Archive for the 'General' Category

Seems like food is a rising trend in Central Florida, and the following list of sites reinforces that with some great links and lots of juicy content to sink your mental teeth into. I present, in no particular order (and by no means comprehensively) a list of sites you should check out if you’re into food:

1. Winter Park Harvest Festival
   This website exists right now to promote an event, happening November 20th in “Central Park’s West Meadow”, whatever that means. Already, the site has loaded up with some great how-to articles for growing your own food and announcing some smaller events leading up to the festival.
2. A Local Folkus
   Started in 2007, this locally-sourced blog is written by John Rife, who is now taking an active role in advancing the Slow Food and Slow Money movements here in Central Florida. He is well-known for taking massive continent-spanning road trips in his camper named Kodi, along with his wife and his dog. Now John talks about heritage, local markets, gardening, and local events, with lots more road-tripping thrown in. Subscribe and enjoy!
3. The Good Garden
   I recently met author Sarah Kinbar through a local gathering called Florida Creatives Happy Hour, and it turns out we shared a former employer. Sarah has years of experience with traditional print magazines, and now she is stamping out daily posts on her site about growing food and fun things you can do with the things you’ve grown – lots of fun recipes and personal stories. Sarah also works with a team of contributors to make sure there is a “fresh” post every day!
4. Edible Orlando Magazine
   Apparently, this website is also available in dead tree form… This brand new magazine produced locally about the great culinary escapades and I believe it is very focused on the Slow Food movement. As of this writing, all their content is locked inside the digital edition in the sidebar, but the full magazine’s content is available there. The site is part of a network called Edible Communities, which also produces a healthy number of podcasts in addition to almost 60 regional magazines.
5. The Thin Chef
   This blog is a weekly entry by “thin” Katie Farmand, who happens to be one of the editors of the Edible Orlando mag above. She makes no promises about being a diet blog: In her own words, “Not low-calorie, or low-fat, but food that is real, whole, and fuels your body.” Still, there are some fun-looking recipes here, and it’s worth checking out.

Like I said, these are certainly not the only 5 sites about food in Orlando, or even about this particular subject. At the same time, I hope you have learned something, and will continue to learn by checking out these sites!

Some links via: Anjali Fluker, Orlando Business Journal

Our local Orlando Weekly paper recently published a cover story on “Clucking Around”, highlighting the hijinx of some anonymous downtown dwellers, who choose to remain so because raising chickens is illegal here in the City Beautiful. Go read the feature, it’s both informative and charming.

On a similar note, a recent book read of mine had a chapter on raising chickens, not only for producing eggs, but as pets. There’s a great (sad) story involving some local predators as well, and the construction of an automatic chicken coop door.

The book is called Made by Hand, and it’s authored by the editor of Make Magazine, Mark Fraunfelder. In addition to the dozen or so other chapters about Mark’s journey toward self-reliance and connecting with his surroundings, he talks about tutoring his daughter, moving to the South Pacific and some other great stories that can’t be missed.

A really great cover story appeared in last week’s issue of the Orlando Weekly, our local independent news source. It talks about the Homegrown local food co-op, a community-supported agriculture non-profit organization here in Central Florida. They recently re-located to the Florida Hospital’s “Health Village” campus. Seventh-Day Adventists are really into a healthy diet – I believe their patients eat mostly vegetarian/vegan – and they run the hospital system, which is one of the largest in the country.

From “Betting on the Farm” by Lindy T. Shepherd:

But Florida Hospital’s Paradis deliberately partnered with an entity outside of the hospital’s insular system, rather than re-create the project within the hospital system. “I’m big enough to do the whole thing,” says Paradis of the hospital’s resources, “but I’m choosing to talk to (Homegrown Co-op), because (those) guys are so passionate – I call Michael and Emily ‘community passionaries.’”

They will also be opening a retail store sometime in the Fall, according to the article. On Orange Avenue, on one end of the “Antique Row” along Lake Ivanhoe. Orlando has sorely needed something like this for a long time, and now thanks to a generous matching grant program from Florida Hospital, it can become a reality, despite a rough economic climate.

The Weekly article says Homegrown will not be selling pork products because of Florida Hospital’s involvement. That’s a small price to pay for such a huge leg-up in your third year of existence. I honestly can’t wait for the retail store to open, and for Orlando to become a bit more self-sustaining.

For those of you who didn’t know, the Winter Park Health Foundation has awarded a grant for several community gardens to be constructed in our city.  The first garden was installed behind Winter Park Presbyterian on Lakemont Ave and now a second garden site is being prepared.

Volunteers are needed tomorrow Saturday January 16th from 8-10 am to help clear the area where the Spring garden will be planted behind the DePugh Center in Winter Park.

Anyone can participate and you are encouraged to bring any work tools you may have as well as bringing your own gloves and water.  We may be clearing away an old chain link fence as well so please bring any tools specific to that job.

The Center is located at 550 West Morse Blvd, Winter Park.
If you have any questions about the garden or if you would like to donate a monetary contribution or donate material items for the building of the garden, please contact Denise Riccio at 407-246-2212.  Any assistance is greatly appreciated!  You can also get more info at Our Whole Community’s website.

Related posts:

1. Wendell Berry is speaking at Stetson Monday Feb 1
2. Local Trio Jubal’s Kin at the Winter Park Library
3. Grandma Party Today at Stardust Video, Winter Park, FL

I am a proud member of the MacGregor clan and an avid attendee of Central Florida’s Scottish Highland Games (CFSHG) festival each year.  If you have never been to a highland games you are missing quite a spectacle.  Great food, Excellent brew, superb music, top notch athletic competition, high stepping highland dancing and medieval weaponry demonstrations – I ask you – Who could ask for more?

We’re heading out to the festival this weekend to partake in our annual Scottish pilgrimage.  If you were following our Twitter feed this summer you would have noticed that we were up in Antigonish, Nova Scotia for the longest running North American Scottish Highland games.  It is only fair to say that as “authentic” as that Antigonish festival is the Central Florida Scottish Highland Games is far more enjoyable.  It is hard to peg exactly why but we love that CFSHG serves meat pies, has instruments and clan gear for sale, brings in world class Celtic rock bands like Enter the Haggis to rock the center stage and with Dunedin Brewing in house pouring the best ales it is just hard to compete with no matter how un-authentic a “highland games” may seem amidst the flatland of Florida.

Click here for details and hope to see you there. I’ll be in my McGregor kilt with a baby girl strapped to my chest.

Related posts:

1. Otronicon – Orlando’s Interactive Media / Video Game / Simulation Mash-up event

If you follow me on Twitter or have checked into any of my blogs over the last few years you would undoubtedly have heard me championing the work of Slow Food Orlando.  Back in 2007 when I filmed a documentary about the burgeoning Local Food movement in Central Florida, I had the good fortune to cross pas with Slow Food Orlando’s Vice President Rebecca Reise-Miller.  You can catch her segment of the documentary at the 20 minute mark.

Since meeting Rebecca, Kamrin and I have made an effort to both attend Slow Food events as well as incorporate many of its tenants into our family’s food practices.  We now have a 300 Sft vegetable garden where we grow our own produce organically and with heirloom varieties.  We also have made an effort to buy from artisan and locally sourced food producers like Big Wheel Provisions, Olde Hearth Bakery, Wild Ocean Seafood, Lake Meadow Naturals, Winter Park Dairy, Winter Park Honey and others.

Eating locally is more than just buying food that is at the peak of freshness and not shipped cross country from California, more importantly it is about supporting our local food economy, its community and its unique culture.  By doing so it becomes normal to know your producers, to build relationship with the local farmers who supply your free-range eggs and organically grown produce and to know that you are getting the highest quality food for your food dollar. By supporting the “local” farmer’s markets like Audubon Park Community Market you are strengthening the bonds that connect each of us to the land from which our food comes and to the caring hands that provided these food stuffs for our consumption.

Slow Food in an effort to champion this vital connection is sponsoring an Eat Local Week January 25th – 31st.  Below is an excerpt from their promotional materials for this event.  You can be sure Kamrin and I will be fully supporting this week long event and you can expect to see a few write ups and videos on our site about it.  So take a look at the excerpt below and let us know in the comments what you are doing to participate in Eat Local Week.  Following an excerpt is a video of the mother of America’s Slow Food movement Alice Waters to give you a bit more insight into what Slow Food is all about.

EAT LOCAL WEEK -  January 25th – 31st

Participate in a week-long celebration promoting connection, community, culture and cuisine in Central Florida.  Grab your family, friends and neighbors and head to participating dining establishments during the last week of January, 2010

Goals of Eat Local Week:

Emphasize that eating local in Central Florida is not only possible, it’s delicious – ?The Eat Local Week definition of “local” is anything within 200 miles of Orlando’s city center.  Featured farmers and artisans for Eat Local week come from as far away as Clewiston.

Help local restaurants, farmers and artisans to develop lasting, mutually beneficial relationships – ?Slow Food Orlando wants to see locally owned and operated farms and restaurants succeed.  By facilitating relationship building between Central Florida dining establishments, farmers, ranchers, and artisans we hope to help businesses grow and become more profitable.

Build consumer awareness of local food and farmers, and promote reconnection with family and friends around the dinner table – ?Slow Food is all about taking the time to savor the food we eat and the people we share it with.  When our food is produced in a sustainable, responsible and consciences manner it is healthier for the environment and healthier for us.

Raise awareness about the importance of a local food economy and keeping money in our community – ?Purchasing food direct from producers or dining out at restaurants that feature locally grown ingredients cuts out the middle man and puts your money directly in the pocket of the people who produce your food.  When you, the consumer, spend your money with local businesses those businesses reinvest your dollars in the community, thus contributing to a more sustainable future for Central Florida’s food system.

Click here to see a list of the 18 or so participating restaurants.

Related posts:

1. Farm to Table Retrospective – Central Flrorida Locavores FTW
2. Farm to Table – an Ourlando Local Food Alliance event at the Enzian
3. Jennifer Farhat Part Deux: Locavore Instillation Art at Lake Eloa, Orlando, FL

Midwest Book Review’s review of The Curable Romantic:

How to meet, greet, and get along with members of the opposite sex is an eternal conundrum for so many otherwise well-meaning and intelligent people who seem to have no clue as to how to behave and what to talk about on a first date; dealing with the pitfalls of ‘love triangle’ relationships; ending a relationship with grace, style and dignity; and all the other elements that can sabotage a romance in this day and age. That’s why Katharine Miller’s The Curable Romantic: Advice For The Romance-Impaired, an impressive, practical, and ‘user friendly’ compilation of informed and informative essays on love and relationships is such a welcome instructional for anyone seeking help in figuring out who they should date, how they should conduct a proper (and effective) courtship, and everything else from the use of pet names to dealing with keepsakes after a breakup. Thoughtful, thought-provoking, and written with a distinctly humorous flair, The Curable Romantic is very highly recommended reading for the ‘romance challenged’.

We’re all a little romance-impaired in some way. Otherwise we’d have fewer self-help books and sappy love songs. The road to love is bumpy. Hell, the road within love is bumpy, steep, and has several sharp curves.

The Curable Romantic is a short collection full of humorous essays and illustrations focused on the challenges one encounters in matters of the heart. Each of the 25 essays explores a different aspect of relationships, from falling in love to calling it quits.

Katharine Miller, the author of the collection, is not a sex expert, doctor of human behavior, or famous advice columnist. Drawing on inspiration from real life dating experiences, Miller provides new insight into romantic behavior and shares some possible solutions and tips for successful relationships.

When you need a fresh perspective on relationships and have grown tired of the Men are from Mars and Just Not that into You self-help selections, pick up The Curable Romantic.

Get a free preview of the book online now!