Hot Shots - November 25, 2022
Hot Shots - November 25, 2022
Severin R-B Danieli
Hello all,
I hope everyone had a lovely week and are looking forward to the weekend. As I write this, I am sitting in the office, the scene outside the main office windows is pretty gloomy, but inside a mid morning Discovery scene unfolds.
The hum of our sales team on the phones with our loyal customers, inquiring about pricelists, products available and the ongoing lettuce kerfuffle, the clickity click of the purchasing team's keyboard as they order new and exciting products and the distant sound of the horn on the forklift as fresh organic veggies and fruit are being taken into their respective coolers.
This week has passed without great incident, and I spent last weekend up in Whistler with the family. A gorgeous, but very icy, walk around lost lake was a highlight, and then a delicious night of grilled pineapple and fajitas capped off the weekend nicely.
Satsumas!
A varietal of a mandarin, these tangy citrus cuties are another staple of the holiday season, and come up to us here at Disco from California. There are over 100 different varieties of satsumas, and it can get mighty confusing! There are satsumas, mandarins, clementines, tangerines, daisy, murcott, pixie ... the list could go on and on.
We've got a couple options for you: bagged 12x2# and bulk 25# from Homegrown Organics, as well as bagged 12x2# and bulk 25# from Cousin Organics/Dinocitrus.
Any type of orange always reminds me of the holiday season, as we were always given mandarins at my elementary school, or were sticking cloves into navel/valencia oranges (I can literally smell that right now it is so burned into me memory). Or if you are up for a bit of decorating; slice oranges into 1/4 or 1/8, lay them flat on a sheet, and put them into the oven for about an hour on very low heat 200/250F. Flip them over half way, and keep an eye on them as I have burned a few batches in my time.
After they are nice and dehydrated, string them together and hang them in your window, on your wall or on a Christmas tree if you have one. If you want more detailed instructions, just google festive orange garlands.
Snow peas!
One of my favourite types of peas/beans, the snow pea is a crunchy delight in any dish. Personally, I like it in a stir fry or raw on a veggie platter.
Snow peas offer protein, dietary fiber, vitamin C and K, potassium, iron and magnesium. They are also boast the highest concentration of vitamin C out of all types of peas!
Native to the Mediterranean region, these peas were very popular in the 19th century, and made their way over to China where they were quickly adopted into popular cuisine culture.
Cauliflower.
A pretty common brassica, the cauliflower had a resurgence in popularity recently when basically every restaurant added cauliflower wings to their menu. I am fully onboard with this trend as I love roasted cauliflower with spices/bbq sauce on it.
We were over at a friend's place recently, and they were making big cauliflower steaks in a cast iron pan. There was salt, pepper, garlic salt, paprika and some Italian seasoning on it, and it was browning up very nicely. Once it was ready, they cut it up and we all enjoyed it with some Chianti and caramel popcorn. What an odd night.
We've got 12ct cauliflower here from Cal-O farms.
Medjool Dates.
Dates are categorized into: dry, semi-dry and soft. The medjool is designated as a soft date, and this variety truly melts in your mouth.
At Disco, there are three different types of dates to choose from: picture above is the medjool date, then there is the deglet date that is pitted, both from California, and finally the mazafati date from Iran.
Date squares? Stuffed date? A mid-day boost of energy? My father-in-law calls them 'pure energy' and that is correct! Back when I worked at a juicery, we used dates to sweeten smoothies and nut milks as they are the perfect all natural sweetening agent.
Turmeric.
I'm sure everyone has heard about this powerhouse of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, and has seen turmeric lattes, golden milks and turmeric juices taking over all menus at cafes, juice bars and restaurants.
Recently, a co-worker and myself have become healthily obsessed with turmeric lattes. There is a delicious blend, produced by a Canadian company called Blume (check them out, they've expanded into many other blends as well as their original turmeric latte), and I've also found a recipe that I used with ingredients I had on hand at home. Here is the link.
The turmeric in house right now at Disco is from La Grama, which sources their turmeric from the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest. La Grama supports 290 small scale farmers, has 280 employees, and even has their own La Grama farm. On this farm, the principles of agroforestry are employed, as well as biodynamic practices.
Eggplant.
My nightshade nemesis.
Okay, maybe nemesis is too harsh a word, but, until recently, eggplants and I did not see eye to eye.
Growing up as a vegetarian, the age old question would always be posed to me "wait, what? you mean you don't eat meat?" followed closely by, "do you like all vegetables then??" And my standard answer would be, "yes, I like just about all veggies and fruits, except for eggplant. I don't understand eggplant."
Then, one fateful day in 2016 or so, my family and I were in San Francisco, walking along Columbus Avenue - also the street that City Lights Booksellers is on - and we chose an Italian restaurant at random. Little did I know, eggplant fate had made me choose this restaurant.
For an appetizer, I decided to venture a bit past my comfort zone, and try an eggplant parmesan. When I say 'out of my comfort zone', take that with a grain of salt, seeing as my comfort zone absolutely includes tomato sauce, cheese, garlic, olive oil, seasonings...
The eggplant parmesan arrived, cheese still bubbling, and from that moment on, eggplant was on my approved list of veggies. Now, was it because of all the accoutrements that were disguising the actual taste of the eggplant? Absolutely.
Staff appreciation: Todd!
Todd has been working here since 2018 as a valued member of our Picking Team.
He was one of the people I first met at Discovery, and he is always happy to chat and joke around with all his co-workers. After I took this photo of him, I asked him what he likes about Discovery, and he said "it's one of my favourite places I have ever worked". Straight to the point, classic Todd.
His favourite veggie is any type of lettuce (me too Todd, me too), and we have commiserated together about this ongoing lettuce issue down in California many times over the past few weeks. His other favourite item at Disco? The gala apple.
Thank you for all your work Todd, and your sense of humour. This guy made a joke about garlic, and I am legitimately still laughing about it two weeks later.
We are off to Hornby Island for the weekend and could not be more excited. The last time we were there, in 2018, we got engaged in Helliwell Provincial Park, kayaked with river otters, had some delicious pizza in an apple orchard and hiked along the ridges of Mount Geoffrey.
I will talk to you all next week when we officially welcome December and the 2022 holiday season!
Big love,
Severin R-B Danieli