CoSkay.com

So if you couldn’t tell by now, I love strawberries.  A whole lot.  They’re one of my favorite fruits and I try to eat them as often as possible during the summer when ripe.

Well a couple of weeks ago my roommates and I went to Costco and I picked up a giant crate of strawberries.  Since it was Costco, there were enough strawberries to feed a small army (or in my case a house full of people).  I did manage to stash a couple of them away in the freezer for future use luckily.  Unfreezing berries for cooking always yields mushy results, which are fantastic for baking.  When I initially froze the strawberries I had no future plans and thought I would hold on to them until I found something delicious to make.  Well luckily, that something found me.  While in Whole Foods last week I decided to buy a magazine but unfortunately they were out of Us Weekly, so I picked up Whole Living instead (I’m joking…Whole Foods doesn’t even sell Us Weekly).

Anyway, I found this recipe for Strawberry Muffins and

I just knew they had to be made.

I think they’ve gone over well with the aforementioned army known as my roommates.  More than have of them were gone in less than 24 hours and the remainder within 48.

I like this recipe for a couple of reasons.  The first being, I modified it a bunch and the muffins were still delicious.  Secondly, it does not produce an overly sweet muffin.  The cake part is wholesome and the strawberries are the sweet parts of the muffin.  As a result, these are good for breakfast on the run.

Strawberry Muffins

Adapted from Whole Living

• 2 cups sliced strawberries
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup non-fat plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup  vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss together strawberries and 1/3 cup sugar, lightly mash the berries and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, oil, egg, and vanilla.
3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture and the berry mixture (with juice). Fold just until combined and divide among 12 muffins.
4. Bake about 17 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

When it comes to iPhone apps, I am cheap.  Why pay for something when there is usually a free alternative?  So I surprised even myself when I purchased Locavore for $3.99.

Developed by Buster McLeod and designed by Matt Hickey, Locavore finds your location and provides you with a list of fruits and vegetables that are currently in season plus others that will be in season soon.  Additionally, the application features local farmer’s markets and a social networking aspect.

I downloaded this application because I thought it would assist with helping to choose the right foods in the grocery store.  That aspect is lost on me right now because I’ve been hitting up the Farmer’s markets in California.  However, it is nice to look at and see which fruits and vegetables are almost out of season.  This allows me to make sure I buy those and get my fill before they’re gone until next year.  This application was also helpful since I just moved to the bay area.  It gave me a list of all the local farmer’s markets with their websites.

I could also see this application being helpful for those with CSA boxes.  There were a few times in Boston where I had difficulty identifying some produce contained in my bi-weekly delivery.  Locavore would have allowed me to see what was locally in season and use process of elimination to determine the unknown item.

Ease-of-Use:

It’s just about idiot-proof.  The phone locates your position and tells you what’s in season.   Strawberries are in season?  Awesome, they’re one of my favorite fruits.

UI:

The interface is clear and organized.  The pie slices act like a timer, showing you how long before the item will no longer be locally produced.

I also like that clicking on the produce gives you further information, including where else the item is available and for how long (who knew Kohlrabi was grown in 7 states?!)

One of the smartest features is globe icon in the bottom right.  When clicking more information, the website is embedded in the application and you’re not automatically booted to Safari (which really annoys me sometimes all the time).  You have control over whether or not you want to leave the application.

Gripes:

How necessary is the Facebook connect?  I’m pretty sure all my friends are annoyed by the copious amounts of Twitter updates that dominate their news feed.   I understand it spreads the “let’s eat local” love, but do they really want to read about every morsel I put in my mouth? I’m not that interesting.  Now if Martha had joined, maybe people would pay attention, but even the Domestic Diva called Facebook “dippy“.

Improvements:

Locavore should hop on the push notification bandwagon.  I might be busy and forget blueberries are on their way out.  A notification once the pie reaches the red reminding me to buy a stockpile before the price skyrockets would be fantastic.

Final Verdict:

It’s a good, clean, well-built application with little-to-no bugs.  If you’re a total local-food-only person, it would be worth the $3.99 to have that information right at your fingertips.  If they lowered the price and added push-notifications, I would recommend this application to more individuals.  Until then, try Google.

Ok, not really, but I’ve had an overwhelmingly large number of people ask me that question in various forms

“Are you a vegetarian?”

“Have you drank the CA kool-aid?’

“Have you denounced the east coast yet?”

and my personal favorite:

“Are you guys living in a commune?”

People, I have written posts on bacon and steak.  I’m pretty sure two months of California living isn’t going to make me turn away filet mignon anytime soon.  That said, I think I went a little overboard with the beef jerky while hiking in Yosemite last weekend.  I haven’t eaten any meat, poultry or fish in four(!!!) whole days.  This evening’s dinner was no different, I threw together some veg-friendly products into what my roommate called, “A Vegetarian Super-Protein Dinner.”  It was pretty good.  If I didn’t like steak so much, I might consider being a vegetarian.

It started with veggies:

and more veggies:

and ended with a delicious well-rounded meal

Vegetarian Super-Protein Dinner

• 1 cup uncooked Quinoa
• 9 oz. Firm Tofu, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 Zucchini, diced
• 1 Bell Pepper, chopped
• 1 can Artichoke Hearts, halved
• 1 1/2 cups Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions.
2. Saute onion in 1 tbsp olive oil until tender.  Add zucchini and bell peppers.
3. Once all the vegetables are tender, add the artichoke hearts and tofu and heat until warm
4. Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining olive oil, Dijon mustard and vinegar
5. Combine the cooked quinoa and warm veggies.  Drizzle the Dijon dressing over the mixture, add the cherry tomatoes and carefully stir.
6. Serve hot or cold, with a side of bacon.

is best served with

Donut Holes from Citizen Cake and

Blue Bottle Coffee

…Tartine Bakery?

Just so you know, it’s still good.

(Lemon Cream Tart)