foraging tour, garlic stuffed mushrooms, Japanese knotweed, steve brill, wildman, wildman steve brill Ω 23 Comments

A few days ago, Peter and I had the good fortune to participate in a foraging tour of a local park with “Wildman” Steve Brill, an environmental educator who was arrested for “eating” NYC’s Central Park back in the 80′s. Peter and I have been trying to go on his edible tour for the past three years, so I was eager to jump into it. What new gustatory delights awaited me?

Well, I did a lot of this – facial expression and all:

Just so I don’t give you the wrong idea, I had a fantastic time on this tour! Who knew the park was full of such diverse and unusual tastes? In the picture above, I’m chewing the branch of a black birch tree, which besides having analgesic properties, also tastes pleasantly of spearmint – once you get past the prospect of chewing on a tree branch. (Caveat: Please don’t forage in your local park based on what I write on this post, then get sick and come after me, all that and such. If you want to eat your park, go buy a book or go on one of the Wildman‘s tours.)

What else did we try?  Here’s a common one: dandelion greens.  These greens are best when young, before the flower emerges.  You may have tried dandelion greens before – I’ve even bought them by the bunch at a farmer’s market.

Acorns. These tannin-filled seeds are extremely bitter to eat unless you stew them for a long time (like, days), but Wildman Steve has a theory that the long winter months will dampen the bitter flavor.  Based on my face while tasting it, this acorn could have used a few more months in Antarctica.

Here I am standing in a field of last year’s Japanese knotweed:

The new shoots are very noticeable amid the dead leaves of early Spring:

Here’s the Wildman himself, cleaning off a specimen for us to try:

The Japanese knotweed shoot should have a sour taste, a bit like rhubarb.  I didn’t taste rhubarb, but I did get a pleasant mild taste. In general, I found that the foraged food had a much milder flavor than the conventional produce we buy in the grocery store. I can understand why people chose to cultivate and engineer edible plants over many years to yield stronger and more consistent flavors. Did we lose or gain in the process? I’ll leave that for the agriculturists and anthropologists to decide.

“What now??”

“Urg.  You can try this one.”

My favorite find of the afternoon? Field garlic – lots of it!

Wait, Jessie! Don’t eat it raw! This delicious allium that tastes like a mild cross between garlic and onion deserves a special dish of its own!

Cleaned and ready to be chopped:

“Wildman” Field Garlic Stuffed Mushrooms (boring title, yes – all my energy went into cleaning that danged garlic)
Serves 4 for appetizers

Ingredients:
1/4 cup chopped field garlic (bulb and white part of the stem)
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper
8 large white button mushrooms (wanted to forage some, but it’s too early in the season)

I know this seems like a lot of garlic, but the flavor is mild, I promise!

Peter found this wonderfully fresh and grassy olive oil from California:

Combine field garlic, panko, and parsley.  Pour olive oil over all.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Hollow out the mushrooms with a spoon.  Stuff with the … stuffing.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes, or until the panko is browned.

The field garlic does not have a strong flavor, so feel free to add more if you like a stronger flavor.  (Incidentally, this recipe also works great with regular garlic.)  For me, the flavor of these field garlic stuffed mushrooms was perfect.  Mild in taste, crunchy on the top, soft on the bottom.  Anyone want to come over for a dinner party? ;)

Q: Have you ever eaten dandelion greens?  How about any other “wild” or “foraged” food? (Safely, of course!)

and

What’s your favorite party appetizer?

» Filed under New Foods, Recipes » 23 Comments