In and Out of the Garden: A Blog

Nine Day Detox: Day Six

2010-07-18T15:43:16Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> It's day six in my Natural Detox Program, and it's been a pretty quiet day. I started off the day with my usual shake and then went to the farmers market.

If you are not familiar with the Santa Barbara Saturday Farmers Market, it is quite the experience. It's the largest of the weekly markets and it's packed with vendors selling everything from the most beautiful heirloom vegetables to locally raised grass-fed beef. Today I was interested in the vegetables, and things that I could have on my detox diet. I got some extremely large artichokes, a bunch of asparagus, a bottle of olive oil and some amazing lavender smoked olives.

Fusano California Valley Olive Company is located in Paso Robles, and they are a welcome fixture at our Santa Barbara market selling their line of olives, olive oil and tapenades. Their line of smoke olives are absolutely unbelievable, and I was excited to see that they had a new lavender version. I tried one and had to get them. I can't wait to try them in salads or with some roasted vegetables.

For lunch I had more of yesterday's Cabbage Cilantro Salad, which was still great. For dinner I made artichokes and roasted asparagus and potatoes. I steamed the artichokes and served with just some olive oil for dipping. You can read all about artichokes and the recipe for steaming in Becky Green Aaronson's article from our spring issue.

I noticed that my energy level has been down all day. That could be because of the heat or it could be the detox. It was a great day to catch up on some reading and to putter in the garden, and I'm looking forward to more of the same tomorrow.

Nine Day Detox: Day Five

2010-07-17T15:47:33Z

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Day Five in my Natural Detox Program is where it starts to get intense. I'm drinking the shake four times a day and eating only fruits and vegetables. I've even let go of my tea for now. It all sounds pretty harsh, but it isn't for some reason. I guess partly because I know this is only for nine days or perhaps because eating fruits and vegetables for a while isn't all that bad. Summer is a great time to do this sort of thing.

For breakfast it was just a shake, which I supplemented with frozen strawberries and coconut milk. And then I had another shake later in the morning. By lunch I was ready for some food. It wasn't that I was starving, I just wanted to eat something. So I made the Cabbage Cilantro Salad pictured above, and I've included the recipe below.

You definitely don't have to be on a detox program to make this salad. It's a wonderful salad to serve alongside anything from Mexican food to Curry dishes. If I wasn't on the detox, I would probably add tamari soy sauce to the dressing and some chopped peanuts. The recipe makes a lot, so I put the dressing on just the amount I was going to eat for lunch and put the rest of the salad, undressed, in the refrigerator. It holds up pretty well. Substitutions work well with this salad, too. If you don't like avocado, leave it off. Or try adding thinly sliced green onions, radishes or shredded carrots. Things with bright, crunchy flavors work great.

After another shake in the afternoon, I wasn't feeling terribly hungry for dinner, but I knew I needed something. So I made a big pan of roasted vegetables: potatoes, parsnips, onions, zucchini and green beans. I tossed them with olive oil, and added some Salish Smoked Salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. It was delicious and just what I needed. I may not be eating much, but I am eating well.

Cabbage Cilantro Salad
6-8 servings

1 small to medium Napa Cabbage
1 bunch minced fresh cilantro
2 thinly sliced ribs of celery
1/4 cup of mixed sprouts
Dressing:

Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon raw honey
6 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional:

1/2 avocado, slice, per serving
Quarter the cabbage, and remove and discard the tough central core. Shred by cutting very thin slices along the length of each quarter. In a large bowl add the shredded cabbage, minced cilantro, sliced celery and sprouts. Toss to mix.

Combine the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl with a whisk. Pour dressing over slaw. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Garnish each serving with sliced avocado if desired.

Nine Day Detox: Day Four

2010-07-16T16:31:53Z

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It's day four in my Natural Detox Program, and I think I'm getting the hang of things. I had a great bowl of fruit for breakfast with my shake. And I've discovered that adding a little coconut milk and some frozen fruit to the shake is a wonderful thing. I picked up so much fruit yesterday between my CSA and the Farmers Market, that I needed to freeze some of it.

A friend (who is also doing the Detox Program) and I went to Zooker's for lunch. She ordered the Tofu Saute without tofu, mushrooms or cheese - so basically brown rice with sauteed vegetables. But she said it was amazingly flavorful and she didn't miss the tofu or cheese one bit. I had a cup of their gazpacho soup and the Roasted Vegetable Salad without the goat cheese, and everything was delicious.

I didn't have any headaches today, but I did feel my energy dropping quite a bit around mid afternoon. For dinner I had another shake and some celery and hummus. I had every intention of making rice and vegetables, but I wasn't very hungry so I had an apricot and that was my dinner. Tomorrow begins the intense 3 days of the detox where I'll be eating only fruits and vegetables, but it seems as though I've almost done that today, so I think I'm ready.

Nine Day Detox: Day Three

2010-07-15T17:06:35Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> On day three in my Natural Detox Program I was really missing my morning cappuccino. The wonderful organic mint white tea is just not the same. I used to be strictly a tea drinker, mostly herbal teas. Then I went to Italy, and the espresso culture there completely won me over. So, for the last seven or eight years, we've had an automatic espresso machine to fulfill our need for a cappuccino, latte or macchiato each morning. The irony is that right before starting this detox we just got a new machine. The old one had a faulty pump, so we invested in a new De'Longhi. It makes fabulous espresso. But for now, I will try not to think about that.

For breakfast I attempted to have oatmeal, but after a couple bites, I decided that I am not an oatmeal person. I may have also been feeling grumpy about not having my cappuccino, but again I will try not to dwell on that. I did add a frozen banana to my shake and that made it much better, so at least I had that for breakfast.

I packed a lunch today: celery sticks, rice crackers, hummus and cherry tomatoes. I also brought some more mint white tea with me, and I felt fine all day - no headache and not starving. Later in the day I had another shake with frozen banana (must remember to pick up some more bananas), and then I went to the Farmers Market at Harding School. With what I picked up at the market and from my CSA box, I made a big salad for dinner and some pasta. The pasta was the biggest surprise. I bought some brown rice pasta (since wheat and gluten is out), not really thinking that it would be very good. I thought the texture and flavor would not come close to the real thing. But I was completely wrong. It was actually very good. It probably helped that I put a spicy tomato sauce on top of it, but I was quite amazed that something that was a substitute would taste this good. This is something that I would now regularly keep in my pantry. And I guess that is one of the points of this whole detox, to try something new and hopefully instill some healthy new eating habits long after the nine days is over.

Nine Day Detox: Day Two

2010-07-14T22:46:31Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> It's day two in my Natural Detox Program, and it's the first day that I have completely cut out my morning cappuccino. Could this be why I had a slight headache all day? I've decided to have some lightly caffeinated tea. I found a mint white tea blend - all organic - that I think will be a good compromise. It has very little caffeine and is the least processed of teas.

The rest of the day wasn't difficult. I had sourdough toast with a little lemon infused olive oil on it that was delicious. For lunch I went to Zooker's again and had a cup of their black bean soup and a small green salad.

After picking up some vegetables at the farmers market, I made soup for dinner. We finally have some beautiful sunny weather, and it seems odd to be making a pot of soup. But I had a craving for my potato, corn and squash soup. The yellow squash and corn is so great right now. This is a wonderful creamy and hearty soup that I have been making variations of for years. It was inspired by the Yukon Gold and Yellow Squash Soup in the Silver Palate New Basics Cookbook. Whether you are on a detox diet or not, I encourage you to try this soup. I like it served hot, but you can serve it chilled and, if you do, be sure to add the optional garnish.

Yellow Potato, Squash and Corn Soup
Serves 4-6

1 onion, finely diced
olive oil
4 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
3 yellow summer squash (about 1 1/2 pounds), peel on, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 ears of fresh corn, cut from cob
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Optional garnish:

2 or 3 mild to medium chili peppers
1 or 2 small jalapeno peppers (if you want even more heat)
1 avocado

1. In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, saute the onion in some olive oil until lightly browned. Add the the stock, potatoes and squash, and bring to a boil. Add some salt, lower the heat and simmer partially covered until the vegetables are tender. It should take about 20-30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, if you are doing the optional garnish, roast the peppers on a grill or over a gas flame until blackened. Put in a paper or plastic bag for a few minutes to “sweat” then scrape off the blackened skin. Chop the jalapeno peppers. Peel and dice the avocado.

3. Remove the soup from the heat and puree until smooth in the pot with a hand held blender (if you don’t have one of these great devices, transfer to a blender or food processor). If the soup is too thick—you should not be able to stand a spoon up in it—add a little more stock.

4. Then add the corn and cilantro and cook over low heat until the corn is heated and tender but still has a little crunch, about 5 minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Potato soups can take more salt than you realize.

5. Serve the soup. If you use the optional garnish, put each of the garnishes in small bowls and allow guests to garnish with as much heat as they like.

Nine Day Natural Detox

2010-07-13T17:04:32Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> I have just started a Nine Day Detox Program with nutritionist Betsy Markle of Sunshine Wellness. Why? Well, I'm healthy and I eat lots of organic and local food, but sometimes I feel like eat too much wonderful rich food and it would be nice to take a break... to give my body a break. So, since Sunshine Wellness is an advertiser in Edible Santa Barbara, I thought I'd like to try out the Nine Day Detox Program that Betsy has designed.

The way it works is simply that you eliminate potentially allergenic and toxic foods from your diet day by day until by the middle of the program you are eating nothing more than vegetables, fruit and good fats. Then you gradually reintroduce the other food groups back into your diet. She also provides a supplement powder that you take in shake form throughout the detox.

Detox diets and fasting have a long history. Fasting has been a component of many religions all over the world, from the earliest times to modern day. And fasting can be a natural instinct in both humans and animals in response to sickness. For me, though, I'm more interested in the simplification of my diet rather than giving up food altogether. And I like the idea of clearing out the toxins from my body and improving my overall health.

As I looked over the instructions for Day One, it looked pretty straightforward: eliminate alcohol, refined sugars, caffeinated beverages, processed food and meat. The only thing that I would have a problem with would be my morning cappuccino. So, to make it a little easier for myself and to hopefully avoid a caffeine withdrawal headache, I decided to have my morning cappuccino with one shot of espresso instead of two. I had my usual Greek yogurt with San Marcos Farms honey and all was well. For lunch I had the Tofu Saute from Zooker's and for dinner my husband and I went to Pizza Guru for a vegetarian pizza.

So, day one was easy and I'm looking forward to stepping it up on day two. I'll continue blogging each day, and I'll post recipes whenever I can. Please feel free to email me or comment if you have any questions or if you have done this type of program before and would like to share your experience.

Currently Reading

2010-01-24T22:24:53Z

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This morning I heard an interesting talk given by Raj Patel on the subject of his new book "The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy." You can see a video of the talk here. He may stumble over a few of the words -- he says at one point that he talks more lucidly about things in his book -- but his message is a fascinating one. Listening to him talk about the hidden ecological and social costs of things like food, made me realize that I really should read his previous book "Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System." So right after breakfast at Renaud's I popped over to Chaucer's bookstore and picked up a copy. I will report back after I've read it. And feel free to leave me a comment about the book. I'd love to hear from someone who has read it.

New Year Thoughts and Resolutions

2010-01-07T16:12:07Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> It's actually past the time that I should have made my New Year's resolutions. But just because we're well into January, doesn't mean that I haven't stopped thinking about things I'd like to do this year. And especially since I've had time to read all the blogs and articles and Twitter postings about resolutions, I feel I've had time to give it a little thought. So here are 5 things I'd like to do or change or add to my life in 2010... all food related, of course.

1. Learn to Make Yogurt. I did actually attempt it once last October during my Eat Local Challenge, but it didn't turn out. I love the texture and taste of Greek yogurt, so that is my goal. And if I can get my hands on some local goat milk, I might be tempted to try to make goat's milk yogurt. All things are possible.

2. Read One of Elizabeth David's Cookbooks. For some reason, I have managed to get this far without owning or reading any of Elizabeth David's classic books on French, Italian and Mediterranean food. She's considered one of the foremost writers on food in the 20th century, and someone I really should have in my library. She's written "French Provincial Cooking," "Italian Food," "A Book of Mediterranean Food," and "Is There a Nutmeg in the House?" which I would read for the title alone.

3. Grow More Herbs and Vegetables. Currently the little bed of herbs in my garden looks like a neglected overgrown patch of natural selection experiments. The oregano has driven out a number of other weaker companions, the curry plant has turned into a curry hedge and the lemon verbena is about 8 feet tall and leggy. I find myself always needing a little more of some herb or another that is not in my garden. I'd like to add tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos to my plot because those are things that are handy to have on hand (especially when making posole), as well as more Italian parsley, sage, chervil, dill and a few varieties of basil.

4. Avoid Plastic. I know that it will be just about impossible to eliminate plastic entirely from my life, but with all the concerns being raised about plastic leaching into our food, not to mention the landfill problems it creates, I would like to get rid of as much of it as I can. I'm also concerned about the lining on canned foods, and I've already started avoiding all canned food. I gave most of my plastic reusable containers to my husband to store hardware and supplies. Instead I'm using glass bowls with plastic lids - yes, that's still plastic, but at least the lids don't come in contact with the food. The upside is that glass looks better and cleans more easily. I'd also like to reduce the number of plastic produce bags that I use by getting a set of cloth produce bags, like these.

5. Take More Photos of Food and Blog More! It seems like 2009 really got away from me in terms of blogging. One of my problems was purely technical: when I upgraded my operating system, the image upload in my blogging software stopped working. I've figured that out now, but it's still hard to get back in the groove. So, I plan to keep a camera in the kitchen to make it easier to take photos of what I'm cooking. When I have good photos of food, it's always an inspiration to blog. And one of our Edible Santa Barbara writers and recipe editor, Nancy Oster, will hopefully join again on the Edible Santa Barbara blog. Also my cousin has a new blog called "I Don't Cook, But My Boyfriend Does!" so maybe I can talk her into being a guest blogger once in a while.

Here's to a delicious and satisfying 2010 - Cheers!

Two Bloggers to Check Out

2009-10-14T02:30:19Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> There are two bloggers that I want to highlight. The first is Alelia's Red Door Epicure. I had the pleasure of spending time with Alelia at the Full of Life Flatbread dinner for Douglas Gayeton's wonderful book "SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town." It was an unbelievable evening of fantastic food and wine and companionship. Please read Alelia's entry about the evening with mouthwatering photos and descriptions of the entire evening:

SLOW ~ Anatomy of a meal in the Santa Ynez Valley

The other blogger that I recently discovered is Katie Falbo's California Organic Foodie. She is currently participating in our Eat Local Challenge and she has some informative and interesting entries about what she's eating and doing. Start with her first entry for October and then continue to follow her all month:

Pledge to Eat Local

Countdown to the Eat Local Challenge

2009-09-27T19:23:57Z

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In October we're co-sponsoring an Eat Local Challenge in Santa Barbara. This is something that I've wanted to do for quite some time. Perhaps the idea was planted when I first read Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. And perhaps the idea really came together after talking with Sam Edelman of the Farmers Market and realizing that this was something that we could do in conjunction with epicure.sb — the collection of food festivals and events throughout the month of October.

I particularly like the fact that it's for a month. It's long enough to feel like you're embarking on a challenge and yet not so long as to feel daunting. In fact, I think the interesting thing about it might end up being how very unchallenging it is. How can we feel deprived with all of our fantastic sources of produce, meat, seafood, honey, oils, wine and beer? And yet, perhaps there will be some interesting lessons to be learned. Why does Santa Barbara County not have a dairy industry? Why do we have to go up the coast to find artisanal cheese?

I also like the fact that I'm not embarking on this alone. Here in Santa Barbara County, the Isla Vista Food Co-op is doing an Eat Local Challenge for the month of October and nationally the group blog "Eat Local Challenge" will be doing one as well. So there will be ample resources and the feeling of a shared experience. We have just set up a Google Group called SB Eat Local Challenge where you can post questions and share information about finding sources of local food. There are already some great discussions up there about dairy, coffee and local sparkling water.

So consider participating in any way that you can. Whether you take the pledge to eat exclusively local foods for 31 days, or whether you just try to incorporate more local foods into your everyday buying habits, I think there are huge benefits to building this awareness of local foods.

Weekly Produce from Shepherd Farms

2009-09-13T01:58:06Z

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When I mention that I'm a member of a CSA, people often ask what the heck that is. CSA is the abbreviation for Community Supported Agriculture, and it describes a program or a relationship with a farm where the consumer pays upfront for a share of the produce throughout the season or year. Every CSA program is slightly different, but what they all have in common is that they connect you in a very tangible way with the farm and farmers who grow your food.

There are now several CSA programs in Santa Barbara County, and though I'd like to be a member of all of them at the same time, that would be a little challenging even for me. So I think I'll have to try them out one by one. Currently I'm happily a member of the Shepherd Farms CSA. Membership is $300 a quarter or $1,000 for the full year. If you go to the farm in Carpinteria, you can pick out what you like or you can arrange to pick up a box of preselected items at Backyard Bowls in downtown Santa Barbara. Either way it's $25 worth of produce and it varies according to the season.

The picture above is what I picked out at the farm this week:

1 bag of Shepherd Salad Mix
1 bag of spinach
3 small yellow onions and 2 white onions
2 heirloom tomatoes
1 avocado
2 peppers
1 basket of strawberries
a bunch of basil
a bunch of kale
a handful of carrots
lots of little yellow zucchini
a large bowl of thin green beans
a large bowl of dried white beans

You can see that you can get quite a bit for $25. And what will I do with this bounty of produce? Well, this week the tomatoes and avocado will get used with the salad mix for a few salads. The strawberries will get eaten with breakfast or as a dessert. I'll use some of the beans, carrots, onions, kale, green beans, zucchini and basil for a minestrone soup. The veggies that are left over will probably go on top of pasta on a couple of nights this week. And then it will be time to go pick up next week's batch!

A Sustainable Wine Tasting Tour

2009-08-10T01:36:24Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> Recently my husband, Steve and I went on a wine tasting tour with Sustainable Vine Wine Tours. I have to confess that I have never actually gone on a wine tour. We've been to plenty of wineries on our own or with a group, but never actually done the tour approach. Perhaps it was because the idea of getting into a giant gas guzzling bus with a horde of people didn't sound all that appealing. But the premise of Sustainable Vine Wine Tours is altogether different and quite appealing. In the interest of full disclosure, they also happen to be an advertiser in Edible Santa Barbara for which I am the editor and co-publisher. I knew that their business seemed like a good fit for what we were doing with the magazine, but I really wanted to experience one of their tours first hand to find out more about it.

To start off, transportation is in a 9-passenger Mercedes biodiesel van, so right away you're feeling better about the environment. Owner and tour guide Bryan Hope is as passionate about sustainability in all things as he is knowledgeable about the wine industry in our area. So, as soon as he started to give us a little overview of organic and biodynamic winemaking on the drive out there, I knew this was going to be an incredible experience. The day's agenda is paced perfectly: three vineyards/wineries to visit and lunch in between. The wineries can vary, so the three that we went to on our tour were Cimerone, Alma Rosa and Demetria. Others in the lineup might include Beckman, Ampelos, Coquelicot, Sunstone or Presidio.

Bryan Hope of Sustainable Vine Wine Tours

We started off our tour at Three Creek Vineyard which makes Cimerone wines. It is located in the area known as Happy Canyon, which will soon have it's own sought after AVA (American Viticultural Area) status. Cimerone is not open to the public, so we would have never have been able to go there on our own. And what a treat to meet owners Roger and Priscilla Higgins.

Above Roger shows us the ripening grapes protected from the birds by netting. We tasted a grape and learned what they look for to determine when to pick — the taste of the grape and the taste of the seed, as well as how the color of the skin influences the flesh of the grape.

The vineyard grows their grapes organically but the wine is not technically organic, due to the fact that sulfites are used to protect the wine from damage by oxygen. Without the addition of sulfites, wine is much more unstable and susceptible to spoilage. So rather than try to look for organic wines, you are much better off looking for wines which are made from organic grapes.

The winemaker for Cimerone is Doug Margerum, who is well known as the original owner of The Wine Cask, and he also produces critically acclaimed wine under the Margerum wine label.

Stepping into the immaculate and chilly barrel room, we were all overwhelmed with the delicious smell of the wine, and we were thrilled when we got a barrel tasting of some of their fantastic syrah. Notice how winery dog Kali, who is the mascot on their logo, keeps an eye on us.

Our next stop was Alma Rosa. Owner Richard Sanford first planted Pinot Noir vines in Santa Barbara County in 1970. Whether you refer to him as a pioneer or a legend, clearly he is a pivotal figure in the wine industry, and he was on hand to chat with us as we tasted some of their delicious wines. Their vineyards are certified organic and owners Richard and Thekla are both committed to the environment and to promoting sustainability. From their Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris to their well loved Chardonnay and their stellar Pinot Noir, it was a fantastic tasting and a perfect prelude to our gourmet and organic lunch.

Left to right: myself, Michael, Trish, Bryan, Steve and Tiffany (from New Hampshire)

We gathered in front of the winery for a group shot and Richard Sanford joined us (second from right).

Our final stop for the day was Demetria Estate, one of only a handful of biodynamic vineyards in Santa Barbara County. Demetria is only open by appointment, so it is not for the casual visitor. Tucked amidst stunning scenery, the winery is picture postcard beautiful.

We sat out on the terrace and tasted the wines while learning a little bit about the principals of biodynamic farming. Similar to organic in that they don't use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, biodynamic goes a step further in trying to achieve a holistic and balanced ecosystem. The features of biodynamic farming include using a lunar calendar when planting, pruning and picking and controlling pests or weeds by using their ashes as a deterrent. Some of the attributes of biodynamics seem to stray into philosophy and the concepts of anthroposophy as taught by founder Rudulf Steiner... and as the conversation become more esoteric it all somehow seemed fitting while relaxing on the terrace and drinking their stunning wines.

After a tour of the winery and a more detailed description of how they make the wine, we were all completely satisfied, and it was time to head back to Santa Barbara after a full and rewarding day.

I felt so privileged to have gone on this tour—what a fantastic experience. Many of us who live in this area forget how amazing our wine region is. We have so many world class vintners in our midst. But finding out about some of these organic and biodynamic vineyards takes it to another level. Going on this tour deepened my awareness and respect for what they are doing, and once again reminded me of how fortunate we are to live in Santa Barbara County.

For more information about taking a tour with Sustainable Vine Wine Tours call (805) 698-3911 or visit their website.

Birthday Dinner at Root 246

2009-08-02T20:54:16Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> A couple weeks ago I had one of those things that people like to celebrate, a birthday. And my idea of celebrating is to go out to dinner. But it was a Monday night and we were out visiting some wineries in Santa Ynez Valley, so where to eat? I decided that it would be the perfect time to try Root 246, Bradley Ogden's new restaurant in Solvang. I've been wanting to try it since they first opened in April.

Before I get to the mouth watering details. I have to start off we where we started off, with a little wine tasting of Arcadian wines with winemaker Joe Davis at Tastes of the Valleys. As you may have seen in our Summer issue of Edible Santa Barbara, Arcadian wines were featured in our "What the Grownups are Drinking" column by Diane Murphy and Laura Lindsey. So it was a special treat for us to meet Joe and taste a couple of his wines that weren't in the article.

Talking to Joe was as fascinating as drinking his wines, and we could barely tear ourselves away to walk over to the restaurant. But we are so glad we did. The only thing better than drinking fine local wine is pairing those wines with fine local food.

From it's creative name to its modern elegant interior, Root 246 is definitely impressive. I particularly admire their farm to plate philosophy and the fact that they source so many local ingredients. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the restaurant and to meet Bradley Ogden as well as executive chef Jonny Hall, which was a huge treat for this birthday girl. I had a hard time choosing where to sit down to eat: one of the two distinctly different but equally stylish bars or the main dining room. We finally settled on a cosy booth in the dining room. And then we had a simply fabulous dinner. There was a refreshing amuse bouche berry sorbet and a pre starter demitasse cup of corn soup served with a bite sized puff topped with crème fraiche and caviar that was utterly exquisite. We shared several starters, and I think my favorite was the ultra simple Sea Salt Roasted Radishes with Sweet Cream Butter.

I loved my entree of braised lamb shoulder with spring garlic, corn spoon bread and chimichurri.

And top the meal off, dessert was a trio of peach cobbler, a peach ice cream sandwich and peach ice tea.

I can only sum it up by saying incredible food and incredible people. It was a birthday night to remember.

A Write Up on Edhat

2009-08-02T19:26:20Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> Billy Goodnick just did a nice write up of the screening of Fresh and community event preceding the film. Scroll down to "Can I Eat The Pages" to see a mention and photo of Edible Santa Barbara: Fresh Event

Another Screening of FRESH!

2009-07-26T02:58:02Z

This material better viewed on its originally published location: In and Out of the Garden: A Blog]]> I'm very excited that HopeDance Films has arranged another screening of the film FRESH, this time in Goleta:

Date: Tuesday, July 28th
Time: 6:00pm - Fresh Food Reception / 7:00pm - Film
Location: Goleta Valley Community Center, 5679 Hollister Ave
$5-$10 suggested donation

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

Find out more about the movie and other screenings at FRESH the movie