this is where our food comes from

Every Wednesday morning Daniel and/or I pick up our box of fresh fruits and vegetables from Eatwell Farm. We have the combination to a locked alley next to a neighbor’s garage, and can pick it up anytime from 8am-8pm. (We usually get it before work)

We transfer everything from a reusable produce box to my fabulous woven basket, and leave the box for the farm to pick up the next week. We get a dozen amazing farm-fresh eggs as well as whatever is springing up at the farm.

I’ve never loved Wednesdays so much! Last week they gave us the first snap peas of the season, and they’re promising a tiny basket of strawberries this week! Spring is here…

Angela’s birthday weekend

A weekend filled with food, friends and much dishwashing in my tiny kitchen! Angela arrived in need of a snack and a glass of wine, and I was obviously happy to oblige. 

We had Lauren and her two sweet sisters over for dinner Friday, and I made a thai green curry and a huge pot of rice.

(I have no idea why they’re all looking so concerned!)

Saturday morning we made circus shaped waffles. I used a recipe from one of Elin’s Norwegian cookbooks, that I took a photo of with my phone over Christmas. Funny that I’ve been holding onto it and I’m just now using it. Delicious! The waffle maker was one of Angela’s birthday presents…

And they sure were cute!

For a birthday dinner on Saturday, we made pizza! Every kind you can imagine. I recently purchased a pizza stone, and it has really changed pizza for me. It gets so crispy on the bottom, and it takes so little time to bake.

After what felt like 100 pizzas, it was time to end the night with a little bit of homemade ice cream! Chocolate chip cookie dough.

I was too busy to take photos, but luckily Angela snapped a few with my camera. This was a whirlwind of a weekend, but I am always happy to host such great friends! I do have to say, though, I’ll be ever grateful the day that I live somewhere with a dishwasher!

Butternut Squash Enchiladas

It is still the season of squash, and even though I long for the luscious tomatoes of summer, I am enjoying these bountiful fruits of winter. The other night, Daniel and I made butternut squash enchiladas after I searched the fridge and pantry for any culinary theme with which to put our random foods together. Mexican is almost always a safe bet when I’m trying to decide what to make, but the fresh cilantro sealed the deal!

Chopped chipotle peppers took the squash to a whole new level, and a some fresh green garlic from the CSA added a wonderful freshness.

Daniel was in charge of assembling the enchiladas–heating the tortillas and filling them with squash and cheese. And I made the salad.

And then added the cilantro… yum!

….And these are the activities that keep me entertained when I get home from work….

A Dinner Party with Anna and Lia

What’s better than a Saturday night in with great friends, food, cocktails and wine? I really have no idea!

I couldn’t pass up such cute baby bok choy that Lia and I found in what I refer to as “Asia.” To go with this wonderful find, I made vermicelli rice noodles and seared a steak from Marin Sun Farms (just over the Golden Gate Bridge). I created a pillow with the rice noodles and cut it into wedges as a base for our creation.

(note Frances’ cute little salt dish she gave me for Christmas!)

And the final plate. Delicious with a glass of wine and a table of friends! (Photo credits go to Anna for this post!)

A snowy weekend in South Lake Tahoe

My tiny little VW somehow carried me safely up to the mountains for an unbelievably snowy three-day weekend. I had to put on chains for the first time–I really wish I had taken a picture of this fun experience. Boy did that make me long for studded snow tires! The going was slow over the mountains and into the Tahoe Basin, but the fun was completely worth it. I left the city at 1pm, so beat most of the Bay Area traffic.

Sophie’s parents own a house up in Tahoe and a whole bunch of us got to hang out in the snow, by the fire and in the spa for the whole weekend. A great escape from the city!

The snow was so deep that we had to trudge through with snowshoes, or end up waste deep in the stuff! The snow cover ranged from 3-5 feet! A beautiful afternoon of sledding was indeed what I needed!… oh, and a few ice cold beers too!

And a beautiful view from the top of the road on a walk with Sophie’s dog. Just love those long morning shadows!

First day with the CSA

 

Now that I am no longer working in a grocery store–bringing home free produce every day–I decided that I should probably sign up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This is a weekly delivery (arriving Wednesdays) of a box of seasonal produce, plus a dozen farm fresh eggs directly from a farm just North of the city.

In this week’s box (my very first!!) I received a butternut squash, green garlic, spring onions, carrots, collards, baby broccoli, lettuce, italian parsley, lemons, apples, and navel oranges, as well as a dozen eggs. Amazing!

And to celebrate this wonderful new weekly challenge, Daniel and I made fresh butternut squash raviolis. Yum!

And while we were making these delicious pockets of goodness, a fresh batch of beer was brewing in the other room… I hope to be more regular with my updates!

summer peach and blackberry crostata

In every bite of pie I make, I want a piece of crust to compliment the berries, fruit or other filling. I’m not interested in a soup, or jelly-filled shell; I want to experience the whole pie in every little piece. Oh, and I want the crust to be just as delicious as the filling.

I think I’ve finally discovered my perfect pie…

I had a ball of left-over pie crust in the fridge, and when I came home with some blackberries and a very ripe peach, I knew just what to do. I’ve seen many pictures of crostatas like this, but never made one myself, so I decided to forgo a recipe and see if I could create my vision.

I rolled the dough out , sprinkled cornmeal on my cookie sheet, and thickened some blackberries in a pan with a little bit of cornstarch. I lined the bottom of the crust with little slices of peach and poured the berries on top, adding the rest of the berries and the final slices of peach at the end. With the sides all folded up and painted with sugar, I put it in the oven to see what would happen.

Great things happened. I’ll make it for you someday.

Luscious Lavender Cupcakes

The other week I had a dream that I was making delicious lavender cupcakes… so naturally, I had to try them in my *real* kitchen. And they turned out great.

And it was for no special occasion. Just cupcakes.

Mmmm…

Easy as Pie. Berry Pie.

Blackberries are in season. And they’re delicious. Soft. Plump. Juicy. Especially when they’re too ripe to sell at the store and must be eaten immediately.

And that’s why I made blackberry pie.

…with a few raspberries for good measure.

I made my mom’s classic shortbread crust, and then adapted the filling from a couple of fruit tart/pie recipes in my copy of Baking with Julia (Childs, that is). As it turns out, my mom’s recipe, which I have copied down countless times (and promptly lost), and which I had to make my dad read over the phone to me this time, is actually almost the same recipe that I found in this book. Now the odds of me losing it again are slim!

I added a little extra fresh meyer lemon juice (sweeter than regular lemons), and the pie took on a fantastic tart element which complemented the sweetness of the blackberries and sugar. Yum.

My lattice crust was a little uneven, as I changed my desired thickness half way through cutting it, but it did what it was supposed to anyway.

I brushed the lattice with egg whites and sprinkled a bit of turbanado sugar on top, as suggested in the recipe.

And in the end we had pie. And the apartment smelled luscious. And it didn’t even matter that the filling was a little runny.. or soup-like. There’s always next time..

Many more berries to come. Many more berry-delicious projects.

Ahh, summer.

Honest Goodness. Vermont.

Vermont. This fair  state continues to inspire me every time I return to visit my family. I find my center here.

I gain a deeper understanding of myself and find more and more reasons to move back here sometime in the not-too-distant future.

I can feel my roots deep within the farm stands, the robin’s nest outside my house, the rolling hills and idyllic ponds.

I am inspired by the work of so many local artists, friends and family, and in the natural beauty of the landscape. Why does San Francisco have to be so far away from this special home of mine?

The honest goodness of this place is incredible. A friend’s pristine, newly renovated farm stand sits unattended with instructions on how to pay and record your purchases. This is so Vermont.

It inspires me to know that places like this exist and function with apparent ease. Handmade and homegrown with love, in Vermont.

An incredible visit home rejuvenates me and centers my world. Sitting on a dock at a friend’s pond, I am reminded how peaceful the countryside is and how resonating and grounding are the sounds of nature.

Thank you to my parents for raising me in this honest, beautiful place, and for giving me a home to return to.

p.s. I found this egg in our back yard and just had to photograph it. I couldn’t help myself but include it in this post somehow.