bostonzest

Tag: Jacqueline Church

  • Put This Chinatown Food Tour on Your Calendar and Shopping List

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    Back in September I received an email from one of my favorite social media friends, Jacqueline Church. She wrote:

    "I'm inviting you to experience my "Chinatown Experience" tour, which is the full tour including a bit of history about Chinatown's founding, its immigrant origins, Chinese/American food, and more. 

    We'll walk through Chinatown sampling some favorites, both traditional and modern; visit a traditional Chinese herbalist shop, taste fantastic barbecued pork and more. Finally, we'll enjoy dim sum at Hei La Moon."

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    As the guests for her tour group gathered at our designated meeting spot, I realized I would be touring with one new friend and a three men who have supported people and programs I care about over the past few years. Adam Castiglioni from Boston Hospitalilty and Tourism Industry Blog, Max Grinnell from The Urbanologist, Richard Auffrey from The Passionate Foodie, and Chanie from Life By Zen made up a fun group to enjoy this tour that proved to be very true to its title Food, Fun and Fables. 

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    We gathered as a group of food lovers but, as anyone who reads BostonZest or our newspaper columns knows, I'm also an architecture, history, and Boston details fan. I'll never look at the Chinatown Gate again without thinking about all the little tidbits that Jackie fed our minds as she described its background and details to us. 

    I'll never visit this neighborhood again without appreciating my better understanding of its foundation, evolution, and continuing cultural traditions.

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    As we walked we learned about these tiles in the sidewalk as Jackie pointed a toe and translated some for us. 

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    Why do some gamers in the park play alone, while others have a crowd of coaches? Jackie knows and she shares. 

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    Now I know exactly where to go when I want fabulous Chinese barbeque pork, a whole roast pig with crackling skin, or a roasted duck that may be from the same batch that was delivered to area restaurants.

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    Don't worry about sticky fingers, Jackie has this magic bag of goodies that assures her guests have what they need when they need it. From toothpicks to snag a piece of pork, to wipes to clean your hands before eating pastries with them, to smaller cups to share a bubble tea – she has you covered! And, you don't have to take notes. She'll provide handouts with the highlights and some extra tips. 

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    As bakery samples are passed around, they are followed by stories. You'll learn how each item is made, how authentic this example happens to be, how seasonal, and where it fits into this culture.

    JACKIE herbalist

    As a Tai Chi student, I realize how important Traditional Chinese Medicine is in this culture. I had been to Jackie's favorite herbalist before. She had taken me there when we met for lunch one day. I think she knew I was having problems with asthma and the shop owner, Patrick, recognized it right away and suggested a ready-made tea that would help.

    On the tour Jackie explained how you would consult Patrick and his staff of traditional Chinese herbalists and how your prescription would be filled by the experts in front of their drawers of healing products.

    JACKIE grocery

    Jackie is a fun person and our visit to a Chinatown grocery shop was filled with laughter as she tried to convince one member of our tour he might even like those lovely green things, if he would only give them a chance.

    Along the way all of us learned that she chose this shop because there was more likely to be someone on staff who spoke English should we have questions. And, as we walked the aisles, she pointed out a few of her favorite items among the brands on offer. 

    JACKIE dim sum

    Then came dim sum with our expert guide explaining the etiquette of using our chopsticks or pouring tea in a communal setting, ordering from the carts as they passed, explaining how the bill is tallied and how to pay it.

    Jackie also divided large portions, gave details of the dishes selected, and made sure everyone was offered a taste of everything. (She even made sure a plate of greens was available for our reluctant produce eater, just in case…)

    As you may have noticed, I didn't give you the details of the shops or the answers to the questions that you might have from the photos posted here. Those tales are Jackie's to tell and she tells them far better than I would.

    If you have always wanted to learn more about Boston's Chinatown, I highly recommend you gather a few friends, click over to Jacqueline Church Central, and schedule a tour.

    Or, if you find yourself in Boston for a day or two by yourself or with a friend, join a tour that she has already scheduled. This is something you can enjoy on your own or with a group. I asked Jackie about a shorter tour with dim sum that would accommodate a friend with limited mobility and she was happy to work with me to figure out what we could include.

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    As it turned out, that friend was so interested in the tour I had, we are planning to gather a group and enjoy the full three hour Chinatown Experience! She'll take her cane and her friends will help out as needed.

    With the holidays ahead, you might consider giving a gift certificate for a tour as a holiday gift. It has been said that many of us today would rather have a great shared experience to remember than something that will add to the things in our lives.

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

    Details:

    Words: Penny Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny Cherubino ( I was Jackie's guest on this tour here is a link to our disclosure policy.)

  • Minestrone: a Soup for All Seasons

    When was your last bowl of hearty, delicious, nutritious minestrone? This classic but adaptable vegetable soup seems to have slipped off menus and off the radar of home cooks like me. Yet, it deserves to be rediscovered, explored, and adapted for today’s food lovers.

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    Jacqueline Church’s pot of minestrone is not only delicious, nutritious, filling, and economical, it’s also vegan. A soup for all eaters! (photo credit: Jacqueline Church)

    Great Minds …

    Food writer Rachel Roddy featured minestrone in one of her recent columns for the Guardian. She wrote that minestrone, “… sums up the Italian knack for taking the most basic and economic ingredients and bringing them together in a delicious way.” She referred to her trusted Italian food experts, like Marcella Hazan, when writing about all the regional and seasonal variations on this pot of goodness.

     

    Roddy's book My Kitchen in Rome: Recipes and Notes on Italian Cooking is one of my favorite cookbooks from the past year.

    From my own bookshelf, I reached for Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s “The Italian Country Table” and found a summer minestrone that she says should be served at room temperature. This was followed by her more traditional recipe for the soup with serving variations and a brilliant two-page spread of tips for perfecting your own pot of vegetables and broth.  

    "Eating Down the Fridge’ Meal …"

    A few days later, Jacqueline Church, culinary instructor at Brookline Adult & Community Education and private cooking coach, posted a photo of a steaming pot of vegan minestrone on her Facebook feed. Since I always seem to learn something new from this food educator, I asked her what she loves about this soup.

    Her answer was, “It's perfect for an ‘eating down the fridge’ meal, key ingredients can be kept on hand in the pantry: box or can of beans, dried porcini, handful of pasta, can or box of tomatoes. In the fridge, we almost always have carrots, celery, onion. Add a bit of cabbage languishing in the bin, some seasonal squash (zucchini in the summer, butternut in the winter) a few potatoes. With kidney beans and porcini you've got umami (strain the soaking liquid and add that) so the whole thing can be customized to what you have on hand. Hearty and satisfying, it may be the ultimate comfort food!”

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    Finally, one of the chilly days we spent in Provincetown recently was warmed by a "Spring Minestrone" with chard, peas, carrots, and chicken from the wonderful food team at The Canteen.

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    Learning Experience

    This is also an excellent soup for cooks to learn basic skills. Roddy writes, “Minestrone is made with a staggered march into the pan. By adding the ingredients gradually you lay down foundations of flavour, one thing sizzling gently while you chop the next. Once everything is in the pan – including the marvellous, umami parmesan rind if you have one – let everything simmer, slowly, until the flavours have come together.”

    The Italians call this process, “insaporire” which sort of translates to “making tasty.” Marcella Hazan describes it as drawing out the flavor of an ingredient or set of ingredients before adding the next one. It’s like sweating onions, celery, and carrots in oil before adding broth or meat.

    Big Soup!

    Perhaps restaurants found that if customers ordered a bowl of minestrone, they filled up on it and didn’t order much food to follow. In Italian the word for soup is minestra. The suffix “-one” adds the concept of “big.” Therefore minestrone means big soup.

    But that doesn't mean it has to be a heavy, wintertime soup. Perhaps this is the time of year for a green minestrone. I found Joanne Weir’s recipe for that in Food and Wine. She uses many of the first green vegetables we find at the farmers markets. It has leeks, fennel, peas, asparagus, Swiss chard, and mint with just a shaving of Parmesan on top.

    Buon Appetito!

     

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

    (Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

     

     

  • Discussion on Teaching Life Skills, Like Cooking – Our Friday Link

    I had already clicked over to National Geographic to read their post, Bring Back Home Economics: Three Food Writers on Teaching People to Cook, when I saw that one of the food writers taking part in this brainstorming session was Boston's own maven of many things food, Jacqueline Church. That gave the discussion great credibility. 

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    Once upon a time, students at Boston schools learned life skills like cooking. The photo above, from the Boston Public Library Collection, is of girls at the Everett School in th 1890s. (I loved the old home economics photos in the National Georgraphic piece, so I went hunting for some local versions.)

    Today, we have many adults who don't know how to feed themselves and resort to buying highly processed food and fast food that damages their health.

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    With each successive generation, fewer people have the skills these eight young women were gaining in the Boston Public Schools. (Photo from the Boston Public Library Collection.)

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    Or, this group of boys identified as being part of "An experiment of Miss Fuller's: boys' cooking class." (This is from the City of Boston Archives and is circa 1898-1899.)

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    Here's Jacqueline Church, a modern woman with a modern approach to teaching cooking skills. 

    If you cook, how did you learn? Are you a confident shopper? Are you feeding yourself in a way that is keeping you healthy or that addresses the health issues that concern you?

    If cooking and feeding yourself is a goal you'd like to set for yourself, consider consulting with a professional like Jacqueline. Here is a link to her site where she explains how you can gain Kitchen Confidence. 

    Just as you might want to consult with a personal trainer to learn proper exercise techniques to achieve your fitness goals, you can turn to a cooking coach to "learn the skills you'll use for a lifetime," as Jacqueline says.

    By the way, here is Jacqueline's own follow up post to the National Geographic conversation with a cooking lesson!

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: Boston Public Library and City of Boston Archives used under this creative commons license. Jacqueline Chruch photo courtesy of www.jacquelinechurch.com

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    Asparagus, Boston Lettuce And Orange Salad Recipe

  • Home Made Summer by Yvette Van Boven: Cookbook Recommendation

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    Somehow the cookbook, Home Made Summer
    by Yvette van Boven keeps popping up to the top of my mind and my books to review pile.

    I was invited to events surrounding this book by my friends at KitchenWares and Jacqueline Church. Unfortunately, I couldn't make any of them, but I was able to sneak in a lunch with Jacqueline and she presented me with a copy of this tantilizing book. Scanning it on the way home, I was so engrossed that I almost sat through my station on the subway and had to hustle myself off the train.

    Last In, First Out

    As always with new books, I spent some time reading it that evening and put it in my "read and possibly review" pile. Then, raves for the book started arriving in my social media feeds and I would pull it out again to check out a recipe or look at a larger version of a photo. The photography by Yvette's husband, Oof Verschuren, is fabulous and one more reason to get the book.

    Here are a few of the pieces that had me pulling out Home Made Summer and dropping it back on the top of the pile.

    Before long, I found myself moving Home Made Summer into today's spot in our editorial calendar. I want our readers to have the opportunity to use this book for the rest of the season. Flip through it when you make out your list for the farmers' market and pick it up again when you come home with your seasonal treasures. That's what I've been doing!

    This is more than a cookbook. It has the feel of a travel journal through a summer in Europe. It has the warmth of a handwritten letter from a friend. The recipes are honed to include exactly what is needed to deliver the delights of the season without overwhelming the ingredients meant to shine.

    The feeling that you have a friend in the kitchen with you tempts you to try your hand at making: "Home Made" Goat's Milk Ricotta, Negroni Fig Pops, or those wonderful preserved lemons on the cover.  

    I'm seeing figs around town this week so here's a recipe to try.

    Negroni Fig Ice Pops
    For 4 to 6 Ice Pops

    ½ cup plus 2 tbsp (150 ml) red vermouth
    2 ½ tbsp (40 ml) gin
    ½ cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice
    3 fresh figs
    1/3 cup (75 ml) golden syrup or clover honey

    • Put everything in a blender and blend until completely smooth. 
    • Pour through a sieve into a bowl with a spout and then pour into 4 to 6 ice pop molds.
    • Place in the freezer and push wooden sticks in after 2 hours. 
    • Freeze for at least another 4 hours, but ideally for 1 day.
    • Run the ice pops under hot running water for 3 seconds to unmold them.

    What else is on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

    Details:

    Words: Penny Cherubino
    Cover Art: Courtesy of the Yevette Van Boven 

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

  • Home Made Summer by Yvette Van Boven: Cookbook Recommendation

    9781617690150

    Somehow the cookbook, Home Made Summer
    by Yvette van Boven keeps popping up to the top of my mind and my books to review pile.

    I was invited to events surrounding this book by my friends at KitchenWares and Jacqueline Church. Unfortunately, I couldn't make any of them, but I was able to sneak in a lunch with Jacqueline and she presented me with a copy of this tantilizing book. Scanning it on the way home, I was so engrossed that I almost sat through my station on the subway and had to hustle myself off the train.

    Last In, First Out

    As always with new books, I spent some time reading it that evening and put it in my "read and possibly review" pile. Then, raves for the book started arriving in my social media feeds and I would pull it out again to check out a recipe or look at a larger version of a photo. The photography by Yvette's husband, Oof Verschuren, is fabulous and one more reason to get the book.

    Here are a few of the pieces that had me pulling out Home Made Summer and dropping it back on the top of the pile.

    Before long, I found myself moving Home Made Summer into today's spot in our editorial calendar. I want our readers to have the opportunity to use this book for the rest of the season. Flip through it when you make out your list for the farmers' market and pick it up again when you come home with your seasonal treasures. That's what I've been doing!

    This is more than a cookbook. It has the feel of a travel journal through a summer in Europe. It has the warmth of a handwritten letter from a friend. The recipes are honed to include exactly what is needed to deliver the delights of the season without overwhelming the ingredients meant to shine.

    The feeling that you have a friend in the kitchen with you tempts you to try your hand at making: "Home Made" Goat's Milk Ricotta, Negroni Fig Pops, or those wonderful preserved lemons on the cover.  

    I'm seeing figs around town this week so here's a recipe to try.

    Negroni Fig Ice Pops
    For 4 to 6 Ice Pops

    ½ cup plus 2 tbsp (150 ml) red vermouth
    2 ½ tbsp (40 ml) gin
    ½ cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice
    3 fresh figs
    1/3 cup (75 ml) golden syrup or clover honey

    • Put everything in a blender and blend until completely smooth. 
    • Pour through a sieve into a bowl with a spout and then pour into 4 to 6 ice pop molds.
    • Place in the freezer and push wooden sticks in after 2 hours. 
    • Freeze for at least another 4 hours, but ideally for 1 day.
    • Run the ice pops under hot running water for 3 seconds to unmold them.

    What else is on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

    Details:

    Words: Penny Cherubino
    Cover Art: Courtesy of the Yevette Van Boven 

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

  • Home Made Summer by Yvette Van Boven: Cookbook Recommendation

    9781617690150

    Somehow the cookbook, Home Made Summer
    by Yvette van Boven keeps popping up to the top of my mind and my books to review pile.

    I was invited to events surrounding this book by my friends at KitchenWares and Jacqueline Church. Unfortunately, I couldn't make any of them, but I was able to sneak in a lunch with Jacqueline and she presented me with a copy of this tantilizing book. Scanning it on the way home, I was so engrossed that I almost sat through my station on the subway and had to hustle myself off the train.

    Last In, First Out

    As always with new books, I spent some time reading it that evening and put it in my "read and possibly review" pile. Then, raves for the book started arriving in my social media feeds and I would pull it out again to check out a recipe or look at a larger version of a photo. The photography by Yvette's husband, Oof Verschuren, is fabulous and one more reason to get the book.

    Here are a few of the pieces that had me pulling out Home Made Summer and dropping it back on the top of the pile.

    Before long, I found myself moving Home Made Summer into today's spot in our editorial calendar. I want our readers to have the opportunity to use this book for the rest of the season. Flip through it when you make out your list for the farmers' market and pick it up again when you come home with your seasonal treasures. That's what I've been doing!

    This is more than a cookbook. It has the feel of a travel journal through a summer in Europe. It has the warmth of a handwritten letter from a friend. The recipes are honed to include exactly what is needed to deliver the delights of the season without overwhelming the ingredients meant to shine.

    The feeling that you have a friend in the kitchen with you tempts you to try your hand at making: "Home Made" Goat's Milk Ricotta, Negroni Fig Pops, or those wonderful preserved lemons on the cover.  

    I'm seeing figs around town this week so here's a recipe to try.

    Negroni Fig Ice Pops
    For 4 to 6 Ice Pops

    ½ cup plus 2 tbsp (150 ml) red vermouth
    2 ½ tbsp (40 ml) gin
    ½ cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice
    3 fresh figs
    1/3 cup (75 ml) golden syrup or clover honey

    • Put everything in a blender and blend until completely smooth. 
    • Pour through a sieve into a bowl with a spout and then pour into 4 to 6 ice pop molds.
    • Place in the freezer and push wooden sticks in after 2 hours. 
    • Freeze for at least another 4 hours, but ideally for 1 day.
    • Run the ice pops under hot running water for 3 seconds to unmold them.

    What else is on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

    Details:

    Words: Penny Cherubino
    Cover Art: Courtesy of the Yevette Van Boven 

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.