Hei Hei Friends,
I hope you are doing well.
Irene is in the kitchen today with Matt and Teresita, our two new Hei Hei team members (!!!), making a fresh batch of spring napa kimchi and kimchi dumplings. I had a great time this week racking up miles on the Buick sourcing fresh ingredients for the kimchi.
My first stop was the Wednesday morning farmers market. Cowdery Farms had 75 pounds of napa, and Chris Monday had spring onions for me, but it wasn’t enough so we made plans to meet at Veggie Vision Farm so he could pick more.
Next I headed west to Jason at Morning Dew in Albany, where I was welcomed with kisses from guard dog Stella. Organic garlic and honey in hand I headed north to Attican Farms.
Kara handed off two bags of the prettiest Hakurei and Tokyo turnips, straight from the ground. They are as delicious as they look - surprisingly sweet with a slight zing, and very crunchy.
Attican Farm sits on a picturesque stretch of pleasantly hilly farmland alongside a terrific road that winds through the hills giving your belly butterflies. It would make for a fun level in Cruisin’ USA, the arcade classic I dropped so many quarters on back in the day.
I love to drive these roads - and I’m not the only one. Dan, Kara’s husband, recently scored a cherry Miata from the early ‘90s, instantly improving his work commute.
The Miata, wickedly nimble and lightweight, is the perfect car for south east Ohio roads, which, for those in the know, are quite acclaimed. Engineers from the Big Three in Detroit and journalists reviewing the latest supercars head here for the windy, surprisingly well paved, and uncrowded roads. Car and Driver magazine has used a 14 mile loop around the Hocking Hills since the 1980s (link).
“The driving route is maybe the best in the world, this side of the Nürburgring…cops are few” says Car and Driver's John Phillips.
In other news, Irene has sadly lost radio privileges in the ACEnet kitchen after being asked twice in the past week to turn off whatever it was she had on, which was WFMU, the legendary freeform FM station out of Jersey City, NJ. Celebrated for giving their DJs total freedom to play what they want, the music can range from divine to esoteric, from easy listening to, to be honest, unlistenable.
We love WFMU and their song database is worth checking out. It includes every song played on every show going back many years.
We’re excited to be bringing a new seasonal dumpling - kimchi- to market this Saturday. Made with Hei Hei kimchi we’ve been fermenting for this purpose - our take on the classic Korean dumpling is made with local vegetables, and the pork version is made with the last of our Rockcamp Berkshire pork. We will also have our ramp, and ramp & pork dumplings.
See you at the market!
Kurt