Secret Dinner

Oh, neglected blog,
summertime is difficult
(real life is too fun).

We have been very busy.  The high point of the summer (so far) was a secret dinner in Todd and Spring's lush backyard in Santa Rosa.  We served a three-course meal to friends, family, and new acquaintances in a wonderful, laid-back atmosphere.

  
Gwen's menu was a bit more sophisticated than our usual fare, but everything came off without a hitch- no, better than that: the food was marvelous.  Our guests were wonderful and appreciative, the kids were world-class servers, and the setting couldn't have been more pleasant.

We are so lucky to live in this place!  The community here is outstanding.  After dinner, we all walked down the street to Brian Fitzpatrick's house to watch his band play.  Our good friends You Are Plural opened.  Both bands are phenomenal, and will give you a sense of the great things that come out of Santa Rosa.  We are proud to be a part of it.  

Since then it's been pretty mellow.  We have been camping, hiking, biking, working, playing, eating, drinking- but rarely cooking.  This hot weather makes me want to just eat fruit and tacos all the time.  In the next update, we'll add a recipe and some pictures from our fundraiser brunch and backyard show (t h i s   s u n d a y).

Thanks for checking in.  Until next time... Bon Appetit!

Teaser

Banh Mi and Bikes

We will be slingin' vegetarian banh mi sandwiches from a food bike tomorrow!  Come on down, ride your bike, see all the pretty bikes!  EAT!  See why Nick and I have been so busy neglecting this lovely blog!

Summer Soup

In the same way we push our heavy coats to the back of the closet, come May I like to retire my huge soup pot, and use it exclusively for large batches of berry and stone fruit jam.  The warm days mean less stove and oven time, more fresh veggie time.  Yet it is now June and we still have an extra blanket on the bed, our wool jackets at the ready, and we are having chicken noodle soup for dinner. 

When it comes to a hearty soup I use the chop and toss method.  Onions, celery, and carrots taste good and feel good, so they go in the pot to dry roast before I pour in chicken broth and water.  I add the chicken and cook.  When the chicken has fully cooked, I pull it out, shred the meat and remove any skin and bone.  Put the meat back, spice, taste, spice... I think most folks have a tried and true chicken noodle soup recipe laying around.

Oh but the noodles!  Fresh pasta is so easy and so special and so delicious.  For noodle soup a nice wide egg noodle is perfect.

Combine two eggs and two egg yolks, set aside.  Place two cups of flour in a bowl or on a work surface.  Make a well in the center, add your eggs and work your flour into the egg with a fork. when the dough comes together enough to use your hands, kneed together, shape into a disk, and let rest for at least an hour.

When it is time to roll out your dough, I suggest working a quarter to a third at a time.  You can roll pasta dough by hand with a rolling pin.  I am very modern and fortunate to have a pasta roller, so I just feed it through the machine.

When you have reach your desired thickness, you can flour, fold and cut into your desired with!
Gingerly pull apart and add your pasta to your soup.  Your pasta will only take a few minuets to cook (depending on how thick it is) after three minuets I will usually check it.

Hearty and warming soup, perfect for a winter meal... or a rainy June I suppose.  I'm not complaining, I love noodle soup!  I'm just ready for river trips and tee shirts.  Until then, stay dry and warm.

Life's a Bowl Full of Strawberries

I've been drooling at all the new and beautiful veggies, and especially fruits showing up at the farmers markets.  Berry season can never seem to get her quite fast enough.  Finally we have strawberries!  

My favorite way to eat strawberries is off the vine, slightly warmed from the sun.  When I was little, and it was my turn to pick the strawberries, I would often make myself sick, eating berries by the handful before my basket was even half full.
On occasion I will control myself long enough to make some jam or bake them into something... eggs and cream perhaps.

Cherries Clafoutis is one of my favorite desserts, or breakfasts, or snacks.  Traditionally baked with the cherry pits still in, I like to work (a little) for my dessert.  I also like to remember to SLOW DOWN.  I have an incredibly simple and tasty clafoutis recipe, adapted from The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Cookbook.  Sadly we don't have a cherry tree.  We do have a strawberry patch.

Cherry Strawberry Clafoutis

Preheat the oven to 400F. 
Butter a shallow 10 inch baking dish.
In a bowl whisk together 1/2 cup sugar, 3 large eggs and zest from one lemon until combined.
Add 1 cup heavy cream (on this occasion we used half and half because that was in the ice box) and 1t vanilla extract.  Whisk until combined.  Add 1/2 cup flour and a pinch of salt, whisk until frothy.
Pour about half the batter into the prepared baking dish then add a pound(ish) of (stemmed cherries) trimmed strawberries.  Ours were quite large so I cut them in half.
Bake until golden and puffed up.  Devour!

Remember:  If you are serving this dish cherry pits and all remind your happy guests before they dig in.  It would be a sad dessert if some unsuspecting friend chipped a tooth. 

Busy Bees

We have hardly had a moments rest.
Shop Party was another success, we made the mistake of only making enough food for 150 people and we sold out after only two hours! We were able to buy ourselves a new point and shoot camera with our earnings! You have beautiful food photos and (hopefully) more frequent postings to look forward to!

We have been busy working one event after another, and we are loving it! This week started off right with an incredible show at the Arlene Francis Theater. We were hired to make dinner for the touring bands, Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship?, Y La Bamba, and Dark Dark Dark. Our local heroes Odd Bird played too and the show was fantastic.

We made mini calzones and a roasted carrot and barley salad.

The highlight of the evening for me was Dark Dark Dark gushing over the "best carrots they have ever had" from the stage. I'm still excited about it!

Next up a Birthday bash! We have been hired by the wonderful folks at Oak Hill Farm to cook for a 50th birthday party!

Photo by Zohn Mandel

In the meantime, I hope Nick and I will get a chance to have some delicious spring time dinners to share with you. Thanks for continuing to read and support.

Up 'til Now and for the Future!

Spring has brought good fortune and lots of work to us.  We have been quite busy lately with Born and Raised, and it feels great to make our pleasure into a small business.

First there was a local show featuring our good pals Odd Bird.  We made Macaroni and Cheese with sweet peppers, caramelized onions, and bacon, and Golden Beet and Citrus Salad with fresh greens and toasted pine nuts, and we got a great response (and sold out, which we were quite pleased with).

Next there was a wedding at the newly-restored DeTurk Round Barn, for which we prepared two types of ice cream: Malted Milk, which is the best ice cream we have ever tasted, and Coffee (using Ecco beans roasted just blocks from the wedding locale).

Next up is Shop Party at the Arlene Francis Theater.  This is a really incredible event featuring local artists, craftspeople, and small businesses, and we are really looking forward to spending time with (and making good food for) everyone who will be there.  Our menu for that day is a surprise, but it will be, as always, locally sourced, well-made, and delicious.  We'll also have preserves on-hand (Gwen just made some fantastic Lemon Curd) and some other goods.  We will be happy to see you there.