OPINION: We STILL Need Town Hall Meeting on Water War
August 25, 2009 by Stan Fendley, Falls Church City · 4 Comments
City Initiates Housing Survey
August 24, 2009 by Falls Church Times Staff · Leave a Comment
Farmer’s Market to Feature Local Restaurant Chefs
August 24, 2009 by Stephen Siegel · 2 Comments
By STEPHEN SIEGEL
Falls Church Times Staff
The Falls Church City Farmers Market has become a popular destination. It may become more popular with a new program featuring local restaurant chefs demonstrating the use of fresh seasonal ingredients that’s scheduled to begin this Saturday.
Aimee Suyehiro, chef and co-owner at Argia’s on Washington Street, will be the first featured in the series on Aug. 29. She will be followed by Leland Atkinson of Sinplicity Catering on Sept. 19, and Tracey O’Grady from Willow Oct. 3. At least two subsequent dates are planned, but the chefs have yet to be selected.
Chefs will do a cooking demonstration from 9 to 10 am on the west side of City Hall, followed by a tasting when their creation is ready. Some will even share their recipes. And for those unable to attend in person, the events will be recorded and available for viewing on the Facebook social networking site.
Area residents browse the popular Falls Church Farmer's Market
“I think it’s a great thing they’re doing,” said Ms. Suyehiro, who purchased an enormous quantity of tomatoes at the Market for use in her restaurant Aug. 22. “It gets people more aware of the Falls Church Farmer’s Market.”
And “it’s a great thing to help the local farmers out there.”
The Market Chef program is the brainchild of Kathleen Nixon, a City resident who has been coming to the Farmer’s Market every week for nine years and now buys almost all her food there.
“The Market needed something else to attract people to it,” Ms. Nixon said. Three years ago, the increasingly popular Market became year-round, she pointed out. “This just seemed like a natural extension.”
Ms. Nixon also hopes that more people will adopt the lower-energy consumption lifestyle of buying ingredients made or grown locally. This also requires people to use more items that are available seasonally, instead of buying tomatoes trucked in from far-flung locales during the winter months.
She mentioned she has made a dish she dubbed “Farmer’s Market Stew,” which consists of onion, carrot, potato, sausage, and mushrooms. “It’s a recipe put together from what’s in the Market.”
Ms. Suyehiro, from Argia’s, also says her cooking benefits from the Market and from participating in the Market Chef program.
“I get ideas from seeing what’s out there. So it helps. I learn every day.”
Update Aug. 25: The story originally identified the Sept. 19 chef as coming from Simplicity Catering. The correct name is Sinplicity Catering. We regret the error. And another restaurant has been selected: Arlington’s Liberty Tavern will be featured Oct. 31.
MAN ABOUT TOWN: Why They Hate the City of Falls Church
August 24, 2009 by George Southern · 13 Comments
Three months and one day ago I wrote a humorous article about the “branding survey” commissioned by the City’s Economic Development Authority. I poked fun at the survey for its omissions (no category for retired folks), confusion (are you supposed to rank-order a list of 10 desired qualities, or rate them from 1 to 10?), and – most damningly – failure to obtain a representative sample. I also noted how one of the questions was patently worded to elicit the desired answer. Although hiding behind a claim of “lite humor,” my article clearly intended to demonstrate both the amateurishness and pointlessness of the survey.
Since that time, the marketing agency conducting the survey has leaked some of the results – but not, it comes as no surprise, to the Falls Church Times. The information is available only in the pages of the Falls Church News-Press. There we learn that the “branding” effort is indeed a good idea because it turns out that some of the persons living outside the 2.2 square-mile territory of Falls Church City have emoted, shall we say, less than warm-and-fuzzy feelings when asked their opinion of the City.
Well.
I’m not surprised. In fact, I know “why they hate us.” But it would be rather too simple, when the City’s EDA is spending $50,000 to discover it, to just say why in a single sentence. Read more
ArtSpace: They Ate Good, Drank Good, & Did Lots of Good
August 23, 2009 by Gina Caceci · Leave a Comment
FOOD: Tomatoes Are Here! Time for a Taste Test
August 20, 2009 by Jimmy Scarano · 1 Comment
School’s Just Around the Corner — Are You Ready?
August 20, 2009 by Annette Hennessey · 1 Comment
Volunteers Sought for Food Delivery to Affordable Housing Residents
August 20, 2009 by Falls Church Times Staff · Leave a Comment
