San Francisco: Take two, fancy restaurants and big ol' trees.

A belated round up of my trip to San Francisco this past December. B and I had dinner at Alice Water's famous Chez Panisse. Their dinner menu is prix fixe and you eat whatever the chef found at the market that day and/or decided to cook. We had crab souffle with a salad, duck with turnip greens and cake soaked in savarin with sour cherries. We ordered 2 different wines, one for each course and had some coffee with dessert. It is a fancy (read: expensive) restaurant and we dressed nicely because it was a special event for us but it is in Berkeley and wearing jeans would not be amiss. I think it was a great experience. The wait staff was friendly and willing to answer our questions and recommend wines and take our picture and then invite us to explore the kitchen and take pictures there too!



The dining room is small but you don't feel crammed in. Actually, you feel like you are in someone's dining room. I thought the food was great. crab and duck are not B's favorites so he was nonplussed but he did think that the duck was better than he thought it would be and we both loved the dessert. I think the coffee was to die for. It has been ages since I have had coffee that I thought was really good. They also have a cafe up stairs that serves lighter, less expensive fair. I would definitely go back and have dinner again and I highly recommend it for one of those once in a lifetime experiences. Just make sure to plan ahead and make your reservation at least a month in advance. If that isn't possible at least stop in for a coffee and a cake.

I (heart) blood oranges.

We also spend a day at Muir woods.
It is an old growth redwood forest. That means it has old trees, 600-800 years old and little baby saplings as well. The land is untouched. nothing has ever been cut down. The land was bought in 1905 by William and Elizabeth Kent. William is quoted as saying "If we lost all the money we have and saved these trees, it would be worthwhile, wouldn't it?" in response to the expense of purchasing the land. In 1907 the Kent's donated portions of the land to the Federal Government to prevent it from being destroyed by a company wanting to dam Redwood creek. In 1908 Theodore Roosevelt declared Muir Woods a National Monument. The 7th to be named under the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the 1st to be created from land donated by a private individual.

Just for scale.

A fallen tree. it will be left to decompose and feed new life right where it fell.

This is a burl. Burls are a collection of dormant buds that allow the trees to reproduce after they have been damaged or have fallen. I bought a bookmark made of burl wood. It is a little thick but it is really pretty and definitely one of my favorite souvenirs. You could also purchase small burls to bring home and sprout so you could have a mini redwood forest. They were very cool. We would have bought one if we lived uh...closer.




I was also rather mycologically inclined while I was photographing. I actually wish I knew more about mushrooms as there were several varieties. There were also a lot of ferns which I have grown quite fascinated with since my botany class. Maybe they are so old.
I highly recommend going to Muir woods in general but the beauty and serenity that it has to offer would best be enjoyed not during a school holiday when families with small children are there in abundance. Though it is a great place to bring children and learn about nature and hunt for banana slugs.

"Eating is an agricultural act"

That's Wendell Berry. For those of you who have never read any Wendell Berry, you should. I have mostly read his agricultural essays. He wrote about what I now consider to be mainstream foodie topics (Thanks to Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver and Alice Waters) 30 years ago. He is also a farmer who doesn't own a tractor. He has a team of draft horses and a collection of "archaic" non-motorized iron tools. Wendell Berry is my hero. if I could invite 5 "famous" people to my dinner table he would be one of them.

About a month ago I was privileged to travel to Monterey, CA for the Hazon Food Conference. Hazon is the largest environmental organization within the Jewish Community. I had never heard of them until I applied to receive a grant to attend the food conference. They are a worthy organization and worth checking out and getting involved with. I had never heard of them because most of their activity is based on the coasts, NY and LA, because their is an infinitely larger Jewish population there than in Chicago. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to connect with some wonderful like-minded people including my new friend Aaron Lerman, whose review of the conference you can read at the Jew and the Carrot, here. Other notable people worth checking out and supporting are:
Julie Negrin, a cooking teacher with a cookbook coming out in the spring. She lead the first of the sessions I attended and I am super excited about her book.
Abbe Turner, dairy goat farmer and cheesemaker extrodinaire. Her farm, Lucky Penny Farm, is located in Ohio. read LOCAL. A truly amazing person and I want to help her find a Chicago market and go visit her and the goats when it is a bit warmer out.
Anna Hanau, Farm manager at Adamah farm. This girl is intense when it comes to farming. in a really awesome way. She told us the best tractor story ever. I wish I could tell it but it will definitely lose something. I would like to be able to apply and work at Adamah this summer. We will see about that though there is lots going on at the moment.
Jonathan Silverman, farmer in the Bay area with lots of creative projects going on. My birthday fell during the conference and he sang happy birthday to me and presented me with a fancy chocolate bar for my cake/present.
Pesach Stadlin and Vivian Lehrer, husband and wife founders of the Eden Village Camp near NYC, Pesach taught a session on permaculture and incorporating it into your everyday life and was a wonderful teacher. Vivian moderated a Vegetable monologues panel of female farmers that included Anna Hanau and Abbe Turner. Eden Village Camp is in its inaugural year this coming summer and seems like a truly unique and dynamic opportunity for children. There are some discounts and scholarships available so if you know of some children who like to play in the dirt check them out!

I am still weeding through all the materials that I brought home and will probably say more as I do that. There is a group of us here in Chicago trying to get some projects off the ground for the community here and I also have a person project that I am going to use this blog as a platform for in the coming months as I start researching. i will tell you more about that in another post as this one has lots of info already!

Toothbrushing Soap!

and at the end there is no tube to throw away! Genius.

Bag Tax...

If you click on the post title you can read an article in fashionista about NY's new plastic bag tax. The tax is imposed anywhere you can receive a plastic bag for your stuff-grocery store, boutique, Macy's, a restaurant for your left overs. The tax is $.05 a bag. Not a huge deal i think. The article sort of gripes about having to carry around a bag, especially for those who don't have a car. I live in Chicago, i don't have a car and sometimes I forget to take a bag with me but carrying it isn't a big deal. i have a canvas tote that i got when i bought apples at the market and it scrunches up pretty well i think. i also have a nylon bag that folds up into a little pouch that i can attach to my key chain if i want. how hard is it to take a bag with you? I don' think the point is that a nickel isn't really a lot of money (but it will add up depending on how much shopping you do). The point is don't use plastic bags if you don't have to.

I think there should be a bag tax everywhere...