Closed Loop Cooking Weekly Newsletter 2.19.21

February 19th, 2021Hi friends,This is your seasonal PSA to sign up for a CSA! If you loved that rhyme you’ll love supporting your local farmers just as much. Portland folx, I’m signed up for my tried and true Love Farm CSA and they are filling up fast. I’m especially grateful for the bounty of fresh produce we have access to in the Pacific Northwest and hope you can find inspiration in a rotation of fruits and veggies this year. Let 2021 usher in a cornucopia of crispy leafy greens, sweet carrots, luscious berries, and whatever other personifications we can apply to the salad bowl.In all honesty, it’s been a week of hard moments. Closed Loop Cooking started as a movement to connect with our community, to further food education, and find common ground through a good flipping meal. I’m most in my element with an apron on, spatula in hand, serving food to the people I love. I miss Scrap Suppers, putting on zero waste events for my Portland friends, and bringing people together. That was the why of this work, well before this newsletter. I’m at home in the kitchen, food is my love language, and adapting to this new normal will never replace what it means to sit at the table together.In the meantime, we’re figuring out ways through. Finding opportunities to connect, build community and feed each other. It might not look like a traditional communal gathering or passing the homemade loaf down the table but regardless, we are still having dinner. I can’t tell you what it means to have y’all show up for this space in all it’s abstractions, that’s what community is. And I love you for being here in all our messy iterations. Thank you.Just know, when we are on the other side of this, I will have a seat at the table for anyone who cares to join in.Until then...Stay hungry,Hawnuh Lee | Founder, Closed Loop Cooking

Beats me by Hawnuh Lee

To-do’s and how-to'sCSA 101 for anyone looking to get their produce on. Pre-purchasing allotments helps farmers prepare for the season. You’re buying into their success and ensuring fresh groceries for plant-forward eating this year. Kaitlyn’s piece on how to get started with a CSA with break down all the deets for ya.

This week’s required readingDigging back into Maia’s interview with Jen Hung on working as a vegan Vietnamese chef, transitioning out of advertising, and a delightful odds and ends stew recipe. Thinking about culture shifts through the lens of plant-based eating and how to re-contextualize tradition.Upcycling, again. Liked this quick run through of conscious companies turning the old into new, on repeat.Having worked in restaurants for 10 years, it’s no surprise that the history of tipping in America is a legacy for slavery. Sub minimum wage continues to perpetuate unjust societal inequities. This enlightening piece on disproportionate power dynamics from Michelle Alexander is a must read.We need to keep talking about anti-Asian violence in America. Structured by empirical U.S. interests, this resurgence of violence is fueled by sinophobic ignorance and must be stopped. Keep reading, keep making noise y’all.

Here’s what’s for dinnerI may never need another recipe again after this cozy parsnip and sweet potato vegan mac n cheese. Thank you Mickey for the ultimate winter comfort food, making use of our leftover winter vegetables that truly, deserve more love. I know you’ve got some root veggies languishing in the crisper y’all, it’s their time to shine. And really, what doesn’t taste absolutely delightful with a creamy, plant-based “cheese” sauce? Just let me know what pasta shape you’re working with here. Fusilli? Bow-tie? I will be elated if you’ve found some goddamn bucatini! Hit a girl uppp.

We’re cooking with Look, I’m leaning into plant mom life, despite my TERRIBLE track record with succulents. (I promise I will do better.) This gorgeous white dipped woven basket is giving me incredible green inspiration. I can’t wait to keep something alive just for this planter.Woah just the fact that this beautifully patterned table runner exists gives me good eating vibes. I’m a sucker for hand dyed prints and my food would be lucky to sit on top for dinner. Seriously. Look, the farmers market is right around the corner. You NEED something to transport a plethora of fruit and veg and this woven half moon tote is my dream vehicle. I wish there was one, Hawnuh sized.

AttendOur friends at Cook First PDX are putting on a virtual quick-pickle demonstration 2/23. Make the most of your winter produce haul with a disco pickle brine and other use-it-up recipes. This is a back-pocket how-to I ALWAYS have on hand. Don’t miss this free demo! Part of the Fix-it fair series for other low impact resources.  

RitualMelting into Sounds of the Forest for a soothing, aural backdrop for the next, I don’t know, infinity? This incredible, open source library is an auditory wonder, rich in natural texture. If you needed a reason to wind down, hey there. 

Can't stop staringA modern, digital artifact from Maverick. I miss my bar is a bittersweet virtual space to sink back into some hospitality and set a mood, from home. Put on a playlist, get some bartending ambience going and enjoy a smooth bev friends.Kale-sicles in perfect fossil formation from at mending friends @thefarwoods. Ice age baby.

Make changeA call to action against white saviorism from climate activist Mitzi Jonelle Tan. How to make space and elevate under-represented voices in sustainability. An on-going conversation, necessary for progress on intersectional environmentalism today, tomorrow, always.

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