A quick single-skillet stir-fry thrown together with ingredients picked up at the Slow Food Nation Marketplace. There are few things tastier than golden, crusty, pan-fried chickpeas - and this is where we start. It also features chopped kale, summer squash, and a bit of tofu. I should note that I used a great locally produced ghee as the cooking medium. It has a subtle, sweet nuttiness that pairs beautifully with chickpeas and withstands high cooking temperatures nicely. A kiss of lemon juice (and a bit of zest in the pan) at the end of the cooking process sets off a fragrant finale signaling to anyone in the vicinity that it is time to eat.

I also can't resist throwing in a quick update about our new Kiva / 101 Cookbooks lending team. As of this moment we have more members than any other lending team(!). So exciting. Upload your pictures, fill out your profiles, and let's keep this ball rolling the right direction - since my last post we've sponsored nearly $5000 in loans. For those of you who missed the original Kiva post, you can read more here.

I've set up 101 Cookbooks as a Kiva Lending Team. There were nearly a million visits to 101 Cookbooks last month - a statistic that continues to amaze me. As the site has grown over the years, I kept thinking to myself that it would be great to figure out a way for us to affect change as a group - me + you.

I've long been a fan of Kiva. For those of you who aren't familiar with Kiva, it's a grassroots project that allows someone like me to make (real-time) micro-loans directly to entrepreneurs in the developing world via the internet. We are talking about small loans, not donations, to people (who in many cases) wouldn't qualify for loans otherwise. I'm convinced of the power of small amounts of capital to make a big difference, and I believe in the power of individuals - both on the lending and receiving ends. My loan of $25, combined with loans of $25 from other individuals can significantly impact lives and prospects. I've been making loans over the past year as an individual, but in the back of my mind I kept imagining it would be even more exciting for us to be able to loan as a group or team.

Flash forward a few months, Kiva just enabled team lending on their site. I've set up 101 Cookbooks as a Kiva Lending Team and seeded our group with $1000 in loans (in addition to the dozen or so loans that I previously had in the Kiva system). If you have $25 to loan you can participate - most of the loans I make are in the $25 to $100 range. As the micro-loans are being paid back to me, I can turn around and re-allocate funds to other entrepreneurs. It's great. If you do end up making a loan (or loans) be sure to add yourself to the 101 Cookbooks Team. I'll be able to message people there and I'm excited to keep track of the individuals we are loaning to through that page. I tend to focus on loans to farmers, cooks, and individuals doing food production, but you can support anyone you like. Perhaps as our lending power grows down the line, we might cherry-pick certain entrepreneurs to support en mass. I'll highlight our progress here over the coming months as well. Let's see what we can do - I don't think $100,000 in loans from us as a group is an impossible first goal. To participate:

1. Sign up for a Kiva account. If you already have a Kiva account, log in.

2. Join the 101 Cookbooks Lending Team

3. Lend.

The lead photo is of Risikat Tijani - Lagos State, Nigeria. At the time of this post her loan of $700 is 63% repaid - you can see the group of thirteen individual lenders listed below her profile.

It's not everyday that you find yourself on a sun-kissed terrace in Argentina looking out at a few stray clouds dancing around the tip-tops of the Andes Mountains. It is the best kind of theater. I found myself standing, and staring, and then letting my eyes come back to close range when someone generously offered me a bite-sized treat. A small cracker topped with what looked like zucchini relish, a tiny kiss of creme fraiche, and a couple flecks of black pepper. I reached toward the platter with the hand that wasn't holding a crisp glass of Chardonnay. The crostini had a pronounced lemony tang, and the snap of the cracker played nicely with the relish-like toppings. This was the start of what amounted to a wonderful meal with both old and new friends at Bodega Ruca Malen in Lujn de Cuyo.

This version is a "broad-strokes" recreation based on my (somewhat) hazy memory, and a nearly illegible scribble in my notebook. The scribble said - cracker, zesty saute of apple and zucchini, creme fraiche, pepper. I got a third hand account of the ingredients when I was there (chef --> waiter --> friend --> me), the culinary version of telephone. I used thinned out goat cheese and in addition to that I'm sure I have other ingredients in this version that weren't in the original, and one or two that might have been in the original that escaped me. Anyhow, this version is going to be a keeper and might very well (finally) dethrone the lentil and goat cheese crostini I've done to death. The apples and zucchini paired nicely with the un-oaked Yauquen Chardonnay we were drinking, which in turn paired perfectly with the idyllic, mountain-framed sunny skies.

Here's a photo Wayne took of me as I was waiting for a taxi to pick me up and take me to the airport. I also uploaded a little snippet of video to You Tube. Here you can see what the Andes Mountains look like just after sunrise, on a clear day, as our flight crossed from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina. Watch it in high-quality if you can.

My intention was to bring a little baggie of these snappy, chocolate-stuffed sandwich cookies on the plane to Philadelphia last week. Unfortunately, I ran out of time (having clean clothes trumped having cookies this time around) and had to wait until after my trip to bake them off. That being said, they are an effective travel tool, perfect for establishing goodwill with the stranger(s) sitting next to you. The poppy-flecked, brown sugar dough has a mellow sweetness, and it is my feeling that the butter browns just enough in the oven to bring the flavors together full circle. The chocolate functions as binding bridge between two wafer-thin coins.

There are a couple tricks to making these cookies extra good. The first is simple - roll the dough out very, very thin. Not parchment thin, but certainly Saltine cracker thin. The resulting cookies will be crisp, elegant, and lovely to look at. You want just a bit of chocolate sandwiched between just a bit of cookie. Too much cookie and the ratio gets thrown off.

The second important thing to be (particularly) mindful of is the baking time. You want the cookies to bake until they are beautifully golden, particularly on the bottom edges where the cookies meet the baking sheet. Don't turn your back, cookies this thin will go from blond to burned in a heartbeat.

How many times have you gone out, purchased a big, bushy bouquet of cilantro, torn off a small handful to use in whatever creation you were focused on at that moment, then shoved the rest of the cilantro into some neglected corner of your refrigerator? Yeah, me too. It happens more often than I would like to admit. I brought a particularly vibrant, dare I say perky, bunch of cilantro home the other day and promised myself to use it. All of it. This zesty, cilantro-centric soba noodle bowl features a hefty dose of the green stuff, pan-toasted tofu, and plenty of vegetables.

A few other ideas that come to mind - an alternative version might feature brown rice in place of the soba noodles. I like a bit of kick along with my cilantro, and next time I make try some chopped serrano chile in place of the cayenne. You could do soba noodle patties and use the cilantro dressing as a dipping sauce. Other ideas? Throw them into the comment ring.

I'm finally back from traveling (for a while) and looking forward to being back in my own kitchen. I was on the east coast for the past five days for a wedding, and in the same shot spent a day with one of my best friends from high school who now lives outside Philadelphia. Lots and lots to share with you inspired by these recent trips.