Stir Up a Bit of Love

"Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon." Dalai Lama.

Now there's a great quote for February, the time of year where there is abundant love in the air. Yes there also could sometimes be snow but let's concentrate on the love aspect of the month. I think that most of us have at least one person in our lives that we want to let know how much we are thinking of them. You know it doesn't always have to be a girlfriend/boyfriend situation. How about the mom, dad or best work buddy. Maybe it is the guy behind the counter where you get your lunch every day.

We have put together a small gift for you to let that extraordinary person know that you think of them often. We have once again connected with our good friend, Chef Scott Ingenito at The DailyChews.com. You may have remembered him from a previous blog, Cooking with Wood. We decided to get back in touch with him again for a good love meal that could be created from some healthy farmer's veggies this time. You see he has become a huge fan of the California farmers markets as we are here in the valley. No matter where you are in the world think about shopping for you local food and crafts at one. Anyway Scott has come up with what looks like a delicious Butternut Squash Soup for us. Great for this time of the year. What we are doing is with every wooden cooking utensil that you purchase from us; now until Valentine's Day 2013 you will receive a post card copy of his awesome recipe. What a beautifully useful gift for him or her. Tie a red ribbon around it and you are set to go.

Our complete selection of cooking utensils will be with us at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market this Saturday along with all our other pieces. Yes we ship through-out the United States. Of course we even have some cute heart necklaces for all you traditional jewelry givers. Check out our gallery studio if you can't visit us in person. Let us help you make for an unforgettable day.

Until next we meet…choose the right branch.

Cooking With Wood

By The Enlightened Chef, Scott Ingenito
www.thedailychews.com

Firstly I want to thank Debbie and Steve for having me do this guest post on their blog, they have always been like a second set of parents to me when we all worked together back in NY. When they made the big move to VA and got the wood studio up and running they became my true inspiration in making the 3,000 mile move from Long Island, NY to Ocean Beach, San Diego and having the courage to change careers. I am truly honored to be considered a friend of theirs, and even more honored to contribute to this blog and share my journey in life with theirs.

Which utensils are better to cook with in your kitchen, metal, silicone, or wood? It is an age old argument and my answer is an honest one: All of them! But, I will admit that I do prefer to use my wood utensils, for a few reasons; They are extremely versatile, they can be used in any type of pan or pot and they do not scratch or tarnish your cookware. They also will not change the taste of acidic foods such as tomato sauce. Overall factor is that they feel really good in my hand, for me cooking is like alchemy, I am fascinated in the art of growing something, harvesting it, breaking it down, and turning it into something so amazing and unexpected. I feel this is also true of wood, in all aspects it amazes me! As a drummer and surfer, my most prized possessions are made of exotic woods by master wood crafters much like Steve (the owner of WoodArt Studio and this blog). It may sound silly to many people that I add cooking in with artistic things like making music, instruments and wood working, but the truth is that it truly is an art and it seems to follow the circle of life much like wood does;  it is grown, harvested, broken down, formed into something even greater, just like the food we eat.

If you didn't guess by now, I also prefer to cut on a wood cutting board, specifically a nice thick sustainable bamboo cutting board. In all aspects I feel wood plays a major role in shifting and shaping food from the beginning of our existence. Just think about the process, so many products come from wood/trees, in the beginning man used it to fuel their fires for heat and cooking purposes, and now we used it to smoke meats and add an authentic accent of flavors from many different kinds of wood. It is truly so versatile, whether cooking with wood, over wood, smoking with wood, one thing is for sure, without wood cooking would be drastically different. If you do not own any wood cooking utensils, I urge you to try some out. There are so many out on the market now and many are from sustainable resources like bamboo or cork.

Thanks for reading, follow me on my culinary adventures at www.thedailychews.com

The WoodArt Studio says look for more guest posts from Chef Scott and The Daily Chews in the future along with some of his more than delicious recipes.

Until next we meet...