Tammy McLeod

Focusing on community-based Placemaking is the way that I work towards creating a healthier planet.

[tammymcleod]

Preparing with a Poem in my Pocket

Preparing with a Poem in my Pocket

It’s been a while but it’s still one of my favorite holidays of the year!

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Sunday Morning Raw Reset

Sunday Morning Raw Reset

Do you have reset day? How about a reset date? Truth be told, we are all time travelers and seasonal creatures. Back to school signals something to us as does the start of a new year or the beginning of another week.

Apple-Lemon Breakfast Bowl

(more…)

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[tammymcleod]

Molecular Gastronomy

It can be described as the intersection of chemistry and the appetite. Last week our local science museum created a special Science Salon to highlight cooking as alchemy. I’ll admit straight up that as a slow foodist, I was skeptical however, the journey that Josh Hebert, Chef and Owner of POSH “Improvisational Cuisine” was remarkable.

Dessert – Not Salmon Roe

(more…)

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Family Dinners

The kid I have left at home has to be back in school in 6 short weeks. We have downloaded the reading list and he’s had 2 weeks at rowing camp. We are in the sweet lazy days of summer with an unstructured homework-free schedule.

One of the best parts of summer is that our dinner time routine stabilizes so that I can look everyone in the eye over a meal and assess how the day has gone. Why I take…

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Design for Better Sleep: Bring Nature Indoors

Design for Better Sleep: Bring Nature Indoors

In our high stress, fast-paced world, getting a good night’s rest becomes increasingly more difficult every year. If there’s one room in a home that needs to be stress-free, it’s the bedroom. Good design can and should support the main purpose of any room but especially the bedroom. While today, many people focus on purchasing a comfortable and budget-friendly mattress, the bed is only one…

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[tammymcleod]

New, Happy Year

It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily as it might if the words were rearranged but that’s because it is unfamiliar and yes, it is new. Photo credit to Unnar Ýmir Björnsson (more…)

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Crowd-Pleasing Chicken with Cayenne Pepper Honey - Absolutely Delightful

Arizona Honey Highlight: Use our local honey mixed with cayenne pepper to add a bit of spiciness and dimension to this easy to make chicken recipe.

[tammymcleod]

Planning Ahead

The list of things that I intend to accomplish in 2017 is vast. There’s a qualifying paper for my PhD, kids in transition, summer excursions, bodies to get into shape, education reform that needs leadership, friends to catch up with, and plenty of fun to be had. It takes some planning. (more…)

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Tammy McLeod turned 7 today! Thanks for coming along for the ride!

[tammymcleod]

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday; family and friends, good food, fellowship, no gifts.I think it’s that last piece that I find so freeing. I’ve never been a good shopper, don’t enjoy it as a way to socialize – heck, just ask my family – when they do receive gifts, sometimes they’re not even wrapped!

That’s why I tend to look a the holiday meal and the individual dish preparation as gifts. I love flipping through recipes to discover something that will align with dietary preferences and seasonal ingredients, something that I might make too much of in order to feast on for a second day, and something that might delight both the table and the guests.

This year, my brother’s family provided a generous meal and setting. We brought ourselves and a salad for a wonderful evening of connecting with others – some of whom had traveled long distances to be there. I perused a dozen cookbooks and online recipes before landing on this one. I love the heartiness and yes, love most roasted anything.

This salad takes some preparation but because the steps are staggered, it isn’t overwhelming. The recipe offers flexibility so that you can add ingredients or subtract them based upon your farmers market and when it’s not Thanksgiving, this truly can be a meal.

Roasted Autumn Vegetable Salad

Adapted from The Chew

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Directions:

4 large carrots (halved lengthwise and cut in half)

3 shallots (halved)

1 butternut squash (peeled, halved, seeded and cut in 1/2-inch slices)

1/2 lb brussels sprouts (halved)

6 cloves garlic

6 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup dried green lentils (rinsed)

1/2 onion (studded with 8 cloves)

2 bay leaves

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs dijon mustard

1/2 lb arugula

2 Celery Stalks (thinly sliced)

Juice of 1/2 a large lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl, combine carrots, shallots, squash, brussel sprouts, and garlic. Drizzle at least 2 Tbs of olive oil over the top. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Pour vegetables onto a tray and roast in the oven for 40 minutes, tossing once, halfway through.

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Meanwhile, prepare the lentils by putting them into a small saucepan and covering with water by 2 inches. Add the onion and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and discard the onion, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Seasoning green lentils

When vegetables are finished roasting, remove the garlic. Peel and mash the garlic in a medium bowl, combine with the remaining olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and dijon mustard. (I did this in a small food processor)

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Toss the lentils with the vinaigrette, fold in the arugula leaves. Transfer to a serving platter. Arrange roasted vegetables on the top and add the sliced celery.

If you were to give the gift of a meal, what would it be?

Party on a Plate Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday; family and friends, good food, fellowship, no gifts.I think it's that last piece that I find so freeing.

[tammymcleod]

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass” – Anton Chekhov

This was the wise writing instruction of Chekhov to his brother. Chekhov encouraged his kin to describe the setting in the details. And that is what captured our attention at the The Glass Museum. Relish the details.

The Glint of Light "Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass" - Anton Chekhov

[tammymcleod]

With every phenomenon there is hype and inevitably, the media will exorcise the most vile, painful occurrences and report them. Car accidents, muggings, and other inhumane actions occur all the time. It’s just that in the past couple of weeks, they have been the result of a few inattentive or too attentive Pokémon Go players.Some of us are led to believe that this is a crazy, unsafe fad.

I’m not going there.

Where I am going however is throughout my neighborhood and my city on foot. I can rack up 10,000 steps in a snap while safely chasing wild spearows, flareons, and poliwags. My sons and I have put out lures and taken night time walks in order to fill our pokédex.

Despite its ability to get people moving and a pretty brilliant technology that has plenty of other applications just waiting to be discovered, what I have most enjoyed about this game is that it is in large part based upon public art. The pokéstops where we go to collect potions, eggs, and poké balls are typically at a place of public art that frankly, I have passed many times before but had not taken time to notice. There is the dedication plaque on the building where I work and the bronze frogs in the fountain. There are fake cactus cell towers and a cat carved into the roofline of the mercado building. There are wall murals oozing with color and details that have been presented to the public in the form of this game.

Local First Arizona jumped onto the platform early by identifying local independent businesses that are also pokéstops. Smart civic leaders are using this game as a way to drive civic engagement. What could be better than getting people out and moving and appreciating the intricate details of a city? In the local city of Maricopa, one avid pokémon trainer won the battle at the Maricopa City Hall gym on behalf of the Mayor who is running for re-election.

Our local hospital is using the game in the children’s area to get kids up and moving post surgical procedure. Yes, it’s a game and yes, there have been some misuses as there are with many things. But I am appreciative of this clever idea to bring attention to the finer details of our civic spaces and I am becoming aware of just how rich my community is in public art.

Have you played?

Pokémon Go and Public Art With every phenomenon there is hype and inevitably, the media will exorcise the most vile, painful occurrences and report them.

[inlandwest]

Apache Drive-in, Globe, Arizona

[tammymcleod]

Breaks my heart

[tammymcleod]

In my grandmother’s kitchen there was a gadget for everything. Can’t retrieve the pickle from the bottom of the jar? Use the pickle poker. From lemon squeezers to cherry pitters to olive forks and corn handles, there was a specific use for everything and the appropriate sized baking dish to accompany it.

My kitchen bears an eerie resemblance. It’s well stocked and there’s one of most everything. I have what I want, more than I need and frankly, at this point, there is not room for another. Yet, when my friend dished up a tantalizing photo of her fresh spiralized zucchini noodles this week, I had to ask about the device.

I own a spiralizer but in this age of culinary equipment specialization, it’s best suited for curly fries and won’t offer the long spindly noodles that I desire. And so, I inquired about the brand and my sister in-law, seeing the post, invited me to try hers out. She even delivered. Perfectly twisted long narrow zucchini curls delivered with a hand crank – I like this device as there are no cords to mess with and nothing to plug in.

But in a larger context, isn’t this the way that things should work? Rather than running out to own yet another kitchen countertop thief, shouldn’t I just see what I can borrow and conversely, let others know what I can share?

Might this be an opportunity to take a neighborhood kitchen inventory and to post it on a private site to be borrowed by others? And there would need to be an operating agreement that read something like, when you use it, you’ll double the recipe to provide a meal or a side dish or a loaf of bread for the owner. Does it make any sense for all of us to own the same assets any longer?

Malaysian Squash Noodles modified from this recipe by the raw chef, Russell James Yields 4 cups

Ingredients for the Noodles:

1 medium zucchini

1 medium yellow summer squash

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

2 ½ ozs shiitake mushrooms

few pinches of pink Himalayan salt

Ingredients for the Sauce:

3 tablespoons coconut manna/butter

1 cup water

½ oz ginger, peeled

⅓ oz minced lemongrass stalk

1 red chili

½ clove garlic

¼ teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon fennel seed

Pinch clove

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lime juice

1 teaspoon tamari or soy sauce

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

For garnish:

Crushed cashews or almonds

Dulse or any dry sea vegetable flakes

Hemp seed hearts

Fresh cilantro Coriander (cilantro)

Directions:

Spiralize the zucchini and the squash into noodles and transfer to a bowl with a few pinches of salt and the cold pressed oil. Slice the shiitake mushrooms into strips and marinate in a splash of apple cider vinegar and tamari. Blend all ingredients in a highspeed blender until smooth. Place the noodles and shiitakes in a serving bowl. Add the sauce to bowl and top with crushed cashews, dulse, hemp and cilantro.

Share!

What else might you be able to share with friends or neighbors?

  Spiralizing and the Sharing Economy In my grandmother's kitchen there was a gadget for everything. Can't retrieve the pickle from the bottom of the jar?

[tammymcleod]

Kinda Like the Walking Dead

Kinda Like the Walking Dead

Top of the Cask. Dos Cabezas Tasting Room, Sonoita, AZ “It’s sort of like watching one of those TV series. You know, like the Sopranos or the Walking Dead. You watch it, you like it, but every season, somebody’s gonna die.” (more…)

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Bringing the Outside In

Bringing the Outside In

Do you think of the arrival of spring as an inhale or an exhale? My Kitchen Bonsai (more…)

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Egg it on - Breakfast Hack Series

Egg it on – Breakfast Hack Series

“Eat in the car.” That was the clever tip from my 13 yo when I told him that I was doing a series on breakfast hacks. In fact, while not a recommended practice, my son eats on the way to school many days. Eggs on the Go (more…)

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