I have a problem---

Dishes. I think I need more shelving.

Last Week's Harvest

Joi Choi, Cabbage, and the first zucchini.

eggs

100 % pastured eggs. Love the green one.

School Food

Go here to read a great article on school lunches. With all the recent talk of healthcare, I'm starting to think that eating healthfully is one of the most fiscally responsible things we can do for our country. Local, sustainable, no pesticides, no synthetics, no imitations, etc. For more information, check out Michael Pollan's new book: Food Rules. To sum it up: if your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize it, don't consume it.

Fruit of My Labor

Ate those suckers on homemade vanilla ice cream last night.

Peas for Dinner

Meat.

The Marin Sun Farm CSA box: Frenched Lamb Rack, Beef Bottom Round, Ground Beef x3, Ground Pork, Ground Lamb, Boneless Pork Leg, Filet Minion x2, Beef Stew Meat, Beef Shanks, and a New York Strip. We have a full freezer. Now... what to make?!!

Community and Food

One of the unexpected bonuses of getting a puppy was meeting our neighbors. We've lived in our house since August and have just now been introduced to most everyone on our street. I know where the arborist lives, the writing professor, and the edible landscaper.... all people I can resource about my interests. Parents let their kids come play with Banjo which is great for his socialization and sometimes I even get a helping hand in the garden - I'm amazed at how good little girls are at picking snow peas that I miss! All these relationships are mutually beneficial and work to foster a feeling of safety and community that I've been craving.

Many people have written about the benefits of strong communities, so I won't go too deep into it --- But I know that my new found one has definitely thwarted what used to be an immediate need to move closer to my circle of friends. I also feel more invested in the area - noticing teenager's signs for lawn mowing services, cars that drive too fast, kids playing alone, common plants in yards, etc. I'm happy being in the neighborhood, knowing I can find intelligent conversation and have people I can rely on if we ever need something... and vice versa.

Now this brings me to supporting communities. One easy way to do this is to support local businesses.... and local food. I try to get most of my produce out of my garden or at the farmer's market, but weekends can sometimes be crazy and I've missed a market or two. At that point, I'm forced to shop the supermarkets to find what I need. I try to go to the small, local shop but sometimes branch out to Whole Foods - where I also go to find grassfed meat (although their selection is small).

Meeting my neighbors made me want to have a relationship with the people who grow my food as well. I want to see their faces, visit the farms, and feel good about how I'm spending my money and what I'm eating. This week I joined two CSAs:

• Marin Sun Farms - for monthly deliveries of pastured beef, poultry, pork (they even have lamb and goat)
• Two Small Farms - for weekly deliveries of produce and flowers

The two farms above pertain only to the Bay Area (thus the local part), but CSAs exists most everywhere. Another great resource is Buy Fresh Buy Local - there are chapters for locations around the country. The site gives a helpful list of restaurants and stores where you can find local fare and explains the importance of being picky about what you eat.

For anyone who thinks that it is too costly to buy local, read a book by Michael Pollan or Joel Salatin. They do a great job of explaining the real costs of our industrialized food system.

My first CSA deliveries are in March. I'll try to post pictures of what we receive and tell you what we make. Until then, I'll be walking Banjo down the street...

Trouble Coffee

Question: Where can you order someone to "build your own damn house"? Answer: Trouble Coffee. The menu: coffee and espresso drinks, cinnamon sugar toast, and coconuts. The owner Juliet serves it all up with a mean attitude and an occasional smile. Check it out if you ever need a caffeine fix in the Sunset.

P.S. Canning with Happy Girl Kitchen

We also made one recipe that didn't require a hot water bath: Pickled Lemons. You basically slice lemons into wedges and pack them into a jar along with one tablespoon of salt per lemon.

We added bay leaves, a tsp of whole peppercorn, and crushed red pepper in the jar - optional but a nice added flavor. The finished product looks beautiful and tastes like a tart, spicy caper! Great for using on top of fish.

Now I am resisting the urge to pick the fruit from my neighbors' trees!

Canning with Happy Girl Kitchen

Today I took a class on canning winter fruit with Happy Girl Kitchen. The workshop took place in an old Victorian house in Oakland - seven students and two instructors. We met at 10 and learned an overview about preserving fruits and veggies before entering the kitchen to slice and seal. Jordan (the owner) made the entire process fun and relaxing- much less daunting than my strawberry jam experiment. A few snapshots because the citrus was so beautiful...

Lemons for the Lemon Ginger Marmalade:

Blood and Cava oranges for the Honey Orange Slices:

The marmalade cooking down:

The finished marmalade:

A sampling of Happy Girl's products:

If you live in the Bay Area or are planning a visit, consider taking a class in their series!

Last Week

Strawberry Jam

Strawberries were on sale at last week's farmer's market. $10 for a flat. Oh boy!

chocolate pave

Made this pave (flourless cake) for my roommate's birthday:lessons learned:

- separating eggs and chatting should not be done at the same time.  wasted 6!

- use an electric mixer as whisking the yolks and whites manually takes much time and effort.

- tastes amazing!  find the recipe in Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food.

Homegrown Goodness

Picked the first radish from my little garden today.  It was a perfect fuschia orb.  Ate it with a bit of salt.  Quite tasty.
My beets are still quite small and the carrots are barely the size of crayons.
Using greens from outside, I made a goat cheese and beet salad with toasted pine nuts and the tiny carrots.  
Enjoying the salad, having a glass of cheap red wine, and am watching Cleopatra to marvel at the costumes and decadent sets.  

Dinner in the Canyon

Food Fun

Made chocolate chip cookies yesterday.  Big hit.  

Had tea in Venice at the Jin Patisserie this afternoon.  Lovely tuna sandwich.  

Almost canned salsa after but lacked the right size jars.  Project for another day.

Tonight, ate Greek food and watched backlogged episodes of Martha Stewart and Alton Brown.  In love with Good Eats and want this:

 Tomorrow: burgers, mac and cheese, and salad from garden greens.  Will try to have camera on hand!

LA Eats

In the past two days, I've had the good fortune to be treated by some generous friends to some outings around town: 

CASA - A friend is involved with this restaurant, and I am so glad he is!  Otherwise, I might have missed out on two of the best margaritas I've ever had.  Also recommend the guac and tacos.  I need to arrange a trip to MOCA just so I can come have cocktails here afterwards.

COMME CA - Muscadet, Burger medium rare, oysters, and bread you pull apart to coat with butter.  This place is consistently delicious, and I love the depth of the seafood menu.  Great for lunch, dinner, or very late dinner.  

NOBU - The epitome of how people stereotype Los Angeles.  A Lindsay Lohan sighting just about sums up the clientele, and I'm sure you can imagine the atmosphere and food to match! 

One of my New Years Resolutions is to embrace Los Angeles as if it is (...and it is) my home.  By getting out to different parts of the town and spending time with people I adore... this might be one resolution I can keep!

Home(made) for the Holidays - Part 2

I knit this scarf for my boyfriend.  Originally, it was flat after steaming but has since curled back up as stockinette is inclined to do.

The very same boyfriend mentioned above helped me wrap a bridal shower gift.  He is a big proponent of crease-and-fold.  Photos of the gift will be posted after the shower tomorrow!

A few friends and I decided to spend a calm New Years Eve together.  We raided the grocery store for Blue Point and Kumamoto oysters, a gorgeous tuna steak, and accompaniments. Having forgotten to purchase oyster shuckers, we used whatever blunt instruments we could find: a screwdriver, butter knives, etc.  They all were opened and eaten with a mignonette sauce.  Afterwards we devoured this salad:

We had a green onion-lemon rice, soy sauce seared tuna, and more champagne than you could shake a stick at.  The overall price tag was a fraction of what we would have spent out on the town, and part of the evenings fun was communally preparing the meal.  We topped it off with Liars Dice and mimosas/walnut french toast the next morning.... great way to bring in 2009!

Great Gifts

My sweet, sweet friend (and go-to garden guru) sent me a Christmas package containing adorable gardening tools: shears and a hand shovel!  Isn't this pattern pretty?  

Used the shears right away to harvest the rest of my basil's leaves.  Made a delicious pesto for dinner and wished my friend had been here to eat with me!