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The entire way back home, I kept thinking about the wonderful ingredients I got yesterday from the farmer’s market and what I was going to do with them. And I came up with the idea of using some leftover parsley pesto I made last week as a base for a great Spring sandwich. Using the bread I got from the market, along with some fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, I created the work of art pictured above. Bonus points: the sandwich was light enough to leave plenty of space for a Ben’s Chili Half-Smoke tonight at the game! Mmmmmmm, chili dog.

All of this was forgotten when I headed over to the Penn Quarter FreshFarm Market on my lunch break with my friend James. Because I also frequent the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market, I was familiar with several of the vendors. I happily bought some sinfully aromatic basil from Endless Summer Harvest (I always buy tomatoes, peppers and squash from them when they are in season), which I will be using in the next few days for a basil cream pesto sauce and a great basil, roasted garlic and tomato hearth bread (stay tuned…). Over at Togio Orchards I got some nice cherry tomatoes, which I have already used some of in a great mesculin mix I got from Sunnyside Organic. Also at Sunnyside I found very colorful rainbow chard that even James admitted was beautiful.

And finally (and definitely not least), I stumbled upon carb heaven: The Ovens at Quail Creek Farms. Not only did they have very tasty loaves of bread (I got a multi-grain that I can verify is nut-erific…yup, it was so good I had to make up a word), they had divine croissants, muffins, cookies and (wait for it) hazelnut fuckin’ brownies! I resisted the temptation to buy the brownies, but did give into the croissants. They will make for great breakfasts this weekend…or maybe a good croissant chocolate pudding (an idea I have been mulling in my brain since trying a similar dish at Fado this past winter…it’s no longer on their menu, so don’t go lookin’ for it). Either way, I already ate one of these flaky gems with Nutella for dessert tonight. I was too lazy to make chocolate brownies, so I improvised…with lip smackin’ results!

You may ask why I hit the farmer’s market when I belong to a great CSA. Both myself and my friend Greyhound Celebrity (whom I split a share with from Star Hollow Farm) will be out of town for most of the upcoming week, so we decided not to get a share this weekend. But I wanted to do a bit of cooking for the few days I will be in town before heading to New Orleans for a conference (I know, I know I have such a hard job). So this weekend will be spent in the kitchen when I’m not cheering on my beloved Braves at the new Nationals Park or going for my runs around the Tidal Basin. So all these ingredients you see now will soon turn into wonderful dishes I will happily share in upcoming blogs! Oh and I will be taking my trusty Canon with me to NOLA (my friend Daphne’s nickname), so stay tuned for tales of amazing food, wonderful music and gorgeous architecture!

The thing about buttermilk biscuits is they’re deceptively easy to make. A lot of people are afraid to try their hand at them because they’ve had dry or flavorless biscuits more times than Paris Hilton has been tested for an STD. But here’s a little secret: good buttermilk biscuits require only seven ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your kitchen.

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
4 Tablespoons Shortening (can substitute cold butter instead), cut into squares
1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk
2 Tablespoons Melted Butter

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Grease a round 9 inch cake pan and set it aside. Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. In a food processor, combine the sifted dry ingredients and the shortening, evenly distributing the cubes of shortening amongst the flour mixture. Pulse the ingredients repeatedly until they form a dry crumble consistency. Slowly pour the buttermilk into the food processor and resume pulsing until a soft, wet dough is formed. Gently scrape out the dough into a nonstick bowl.

This is where you get to have fun: flour your hands thoroughly, pinch off some dough and form it into a ball. Pat down the ball to form a biscuit shaped disc and place it in the cake pan. Repeat this for the rest of the dough, trying to keep each biscuit relatively the same size. Make sure to flour up your hands well before forming each one. Brush the tops of each biscuit with the melted butter carefully. Bake in the oven for 12-17 minutes or until they are golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and place a plate over it. Flip the pan upside down, holding the plate securely to the pan. The biscuits should come out and onto the plate easily. Gently rip each biscuit away from the others, slather it with butter or jam (or both!) and enjoy. Preferably with a breakfast meat of some kind: you can’t have a good Southern breakfast without a dead animal on the plate!

This being my first race, I was unsure how other, more experienced runners would treat the novice runners. But I had nothing to worry about as everyone was very nice and encouraging when they learned it was my first race. And it never hurts to see so many cute boys in running shorts. But it was f%#&^cking cold and I was still very tired, so honestly the last thing on my mind was flirting…it was making sure I didn’t pass out during the run and get trampled on by the other participants. I ran with the 10:00 minute mile pace group and started off slow. All along the course were volunteers providing water and giving encouragement. I must give these people a huge hand because their cheering and smiling faces really kept me going. I made it to the 2 mile mark without a problem, but started to get a little weary around 2.5 miles. But when I rounded the corner and could see the finish line in sight, a huge rush of adrenaline overcame me and I sailed my way to the finish. Even better, my friend James was on the sidelines near the finish line, shouting my name, giving me the last bit of encouragement I needed. And as hokey as it may sound, tears welled up in my eyes as I ran across the finish line. To actually finish this race was a huge accomplishment for me…and for the person I have become.

Note: pictures from http://www.runwashington.com/news/mar08scopeitoutrpt.html.

I would never think to fiddle with the recipe of a daring baker, but Joy’s recipe didn’t include the one thing most Southern red velvet cupcakes require: shaved bittersweet chocolate. Tossed into the batter along with the flour mixture, four ounces of chocolate shavings make a huge difference in red velvet cakes. I like to think the shavings melt during the baking, giving the batter that extra bit of moistness. Either way, all you need to do is grate 4 ounces of a bittersweet chocolate bar and add it to the batter along with the flour mixture (see Joy’s recipe, linked above).

And as you may notice, I didn’t use the traditional cream cheese frosting for my cupcakes. My little twist: chocolate cream cheese frosting. To make, simply cream together 8 ounces of cream cheese and one stick of unsalted butter (both at room temperature) with a stand mixer. Then add a 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and four cups of sifted powdered sugar. Be careful to add the sugar slowly, especially if you have a lower powered stand mixer. Since the frosting recipe is easy to make, don’t start it until the cupcakes are cool and ready to be frosted.

Although I may have tweaked Joy’s original recipe, I did so only with the utmost of respect. And if I do say so myself, the results were unbelievably delicious! In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, “Mmmmmm….cupcakes”.

“Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination – one covering female conditions…[the physical] reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job”. I laughed hysterically when I read this…partly because I have used the whole “female problems” excuse before to get a day off work after a late night out.

Other gems:

“Give the female employee a definite day-log schedule of duties so that they’ll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions ever few minutes”. Apparently our pretty little heads can only hold so much information before we get confused and wander around aimlessly in search of a big, strong man to explain it all to us (preferably with pretty pictures).

“Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day…a girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day”. I hate to admit it, but I’m less productive when I’m having a bad hair day. But with a mirror and hand sanitizer at my desk, I’m good.

“…Let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change”. Ignoring the “inside employee” bit (that’s one step away from the house and field slave labels used in the fun ol’ South), this sounds like good dating advice. If I switch up the guys I date more often, I’m less likely to get bored…and according to the article, I’m much happier with change, right?

And last but not least:

“Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they’re less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn’t be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiency”. So single women are vapid whores who are only at the workplace to slut around? If that’s the case, I’m totally in the wrong office…

I can’t help but laugh at the old mindset towards women employees. But when you really think about it, how far have women come in the workplace? I have female friends who tell me horror stories about their male supervisor’s male chauvinistic attitudes. But get this: the older women in their offices tend to be just as backward in their thinking on females in the workplace. One friend told me an older woman in her office suggested she was a woman of “loose morals” (not my words) because my friend chose not to wear stockings…in summer…in South Georgia! And then there is the paradox of being aggressive in the workplace. If a man goes after what he wants, he’s considered a “go-getter”. If a woman does the exact same thing, she’s a bitch. Some of the most successful women I know have basically sacrificed their social life in order to achieve her career goals.

Finding that balance between career and social life is hard for all of us, but particularly so for women. Yes, we’ve made some serious strides as a gender in the workplace, but articles like these make me wonder just how far we’ve really come…