On what other day of the year do Roman gods, witches, angels, Christmas elves, hot-pink haired hunnies, bunny rabbits, and science fiction characters gather together for celebration? Our office Halloween festivities were a hit, I will say. I've accumulated some Kit Kats and Milk Duds and even a fake plastic slug! My costume of choice this year was a dark angel :)

This weekend was fatiguingly fun. On Saturday, I worked at the CUESA Harvest Festival. This year, Todd Champagne of Happy Girl Kitchens, along with his wife and son, taught a group of us how to preserve tomatoes and peppers. We tossed garlic and small tomatoes and basil into one Ball jar, and pepper strips, onion rounds and hot peppers into another..then we sealed the jars to let the veggies preserve themselves to deliciousness!

After that, three of us set up and ran an apple-tasting station where we cut up ten varieties of apples for market-goers to taste...there were Fuji, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, and Arkansas Black apples...my favorite were the Wickson apples. They were so tiny that three could fit in my hand and they tasted perfectly tart!

There was also a butter churning station and an apple mill for making fresh pressed cider...if you have never had fresh-pressed cider, you best run out to your nearest apple orchard and try some!

*

On Sunday, I finally made my way over to the Temescal farmer's market. It is located in the parking lot of the Claremont DMV in Oakland. I can't believe I hadn't yet been there! It was smaller than both the Grand-Lake and the Ferry Building markets, but it was intimate and musical and it quickly became my new favorite. The prepared foods were delicious (Thai, Indian, Afghani, soy food, breads, baked goods, kettle corn, tamales)...and I drank the best cup of drip coffee I have had in my entire life...skillfully prepared by the talented folks at Blue Bottle Coffee.

To my family that keeps up with me here...I am eagerly anticipating December 25th :) It will be a little bittersweet...being together at Aunt Kris' house, eating (presumably!) polish sausage, Grandma Joan's potato salad and some new creation that my Mom stayed up the entire night before to perfect (c'mon! we all know it's going to happen! Love you, Mom :)), sharing stories and laughter...but also realizing that this will be the *last* year that we drive out from Chicago and Schaumburg and Wheaton and Princeton and up from Texas to spend Christmas together, in Wacounda, Illinois, in that warm and magical house, as the snow falls outside.

*

I imagine that our next Christmas may be spent together in Texas; perhaps Grandma Joan will start drinking Margaritas over Manhattans and Uncle Tom may make fish tacos instead of Shrimp Dijon. On one hand, I'm saddened that our old traditions will be packed away...but on the other hand I'm excited to know that we'll create new traditions together.

*

Since I moved out to California, I've been a bit removed...but I've thought of you all often. I have been fortunate enough to make friends out here that want to start new traditions, though, friends who want to gather together and celebrate as a makeshift family...and I'm excited for these experiences :)

*

On that note, it's going to be a *good* day on November 23rd, boy. 'Thanks-go-Vegan' in East Oakland...dried butternut squash strips and dried persimmon slices hanging in the windows as decoration...wine mulling on the stove...'Cream of the Harvest Soup' with a hotter-than-heck chili sauce on top to start...a Tofu-Leek Pinenut Tart to follow...Pumpkin Pie and brussels sprouts as well...everything fresh from the East Bay farmer's markets in Oakland and Berkeley...I can't wait!

*

Last night Alicia and I tested out the soup and the tart recipes and they both came out delicious! Alicia was in charge of the butternut squash...

and I was in charge of the chili sauce.

We made a huge mess, drank lots of wine and revelled in being the crazy girls that we undoubtedly are :)

i love this saying. it encompasses a lot of what has weighed on my mind for as long as i can remember; it validates initiative over circumstance, which may or may not be accurate in the end: 'it's not where you come from. it's where you're at.'

Tonight was CUESA's annual Sunday Supper, the biggest fundraising event of the season. Chefs from restaurants all over the Bay Area donated time and food to serve over 400 people who paid a hefty sum for some good chow. Proceeds benefit CUESA, which benefits, in turn, the Ferry Building Farmer's Markets and all of CUESA's other activites. I feel really lucky to have been able to be a part of this event...thank you to CUESA for involving the laymen in your events!

The weather in the city was perfect tonight; slightly cool and breezy; the sky was totally clear and the entire Ferry Building was swarming with men and women in chefs coats and black clogs baking and searing and chopping and finishing and arranging...the appetizers were in the main hallway...then everyone moved upstairs to be seated for first courses, entrees, cheese plates and then dessert. There were chef stations set up in nooks and crannies all over. Out back was the entree station - it was an amazing scene; it looked like a gourmet encampment! There were little white tents set up next to rotisseries of guinea quails and smoldering barbecues whose heat you could feel as you walked past. Upstairs in the Port Commission Hearing Room were long tables, and at each was a different chef from a different restaurant preparing their course dish to be taken out to the diners in the grand alley. I helped to shave cheese and arrange the cheese, nut and fruit plates; I ran here and there carrying creamer and bread to the places it needed to be; I listened in on a lot of chef-talk and got a lot of inspiring ideas, too.

The desserts, my weakness, were delicious. Shuna Fish Lydon made Buckwheat French Butter Cake with an October Fruit Compote (I had to take a piece when I left - it was SO good!); Kathleen Stewart from Downtown Bakery made a chocolate sponge cake brushed with Grand Marnier and filled with whipped cream studded Chocolate, Hazlenuts and Almonds (I went after that one with my hands, having no shame, once it became fair game - wow!); Elizabeth Falkner from Citizen Cake made a tart tatin with cheddar crumbles, cinnamon ice cream and a balsamic reduction...the list goes on. They were all gorgeous; they were all made with such care; and they were all devoured!

Chelsea and Alison and I joked that we felt like groupies around all these famous chefs, but we gushed anyhow. What a fun night!

Betty is the best coworker *ever.* I want to thank her again for bringing in mooncakes last week to share (yes, Aaron, I'd been begging her to show me what you were eating!). We started with the green bean mooncake...the next day we had the red bean...and finally, the lotus with egg yolk! I was amazed. I am clueless as to Chinese baking (although I did, once, make my own red bean buns!) and Betty has taken me under her wing to introduce me to the delights of mooncakes and buns and the like. She also brings in Dr. Brown's coffee drinks for me and shares her seaweed potato chips. Soon, we will go to hot pot at Ranch 99 - a must-go-to market if you're interested in good Asian food in the Bay Area! Thank you, Betty!

Sunday night already! This weekend flew by, as these past few weeks have been flying by. Yesterday I had my Linguistics class from 10-3, so that took up a big chunk of the day. Luckily, halfway through our lecture, the teacher gave us an hour for lunch...and how fortuitous it was that the Berkeley Farmer's Market was happening only a block away :)

It's now the season for corn, apples, pears, persimmons and pomegranates. The tomatoes are still going strong, as are the bell peppers and basil, and pumpkins and squash are coloring the stalls with their characteristic autumn hues.

On Tuesday, I volunteered at the Fall Fruit Tasting at the Berkeley market and had tasted a multitude of pears and persimmons and apples. I came away with two favorites: the Frog Hollow Farm Warren Pear and the Gabriel Farm Olympic Asian Pear.

I learned, while I was volunteering, that the Asian pears from China and Japan had been brought to California during the Gold Rush, and that they are *meant* to be eaten crisp and juicy. Ignorance admitted, I'd never really paid attention to Asian pears to know what they were supposed to taste like. I just saw them in the grocery stores, all caged up in their special little styrofoam hammocks and thought, 'why bother?' I should have bothered! The Olympic is rather large, its color a mixture of orange and pea-greeen, and it's deliciously crisp and sweet. The Warren, on the other hand, is a variety that originated in the southern USA. It's sweeter and more smooth (like honey, Frog Hollow says) than the Asian varieties, and it's delicious in an entirely unique way.

That said, on Saturday, I purchased a few of these pears along with a pomegranate and a Hachiya persimmon. I bought these last two out of curiosity; I'd never really tasted a Hachiya, but I'd heard wonderful things, and the pomegranate was just beautiful.

There are two kinds of persimmons, the Fuyu, which you can eat right away, and the Hachiya, which must be soft and ripe before using.

The Hachiya (above), I was told, is a big mess when you cut it open and it also needs to be peeled, so it's best to use it in custards or cookies or cakes. I want to make muffins with mine :)

The Fuyu (above), on the other hand, can be eaten as is, just like an apple, and can pretty much do anything that an apple can in terms of being part of a cake, etc.

The pomegranate (more on this with foto later).

After a long day of syntax and morphology and language trees, I was ready to get out on my bike and ree-laxxx!! Alicia and I rode up to Berkeley (nearly getting killed a few times along the way) to meet Kerli at Fellini, a spot with tasty vegan and non-vegan food alike. I first went to there many months ago for breakfast and was sorely disappointed with the service, and the food wasn't too good either. But I figured, last weekend, that I ought to give it another try, and so I had breakfast there. Maybe it was the Mimosa's fault, but I was really pleased. The service was great, the food came quickly and it was delicious! So last night we went there for some dinner, and, again, I was pleased. It's a nice place to go for a quick bite to eat with a diverse group of picky eaters; almost everyone can find something to eat, it has a great atmospohere, and...you don't have to wait long for a table!

After we filled our bellies, Kerli had to go home, but Alicia and I hopped onto our bikes and did a little tour of the area's more uppety pubs. We started at Jupiter so that we could have some of their pomegranate cider, and then we headed to Cato's to plan our 'Thanks-go-Vegan' meal with the help of some ale. It was a beautiful night and seeing friends and shooting the breeze made it all the better. When I got home, I literally fell into bed.

Today, I had one plan and one plan only...and that was to go to the Day of the Dead celebration at the Oakland Museum. Of course, I ended up adding in some delicious food activities...and I'm just getting started *now* (at 7 pm) with what I need to do for the week. Oops!

Alicia met me around noon at my apartment and, both starving, we decided to get food and caffeine pronto. An Ethiopian restaurant opened recently about two doors down from my apartment, and naturally, we had to try it. We walked into a restaurant empty of guests...which concerned us. We asked to see a menu, though, and despite the fact that it was a rather limited offering, we saw vegetarian options and asked if they could make us a special combination of all the choices for us to share (we were both used to this type of eating in Ethiopian restaurants, so we thought they might not mind). The waitress seemed a little miffed that we didn't want to order more, but we stuck to our guns, and boy were we right! A few minutes later, the waitress came out with a big plate full of all sorts of spicy and tasty concoctions, including Yesmir Wat (spicy lentils) and Tikil Gomen (cabbage, potato and carrots), and a basket full of Injera. After one bite, we were both convinced that the food was to die for...and we stayed convinced until almost every last morsel of food was consumed.

I've always been intrigued by Injera, the spongy and sour flatbread that accompanies Ethiopian food. It's not merely a bread; it's also an eating utensil. Apparently, one is to scoop up the food (using the right hand) with the Injera, then roll it up jelly-roll style (still, only with the right hand) and then pop it in her mouth...not licking her fingers afterwards. I love eating with my hands and I love feeling like there's some sort 'correct way' to eat a certain type of food...so I had a blast. The bread is clearly unleavened, but it's full of holes, like a sponge. It turns out that Injera is made with teff, a grain native to the Ethiopian highlands. Teff contains very little gluten, which essentially holds in the air bubbles that are created when yeast is added, resulting in a leavened bread. Injera does, however, take advantage of the yeast nonetheless, and a short period of fermentation creates the air bubbles and the characteristic sour yeasty flavor.

Anyhow, the restaurant is called Enssaro and it's delicious, and I will definitely be back. Our plateful of food cost us each only $5.50. Amazing!

After our feast, we rode over to the *free* Day of the Dead Festival at the Oakland Museum of California. I had no idea how cool this event would be. Tons of people were there, and it was just a feast for the eyes:

black and white skeletal faces on everyone from babies to adults; altars set up all over the grounds; sap from a special Mexican tree burning and filling the air with an amazing heaviness; golden carnations being sold by the bundle;

little kids decorating sugar skulls; all of us cutting and pasting together little altars out of clay and glue; embossing foil and cutting out hearts...it was a lot of fun. It's a wonderful idea, really. It's an occassion to celebrate the memory of deceased ancestors...a festive time to honor the lives of the deceased and celebrate the continuation of life.

I'm so thankful that the museum offered this event free to any and everyone; it was really cool.

Okay, time to work!!

Betty is the best coworker *ever.* I want to thank her again for bringing in mooncakes this week to share (yes, Aaron, I'd been begging her to show me what you were eating!). We started with the green bean mooncake...the next day we had the red bean...and finally, the lotus with egg yolk! I was amazed. I am clueless as to Chinese baking (although I did, once, make my own red bean buns!) and Betty has taken me under her wing to introduce me to the delights of mooncakes and buns and the like. She also brings in Dr. Brown's coffee drinks for me and shares her seaweed potato chips. Soon, we will go to hot pot at Ranch 99 - a must-go-to market if you're interested in good Asian food in the Bay Area! Thank you, Betty!

Keri's Drunken Apple Pie

This recipe was adapted from a Country Living recipe. This weekend, I won first prize at the UC Santa Cruz Harvest Fesitval with this pie! It's a winner! The 'drunken' refers to the state in which the baker should be while baking the pie in order to achieve the best possible results.

Pastry for Double-Crust Pie
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter (very cold and cut into half-inch cubes)
2 t granulated sugar
0.5 t salt

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry-blender, cut in the butter until the pieces are pea-sized. Sprinkly 1 T cold water over the mixture and toss with a fork. Repeat, using 1 T water at a time (use a total of 5-6 T water) until all the flour misture is moistened. Shape into a ball; wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate about one hour.

The Pie Itself
0.75 cups granulated sugar
0.25 cups packed brown sugar
2 T all-purpose flour
1 t ground cinnamon
0.25 t salt
0.25 t nutmeg
3 pounds Cox Orange Pippin apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 T butter (cold and cut into half-inch chunks)
0.25 cups whipping cream
1-2 T milk
1 T turbinado sugar

Bring the pastry dough to room temperature. Divide in half. On a lightly-floured surface, roll one pastry ball into a 12" circle. Transfer to a 9" pie plate and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add the apples and toss to coat. Transfer this mixture to the pastry-lined plate. Dot with the butter and pour the whipping cream over the filling. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the remaining pastry to a 12" circle. Place the pastry over the filling in the pie plate. Seal and crimp the edges. Cut a few designs into the top of the pastry. Decorate, if desired, with extra dough scraps in the shapes of apples or leaves. Brush with milk and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar. Cover the edges in foil to prevent burning. Bake at 375F for 40 minutes, then remove the foil from the edges. Bake for 25-30 more minutes, or until the fruit is tender and the filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack, then eat it! Yumm!!!

Back to real life! Well as 'real' as life is here in the Bay Area (I can just hear the grumbling comments about this being vacation-land Mom and Kurt...I agree it can be, I know). Last night I went with Kerli to the "Future Food Careers: Wholesome Food, Vital Rural Economies, Dynamic Professions" symposium at Berkeley. I could not believe my luck when I saw a listing for this lecture series. It's a two-month long series of lectures by 'women practitioners of sustainable agriculture [speaking] on their involvment in and understanding of a regenerative movement."

Last night, one of the speakers was a Berkeley professor, Dr. Clara Nicholls from the Center for Latin American Studies who spoke to us on AgroEcology and the Slow Food movement. I respected the fact that she is a renowned professor in the field of AgroEcology, as well as a good friend of the man who started the Slow Food movement...yet she was critical of Slow Food as an organization in that it's very elitist and avoidant of many issues that are integral to the agriculture and food problem, for instance, true agrarian reform. I agreed at the time, but then I came home and read the Slow Food Manifesto, which states: "...We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods...[man] should rid himself of speed before if reduces him to a species in danger of extinction. A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of the Fast Life. May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency. Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food..." Perhaps this organization is for the haves, and not the have-nots; founded with the idea of enjoying fruits of labor, but not in facing the issues that plague that labor. It almost seems to imply that in the manifesto. I'll continue to support the organization, but I think that I'll focus my energies more on groups that are getting at the roots of the issues, rather than just admiring the fruits.

*

As I was sifting through the myriad informational materials they had at the lecture, I came across the October issue of The Ecologist. Kerli confirmed that it was a very good issue for people like us to read...and so after the lecture I walked through the rainy streets of Berkeley to moe's bookstore in hopes that I could get the magazine. Sadly, I realized when I got there that they don't carry periodicals and Cody's, who used to be right next door, is gone. I walked back to my car, dejected. On the way home, though, I stopped at Whole Foods (I know, so wrong) for some Soy Dream..and what was on the shelves by the register but the Ecologist!? I got it, I read it, and I highly recommend reading it! The magazine is from the UK and apparently BLT's are pretty popular there, because the cover story is "Inside the BLT Sandwich...The True Cost of Convenience" and it details the "trail of devastation" that the ingredients in the sandwich leave in their wake.

Tuesday, October 3rd

Today, Kurt and Masha toured Alcatraz and San Francisco; my Dad tooled around the East Bay detailing my car and hanging out in auto parts stores, and my Mom and I went to the SF Conservatory of Flowers, the DeYoung Museum and to my UC Exetension class: Linguistics for ESL Teachers at night. It was fortuitous that it was the second Tuesday of the month because everything in the city was free. There was a butterfly exhibit at the conservatory, and I had memories of hatching butterflies in grade-school when I walked through the display. If you click on the picture, you can see a larger image - you can actually see its probiscus!

The DeYoung Museum had a great Chicano exhibition and I learned that I really liked the artwork of Patssi Valdez.

It was great having my Mom in class with me; she was enthralled by my professor, who's really wonderful, and by the class, too.

Thankfully, it's a very dynamic and intelligent group of people in the class and I feel like I am learning so much every time I go. One thing that my professor said that night really stuck with me; he said "[The purpose of teaching is to draw your students out; it's to turn them into self-generating creators of knowledge]." When I think about all my really great teachers, I think not of the ones who spoon-fed me facts and figures and dates and names, but the ones who taught me, subconsciously, to think for myself. I hope that I can someday be that teacher to others!

Monday, October 2nd

Since it's harvest time in the vineyards - one of the best times to visit Wine Country - I had to take the family up there.

Our first stop at COPIA, The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in downtown Napa. According to the website, "COPIA is a non-profit discovery center whose mission is to explore, celebrate and share the many pleasures and benefits of wine, its relationship to food and its significance to our culture." I love that place!

We were a little short on time, so we raced to the parts of the center that we really wanted to see; I was most interested in the Edible Gardens since I'd never seen them before. I saw my first walnut trees and filbert trees and pistachio trees (I seriously had no idea what an immature pistachio looked like - it was like a mini mango!);

I saw persimmon and figs and grapefruit and Meyer lemons ripening on trees; and my favorite...the Maggetti White Wine and Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates Red Wine Gardens, described in the brochure as "living sensory guides for aspiring wine aficionados. The outside sections of each square contain fruits, flowers, herbs and vegetables representing flavors and aronmas often used to describe wine made from a particular grape varietal. The inside sections are seasonally planted with foods that complement the wine." This is definitely the place to go if you're like me, and cannot for the life of you pick out the 'pear' flavor in a wine, or the essence of tobacco...the gardens put it all right there in front of you making it a lot more understandable and memorable.

We then continued up Hwy. 29 and stopped at the Oakville Grocery, the ever-recommended stop for quick and delicious picnic-style lunch food. We sat outside on benches, overturned wine barrels as our tables, eating roasted corn salad, bread and cheeses, amongst other things.

Our next stop was at Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga (see links), where I completed my Crush Camp internship last fall. I love Sterling for first-time visitors to the Napa Valley because it offers a geographical, functional and sensory introduction to Wine Country all in one, and at a really affordable price. For $15 each (we could have saved $5 each had we gotten there before 12:30), we were privy to a scenic tram ride up the hillside, a self-guided tour through the winery (where operations were in full swing since they are mid-harvest!), and a five-wine tasting in their tasting room.

This was my fourth time to Sterling, and each time I go, I relish the olfactory feast that I experience throughout the tour. On Monday, they were doing a lot of pump-overs in the red-wine fermentation tanks, and the sweet, but slightly pungent odor of early fermentation was thick in the air. I could not take enough deep breaths; that smell fills me with hope.

I explained to everyone, to the best of my knowledge, the function of the fermentation locks on the barrels. I'd never actually seen a fermentation lock in action...basically, it's a little contraption that's corked into the bung hole (I'm serious) of a barrel during fermentation that lets carbon dioxode escape, but does not allow air to get in (which might result in bacterial contamination). It was so fun to see all the bubbling and to imagine what was going on inside the barrels!

The tour finished with the tasting, and I think my brother really delighted in feigning wine snobbishness by swirling his wine, pushing his nose into the glass, sipping and swishing..then dramatically announcing his views on the wine. I wasn't fooled.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the final wine would be the 2005 Malvasia Bianca. I'd *tasted* this one in its initial fermentation stages right out of the tank last year, when it was still a sweet and slightly effervescent juice. It was delicious, and even though I got the runs from drinking copious amounts of fermenting juice that fateful day, I promised myself that I'd return in a year to try the finished product. It was delicious! I bought a bottle on my way out...I'm thinking that maybe I'll uncork it whence I finally have a wine and cheese party in my apartment, which should happen soon!

After all that, we drove out to Sonoma for dinner. My good friend Noelle, who's working in the Napa Valley as a harvest intern, met us at the Girl and the Fig and we sat outside under heat lamps enjoying some very dee-licious food and drink. The only downfall of the evening was my brother being served an after-dinner martini glass FULL OF VODKA, which gave him the liquid courage to start up the brother-sister antagonism that had been lying dormant thus far in their visit. So there was a little bickering and some judgment passed on my, apparently overly-leisurely lifestyle on the ride home...but Kurt, if you're reading this, it wouldn't have been a complete visit without that. I still love you lots!

Sunday, October 1st

If I have one piece of advice for a Sunday's activities in Oakland/Berkeley, it's to keep things local. Traffic is horrendous just about everywhere, and there's just too much to do within a close distance to even worry about skipping town.

*

We started the day at Bacheeso's for breakfast, an unassuming spot at the corner of Dwight and San Pablo in Berkeley that I've been going to for years now. We found out today that the owner is Persian (Iranian).

Everything at the bistro is prepared in-house, and about 85% of the produce used there is organic. The staff told us that some of them arrived at 5:00 am to start preparing items for the Mediterranean Buffet, one of the big draws on weekends. Seasonal cooking is of the utmost importance in Persian cuisine, as is fragrance during cooking and presentation of the food; food is often garnished to make it pleasing to the eye. From a cultural aspect, food was considered an art form that provided enjoyment to both the body and the mind.

This is all very evident at Bacheeso's...my Dad reported that he'd eaten 'the best turkey in [his] life,' (and here I am, jokingly wiping his mouth) Kurt and Masha and I just barely held back from licking our plates clean, and I do believe that my Mom, on her 60th birthday, at about 5'2", went back to the buffet for fifths.

*

We filled the afternoon hours at the Alameda Flea Market (where I naively purchased a mercury-filled thermometer; my brother wouldn't even touch the thing; he made me promise to get rid of it), the Berkeley Botanical Gardens and doing a little shopping.

*

In the evening, I invited everyone back to my tiny apartment for my Mom's birthday celebration.

I'd made Devil's Food Cupcakes from scratch, with a bittersweet chocolate ganache frosting (just chocolate and cream! none of that icky store-frosting processed stuff). We drank tea, sang, opened presents and gobbled down the cupcakes. I love the instances when I have more people than will fit into my apartment...it's rare...but the coziness is wonderful, and the simplicity of sitting on the floor to eat, drinking out of mismatched cups and eating on chipped plates is very memorable.

My Mom, at 60 years old, looks more beautiful than I've ever seen her, and had more energy than many of the 25-year olds that I know. I hope that when I'm her age, I'm fortunate enough to be the same. Happy Birthday, Mom! Love you!! XOX.

Phew! After a whirlwind few days of touring, tasting, drinking and conversing, I’m glad to be sitting at a computer, alone, in my apartment! On Friday night, my Mom and Dad arrived, and the next night my brother and sister-in-law, Kurt and Masha, got here. The whole family had come in from Chicago for their California-Tour-of-a-Lifetime hosted by yours truly.

It was an amazing weekend full of laughter, chatter, exploration and sharing…I think it’s pretty safe to say that it was a success! As an aside, there are many more fotos on my flickr site which is listed in the links column. It takes forever to upload fotos to blogger!

Saturday, September 30th

My Mom and Dad and I started out Saturday at the McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma where a delicious Tuscan-style olive oil is produced. We’d signed up for their popular $20 tour a few months ago and I was eagerly awaiting learning about their oil. The ranch itself is located on the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, which is a lovely stretch of quintessential farmland; we passed cows and ‘cricks’ and wooden fences all along the way. The tour itself was wonderful. We started out in the olive orchards talking about how the ranch came to be under the now-83-years-old of Mrs. Nan McEvoy.

She purchased the land as a retreat from San Francisco, but had to attach an agricultural purpose to the land, which previously had been a dairy farm. She wasn’t into dairying, and she didn’t want to do wine because it had already been done to a great degree in that region. So, because of a passion for olive oil and the distinctiveness of the crop, she decided to grow olives and to make an oil in the Tuscan style. When we were leaving the farm, my Dad asked me, “What are five things that you just learned [about olive oil]?” I decided that the five-point answer would be a good way to format this blog entry. So, what I learned, in no particular penta-order:

• McEvoy Ranch Olive Oil is made from six different Tuscan olive varietals: Frantoio, Leccino, Pendolino, Maurino, Leccio del Corno and Coratina. The olives are stone-ground into a paste(the paste is comprised of the entire olive, pit and all).



• McEvoy uses no presses for making their olive oil. This is pretty unique! Instead, they use a series of centrifuges to separate the olive paste from the oils. After a few months of sitting, the final sediments in the oil are then racked off.

  

• Heat and light are enemies of olive oil. Enemies! It's best to keep oil stored in dark, cool places…but not the refrigerator. Shame on all those fancy clear-glass cruets on countertops! Olive oil is best in the few months after purchase…it’s considered a fruit juice and *is* perishable!
• Olive oil made in the Tuscan style is distinctive because it’s made from olives that are harvested before they are ripe. This results in a pungent, peppery and intense olive oil rather than a mellow and soft oil. Tuscan style olive oil is good for ‘finishing’ dishes (which means drizzling a little oil on top of something and not really making a vinaigrette out of it).

• And the last, and most interesting, bit of information I learned was this: there is absolutely no regulation of what can be sold as an ‘Extra Virgin Olive Oil’ here in the United States. Gasp! EVOO (thanks, Rachel Ray) is ‘supposed’ to be made from the earliest cold pressing of the olives; it’s the freshest and least acidic oil from the olives; after the first press, the paste is repeatedly pressed to get out all of the oil, creating friction and heat, and causing volatile compounds to escape from the oil and start degrading it. The rest of the world, essentially, abides by the regulations of the IOC (the International Olive Council). There is hope for us, though. Here in California exists an organization that has set up a program for that ensures that we Americans can get the highest-quality olive oil as well. From the McEvoy website: “Although there are no current laws which require certification of extra virgin olive oil in the US there is one organization, the California Olive Oil Council (COOC), that supports certified olive oil standards as established by the International Olive Council (IOC), headquartered in Madrid, Spain, [and that] provides grower, producer and consumer education. Electing to belong to the COOC means voluntarily being held to the highest of standards. To be deemed extra virgin, and to receive the right to use the COOC seal there are four basic criteria: The oil must be extracted from olives free from any treatment other than washing, decantation, centrifugation, or filtration (no chemical processing); it must be “cold-processed” (at a temperature less than 27 degrees centigrade); it must not exceed certain oleic acidity levels (0.5% according to COOC, which is more stringent even than the IOC standard of 0.8%); and it must have an aroma and flavor judged as worthy by a certified panel of official tasters."

The moral of all that fancy talk is this: if you're in the United States and you want to make sure that the olive oil that you're getting is the real deal extra-virgin, make sure you look for the COOC seal of approval.

After the ranch, we got some bread and cheese at the Marin French Cheese Company a few minutes away and sat outside by their lake eating, feeding the birds and being silly. We then headed for the Point Reyes Lighthouse, which my parents had never seen. They were very impressed, and very winded, by the walk down and up the three-hundred stairs to the lighthouse itself. It was perfectly cloudy and the sea was a little rough; I think I saw China through the fog, though!

I planned to take my parents (okay, to drive them there but for them to pay for my dinner) to La Note, a Provencal French restaurant in downtown Berkeley. I'd never been there, but I had been told it was excellent, and I figured that since my parents had been unable to visit France this summer, as they have almost every summer in the past since Kurt and I have been out of the house, due to my Dad's health problems, I'd take them to Provence when they came to see me!

The restaurant was adorable. Very 'French.' Tres chic. Fantastique. I ordered a 'Panache' to drink, how could I not? I had no idea that 'panache' had a second meaning, aside from flamboyant style or action, which was simply 'mixed.' But it sounded cool. It was, predictably, a mixed drink with La Fin du Monde golden ale, grenadine and Sprite. I found it rather funny that the name of the ale, translated, is 'the end of the world.' When I did some research on their website, I found that the beer is brewed in Quebec and was named to honor the great expolrers who believed they had reached the end of the world when they discovered America.

We ordered Pommes de Terre a l'Ailoi (roasted potatoes with aioli), and the Salade Verte (green leaf lettuce tossed in a Dijon mustard vinaigrette) as appetizers. Both were delicious. For our main meals, we each ordered one of the Chef's Specials: I, the Vegetable Ratatouille over Rosemary Couscous; my Mom the Salmon and Cherry Tomato Brochettes with a Tarragon and Creme Fraiche mustard dressing; and my Dad the pasta special with roasted chicken. By the end of the meal, we all felt like it could be 'le fin du monde,' we were so satiated. So we browsed around Berkeley for a while letting our food digest, then we packed in the car and headed to our respective beds for a good night's rest. It was an excellent day!