A New Kind of Banking with Old Roots
Episode 23: I took notes so you didn’t have to….Today we are talking all about a new kind of banking with old roots with the incredible, Charley Cummings CEO of Walden Mutual.
I am so grateful that my, now, good friend and podcast guest extraordinaire is back on today! You may remember Charley from episode 11 which if you haven’t listened to yet, please check it out! Today’s episode is really about an old concept in banking that has a wonderful new twist on it. I know what you’re thinking, “What does banking have to do with food?” Well, Walden Mutal is a beautiful intersection of this, “Digital banking for everyone who eats, makes, grows, cooks, or just loves New England’s local food.” Walden Mutual is such a cool concept in banking. Banks are companies who are into making money. Honestly I didn’t really think of a bank as a business which is probably pretty naive on my end. But a bank is a business and money is the commodity. When you are putting your money into a bank the bank is going to turn around and invest it into things like stocks, bonds, mutual funds to make money for you and the bank. For me I have always wondered where my money goes when I invest it into my bank, my fidelity account, etc. But honestly it’s hard/exhausting to figure it out where my money is REALLY going. I have strong core values and I want to make sure that the companies I choose to invest in represent those values and to be honest, and truthful, I don’t fully know if they do. But with a bank like Walden Mutual, and their beautiful transparency you know exactly where your money is going.
As they state so beautifully on their site, “We fund local food and agriculture. We’re supporting innovators who are pursuing a healthier and more sustainable New England community in a world long dominated by industrial agriculture. Our focus is on lending to organic, sustainable, and regenerative food and agriculture enterprises. We offer competitive rate loans to organizations across the value chain, from farms to processors, retailers, and brands—to support land, building, or equipment acquisition or refinancing, organic transitions, working capital lines and other needs.”
To me, this is important and really aligns with my own ethos. And if you are thinking, well how to does really affect me? Great question! Walden Mutual says, “We invest in our community. We’re creating bank accounts that directly support local food and agriculture businesses. We’ve chosen the mutual governance model because we intend to build a 100-year institution focused not on the next quarter but on the next century. Currently we’re pursuing a banking charter to open for depositors in early 2022.”
Honestly I want to feel good about my investments and that they are doing something positive in the world. Charley puts it so beautifully, “Banking in synch with nature means understanding the internalities and externalities that don’t appear on a balance sheet, and valuing second and third order effects of our actions. Put differently, we don’t support businesses that socialize their costs but privatize their profits. We do support the sustainable growing, harvesting, processing and selling of local food in sync with nature, and we focus on the long term.”
If you are a company, farm or an agricultural organization who would like to be involved with this business or an individual with additional questions for the company, Walden Mutual can be reached directly, info@waldenmutual.com. And if you live aboard or outside of New England, maybe this will inspire you to take a moment and see what might be available to you in your local area.
If you want to watch the documentary we touched on, “The Biggest Little Farm”. I had to fact check myself on the name of that documentary so I apologize for that! But it’s a great film and talk about “synching” with nature and having a total symbiotic relationship with everything in your world.
We also talked about the incredible Tunisian Orange Almond Cake. Below are three recipes that I have tried and really like! Each are slightly different and all delish!!!
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tunisian-orange-almond-cake-11615381314
https://juliascuisine.com/tunisian-orange-cake/
https://www.crumbsmag.com/recipes/tunisian-orange-and-almond-cake/
And if you are looking for some Sourdough Inspiration, look no further than Vindi from My Love of Baking! And take a listen to our interview from episode 9!
Now go forth and cook some amazing food!!
Beth Fuller is a Boston based Food, Product and Lifestyle Photographer. One of the best ways to support the podcast and Beth is to write a review wherever you listen, like the podcast on your favorite platform and please keep Beth in mind for any photography projects as a gal has got to pay her bills!
If you have a question and want it to be featured on the podcast please email either the question or a voice memo to letsgoonafoodadventure@gmail.com. Are you on instagram? Tag me in your food adventures, @letsgoonafoodadventure. Do you want to work together with food and product photography, drop me a line here!
xoxo
Beth
Tinned Fish, Music and Events
Episode 22: I took notes so you didn’t have to….Today we are talking all about tinned fish, music and events with the amazing Corin Ashley from Murray Hill Talent!
If you want to hire Corin or his company for a wedding, event or play music just behind you as you walk down the street…you can! He’s pretty played every where with everyone for every occasion. Find him here and his company here. Follow him on instagram and on Spotify!
Are you looking to hire a band for a wedding or an event? Well we have thoughts on that! Both Corin and I have been in the events business for decades and we are here to give you all of our amazing knowledge.
If you want to save some money with your event, try hosting it either in the off season to your area. Or what about having it during the week or even on a Sunday. We know it’s not ideal but if you’re looking to save some money and maybe even cut down on your guest list these are ways to do it.
If you are debating between having a DJ or band at an event please think about how large the room is. Bands need more room and space at events in the room. Not just for their gear and people but also for the sound. If it’s a smaller venue with a smaller indoor room than you may want to think about having a DJ verse a band.
Try think about how you are seating your guests and where the tables are if they are going to be in front of the band and make sure that they are not in front of the speakers.
Lastly, make sure that hire a band or DJ who has done events before. They really do so much more than just provide music for the event. They help with timing, queuing the pace of the event and honestly can really make or break the event so both us really can’t stress enough to do your homework when you’re hiring someone.
Also you are hiring this band to entertain everyone at the event so when it comes to suggesting music for your event or things you “don’t want played”, you’d be surprised how much fun certain songs can be with a huge crowd. Yes, you hear these songs at every wedding but honestly they are there for a reason and a great band or DJ knows exactly how of the song to play and then how to transition to the next one. But obviously if certain songs or types of music might not be your thing that’s fine. It’s your event, you do you!
Tinned Fish…
So there’s a lot of tinned fish out there and in certain countries its much more popular than others like in Portugal and Spain but you can actually find these incredible things every where in the world. And even some incredible restaurants like the Saltie Girl in Boston on Newbury St. as well as Haley.Henry in Downtown Crossing. The top tinned fish that Corin loves and we both think you should try are Yellowfin Tuna, Skipjack, Tuna Belly, Oysters, Crabmeat, Squid, Mackerel, Herring, Salmon, Sardines, Albacore, Clams, Anchovies, Cockles, Periwinkles, Sprouts, Octopus, Trout and Baby Shrimps. There are some great health benefits associated with tinned fish, here’s a great article explaining more. Now neither one of us are health experts so please contact your health professional and really don’t listen to us, do what’s right for you.
If you want to pick up some of the beautiful tinned little numbers, beyond the ones you can find in your grocery store, check out this online store by the world famous Jose Andres, Formaggio Kitchen and another spot here in Boston, Haley.Henry.
Recipe Ideas For Tinned Fish…
Even this isn’t a tin fish tip, we did talk about it and we are from New England so we feel like we need to pass the lobster gospel on to the masses….
If you want to shuck a lobster this summer and don’t know where to start, check out this how to video.
Smaller is better with lobsters. The bigger ones aren’t nearly as sweet and tender. Do they look cool for a photo opt?! Hell yes they do! But when it comes to flavor and taste, don’t be a size queen and smaller is better. Go with 1.5lbs or 1.25lbs (chicks).
The thing that does matter is hard shell verse soft shell. Hard shell lobsters are found in colder waters so the fall and winter months here in New England and Canada. In the summer we have soft shell lobsters which are easier to breakdown but don’t have nearly as much meat so you’re paying for more shell than lobster. Will I still eat them?! HELL YES I WILL but hard shell are even better in my opinion.
Now go forth and cook some amazing food!!
Beth Fuller is a Boston based Food, Product and Lifestyle Photographer. One of the best ways to support the podcast and Beth is to write a review wherever you listen, like the podcast on your favorite platform and please keep Beth in mind for any photography projects as a gal has got to pay her bills!
If you have a question and want it to be featured on the podcast please email either the question or a voice memo to letsgoonafoodadventure@gmail.com. Are you on instagram? Tag me in your food adventures, @letsgoonafoodadventure. Do you want to work together with food and product photography, drop me a line here!
xoxo
Beth
Fromage
Episode 21: I took notes so you didn’t have to….Today we are talking all about French Cheese with the INCREDIBLE Jennifer Greco from @chezlouloufrance.
You may or may not know this about me but I am a MASSIVE Sex and the City fan. I have been since the beginning. I am old enough to have watched it as the series was unfolding live and pretty much legally able to drink cosmo’s with the gals! So every time I hear the word “Fromage” I think of the Sex and the City episode with Charlotte and Harry when they go out for a romantic dinner in season 6 and get food poisoning and all I can think of is Harry saying, “The F*%&ING FROMAGE!!!”
So you like cheese….or maybe you can’t live without cheese! Like if given the choice between giving up cheese and say anything else you will always choose anything else over cheese! Well my friends than this episode is for you! Jennifer Greco is truly living out her passion about french cheese every day of her life. She’s a teacher, check out her classes here, a writer, tour guide and honestly just an amazing human and someone I am very grateful to now call my friend! She whisked me away to Paris for this episode and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
You had a lot of amazing cheese questions so let’s dive into some of the answers!!!
Cheese 101:
There is a cheese 101 book out there by Steven Jenkins that if you are interested in deep diving more into the world of cheese Jennifer thinks is is a good place to start!
Don’t store your cheese in plastic. Cheese is a living, breathing thing you are consuming and needs to be stored properly in cheese paper like this. It’s inexpensive and totally worth the small investment for better cheese.
When it comes to mold on cheese there is a few rules, and again we are not doctors or food scientist so please use your own judgement. Pink or Black mold is a hard no, throw that out. Blue/Grey, Orange or Reddish mold on cheese…should be ok. If the cheese is a soft cheese then you should probably toss the cheese if it has any kind of mold on it to be on the safe side or talk to the cheese monger and ask them. If you get a little mold on a super hard cheese you can most likely cut it off if it’s not pink or black. But again use your own judgment and when it doubt, THROW IT OUT!
In France you won’t find people putting a ton of extra things on their cheese boards. The star of the show here people is cheese and so the french keep it simple with just the cheese, maybe some great baguette and that’s about it. Once and awhile you might see some dried fruits, a few nuts, maybe some fresh figs or apples (when they are in season), a little honey or maple syrup with certain blues or goat cheeses but honestly simple is best with the french and cheese.
Cheese in France is usually it’s own separate course and served at the end of the meal. Cheese is not usually done during their apéritif. If you are enjoying a happy hour style cocktail in the early evening then you would most likely have olives and potato chips but again you do you. If you love cheese, eat it whenever you want! We won’t judge you at all!
If you are serving cheese at say a cocktail recipe or happy hour with friends and the cheese is the main star Jennifer recommends about 2 oz per person for planning purposes.
Jennifer made a great point about why the French come across as being slightly thinner than those here in the US. Yes their food is richer, yes they use more butter, things with a higher milk fat than we do here in the states but because of that they more often than not eat much less of these richer foods. They find their food to be more satisfying and there for need less of it.
If you’re visiting Paris or France:
First book a tour with Jennifer, louloufrance@gmail.com
Or check out Flat Tire Tours in Paris
Jennifer loves Monumenta in Paris which has contemporary art exhibits
Don’t miss out on strolling through some of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world.
And of course do a night boat tour, yes it’s touristy but it’s also beautiful and you are a tourist. Blend in at other times of the day and enjoy being a tourist for an hour.
Also if you can get out of the city, go to Normandy and Cognac. Jennifer says both are just beautiful!
For French cooking there are many classics to make like Coq au Vin (Red Wine Braised Chicken), Boeuf Bourguignon (Red Wine Braised Beef), Croque Madame, Madelines or a fruit or savory galette. All of those are great but I thought why not try something a little different. Below are a few recipes that may get you started on your French cooking adventure or at least inspire you to try something to step outside your culinary comfort zone.
Savory Dutch Baby (this may not be French but my god do I love it!)
Choux Pastry (which you can stuff with sweet or savory things!)
Pear (or insert a different kind of harder fruit) and Red Wine Caramel Tarte Tatine
Now go forth and cook some amazing food!!
Beth Fuller is a Boston based Food, Product and Lifestyle Photographer. One of the best ways to support the podcast and Beth is to write a review wherever you listen, like the podcast on your favorite platform and please keep Beth in mind for any photography projects as a gal has got to pay her bills!
If you have a question and want it to be featured on the podcast please email either the question or a voice memo to letsgoonafoodadventure@gmail.com. Are you on instagram? Tag me in your food adventures, @letsgoonafoodadventure. Do you want to work together with food and product photography, drop me a line here!
xoxo
Beth