Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

We continue the guest photographer series this week with Gillian Shewaga picking up the lens. Gregarious and saturated with creative vision, Gillian is a powerhouse art director here in Austin. We are elated to share her take of farm life - striking and vibrant still-life shots, as well as captures from the Mueller Farmers' Market.

We chatted with Gillian to learn a little more about the shoot and her relationship with photography, in general, below. Check it out!

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

What was the inspiration for the shoot?

Colors and local community. When I think of JBG, I instantly think of the farmers market and how it brings people together to either buy their weekly veggies, pick up a CSA box, or try something that might be seasonally new to them. It gave me the chance to get to chat with a few people about what they were planning on doing with their box and what they were most excited about this week. Visually, it was really fun getting to show off all the beautiful colors and textures in my CSA box. I played around with smooth surfaced squashes and eggplants juxtaposed by rugged root vegetables, as well as contrasts in size and colors. You don’t need much to make those look great.

How did you get into photography?

I kind of had a weird habit of documenting things as a kid. Starting with journals, then moving to photos, I almost felt like one day I wouldn't remember what that exact time in my life felt like. When I saw vintage photographs of family or even just pictures from other decades, I always experienced a sense of nostalgia from a time that I never even knew. I think that feeling is what sparked my interested in documenting culture, people, and places around me since they’re all constructs that are forever constantly changing.

How do you use photography in your career?

I'm the art director and social media manager of two local Austin boutiques on South Congress. I've been working professionally as a social media manager for about six years and it's been interesting to see changes within digital platforms and consumer landscapes as they shift towards more transparency from brands. Photography definitely plays a huge role in my career for not only content creation, but for helping give a more authentic voice to businesses of all sorts. The cool thing about photography is that there is no right or wrong way to do it. Style and outcome are both totally subjective and the results could mean different things from one person to the next. Hoping that I’ll get to continue to use photography in my career to eventually tell more impactful stories to better the world.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

Follow Gillian along on her Instagram or check out her website here.

Austin Restaurant Weeks (ARW) has begun! Yesterday, 8/16, marked the beginning of the inaugural two-week long event (ending 9/3). What is ARW, you’re wondering? Over 80 restaurants in town are offering carefully curated prix fixe menus and beverages where a portion of the profit is donated directly to the Central Texas Food Bank. Heavy hitters like Contigo, Central Standard, Olive & June, Via 313, Sway, and many more (see the list in its entirety here) will be serving up epicurean deals all the in name of supporting our Central Texan community.

Photo by Rick Cortez.

Prix Fixe Menu Options:

• Lunch for $25 (2-3 courses, provides 16 meals for our neighbors in need)
• Dinner for $35 (3-4 courses, provides 20 meals for our neighbors in need)
• Dinner for $45 (3-4 courses, provides 28 meals for our neighbors in need)
• Cocktail for $8 (some establishments may offer a cocktail option, provides 8 meals for our neighbors in need)
• Beer for $6 (some establishments may offer a beer option, provides 4 meals for our neighbors in need)

If you dine out often, consider peppering in some of the 80 + restaurants partaking in ARW during your weekly prandial excursions. If dining out is more of a rarity, think about treating yourself, your loved ones, or a special friend to a fun, new establishment! Ever tasted Rosewood’s grilled peaches with pan de campo, beef bacon, house-made ricotta, and Malabar spinach or their drum ceviche with pico de gallo, avocado, and corn furikake? How about Le Politique’s escargots with garlic, parsley, and puff pastry or their hanger steak with french fries and beurre de Paris? Get reservations now! It never tasted so good to give back to the community.

Image of grilled peach glory, courtesy of Rosewood's instagram.

Why is this important?

Well, 1 in 4 people in Austin and neighboring areas are or have been food insecure, or lacking dependable access to sufficient amounts of affordable and nutritious food. That's 25% of our Austin community. Depending on the area, up to 40% of people do not have easy access to fresh and affordable food. In neighborhoods where busy thoroughfares inundate the cityscape and sidewalks are lacking, folks who do not have vehicular access risk their lives daily to purchase groceries to feed their family. Plus, with the rising cost of housing, our neighbors in need often have to make painful choices on whether to spend money on food, medicine, or housing. Central Texas Food Bank works ceaselessly day in and day out to provide nutritious food to the diverse array of folks who find themselves in emergency need of food or supplementing their regular meal planning.

Donations to CTFB. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

We are elated to work with these community rockstars on a regular basis and contribute to their fresh food distribution. Every Tuesday and Thursday the huge CTFB refrigerated truck arrives at our Hergotz Packing Shed to load up on vegetable donations. These donations usually contain product that doesn’t meet the rigorous grocery store standards, think misshapen carrots, slightly wilted greens, and scarred eggplant. You’ve probably heard us say this before, but we like to call these vegetables our “Inglorious Produce” - not so photogenic, but equally as nutritious and tasty as their A-grade counterparts. This produce oftentimes gets wasted because of its less-than-pleasing aesthetic and the stringent market specifications; thus, CTFB is saving this produce and also feeding folks nutritious food in the process.

Last year alone, we donated 56,970 lbs of food to the food bank. That’s over 68,000 meals worth of fresh, organic, and local produce - ingredients that unfortunately aren’t as accessible to all Austinites as they arguably should be. (More about some of the Austin programs aiming to increase access to healthy foods here).

Weekly donations. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Needless to say, CTFB is a hero in the community and we are thrilled to be partnering with CTFB on this event by offering ARW restaurants hefty discounts on wholesale vegetables and even bigger discounts off of inglorious produce! We hope that you relish this gourmet adventure in the next couple of weeks. Get to eatin' and let's give back!

Servings: 4-6 / Total Time: 40 minutes / Author: The Migoni Kitchen

Fall is on its way and we are so excited for cooler weather! We make tons of soups in the fall and winter and love taking them for lunch all week or prepping them for a quick dinner. This butternut squash, white bean, and sausage soup is one of our favorites that we have adapted over time. It is filling enough to be a meal on its own and filled with lots of protein, fiber, and vitamins! It’s the perfect way to use any type of greens you might get in your CSA box and some of your butternut squash as well!

Soup!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 Large onion, Diced
• 3 Cloves garlic, Minced
• 2 Cups Butternut Squash, Cubed
• 2 Quarts Chicken Stock
• 1/2 Tsp Dried Parsley
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1/2 Tsp Dried thyme
• 1-14.5 ounce can White Beans
• 2 Cups Greens, Such as Spinach, Kale, Chard, etc.
• 2 Italian Sausage links
• 1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese for serving

Instructions:

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot over medium heat.

Add diced onion and garlic and cook until translucent.

Add butternut squash and cover with chicken stock.

Add bay leaves, dried parsley, black pepper, and thyme and bring to a boil. Cook about 15 minutes until butternut squash has softened.

Add white beans and cook another 10-15 minutes.

While soup is cooking, heat separate pan over medium heat. Sear sausages for about 5 minutes per side or until cooked through.

Slice and add into soup. Cook another 5-10 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Lastly, add in you greens and stir gently until wilted.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Dinner is served.

Box Contents Week of August 13th

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

We continue the guest photographer series this week with Kelly Elena Dugan picking up the lens. She offered her take of farm life by documenting the bustling Hergotz barn, where we wash, sort, and pack the vegetables before they head out to restaurants, CSA pickup sites, and farmers' markets.

A little about the photographer - Kelly is a multi-talented woman about town with roles ranging from Editor-in-Chief of Peach Fuzz Magazine and freelance photographer to Head Pastry Chef at Justine's Brasserie and soon-to-be East Austin bakery owner. She is adept at dreaming up uncommon & drool-worthy recipes, writing pieces that make you think and feel, composing stunning photographs, and orchestrating & curating Austin events that bring the community together. We are thrilled to have her offer her eye and accompany her images with a piece about her food journey. Take it away, Kelly!

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

"When I was asked to shoot at Johnson’s Backyard Garden, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to capture. I’m fairly inept when it comes to digital cameras and my favorite cameras are old, plastic and full of light leaks. On a hot Friday afternoon, I stuffed my backpack with my Fujifilm Instax 210 from 2003, a Fujifilm 400 disposable camera and my plastic twin reflex Holga and headed to the JBG barn, where the produce is washed, stored, and divided into CSA boxes. As I watched staff and volunteers peeling the outer layers off onions on a long table in the sun, what captured my eye - and lens’ - was the way other people love food the way I love food. People who like to feel it in their hands, share it with their friends, taste it in their mouths.

I haven’t always loved food like this. I used to be a painfully picky eater. On special family dinner nights, at Tres Amigos, I would order cheese enchiladas - light on the red sauce - no onions, no sour cream, no jalapeños, no beans - everytime, year after year. I was always fussy, but sometime in High School, food became more than uncomfortable for me. I started regulating what I ate, reducing food to numbers - real, unsalted sweet cream butter gave way to zero-calorie I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray! I would forgo mangoes - my favorite fruit - for sugar-free orange jello. This isn’t, however, a blog post about the fear of eating. This is about the joy of cooking, and how it changed everything for me. How food became a way to communicate, to connect, a road to community. It became my hobby, my passion, my career.



Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Eating dinner used to give me anxiety - my stomach flipping with fear and hunger. But yesterday evening, around 9 pm, after a long, long day, I starting chopping. I began roasting 4 small butternut squashes and wilted down a bunch of sweet potato greens - both from my JBG CSA. My fiancé started browning some venison sausage we’ve had in the freezer since deer season. We talked about our days, sipping Modelos with salt and lime. We preheated ovens, mise en placed, parboiled long, thick pasta and constructed a multicolored lasagna - complete with a fromage à trois of mozzarella, parmesan, and ricotta, for our health, of course. We didn’t sit down to eat until after midnight.

Growing food in your hands - the planting - the daily watering - the transplanting - the pruning - that emergency watering when the Texas heat comes swooping in and your lil dudes are looking a little sad (oops!) - the picking and pulling and cleaning and cutting and preparing and cooking and eating. Waking up early to hunt and using every part of the deer - packing the freezer with toothsome gamey meat to last a whole year. Peeling off the outside dirty layers of an onion with your hands, leaving your palms ripe with sweat and onion all day long.

I get it now."

-Kelly Dugan

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

Photo by Kelly Dugan.

When it’s boiling outside, only the toughest of the veggies can survive. We’re looking at you, eggplant. This oblong heat-lovin’ nightshade hails from more tropical climes like India and Southeast Asia, making it perfect for the sustained oppressive heat of Texas summers.

Eggplant bounty. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Why the name eggplant, you might wonder? Well, the name derived from the white, smaller cultivar (which were immensely popular in Europe in the 1700s) and its common aesthetic with eggs. Being a part of the Solanaceae family, you can eat the skin and seeds like a tomato, just don’t eat it raw, similar to how you treat a potato. These veggies grow on a vine and have spiny stems with flowers that are often purple or white. Botanically, eggplant is actually defined as a berry. The fruit contains bitter seeds that contain trace amounts of nicotine because, believe it or not, eggplants and tobacco are related!

Eggplant on the vine. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Eggplant harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Putting the egg in eggplant. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Last but not least, those of you who think you don’t like eggplant, don’t fool yourself. Known as aubergine in British English, this spongy veggie lends itself to a gamut of dishes. So, when you find yourself regrettably swimming in late summer JBG eggplant, change that frown upside down and dive into some of our favorite recipes from all over the world below. There is ample opportunity to expand your palate with these varied eggplant-centric dishes, look at it as an epicurean adventure!

Graffiti eggplant. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Around the world with eggplants!

Making its way to Europe and Africa via Arab and Persian trade routes from India and Southeast Asia, (as you can imagine) this vegetable has a rich history and a very colorful culinary past.

North African

Chermoula with Bulgur and Yogurt

Roasted Eggplant Matbucha

Chermoula. Image by Jonathan Lovekin.

Generally Middle Eastern Inspired

Stuffed Eggplant with Lamb and Pine Nuts

Stuffed Eggplant with Lamb. Image by Antonis Achilleos.

Lebanese

Baba Ganoush

Maghmour

Baba ganoush by the Minimalist Baker.

Iraqi

Iraqi Lamb and Eggplant Stew with Pitas

Iraqi Stew. Image by Ellie Miller.

Indian

Baghare Baingan

Bharta - Spicy Indian Eggplant

Bharta. Photo by Mark Weinberg.

Thai

Roasted Eggplant Laap

Curried Roasted Eggplant with Coconut Milk

Eggplant Curry. Image courtesy of Alanna Taylor Tobin | The Bojon Gourmet

Italian

Eggplant Parmesan

French

Ratatouille

Ratatouille. Photo by Migoni Kitchen.

Israeli

Israeli Eggplant - Twice Cooked

Greek

Braised Eggplant - Greek Style

Moussaka

Moussaka. Image by the Meditteranean Dish.

Chinese

Sichuan Eggplant

Sichuan Eggplant. Image by Recipe for China.

Japanese

Japanese Eggplant with Ginger and Scallions

American

Fried Eggplant - Eat these by themselves with some aioli or yogurt dip, put them on a sandwich, top a pasta dish with it... the uses are endless.

Crispy Baked Eggplant - Pro-tip, make a double batch of these, freeze some, and reheat in the oven when you need a quick snack.

Fried eggplant. Image by Gonna Want Seconds.

Cajun

Cajun Eggplant Rice Dressing - Consider adding eggplant to a dish that calls for ground meat. You can substitute eggplant for the ground meat to make it completely vegetarian, or cook it down alongside your ground meat to boost up the nutritional content.

Graffiti eggplant harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Get 'em at market! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Get cookin’! Eggplant is in summer abundance right now!