Fundamentals of Bread Baking at San Francisco Zen Center -Green Gulch

If you haven't been to Green Gulch, I recommend it. If you haven't taken the bread baking class, I recommend that too. We spent last Saturday, August 17 learning  how to make bread in a class of about 15 people taught by Mick. Mick has a long history of bread baking including at Tassajara Bakery for many years.  He's an inspirational teacher.


The first part of the class was about the theory of bread baking, what each ingredient adds to how the bread turns out, water, flour, yeast and salt.   In the second part of class, using one type of dough, we practiced making different shapes, letting them rise while we learned how to make the dough, and then finally baking the different shapes, we go to taste how different each one tasted, although they  were all from the same dough.

We had a lovely vegetarian lunch too Delicious salad, soup and of course bread.

if you have a chance to visit, you really should. the class was well worth the price, we had a lovely time and learned a lot too!

Umami in Spice with Oaktown Spice Shop

Oh My! I would give this class a very high grade. It was totally worth it to drive to the Oaktown Spice Shop in traffic on a week night. John the owner of Oaktown Spice and the co-owners of Umami Mart, Yoko Kumano + Kayoko Akabori, all were equally as delightful.

The evening was filled with education about umami and samples of spices and Japanese tidbits to help train our palettes to taste umami as well as the other flavors we learned about.

I'm so happy we got the last two seats in the second class they opened after the first class sold out so quickly.

I can't wait to see what other classes both Oaktown Spice Shop and Umami Mart offer next.

I wish I took pictures, but I was so into it, I didn't even think of it. Let your imagination go, and visit both stores. We plan to go to Umami Mart this weekend when we are at the Eat Real Festival, it's within walking distance of Jack London Square

Biodynamic Beekeeping and Alternative Bee Hives with Michael Thiele

Last year, I volunteered at Montalvo Gardens in Saratoga, weeding and planting at the organic garden there under the guidance of Niki Ford. Niki Ford is now the Culinary Director at the SHED in Healdsburg.

Last weekend, April 27, 2013, Diane and I went to SHED, to listen to a talk a book signing, and to explore this new event center, restaurant and retail center and sampled some recipes from the book prepared by Niki Ford. It is an interesting place if a bit too upscale.

This weekend We again went to the SHED to hear a presentation from Michael Thiele about biodynamic beekeeping and alternative bee hives.

It was an extremely interesting talk, about how feral bees behave in the wild and how they build their hives. Bees typically build their hives in a circular pattern, with the , the brood, and the honey in a particular order.

 Man interferes with this natural process by putting bees in boxes with artificial comb inserts which have the wrong sized cells.  They disturb the bees by pulling out these artificial combs to take the honey out. Bee keeping these days is about making money off the bees, not about taking care of a very important living being. Bees are considered by Michael and now us as a living being, not as individual bees.

Bees need to be cared for whereever they decide to create a hive. As long as they don't cause harm they should be left alone. We need bees to pollinate plants and are important for life on this planet they need to be honored and protected.

More on this in a later post

Nice weekend in wine country

Two weekends ago we went to a Slow Money event in Sunol. Dave will blog more about it, but I just had to write about my favorite participant, CropMobster. They are a new company that reduces food waste by sending email alerts announcing surplus foods to anyone who wants to use it, sometimes it is free, and sometimes it's being sold at a very reduced price.  I've seen both cookies and excess kale going to good use.  Anyone can sign up for alerts, and use the food in anyway they see fit, for example, perhaps a neighborhood could schedule a canning party around a batch of surplus fruit that would have otherwise ended up in the compost heap, and the farmer will still make some money.

This weekend Saturday, we went to a party at the HelloCello distillery in Sonoma They had a successful kickstarter to purchase a new still, and it is lovely.   We got to meet the owners, Fred and Amy, and other interesting people. It was a very lively party, the music and food were  great, although we could have done without the 100+ temperatures. They make assorted spirits, try their lemoncello,

 

 

On Sunday we went to the San Francisco Zen Center, Green Gulch location.  It was a spontaneous decision. We arrived too late to listen to the Sunday lecture, however we arrived in time for the tea and tiny farmer's market, where they sell garden vegetables and bread. 

 

Some tips for first time visitors:

• The signs are not very clear - when  you arrive you'll see a sign with parking to the left - park there and walk a few minutes down the path towards the right to get to the farm.
• They suggest you come for the entire Sunday program
• Definitely stay for the delicious vegetarian lunch. We ate soup, salad and bread. I get the feeling this is the usual lunch menu.
• Find the "Office" and ask questions -
• Visit the gorgeous gardens
• Take a class if they are offering one
• Walk to the beach -apparently it's about a 15 minute walk though the gardens

We enjoyed the class on crafting, cultivating and cooking with Lavender. We drank lavender lemon-aid, ate lavender lemon bars, studied different lavender cultivars, made lavender oil, and then picked fresh lavender and learned how to make beautiful lavender wands.

Definitely a recommended destination. The next time we go, we plan to take a bread making class, and spend more time walking though the gardens on our way to the beach.

First Tomato of the Season - Grafted Green Zebra

Well, it's June 22, 2013, and I have just eaten the first ripe tomato from the garden, and I must say, it was delicious and very much worth waiting for.  I don't know about you, but I can't bring myself to buy $4-5 /lb organic tomatoes from the farmers market. I just can't do it. Especially knowing, if I can be a little more patient, I will have my own home grown.  

This year, we planted 5 different types of grafted tomatoes. Green Zebra was the first one that produced a ripe tomato. I think it's about time we did a nice fertilization of the tomatoes with some worm castings. I want to make sure we get a very high yield so I can do a lot of canning later this summer. By the way, Happy Summer!

Turk One-Piece Forged Iron Fry Pan - Can you love a pan?

I think I may just love my new pan from Turk. Made in Germany and purchased from Kaufmann Mercantile. I bought the smallest one to try it out, and I may just have to get the next size up. We've already seasoned it so it doesn't stick, it makes "to die for" potatoes, with the crunchy bits, you just can't get with non-stick pans. My goal is to replace all of my non-stick pans forever, so I splurged on the one-piece instead of the riveted pans that are a bit less expensive.  I also recommend the flax seed oil method of seasoning pans. I used it on my new Turk pan, and I added a few coats to my wok. There is some chemistry behind the type of oil you use to season the pan, and it works great.

Healdsburg Shed and Deborah Madison's Book Vegetable Literacy

Dave had volunteered with Niki Ford in the Kitchen Garden at Montalvo, so when we found out she was at the Shed in Healdsburg as the Culinary Director, we kept a close watch on the opening, and since we like the wine country anyway, we thought it was worth it to take a short trip up from Cupertino to see it.

We were there to see what the Shed was all about and to attend  A Conversation with Author Deborah Madison led by local food and radio personality, Michele Anna Jordan. Deborah has a new book out called "Vegetable Literacy" and the conversation was centered around that.  The room was quite full, the conversation was interesting and lively. Afterwards, Niki Ford prepared some of the recipes from the book for sampling, and there was a book signing.  Michele Anna Jordan also had her book there called " Vinaigrettes-Other-Dressings-Sensational-recipes"