Taste of Montclair Feeds Our Neighbors - March 10 2014 at MSU

Tickets for Taste of Montclair are on sale now. Devil Gourmet is proud to be a sponsor, Montclair's largest food charity event with 100% of ticket sales going to charity. Taste of Montclair is the showcase of Montclair's best and brightest stars of the culinary world on March 10th 2014. Get your tickets today!

Come to The Rotary Club of Montclair's Taste of Montclair Monday, March 10, 2014 and help us put charity back on the table. The participating restaurants represent the eclectic, wonderful culinary artists that thrive here in Montclair. Whether you have an urge for Italian food or a yen for new Americana cuisine, Montclair restaurants have what you crave. You don't need a plane ticket to travel the world for international foods in one spot - at The Taste of Montclair.

The Taste of Montclair will offer you a world of culinary delights under one roof. Once you buy your ticket and enter our event, you will have all night to enjoy food from every restaurant participating in our non-profit event. All you need to do is buy your ticket - and come sip some wine, taste some food, and discover restaurants you've always wanted to try - under one roof, for a wonderful cause. Join us - 5:30 - 9:00 p.m. on the campus of Montclair State University. 

The restaurant list reads like a who's who of Montclair Food and Restaurants:

12 West, Asalt and Buttery, Beyond Pita, Costanera Cocina Peruana, CulinAriane, Java Love, Fairway Market, Fin Raw Bar and Kitchen, Mac Attack, Fitzgerald's 1928.

Also joining us will be: Fresco, Greek Taverna, Highlawn Pavilion, Le Salbuen Cafe Market, Olive That And More, Manny's Diner Mesob, Miss Nicky's Toffee, Red Eye Cafe, Samba, Sapori, Salute Bistro, Sodexo, Sweet Sister Cakes, The Manor, The Office, Toro Sushi, Whole Foods Montclair, Williams Sonoma.

Don't Forget Java Love, Montclair Bread Company, Jarets Stuffed Cupcakes, The Chocolate Path, CARS Delivery, and Yellow Plum., 

Last year, Taste of Montclair raised over $25,000 for charity including the food programs of the Salvation Army in Montclair, Toni's Kitchen, and the Human Needs Food Pantry.

Tickets are available at the Taste of Montclair section of the Montclair Restaurant Week website.

Favourite Words : Noblesse Oblige

Noblesse Oblige - noun

the moral obligation of those of high birth, powerful social position, etc., to act with honor, kindliness, generosity, etc.

The belief that the wealthy and privileged are obliged to help those less fortunate. From French, meaning “nobility obligates.”

Love Is .... by Lisa Lipscomb

Love is an action, a pleasure, an art
I remember when he told me and showed me
He treated our time together, like a treasure
A box that was opened and given new light, everytime we came together
He smiled and I felt it
He laughed and sang and wrote me
Pages and pages of poetry
We danced, we dined, we walked together
Relaxed, we'd unwind


He was the object of my affection
And I was his
I smile thinking about it


The memories, his kiss
He found me when I was out at lunch with my friends
We met as I was leaving
I must see you again
So what began by chance
Blossomed and grew
He shared his love of love
My inspiration lifted and flew
I was touched by his life, his presence, his words

And although we've moved on

I am saturated in a pool of remembering, love is a verb~

Lisa Lipscomb is the author of Somewhere In the Middle Of Love . Her fans enjoy her blog where she often publishes her work, but we're waiting for her next book. (hint, hint, nudge, nudge, Lisa)

America Sainthood : Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton

On this day in 1821 Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton died.

 She was the first saint born in the US.

Born in New York City to an Episcopalian Family, Seton converted to Roman Catholicism after spending time in Italy following the death of her husband. She returned to the United States and started a school for Catholic girls.

Eventually Seton founded the first apostolic community for women in America : the Sisters of Charity of St Joseph. In addition to starting a free school, it dedicated itself to care for children and the poor.

 Today her legacy lives on in numerous parishes and Seton Hall University bearing her name where countless numbers of people have been inspired by her work.

Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was canonized in 1975,

How To Tell If You've Been Really Bad This Year

Ssshhhhh! Don't Tell Jeero - He Thinks It's Mistletoe

Jeero loves the

Season of Advent.

Here he is in the large holly in the garden.

(He thinks it's Mistletoe)

Words We Love : Immaculate Conception

–noun Roman Catholic Church .

the dogma of the unique privilege by which the Virgin Mary was conceived in her mother's womb without the stain of original sin through the anticipated merits of Jesus Christ.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is marked on 8 December which always seems to be a point of confusion for some Roman Catholics and non-Catholics alike as it falls just 17 days before Christmas. (how can there be a conception and then birth a little more than a fortnight later?). Immacualate Conception refers to the conception of Mary, the Blessed Virgin, who is often called the Immaculata, especially in art.

The Feast of the Annunciation (25 March) marks when Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. 25 March falls exactly nine months prior to Christmas.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Monclair NJ is named in honor of Blessed Virgin.

Favourite Words : Gambol

Gambol

–verb

1.to skip about, as in dancing or playing; frolic.

After sitting in the lap of the naked lady statue, Jeero gamboled in Rockefeller Center much to the amusement of other tourists. 

A Proverb On Thanksgiving

“If you cannot be grateful for what you have received, then be thankful for what you have been spared.”

~ Yiddish proverb

You Think Thanksgiving Grocery Shopping Is Rough On You?

Thanksgiving Food Preparation Is For The Birds - Literally!

Being a good steward of all that I have been given is an important part of the gratitude I express for Thanksgiving. Simple acts like making sure all the peels and trimmings from fruit and vegetables find their way to the compost have been a part of the day for as long as I can remember. This year I am going to make sure that Thanksgiving is truly for the birds!

Thanksgiving is a great time to think about the birds and wildlife in our gardens. Filling the bird feeder in the colder months is a common practice, but many don't realize their Thanksgiving dinner is a bounty for the birds.

For several months now I have kept a lidded cat litter container on the enclosed porch into which the "special seeds" have gone once they were dry. Papaya, watermelon, even apple seeds have made their way there. But Thanksgiving is the motherload of bird buffet bounty.

Seeds from the butternut squash and pumpkin are scattered on a baking sheet and allowed to dry. If some of the dried flesh is there its no big deal, but most of the fibrous pulp should be removed. Egg shells from pies are allowed to dry on the sheet as well. They'll be smashed up and mixed in with the seeds. Egg shells provide necessary grit to help birds digest their food, plus the calcium is a neccessary nutrient that helps with shell formation later in spring. I collect seeds and shells from the kitchen year round and them mix them with store-bought seed blends. Usually I keep the kitchen seeds separate from the others, saving the "special" seeds for Christmas or days of extreme cold or heavy snow. The birds may not realize how special those seeds are, but going the extra mile for creation helps keep me focused on how much I have encroached on the space they was given to them

For Thanksgiving day itself a buffet is put out on a flat feeding platform that consists of some of those less than perfect cranberries, bruised berries, apple cores, and bread trimmings. At the end of the day anything that wasn't eaten from the platform gets dumped into the compost where it will break down and form that black gold that will enrich the garden next spring.

Montclair's Best Kept Foodie Secret

The size and variety of the cookbook collection at Watchung Booksellers is Montclair's Best Kept Foodie Secret

Words That Make Me Giggle : Spatchcock

Spatchcock

–noun

a fowl such as turkey that has been dressed and split open for grilling.

–verb (used with object)

to prepare and roast (a fowl) in this manner.

For the record, Estelle does not like this word

 and encourages you to eat more beef.

South Africa Will Blow You Away : Check Out The Portfolio Collection

The Portfolio Travel Blog
The Informed Choice For The Independent Traveler

One of the best things about traveling to new destinations is when your holiday has been to a place most of your friends and family would have never imagined : someplace off the beaten path (or at least the path beaten by your friends), someplace that you were able to experience outside the limits of some "if it's Tuesday it must be Museum Day" package. It's travel to these undiscovered places we most envy!

The Portfolio Collection Travel Blog is THE PLACE to tell the entire world about your Southern Africa experiences in South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho. Letting your friends know about your trip is one thing, having it publishes on a major travel site is a whole other cup of tea. Of course as travelers share their experiences here, those planning to travel can find all sorts of places and adventures they did not know existed.

One of the slogans of the Portfolio Collection Blog is “local is lekker*." In addition to the vast number of contributions from international travelers, many of the regular contributors are South Africans whose love of their country grows each day. It's not uncommon to find entries about local events, favourite coffee shops and cafes, or even my favourite, a recipe for Malva Pudding!

Of course even before you book your flight, start wandering through the blog to read about bistros tucked away and known only by locals, or bookshops featuring up and coming South African authors, or the best places to go penguin viewing on Boulder Beach. Of course there is the wine, South African wines have vineyard owners in California quaking in their boots, er, I mean flip flops - and the writers at Portfolio Collection can lead you to some of the most scenic wineries the world over! (and the wine is pretty fantastic too!) Making holiday plans here will allow you to discover places that were missed by the guidebooks.


With Delta Airlines offering non-stop service to Johannesburg, and one stop service to Cape Town from the US, now is the time to start dreaming about your South Africa holiday.



*lekker = really, really nice, cool and awesome.

(South Africa has a diverse history, one being its masala of languages. Lekker is one of the fantastic borrowed words that make 'South African English' special)


Visit the South Africa Travel Portfolio Blogtoday.

Major #foodporn : SuzyQues BBQ In West Orange NJ

SuzyQue’s is a unique blend of southern BBQ. The restaurant draws from the flavors of Memphis, St. Louis, Texas and North Carolina to create their own special delicacies. The finest premium meats slow smoked in a state of the art smoker with an exclusive blend of rubs made in house from scratch. All BBQ is available dry rubbed simply seasoned and smoked or slathered with one of four sauces,

•Tomato

•Molasses   •Vinegar

•and… For a spicy kick Orange Habenero!

SuzyQues is in West Orange NJ. To find out more visit : http://www.SuzyQues.com/

Words That Should Be In The Dictionary : KateMoss (as a verb)

Note the unique spelling of this verb, unlike traditional English spelling, the third consonant is capitalized as a reference to the origin of the word.

KateMoss – verb – to throw up, to vomit, to pray to the porcelain God; from the 1990’s supermodel Kate Moss who was believed to have actively engage in bulimia, now used to describe any act in which stomach contents are expelled.

After a wild Halloween and too much candy, our Jack-O-Lantern KateMossed all over the guest ensuite

Breaking News: Mundo Vegan Restaurant With Latin Flair Coming To Montclair NJ

Mundo Vegan will be opening on Church Street in the near future! The new all-vegan cafe will be opening in the space that was formerly occupied by The Stockpot. 

Once open, Mundo Vegan will serve breakfast and lunch dishes with a latin flair. The menu will change seasonally, and owner Fanny Fuentes Phalon promises to use local, seasonal produce to cook up creative plant-based meals. 

Real the full story on Devil Gourmet: "Mundo Vegan Coming Soon to Church Street Montclair" 

J

Earmarks ~ A Word We Love Because It's Not So Scary After All

Earmark (noun) Originally a cut or mark in the ear of sheep and cattle, serving as a sign of ownership; first recorded 1577 in figurative sense; in modernity, the term earmark has come to mean something set aside for a specific purpose, usually money, but it can be time (I will earmark 15 minutes a day to reflect on my daily
gratitudes).

With regard to earmarks and financial issues, the concept is to set aside funds for a special purpose. In an education bill for instance, specific funds may be set aside for the stated goal of replacing the roof of a certain school, or in a transportation bill, specific dollars are included to guarantee that railroad crossings in rural areas are upgraded for safety issues.

Like anything else, earmarks can be exploited and abused. Anyone who has seen a new traffic light installed, upgrades to their emergency response system (911), or new fire trucks purchased for their community with money from the Federal Government has benefitted from earmarks.

Fallen Autumn Leaves #photo

Going Green With A Lasagna Garden : Sheet Composting Saves Time!

Lasagna is always best the day after you make it and like it's namesake a Lasagna Garden is an organic gardening option that requires a little effort this season and when left over until next Spring, the garden soil  is so much better!

Lasagna Gardens, also called Sheet Composting, is a super simple method of layering organic matter over the soil to decompose slowly and naturally. It is the most passive form of composting as the only real effort from the gardener involves the initial spreading of material. It also is the method that most closely mimics nature - the leaves on the forest floor fall where they may and slowly break down into that rich loam just below the crackly leaves. That's what we're going for here!

Sheet Composting is best done in two situations : creating a new garden bed and revitalizing annual beds over the course of winter.

In my garden, there is a small, less than one metre wide and about 10 metres long, strip of land between my garage and neighbors fence. It really doesn't serve any purpose and would be impractical to grow anything useful to me so it has sat fallow, save for some random weeds, for two years now. Then the idea struck that for next season that small bit of land would be turned into a bee and butterfly friendly haven, even if I don't get to see the garden.

I have learned, and will be able to confirm in the spring, that lasagna gardening also does wonders to break up hard, compacted soil, just like the kind alongside the garage. Enough of that, so how does one Lasagna Garden?

For this garden space the method was simple, using the electric weed wacker I cut down all the weeds and allowed their corpses to remain there and become my first layer. With autumn leaves falling I was about to rake some and toss them as the next layer but realized that the lawn could us a trim so quickly mowed the lawn, this time using the grass catcher to capture the combination of cut grass and shredded leaves that I mowed up. The mixture was a combination of nitrogen rich grass and carbon rich dead leaves. Next step : spread the leaf/grass mixture over the area.

Over the next several weeks, as more leaves fall, a few more layers will be added. Some of the dead annuals in the garden as well as some kitchen peelings will also be diverted from the regular compost to the sheet compost area. During the winter months the material will start to break down and enrich the soil.

My guess is that next Spring there will be some dried material at the top of the planting bed, not unlike the dried leaves on the forest floor. That material will find its way to the regular compost in April or May.

Sheet composting is also a great way to put your annual and garden beds to work for the winter. Once the last tomatoes have been harvested, and the last pansies have bloomed, sheet composting those garden areas will not only protect the soil from erosion, but will also add vital nutrients.

People who regulary compost might even consider spreading a layer of their "almost finished compost" over an existing bed, or even a new bed for that matter, then going wild will new sheets of lasagna. It's a fairly passive way to work your existing beds and will free up the regular compost container for all that new material you will be adding this winter.  The other benefit is that all of the leaf matter that may have found its way into a landfill will not be returned to the soil near where it fell.

A lasagna garden makes an ordinary garden extraordinary!