Almost time to harvest the honey from the bee hives we started at Arcadia last summer. I can’t wait to taste it. It’s looking like by April our German Honeybees will have produced enough honey for me to start cooking with. I’ll bet it will make a fantastic honey-vanilla ice cream… Only question is, which restaurant will get it on their menu?
Oh, and fun fact: When you buy bees they come in a giant box that says “caution, live bees.” Luckily I wasn’t there for that. 
I’ve attended plenty of farmers markets and a customer but I’ve never had the pleasure to be a vendor at one. This year I (via Buzz) teamed up with Arcadia and Red Apron Butchery to participate in a waterfront market in DC. It is great fun but there are only a few weeks left. There is live music, beer, produce and of course sweets by Buzz Bakery. Lemonade, key lime bars, german chocolate brownies, cookies and root beer floats (with the root beer on tap!)
Come and say “Hi” next week Thursday.
Love a beer dinner. Especially when we are able to get a lot of the produce from Arcadia. Check out the baby radishes. They were teeny tiny but full of flavor. For dessert, we made Spiced Fritters with Caramelized Banana and Candied Walnuts. I use a special technique to candy the walnuts. It involves simmering in a sugar syrup to coat the walnuts then deep frying until golden and crisp.
It’s a beautiful day for an early super at Arcadia. I joined Tony Chittum, the super talented chef at Vermilion, for a family style feast on the farm. For dessert I served a rustic trifle of Almond Cake, Blueberry Compote, Pecan Granola and fresh Chamomile Chantilly. Arcadia was kind enough to grow chamomile for me because I couldn’t find any fresh the first year I moved to DC. I thought it appropriate to serve their labor of love at the dinner held to benefit them.
At last year’s Vices That Made Virginia event, one of the live auction items was a dinner at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope Leighey House at Woodlawn, cooked by Tony Chittum and I. It was a beautiful night (I wish I could have gotten more pictures but it was dark before I knew it,) and we had a great time. I love cooking with Tony!
