- By Katrina Binkewicz
- Entertainment
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Food This WeekK.Maylin- Sheldrake Vineyard-Simply Red Bistro"My favorite is their steak sandwich" Always delicious!
Stephanie and James Mason (Federal House Bed and Breakfast) "We often refer our customers to Maxi's Bar and Grill down on State Street. They have a diverse and delicious menu. Our favorites include: Cajun Popcorn (fried crayfish tails), Fried Green Tomatoes, and the Blackened Catfish.
Matthew Binkewicz- Hai Hong (Dryden Rd., College Town) "My favorite is Tofu Country Style and Sesame Beef." Tony our son says, " Their fried dumplings and Chicken Lo Mein are delicious."
I say- "Ned's Pizza in the mall opposite Community Corners has a great vibe. The pizza is great, service personable, and the Greek salad is respectable. The best wings in the town however are at Rogue's Harbor. Their wings are large, fresh, cooked perfectly (crispy outside and moist inside), and slathered generously in rich, flavorful sauce-try the med. hot garlic wings."
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Foods of the Week
These are hard times. Food is expensive! What can we do to make our budget stretch?
Wild foods are not that strange. They used to be a staple part of many households. But we have forgotten so much. Don't hesitate to use the web to see what the plants look like before you go hunting.
Coffee substitute: Chicory (Chichorum intybus) was a staple in many early American households. You see it a-blooming around town on the roadsides, blue flowers on dry, stiff stems. The early American settlers dug up the root of the chicory plant (scrubbed and dried it) and ground it as a coffee substitute, either 100% or mixed with coffee, half and half. Now roadsides are not the pure earth they used to be, what with leaded gas residue and all, but if you find chicory in a scrub area or poor meadow- give it a try. The roots are dug up between the fall and the early spring. The young leaves are bitter but can also be use to brew a stimulating beverage. Quite tasty! Chicory is traditionally used as a boost for the vision and the immune system. The plant is a good source of potassium, iron, and vitamin A.
Tea substitute: The common burdock is a diverse plant as far as its edibility. Known by children as a distraction to throw at friends, the sticking seed clusters were used as models for the first Velcro. Burdock root has been used for centuries by the Chinese as an immune supporting tonic (cut up in cubes and boiled until the water is brown). Drink 3x daily. "The tender young leaves can be used as greens added to salads or cooked in several changes of water. Once the inedible rind has been removed, the roots of the first year plants can be boiled for thirty minutes with 2 changes of water and served with butter. Once cooked, the flower stalks can be simmered in sugar syrup to make candy" (Peterson's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants).