Earlier this summer, I collected seeds and starts from a variety of places around my home in Portland, OR. But perhaps my favorite of those places was the Silverton Farmer’s Market in Silverton, OR – a town that holds a special place in my heart. Among the very few booths in Town Square Park on Saturday mornings, there was one that sold good-looking starts of all kinds… well, not of all kinds but somehow exactly what I was looking for every time and more. I visited them a few times and now have a lovely handful of veggies growing from their starts in my garden.

One of the starts I brought home was Lemon Cucumber. I had never had a Lemon Cucumber before and without even attempting to figure out what the name implied, exactly, I planted it and waited for the vegetable mystery to unfold. I suppose part of me assumed that it would simply be a cucumber with a slight tinge of lemon. Oh no. Lemon Cucumber does not taste like a lemon – it looks like a lemon, and it’s fabulous! Imagine my delight when I f0und my plant growing whitish-yellow ovular little things!

They’re very good. The taste is not far off from a ‘normal’ cucumber but they’re refreshing, they’re a convenient size and they look awesome in the garden!

I made a lovely summer salad with my first one. I topped a bed of mixed baby greens with roasted hazelnut (an Oregon specialty I have grown to appreciate enormously), goat cheese, heirloom tomato, oliveoil-citrus-shallot dressing and my cute little Lemon Cucumber. Mmm.

About a month ago, I planted cilantro in a big Terra Cotta pot on my front stoop. Being a first time cilantro grower I was not completely sure what to expect, though I had ideas after reading reports from other cilantro gardeners. Those ideas proved reality when I came home from a long weekend and my cilantro had grown to a bundle of thick, two feet tall stalks with big leaves! Like many plants, you have to harvest cilantro often if you would like it to keep producing those tasty little leaves for you. So I needed something that would allow me to use up all those tall stalks at once before they flowered. The solution: cilantro pesto, something I’d been wanting to try for some time. When I told my dad about this, my dad being a very good but somewhat traditional cook, he simply told me it was ‘not pesto.’ Well, sure, there was no basil (or parmesan or pine nuts) but it still captures the essence of pesto. {I tried to explain that I am a modern, adventurous cook and there was much to be discovered and enjoyed in experimentation but he sort of just made one of those grumbly dad sounds and said something like, “sounds fun, honey.” He would have eaten it though… and loved it I’m sure.}

The essence of pesto, I’ve decided, is a fresh, green, slightly nutty, olive-oily garnish fit for pasta and dips and, well, whatever else you see fit. So after checking out a few recipes online, including this one on Little House in the Suburbs, a fantastic, creative blog I chanced upon while looking for recipes, I made my way to the kitchen for my own cilantro pesto adventure. Here is how it went -

{these measurements are rough}

1 bunch cilantro

3-4 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons chopped red onion

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup pistachios

salt & pepper to taste

Pluck the leaves from the cilantro, although you can use the stalks too if you’d like, or if you’re lazy, before adding them to a food processor or blender. Add the garlic, onion, olive oil and pistachios and blend until smooth. Add more olive oil if mixture is dry. Add salt&pepper and blend just a bit more. Et voila!

We added this pesto to some pasta with sauteéd mushrooms and onions, I put a hearty dollop of it in the egg mixture for my quiche the next day, and another dollop in our scrambled eggs this morning! It goes well with many things, so don’t be shy. It’s also a great shortcut for seasoning things, quiche for example, which I added no other seasing to that day.

So if you or someone you know has a cilantro surplus, give this a try. Or just get a bunch at your farmer’s market. And enjoy!

]]> http://steakandberries.com/2010/06/10/cilantro-pesto-please/feed/ 0 http://steakandberries.com/2010/04/19/home-garden-the-portland-way/ http://steakandberries.com/2010/04/19/home-garden-the-portland-way/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:15:19 +0000 giselle http://steakandberries.com/?p=400

“It seems to me that our three most basic needs for food, security and love art so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love.” -M.L.K. Fisher

While we were without a home (for 11 months), certain things came up, things that made us excited for our next home, and bread and beer were two major points in those discussions. So when we baked bread & made beer on a recent Sunday, I knew I was home. Gavin has been brewing (very tasty) beer for some time now but I had never made bread. I’ve been a very enthusiastic baker for a long time and have baked a myriad of other occasional, and often sinfully sweet, treats but somehow I’d never made oh-so-useful, everyday, hearty bread. I decided to start with an Irish Potato Bread recipe from The Easy Way to Artisan Breads & Pastries by Avner Laskin, my Valentine’s Day gift from Gavin this year. It was delicious. And now that I’ve done it, I fully plan to make it a habit. Because we should always have bread on hand, it makes the house smell good and it really does taste best right out of the oven. And, as it turns out, it’s more or less just like baking anything else! Oh, and you do not need a Breadmaker to make bread. If you have an oven, you can have homemade bread.

One of the many things I found attractive about Portland when we were thinking of moving here was this city’s apparent affinity for gardening. And I have found it to be doubly true now that we’re here. In our own home, we are coming up with creative ideas for creating as much growing space as possible. We don’t have a huge backyard so things will soon be growing in our front yard (a common thing for “close-in” Portlanders), on windowsills and on our front stoop.  I must say, it is fun coming up with creative solutions to sustain my desire for home-grown veggies. I’ve already got a bundle of stuff on that stoop (including chives which are just about the best thing to have on hand at all times), which makes walking up to my front door as lovely and comforting as I can imagine. I discovered some strawberry plants out front and after giving them some much-needed TLC, they are now flourishing and seem to be eager for their summer fruit. I also planted a friendly cabbage right next to ‘em and we’ve got some hops growing (very quickly) along our front path! And since Portland seems to be notorious for late frosts, I’ve started a couple seedlings inside. I am most excited about my tomato sprouts, which are doing very well right on our bookshelf under the biggest, brightest window in our house.

So… the moral of this story is that if you are interested in growing edibles in or around your home, you can do it. Watch your outside space and indoor window spaces for a few days and try to pick out the spots that get a substantial amount of sun, then plan how, what and when you can plant there. Don’t be fooled by a lack of dirt, there are tons of easy plans for planter-box gardens out there and lots of free wood to make them with (try craigslist). A great reference for gardening in small spaces is a book called Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler, a very successful urban gardener. So find that window in your house and plant some seedlings to put in the ground or in your boxes – just make sure they stay relatively warm. I assure you it’s very exciting to wake up to new sprouts in your living room! I’ve also been taking advantage of Portland Metro’s free gardening classes to learn more about gardening at home (I still have a lot to learn). The teachers are very knowledgeable, it’s free and it’s amazing how much you can learn in an hour! If you’re looking to add to your gardening knowledge, try finding gardening classes in your city or town at nurseries, community gardens and schools nearby. And start gardening! You’ll probably love it, especially when you come home to herbs on your front porch or find yourself eating home-grown tomatoes in a few months.

When I looked up home in an Oxford American Dictionary, I found the following definition among many less interesting ones: “A place where something flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates.” I really like the first part of that definition.

*photo by my (very talented) friend, James De Leon

alright, i’m officially back. Not just back in the United States but back to more regular blogging habits. Now that I don’t have to find an internet cafe and pay for the use of a computer every time I want to get online. Which, I have to admit, is pretty great. Because I’m a little nerdy and I love the internet. But that should be obvious since I just mentioned my ‘blogging habits.’

We returned from SE Asia safe and sound about 3 weeks ago. To put it simply, the trip was fantastic. It was interesting, weird and fun. It was definitely a world apart from what I am used to, which is always good. It was also just where I needed and wanted to be for those four months. But now I am happy to say that I am happy to be back. Because a new adventure has begun. And it’s all happening in Portland, OR… (Still thinking of writing a few post-Asia posts about Asia in the near future. fyi.)

But before we made it here, we stopped in Los Angeles and San Francisco to visit people that we love. It took a few days to readjust to English, concrete, a cell phone and the lack of good street food but, eventually, we did it. That adjustment was made a lot easier by the presence of friends and family that we had missed a lot. Luckily, all of those things are continuing as we are with family and friends here in Oregon too. There have been meals, chats, walks, drives and hugs. The last thing being the best part, of course. But all of those things have been executed with lots of love, making my heart feel as though it is a red, heart-shaped balloon.

So now I’m going to share a recipe with you that I used for a particularly lovely meal with lots of dear, dear friends. It was Valentine’s Day. One very spectacular friend had decided to cook for all of us (and there were many) to celebrate the day. To note, the meal was almost as spectacular as she is… which means it was very, very good. I had volunteered to make the dessert because it had been over 4 months since I’d made a dessert, I love making dessert and my desserts are generally well-received among my circle of friends in San Francisco. I wanted it to be relatively easy because it wasn’t my kitchen and I wanted to watch Olympic Figure Skating too. So I found a cream puff recipe and made Lemon-WhiteChocolate-CreamPuffs… And they were delicious!

Here is the Cream Puff Recipe I used and here are the amendments I made to it:

• Instead of 2 packages of vanilla pudding mix, use 1 package of French Vanilla and 1 package of Lemon. Or just make your own lemon custard from scratch!

• Toss some white chocolate chips into your custard.

• Add a bit of sugar to the dough mix. A tablespoon or so.

• When the puffs are puffed and filled, sift some powdered sugar right over the top of ‘em.

These cream puffs are soft, sweet and unique. Kinda like friends. Thanks to all our cream puffs who treated us so well during our visits. Your sweetness will not be forgotten.

Let’s see… where did I leave you? In Thailand I believe. So now I want to give you the low-down on Malaysia since that is where we’ve been for the last month. And here’s how I plan to do it: food. Bet you didn’t see that coming…

After a month and a half in Thailand, the tastes of Malaysia were exciting and satisfying. The excitement of Malaysian cuisine comes from it being a mix of the distinct cuisines of the three most prominent ethnicities that are present in the country today. Let me explain…

#1 Our first stop in Malaysia was Pulau Penang, an island off the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia (the rest of Malaysia occupies a different piece of land and is where you find the spectacular home of so much of what you’ve seen on Planet Earth: Malaysian Borneo).  When we arrived there (after most business hours), we headed to Teluk Bahang, the beach where we decided to stay, by bus. When we got off the bus, the only sign of life was an extremely well-lit, 24-hour cafeteria looking place. We later learned that this was a Muslim, Indian food restaurant. Which means they did not sell beer but they did sell roti – the food we ate everyday on Teluk Bahang and nearly everyday after that while we were still in Malaysia. We tried and enjoyed a whole lot of Indian treats but roti holds a special place in our hearts. It was cheap, filling, and, most importantly, ridiculously delicious. It’s simple really – it’s just a type of bread. But it’s a buttery, flaky, warm type of bread and it usually comes with a small portion of curry to dip it in. And it always leaves a person smiling… Indian.

#2 Our next destination was the Cameron Highlands – a chilly, hilly and green landscape that hosts a couple of small towns that look stunningly similar to the old country of some European countries and is surrounded by lush jungle, which also happens to be one home of the world’s largest flower (It’s called Rafflesia, we saw it, it was amazing). While we were enjoying the cool weather here, we also enjoyed the cluster of food stalls just outside our guest house. We went there for just about every meal (the only exceptions being the obligatory roti now and then) and sorta became regulars at one stall in particular. It was run by a very cute Malaysian couple that wore matching bandanas which proudly donned the ultra-symbolic Canadian maple leaf. We just called them the Canadians. They were also both deaf so we exchanged a huge amount of smiles, which was really nice. A bi-product of this circumstance was that we got to just pointing at what we wanted and she got to just pointing at what we ought to have. Naturally, we always went with her suggestion. And this is where we had nasi lemak for the first time – an omni-present Malaysian dish that might actually be synonymous with breakfast. It was like their version of eggs & toast, only much more interesting. So let me explain this one. Or try anyway. I believe the words nasi lemak literally refers to the rice part of the dish, which is what I am going to encourage you to try to make, but is used to identify the whole dish. Which is this: delicious coconut-milk-soaked rice, a fried egg, little fried fish, peanuts, and, if you’re lucky, some lovely Malay-spiced chicken. I came to love this dish, all except the little fried fish, I have to admit I loathed their presence in any dish of mine but they were often present so I just had to deal with it. And I think you’d be surprised how a  little soaking in coconut milk takes rice to a whole new level… Malay.

#3 Next we headed to Melaka, an old port city with museums in ships, Portuguese forts and a glittering Chinatown. When we weren’t shopping for Christmas presents here, we were eating. For one of these eating breaks, we were drawn to an ornate storefront with an open-air dining space inside and a lot of people eating there. We got in line to be seated but when we got to the front of the line, he just asked us what we wanted to eat. We obviously didn’t know so he sort of just decided for us and shuffled us into the restaurant. What we got was chicken and rice balls in a real-real Chinese restaurant. These rice balls were wildly popular here, we saw them everywhere, and that’s probably because they’re awesome. It’s just rice formed into a perfect little ping-pong-ball-sized ball and served with some simple yummy chicken and sauce. Chinese food in Chinatown – charming… Chinese.

#4 I know I said three and that’s because this one doesn’t really count but I must share it with you. You see, after Melaka we headed to WWOOF farm #2; Kahang Organic Rice EcoFarm, to do some rice farming. We did said rice farming for about a week until the newly hired Thai rice farmers showed up on the scene and we were no longer an efficient way to get that rice farmed. So we were moved to the kitchen to cook for ourselves, about five other volunteers, about 7 permanent staff members and a variable number of guests visiting the farm. It was fun and exciting at first but began to get a bit tiring after, oh, the third or fourth meal cooked with the same exact ingredients. I eventually headed back outside for rice farming side jobs but Gavin stayed in the kitchen because, well, he’s a pretty nice guy and they needed the help in there. But that’s besides the point. The point is that with our limited ingredients and unfamiliar spice selection, we came up with a few. new Malaysia-inspired recipes to bring home. I won’t go into detail but I will describe the most important one. If you are like us and are in the habit of making breakfast potatoes nearly every weekend, then you may like this one: add some curry to your potatoes. Not a new idea, I know. Not genius either. But tasty. And we’d done it before, at home, but after about four rounds of potatoes and three different curries, we got it just right. So maybe that’s it – add the right curry and the right amount of it and keep trying until you get it just right. Then eat it with some scrambled egss maybe. Or maybe you want to just throw the eggs right in there with the taters, you know, when they’re good and crispy and properly curried. And maybe serve them with some nasi lemak on the side… sounds good, right?.. Us.

I suppose that’s it for now, I’ll let you get right to trying all these new treats out in your own kitchen… As for us, for now, we’re in Cambodia and loving it. More on that soon.

Happy cooking and happy eating!

The other night I spoke to my best friend, Melissa, on the phone for two hours. The thing is, I’m not that into being on the phone. I’m a face-to-face kinda gal. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize when extended conversation is necessary and I love getting in touch with my dearest and saying hello and/or making a date. But when it comes to casual conversation, don’t expect to keep me on the phone for much more than, say, 20 minutes . So what kept me on the phone that long you ask? Well, other than the fact that Melissa and I have had 19 years of conversational experience together, I speculate that we spent nearly all of the second hour talking about food – Melissa and I share very strong passion for food. Cooking and eating are two things we both do a lot of. And after she gave me a (not-so) brief rundown of the best shows on the Food Network right now and her latest culinary endeavors (all of which made me very hungry), we somehow got on the topic of  breadcrumbs. And, inspired by my BFF and fellow food lover, that is what I want to talk about.

One day, some time ago, I thought twice about the cardboard canister of breadcrumbs that most folks go get when a recipe calls for breadcrumbs. I don’t remember ever using them much but I decided I didn’t like the idea of them – because they just seem kinda sketchy and most people always end up with 4/5 of them left in their fridge after the meal they got them for. So I decided I wouldn’t bread anything if it wasn’t with homemade breadcrumbs. Which meant I had to figure out how to make breadcrumbs. Seems simple enough, right? I mean, you make breadcrumbs every time you eat a piece of toast. I suppose you could just continuously collect those and see what happens. But I found some tips on homemade breadcrumbs and came up with my own way to do it. And I’ve been doing it ever since. Thing is, they never really stuck quite as nicely as I would have liked them to so things didn’t coat very evenly. But they were still delicious. However, the other day when I was making some breaded fish with my dad, I was explaining to him that they didn’t always stick so well. And while the two of us stood in front of a very hot oven inspecting the plate of bread crumbs he said, “They usually need to be drier to stick.” And if this scenario were in a cartoon, this is when the lightbulb would have appeared above our heads and I discovered the final, vital step to very successful homemade breadcrumbs… So now that I’ve figured it out, here’s how I do it:

What you’ll need:

• 2-4 pieces of good sliced bread
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• grated cheese

Depending on the amount of food you’re breading, put a few pieces of sliced bread in a food processor and process until you have fine bread crumbs. *I like to use multi-grain breads – they’re very tasty and they crumb in such a lovely way. Add a bit of olive oil to your mix, something like 1/2 tablespoon per two pieces of bread, and run the food processor just a little more until the crumbs are evenly oily. *Add a bit more oil if they are still dry and repeat. *Also, try different oils depending on what you’re making, i.e. I used walnut oil the other day for breading white fish. And here’s my big secret: I add cheese to the breading. So far, parmesan cheese is my favorite. You can add it to the food processor when you add the oil, and you can add as much as you like. Just grate it and throw it in. And now for that final step – spread the bread crumbs evenly on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for just a couple of minutes. Check on them (with your fingers) to see when they’re dry. Then start breading.

And watch those breadcrumbs gloriously, evenly coat your food. Whatever food you want… How about green tomatoes?

Seriously though. That evening I had decided to make fried green tomatoes after buying some green tomatoes at the Torrance Farmer’s Market. I’d never seen green tomatoes for sale before and when I saw them, I knew something had to be done. When the very nice tomato vendor saw me (fascinated, curious, and full of desire) looking at them, he suggested that I try making fried green tomatoes. So I did. I followed This Recipe from SimplyRecipes.com (a recipe site I like more and more all the time). Just a few notes about the recipe – don’t worry about measurements and MAKE YOUR OWN BREADCRUMBS!

The Fried Green Tomatoes were delicious. I’ve mastered my breadcrumbs. And now I’m hungry again.

Happy Eating!

Last time I was here (here being Silverton, OR, where Gavin grew up and where his folks still reside), Gavin’s dad was working very steadily on a new vegetable garden. Now, just a couple of months later, the garden has exploded into a lush, green and fruitful carnival of healthy, grown vegetable plants. Just about anything one might need or desire at this time of summer. Among these vegetables are most of the ingredients necessary for SALSA! Big, juicy red tomatoes, white onions, red bell peppers and *hot* serrano peppers. So, in response to a request from Mama Lord, I took on making some fresh salsa as an afternoon project on one sunny Oregon summer day. I did some ‘roasted tomato salsa’ (my favorite kind of salsa) research, picked the aforementioned delicities from the garden, added a few other goodies to the mix and came up with the following recipe, which resulted in a very tasty summer salsa.

(This should be enough to get you and some cronies through one large bag of tortilla chips… and *maybe* have some leftover.)

You will need:

• 7 red tomatoes
• 1 white onion, quartered
• 4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 1 red pepper, cut in half and de-seeded
• 1 serrano pepper
• 3-4 green onions
• 8 sprigs of cilantro
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon cumin

* Adjust the amount of each ingredient to your liking as you go along – particularly the garlic, serrano pepper, salt, cilantro and cumin. (since you will, naturally, be consistently taste-testing your salsa as you prepare it)

Begin by setting your oven to broil. While it’s heating, get out a baking sheet (with rims) and spread out your tomatoes, onion quarters, red pepper halves, serrano pepper and garlic cloves on it. Put your veggie covered baking pan into the oven and broil until the veggies are roasted, about 15 minutes. But keep checking because it all depends on the heat of your oven. And some things may take longer than others so take things out as they are ready until everything is done. The tomatoes should be pretty soft and have black spots on them. The serrano peppers & garlic should be soft inside.

Get out a bowl to toss all your ingredients into after you do the following: Chop the tomatoes to get a proper salsa consistency (they will be pretty mushy so you won’t need to chop much), dice the onions, chop the red pepper, remove the seeds from the serrano pepper then mince it THOROUGHLY, peel the garlic and mince the clove.

Stir those things around in the bowl before adding the rest of your ingredients. The green onions should also be chopped and the cilantro should be de-stemmed and chopped. Add the lime, salt, sugar and cumin and mix the whole concoction to your heart’s delight. Give it some time (at least half an hour) for the flavors to set in and meld together. Then bust out those tortilla chips and ENJOY!

Well, we pulled it off – the engagement party in a week. I learned a lot about what it takes to throw an elegant party for more than, say, 15 people. After our trip to the farmer’s market, I spent time compiling and creating recipes, preparing dishes, decorating, gardening, crafting party favors and making flower bouquets while my mom got the house and yard ready. All that certainly kept us busy for the week but it was all worth it on Friday, when our house was filled with smiling family and friends celebrating what we all agree is a very joyful union. So in case you were wondering after reading about all the goodies I picked up at the farmer’s market, here is the “Summer Menu” I came up with:

Hors d’ouevres – Beet & Goat Cheese Crostinis, Chard & Onion Pizza

Salads – Chinese Chicken Salad (from Bon Appetit, our beloved little local cafe and catering spot where I worked in high school…), Tabouleh (prepared by my mother), and Green Salad with walnuts, avocados, caramelized onions, goat feta and mustard vinaigrette

Main Dishes – Maui Salmon cooked in banana leaves with pineapple (also from Bon Appetit),  and Pasta Casserole with penne pasta, homemade tomato sauce, sauteed leeks, garlic, gruyere and parmesan

Desserts – Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Fresh Fruit and Fresh Whipped Cream

Unfortunately, in the midst of the kitchen flurry that ensued as the party took off, I failed to get photos of all this food. But I’m hoping you’ll use your imagination or even try to make some of it yourself… That said, I thought I’d share with you one of my own recipes from this menu – I’m going with the Chard & Onion Pizza, which seemed to be the most popular. Luckily, it also happens to be pretty easy.

You will need:

• Pizza Dough ~ make it yourself or check out a nearby Trader Joe’s, they’ve got some very yummy already-made pizza doughs
• Olive Oil
• Onions ~ For 1 pizza, I used 1 large white onion and about 10 little spring onions
• 1 bunch Swiss Chard
• 2-3 cloves Garlic
• 3 sprigs Rosemary
  
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 block White Cheese ~ I used handmade Goat Sage Cheddar & White Cheddar from the farmer’s market

***Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Begin by slicing all your onions lengthwise, leaving the slices fairly large. Next, chop the garlic, grate the cheese and pluck the leaves off the sprigs of rosemary. Set these prepared ingredients aside. Blanch chard in boiling water for two minutes. Set aside. Sauté garlic in olive oil for less than a minute, add onions to pan and sauté until they begin to brown and caramelize. Remove from pan. Roll pizza dough out to one medium sized pizza round (toss some flour on to your surface to avoid sticking dough).

**Sprinkle salt, pepper, rosemary and just a bit of cheese all over unbaked pizza dough. Spread chard leaves to cover dough, leaving about an inch at the edge (for crust). Cover chard with caramelized onions. Next, cover onions, with remaining cheese. Put your pizza on a pizza pan and throw it in the oven until the cheese melts and the dough begins to golden.

*Remove from oven, pour yourself a delicious drink and enjoy with good company.

At the end of the day, champagne glass in hand, I was very happy with what we had done. Our family and friends seemed full and content and Gannon and Andrea were sure to let me know how much they loved their party. I had a great time too and was so happy to be a part of such a nice celebration. Recently, I’ve though about something my mom asked me during our preparation – While I was making tomato sauce the day before the party, she asked me if I was sure I didn’t want to be a chef. I said yes, I’m sure… You see, if I became a ‘real’ chef, I wouldn’t be able to shop for ingredients at the local farmer’s market with my dad and my mom, I wouldn’t have three of my best girlfriends and my wonderful boyfriend as my sous chefs, I wouldn’t have my brother and his fiancée stopping in the kitchen to tell me they love me, I wouldn’t be able to serve dinner late or make mistakes and I wouldn’t be able to sit down and eat my own food with a crowd of people I love at the end of the night. So to all the people I know and love, I’ll be your chef anytime, but I think I’ll pass on culinary school for now.

And, once more, congratulations to Gannon and Andrea!

In the last month, we have spent one weekend in Tahoe, one week camping and three weeks doing an internship at StoneLake Farm. The weekend of the Summer Solstice (june 21) marked the end of our  internship where, each day, we worked in their organic garden and cared for their farm animals. Clearly, we were constantly reminded of the extraordinary workings of nature that I think we overlook all too often. I can’t begin to explain how much I learned from that experience but I can say that I’ve come out of it feeling great, with a whole new perspective on the land around me and perhaps a better idea of who I might like to be in this world.

**To be clear, Gavin is now in Oregon taking math and science classes and brewing lots of beer, the first in a handful of steps to him becoming a real-deal Brewmaster. I am in Torrance for a couple of weeks before I head to the Santa Cruz mountains to teach film at SDC summer camp for my third year.**

Naturally, the thing that stands at the center of everything I’ve learned in the past month is food – how it’s grown, where it comes from and what I ought to be eating. So you can imagine my excitement for the plan I had made with my dad to head to the Torrance Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning. We went to get almost everything we’ll need to feed the 60+ people that will be coming to our house on Friday evening for the engagement party we are hosting for my dear brother, Gannon, and his lovely fiancée, Andrea. I must admit that, until now, I have not been in the habit of going to Farmer’s Markets for my food (Although I had been receiving produce from a local CSA called Planet Organics for my last year and a half in San Francisco). But now that I realize the value of regular visits to the Farmer’s Market, I’ll never turn back.

We arrived at the market just after 8am and I was pleased to see that there were already plenty of folks there as happy as I was to find booth after booth of fresh California produce. Let me take a moment to focus on the California part – we are blessed with a landscape and climate that enables our farmers to grow a stunning variety of delicious food with amazing timing. We started by strolling through the market to check out what our choices were before making any purchases, passing by fruits and vegetables in green, purple, red, yellow and even pink. Soon enough, we were more than ready to start filling our bags, which we did with great enthusiasm and an incredible medley of edible gems that included leafy greens, chard, asparagus, beets, heirloom tomoatoes, pluots, peaches and cheese! The samples were as delicious as the produce was beautiful and the prices took me by surprise. I imagine you are taken by surprise too when someone asks you for $8 for 6 heads of lettuce and two bunches of beets. And on that note, I felt really good about handing that money directly to the friendly farmer, or even his or her 12-year-old daughter in between her greeting her regular customers.

After getting a few incredible homemade tamales from my dad’s favorite tamale seller, we headed home with a trunk full of yummy, fresh, local ingredients for our party. As we walked away, at about 9:30am, I noticed that the crowd in the market had grown significantly since our arrival. I was even more pleased at that moment to see that all those people seemed to have made a habit of spending their Saturday mornings at the Farmer’s Market, tossing warm greetings around to sellers and other market-goers. Aside from the familiarity they shared with each other, the sunny outdoors provided an energy all it’s own and one that is far removed from the cold sterility of many grocery stores. Needless to say, our Farmer’s Market adventure was highly successful and fun and gave me hope that people might change their food-buying habits for the better. And I couldn’t be more excited about the fresh summer menu we’re preparing for the party! I’ll let you know how it goes…

The sun has emerged here at StoneLake Farm and, oh, what a refreshing thing that is! Not that we’ve been anything short of content since we’ve arrived, the sunshine just presents broader possibilities – like reading in the meadow, scrambling down the creek, and washing our dirty socks&underwear.

Only after a morning of solid poop duty, which consisted of digging a new hole for the outhouse, laying the 3-year-old humanure at the upper edge of the fruit trees, and clearing the chicken and goat homes of their ultra-plant-friendly poop (it becomes high-quality compost, very useful in growing things). And now it’s evening, we’ve fed the chickens, fed the goats, and watered the garden. All we have to do now is work out what we’ll be having for dinner before sunset so we can head back to the meadow to scarf it down while watching our blazing California sun dip back behind the adjacent hills, an awe-inspiring sight, every time.

Since we began our farming adventure here, I’ve thought a lot about food. I’ve mainly been reading two books – Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler. And to top that off, I’ve been involved in planting a few varieties of corn, beans, cabbage, radish, flax, wheat and a few flowers (which work in beautiful harmony with the vegetables at hand). I decided that if what I was doing right now was the curriculum for a 3-week intensive study course, it would be called The Earth’s Bounty. Because that is what I am really coming to understand, and, I dare say, it is changing my perspective on a lot of things. I knew I wanted to be a gardener but now, for real, I realize it must be a significant part of my life. It amazes me. The idea that I can grow what I eat or someone else, close to where I am, is growing some of the other things I’d like to have, is inspiring. The realization that there are thousands of vegetable varieties in this world, each with their own flavor and history, is exciting. And the fact that eating has to be a part of our everyday lives if we intend to survive, is awesome. I mean, if we have to do it, we might as well take advantage, right? Eat well. It’s good for you and the people around you. And it’s one mantra I’m more than willing to subscribe to.

Two of the things that we’ve made here have been pretty exciting. First, I made an elderberry dressing with some elderberry syrup Francis gave us for the beer we are brewing here. He keeps the berries delicious and useful past their season by making them into a syrup and jarring them. The dressing involved: elderberry syrup, olive oil, shallots, fresh oregano, fresh lemon-bud mint, lime, garlic and a bit of salt&pepper. It was quite tasty tossed in our fresh garden greens… We also made some delicious chicken soup that started with a chicken stock experiment, something I had heard about for a while and gotten a pretty good idea of how to do in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. We just tossed our leftover chicken bones, from grilled drumsticks, into a pot and boiled it until it was thick, golden, and gorgeous! Then we tossed a small myriad of veggies in the stock, cooked it for a while, and ate it for nourishment and to warm our cold bones in the chilly, rainy weather that came before this sunshine. I might also add that it was delicious.

It’s all working out pretty well here. Needless to say, we’re very content with our lives right now; the work is fulfilling, the company lovely, and the environment stunning. It’s a beautiful, productive, and peaceful place. And these few weeks are turning out to be a wonderful way to shape my dreams and ideas about the land around me, my community and what I eat.

So go to a farmer’s market this weekend, it’ll be fun and you’ll go home with some fresh, local goodies and a little knowledge about your local agricultural tapestry.
Maybe then you can head home to cook up a refreshing early summer meal with friends or family. If I may indulge, I’ll add that that the earth’s bounty might be a good topic of conversation for this meal…