the black bin you see here is THE EARTH MACHINE. it is a composting container we have next to our back porch. this composting bin contains the direct product of our coffee drinking, prepping f/ meals, and occasional outlet for some non-cooked food we've neglected to use up. SMART.
we've reduced our weekly trash output significantly by composting for the past few years. call it "green", call it "hippie", call it "weird", i call it SMART. why not reduce the total waste that our household is putting out? instead of blindly filling up trash that goes into a landfill? it just makes sense to me to compost. sure it takes a little more work initially. not much more though, really.
i keep a medium-size white pale underneath the sink, next to the trash can, to make it easier to get in the habit of saving the following - coffee grounds w/ filter, egg shells, peelings, rinds, and any kind of vegetable scrap i've prepped for a meal that has not been cooked. no animal by products of any sort.
when i open the lid of the food pale outside, the smell is quite off-putting. rotting food smells bad. in contrast, opening the lid to THE EARTH MACHINE, the sweet smell of nutrient-packed soil fills my nose. the smell is wonderful. maybe i am turning into a hippie for liking the smell of dirt? i don't know. like i said before though, it is SMART. it's quite fascinating too. think about it - the compost pile is a living breathing ecosystem in and of itself. one sign of good soil is the presence of worms. there are tons of worms in the compost bin. i add the food pale scraps to the THE EARTH MACHINE and turn its contents inside to mix them up. the worms actually help break down these scraps. rotting food must taste good to the worms?
i started the compost pile with dirt, leaves, grass clippings and a few barrels full of food scraps from when i was chef @ melbee's. the pile keeps growing, then reducing itself. it's beautiful. i know, i know i think i'm kind of turning into a "hippie". maybe a modern day urban hippie?
just remember that composted soil = gardener's gold. this stuff will help anything grow. maybe i'll start selling soil from THE EARTH MACHINE?
Jonny Cakes, Cornmeal Griddle or Pan Cakes, Flapjacks - call them what you will...These are so, so, so good. I think the key is the nutty brown butter. Naturally, I made them gluten-free. Serve them with plenty of butter and warm maple syrup. Here is the recipe:
I seriously, love wine! Had this Spainish beauty that is 50% Garnacha (Grenache), 50% Samso (Carinena), with my best friend, Sage, who was in town from Fort Worth over the weekend. Dark cherry, sweet spices, along with some white pepper on the back end. Nice acidity & taninns to go with some vanilla and cola on the lengthy finish.
