Kurtwood Farms

www.kurtwoodfarms.com

WOW. I had the most amazing day today. Each day, better than the day before. Here's a bit of a foundation, that will help you better understand the story I'm about to tell:

Kurt Timmermeister was born in 1962 in the heart of Seattle, no where near farm country. Anticipating working in foreign service, he graduated from the American College in Paris with a degree in International Affairs. While in Paris he realized his love of food and restaurants far surpassed his affinity for government work and he returned to Seattle to begin a career in food service.

A series of restaurant jobs both in the kitchen and dining room gave him the early hubris to open his own café at the age of twenty four. For eighteen years he ran a series of ever larger Café Septiemes while at the same time beginning his education in small scale farming.

In 1991 he moved to Vashon Island, buying land that was to eventually become Kurtwood Farms. The farm began as four acres of overgrown blackberry brambles with rusted out cars and cast off junk hidden beneath the canopy of weeds. Little by little the four acres was cleaned out and planted with fruit and nut trees, vegetables and herbs. Once more land was acquired, pastures were created and fenced and sheep, pigs and cows arrived. By 2003 with the restaurants behind him, Kurtwood Farms had become his full time job.

Soon a professional kitchen was built to begin processing the food grown on the farm and to create a space for friends to gather for dinners of ever greater quality and scope. Progress on the enterprise continued with a Grade ‘A’ dairy licensed in the newly built dairy buildings and a cow barn raised to house the bovine producers of that milk. A underground cheese cave, dug deep under the cow pasture rounds out the facilities on the farm to produce the finest farmstead cheeses.

Kurtwood Farms is now home to a small herd of Jersey cows, a motley crew of sheep, happy free rooting pigs, an ever changing flock of chickens, geese and ducks, a guest room and sofa often filled with Seattle’s best cooks and Kurt and his two dogs Byron and Daisy.

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Today we were lucky enough to be invited out to Kurtwood Farms! After running into Joel the night before, he said that she should swing on by for lunch - he'd be there all day, and planned on butchering a hog. Gordon, a great chef who has a sweet spot in his heart for pigs, was super stoked - and Julia and I were on the same page too! Jules and I woke up at the crack o'dawn today and headed to an early AM yoga class @ Yo Be. We were the only two at this pre-sunrise practice, and it was great. SO lovely to have a beautiful, deep practice alongside someone I love so much. We got home, had coffee, breakfast burritos and were out the door and headed to the farm. We got the 10:20am ferry to VASHAN Island, which is only bout 20minutes away by boat. It was rainy and cold, but we were all excited to be visiting such a special and unique place. When we arrived Joel was just getting ready to kill the pig. For all of you vegetarians and vegans out there - I do apologize for this posting...perhaps you shouldn't read on. And for all of you meat eaters and bacon lovers out there who are offended by this - well, shame on you. The hog was about 300 pounds, and it has lived a great life. As my Dad would say "the pig has had a great life, except for it's last moment", which truly is only but a moment. Kurt shot the pig, Joel cut it's throat, and then the process began. Hot water, de-fuzzing, hanging, and then the break down. It was pretty fascinating to watch. There is so much LOVE, DEDICATION and PRIDE put into this farm...into all of the animals on it, the vegetable patches, even the soil - tender love and care. The only thing on this farm that isnt FROM the farm is, drum roll please....salt and sugar. Christ. The butter, the cream, the cheese, the vegetables, the protein - all from the farm. Pretty fascinating shit. You can tell how excited and proud Joel is to be a part of Kurts creation. Hell, we were all excited to get such an intimate glimpse into his world. Several hours had passed - Joel sat aside his butcher knife and traded it in for a clean one - and began making us lunch. Steak, vegetables and rice. Such a simple dish, DONE SO VERY RIGHT. We had several glasses of wine, of course, and enjoyed another day - another meal - another great group of people.

We are home now, unwinding. Gordon is making us dinner - homemade cavatelli!!!! Jules and I are packing our bags, because after our 6am power yoga class we are hoping in the car and we're off to the mountains!! Just over 2 hours away, we will be spending the weekend with 7 other fabulous foodie females in a GORGEOUS cabin in the woods. Food, more food, wine, cocktails, hot tub, yoga, snow shoeing...just complete mayhem. For the whole weekend. Let's do this!

map on the ferry floor.

the unit

joel and gordon. this is where all the cheese is made!!!

this cow is joe. we love joe.

miles of abandoned greenhouses. kinda creepy.

the entrance to the kitchen. me and gordon.

mama and her babies

just some of the lil barns at the farm

gordon, admiring the hog.

joel making us coffee, gordon checking on the fresh churning butter.

jules <3

probably my favorite picture ever. jules and me in kurtwoods kitchen.

jules, me and Byron.

joel and jorge hanging the hog.

...and now joel is making us lunch

g-breezy and me

my always beautiful julia.

...And The Eat Goes On.

And the beat goes on, and the eat goes on.
And on. And on. And on.


Okay, let's rewind. Today is Thursday, Yesterday was Wednesday, and the day before was Tuesday. TUESDAY: Jules and I woke up and did some yoga. When we got home Gordon was preparing some brunch for us. He made the most PERFECTLY poached eggs, bacon that was cooked to utter perfection {Dad, you would approve!}, and a spinach salad with a dressing of diced dates, anchovies, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, touch of agave and fresh ground pepper. It was deeeelightful. We also snacked on some pickled string beans, and some bread from Columbia City Bakery, a green olive ciabatta. Oh-My-Heavens. I love bread.





We bopped around the rest of Tuesday, and I even took a mini-nap. Later that night we were headed to Erin Miller's house {coworker and friend of Jules + Gordon} for a traditional Japanese NABE dinner.
SO, let me tell you a bit about NABE...it's freaking amazing. My favorite thing about eating is the whole process, and the sense of community that food can create. This is why Nabe is amazing - it brings people together, it's interactive, it's fun and totally freaking delicious. We sat around the circular table with the Nabe dish that Erin had brought back from Japan {she lived there for 2 years}. In the bowl is a simple broth. We brought flank steak, octopus and black cod - it was sliced up {raw} and placed on plates around the table. There was a big bowl of asian mushrooms, bok choy, sprouts, scallions, cabbage...the works. We had an interesting textured sticky rice to add in, as well as some soba noodles and rice noodles. You just add and eat, add and eat - the flavor seems to change as you go. Add some more broth, add more veggies and fish, and eat on. Seated round the table was Julisa and Gordon, Jeremy and Janis, Erin Miller, Carl, and myself. All foodies, all a ton of fun. We drank a shit-ton of Kirin and Sapporro, as well as two bottles of Sake....and topped it off with a bit of champagne.

Erin and Julia, super excited about Nabe.

Gordon & Julisa

Erin & Carl...the Nabe professionals.

Everyone digging in.

I don't know what this sauce was, or what was in it, but I'm pretty sure that there was lots of MSG in it. It was FANTASTIC.

Good friends. Good stories. Good food. Good times.
Erin is QUITE the storyteller....

Me and my beautiful Julisa.

Nabe....no more.

I was slightly...overserved, so I was very glad to have Gordon driving us home. It was a long drive, the snow was coming down pretty hard. I fell asleep two seconds into the car ride, stumbled into the house once we got home, and fell back to sleep. Woke up - and now we're at WEDNESDAY. Because of the snow, we opted to take a morning off of yoga. We sipped some coffee and I banged through a list of "To-Do's" that needed to be done before I leave for Asia later this week. We bundled up and braved the now slushy rain to go to GOODWILL. We shopped hard and long and worked up quite an appetite. Stop #1: ELYSIAN for a pint and some french fries. Stop #2: BARRIO for some mexican lunch and Michelada's.





Stop #3: Gordon's favorite bookstore. Stop #4: stop #4 was supposed to be at a cute boutique that Julia had a gift certificate for, but as we were exiting the car we were attacked!! A very tall, very handsome, very excited man bound out of a shop - scooping up Jules and twirling her around, then doing the same to Gordon. His name was Joel, and he worked with these two years ago at LARK. He demanded that we join him for a drink inside. INSIDE were several adorable spaces - it was like a big barn, broken up into a couple different places. To the left was a butcher shop, across from it was a sandwich shop. Then to the back left is an ADORABLE little restaurant {which we will be visiting Monday for lunch}, and then across from that was a dainty little flower shop and a bar - with a great selection of wine. We sat down and enjoyed some conversation and Beaujolais for quite some time.
Though we vowed to eat dinner at HOME later in the evening, we heard that LA BETE was open - and we decided to just head in for a drink....

Well, $200 later {which honestly should have been about $400, but Gordon is friends with the chef, sommilier and server} - we hate yet ANOTHER food and drink extravaganza. BUT, unlike every other food adventure we've had - this was by far, hands down, not-doubt-about-it the most divine meal from soup to nuts. The wine, the cocktails, the coffee {they brew a bialetti and set it on your table!}, the service, and the food - ooohhhhh christ, the food! I've never seen Gordon so happy in all of my life. Plate after plate, he was in complete silence. And then, he would nod, even give a little smile - and say "This. This is how it should be done."

Oysters + Caviar.

Sardine.

It was a pretty early to bed evening - we had another full day, and again - a great deal of delicious food. Jules and I were up at 6am today {Thursday} and out the door for a early AM yoga class -- it was perfect. Got home, had coffee, eating a light breakfast - and now we are braving the rain to catch the ferry and head out to the farm that Joel is working on. He is slaughtering a pig this morning- but lunch will be ready by the time we arrive. Can't wait for the photos and stories to come.....

Blowing it.

So. My friend Nicole Gorton in Encinitas is pretty fucking amazing. She is beautiful and talented and kind. Men should be knocking down her door...and the same goes for my other fabulous, outstanding, stunning friends. But what I love about Nicole is that if a guy doesn't reciprocate, blows her off, or doesn't step up - she doesn't sweat it like all the rest of us do. She doesn't think "Oh man, what did I do wrong?", "Should I have worn something sexier?", "Damnit, I'm not good enough". Oh NO. Nicole simply shrugs her shoulders and says "Well, he totally blew it.", she believes it %100 percent...and ya know what, it's %110 true. He did blow it. He IS missing out. It IS his loss. Why can't we all think like this? It's something that I'm going to work towards this 2011...because I am pretty fucking fabulous, and if some guy blows me off - well damnit, it's totally his loss!

We had the most outstanding day today {details to follow in later blog}. Half way through our eating, drinking extravaganza we ran into Julie and Gordon's tall, sexy, pretty amazing friend Joel. He is a butcher. A very handsome butcher. He's moving to Jackson Hole, Wyoming in a week or so to open up his own butcher shop with a restaurant attached. Local, delicious, organic food. Boom. I was in love. It's pretty rare that I'm at a loss for words - rambling on is kinda my thing. Anywho - the goofy, chatty, tall, handsome butcher had me sitting in my barstool, smiling like an idiot. After a glass of wine I warmed up a bit and came out of my shell - and the conversation was quite good. It was time for us to mozie on - but we decided to all meet up at the restaurant-a-la-moment, La Bete. Well...two hours, several bottles of wine and MANY plates of delicious food later, no Joel. For a minute or two I succumbed to the "poor me" philosophy. 'I'm too chubby', 'I look hungover and gross', 'I'm short and stout...ew', 'He could totally do better'. And then, AND THEN - I channeled my inner Nicole Gorton {and the book "He's Just Not That Into You" -- which I must say, is AMAZING}. I looked at my fabulous friends Jules and Gordon and said aloud, "Well, Joel fucking blew it", and you know what - I %100 believe it. Another thing that I must say - and hate to admit - is that the damn cliche book He's Just Not That Into You stated several valid points: if a man wants to talk to you, he'll call. If a man wants to see you, and he knows where you are - he'll show up. If Joel wanted to hang out with me - than he would have made an effort to show at La Bete. But he didn't - and I'm not sweating it - because he is the one missing out, on a pretty outstanding human being {ahem....yours truly}.

So the next time things don't work out the way that you want - don't be a self - hater, celebrate your fabulousness and don't be ashamed to admit that he messed up big time.

Me in my fancy fly new red heels!

Apple Almond CousCous

One of my regular dishes is my Apple Almond CousCous. I could have sworn that I posted the recipe, but apparently I have not. So my darling Ev, this is for you!

1 cup uncooked cous cous
1 1/4 cup vegetable stock

Bring stock to a boil, dump in couscous, take off the heat, cover and let sit for about 5-10minutes.

Mix in:

2 apples, diced {peel left on}
large handful raw almonds
large handful dried cranberries
couple teaspoons of fresh rosemary and thyme
small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, diced
dash of salt
nice drizzling of olive oil

now the key ingredients to flavor this are
-APPLE CIDER VINEGAR, and
-MAPLE SYRUP
I have no idea the measurements, I want to say about 1/4 cup each? Start out with just a bit, and add more as you go.

Voila.

Some fun facts about my favorite grain:

1.	Couscous is made from semolina, obtained by coarsely grinding the heart of robust wheat. Originating from the wheat's inner seed, and containing all the rich goodness and protein of the wheat germ, semolina is wheat's finest product.

2. One cup of cooked couscous contains 200 calories, 12% of which is accounted for by protein, 87% is from starch, and only 1% fats.

3. One cup of couscous provides 35% of your recommended daily requirement of nutritious fibers. It also provides a range of vitamins from the vitamin B group along with the minerals needed for its efficient absorption into the body.

4. Symbolizing luck, blessings and abundance according to North African tradition, couscous is prepared to celebrate a house warming or a holiday.

Brisket + Beer {and Yoga}.

Woke up early this morning and Julisa + I headed out into the snow to take a yoga class @ YoBe, Yoga on Beacon. The instructor was Erich, and he was the best best best best. Loved it. We started out with three rounds of Aum, followed by some chanting, and then a deep physical and spiritual class. It was especially meaningful to me because I got to practice alongside someone whom I love very very much. Truly, it is classes like this and instructors like Erich that make me feel ALIVE.

Julia warmed up before class using the wall and some straps. I've never practiced this type of yoga - but it really helps you to go deeper. I'm hoping that Erich will incorporate this some during my time here.

After yoga we headed to Julia's work, La Medusa, so that she could do some bookwork. We stopped in first at the Columbia City Bakery, also owned by Julias boss. We had a delicious cup of coffee and snacks to hold us over until lunch. Julia worked away, and I finally committed - and bought my ticket for CAMBODIA. I'll be leaving from Seattle on Jan 20th. Details to follow... Anywho, after work we scooped up Gordon at the house and we all headed to Slim's Last Chance for some CHILI. And not just any chili, but the BEST chili. Gordon had a bowl of their Brisket + Beans Chili over Jalapeno Mac & Cheese, with a side of cornbread. I had a cup of the same. Julia had two cups - the Chili Verde and the Brisket + Beans, but she skipped the Mac & Cheese {BIG mistake Julia...Gordon was right, it's the only way to eat chili!}. Of course we also ordered a side of fries. I have to admit - I have had french fries and every meal, and for that matter - at every restaurant - since I've been here. Fries several times a day. And you know what - they are goddamn delicious! Last night I tried on a stunning dress at Anthropologie - I really, really wanted it, and it fit perfect - except for my ass. My butt and thighs had that thing pulled so tight that I thought the stitches were gonna burst. Julia said that she loved it and that it was booty-licious, but I thought not so much. It had me bummed out for a little bit, but then Gordon ordered my some fries and it instantly brought a smile back to my face. I know, a vicious cycle - more fries, bigger booty - but I know what I like, and I like french fries.

My Favorite Foodies: Gordon + Julisa.

THE UNIT.

Did you say FRENCH FRIES?!

We followed up our lunch with a pitiful game of pool, and then we headed to the grocery store. We all made a pact to tone down are dining out and cook at home - afterall, I AM staying with two of the most talented chefs I've ever met! The problem though is that they only have off 2 weeks out of the year - and who the hell wants to cook on their only days off? We loaded up on groceries and then quickly fell back into old habits - we stopped for ONE drink @ Benbow Room at the Heartland Cafe. This place was absolutely hysterical. The bar was like the inside of a ship...it made me feel like a kid again at the amusement park - only better though because this one had Beer. Jules and Gordon had SkuttleButt IPA's and I had a delightful fruity beer {forget it's name}. It was "Industry Monday", and since these two work in the industry we got a nice discount! The happy hour special was on for appetizers, and since we are junkfood kids at heart we couldn't resist : Sauerkraut Balls with Heartland Beer Mustard and some Mini Corn Dogs. Christ almighty, delicious - not so nutritious. We giggled like little kids, enjoyed the seafaring ambiance and danced to the pretty random and awful eclectic music that was playing through the speakers.

SO FANTASTIC: Sauerkraut and Kielbasa Balls.

Corn Dogs. Corn Dogs. Corn Dogs. MmM. MmM. MmM.

Gordon and Jules, in the bottom of the 'ship'.

Now we're home, and we are going to have some Kale Salad for dinner...followed by a cuddle on the couch and a funny movie. Good times in the NorthWest.

“I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.” — Homer Simpson