LaPlatte River Angus Farm, located in Shelburne and Milton, Vermont, is small enough that John delivers our order himself every week; large enough, though to be able to supply the beef for all of our menu dishes, the beef specials we feature every evening, and many other local businesses in the area.  LaPlatte River is home to the largest registered Black Angus herd in New England.

The farm began as a hobby for Jim Kleptz, eventually growing too large for Jim to handle on his own. Now the farm is owned and run by Jim, John, and John’s brother, Mark. The philosophy behind the farm is one based on sustainability and good, old-fashioned neighborliness of a typical Vermont fashion. Most of the fields on which the cattle graze and where they grow and cut hay are either leased or donated by their neighbors. The upkeep of the land that is offered in return, by crop rotation, rotational grazing practices, and fertilization, is invaluable.

When I was a girl, I lived near farms, and when a neighbor would butcher an animal, they would bring some of the meat around to share with the neighbors. I spent enough time at the neighboring farms that I knew exactly which animal had been butchered. I knew what its life had been like, and how it had been raised. I understood the care that was given to every aspect of raising and butchering each animal.

This relationship with my neighbors’ farms is similar to the relationship I have with John and LaPlatte River. I have spent time at the farm, getting to know the animals that provide the food for the restaurant, touring the processing plant, and watching the business as it grows. Sometimes I will pack him a lunch and go to watch him hay the fields. He even let this city girl take a turn at driving his tractor! John wants to know about the restaurant, too; about the new things we are doing, new recipes we’ve tried. And he tells us about his plans for the future – his dream to build their own butcher house, and be as self-sufficient as possible.

In the beginning, Jim and John would pack frozen beef into a suitcase and carry it door to door until they found someone to buy it – a great way to get to know your neighbors. Jim has passed the love for his trade and his care for his neighbors on to his sons. John’s favorite aspect of the business is the face-time he gets with each business. Because of this, John has become a friend, although, sometimes he still calls me ma’am.

¼ Cup Chili Oil

¼ Cup Light Soy Sauce

2 t Black Vinegar

4 T Garlic, minced

Pinch Sichuan Pepper

Handful of Chives, finely chopped

Handful of Scallions, finely chopped

¼ bunch of watercress

Chicken Stock for poaching

Poach the pork shoulder in simmering chicken stock for 15-20 minutes. Poke it with a fork until the liquid that runs out of the meat is clear. Remove the pork from the stock and set aside to cool.

Combine the chili oil, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and chives. Cut the pork into thin slices and dress with the sauce. Make a bed with the watercress on a medium plate and arrange the marinated pork on top. Sprinkle the Sichuan pepper and the scallions over the pork and serve.

I found a few miniature locally grown pumpkins and I just fell in love with them. We roasted the pumpkins and served the scallops in a sauce of coconut milk, house yellow curry, macadamia nut, fresh basil and touch of fish sauce. The scallops and the sauce were then spooned right into the pumpkins. The pumpkins made a beautiful little serving dish. The sweetness of the roasted pumpkins combined with the pungent flavor of the scallops and the creamy, nuttiness of the sauce was a wonderful combination. All of the flavors shone through. Nothing covered up anything else.

I have been keeping an apple Journal. I love apple season, and I like to try as many apple varieties as I can while the season is booming. My fascination with different kinds of apples was the inspiration for Curry Apple Pork. The featured apple is the Ananas Reinette: a small tart locally grown apple.

The Pork Belly was smoked and then tossed with peas and carrots in a mild curry, brown sugar, and Sichuan peppercorn mixture. The flavor of the dish reminds me of driving down a dirt road at the peak of fall: the leaves are turning, the apples are ripe and the smell of smoke from woodstoves fills the air. The smokiness and the saltiness of the pork was a wonderful contrast to the tartness of the apples. The curry brought both of the flavors together.

Although Chinese cuisine is exotic, and many regular culinary features are not available locally, the possibilities for experimentation are still expansive, even in Vermont, where the growing season and the climate seem to be somewhat limiting. In a sense, the confines challenge us to be even more creative with what is available, and not rest on the laurels of what we already know.

9 oz Canton wheat noodle (cooked and drained)

Half bunch of watercress, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/3 Beijing sauce (please see below)

2 scallions, green part only, cut into strips.

Beijing Sauce

5 C light soy sauce (Kiko)

5 C Black Vinegar (Chinkiang)

2 C water

Mix all the ingredients.

Directions:

Heat 1T oil in the Wok. Add garlic, noodles, and sauce. Toss together, add scallion and drizzle with sesame oil.

Serve in a bowl with a bed of chiffonade iceberg lettuce.

There are many aspects to Chinese Cuisine that are as reliable and consistent as a carved stone statue. There is an elemental harmony to every dish: they balance each other like yin and yang. Many recipes are tried and true, told and retold like old fables passed on through generations. Nonetheless, there is an experimental element to the food, as well. Possibilities are endless when it comes to creating new dishes.

I like to think about what is available locally that is in season: local heirloom tomatoes, fall pumpkins, fresh local fruits. Sometimes I wake up in the morning just thinking about a particular food: something I have been craving. How can I work it into a special? I love to explore the farmer’s market to see what is available. I might be surprised at what I find. Similarly, new things will come into the kitchen that we have never worked with before: different cuts of meat, new types of fish or seafood, fresh market vegetables, and we need to spend some time thinking about what we are going to do with them. What is the flavor profile? What is the best cooking method to showcase the natural flavors and textures? How have other Chefs used this in their      cooking? How can we work it seamlessly into something that suits our restaurant and compliments our other dishes? Different cooking methods are tried, different combinations of ingredients tested, until we get it right. The staff will sample the new dish, and sometimes the customers, as well. What do you think? Is it too spicy or too sweet? Is it missing anything?

Experimentation crosses over to cooking methods, as well. We received an order of large Hawaiian Blue Prawns. They can be eaten whole, heads and all in the shell. I decided to try something completely different, a method that we had never used at the restaurant. I tossed salt and Sichuan Pepper in the wok until it was hot. Then I dredged the prawns into the salt like into hot sand, and into the oven they went: Salt Baked Prawns. I don’t know how I thought of this idea. Something out a childhood memory, perhaps. It reminds me of a traditional method of baking something in a clay pot in a fire that is then broken open when the food is cooked. Methods like this have surely been tried before, though there are some that are new to us. Combining the traditional with experimentation leaves a whole world of new dishes to be discovered. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

My recent trip to Scotland and to the Isle of Skye reminded me of the aspects of food that I love so much.  I love the stories that food can tell. Scotland is a wonderful setting for a great story. The buildings in the towns are old and permanent. The streets follow the buildings like a path in a storybook, steeped in history and tradition, calling to you to follow along and discover the hidden treasures in the shops and the scenery.

On the way up to the island, we stopped in a little town along the way called Callander. There we stopped into a local bakery, called MHOR PIES, where tradition just seeped from the window and counter displays. They were stocked full of freshly baked breads, traditional Scottish meat pies and desserts of all sorts. I wanted one of everything.

Similarly, we happened upon an outdoor market in the town of Port Williams. The place that stood out to me the most was a tent offering French cuisine. They only offered a few dishes, but they fully embraced what they were doing. The chefs were wearing their uniforms with pride. There was beautiful music coming from the tent. The dishes they were cooking smelled wonderful: fried meats and seafood, stews and stir-fry.

You may be asking yourself what all of this has to do with traditional Chinese food. The answer is simple: Our passions are the same. My aim is to embrace every aspect of the culture and the food that I can. Chinese food is not just aboutwhat is on the menu for the evening. It is also about the style of service, the way dishes are served and plated, the atmosphere, and the music we choose to play.

Basically, it is about transporting the diner to another time and place, and to leave them with a feeling of having traveled somewhere. These two places, the bakery and the food tent achieved just that. They fully embraced and believed in what they were offering. If ever in Scotland, these are the places I would recommend you visit.

Ants Climbing a Tree

9 oz cellophane noodles

6 tree ear mushrooms

4 oz ground pork

Pinch each of chopped garlic, scallion and ginger

3 Tbls soy sauce

1 Tbl sugar

1 Tbl hot bean sauce

Dash dark soy sauce

Dash Chili Oil

6 Scallion green tops

Dash Sesame oil

Poach the noodles and the mushrooms and set them aside. Cook the ground pork in the wok and break it apart. Add the chopped garlic, scallion and ginger to the pork and cook. Add the soy sauce, sugar, hot bean dark soy sauce and chili oil into the wok when the pork is mostly cooked. When the pork is cooked, add the noodles and the mushrooms and toss evenly. Add in the scallion greens and toss. Finish with the sesame oil, and toss briefly. Remove from heat and serve.

I believe food connects people. Because of food I get to meet many customers who come in to dine, and some of them had become my friends.  One sunny Sunday afternoon, I went to visit Graham and Daphne in Lincoln.

When I arrived, Daphne was out in the garden watering. Gardening is Daphne’s most favorite activity in the summer. She likes to see all kinds of flowers in different colors blooming in June, and looks forward to see how the tomatoes come out this year.  She remembers she used to be able to get almost fifty pounds of tomatoes after the harvest. I hope she can have all the healthy tomatoes she planted this season.

We sit in the garden and enjoy tea in the cool shade by a tree. We talked about nothing, but everything.  Although it was 90 degrees in Burlington, it was cool and breezy for us. I wish I could describe the serenity I felt that afternoon.

Graham and Daphne met in London, when Graham was nineteen years old. Two years later they got married.  In 1958, the Pringles arrived in New York. In 1995, they bought a house in Lincoln and moved in July 1997.  Although the Pringles lived in New York for a long time, Vermont is their true home

After traveling many places and tasting many different cuisines, Chinese Food is most interesting In Graham’s heart. Because it covers so many flavors, ingredients and techniques from different regions, of course it would be most the fun cuisine, he said with a smile on his face.

Dry Fried Green Beans and Tan Tan Noodle with Shrimp are Daphne and Graham’s favorite dishes at A Single Pebble.  They have been our regular lunch customers since 2007.

• I was very fortunate to be invited to birthday party for one of our patrons, Tiff.
• Tiff has been one of A Single Pebble’s regular customers since 2002. Every Tuesday, as long as she and Liz, her partner, are in town, Pebble is the place for them.  Throughout the years, Tiff has been witness to the changes within the restaurant. She has also become a friend.  Last year, we integrated our connection by collaborating on the “Fresh Food “ program for Vermont Works for Women, for which Tiff serves as executive director.

For Tiff’s birthday, I was responsible for bringing the food, but mostly, I was requested to be a guest, as well.

Twenty guests gathered at a quiet camp by the water on a sunny Saturday afternoon, the waves of water were subtle, and flickering with the sunlight, there was chatter mixed with laughter among the guests.  Some of them I knew because they are Pebble’s customers, some of them I had never met before.

As the party was rolling along, it was time to serve dinner.

The menu:

Fresh Spring Rolls, Seasoned and Pressed Tofu, Sesame Noodle Nests, Napa Cabbage Salad with Cilantro Dressing, Vegetable Dumplings in Chili Oil, Red Cooked Tofu, Mock Eel, Thai Bail Beef, Poached Choy.

As everyone just about to finish the dinner, Tiff requested everyone’s attention; she said she had been thinking for a while about how to celebrate her fiftieth birthday:  It is not only that “50” is an important mark of life, it is also that she has a tremendous gratitude toward the extra two years of time that her mother didn’t have.  She decided to invite some people who had played a role in her life, who had inspired her, who had helped her to become who she is today.

One by one, she addressed each person, how much she appreciated them as an individual, what they did that inspired her, how much she cherishes their friendship. The dining room filled up with rolling laughter, some small arguments about the facts, some little quarrels between close friends, and eventually everyone’s eyes were filled with tears…including mine.

I was the lucky one to witness this; the connection between all of us, the time we spent together, the words we had exchanged, the food we had shared, the hugs we had given and taken; every little moment accumulates to our life.

Happy Birthday, Tiff, and thank you.

Meghan started at A Single Pebble six years ago as a dishwasher. Since then she has worked almost every position in the restaurant, except for line cook. She has been a dumpling maker, a bartender, a host and a server. Now she primarily serves, hosts and does some office work, as well. She enjoys the customer service aspect of her job the most at the restaurant, although sometimes, she does miss the Zen focus that comes with washing dishes. Meghan is inspired by the opportunity she has had to learn a multitude of new skills with each position she has worked in the restaurant. She loves being a part of the Single Pebble team, and thinks of the staff at the restaurant as a “second family” to her.

Ben Cobane 

Ben has been cooking at A Single Pebble for 4 years. He started as a dishwasher 5 years ago. Ben loves Chinese food for the flavors and the variety. He is motivated by the constant motion and the intensity of the kitchen during lunch and dinner service. He particularly enjoys cooking lunch for the skill and knowledge required to cook for the variety of menu options that are available. He is inspired by the way the menu has expanded since he has been at the restaurant, and enjoys participating in the restaurant’s evolution.

Cameron Moorby

Cam was a teenager when he first began his career at A Single Pebble in its original location in Barre, VT. He was offered a job in the new Burlington restaurant, when he moved to the city to attend UVM in 2003. Altogether, he has been working at A Single Pebble for 8 years. Cam cooks in the kitchen and is comfortable at all of the stations behind the line. The fast pace and the quick thinking are what have kept Cam interested and inspired for so many years. He appreciates that quick problem solving and teamwork are required skills to make the kitchen run smoothly each night.