Been a long time......."Lucy! You have some 'splaining to do!"

Dear Readers.......Indeed I do. So much has happened since I last posted, but I have no excuse that is any different from any other Mom, Chef, Wife, Citizen, Dog Mama, Teacher. Life is fast, and busy. I let this one go into the outfield (sorry, Im not a sports person....so no more references).

Since moving to Oakland from Berkeley 3 years ago, our lives seem to have gone into warp speed, (yes, I know, Star Wars just came out....again).  My baby girl is now fully into pre-teen mode, 6th grade and keeping me on my toes. My husband has quit driving due to damage in his eyes, done long before we met, from diabetic reinopathy, and thusly my responsibilities in our little family have gone through the ceiling. I am the sole driver, kid caregiver and transporter, homework helper (ugh! as much as I can with everything in education doing flip flops every few years!), meal planner/maker, home cleaner and maintainer (Troy can't see well enough to do any of it), gardener, teacher (we will get more into that in a minute), and bacon bringing homer. Whew! Yes.  My life is uber wrapped up in everyone else, and thusly I have VERY LITTLE TIME for the things that I enjoy, like reading and writing this blog.

But still, I am a very fortunate woman, with great passion for my family and what I do for a living, so my life also feels full to the brim of purpose these days. Since accepting the position of Director of Nutrition and Executive Chef at PUSD, I have tripled sales in food service, combined forces with Di, who has been overseeing food for the middle school for 22 years (egads!), hired my dear friend, colleague and techie guru Mary, to work with us and hired another PT person, Anita to fill in the gaps and lend culinary support.
On top of combining food service for two schools, planning, ordering, writing menus, receiving product, producing two meals a day for both schools from scratch out of my kitchen, and managing student TAs who help us every period of every day, I have added an ROP Culinary course, after lunch, for Juniors and Seniors. Writing that cirriculum, teaching and evaluating skills, producing results and grading each student. In the Summer, I still teach my Farm to Table course, taking students to my dear friend's local farms, learning about how they do their work, getting inspired and coming back to my kitchen to plan and cook and serve a meal using what we have learned and products we have gleaned from the farm, for a local Cerebral Palsy Center's clients and staff. Full. Of. Purpose.

Our urban neighborhood is a bit of a good food desert though. Sad but true. I could not afford to buy a home in any of the places I truly wanted to be, so that I could walk everywhere. Here, most things require a car or a bus, and honestly, most of the places you could walk to, you...or certainly I, would not want to go to anyway. There are alot of bad things that still go on nearby, but many good things happening here too. More families, better gardens, community coffee in the am on Fridays, etc.

My main goal, in our surrounding neighborhood, is to connect with the powers at be at nearby Mills College,
and talk them into bringing in a farmers market once a week on campus. It would bring our community together, it would also allow residents of this good food desert to get some exposure and access to great food and ingredients and of course be great PR for Mills as well. Just like in the movie....."If you build it, they will come". Maybe that's why I am here. To build it.

So........One of my goals this 2016, is to put some effort into this blog each Sunday. Yes...You heard it! I'm actually even putting it on my calendar. And if you don't see me here, nudge me will you? Or call me out even! Here's to a fruitful year of good food, great ideas and words pulled into being.

Pinky swear.

Kids Rally for A Fair Farm Bill

We are so lucky to live in Berkeley and have parents and neighbors who understand what good food is and what we need to do to

get small and medium farms the kind of support that previously has only been made available to big ag. It is such a travesty that our local family farms are having a hard time supporting their families because big ag is cheapening our food supply and with our government's help, squeezing out our local families who have been farming for generations.

I must also say, that there is a reason that big ag doesn't want you to know about their unethical practices. They are killing your family, slowly. The government subsidies of such corrupt corporations are training Americans to think that food should be cheap.

But the real cost of bringing that chemically processed, unethically produced product to your table and mine is staggering. And it goes against every single thing that your parents, God and the Universe teaches us.

I am truly afraid of what greed buys. Our world, our way of living, our effect on the planet and each other is suffering so greatly.

Isn't it time to STOP? Isn't it time to listen to that inner voice that says, perhaps I shouldn't feed my kid milk which has HFC added? Perhaps I should let cows eat what God made them to eat.....grass? Perhaps I should let that baby cow stay with his mother and let him see the light of day ? Perhaps I should try to understand that the USDA just passed an insecticide that labs use to CAUSE CANCER to spray on our strawberries?

What madness made someone decide that these decisions are okay and how much money does it take to make the very government that we create, suddenly think that giving kids cancer on their summer fruit is the right thing to do?

I just don't get it.

I know, that we are all jaded. I know that we are bombarded with political bullshit and tough decisions in our daily lives. But just like in so many other ways that our country has gone wrong, how long will it take for us to get back to the real issues and for our hearts to find a place again for doing the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do?

My kid knows what is right. Her classmates do too. And somewhere, I venture to guess, deep inside.....in the place where you keep hidden the little child, just learning about the world that you once were....you do too.

Be proud of this one thing that you do today to make the world, your own neighborhood, a better place. Give of your heart today.

I dare you.

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/farm-bill-2012/

Happy Birthday Alice!!

It is no surprise to anyone who knows me even casually that I am president of Alice Waters and the Edible Schoolyard's fan club.

Alice has been so fundamental in my culinary sense and development. As I have become a Mother and grown in my own career as a Chef, I have seen first hand the magic in her philosophy and the work that has been the passion of her life.

I work with kids for whom it has been a big deal to get to go to Mc Donalds. I cook for these kids and their families, who's lives have been filled with nothing but processed foods. These families come to Seneca for help and counsel and I am the lucky one who has the privilege of introducing them to the freshest, local fruits and vegetables. Foods that they never have seen let alone tasted from organic farms grown locally in season. The looks on their faces when they first see an heirloom tomato with its tiger stripes and funky irregular shape! Then, finally, when they screw up the courage to try the thing......a sweet smile of amazement fills their faces as drips of tomato juice drip down their eager chins and I am filled forever and reminded why I do what I do!!

Both my parents, food mavericks in their own ways, and Alice are responsible for this. My career, my joy in the farmers at the markets hawking their home grown wares with the excitement of a new parent, my amazement in sharing my world with my own precious daughter Lucia, my deep appreciation for my sweet husband Troy who's motto since meeting and wooing me has become "shut up and eat it, it will be wonderful", and my devotion to sourcing the best for "my kids" at Seneca.....all of this, I give up to Alice.

Alice.......with all of my heart, thank you for your determination. Thank you for your commitment to all of our children and putting the future of food squarely in their eager hands. And lastly, thank you for your patience, for 30 years, waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

Happy Birthday Alice!!

Fresh Black Mole Enchiladas

My Husband Troy says that he is an Irishman by heritage, but a Latin lover in his heart. He LOVES Mexican food. Typically taco trucks are his weakness, not "chi chi" California style fresh Mexican food. I am constantly working to develop recipes that embrace both. Mexican depth of flavor and California healthy style.

Recently, I went to a "pop up" store in Oakland, organized by my friend Samin Nosrat, http://ciaosamin.blogspot.com who by the way was the catalyst and organizer for the wildly successful Bakesale for Haiti, and Chris Lee of the recently closed Eccolo and purchased some black mole sauce.

After watching Mexican food aficionado and Top Chef Masters winner, Rick Bayless go into eye-rolling ecstasy describing his first taste of black mole and his life-long quest to re-create it, I jumped at the chance to bring some home and source a great way to use it.

Inspired recently by a recipe that I saw in the San Francisco Chronicle, I tweaked this M'Lisa style and came up with a real winner that I tried out tonight for dinner. It was as beautiful to look at as it tasted, and even my taco truck loving, Portuguese Irishman Husband declared it a run away winner. Below is the M'Lisa-ized recipe. For those who are interested about what I changed, I have included at link to the original article as well.

The recipe includes a version of the afor-mentioned black mole, but for this recipe, I used the mole that I purchased from Samin and that was made by personal chef Melissa Fernandez www.figandmiel.com.

Enchiladas Under a Salad

Serves 6 with leftover sauce and picadillo.

You will have sauce and filling leftover for more enchiladas or to freeze. You can make the sauce a day before making the enchiladas.

• Sweet Mole Sauce:
• 
  
• 5 dried ancho chiles
• 6 dried guajillo chiles
• 2 dried California chiles
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt + more later to taste
• 3 garlic cloves - 2 peeled, 1 with husk
• 2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1 small tomato
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 4 whole cloves, crushed
• 1 2-inch piece canela (cinnamon bark), broken up
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 small Knorr chicken bouillon cubes or 1 tablespoon Superior Touch "Better than Bouillon" (optional)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar or one 3-inch piece piloncillo
• 1 1/2 ounces Mexican chocolate (Abuelita brand or Oaxacan), chopped
• 
  
• Family Picadillo:
• 
  
• 6 peeled carrots, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 tomato, seeded and diced
• 1 pound Prather Ranch ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon olive oil, as needed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
• -- Black pepper to taste
• 12 corn tortillas
• 
  
• The Salad:
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• -- Pinch of kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• -- About 3 cups crisp romaine lettuce cut into 1/2-inch thick ribbons
• 4 watermelon radishes, washed, and thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

For the Sweet Mole Sauce: Put on a teakettle of water to boil and then use scissors to cut stems off dried chiles and cut chiles in half. Shake out seeds. If I see large white veins (the hottest part of chiles), I cut them out with the scissors. Do this operation over a spread out newspaper or your kitchen will be covered with seeds. Place chiles in a large heat-proof bowl and pour boiling water over them. If the chiles are cut up they tend to float less, but keep pushing the chiles into the water. Add the 2 teaspoons salt and the peeled garlic and soak for 1 hour.

While the chiles are soaking, heat a 10-inch skillet and toast the sesame seeds on medium heat until deeply golden, stirring constantly; remove from pan and set aside. While the pan is still hot, quickly toast the cumin seeds until dark brown and aromatic (be careful - they can burn quickly), then add to the the sesame seeds.

Increase heat to medium high; add the small tomato and remaining garlic clove (with husk). Cook the tomato until charred around the edges along with the garlic, turning the tomatoes over to char the other side. Add the oregano; stir to toast, about 30 seconds. Put aside to cool.

After 45 minutes to 1 hour, the chiles should be rehydrated. Pour off the soaking liquid, which can be bitter. Use a blender to puree the chiles (in batches as needed), adding just enough water to help puree. Pour puree through a wire strainer placed over a large bowl. Discard the skins (they are great in compost). After straining the last batch of chiles, pour the liquid back into the blender jar. Add the charred tomato, toasted garlic, sesame seeds, cumin, oregano, cloves and canela; puree.

Heat the olive oil in a deep, heavy pot and blend in flour until well mixed and smooth. Cook until slightly toasted or golden. Slowly whisk in the chile-spice puree and 3 cups water. Lupe always adds the bouillon because it is traditional. Add the sugar or piloncillo and the Mexican chocolate. Simmer the sweet sauce for 20 minutes over the lowest heat because it can splatter. Stir often to make sure the chocolate and sugar are well-dissolved. Add salt to taste, if needed. This sauce can be made a day in advance and refrigerated. Makes about 1 quart, enough for the enchiladas plus leftovers.

For the Family Picadillo: Sautee the onions and carrots in a spot of olive oil, until caramelized. Add the ground beef, use a potato masher to break up the meat and distribute the vegetables throughout. Pour off the excess fat. Season with oregano, salt and pepper. Add the cooked black beans and diced tomato. Warm though. Set aside, cover and keep warm. Makes about 5 cups, enough for the enchiladas plus leftovers.

To assemble: Preheat the oven to 375°. Oil a 9- by 13-inch baking pan or 3-quart baking dish. Pour enough sauce into the prepared pan (just large enough to hold a tortilla) to fill the pan about 3/4-inch deep - about 2 cups. Heat until warm, if necessary. If the sauce has been refrigerated and has thickened, blend in a bit of water or chicken broth to thin it out.

Meanwhile, heat a griddle to warm tortillas on. Warm two at a time then lay them out on a flat plate. Place 1/4 cup of picadillo along one edge and roll up tightly. Place each rolled enchilada into the baking dish, seam side down. Place baking dish in the oven, and heat through, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the salad. Whisk together lime juice, salt and oil. Add lettuce and radishes, toss together.

To serve: Remove enchiladas from the oven, and place 2 on each plate. Pile a heaping 1/2 cup salad over each serving, top with 2-3 avocado slices and sprinkle with goat cheese. Or, serve family-style on a platter.

Per serving: 484 calories, 18 g protein, 49 g carbohydrate, 25 g fat (7 g saturated), 46 mg cholesterol, 896 mg sodium, 7 g fiber.

Wine pairing: The mole is not overly hot, and it finishes with a sweet edge. A beer, a soft white or lighter-bodied red like Beaujolais will all work.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/02/21/FDHU1BTH1C.DTL

Teaching Children About the Circle of Life

Occasionally I get to be the parent that my parents were at their best. The parent that all parents want to be. That time happened recently around one of my favorite and most heart-felt subjects... food and where it comes from.

Children are natural foragers. Their curiosity and sense of adventure allow an ability to taste, smell, see and feel things in ways that are already ruined for us adults. Life sometimes jades us into beliefs, especially about food….and often our tastes and preferences become our child’s, because they are such apt little mimics. But what happens when we are aware (brief gifts from above for moments at a time) of standing in our child’s (and our own) way? They are allowed to come to their own decisions about what they like and don’t like, about what is good and not, about whether they are okay with something.

My daughter Lucia, is an old soul. She is a spitfire and emotional, fun to be around, a trial when she is overwhelmed and tired and bossy. In fact, she is a lot like her mother. I have made a conscious effort to expose her to much, especially around food, which my life seems to revolve deliciously around.

We have planted three years of backyard gardens together. We have tasted our way through the farmer’s market every Saturday of her little life. By and large, I don’t make “kid food”…I make real food. She puts it best when she sees a fast food commercial, “Mama! They are lying when they say THAT food is good! It is fast food! It is BAD for you! People shouldn’t eat fast food!  They should eat SLOW FOOD”. Not bad for my little disciple…but even then, I have tried to show her why I make the choices for our family (and my work family) that I do, and let her come to her own ideas and ideals. So far so good.

So when it comes to letting kids know where their food comes from it is pretty simple isn’t it? We have planted gardens, know the farmers at the farmers markets better than most….easy to see and tell where our fruits and vegetables come from. Especially easy for a mother and a kid who both are animal people because trees and shrubs don’t scream when you pick their fruit.

Recently, I have had something in the back of my mind that was troubling me. How could I tell this kid who kisses chickens and cows when she meets them and gives a hug to the merry go round horses after they let her ride, that we kill animals for food? I know about this sensitivity because I have always been an animal person. Shoot, I even cried when my parents cut down real trees for Christmas and I watched them die a slow death in our living room! My daughter is me times twenty, and though I am slowly getting over my own squeamishness on the subject….I desperately wanted to make it easier for her to understand.

This past summer gave me my opportunity. Lucia and I volunteered at Slow Food Berkeley’s pig roast. Surrounded by like minded folks, we arrived when the pig was already buried in the Caja China box over slow coals….and would be there most of the day.

While we waited, along with about fifty other hungry folks, I talked to my daughter about how sometimes animals give their lives so that we can live to be strong and healthy. She listened intently, and she nodded, seeming to get it with little fan fare or drama. If you know my daughter at all, you know that this is rare!

We talked about how plants are living too and that they do the same for us, give us the fruit that they grown to feed us and make us strong. I told her about how her Papa, that she never knew, took me fishing when I was her age. How we baited the flies that Papa made especially and caught fish to eat. We likened that to the wonderful fish mongers at Monterey Fish, who take at least thirty minutes out each time we visit to show Lucia the lobsters or crabs or big mouthed fish in ice in the window…they answer her questions focusing only on her (never mind that they have other customers and a business to run!), they let her touch them and she is happy as a clam each time we visit.

When it came time for the piggy to be taken out of the box, we talked again about how “this piggy gave his life so that we all could share him and be healthy and strong”. That, “yes, the piggy is cooked and yes, again, we are going to eat him with all our friends”. I must admit, as the Slow Food people parted so that my little girl could watch as the man who roasted the pig could bring him up from the coals, face and all, I had knots in my stomach. Was my animal loving little girl really going to be okay with this?

For a moment, after the pig was on the carving table, LuLu turned to look back at me, I was nervous. I must have hid it well though, because I smiled at her questioning little face….and then a miracle happened! She smiled easily back. It was going to be okay. She “got” it. The circle of life made sense and she got it!

She watched him cut up the pig, as he gave away the ears and feet. Still no drama. No problem. We waited in line to get our share of fresh roasted pork on our favorite Acme rolls with homemade salsas and a bounty of potluck items that everyone had brought from home.

I still almost cry when I think back on this amazing day. It was a day when I am certain that my own dear parents were smiling down on me.  The day I "got it". It was the day that I was a good mother, the one that I am meant to be.

Eat Real Street Food Festival

I got up early today to volunteer at the Eat Real Street Food Festival at Jack London Square in Oakland. What an amazing event!

Met Rebecca from Slow Food Berkeley and helped to set up the festival merchandise booths and then started out to sell event T shirts to the vendors at a huge discount.  This was great because I got to meet so many of these wonderfully talented food artisans! 

After delivering the T shirts, and stopping for a mid-morning Ritual coffee break, I got busy helping to serve ice cream at Strauss Family Creamery.  The free cone I earned went of course to my darling daughter, Lucia who showed up with her Daddy to enjoy and eat their way through all the taco trucks! 

Best taste of the day goes to the Chop's roasted china  pig on warm flat bread with homemade roasted pepper salsa.  Best sweets taste goes to Kika's Treats homemade graham cracker smores.  Most unusual condiment goes to Jim n Nick's Bbq for their pimento cheese spread with the grilled link.  Friendliest vendor was Blue Chair Fruit...she is always so gracious and willing to let Lucia taste her way through all her luscious homemade jams and cutest retro logo was earned by Sweet Face Bakery. Biggest offering went to the Paella guy (see pic)....amazing!  We got home around 4pm totally exhausted and satisfied.  

Lucia was more than happy to show off her festival T shirt and I must say did at least as good a job as the professional model that came through on a photo shoot wearing too perfect a dress and waaaay to much makeup to be at a street food festival! 

Sunday Breakfast

We have a tradition since moving to Berkeley.  On Friday night, to celebrate the end of the week we go out to dinner.  Not usually a fancy affair.....though we usually spend more on food than most families I imagine, we pay for quality and support good, local ingredients.  Neighborhood places, owned by hardworking people who are really focused on the food.  But I digress.

The second part of the weekend food celebration comes on Sunday am, after the Saturday filled with taking the train to the City and spending the better part of the day foraging the best ingredients for my job at Seneca Center, elbowing through the amazing mix of locals and enthusiastic tourists at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.  I love my job, I love the market and all the farmers and local producers that  I have built a relationship with over the years working in the food business....but.....I also really love the chance to relax on Sunday mornings with my sweet Husband and daughter, over a meal that I had to do absolutely nothing for, except drag my hiney out of bed!

Berkeley is an amazing town.  Full of wonderful opinionated folks, a well educated bunch, passionate about their place in society.  It is one of the many reasons that we sought to make this our home.  Certainly, one of the most enjoyable things about Berkeley (Oakland and SF too for that matter!) is the availability of local, sustainably produced food and the hardworking folks that bring it to us everyday.  I am so grateful that on Sundays, I am not one of those people, but a benefactor.  

So on Sunday am we get up and without much thought as to where we will go, we head out the door to partake.  Sometimes I do a little internet research ahead of time, looking at reviews from other folk and Michael Bauer.  Sometimes I have a bee in my bonnet about places that I have had in que and wanted to try.  Most times, Troy and I have a brief discussion and we just go!  

Lucia sometimes has something to say about what she wants to eat, but if we gave her a choice about where to go...she most certainly chooses Cafe Fanny.  Cafe Fanny is one of our old standbys.  The people are so wonderful, always greeting us by name and taking joy in seeing Lucia run around, petting doggies that come with their parents, and sipping on her big girl warm chocolate from a bowl.  Her she has two favorite breakfast selections at Cafe Fanny.  The warm and nutty steel cut oats, served with lovely melting butter and maple syrup. But most often, she chooses a soft boiled egg with Acme toast.  My go-getter, not afraid of anything daughter turns into a real little lady at Cafe Fanny, with her napkin on her lap and her tiny little egg spoon, daintily scooping warm, slightly runny egg from the light green shell.  She usually leaves her toast for last, eating it with cream cheese and their homemade jam. 

Troy and I really like a little and popular French place on Shattuck, I am sure that you will already know of it, it is one of the most popular places for breakfast, it is called La Note.  I always order the same thing.  Softly scrambled eggs with goat cheese and herbs.  It comes with a side of the most delicious oven roasted tomatoes and I suggest that you splurge and get the buttery, crusty croissant or the huge half a baguette instead of the toast.  Leave the butter that it comes with alone, and spread it with the lovely not too sweet raspberry jam that is a house specialty here.  Pure breakfast heaven!!  

We also really like 900 Grayson.  However, we dont get to go here as often as we would because they are not open on Sundays. We usually choose this tiny little heaven of slow food if we suddenly get a wild hair and go out on Saturday morning instead, but as I said before, my Saturdays are usually packed full with the market...so the opportunity does not happen often.  

We really like walking to Bette's on 4th Street. Consistently great food but sometimes the wait is just too much for hungry parents with a five year old.  I have a special place in my heart though for the folks at Bette's because my niece Brittany used to wait tables here.  

Meal Ticket, Cafe M and Leilas are all pretty good but for me uneven.  

Recently on a Sunday am when we decided to venture into the city for a meal, we took a chance and went to the really hipster, upscale Slow Club.  We had to wait more than an hour for a table, and had to really work to keep Lucia occupied for that huge amount of time (thank God for color books and washable pens!) but when we finally got to a table, we had an amazing meal. Lucia was happy with the oatmeal and I ordered a warm flat bread with wilted wild rocket, pecorino and a fried egg.  And...they serve Blue Bottle Coffee. Can you say YUM?  Fabulous is the best word that I can think of.  This place is on our short list for further ventures.

After our meal, we find a nice place to walk some of it off.  Coming prepared with LuLu's pink skitter helps to make it more fun for her, and we get a leisurely start to the end of our weekend. 

I love my job.  I love everything about it.  But I must say, at the end of a busy week being up at 5am, a wife, a mother, a chef and nutritional manager, a housekeeper, gardener, laundress and dog owner....I am most grateful on Sunday morning meals out with my family!

Grilled Pizza

Tonight after pruning the tomatoes plants that are quickly out growing the cages that I have used for the last three years, I decided to make some homemade pizza dough and grill some pizza.  This is my second attempt this summer at grilling pizza.  Last time, the crust was what was lacking.  Too thick and too many toppings.  This time I decided to keep it simple.

The pizza dough is better. Amazing.  This time, the crust is good. I wanted to find a way to stretch it thinner to get the crisp and chewy, Cheeseboard type crust that my little family has grown to love. After brushing it with garlic oil and laying it on a 500 degree preheated grill, it is a skill to keep it moving and get the nice char marks and crispy edges, without letting it rest too long and burning. 

So on go the oven roasted tomatoes, creamy goat cheese , smoked pork loin, and grilled gypsy peppers. For my daughter Lucia, a fire roasted tomato reduction and fresh mozzarella.  She is a fearless and adventurous eater....but really wants to be a kid eating cheese pizza tonight.  I oblige.  I make two 8 inch pies with the pork loin, one cheese pizza and one Frog Hollow Peach pizza drizzled with honey and dotted with dolce pecorino.  Delicious!

Since the weather was unusually balmy for Berkeley tonight, cut up some fresh Frog Hollow peaches, tiny Lucero strawberries and macerated them in a nice Spanish white wine with a squeeze of lime in two glasses to accompany the pizza for my Husband Troy and I.

Topping off the meal, slices from a miniscule, sweet watermelon.