My First Trip To Israel

Wandering Earl

How quickly everything changes in this land. From city to desert, from one religion to another, from intense culture to untouched nature…this is a land of extremes all packed into a very small space.

And in order to experience this country, you need to be prepared to process every one of those extremes, and to then rest and recover before you move on to the next. I learned this quickly during my recent trip to Israel, a trip that was far too short to get a full understanding of what a traveler can experience here, but that offered an eye-opening glimpse nonetheless.

Just imagine…

You enter Jerusalem and head over to the walled Old City. In just one small area, .35 square miles / .9 square kilometers to be exact, you will wander around four very different quarters – Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian.

The main focal point is the Temple Mount, or Noble Sanctuary as it is known to Muslims, and it is home to some of the holiest sites in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The Dome of the Rock, a shrine built upon the Foundation Stone, is the location where Muslims believe Muhammed ascended to heaven. The al-Aqsa Mosque is where Muhammed was transported to, from Mecca, during what is referred to as the Night Journey.

The Foundation Stone, which is the stone from which Jews believe the world was created, is also the location of the First Temple where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. As a result, this spot has extreme significance as the crossroads between Heaven and Earth.

The Temple Mount also played an important role in the life of Jesus as the place where he challenged the Temple authorities and prophesized the destruction of Herod’s Temple.

As is quite clear, this one area is where important events from all three religions have taken place, and it’s all right up here, where, despite a few restrictions, an Israeli armed security presence and the occasional rioting, visitors can wander around in an attempt to grab a peek at the core of religious history.

Surrounding the Temple Mount is a wall, much of which was built as a retaining wall when the Second Temple was constructed some 2000 years ago. In the Jewish tradition, a section of this wall, known as the Western Wall, is now considered the holiest site for prayer given its proximity to the ‘gates of heaven’ and the original temple. Men and women pray in separate sections, visitors are welcome to approach the wall, pray or just walk around and it’s open 24 hours per day, every day.

Over in the Christian quarter sits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where you can join the throngs of people from all over the world who have made a pilgrimage to witness the location where Jesus was crucified and thought to be buried. It’s also where Jesus is believed to have been resurrected. Inside you’ll find sections for various branches of Christianity – Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox and more – each of which has certain responsibilities pertaining to the function of the church. Step inside, follow the flow of traffic to each important point and spend as much time as you’d like taking it all in.

It goes without saying that apart from those main sites above, there are plenty of other places to visit in the Old City, such as the markets in each quarter, the rooftop of the Austrian Hospice, with its great views, and my personal favorite, Elia Photo Service, an interesting 3rd generation family-run photography shop in the Christian quarter with some amazing photos that depict life in Israel over the last 90 years.

Again, that’s all in one tiny, tiny area. It’s intense and mind-blowing and fascinating all wrapped together. When you consider the long history of this city (Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities on the planet after all), the importance of this location for Muslims, Jews and Christians, and the fact that this city has been the scene of such conflict over the centuries, you’ll want to stop every few minutes in order to take a moment to breathe, to contemplate, to comprehend it all, or at least attempt to.

Beyond Jerusalem

Of course, as incredible of a destination as this city is, there’s more to Israel than Jerusalem.

Once you venture out into the rest of the country, for example, you may find yourself standing at ancient, fortified Masada, built by Herod the Great high above the Judean desert, situated on a rock mountain. This is where 1000 Jewish rebels committed suicide, along with their families, instead of facing defeat at the hands of the Romans at the end of the First Jewish-Roman War in 73 AD.

An hour later, you could be as low as you can possibly go on this planet, floating in the Dead Sea, just bobbing around without any effort, giddy as can be, covering your entire body with its salty, therapeutic mud, and enjoying the view of the mountains in the distance, on the Jordanian side of the sea.

You could then be in the stunning Upper Galilee in the north of the country, riding ATVs through the countryside, completely surrounded by the inspiring nature and colors of the Hula Valley.

But a short time later, after a drive south, you could also be laying down among the crowds of sunbathers on the beaches of Tel-Aviv or participating in an intriguing alternative walking tour that focuses on the local graffiti and street art scene.

One meal you’ll eat such mouth-watering falafel, hummus, ful and labneh at a hole-in-the-wall eatery in the heart of the Muslim quarter in Jerusalem, the kind of local place I could eat at every single day, and for your next meal you may be dining on Middle Eastern fusion cuisine at a trendy cafe in front of a synagogue on the other side of the country, washing it all down with a dark Israeli beer.

There is much to see here. Much to do. Much to take in.

For such a small country, there is a never-ending list of experiences to be had, and again, my trip was unfortunately a short one. Just imagine what you can do with a longer stay.

A Complex Travel Destination

Yes, without a doubt, Israel is a complex place. It’s so complex actually that many people I met, and who call this country home, are just as unsure and conflicted about the situation here as any outsider might be.

A good way to sum it up is a message that an Israeli reader of mine wrote to me shortly after I arrived:

“Enjoy this beautiful, conflicted, encouraging, bleeding, amazing country. Peace and love.”

Israel is indeed all of that.

And I think that’s part of the reason why, when it came time for my trip to Israel to end, I found myself wanting to stay longer, much longer. I simply was not finished with my experience.

Perhaps, and I believe this also to be true, it’s the kind of country where one’s experience can never be complete. There are simply too many of those beautiful, conflicted, encouraging, bleeding and amazing layers of this land to learn about and to try to process as best you can.

And as every traveler I met in this country seemed to agree, regardless of religious or political views, it is this presence of such extremes in every single aspect of life here that makes Israel a truly fascinating destination to visit.

(There will be more posts to come about the people I met, the food I ate and some of the more specific and interesting activities I participated in while here.)

[Photo of Tel-Aviv beach by Or Kaplan]

Have you been to Israel? How was your experience? If not, have you ever thought about visiting?

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Beer Battered Fiddleheads Recipe

While we haven’t been traveling much, this spring it’s been one of my favourites. I’ve really learned to appreciate Canadian spring and foraging edible plants. It’s been a lot of fun serving new dishes on the Loka Snacks menu like this fiddleheads recipe.

What are Fiddleheads

Fiddleheads are the uncurled frond of a fern. If you leave it they unroll into a fern, if you harvest it young you can eat it – nature is amazing.

The name fiddlehead is because it looks like the end of a fiddle, in French it’s têtes de violon, in Japan it’s warabi and in Hawaii pohole.

Where Do You Find Fiddleheads

Fiddleheads are available in the spring and most commonly found throughout New England, Eastern regions of Canada but also Hawaii, Indonesia, India, Nepal and Japan.

We’ve been lucky enough to find them foraging, we popped into the forest looking for morels and while we didn’t find any morels we did find a big patch of fiddleheads. If you live in an area that has fiddleheads you may find them at a farmer’s market but you have to get there early.

If you’re foraging fiddleheads you should bring a field guide with you as it’s not possible to eat all ferns. You can eat the Ostrich variety but some toxic varieties look similar. A good guide will show you the differences including one of the defining aspects of the ostrich fern, which is a celery-like groove along the stem.  As always in foraging, when in doubt don’t eat it.

Only the small, young fiddleheads are edible so look for some that are 4 inches tall. You’ll find them in groups of six or more close to the ground with a paper-bag like covering on the coils. To sustain the population never pick all of the fiddleheads in a bunch or the plant will die, the general guideline for foraging is 25%.

What do Fiddleheads Taste Like

It’s a tough flavour to describe, most people say somewhere between asparagus, broccoli and spinach, green beans. In essence it tastes like a green vegetable.

How to Cook Fiddleheads

Never eat fiddleheads raw. While there is much debate over their toxicity level if you eat them raw at best you’ll have an upset stomach.

Fiddleheads can be used just like any other green vegetable and so you can look for a fiddleheads recipe or just substitute them in your favourite green recipe. In Hawaii you can find pohole parboiled with tomatoes, onion and smoked salmon. In Indonesia it’s found in a coconut sauce with spices. In Nepal it’s common to cook it in clarified butter. It’s really a versatile plant.

When you get home rub off the brown paper-like shell and gently rinse the fiddleheads and pack in paper towel. Raw fiddleheads will last in your fridge a week, if you blanch them they’ll only last three days and turn black. They freeze pretty well but we like to pickle ours, they have a really interesting flavour.

Why You Should Eat Fiddleheads

Like most greens, fiddleheads are full of antioxidants, Vitamin A and C, niacin iron and fibre; they’re a also a great source of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids.

Beer Battered Fiddleheads Recipe with Kimchi Mayo

What we love about this fiddleheads recipe is that deep frying fiddleheads in a beer batter brings out a creamy flavour in this spring plant. We made a quick kimchi mayo using the ramp kimchi we made last week. If you don’t have homemade kimchi you could just substitute store bought.

If you still have ramps this batter also works for the battered ramps/wild garlic

Print

Fiddleheads Recipe

 

Ingredients

• Dredge
• ½ cup cornstarch
• ½ cup flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• Batter
• ⅓ cup cornstarch
• ⅓ rice flour
• ⅓ cup all-purpose white flour
• 1 Tbsp korean chili powder
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 355ml carbonated beer (regular beer, not Guiness, something you enjoy drinking)
• 250ml ice cold tap water, no ice cubes
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• Kimchi Mayo
• ½ cup mayonaise
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ½ cup ramp-ch
• 1 Tablespoon of rice vinegar

Instructions

1. Dredge fiddleheads and shake off excess mixture.
2. For batter whisk together first five ingredients.
3. Add in beer and water and whisk to incorporate
4. Add sesame oil and soy sauce and mix.
5. Strain through fine mesh strainer
6. Batter everything in sight!
7. Fry at 365F until golden.
8. Serve immediately.

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 What’s your favourite fiddleheads recipe? Let me know in the comments below!

Beer Battered Fiddleheads Recipe is a post from: Bacon is Magic

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Why I’m Visiting Every City In The UK

OK – let’s see what this island has to offer.

“Hi Mike. Want a grape?”

Ollie is pale and painfully drawn. No wonder – he’s lost about a third of his body weight.

I’ve been (selfishly) afraid to see him like this. It’s a month since his near-fatal crash, a week or so since he came out of critical from the head injury he suffered. I know he’s getting better. His recovery is well underway. But seeing him like this – well,  I’ve been terrified. I’m not great at this stuff.

“Seriously, have a grape, Mike. Why do people always bring grapes? Do they have some special healing property, like Wolverine has? Let me tell you, when you’re laying here like this, you really think about this stuff.”

I needn’t have worried. The twinkle in his eye is undiminished.

“Anyway, thanks for coming all this way. How’s work?”

I fill him in on a month of gossip. We’re both members of the British Civil Service. When we joined, we signed the Official Secrets Act – the most dramatic moment of the whole job. I worked on an IT service desk; Ollie was our roaming trainer and software installer. That’s why he was down here in Coventry, when that truck came out of nowhere. He’s incredibly lucky, and he knows it. In a few months, he’ll be back in York, picking up the pieces – but right now, he’s laying there, thinking Big Thoughts About Fruit.

“So how did you get here, Mike?”

“Came on the train. Walked from the station – about an hour’s walk.”

“What do you think of Coventry?”

Good question. An entire hour of walking – and I have absolutely nothing to tell him. My mind’s a blank. I walked through the inner city on autopilot, so preoccupied with worry about Ollie, and so wrapped up in my own stuff, that I tuned everything out.

“Well – it’s just like any other big city, isn’t it?”

There are 69 cities in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).

If you visit enough of them, you’ll start to notice patterns – the same shops (arranged differently), the same  – and after a while, those visual clichés are all you’ll see. Everywhere looks like everywhere else after a bloody good shake.

Well, that’s what I thought back in 2005, before I started hanging out with travel writers and then became one myself.

“What [city]? It’s just like [some other city], except less interesting.”

My favourite travel writers avoid statements like this. They’re good at making places come alive by finding what’s special about them. If you learn nothing new when you write about somewhere, if you’re actually bored (my favourite word!), that’s a terrible waste of someone’s time, either yours or your reader’s. But the writers I admire find an angle that’s a bit weird – say, by apologising to visitors because they can’t even land.

They dig for the most interesting stories – and as a former Archaeology student, I rather like that metaphor.*

I wrote this about Edinburgh a few years back.

I had great fun writing it -not just because I love that city, but because I had no idea about this stuff (the geology, the history, the glowing crosses and miniature coffins) until I read up on them and talked to people and hauled those stories out, through the muddying facts I knew already. It was exciting and it was humbling and it made me wonder if everywhere was that interesting – even the bad places.

Hell, even this one.

So, it’s time to put that to the test.

There are 69 cities in the UK, and I’m going to visit every one of them. There are also another five in the Republic of Ireland (or six, or seven – they define “city” a bit differently there) so I’m adding them to the list.

So, I’m visiting every city in the UK and Ireland – but I’m not going to make it too easy for myself. Here are my rules:

1) Nowhere is boring

If it seems boring, I’m not looking hard enough. If I’m bored, it’s a personal FAIL and I need to give myself a good kick.

2) I need three stories, connected by a theme, to write it up properly.

Stuff in threes is always fun to read (yeah science!) – especially when it’s all part of one story. So, that.

3) I need to actually go there.

Duh. But hey, I could write these stories while sat at home, copy & pasting stuff from Wikip….I mean, doing research. That would be lame, so I’m defining that as cheating. Plus, this is an excuse to explore the island I grew up on – and since I’m currently planning to leave it for a while, this is a protracted Goodbye that feels respectful and fun.

4) I will use as little money as possible.

I can’t spend much money on this. I’m putting my spare income into paying off debts and building my storytelling business. Therefore, part of the challenge is to do this with as little money as I can, and hack myself the rest of the way there. That’s part of the fun – especially if it’s a bit horrible – and it’s probably more useful to you, if you’re wanting get around the UK on the cheap.

(I’ve touched on this topic before, looking at rail tickets and the Megabus network, but there’s plenty I don’t know . This feels like a fun way to learn.)

5) I will get the help of locals.

Are you a local in one of these cities? Then, can I buy you a coffee, in exchange for a good story about the city you live in? I’d be immensely grateful. I’ll also pick the brains of local experts on specific topics (the wierder the better), and I’ll ask people annoying questions on the street, like a balder, infinitely less funny version of John Oliver.

I’m still nailing down a deadline. I’m still working out how it’s going to fit in with everything else I’ve got going on. But it feels like an adventure, it’s going to be tricky to accomplish, and it’s going to make me a better writer. That’s three excellent reasons to do this.

Let’s do this.

*I nearly said “I dig it”. But I didn’t. I hope you’re proud of me.

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Images: Christian Schnettelker, NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, Mike Sowden.

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25 Awesome Vegetarian Peruvian Food Options That Aren’t Rice

Traveling through Peru I didn’t think much about vegetarian peruvian food options. I saw plenty of it but didn’t really think much about it until Simon and Erin posted that they weren’t able to try much traditional peruvian food because it wasn’t vegetarian.

At the time I was writing about awesome peruvian fish soup, traditional peruvian ceviche and if Peruvian fast food chain Bembos was better than McDonalds.

I wish I had better documented eating in Peru, I took the diversity and culture of peruvian food for granted.

It’s been a couple years since I was last in South America but I get a lot of questions about vegetarian food in Peru and I wanted to created a resource for all my vegetarian friends. It is possible. Remember that meat is often a luxury so many communities survive on vegetables and splurge occasionally on meat.

I’ve included both dishes that include eggs as I met many vegetarians on the road who decided to eat eggs while traveling, as well in some cases I’ve indicated where you can ask for a vegetarian version of a meat dish. If you’re vegetarian eating in Peru there are lots of options:

Causa

Most commonly found in the coastal region of the country, causa is made with layers of Peruvian yellow potatoes alternated with different fillings, which in the vegetarian options can include salad vegetables, cheese and yams among others.

Rocoto Relleno

One of my favourites, rocoto relleno originated in Spain but it’s now typical in Arequipa. This dish has many vegetarian varieties and those with stuffings made with meat, these peppers are usually stuffed with boiled eggs and cheese, while red onions and garlic are also common ingredients in the vegetarian versions.

Lucuma

The lucuma is a fruit that generally grows in the higher altitude areas of Peru, and while the dry flesh isn’t great by itself, when it is used for tarts, ice cream and smoothies it really does make for tasty local treats. In some cases lucuma is raw and vegan like the dish above.

Papa a la Huancaina

There are more than 4,000 types of potatoes in Peru, which means many potato dishes for both vegetarians and meat eaters. Originating in the area of Huancayo, this dish is usually served as a starter, and is made of boiled yellow potatoes that are served on lettuce leaves with olives, corn and boiled eggs, which is then smothered in a creamy and spicy cheese sauce.

Escribano Arequipeno

This potato salad is a very simple dish that is made by mashing potatoes, rocoto peppers and tomatoes together, and is said to have been invented by the clerks and scribes of Arequipa who crushed these together as they enjoyed a post work drink.

Papas a la Ocopa

You can’t escape potatoes as it’s a key ingredient in many Peruvian food. This potato based dish is commonly served as a starter, and can be found throughout the country. The boiled potatoes are smothered in a peanut sauce, and then often served with a salad, and fried cheese.

Ensalada de Pallares

Lima butter bean salad is made with lima beans, onions and tomatoes, and is served with a fresh citrus dressing made of olive oil, vinegar and lime for a lovely summery taste. When ordering just make sure no fish are in the dish as it’s sometimes an option.

Solterito

Originating in the city of Arequipa in the south of the country, this salad makes good use of the choclo corn that is so popular in the region, and combines this with tomatoes, olives and salad leaves, while there are versions also served with rocoto chili peppers and chunks of fresh salty cheese.

Empanadas

Found across the country, empanadas have several vegetarian versions to counterweight those that include meat, with the vegetarian fillings for these tasty pastry pockets usually including eggs, cheese and plantains.

Juane

This is a dish that is often found in the jungle areas of the country, and was named in honor of John the Baptist, and is made by combining eggs, olives and rice, which are wrapped with spices before being cooked slowly. There are many versions that include meat, so check before digging in.

Locro De Zapallo

Locro is a traditional stew that is found throughout the Andean regions of South America, and this version replaces meat with butternut squash, which is stewed with corn, potatoes, onion and garlic, which is then finished with herbs, red pepper sauce and cream.

Arroz al Olivar

Just one rice dish! This rice based dish is often a side to meat dishes, but can also be eaten by itself. The rice is cooked with olives, onion and evaporated milk, with plenty of garlic, salt and pepper to add flavor.

Pastel de Alcachofa

A tasty artichoke based dish has a similar texture to a quiche without the crust, and is made with eggs, breadcrumbs and plenty of cheese, before being baked until it sets, and then served in slices. As with many other dishes, there are versions that include meat as well.

Huevos a la Rabona

This popular breakfast foods is one of the best ways to start the day in Peru, and is made simply with fried eggs on top of a slice of fried bread, which is then finished with onions and chili pepper used to garnish.

Chupe de Habas

A cilantro flavored soup has plenty of vegetables to provide a sustaining meal, including potatoes, fresh beans and onion, along with cheese and eggs, and is usually served as an appetizer in most places.

Puchero

This stew is one that is commonly served during festivals in Peru, and while most are made with beef and pork, the vegetarian version is made with corn, peas, carrots and potatoes, along with more exotic ingredients such as peaches which add to the flavor.

Caldo Verde

Peruvian food has seen many influences over the years, and this soup includes the Chinese cabbage pak choi, along with eggs, potatoes and garlic, which is then served with cubes of cheese to finish the presentation.

Sopa De Verduras

This vegetable soup is one of the common vegetarian dishes available across the country, and can be made with a variety of carrots, potatoes, onions, broccoli, cabbage and celery, although watch out for those that have chicken or dried meat added at the end of the cooking process.

Crema de Tarwi

This soup is one that makes good use of the legume that grows in the Andes region of the country, with the tarwi containing high levels of protein, meaning that this hearty and creamy soup which is also very sustaining if you are traveling in the region.

Purtumute

Most often served in the Amazon region of the country, this stew is prepared with local varieties of beans and corn, which is then flavored with coriander to finish the dish.

Chirimoya

Often known by its nickname, the custard apple, this fruit can be bought at markets throughout the country, and once cut open and de-seeded, it makes for a wonderful snack, with plenty of vitamins and minerals too.

Camu Camu

This fruit is most commonly found in the Amazon region of the country, where it is harvested from bushes that grow along the river, while in the rest of Peru this is often used to make smoothies and desserts, although it is increasingly being dried and exported due to its high vitamin C content.

 Have I missed any? Let me know your favourite peruvian food in the comments below!

 

Image credits @floridecires, alan sheffield, a comer pescado, Luis Tamayo, el collectionista de instantes, Gwendolyn Stansbury

25 Awesome Vegetarian Peruvian Food Options That Aren’t Rice is a post from: Bacon is Magic

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Ramp Kimchi Recipe

One of the most important rules about foraging edible plants is to respect nature and only pick what you can use.

We let nothing go to waste, we’ve been busy with charred ramp pesto and serving beer battered wild garlic but we also decided to experiment with a kimchi recipe and create ramp-chi.

What is Kimchi?

Kimchi consists of vegetables (usually napa cabbage) that are fermented with garlic, ginger, chili, salt and either fish or seafood sauce. Kimchi is the national dish of Korea, so ubiquitous that instead of saying cheese to take a photo Koreans say kimchi.

But kimchi isn’t for the timid because it’s raw fermented vegetables, which means it’s so pungently powerful it makes sriracha look like a child’s condiment.

Kimchi isn’t just one recipe, the recipe varies depending on what part of Korea you are from, what season it is made and every family has their own recipe and there is much debate over what belongs in kimchi.

While it’s most commonly fermented napa cabbage, cucumber, radish and other vegetables are commonly used. Kimchi is such serious business that in Seoul there is the Kimchi Field Museum in Seoul which has recorded nearly 200 different types of kimchi.

Vegetarians and vegans should know that most kimchi includes fish or shrimp sauce so you may want to ask ahead of time. If you want to make this recipe vegetarian you could add a bit of kelp powder, red miso paste or a mixture of seaweed and mushroom to give it umami flavour.

How to Make Kimchi

Originally used as a means to store vegetables for winter months it is traditionally kept in a jar underground for months. For the recipe below you can keep it out at room temperature but it will continue to ferment. To stop the fermentation process you need to put it in the fridge.

Uses for Kimchi

Kimchi is eaten at most meals in Korea; in fact on average Koreans each eat 40 pounds of it a year. Traditionally it’s eaten with white rice or noodles, but it can also be found in other soups and porridge recipes. In North America it’s also being used in many modern recipes. We loved it as a condiment on hot dogs and have seen it in pancakes, stir fry, paninis and of course Korean tacos.

Why You Should Eat Kimchi

Kimchi is considered a superfood. It’s low in calories high in fibre, minerals and vitamins A, B and C. Perhaps its greatest benefit is the presence of lactobacillus, this bacteria is found in yogurt and helps with digestion and a number of other ailments.

An Easy Ramp Kimchi Recipe – Ramp-Chi!

It’s easy to make kimchi at home in just a few days. The smell isn’t pleasant but it’s a normal part of the process. Do not put a top on the jar of kimchi, the fermentation process means the vegetables release gases and they need to escape, otherwise you’ll have a kimchi explosion.

 

 

Print

Ramp Kimchi Recipe

 

Ingredients

• 1 lb ramps, cleaned and washed
• 4 Cloves garlic, grated
• 6 Tablespoons korean chili powder
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 3 Tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 Tablespoons good fish sauce
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 2 Teaspoons ginger, grated
• 1 Large head of napa cabbage, shredded
• 1 Small white daikon

Instructions

1. Mix everything together, crush vegetables with your hands and squeeze dressing into vegetables.
2. Transfer to a large glass jar, leave at least 2 inches of space at the top.
3. Pack down vegetables and place a small plate on top the place a ziploc bag filled with water as weight. Cover with cheesecloth, secure with large rubber band.
4. Leave out at room temperature but not in the sunlight.
5. Pack down vegetables daily leaving everything submerged for 3-5 days or until tangy.
6. When desired flavour is achieved, mix, transfer to jar. It will last in fridge for up to one month.

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Ramp Kimchi Recipe is a post from: Bacon is Magic

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Beer Battered Ramps (Wild Garlic or Wild Leeks)

Ramps are wild garlic, or more specifically wild leeks. They can also be called spring onion, ramson or wood leek depending on where you live in the world.

This spring has been a such a fun hunt for us as we venture out to forage edible plants, and with so many ramps we’ve been experimenting with what to do with them at Loka Snacks.

How to clean ramps (wild garlic)

First you need to clean them thoroughly. We learned the tough way that it’s best to cut the roots onsite, otherwise you’ll bring home an extra 6 pounds of dirt. While foraging is amazing because the food is essentially free, you do spend extra time cleaning them. It was our first time cleaning and with 14 pounds of ramps and a couple pounds of small field wild garlic we spent more than a few hours cleaning.

Like their cousin, the regular leek, there is a lot of soil in the plant and so we found soaking them first in water works best. If you’re not in a restaurant with a two-step sink just set up two or three buckets in your backyard to soak and rinse. We wouldn’t recommend cleaning leeks this in your kitchen as it can get quite messy.

 

While we love the charred ramp pesto recipe at home, Dave had an idea to feature ramps as the ultimate onion ring.

He thought the wild garlic onion flavour would work well in a beer battered ramp recipe so we have been serving it for the last few weeks. Both the green leaves and the ramp stalks are edible so we’ve been frying them whole.

The beer batter gives a great crust on the outside, texture and crunch. Super creamy, oniony flavour and cuts the potent onion garlic flavour in the ramp.

The reaction from our guests has been so overwhelmingly positive that we thought the recipe was worth sharing.

Print

Beer Battered Ramps with Korean Chili Goat Yogurt

 

Ingredients

• Batter
• ⅓ cup cornstarch
• ⅓ rice flour
• ⅓ cup all-purpose white flour
• 1 Tbsp korean chili powder
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 355ml carbonated beer (regular beer, not Guiness, something you enjoy drinking)
• 250ml ice cold tap water, no ice cubes
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• Korean Chili Goat Yogurt Dipping Sauce
• ½ cup goat yogurt
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp korean chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. Whisk together first five ingredients.
2. Add in beer and water and whisk to incorporate
3. Add sesame oil and soy sauce and mix.
4. Strain through fine mesh strainer
5. Batter everything in sight! Serve immediately.

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If you’re in Toronto and want to try some of our food check out the Loka Snacks Facebook Page.

 

 

Beer Battered Ramps (Wild Garlic or Wild Leeks) is a post from: Bacon is Magic

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Flagship Storylines: How (And Why) To Serialize Your Blog

Here’s a story about an entrepreneurial twenty-something writer from London, whose stuff you really should read. No exaggeration: he’s changing the world.

His name is Boz – and he started out as a kind of local travel writer. He released a series of 56 portraits of Londoners and their environment, a mixture of the true and fictional, accompanied by beautiful illustrations and eventually bundled together in collections. Marketing them was easy: pretty much all the major London newspapers and magazines eagerly agreed to run individual “sketches” – because they were already wildly popular. (Think of it as a British version of Humans Of New York, with a similar level of fame).

And by the time the books were ready, the reading public was as close to excited as British people ever get.

However, that wasn’t Boz’s master-stroke. Seeing the massive potential for serialized content, he’d been working on another title – an existing fiction project he’d joined and was re-engineering using his flair for crafting sympathetic, fully rounded characters. Under his steerage, a new segment of the story was released every month – and this would go on fornearly two years.

Sales went nuts – and, of course, so did piracy. Bootlegs, ripped-off characters, blatantly unofficial merchandising – basically, everything you’ve already used to seeing when something’s a big hit. The first instalment shifted a healthy 1,000 copies; the last sold about40,000 –  and since Boz quickly saw the value of bundling the instalments into a single book at the end, he started his next series with that book firmly in mind – while continuing to play on all the strengths of serialization that he’d discovered with the previous story.

It was a career-building model. At the age of 25, Boz was a massive success.

I said he has changed the world – so why haven’t you heard of him? Well, you have. That first fiction project was called “The Posthumous Papers Of The Pickwick Club” – and Boz’s real name is Charles Dickens.

If you’re trying to get attention to your business in the online world, you’re probably attempting to do something like this:

1) Create something (an ebook, an blog post, a product launch, something) that will immediately “go viral” and get you a massive amount of attention.

2) Divert some of that torrent of visitors over to your most important stuff, in order to instantly convert them into customers and/or evangelists.

3) Become massively rich, retire to the Bahamas, partner up with Elon Musk, etc.

In fact, this isn’t how it works.

“Going viral” is tricky. You have to hit a very, very small target in the intersection of social media popularity, newsworthiness and flat-out luck. If you’re a big, smart publication (say the New York Times, or this young upstart), you have a team of people who are experts at making stories as interesting and shareworthy as possible, dramatically improving their chances of reaching a big audience – but none of them would claim they can make anything go viral.

And that’s the professionals. For the rest of us, banking our blogging hopes on a lottery-win scenario is a big, big risk.

Even if your thing gets shared everywhere, even if traffic goes nuts and your server emits greasy black smoke for a few days – if you try diverting people straight to your sales page, you’re misunderstanding the true value of this kind of attention. Most people aren’t going to obsess over your work after a single visit. Hell, they only just met you. It’s way too early in that relationship.

In fact, as Moz’s Rand Fishkin says in this video, the ‘divert & convert’ model is mostly a myth – and a damaging one, if it leads you to expect overnight results.

What really builds your longterm business is trust, via constant “touches with your brand” (eg. repeat reading of your work, newly published content, the occasional unexpected & unpredictable viral success, and so on).

In other words, trust is the result of a sustained performance.

Say, with a serial.

In my Storytelling For Bloggers e-mail course (this post is an excerpt from it) I rant about the importance about Breaking Bad, and the rise of Netflix. These shows are more popular than any blog will ever be. There are now over 60 million subscribers to Netflix watching over a billion hours a month – and the company is investing millions of dollars into its own original serialized storytelling. Vast numbers of people are getting hooked by these kind of strung-out, bite-sized stories. It’s what the public wants.

Unsurprisingly, this is working really well with digital books too. The authors of the terrific self-publishing manual Write. Publish. Repeat. have umpteen fiction serials on the go, each comprised of standalone “episodes” sold for a tiny amount (like this one), released weekly, which they later bundle into “seasons” (like this). Note their use of TV language to describe book titles. Because of that approach, their audience instantly gets it – and the authors constantly sink their narrative hooks into them, in much the same way a TV show does.

This strategy is working so well that in 2013 they were out-downloading Stephen King at Amazon.

You’re going to see this format spreading out to other genres, other delivery systems. In every sense, serialized storytelling is “Coming Soon, Everywhere”.

But why should bloggers care what authors and scriptwriters are doing? Aren’t blogs non-fiction? Isn’t this trying to draw parallels between a bunch of wildly different things?

OK, let’s ask – what is a blog?

Here’s what Urban Dictionary has to say:

A meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their stupid, pathetic life. Consists of such riveting entries as “homework sucks” and “I slept until noon today.”

OK. Well, that’s not terribly useful (or polite), so let’s try Wikipedia:

…consisting of discrete entries (“posts”) typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first).

Bingo. THAT’S what we’re after.

Blogging is about publishing new content, again and again. It’s therefore not surprising that too many bloggers assume they only have one shot at getting everyone’s attention – because the next time they post something, their previous stuff is shoved out of the limelight, buried down the page, out of sight and out of mind. (Maybe this is where the obsession for “going viral” has come from.)

And it’s wrong.

Here’s one of Problogger’s most popular pages – “31 Days To Building A Better Blog” – an updated version of a series Darren Rowse first ran in 2005.

Since then, he’s tweaked this page dozens of times, making it more and more useful, even adding links to posts that aren’t hosted at Problogger. This would make no sense if he was treating his site like a stream of one-off posts, each dead in the water as soon as the next went up.

Instead, this happened. Out of 337 million entries for the phrase “build a better blog”, that Problogger page is number 1. Which means it’s getting a stonking amount of traffic and incoming links pointing towards it every day – in other words, it’s a prime piece of flagship content.

The biggest blogs out there are fuelled by this kind of evergreen material – but they’re also powered by flagship storylines.

If you landed on a post in the middle of 31 Days, you’d have to read the rest of them – and it’s easy, by clicking the link at the bottom of the article that sends you back to that hub page. 31 posts later (at least 31 posts later, because he updated the whole thing in 2009), well – would you trust Darren?

Sure you would – and that’s how he sold an updated version as an ebook ($29.99), and shifted  19,000 copies of it. (Yes, that’s nearly $600,000. Insane.)

Flagship storylines cast a wide net. If you read part of a series, and it’s really good, and the author has made it obvious where the rest of the series is, you’ll go check it out. Flagship storylines give a direction – and they have an ending. (Remember how important endings are?) They’re also awesome for getting noticed by search engines, for all sorts of hyperlink-related reasons.

There’s no downside to creating flagship storylines. It’s all win.

Including the fact that some people will shamelessly rip off your ideas.

A few years back I was giving a talk at a conference. My room was sandwiched between two other conference rooms – and the walls weren’t terribly thick. I was about ten minutes into my talk when a cheer erupted in the next room – a holler, clapping, HOOYAH! kind of cheer. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but since that audience was currently being steered by Dan and Audrey of Uncornered Market, and since I knew they were experts at motivating a crowd, I figured they’d just said something like, “Let’s show Sowden’s lot in the next room how much more fun we’re having!”

I laughed, turned to my group and yelled, “We can do better than that. Right? RIGHT?” And they all cheered and clapped – followed by a big laugh from next door.

And then – of course – in the other room going the other way, the group led by Paul Dow of TravMonkey let out their own defiant roar.

(It’s just a shame there were only three rooms. I’d love to know how far this would have gone.)

This is the other kind of ‘viral’ – what Seth Godin calls “Unleashing The Idea Virus.” You do something, other people totally get it, falling so completely in love with your idea that they want to use it themselves. Pretty soon lots of people are copying you – hopefully respectfully, with appropriate credit.

And if that happens in such a big way that they’re all talking to each other about your idea, even when you’re not there? Congratulations! You have yourself a community, rallied around what you do.

(Here’s some advice from two people who understand how to build communities around their work.)

So how do you “transmit” this “idea virus”? Well, one way is to reinforce the same things on your blog, again and again, until they really sink in – and another is to guide your readers to your most important pages where that idea is at its most virulent. (In each case, you’re hoping for an epidemic.)

And flagship storylines are awesome at doing both of these things.

How To Create A Flagship Storyline

1. Decide what you want to say, and why it’s useful to your target readership. (Obviously, this is the most important part of the process. Without this nailed, nothing happens.)

2. Break it up. Chop it into bite-sized pieces, easily digested by your audience, each part of a greater whole, but standalone-valuable in their own right.

3. Connect all the pieces together, using internal and external links. String ’em up, clearly and logically.

4. Make sure you lead your readers in one direction – towards a place on your site where your idea is strongest. Say, that product you’ve made to solve that problem they’re having, or that page of terrific advice you want to give them for free. Make sure all roads lead to your very own Rome.

5. Make sure at every point, it’s incredibly obvious what to do next. Hook them with every storytelling trick you can; direct them onwards with the most obvious (but non-obnoxious) navigation buttons available. Oh, and make sure you prove your value on this page, because they won’t ask for seconds if you serve them a bowl of crap.

6. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Build enough of these kinds of connections, and magical things will start to happen to your blog.

Get out there and infect the world.

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This is taken from my FREE e-mail storytelling course. Click the banner below to sign up!

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Images: Francesca Cappa, Annie Mole, Ibai Lemon and maf04.

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Charred Ramp Pesto Recipe

We had a great time foraging edible plants, bringing home 20 pounds of ramps which turned into 14 pounds once cleaned. Yes we brought six pounds of dirt with us but I guess that’s tough part of the foraging process.

The fun part is deciding what to make with it and I wanted charred ramp pesto.

What is Pesto?

Most people are familiar with pesto genovese, a traditional Italian condiment using basil from Genoa a city in northern Italy. The traditional recipe is a basic mix of basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan.

The name “pesto” is a generic term, just like salsa (sauce) and curry (spice blend) and comes from the Italian verb pestâ, which means to crush. Traditionally pesto is made with mortar and pestle in a circular motion. It can be an intense preparation that I attempted once by hand but now I just make it in our food processor.

It’s not a sauce limited to Italy, in Argentina there is chimichurri and in France you can find pistou which is from Provence and includes only basil, olive oil and garlic.

 

Pesto took North America by storm in the 1980s and 90s when we were eating it on everything from pasta to rice. And when people grew tired of basil pesto sundried tomato pesto became the hot new ingredient. I’m sure Italians across the pond were gagging with distaste when they learned of this.

But pesto is a really versatile sauce, you can substitute for whatever nuts you have on hand and most hard cheeses like pecorino or aged cheddar. Vegans need not fear that they’ll miss out on the pesto train as they can substitute nutritional yeast for the cheese.

Charred Ramp Pesto Recipe

In the case of this charred ramp pesto recipe we excluded garlic, which is traditionally in pesto, as the ramps have such a great flavour.

We also charred the ramps to bring out the intensity in flavour.

Print

Charred Ramp Pesto

 

Ingredients

• ¼ lbs ramps
• 200ml olive oil
• 25g cashews, unsalted
• 60g parmesan, grated
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Char the ramps on an open flame, either on a gas stove, barbecue or with a blowtorch.
2. Combine ramps, cashews, parmesan in a food processor and pulse to coarsely chop.
3. Stream olive oil into food processor until smooth.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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Chef’s Tip:
If you make a lot of pesto and want to freeze some of it simply top a freezer-safe container with a layer of olive oil. Unlike canola oil or grapeseed oil, olive oil isn’t a winterized oil, which means it will congeal in the fridge or freezer.

While this may seem like a negative aspect in most cases, it’s perfect for preserving foods in the freezer as the congealed oil will create an air-tight surface and protect the charred ramp pesto in the freezer.

 

 

 

 

Charred Ramp Pesto Recipe is a post from: Bacon is Magic

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