The OneandahalfSlices About page presents somewhat of a mission statement for the blog. Why am I doing this and why are we all here? – aside from the obvious: all the good food! (for the genesis of the name OneandahalfSlices, see Skillet Cornbread). The mission is simple.
To explore ways to procure local ingredients, to cook more seasonally, and to make food healthier and more delicious at the same time.
For those of you that know me well, you know that this topic of local, sustainable agriculture is of great importance to me and I do my best to ‘vote with my feet’ when it comes to what I eat. Once a good batch of recipes were up on the site, it was always my intention to bring the focus of the blog to the ingredients that go into those recipes. Because “when you are chasing after the best flavor, you are chasing after the best ingredients and when you are chasing after the best ingredients, you are in search of great farming.” – Chef Dan Barber (who has left his upstate NY Michelin restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns to consult at Blackberry Farm in Tennessee). I have many a friend and colleague who have said things like “I don’t eat seafood” or “I really hate green beans” or “mushrooms are gross,” and then proceeded to devour fresh caught Kingfish ceviche, grilled pole beans from the CSA, and fresh foraged morel and chanterelle risotto. You may not think you like green beans if you’ve only ever had them out of a can from the grocery store or slathered in Campbell’s mushroom soup in a Thanksgiving green bean casserole. But a fresh, crisp green bean, with all the flavor and sweetness of summer and sun, is something else entirely. Chef Barber said it more eloquently than I ever could. Food simply tastes better when it’s fresh. And made from ingredients that are in season and are grown in healthy soil that is part of a fully organic ecological system.
Part of that system is meat (well, animals, really). Enter Longstone Farm in Lovettsville, Virginia. There are few farms in Virginia as dedicated to the narrative described above as Longstone Farm. Family owners Justin and Casey have gone all in with their lifestyle, their family, and their footprint, investing in the recursive, sustainable tenets of organic farming and local community, and producing some of the highest quality meats in Northern Virginia. The cream of their crop are their hogs and I firmly advocate that there is no better porkchop than a Longstone Farm porkchop. They also raise chickens and cattle. I have a lot to learn from the purveyors of Longstone Farm who engage in a lot of community outreach. For example, the photos you see here are from their Sunday Suppers, typically held over the spring/summer/fall seasons once a month, featuring local chefs who craft custom menus using Longstone Farm products. Before that dinner, Casey and Justin host a farm tour complete with hay ride where they show you their farm and briefly explain the rationale behind what they do every day and why. The evening is luxurious, relaxing, and enlightening for those who have never had the opportunity to think of food in a different way – food as community, food as nourishment for muscles and sinew, food as your personal connection to place, purpose, and your own body.
Here is what you need to know about Longstone Farm:
There will be more posts like these to come on OneandahalfSlices in the future as there are many great farms to explore in Northern Virginia. Ways to eat more locally and sustainably are things I very much want to explore through my cooking and, as mentioned previously, this blog is the chronicle of that exploration. I welcome you all to the OneandahalfSlices table for a 100% local dinner whenever you schedule permits – maybe join us for a Saturday Supper in Arlington and cook with us! And I challenge you all to take one step this year to do something slightly different around your relationship with food. Choose something like a Sunday Supper or The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm for date night. Stop eating foods that come in packages (chips, cookies, soups, instant meals and sides – it doesn’t take that much longer to make those things yourself if you know how – enter OneandahalfSlices). Sign up for a vegetable Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share. Stop buying meat in the grocery store and try Longstone Farm, Spring House Farm Store, or Whiffletree Farm meats instead. Challenging yourself or your household to do just one of these things will make a difference and may just begin an unexpected journey (there and back again) for you and your family.
Three years of flavor, sprinkles, playlists, and exploration! Whoa. It’s been a ride, you guys. You know. You’ve been here. It may seem like things have been quiet of late – but not so. Here’s the best of 2023 and what we have to look forward to in 2024…
Here we are with Protein #2 in our Protein Trio and it’s a bit of a non-standard one. We don’t often cook rabbit but… we totally should! It is more delicate than chicken with more flavor, but still not too gamey. Cassoulets are bean-based stews with a protein that can stew all day or come together quite quickly. They are hearty and Fall-ish, and I am thrilled to have this one on my table. You can make this with roasted chicken or a sausage if the rabbit is a stretch for you.
“I am a student. And then I become the megaphone.” – Jane Fonda
“I have two lovers in life that I have never slept with. The city of Paris and potatoes.” – Francis Mallmann. The taste of empanadas, parrillada, and red wine came to flavor my adolescence, calibrating my tastes – both for food and experience – for something deeper.
Happy Christmas 2022 and a Rice Krispie Treat with #holidayvibes If you worked for me, with me, or with Merigold Analytics in 2022, chances are you got one of these in early December. These little boxes are filled with the stuff dreams are made of – stickers, marshmallows, and Oreo cookies. This Christmas season, OneandahalfSlices made layered rice krispies stuffed with Oreo, Biscoff, Graham, candy cane, and many, many, tiny marshmallows. We celebrated Christmas this
October has always been my favorite month (for cooking, for being). Let me tell you why.
[…] In the summer, my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) provider, Potomac Vegetable Farms, has corn in ample supply! Thanks, PVF! (I have professed OneandahalfSlices’ commitment to local, sustainable agriculture and farming in another post) […]
[…] ya’ll know I love Longstone Farm and their absolutely unrivaled pork chops (click for #datenight story) … but they also do […]
[…] Community. You can find it in places like #yellow2023, our Saturday Suppers in Arlington, Longstone Farm’s Sunday Suppers, Oktoberfests done right, or right here on OneandahalfSlices. Diversity of thought, of heart, of […]
[…] sausage: Longstone Farm, you have my heart, and all of business when it comes to pork chops and loose […]
[…] ready to transfer the chops to the oven. If you are using locally-sourced chops (I get mine from Longstone Farm), chances are they’ve got a good bit of fat on them which has begun to collect in the skillet […]