Good For You Market is now closed at our Route 9 location in Lewes, DE! Thank you for four award-winning years! With your support and your business, we won Best of Delaware three times and became only the second of two Delaware-based artisan cheese retailers to be a member of The American Cheese Society (the other is way upstate). Not too shabby for a former Corporate IT guy turned specialty foods retailer! At this point I am pretty certain our Route 9 building and farm are leased. I'm very excited about our tenant. However I will not leak the news - they have a really cool concept and it's their spotlight not mine. Why did I decide to close...

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It's no secret we live in a small (beach) town, but here's a guilty secret you may not know! We love to eat at the bar in our favorite restaurants! Not only do you experience great service and camaradrie with the bartender (a key staff member in any restaurant in my humble opinion), you meet the most interesting people at the bar. Sociable, fun, creative people, full of zest. Or, as my Jersey relatives say, "Piss and vinegar!" As a small town, 'townie,' I love to sit at the bar because, well, you get great scuttlebut! As delicious as the food! Sometime, during the winter months, when we're all running a little slower, start a rumor about yourself,...

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Some days are baking days, some are not. With, "All apologies" to Amazon Kindle, artists Ashley & Little, and proof in the power of advertising, I can't get the Kindle song out of my mind. Yesterday I spent the afternoon baking - proofing a blackberry custard tart recipe for the store. The whole time, I hear, "Bake Me Away..." on loop in my head. I think this was an autonomic reaction to baking with 3 Jack Russell Terriers under my feet - I needed a stress diversion. You can't bake when you're stressed. Ever seen a Pastry Line Cook? "Bake Me Away!" This blog entry is a shout out to home designers. Sure, I get the, "Be in your kitchen...

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Sunday morning. Early. Left the family sleeping in a bed of dog hair and slipped out to grab a coffee, do some food shopping, prep us some juices, check on the web stats and get home before I'm missed, and the heat of the day hits (or at least gets above the 80F it was at 6am). Ughh... All of this made me realize, despite what y'all may think, being a food market owner is not all world travel and glamour. It's a lot of wild ride, rollercoastin', fun, persistent, put your big boy pants on hard work. The bennies are rare, but one I treasure, I get to food shop without a line! I can slip into our juice bar and juice up some Valencias and make it home with fresh organic O.J.. All just in time for a family breakfast with the goodies I've hit up from the store: produce, bread, milk, eggs, meats,...

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My maternal Grandmother was quite a character. It's been 28 years since she passed, but I can still picture her rolling down her stockings on returning from a shopping trip. I can still hear her laugh: deep, unabashed, guttural, sudden. Nana was a pure delight for us kids, full of eccentric ways of doing things her way, which I'm sure was frustrating for those one generation removed, but for us grandkids, pure joy. Nana used a saying, once quite popular in the UK, "She's all furcoat and no knickers." I use it to this day, and it's been 17 years since I moved to the US. This idiom is used to denote someone putting on airs and graces, a social...

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I was recently asked why I blog? The fame? The accolades? The enormous amount of business the blog brings to my store? Yeah right, about that day job? This blog is about, "We Know Yum! Musings, reviews, tips, hints on: food, recipes, articles, green living, organic gardening and farming from Good For You Market and Farm, Lewes, DE." It's mostly about food, since, well, that's what I mostly do! It's my experience of making a business out of my interests, and out of necessity. I could not find authentic food and ingredients at the beach. I started a 'natural food store,' and it evolved into a good, food market. Gourmet schmourmet. It's food after...

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I wanted to post something to show we are hard at work. Here's our new logo. In my opinion, you can see in the logo our evolution from our humble, crunchy origins into the fine food market we are destined to become. We are well on our way. Yum is a journey not a destination to go all philosphical on you. I can't wait until we launch the new website and able to complete our move to our (as yet), 'undisclosed location.' You wait until you see the new online store and 'bricks and mortar' store. Then you'll appreciate the fine work Fine Line are doing for Good For You Market, it will all fall into context! By the way, my blog template...

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What's up? After I moved to the States, it took me years to learn how to answer that friendly question. Colleagues would glare at me as I stood stammering, blushing, or simply walked away in defeat. "Fine thank you" became my muttered reply. I figured I was being asked, "How are you?" Or, "How are things today?" Turns out, like many sayings, it can mean whatever you want it to mean. I settle for, "What's been going on since we last spoke?" The British just say, succintly, "How are you?" Or, as my grandmother said, "'ubby?" Short for "How be (you doing today)?" So, what's up? Can't say I've been doing much cooking of late, but I've sure been curious! The busyness of being in business has kept me busy, busier than my perennially busy Mother-in-law! Busier than the sweatshop apiary that keeps...

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It's Sunday. My day off. My 'breakfast day.' Faithful spouse just insisted I wasn't eating oatmeal because, "Oatmeal has milk in it." Oatmeal confuses everyone, customers and staff alike get everything mixed up: Oatmeal, Scottish Oatmeal, Irish Oatmeal, Oat Bran, Rolled Oats, Steel Cut Oats, Groats... Jimmy Olson hits the streets to find out the deal on oats and oatmeal. Ready Brek, Go! Rolled, Steel Cut, Oatmeal, Oat Bran, and Oat Flour. Did you notice how many bath and body products have oats in them? Also many brands of pet food contain oats. Ever wonder why? Oats (Avena sativa) are classed as a cereal grain. They are grown for their edible seed with the foliage, and roots may be used by farmers, and home gardeners to provide a useful weed control barrier and also as, “Green Manure” for...

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Orangen’t you glad you read Curious and Cooking? I bet you never thought it’d be so varied! Today: citrus. We don’t typically think of citrus as winter fruits, but really they are. They ripen slowly through balmy summer and mild fall days, ready in time for us to enjoy that sunshine energy packaged up inside the fruit for the long winter months ahead. Citrus are our original solar cells! Finding organic citrus fruit is a ‘must-do.’ I also counsel buying un-sprayed, or at least citrus from growers who practice, “Integrated Pest Management, AKA, “IPM.” IPM utilizes principles of organic farming with the aim of reducing and eventually eliminating...

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I'm on a gnocchi roll this week. Gnocchi are so easy to make, there's no excuse for discarding any less than perfect vegetables in your pantry. Just peel, cube, and steam the vegetable of choice. Then mash it, or, if you have a potato ricer (and why not if you don't?), it's a breeze. I've been experimenting with Rutabaga, Yukon Gold Potatoes and Spinach, or Broccoli, Winter Squashes (Butternut, Acorn, Kabocha), Carrot, Gold Beets, Red Beets, Sweet Potatoes, and Parsnips. The result has been a range of flavors (mild to sweet and earthy), and color (pale green, pale yellow, golden orange, and deep red). I'm working on an article for The Grapevine...

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Dum da-da, dum da-da… Are you a, “Man/woman on a mission?” I am. I have a mission to get us cooking. If we make it ourselves then we know what’s gone into it. At the very least we understand the waiter when they’re discussing the specials, or know what a huge deal it is when a local chef posts live Maine Lobstah, or boasts of rutabaga in a subtly sweet gnocchi – a vegetable we would never eat otherwise. We’re all so distracted – so much information from so many media. It’s overwhelming, but if we have access to a computer, how is there ever an excuse for not knowing where to start? Whenever I asked my Dad how to spell, or drove him nuts with,...

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Each time I declare I’ve had enough of Facebook, vowing to re-enter the ‘real’ world, someone posts a great snippet of information. Leave it to the folks at the excellent Saveur magazine (http://www.saveur.com)/ to post this update, “Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute declaring 2010 the International Year of the Rutabaga.” I’m sure tongues are firmly planted in cheeks, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a case of, “Rutabaga: you give so much and get so little love in return.” Rutabagas are not well understood, nor widely eaten, and this is a shame. I admit they look and smell ghastly when raw. In fact, never eat it raw; for you will not pick...

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I just made wholewheat shortcrust pastry and pasties with said pastry and frankly I'm stunned! The pastry is light, crumbly, and a little crunchy. For the filling I used some caramelized onions which I cooked down over 24 hours in my crockpot and added steamed organic veggies and a strong cheddar from the store. While I don't think I'd win many awards for appearance, the result is one to be proud of. I listened to my Mother's advice when it comes to pastry and, well as always, Mother knows best! Next time I roll the edges of the turnover like an old Cornish lady. Meanwhile Tom, being from Jersey thinks a British pasty could be improved by deep...

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I've been reading various online posts that discuss the proposed benefits or not of Agave Nectar. Also the marketing of said nectar. I'm not going to link to the posts since, well you know how to Google, don't you Steve? Also, admittedly, I haven't trawled my way through all the research, articles and conflicting viewpoints that have arisen this week. So, why mention this at all? I have a guilty pleasure when I view online articles. I love to scan the comments. It's like people watching on the boardwalk. Fascinating. Such diversity. One thing disturbed me in the comments on the Agave nectar posting. There was a trend toward bashing 'Natural Food' stores. Now y'all know (that I'm from The South, right? South Wales that is!) that I don't consider Good For You Market to be a 'Health Food' or...

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G4U Cheese Ads

Check out our new Artisan Cheese ads running locally in DE. We're now upto 40 artisan cheeses and not 25 as mentioned in the ads.Clip 1: Cheese 101 Class being held at the Good For You Market, January 16, 2010Clip 2: The Power of Y...

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I changed the blog name yet again. Why? I think words matter, they matter a great deal. Language is a great gift and an enormous tool, best used for good and to develop others. After 16 years in the USA, I still get in trouble over verbal and cultural misunderstandings and I hail from a country with (allegedly) the same language. So, "The Moodie Foodie" - while close, just didn't cut it. For now, the closest I can find is, "Curious and Cooking." Why not Moodie Foodie? Too limiting and just didn't sit right with me - like wearing someone else's shoes. They may look good and be your size, so come close, but they don't feel right and make you walk...

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Happy New Year! Our Bayberry Candle burning New Year's Eve. Burned out just in time for New Year EST!This morning I woke up convinced it was New Year's Eve and that I had to open the store. I made it to the bathroom before going, "Huh?" So Happy New Year from a bleary eyed retailer who is glad things can settle back to normal. It's a long crazy ride from Thanksgiving to December 31. Tom's New Year outfit. Skipped the crowds in downtown Rehoboth and stayed home. Tom made Crab Imperial and we drank heavily to get over the shock of how much we paid for the Maryland Crab. No we did not get it at Good For You Market!...

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