KALE CHIPS!

Wednesday is the day of camp that the campers leave and the counselors/staff are assigned chores (though the day is often relaxed). Dave and I spent part of our Wednesday making kale chips! We started with a trash bag full of kale and ended with about 2 two-gallon bags (semi) full of kale chips.

Dave proudly displaying a bowl of kale.

Dave, massaging the kale with soothing [olive] oil.

The first oven yield of baked kale.

Providing a thorough inspection of the harvest.

Kale chips, tossed with salt and cayenne.

C R E P E S ~ !

Breakfast today was dddddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-licious and sustained less casualties than lunch managed to.

Cayla’s gorgeous morning artwork!

Cutest Cat In New England Photo Contest

The camp’s email fields approximately 40-60 emails a day, and only 10-15 of them are ever actual correspondence (and not just weekly newsletters, ads for Russian brides, etc). I usually use the subject line as a determining factor for if I hit the “Delete” button while sifting through these emails.

Yesterday, I came across a reminder from Yankee magazine letting us know that there was still time to enter the 2011 Cutest Cat In New England photo contest. Of course this wouldn’t pertain to us, we don’t have any animals at camp except Espresso the cow who lives up the road at our retreat center. As my right ring-finger was poised to scrap the email, it occurred to me that we didn’t necessarily need a real cat to enter the contest.

So I let off an Andrew-summon, which goes something like this: AAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW

I explained to him that the only way we could enter and feasibly win was to dress Jeff as a cat and photograph him. He conceded. Unfortunately,  we couldn’t convince Jeff that the prize of An Assortment of 100%  Pure Cat Nip, 2 Cat Nip Mice and a Catnip Kitty Comforter was worth dressing as a cat, and he refused.

I turned, listless and forlorn, to Andrew. I knew it was a lost cause, but still let out a pre-defeated sigh, “Please, please will you dress up as a cat.” I went on to suggest that perhaps more people be potential cats, and they could ro-sham (rock, paper, scissors) for the honor to make it fair.

The best part of this conversation was the 10 seconds of face morphing as Andrew tried to think of the best possible rejection to provide.

“Only if Travis agrees to ro-sham for it,” were his conditions as he settled on a typical Andrew emotionless-stare (though seasoned with a well-concealed self-confident smirk.) Andrew seemed to think that 1. Travis would never agree to this, 2. If Travis ever agreed to this he could beat him in ro-sham and 3. The risk was well-worth seeing Travis dressed as a cat.

After 20 minutes of thoughtful convincing (read: pestering), Travis agreed  with a gentle “ALRIGHT, WHATEVER.”

Travis throws scissors, Andrew throws paper.

Meet New England’s Cutest Cat of 2011

"There's a hairball in this soup!" - Luci

Next Day Follow-Up: Still haven’t seen our photos show up in Yankee‘s online gallery…

Kitchen Directionals

Our favorite ball of joy Cayla is always looking out for people, specifically, her fellow staff members. She has dutifully created the following signs to hang in the kitchen to promote the safety and well-being of others (mostly Jeff.)

The Cardinal Rule of the kitchen.

Widely ignored.

Jeff has a problem.

So does Cayla.

Cayla’s sense of humor is unmatched.

This was put up for someone who guffawed at the need for “CAUTION: HOT!” notes on coffee cups.

Probably the most commonly disobeyed rule of the kitchen.

Dave should know better.

The things you wouldn’t expect to need signs for…(Andrew)

Here’s to you, Jeff.

The kitchen would probably follow the “No Fun” rule if it wasn’t for Cayla. We’ll miss her dearly when she leaves for school!!!

Entitled: “Bashful”

Little Known Facts About The Kitchen Staff: Episode Two

Yesterday, the kitchen was stunned into a moment of silence, only to be broken the the awe-stricken crash of silverware as jaws dropped and grasps loosened in every direction. Part man, part vegetable slicing aficionado, Jake shocked everyone with his impressive feats of artistic ability and attention to detail through an expressive piece he’s calling Portrait of ANDREW Cutting Oranges. (pictured below)

What do we do with waste?

A simple way to answer this question would be – nothing, we don’t have waste. What we DO have is pig food and compost!

We serve anywhere from 50 to 75 people 3 meals a day, for 6 days, for 7 weeks. This creates ~15 pounds of kitchen scraps and food scraps weekly. On Sunday nights, when campers arrive, we explain how to divvy up what’s left on their plates.

All of these scraps go up around the corner to our friend Dwane to feed his pigs.

All of these scraps go into huge compost bins behind our big green building.

The kitchen also keeps one or two of the large orange buckets to keep compostable scraps.

Something very exciting happened today regarding this very topic. Delivered in a 6 x 6 x 6 size box, lined with newspaper, housed in dirt and burlap was one pound of our very own red wiggler worms (about 1,000 worms) for vermiculture! Now, part of our scraps will be going to feeding worms for composting.

 Today, our sustainability counselor Carrie (pictured far left) and I created our test bin for the worms named Verm Vorld. This will be a temporary home for the worms while we design and build a wooden bin for proper vermiculture harvests.

Here is a picture of the worms (named Tristan or Isolde, respectively) even though this is a food blog and obviously not the most appropriate place for something so visually unappealing:

Little Known Facts About The Kitchen Staff: Episode One

MOVIE STAR STATUS!

Yes, reader. You heard it right, right here, first! Our phenomenal chef Andrew also moonlights as an actor, and has starred in flicks such as 16 Candles (pictured above), Say Anything, Homeward Bound (as the voice of Chance) and many more…