So, you need a brisket for St Patty's Day?

Meat Meet
Monday
March 15
6pm
Parking lot behind Quest Diagnostics in Central Sq.

How:
1. Post what you want in the comments section of THIS post down there, below
2. Go to the parking lot behind Quest Diagnostics, on Bishop Allen Drive, in Central Sq Cambridge at 6pm on Monday the 15th of March
3. Look for the white van
4. Get yer meat

Need a brisket?
Let us know in the comments section below- we've got'cha covered
Questions? No problem, just post em or email
See you on Monday!

Meat, meet, meat, meet, MEEEEAAAAATTTT!!!!!

Hmmm.... that music isn't nearly so dramatic when you are writing it on a blog. I think maybe you have to be there....

And you can!

Saturday,
March the 6th
3pm

Please join a large group of meat eaters in the parking lot behind Quest Diagnostics, at roughly 36 Bishop Allen Drive, in Central Sq, Cambridge.

You can just come dig through the coolers, like a farmer's market, or if you wish, you can order in advance.

FIRST- Please visit Stillman's website to see what they sell, and stuff
THEN- Post your wish list in the comments of this blog post, below. You don't need to sign in or anything. The meat folks watch this spot, and they will see what you write and even respond should you have questions.
FINALLY- Show up with cash or credit cards to pick up your meat. Chat with a new friend, try a new cut of meat, generally have fun

See you on Saturday!

I think a lot about what kids are eating in public schools

I recently wrote a guest piece for a blog I like, very much, called Happy Chickens Lay Healthy Eggs.

Here's the beginning of my story, and please check out Orren's blog for the rest of my thoughts, and other stuff, especially about his gorgeous birds!

I think a lot about what kids are eating in public schools

I didn't always. In fact, it is only relatively recently that I've given any thought at all to what people eat in schools, or the military and prisons for that matter.

For me, it started with milk, before I had my first baby. I was hearing so much about artificial hormones and precocious puberty, and about the side effects of unnecessarily used antibiotics, and I became afraid for the development of the child I was going to have. I made arrangements to get dairy from a small, local dairy farm. It came in glass bottles. I felt safer.

When my kids came of school age I took an initial look at the options in their cafeteria and I felt that same fear. But this time it wasn't a simple matter of calling the local dairy truck, and so I tried to convince myself that my kids had good eating habits and that there were things about the lunchroom offerings that were ok.

MORE.....

Why Brunch?

First, there is that I came across this story that I wrote about a chef I used to work for a long time ago.

And then there is that a few of my dearests work at this restaurant that (fortunately for me) expanded South, to Cambridge, not too long ago. And this restaurant happens to feature breakfast all day.

And, of course, there is that I kind of love breakfast anytime, and it seems like other people feel the same way, or that restaurant I mentioned before wouldn't have a business model. Nor, for that matter would IHOP.

So I sort have had breakfast on the brain, but I hadn't been cooking it much until recently when I was asked to do a really pretty breakfast party. And it got me thinking about some things I haven't done in a while, like homemade English muffins. I used to make them a lot. Usually with truffled eggs. Maybe a little local hard cheese and some bacon? We do bacon, so that makes sense...

Can I just say, we served them at that party, and those little breakfast sandwiches were just too good to not make again.

But we don't get asked to do a breakfast very often. Breakfast is a tough gig. Always has been. You work really, really hard at breakfasttime, because everyone has a really specific idea of what breakfast should be, and you have to make them happy and do it really fast, because breakfast is not a three hour meal. You can sit with a computer over coffee in a cafe for hours, but you cannot call that breakfast.

Of course, the high holiday of breakfast is brunch. Brunch is leisurely, compared to breakfast. People can spend an hour or more at brunch, and well they should. They have powered through their breakfasts all week, and this is the day for slow and low.

Doesn't mean the cooks don't work just as hard though, because more people usually show up, sometimes in droves, hungry and possibly hung-over, so it's just as much of a pile up in the kitchen. And let's look at the breakfast kitchen. Cooking breakfast is like doing a puzzle. You have to time everything to come out at the same time. So that guy who is having his eggs basted is going to slow down the folks who wanted yogurt and granola, and you have to make sure that the toast plate for the other guy at that same table isn't burnt while you are doing the other 12 orders you've got moving through your clockworklike set up.

I LOVED cooking breakfast, short order, and did it for years back when I had that kind of energy. The best gig for stories was the one cooking for the Brown's Backers on game days.

So that pretty much brings us to the answer to our question.
"Why brunch?"
Because, we just don't get to do those little sandwiches often enough!

So we are going to do them again.

And a lot of other things, too, which may include Florida organic citrus, which is in season this time of year, and which we get through a system called the "East Coast Food Shed". I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about it, but I am absolutely sure that I want to serve these amazingly delicious little packages of vitimin C, because we all need as much as we can get of that.

And I'm a big fan of the mimosa, I can't serve you alcohol, cuz I don't have that kind of license. You can bring it though, should you wish to have it, cuz the oj will be something fiiiiinnnne. Oh, and I've got these pickled green beans from last summer that I have been just dying to stir a Bloody Mary with...

We've been using the maple simple syrup from our candied ginger (yes, local) to sweeten our granola recently. It's so good with our maple sweetened yogurt!

Our amazing chef, Trevor, has been curing bacon for us all winter. We really do need to share that. He has been making noises about breakfast sausage too. I'm going to get him some pork butt at the meat meet on the 20th and hope those noises turn into yumminess. It's only fair to warn you, though. Emily can't eat any other bacon anymore- Trevor's bacon has ruined commercial bacon for her.

I'm going to load up on Stillman's stunning eggs at the meat meet on the 20th, and we are going to set up a proper egg station. Poached, over easy, omelet? You can have it all, and more!

Yup, a ONCE Brunch is most definitely in order, my friends.
It's $40 a person, and that is to cover the cost of food and the rental of the space.
(If it is too rich for your blood I apologize. I understand. I hope that some day I can cook for the whole world for free. Please forgive me that I cannot do it yet.)

February 28th
We'll start at 11am and keep cooking until we feel like we are done
I hope you can join us
xoxo JJ and co.

Meat Meet on Saturday, Feb 20th at 10am

Meet the meat (ensconced, as it will be, in a truck)
Saturday, Feb 20th
10am

Look for the happy mob of carnivores gathered about a white van in the parking lot behind Quest Diagnostics at approx 36 Bishop Allen Drive
in Central Sq, Cambridge

The truck will be there as close to 10am as possible, weather and traffic dependent, and will stay until everyone has what they want, which takes at least an hour, maybe more.

Please bundle up if it is cold, this is a nice social gathering, and it is not super fast.

Please post requests in the comments section below- Stillman will read the posts late on Friday night and bring what you ask for, and, oh, so much more

Anyone interested in tailgating? Gimme a shout- I'll order extra hotdogs!
xoj