“Living life locally” is a catchphrase for this blog.  100 miles is a theme I try to follow.  Regular readers know very well that I often venture way beyond 100 miles but the idea of “local” is still of paramount importance to me and what I write about.  This is why I’m such a huge fan of Artisanal L.A. — their motto is “Eat Local.”  This is an event meant for me.  Artisanal L.A. is two days of chef demos, expert-led panels and speakers on craft beer, local honey, urban homesteading and so much more.  Nearly 100 local, artisanal, and hand-made vendors and purveyors will be in attendance.  The food is great, the demos interesting, the lectures educational, and most importantly it’s the nicest group of people.

I went to the first ever Artisanal L.A. this past fall where I met butcher team Ameila Posada and Erika Nakamura of Lindy & Grundy Local, Pastured & Organic Meats.  They couldn’t have been nicer.  I watched Erika break down a side of pork.  Since then the entire Los Angeles fooderati have watched and waited for their new butcher shop to open.  It opened a week ago Tuesday and they sold out of most of their inventory in the first week.  A huge success.  I also met Jennifer Piette of Out of the Box Collective, a full service sustainable, organic grocery delivery service (I wrote a post about OTBC here.)  Jennifer and her company embody the living life locally ethos.  Expert pickler (among other skills) Racheal Narins of Chicks With Knives manned a booth selling some of her hand-made pickled items of which I bought several bottles.  She also teaches classes in pickling.  I sat in on a beekeeping-honey making lecture that was so interesting.  One day I hope to have hives of my own.  I also ate unending amounts of terrific food.  So much fun was had that I didn’t want the event to end.

Artisanal L.A. is all about supporting local-area artisans and food craftspeople, and purveyors.  It’s a great meeting place, a wonderful gathering to share tastes, ideas, helpful hints, and a love of local food.  Come on out and meet your local artisans, and craftspeople, taste and buy some of their wares.  The spring event is taking place this weekend.

Artisanal L.A., Saturday, April 16, 11 am to 8 pm, and Sunday, April 17, 11 am to 7 pm, $10 pre-sale tickets online, $15 at the door.

Hope to see you there.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new food magazine site Honest Cooking.  My first story was published today: “Berlin Currywurst Arrives to L.A.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month on the L.A. food scene.

#2 – A Menu of Parisian Bistro Classics at Le Saint Amour, Culver City, CA.  Consulting chef Walter Manzke offers a different Parisian bistro dish every night of the week (Sunday is Poulet Frit for example) at Le Saint Amour.  If you like classic French food like I do then get thee to Le Saint Amour for a plat du jour, or for something delicious off their full menu.  Bon appétit!

#3 – Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17, 2011, 11 am – 8 pm (Sat.), 11 am – 7 pm (Sun.) ~ Artisanal L.A. where nearly 100 local, artisanal and handmade vendors showcase their wares.  Support your local crafts persons, vendors and businesses.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

“Eat The Love”.   The very apt slogan for the new food delivery company Out of the Box Collective.  The OBC promotional flier also includes:  “Local”.  “Sustainable”. “Home Delivered”.   All good words in my world.  Out of the Box Collective is exactly those things.  They gather food staples that are local and sustainable, put them into boxes and deliver them to your door.  Unlike a C.S.A. they provide everything you need, or want to feed your family for a week.  Fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, fish, poultry, bread, pasta and dry goods.  A meal plan and suggested recipes are also included.  The only thing you have to do is cook, and then ‘eat the love.’

Founded by Jennifer Piette along with farm-to-table Chef Erik Stenberg, the goal of the company is to source “local, seasonal, sustainably produced groceries from [a] collective of farmers and artisans: [that include] ‘beyond organic’ produce; pastured meats, poultry and eggs; locally caught fish; dairy, including raw milk from Organic Pastures; regional specialties, such as local olive oil, honey, cheeses, Fair Trade products, and the list goes on.”  Jennifer and Erik have spent a good deal of time tracking down the best quality, organic, and sustainable products available in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg as they begin shopping the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.

A Morning at the Farmers’ Market

Given that the collective will only use what is fresh and seasonal, the box contents change from week to week.  Additionally, new artisans, growers and vendors are being added all the time.  Piette and Stenberg meet each Saturday at the Santa Barbara Farmers’ Market to assemble the following week’s boxes.  Last Saturday I was lucky enough to spend the day with them as they gathered a week’s worth of food at the market.  Later in the day I watched as they assembled the boxes.  It was an educational and joyful experience — so much amazing food.  Santa Barbarans take food, eating, and their farmers’ market seriously.

The Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm stand from Los Olivos, California.

I trailed along with Jennifer as she made her rounds at the market before it opened.  Many of her orders had already been placed so she was picking up, and adding to where needed.  We stopped at the Windrose Farm booth for beautiful radicchio di Castelfranco, said ‘hello’ to the folks at the famous Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm stand, grabbed poultry from Healthy Family Farms, apple juice at Fair Hills Farms, fresh-squeezed orange juice from Ojai’s Friend’s Ranch, ground beef from Rancho San Julian, pork from Jiminez Family Farm, and blistered almonds from Fat Uncle Farms.   Jennifer also augments her farmers’ market purchases with produce from the Farmer Direct Produce Network, a wholesale produce distributor that features local and sustainably grown produce only.  Wesley Sleight from Farmer Direct met us at the market with a large produce delivery.

Jennifer buying eggs and poultry from Healthy Family Farms.

Buying pork chops from Jimenez Family Farm.

Buying 100% certified organic apple juice from Fair Hills Farms.

Buying blistered almonds from Fat Uncle Farms.

Two More Stops: A Fishmongress, and the Pie Shop

After we finished rounds at the market, I joined Erik as he made two more stops: for fresh fish, and homemade pies.  Cadena Yules of Cadena’s Fresh Fish is a Santa Barbara-based female fishmonger.  On a side street of downtown Santa Barbara she rents space along with several other male Latino fishmongers in a large industrial building that also sells meat (on one door is a sign for fish; a second door says “meat.”)  It was fascinating to watch Cadena at work.   She specializes in locally caught seafood.  Erik picked up line-caught halibut.  Our next stop was Simply Pies, a wonderful small pie shop that does a booming business.  We grabbed uncooked gluten-free pie shells, and freshly made apple pies.

Fishmonger, Cadena Yules of Cadena's Fresh Fish, Santa Barbara, CA.

Assembling the Boxes

The next step in the process was assembling the boxes.  Out of the Box Collective currently works out of a kitchen in Goleta.  I enjoyed watching this unfold as it was a bit like being a kid in a candy shop.  What amazing fruits or vegetables would go into each box?  What locally-sourced proteins?  What other local delicacies?  It was a flurry of activity as Jennifer worked on one side of the kitchen assembling the grocery boxes; while on the other side Erik worked on the produce boxes.  Both were assisted by Chris Schertzer, recently hired as packager, driver and deliveryman.

Jennifer, Erik and Chris as box assembly begins.

Erik assembling the produce boxes.

Finished produce boxes.

A finished grocery box.

The refrigerated delivery van ready to go.

Change Equals Growth

As with most new businesses there are moments of transition; Erik (aka The Surfin’ Chef) has decided to take a hiatus from OBC to catch a few waves.  In his place Jennifer has brought in Shaheda Gosla, a private chef and farmers’ market maven, to work on the meal plans and the weekly suggested recipes.  Until the business grows more deliveries are currently only made in northwest Los Angeles county.  Piette hopes to expand beyond that area soon.  When she does get to my area of Los Angeles, I’ll be her first customer.  I wholeheartedly applaud what she is doing.  OBC is of much value to anyone who enjoys fresh, local, sustainable food.

For more information ~ Out of the Box Collective.

To see more photos from my OBC outing, click here ~ http://tinyurl.com/6jknp92

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the Food World:

#1  – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ “Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst” by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status: Enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Community-supported agriculture, or CSA.  It has such a nice ring to it.  I just started back to one.  So far I’ve received one delivery from Farm Fresh To You.  The last time I tried a CSA it was too much food.  [Read about it here.]  But then without one I just don’t cook (and eat) enough fruits and vegetables.  Period.  Our local farmers’ market — the one I can walk to — is on Sundays.  Right now our Sundays are taken up with a big, weekly, walking project led by my other half, Robert [read about it here].  We’re up early and back after the market is finished.  Normally Sunday is my farmers’ market day.  I needed to fill in the gap.  So another try at a CSA.

First, a quick CSA explanation for anyone who may not know what they are.  As a means to support small, local, independent farmers the consumer buys shares of the farmer’s future crops then picks up the produce at regular intervals at the farm, or at a designated location in a city.  With a subscription-CSA the farmer comes to you, and the cost per delivery is fixed.  With both types of CSAs the produce changes depending on what the farmer is growing, and the time of year.  Farm Fresh To You is a subscription-CSA.  What I like about it are the varied plan selections, and the option to receive deliveries every other week versus weekly.  I am currently signed up for a ‘regular mixed’ box which this week contained nine different fruits and vegetables from Minneola tangelos to kale to Klamath Pear potatoes.  (Cost is a reasonable $31.50. )  Half the fun is not know what is coming, and having to figure out how to use it all.  It’s also forcing me to eat seasonally, and to remember that not all fruits and vegetables are available year round if one is buying locally.  The current box contained winter produce: citrus, hearty greens, potatoes.  It is just the right amount for myself, or for two of us if I am cooking for Robert and me.

To find a CSA in your area check out Local Harvest ~ http://www.localharvest.org/

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the Food World:

#1 – Wednesday, January 26, 2011 ~ Farm Dinner at Fig Restaurant in Santa Monica, California.  A menu based on produce from Garcia Organic Farm.  Garcia Organic Farm grows 40 – 50 varieties of citrus, avocados, and deciduous fruit.  Chef Ray Garcia created a menu using produce from the farm.

#2 – Mini-Reviews: There are two other cookbooks I’ve received recently that I want to give shout outs to ~ ‘Simple Comforts: 50 Heartwarming Recipes’ by Sur La Table.  Easy-breezy, comfort food recipes for everyday cooking.  Herb Corn Bread.  Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Chicken Pot Pie.  Classic Extra Macaroni and Cheese ~ and more!  ‘I Love Bacon’ by Jayne Rockmill.  Who doesn’t?  This book contains 50 recipes from chefs across the country.  Recipes to make your own bacon, followed by recipes for brunch to dessert ~ all using bacon.  A portion of the proceeds from book sales will be donated to Share Our Strength and Food Bank for New York City.

My Status: Enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens (see this post!).  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective. Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Last weekend was a whirlwind 24 hours of food.  Oh, yes, there was some wine (for Robert) thrown into the mix as well.  Saturday I spent the day at Artisanal L.A. at the Cooper Building in downtown Los Angeles, and Sunday Robert and I went out to Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu for Los Angeles Magazine’s ‘The Food Event 2010 From the Vine.’  (This post is broken into two parts ~ Part 1 (Artisanal L.A.) and Part 2 (Los Angeles Magazine’s The Food Event 2010).  Part 2 to be published soon.)

Artisanal L.A.

A first-of-its-kind event in Los Angeles, put on by the indefatigable Shawna Dawson of Sauce|LA (the mastermind behind the recent LA Street Foodfest(s), Artisanal L.A. was a weekend long community event that celebrated Los Angeles’s finest local, sustainable and handmade edibles all under one roof.  There were chef demos, panels and workshops, and attendees tasted, shopped, sampled and learned while supporting the local economy and local artisanal vendors.  This was my kind of event!  Located in the light-filled penthouse of the Cooper Building, it had a casual, relaxed vibe that fit perfectly with the goals of Sauce|LA:  to introduce to, and remind the public about the many and varied local artisans that work, produce and live in the Los Angeles-area.

Rachael Narins of Chicks with Knives at her booth.

I saw many vendors I already new and met a few new ones.  Chef Akasha Richmond of Akasha Restuarant Bar Bakery in Culver City was there offering tastes of her new line of jams, jellies, marmalades and chutneys.  I’m a big fan of Akasha’s and I grabbed a jar of Local Mango Chutney.  We ate it at home that night with fried chicken and it was a mouthful of exotic fruitiness spiked with Indian spices.  I’ve been putting it on everything.  Another friend, Rachael Narins of Chicks with Knives was there too selling Bacon Jam and other pickled goodies that she and her partner, Suzanne Griswold make.  I grabbed a jar of Garlic Dill Pickles and Jalapeño Carrots.  When I’m not eating Akasha’s chutney I’m happily eating Chicks with Knives carrots and pickles.

Chicks with Knives pickled goodies!

Longtime friend, Kathleen Lewis and I explored the event together.  A personal chef, Kathleen and I go all the way back to the early ’80s when we both worked at the Oakville Grocery in San Francisco.  Oakville was one of the first gourmet grocers in the Bay Area.  The types of foods, and products we were seeing at Artisanal L.A. were akin to what we sold in the store:  fresh, local and sustainable whenever possible.  Kathleen was one of the chefs that cooked for the prepared foods counter.  The thing about Kathleen and last Saturday morning at Artisanal L.A. is that we’d not seen each other in over twenty-five years until I stepped off the elevator at the penthouse level of the Cooper Building.  It was so good to see her, and to catch up.  It’s always a nice thing to see an old friend.  Kathleen and her husband have been living in Los Angeles, right under my nose, for 17 years.

Jennifer Priette of Out of the Box Collective.

‘Eat The Love’ is the brilliant catch phrase used by a new friend, Jennifer Piette of Out of the Box Collective.  Out of the Box is a new company owned by Piette and her business partner Erik Stenberg aka The Surfin’ Chef.   Like a CSA but not limited to produce, Out of the Box makes living the local life an attainable goal by offering home delivery of weekly boxes of local, sustainably produced groceries including meat, dairy, produce, conserves, and regional specialties.  Most of the food stuffs are sourced from artisans and farmers in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Erik puts the weekly boxes together and includes recipes using the food items of that week’s box.  I LOVE what they do.  The company is new so at the moment deliveries are only made on the Westside of Los Angeles.  At my suggestion, Jennifer attended Artisanal L.A.  I hope it helped generate interest.  I’ll be going with Jennifer next weekend as she shops the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers’ Market, and I’ll meet Erik too.  In an upcoming blog post I’ll write about them, and Out of the Box.

My goal in life is to become a Gentleman Farmer.  Before I graduate to that post I’d like to own a beehive.  Given that desire Kathleen and I attended a lecture at Artisanal L.A. put on by Backwards Beekeepers.  Backwards Beekeepers are a local Los Angeles-area collective of small-scale chemical-free beekeepers that rescue feral bees and teach beekeeping skills.  I currently live in a condo, and my neighbors probably won’t tolerate a hive on my back porch so I asked the Backwards Beekeepers about people who might donate their yards or property to those of  us who want to have hives but can’t.  Backwards Beekeepers said they know of many people who are ready to offer their yards, or property.  Even more fun than that Pat Saperstein of Eating L.A. was at the lecture and offered me her backyard when she moves back into her Silver Lake house next Spring.  I may be taking you up on your offer Pat!  Two other fun meets were Craig and Gary of Winnetka Farms (an urban micro farm located in the west San Fernando Valley that specializes in heirloom Italian seeds) and Amelia Posada of Lindy & Grundy (an artisan butcher shop opening in the Fairfax District in December).  Both Winnetka Farms and Lindy & Grundy are doing great things for local food.  I LOVED Artisanal L.A. and I hear another one is coming up soon.  I’ll definitely be there again.

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to So Cal.  Cool, wet even rainy.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

News! I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ published on October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: next blog post ‘24 Hours of Food ~ Part 2: Los Angeles Magazine’s The Food Event 2010.’ Soon: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  Cookbook Reviews:  Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Bon Appétit Desserts.

(Sub) Urban farmers.  DIY butchering.  Beehives on city rooftops.  Herd shares.  Farm-direct pork and beef.  Homemade, artisan everything.   There has been an explosion of interest in self-sourcing the food we eat.  Why not buy half a pig?  Have backyard chickens?  Grow our own vegetables?  It’s a far cry better than buying our food cut up, pre-packaged, wrapped in plastic from a chain grocery store.  I eventually want to own hens for their eggs.  I’d be quite happy having a beehive somewhere.  I’ve been toying with learning more about butchering (if I can get past my modern squeamishness).  My sister who lives in Marin County recently bought into a herd share at a family farm in Petaluma, California.  She now gets farm-fresh raw milk, yogurt and kefir once a week.  A fellow food blogger and friend, Kristina Johnson of Former Chef, bought a whole pig from a pig farmer near Grants Pass, Oregon.  (Read about her experience here ~ ‘On Buying a Pig’.)

The front of the house where the backyard chickens live in Van Nuys, California.

Urban farmers, and new friends Ted and Nicole live in Van Nuys, a residential area of the vast San Fernando Valley.  They’ve had their three hens since April when they were one day old.  The girls (’Eenie,’ ‘Meenie’ and ‘Miney’) recently started laying.  In three weeks they have given Ted and Nicole eighteen eggs.  Last Sunday Robert and I went out to meet the hens – and we fell in love with both them and their products.  Ted and Nicole hail from Upstate New York and a more rural background.  Ted’s work recently brought the couple to Los Angeles.  Both Ted, a very do-it-yourself kind of guy, and Nicole missed the rural experiences of their childhoods; the gardens and farms they grew up with.  After they planted a garden around the pool in their rental house the idea of having hens for eggs seemed like a natural progression.  Ted’s DIY nature kicked in, he read the book ‘Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens’ by Gail Damerow.  He did the requisite research regarding sourcing, housing, feeding and caring for backyard chickens.  After the chicks grew too big for the box they lived in in the guest bathroom they were moved to a dog crate, when they were mature enough they were moved outside to the coop and chicken run that Ted built.

Ted chose White Rock hybrids; a breed known for their heartiness and for being good layers.  After considering buying the hens on the Internet he found them for a lot less money at Agoura Feed in Agoura, California.  White rocks live four to six years and have two to three good laying years.  Normally after a hen stops laying it gets ‘culled’ but in this case the couple said they will probably keep them instead of eating them (they broke the cardinal rule of never naming your farm animals).  Ted did say that the next batch would not be named and probably culled at the end of the laying cycle.

The hens are still young and only recently started laying. The golf balls were placed there to encourage them to lay.

A chicken coop (in the background of the shot) with a pool-view! Not a bad life for a chicken.

Farmer Ted holding one of his girls. Note the T-shirt.

These were sitting on Ted and Nicole’s kitchen counter.  The couple describe the flavor of the eggs as being richer, creamier, deeper and having more texture than store bought eggs.  I was given some to take home and it’s all true.  What I noticed was how fresh they tasted.  That was the first thought I had.  There was absolutely a big difference in flavor.

Ted DeGolier and Nicole LaMonte-DeGolier with the eggs they gave me to take home.

Thank you Ted and Nicole, urban farmers, for introducing us to your backyard chickens.  It was a delicious and enlightening experience.  A final resource for anyone considering their own backyard chickens is Murray McMurray Hatchery.

Magnolia Bakery's Pink Ribbon Cupcake benefiting the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.

Shout Outs! Fun, Cool, Interesting, Worthy Things Going on Around Town…

Magnolia Bakery (Los Angeles) ~ Purchase a Pink Ribbon Cupcake, (or several!) from Magnolia Bakery during the month of October.  Proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.  www.magnoliabakery.com

Out of the Box Collective (Los Angeles) ~ A brand new business that home-delivers boxes of local, sustainably produced groceries.  The food items used in the boxes are sourced from artisans and farmers in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Boxes contain meat, dairy, produce, bread, conserves, and regional specialties.  They have a Thanksgiving Feast Box available for the upcoming holiday that will supply you with all the ingredients and a few suggested recipes if you don’t have the time to shop but still want to cook.  www.outoftheboxcollective.com

Artisanal L.A. ~ A weekend of shopping, tasting, workshops, and hanging out with local artisans.  A celebration of L.A.’s finest local handmade artisanal edibles.  October 23 & 24, 11 am to 4 pm.   I’ll be there (Saturday, 10/23), will you?  http://artisanalla.com/

The Food Event: From the Vine 2010 – Los Angeles Magazine ~ Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1 pm to 4 pm, Saddlerock Ranch, Malibu, California.  The 5th annual culinary extravaganza hosted by Los Angeles Magazine featuring celebrity chefs, top restaurants and wine tasting.  I’ll be there.  Hope to see you.  www.losangelesmagazine/thefoodevent

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to SoCal.  Cool, wet even rainy.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

News! I am now published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the upcoming cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ publish date is October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews ~ Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller; Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.

Felicia Friesema

There’s a reason Felicia Friesema writes the farmers’ markets report for the L.A. Weekly.  There’s also a reason she leads tours of area farmers’ markets.  She really knows her vegetables and fruits — intimately, passionately.  She is a fount of produce information, and loves sharing her knowledge.  I recently had the pleasure of joining a tour she gave of the Hollywood Farmers’ Market; one of the largest farmers’ markets in the Los Angeles-area.  I learned so much.

Felicia leading our group at the Hollywood Farmers' Market

I’m not big on crowds.  I used to go to the Hollywood Farmers’ Market every Sunday until it got too popular, and too crowded.  It was certainly hard to stop as it is on par with the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market when it comes to quality and variety of produce, and the vendors who sell there.  Felicia’s tour helped me see the market in a brand new light.  We started early, around 8:30 a.m. after we had coffee, breakfast pastries, and an informal coffee chat with Robert Mozejewki, Operations Manager, at groundwork coffee company (retail shop on the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga).  Groundwork is a Los Angeles-based coffee roaster with retail stores; a certified organic roaster, it sources sustainable coffee beans from around the world.  Starting a bit earlier at the market really helped, it was a lot less crowded.  Felicia who goes to the market often knows many of the vendors personally.  She introduced us to several.  We ate oysters at the Carlsbad Aqua Farm, learned about herbs from Lily Baltazar at ABC Rhubarb Farms, and marveled at the mushrooms at LA Funghi.

Oysters at Carlsbad Aqua Farm Stand

Patrick, our oyster expert, and shucker at Carlsbad Aqua Farm

Shucking our fresh oysters

Herbs from ABC Rhubarb Farms

ABC Rhubard Farms herb stand

Lily Baltazar, ABC Rhubarb Farms

Mushrooms from LA Funghi

More mushrooms from LA Funghi

Along the way we sampled and ate, looked and drooled, and bought to take home for later.  Felicia showed us many of her favorite in season fruits and vegetables, and some of her favorite vendors.  One of Felicia’s recommendations is a new favorite of mine: Kyoho grapes.  Luscious, juicy, inky and full of grape flavor.  The grapes came from a vendor that is in a section of the market for those farmers non-certified California grown.  I was unaware that there was a section for produce not grown in California.  The market must keep them separate from the certified California vendors to maintain its ‘certified’ status.  I also learned that not every vendor is necessarily certified organic, and that one must ask before buying.  When someone asked the grape vendor if the grapes were organic the answer was no, they were spray free but not certified organic.  We learned to ask the vendors questions, to develop a relationship with them, and not to assume that any farmers’ market is fully certified organic.  I watched as Felicia interacted with various vendors — all were more than willing to answer questions, and talk about their products.

Nectaplums? So many new hybrid fruits all the time. This one was new to the group. We all quite liked it.

Red Flame Grapes

As we moved through the market and as Felicia stopped, picked up produce to show us, or to ask a vendor a question I was reminded of shopping this way when I lived in France.  At the green grocer I asked questions, they offered samples, there was a give and take.  Unfortunately, I fell back into the very American grocery store habit of one stop shopping, of filling up an over-sized cart.  Felicia’s tour showed me how to manage the crowds, what to look for, how to talk to vendors, and what questions to ask.  I may have to weave the Hollywood Farmers’ Market back into my shopping routine.  At least get over to it occasionally when I need a change of pace from my neighborhood farmers’ market in Atwater Village.

"Take one large artichoke..."

To find out when Felicia’s leading her next farmers’ market tour, follow her on Twitter: @feliciafriesema, or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/feliciafood

My Status: Still enjoying the coolest summer we’ve seen in Los Angeles in years (apologies to all readers living east of the Rockies).  Eating, cooking, restaurant-ing, blogging and writing.  A food-filled trip to San Francisco to join my friend, Chef Jeremiah Tower, coming up this weekend.  The IFBC at the end of August (see below), and a trip to Sonoma County in September: returning to Zazu & Bovolo…

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews ~ Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller; Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell.

Chefs John Stewart & Duskie Estes at the 'Chefs' Holidays at The Ahwahnee' event. January 2010. Yosemite, California

Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes are a husband and wife cooking team who own two restaurants in Sonoma County: Zazu Restaurant and Farm just outside Santa Rosa, California, and Bovolo Restaurant on the square in Healdsburg, California.  They are cooks who embrace a local, sustainable, ultra-fresh, from-the-garden cooking style wholeheartedly and without fail.  Not only do they have a kitchen garden at Zazu that supplies both restaurants with super fresh produce but they also raise pigs, sheep and chickens at their Sonoma County home.

John makes his own salumi having trained with Mario Battali, and at the University of Iowa Meat Lab.  Duskie prides herself in cooking high brow low food.  She likes to update classic American comfort foods using locally sourced ingredients.  She also competed on the ‘Food Network Challenge’ in 2007.  John’s style of cooking is authentic and rustic Italian.  He is responsible for their line of Black Pig Meats, bacon and salumi. Their philosophy includes no waste, and they use every part of the animal also known as ’snout-to-tail.’  They either raise the proteins they use and eat themselves, or know the person who does.  They are committed ‘to finding ingredients as close to their restaurants as possible, harvested at peak ripeness, and doing as little as possible to alter their natural perfection.’

Each time I head north from my home in Los Angeles to Sonoma County I eat at both of their restaurants.  The food is always exciting, with clean, simple, direct flavors, highly interesting while still being authentic, and the best food I’ve eaten in months. These innovative chefs have become my cooking heroes.  I recently had the opportunity to interview them at the ‘Chef’s’ Holidays at The Ahwahnee’ event in Yosemite.

Charles G. Thompson: As you both know I’m a huge fan of what you do.  First off, how did you become involved in the local food movement?

Duskie Estes: In Sonoma County the wineries are still family owned, and there’s still a diversity of agriculture.  We want it to stay that way because there’s so much soul in that direct connection to people over larger businesses.  When we saw what happened to Napa, and what could happen to Sonoma we became more and more dedicated to making sure we purchased conscientiously to help preserve the local small farmer.  Everything grows there, and all the proteins are available to us there, every awesome vegetable, the longer we’re there the more we get into it ourselves.

John Stewart: Very personal choices drive what we do, they’re not economic choices.  From a straight cost analysis it’s not always the smartest thing to support everything we do but it is definitely the right thing to do.  At the end of the day we want to be able to hold our heads high and know that what we did was right.  For me it all started when we were looking at our house and there were chickens behind it.  We had purchased other homes so I knew you could ask for things to be written into the deal like people’s living room furniture.  I asked for the chickens.  Our real estate person thought it was hilarious but I was like no, I want the chickens.

CGT: That’s a great story.  That brings to mind: there seems to be a huge upswing in urban farming.  Non-farmers, or city dwellers creating mini-farms at home.

JS: I think a lot of people start out that way having chickens kind of like cats.  If they have food, chickens do their own thing.  They’re kind of independent of you.  But you also have to be careful.  We had a vineyard in our backyard and everyone told us you have to put down synthetic fertilizers.  So we put down synthetic fertilizers, and then we saw our free range chickens run over and eat it, and we thought, wow, that can’t make sense so we stopped using the fertilizer.  It just goes from there.  Duskie did an event where this woman, Deborah, had Babydoll sheep so we got some sheep to care for the vineyard in a biodynamic way.  They can be in the vineyard and unlike goats they won’t go up on their hind legs and eat the fruit.  They wander through, they fertilize, and they eat.  You don’t have to put machinery through your vine rows to stop weeds, and such, your sheep do it.

Farfalline Pasta Carbonara, House Made Bacon, Farm Egg, Parmesan at Bovolo Restaurant, Healdsburg, California

CGT: Recently there’s been so much talk about the ‘politics of food.’  Could you both comment on that?

DE: I grew up in a political household.  My parents are very active politically but I’ve always felt powerless when it comes to politics.  To me the power I feel I have is purchasing power.  I make sure whether it’s a food related purchase, or something else I need not to shop at Walmart but to go to the small independent clothing store instead.  I make sure there’s a face where my money’s going and that it’s not lost out there to an unknown entity.

JS: I’ve read a lot of Wendell Berry and Michael Pollan, and in reading these guys you really see the negative consequences of the American imperative of bigger is always better.  The farms in the 60s and 70s passed the scale of where they really should be.  Now we’re seeing all the economic and environmental consequences from these farms that are so massive.  They’re not good for the people that work there, they’re not good for the animals that are raised there.  The end product is bland and boring.  It’s cheap and there’s a lot of it which Americans tend to love but it’s boring, tasteless food.  People need to start thinking more consciously about where their food comes from.  In Europe a lot of this was never lost because they didn’t have as much land to scale out.  Their farmers had to stay small and diversified.  We were listening to Michael Pollan interview Wendell Berry recently.  Wendell Berry for 50 years now has gone on and on about the loss of American agriculture, and the loss of small scale farmers.  Sort of the beginning of the end.  He may be a little alarmist and a little out there but a lot of it is rooted in truth today.

The sign for Bovolo Restaurant, Healdsburg, California

CGT: Eating ‘locally’ is probably easier for those of us living in California, wouldn’t you say?

JS: Yes, we’re lucky being in California.  Not everyone has access to what we do so we can’t look down on them.   But if a food revolution really does get going it’s going to happen in all those Midwestern states.  That’s where the land is.  It’s not going to happen in the Bay Area, or the West Coast, not even the northeast.  There will be smaller farms and more regional differences. Like how Gravenstein apples grow around us, but Macintosh, or Romes, or Empires grow in New York.  For a long time I worked with Berkshire hogs which are also known as black pigs.  They came from Iowa and it was great because they were organic.  But a lot of people have made the case that if your organic raspberry comes from Chile then how organic is it if it has been flown in from somewhere so far away? So I started working with farmers from Oregon with a different breed of pig trying to get as close to us as possible to lessen the carbon footprint.  We all need to start thinking about our purchasing. Whole Foods may be the best option for a lot of people in a lot of places but for us it’s not.  We drive by small produce markets that are locally owned so if we spend our money at them it stays in Sonoma County.  Spend it at Whole Foods and it goes back to Texas.

CGT: Before Sonoma County you were both in Seattle.  Seattle’s a great food town.  What brought you to California?

DE: We met in Seattle.  I grew up in San Francisco and my parents lived in both Healdsburg and Oakland.  When we started to have children we wanted them to know and be close to family so we moved down to Sonoma County.  We adore Seattle, it’s awesome, and there are so many great farmers up there.

JS: We worked for Tom Douglas [a Seattle-based restaurateur] up there, and that involved working with a lot of local farmers, and those experiences led to what we do now.  A lot of berries and mushrooms among other things came from people who grew or foraged them.  We probably knew a whole lot less about wine than we do now but we knew all the local farmers.

CGT: That must have been more of an urban lifestyle because you were living in the city?

JS: Yes, we lived in the city but we drove out to the farms.  It’s probably where I got interested in making food because we would leave the city, and there would be all these berry farms and fruit farms.  I started making jams and jellies, and canning.  A flat of strawberries costs $15 and they were delicious.

World Famous Pork Cheek Sandwich with Roasted Peppers, Salsa Verde at Bovolo Restaurant, Healdsburg, California

CGT: Was the Mario Battali connection from Seattle, or through his father [Mario's father, Armandino Batali, a salumist, owns 'Salumi Artisan Cured Meats,' a shop in downtown Seattle]?

JS: Through Seattle but Duskie and I were also doing work on the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.  Duskie’s still involved and has done it now for 11 or 12 years.  I went for about 5 years and we got to know Mario through that, then we met him at a party in Seattle, and I talked to him about curing.  He’s a great guy, he’s giving with his knowledge, a great teacher, a nurturer of people.

CGT: Any frustrations with living the local lifestyle?

JS: There are times where we live – it’s not New York, it’s not San Francisco.  There’s a lack of a concentration of people.  We often joke that we have a lot more fans in Los Angeles and New York then locally.  People that readily understand what we’re doing more so than the people who grow, or raise our food.  They grow carrots, raise rabbits, and chickens.  They raise all their own products so they already get it.  They never left this farming lifestyle so who cares if it’s grass fed beef? There’s grass fed beef right out their windows.

CGT: Are you able to get away to San Francisco?

DE: 3 or 4 times a year.  Or sometimes we have an event to be at.  We probably only go out to dinner once a year.

JS: Where we live there isn’t much diversity with low end, ethnic foods like authentic barbecue for example.  There’s great Mexican but not much else.

DE: Or like that Korean barbecue dude, Kogi?  Even that whole truck phenomenon.  I’d love to do a truck.  That would be so up our alley to do like corn dogs and sausages but no one is going to come.  I’d be out there with my corn dogs all by myself.

CGT: You’d have at least one customer.  I’d drive up for that!  I love Sonoma County.  I went to high school in Santa Rosa.  Back in those days — 1976 to ‘77 — my mother wouldn’t let us go out to Guerneville, or the Russian River because it was too dangerous.  It’s changed so much since then.

DS: We opened Bovolo 5 years ago and Zazu 8.5 years ago.  My mother moved to Healdsburg 15 years ago and tried to convince us to move there from Seattle and open a place.  We walked around the square, and I was like, are you crazy?

JS: It was before the hotel, there were only a few Mexican restaurants, real bikers not the middle-aged guys on Harleys but real bikers, and that was it.  It wasn’t like it is today.

CGT: Well, thank you for taking the time to talk to me.  You’re doing amazing things.  I’ll definitely be in again on my next visit north.

JS: Thank you.  We’re very proud of the progress we’ve made.  We get Italian winemakers who say our food is better than what they get in Italy.  They really know what they’re talking about.

CGT: Indeed they do.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I attended this spring. Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

4.2 miles, about 12 minutes, from my home in Atwater Village.

I like my neighborhood. It feels like a neighborhood. In Los Angeles that’s saying something. Neighborhoods here can comprise large geographical areas. Maybe they’re actually more ‘areas’ than neighborhoods. I’ve lived in other areas of L.A.: the Fairfax district, Hollywood, West Hollywood. I moved to the eastside of Los Angeles in 1999; to Silver Lake. I quickly fell into the whole scene, the Silver Lake vibe. It reminded me of San Francisco, the East Village in New York: it wasn’t L.A. Funky, more laid back, more creative, more mixed: socially, economically, racially. I’d found my L.A. home. It all worked for me. I now live in Atwater Village — really just Silver Lake adjacent. Still quite happy in the neighborhood.

One of the reasons I like my ‘hood so much is the preponderance of locally owned and operated businesses: cafes, restaurants, bars, stores and shops. Auntie Em’s Kitchen is one such local business. Located in Eagle Rock, a neighborhood to the east of Atwater Village, it’s a longtime fixture in the East Side dining establishment. Owned by the indefatigable Chef Terri Wahl, the food is local, seasonal and prepared and served with a down home spirit that makes the dining experience fun and relaxing.

Robert and I had lunch there the other day. The place reminded me so much of the funky, vegetarian, hippy places I used to see all along Haight Street in San Francisco in the early 80s. Things at Auntie Em’s are loose around the edges, very laid back. Want coffee? Go to the self-serve coffee island and help yourself. The room we were seated in had a reach-in refrigerator that the cooks came to for supplies. In the back was a refrigerator case full of cheeses for sale. Not only does Auntie Em’s have a cafe and bakery but they also cater, sell housewares, condiments, sweets and cheese, and they recently began a farmer’s market produce delivery service. I signed up for the produce delivery and I love it. Terri and her staff keep a keen eye out for whatever is fresh and seasonal. They shop at the local farmer’s markets, and they work with local farmers and purveyors to keep up with what is seasonably available. The restaurant’s menu changes according to what is fresh and available.

We both ordered salads; Robert had the Tossed Cobb — chicken breast, apple wood smoked bacon, avocado, blue cheese, egg, tomatoes, scallions and romaine lettuce tossed with a house dressing. I had the Grilled Steak — thinly sliced marinated skirt steak, tomatoes, caramelized onions and blue cheese served on baby greens. The waitress told us that the first thing they were famous for was the Cobb salad. The next thing was the red velvet cupcake — a mini one of which came with the check gratis.

Auntie Em’s Kitchen is a full-service fresh, organic, local and sustainable operation. My kind of place. I am glad it’s part of my neighborhood.

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReportMy Status: enjoying all the summer produce; writing, cooking, blogging and eating!

Upcoming Posts: The Wedge Salad: a recipe, the origins of the salad and of Iceberg lettuce. Review: ‘The Barcelona Cookbook’. ]]> http://www.100miles.com/the-local-report-auntie-ems-kitchen/feed/ 1 http://www.100miles.com/the-local-100-redux/ http://www.100miles.com/the-local-100-redux/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:19:00 +0000 Charles Thompson http://100miles.com/?p=44 Needing to take a quick, deep breath (to do some food research and recipe testing), and also wanting to go back in time a bit, I am re-posting a previous blog post. I started this blog on January 30, 2009; as I am nearing the six month mark I thought I’d take a moment to pause and focus on why I started it. The post below was not my first post but it is the post where I explain why I started ‘100 Miles’, and what I hope it will accomplish. I’ve been posting recently about a great trip Robert and I took to Europe, and while all those posts were food-related, I now want to circle back around to the origins of the blog, and to more of the themes and activities that ‘living life locally’ engenders.

My great-grandmother, Ora Goodman, standing in her garden in Orcutt, California

This is a re-post from February 3, 2009.

Victory gardens. A White House farmer. The Slow Food movement. Eating local and organic. One hundred miles from where you live. The idea of keeping life local intrigues me. Not only as it regards food and eating but for living life in general. If we all lived our lives locally how different would they be? Quite different in my view. More intimate. Possibly more rewarding. None of these ideas are necessarily new. American chefs have been pushing ‘local’ for years. And I have no political agenda in writing this blog. Yes, living life locally will help the carbon footprint but I am not advocating total abstinence from living life – one should still travel to overseas locations, take trips by car and airplane, do the things that make life pleasurable. I just wonder — if our lives were consciously more intimate might they be more fulfilling?

As I mention in my blog description, my great-grandmother lived her life locally but it was by dint of circumstance not of choice. She and my great-grandfather were not rich people yet they lived an abundant life. Somehow they didn’t need a lot to survive. My great-grandmother’s backyard garden fed a family of four plus any and all visiting relatives for many years. My great-grandfather fished local waters, hunted with my great-uncle in local mountains, and grew fruits and vegetables in the garden. I learned very valuable lessons from them about living a simple yet satisfying life.

My great-grandparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman’s garden in Orcutt, California.

The idea for this blog actually came to me through a friend, Martine Rothstein, who makes every attempt to live her life locally. Her company, Burden Free Foods, uses only local ingredients in all its products. On a recent visit we were discussing buying and cooking with local ingredients only. Through her work with her company she has sourced many local New Jersey farmers and purveyors for both her business and her family. She mentioned trying to keep it all within a 100-mile radius. It made a lot of sense to me. I began to think about it as a way of life.

I live in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles — a small 3-block ‘village’ with restaurants, cafes, hair salons, a taco stand, yoga and dance studios, and various shops. On one end is a Starbucks, and in the middle is Kaldi Coffee & Tea, a small independent coffee house that roasts its own coffee beans. I am currently re-training myself not to automatically go to Starbucks (not a big fan anyway) but to go to Kaldi instead – a local business that needs my support. My partner, Robert, and I often walk from my condo to eat at one of the restaurants; we try to get to the weekly farmers market; and I recently started getting a haircut at Salon Mix, a local Atwater Village hair salon. All efforts to localize my life.

It is 100 Miles as a concept that I will explore in this blog. As well as a place where I will put down on paper memories of my experiences working in the food industry, of other foodies, chefs and friends I have met along the way. Old and new discoveries made. Places visited and recipes prepared. Amazing meals I have had. All with the idea that living closer to home as much as possible is ultimately better for the spirit.

One hundred miles from home.

Charles G. Thompson
February 3, 2009

End of re-post.

My Status: it’s been hot in Los Angeles, summer really is here (finally!); enjoying all the summer produce; writing, cooking, blogging and eating!

Upcoming Posts: The Wedge Salad: a recipe, the origins of the salad and of Iceberg lettuce. Review: ‘The Barcelona Cookbook’.

Seattle is most definitely a food (and coffee!) city. It’s also a gateway city: to Alaska, to the Pacific, and Asia further off. Large numbers of people come and go from it. Several flights a day arrive and depart to and from Asia and Alaska; cruise ships embark heading north up along British Columbia through the Inside Passage to Alaska, or out into the Pacific to far off destinations; Canada is just over the border a few hours north. The city is diverse culturally, and cosmopolitan in feel, yet still has a Northwestern charm all its own.

The Emerald City

I spent this past weekend in Seattle attending the International Food Blogger Conference, sponsored by Foodista, a cooking encyclopedia everyone can edit — the Wikipedia of food. The last time I was in, or near, Seattle was when I was about fourteen years old. My mother took my sister and I on a three-month long driving tour around the Northwest. I have dim memories of the city itself but do remember stopping at the beautiful Olympic Rain Forest on our way north. In any case I was anxious to visit this city again. Especially considering that since the early 7os when I was last there it has become a food mecca. I found it to be quite wonderful. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco, the damp weather, the hills, all the water, and the food. When I was in the Capitol Hill and West Seattle neighborhoods, I was reminded of Hillcrest in San Diego. Quiet, friendly neighborhoods, like small towns set amongst a thriving city. Yes, there is quite a lot of rain, wet and cold to reckon with if one lives in Seattle, but the beauty and quiet pace of life seemed like a nice balance. The amazing, sunny, mid-70s weather we had all weekend probably helped weave an emerald spell but even on the one damp day I was still smitten.

Food & Eating

Now let’s get to the food. My first night I ate alone at Spring Hill restaurant in West Seattle and I could not have been happier. The kitchen is open and I had a table at the very back facing forward into the dining room with the kitchen to my left. I sat, ate, observed, listened, ate more. I was quite impressed with the way the kitchen and dining room staff operated; with a quiet precision. Very few unnecessary movements. Almost like watching restaurant choreography. Not something I experience often. The restaurant is owned by the very capable husband and wife team, Chef Mark Fuller and Marjorie Chang Fuller who handles the front of the house. I spoke to Marjorie and learned that they’d be serving us lunch at the IFBC on Sunday so I got to see them again which was a treat. I ate the Chicken/Shrimp Paté, Green Garlic Mayonnaise, Turnips, Asparagus as a first course, and the Handmade Tagliatelle, Spicy Pork Belly, Hen of the Woods, Grilled Green Garlic, Parmesan as a main and I was, sadly, too full to squeeze in dessert. It was as delicious and as perfectly prepared as it sounds. Both dishes.

Earlier in the day I went to Pike’s Place Market — something I’d wanted to see for quite a long time. It didn’t disappoint. A lively, bustling and touristy place but it was all good. It was fun to see the original Starbucks and the not-quite-original Sur La Table store (it had moved from the original market location to where it is now). I had a very good lunch in a French place called Café Campagne. I sat in a window seat looking down the hill over the market to the water below and ate a delicious Burger d’agneau — Lamb burger with balsamic grilled onions, roasted peppers, aïoli and pommes frites. A perfect late lunch.

Food Bloggers

The IFBC was a lot of fun, I met some amazing people, ate great food prepared by local purveyors and learned a hell of a lot about food blogging. I now have two new Los Angeles-based food blogger friends, Jo Stougaard of My Last Bite and Afaf Serrato of Simply Heaven. The three of us had such a great time together. We all went to dinner at a great Italian restaurant, Spinasse, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, on Saturday night after attending a Q&A with Ruth Reichl who is out promoting her new book, “Not Becoming My Mother”. It was a hoot to see her, we all got a copy of the book which she signed for us. At Spinasse we shared several dishes two of which were Tajarin al ragu (fine hand cut egg pasta with ragu), and Ravioli di tapinambur al burro e salvia con pignoli (ravioli of Jerusalem artichokes with sage butter and toasted pine nuts). Jo and I had another amazing meal at Le Pichet on Sunday night, a Molly Wizenberg of Orangette fame recommendation. We ate L’Assiette de charcuterie and a salad of greens with confit of duck gizzards, Jo had the Boudin blanc et sa salade tiede aux chou-fleur et pommes de terre (Chicken-pork sausage, roasted, on a warm salad of cauliflower, potato, cornichon and spring onions) and I had Onglet frites (Grilled Oregon Natural beef hangar steak, on escarole, sauteed with olives and garlic, rosemary-red wine sauce). Old-fashioned, wonderful French food. We both were quite happy with our meals.

One of the more interesting IFBC panels took place on Sunday: “Passionate Purveyors & Producers”. One of the passionate purveyors was Carrie Oliver of Oliver Ranch. Carrie and Oliver Ranch promote ‘artisan beef’, and knowing where your beef comes from. As they say on their website: ‘Like fine wines, beef flavor & texture are influenced by breed, growing region, diet & the unique skills of those who raise it’. I’d never actually thought about it like that but it does make sense. I found all she had to say very interesting and wanted to know more. Jo, Afaf, Phil Nigash of My Life As A Foodie and I are hoping to do an artisan beef tasting this fall that Oliver Ranch organizes. It should be a lot of fun as well as informative.

Some of the amazing bloggers I met over the weekend: Chef Reinvented, Fork This, My Last Bite, Not Without Salt, Phoo-D, Plumpest Peach, Recipe Girl, Simply Heaven, The Well Tempered Chocolatier. A long list of local chefs, restauranteurs, and purveyors supplied the conference with wine, cheese, coffee, chocolate, breakfasts, lunches, drinks, snacks, hors d’oeuvres. All locally produced using local products when possible. We ate very well. There seems to be a nice community of food people who seem to support one another in Seattle.

There’s so much more to tell and write about but this is long enough so I’ll end it here leaving you with a little hodge-podge of things that happened during my frield trip to the Northwest. It was an amazing weekend and I am now a huge fan of Seattle, and all the food people who live and cook there.

My Status: Robert and I leave for Paris, the Languedoc, Barcelona and Madrid on Sunday, May 24, returning home on Saturday, June 6.

Upcoming Posts: France and Spain: if all goes well technologically, and time allows, I’ll be posting blogs from Europe. The Wedge Salad: a recipe, the origins of the salad and of Iceberg lettuce when I return.
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