25th Annual Chefs' Holidays at The Ahwahnee

Chef Suzanne Goin of Lucques, A.O.C. and Tavern at her cooking demo at the 'Chefs' Holidays at the Ahwahnee' in Yosemite.

Uhm, let's see: three days of celebrity chefs cooking amazing food at The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite in the middle of winter?! Okay, I'm in. I'll splurge to watch Suzanne Goin of Lucques, A.O.C. and Tavern give cooking demos and cook the final meal served in the Ahwahnee's magnificent dining room. Sure I will -- and I did. Last week Robert and I spent three glorious days and nights in Yosemite Valley eating our way through food prepared by four chefs: Suzanne Goin; John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Restaurant + Farm, Bovolo and Black Pig Meat Co. in Sonoma County; and Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant + Bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On a previous trip to Yosemite I'd picked up information on the Chefs' Holidays events and was more than intrigued. And I was reminded of them often as I get regular e-mails from Delaware North, the company that runs all accommodations, concessions and special events at Yosemite. As you can see by the title of this post the Chefs' Holidays have been happening at The Ahwahnee for the last twenty-five years. There are a total of eight sessions that take place during January and February. I chose Session 5 for a reason: two of my current favorite chefs were going to be there. I've already written about my passion for what husband and wife chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes do at their two restaurants Zazu and Bovolo in Sonoma County. They live their loves locally; easily within one hundred miles of where they live and work. Their two restaurants embody the local lifestyle and their food is amazing. When I saw that they would be participating I decided to splurge and attend. The extra added bonus of Suzanne Goin as the headline chef was more than I could ask for. And while I didn't know much about the third chef, Jody Adams, I do now and I am now a fan of hers too.

Mirror Lake, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park

All of this taking place in Yosemite. I love Yosemite in the winter. There's no one there. It's as beautiful as it is any other time of the year. We were very lucky on this trip. We arrived on a Sunday and left on a Wednesday; the Thursday before our trip a huge storm dumped a lot of snow. By the time we arrived on Sunday the storm was over and the roads had been cleared. What was left was stunningly beautiful. A nice amount of pristine snow covered everything making for a true winter wonderland. The outside daytime temperature hovered around thirty-five degrees -- not too cold at all with our layers of sweaters, scarves and winter coats. When we weren't at the Ahwahnee eating we were out exploring this amazing place. This was a trip I could easily do over and over and over...

*Chef Suzanne Goin, Lucques, A.O.C., Tavern in Los Angeles, Californa. Author, 'Sunday Suppers at Lucques'

The event took place over three days and nights. On Sunday night there was a reception to meet the chefs and we did. We chatted with Suzanne, John and Duskie, and Jody while eating hors d'oeuvres and drinking wine. It was a good way to start off the event. All the chefs were very approachable and quite friendly. On Monday at ten o'clock in the morning we met back at the Great Hall of the Ahwahnee for the first cooking demo: Suzanne Goin. Chef Goin prepared 'Pan-Roasted Quail with Pancetta, Baked Ricotta and Sicilian Breadcrumbs' followed by 'Roasted Pear Salad with Endive, Hazelnuts and St. Agur.' Watching her cook I noticed that Chef Goin was very precise in everything she did. She new her next move; her mise en place at hand. I understood; she'd been trained in restaurant kitchens in France. Most chefs I've known exhibit this type of precision. It works, and is necessary, for what they have to do. She was also very giving in how she showed us to prepare the two dishes; answering questions, offering suggestions and making apt comments. Her two dishes were nicely refined, and beautiful to look at. After the demo we tasted the pear salad and it was really delicious. I've always loved endive and blue cheese together; the addition of the roasted pears added another layer of flavor and texture.

Roasted Pear Salad with Endive, Hazelnuts and St. Agur, Chef Suzanne Goin



Pan-Roasted Quail with Pancetta, Baked Ricotta and Sicilian Breadcrumbs, Chef Suzanne Goin

Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes starting their cooking demo at the 'Chefs' Holidays at The Ahwahnee' in Yosemite.

*Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes, Zazu Restaurant & Farm, BOVOLO, Black Pig Meat Co., Sonoma County, California

That afternoon we all met back at the Great Hall at two o'clock for John and Duskie's cooking demonstration. They made 'Hazelnut Crepes with Nutella and Blood Orange Syrup' followed by 'Brussels Sprouts, Local Apple, and Black Pig Bacon Salad.' John and Duskie are a little more country to Suzanne's city. Duskie chose the crepes recipe with Nutella because Nutella is something she likes and because she likes to combine high and low food together. The idea is to use easy to get products with those that are harder to get in the same dish. There's also a nice playfulness to Duskie and John, evident in this dish. One of the main reasons I like these two chefs is because as mentioned above they live locally, and because one of their credos is 'no waste.' They use every part of the animal; any organic waste from the food preparation process is either fed to their pigs or composted for their garden. In their restaurants many of the vegetables for the day's menus are harvested in the garden outside the kitchen's back door just before service. At their farm-home they raise pigs, have chickens for eggs and a garden. It's a full circle lifestyle. During their demo they were relaxed and easy-going; they worked well together but it was also evident that they knew what they were doing. These are seasoned professionals. While the crepes were Duskie's dish, the Brussels sprouts dish offered John his moment to work with his black pig bacon. Bacon that he cures himself along with other salumi that he makes. We tasted the Brussels sprouts after the demo and they were earthy and wonderful; the bacon, apples and sprouts working together perfectly.

Hazelnut Crepes with Nutella and Blood Orange Syrup, Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes

Brussels Sprouts, Local Apple and Black Pig Bacon Salad, Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes



Chef Jody Adams starts her cooking demonstration at 'Chefs' Holidays at the Ahwahnee' in Yosemite.

*Chef Jody Adams, Rialto, Boston, Massachusetts. Author, 'In The Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant'

Our final cooking demonstration was by Chef Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant + Bar in Boston on Tuesday afternoon. Chef Adams also made two dishes: 'Orange Dusted Scallops with Sunchokes, Harissa and Olives,' followed by 'Scallop Ravioli with Pistachios, Pomegranate and Mushrooms.' Chef Adams was such a joy to watch; she was funny, smart and also really knows what she is doing. There was a bit of Julia Child's zaniness to her but she was actually in absolute control. When questions were thrown at her she surprised by breaking down the chemical process in certain cooking scenarios. Both recipes had long ingredient lists and many steps but she made it all seem effortless. She was very open to substituting ingredients; she taught interesting yet useful techniques - like how to cut parchment exactly to the size of your sauté pan. It felt a bit like we were in her home kitchen all around a cooking island pitching in. Chef Adams was unknown to me before this event but she has a new West Coast fan now. If I ever get to Boston I'll be stopping in to Rialto. We tasted the the orange dusted scallops after the demo and they were among my favorite dishes we ate.

Scallop Ravioli with Pistachios, Pomegranate and Mushrooms, Chef Jody Adams



Orange Dusted Scallops with Sunchokes, Harissa and Olives, Chef Jody Adams



The dining room at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park

*Behind the Scenes Kitchen Tour

On Tuesday morning there was an optional tour of the Ahwahnee hotel kitchens. Robert and I were curious to see the behind-the-scenes of such a huge operation. There's the beautiful public side but behind closed doors is where all the action takes place to keep the operation going. Sous-chef Beth Brown took us through the huge kitchens, storerooms and baking areas. I've been in a lot of professional kitchens, and I've seen other hotel kitchens but the size of this one was XXXL. The fact sheet handed out says that the kitchen is 6,500 square feet; the ceiling is 38 feet high at its highest point. The kitchen prepares 1500 meals per day for the dining room not including room service, weddings or special events. The bakeshop produces 400 loaves of bread per day. This is cooking on a massive scale. It was interesting to see what goes on behind-the-scenes in an operation this big.

The line in the Ahwahnee Hotel kitchen.

Bread baked daily in the kitchen of the Ahwahnee Hotel kitchen.



Sous-chef Beth Brown in the Ahwahnee Hotel pastry shop where chocolate truffles for the hotel sweet shop are being made.

*Chefs' Holidays Gala Dinner, Chef Suzanne Goin

The final event of the three day food extravaganza was a gala dinner served in the Ahwahnee Hotel dining room. As Suzanne Goin was the headline chef she created and prepared the menu for the evening: Arugula Salad with Blood Oranges, Roasted Dates, Almonds and Parmesan; Maine Diver Scallops with Green Garlic Soubise, Chanterelles and Meyer Lemon; Alaskan Black Cod with Kabocha Squash, Golden Raisins, Pancetta and Pedro Jimenez; Braised Veal Cheek with Risotto Carbonara, Pea Shoots and Black Truffle Butter; Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Mascarpone and Pistachio Ice Cream. It was all incredible, wonderful, amazing -- nothing more needs be said.

Chef Suzanne Goin and me. She's holding her book: 'Sunday Dinners at Lucques' which she autographed for me.



Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes and me. I interviewed them for an upcoming blog post.



Chef Jody Adams and me.



Snow-covered Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park

I love Yosemite but you know that already. Attending this event was truly an experience I won't soon forget. The setting, the chefs, the food, and the company. Will I go again next year? Possibly. I will give it serious consideration. It was that good.

Upcoming Posts: Interview with Chefs John Stewart & Duskie Estes owners of Zazu & Bovolo restaurants in Sonoma County. Reviews: Venezia: Food & Dreams by Tessa Kiros, My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur by Romney Steele, The Spirit Kitchen: Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices by Sara Engram and Katie Luber and Kimberly Toqe.

Guest Blog: My Mother, Dawn Goodman - My Food History

My great-grandparents, Ora and Rolla Goodman, at a family barbecue in Waller Park in Santa Maria, California.

Introduction - My Life in Food

I have very fond food memories from my childhood growing up on the Central Coast of California during the 60s and 70s. I grew up in the near-coastal town of San Luis Obispo. Even though I lived in other places as a child, it's my hometown. My mother, Dawn Goodman, was born in Santa Maria, a town further south on the 101 freeway; and her grandparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman lived in Orcutt, a small town just south of Santa Maria. Most of my memories are of my great-grandparents, their profuse garden and their sourcing of local-area ingredients for family meals. Their home was the locus of all family gatherings and many happy times were spent there. However, my mother, my sister, Traci, and I have our own food history of which I also have memories. My mother recounts much of it in this post: read on...

Recently I celebrated a 'big' birthday. My friend, Karen Roorda, devised the most extraordinary gift for me: my life in food. From childhood all the way up to this blog. She brought a large duffel bag to the party and proceeded to take out all manner of items related to my food, cooking and eating history including a Big Mac, large fries and chocolate shake from McDonald's. Was I surprised by this? Yes!! My mother had told her that we subsisted on fast food when my sister and I were in our pre-teens and teens. Karen had contacted my mother without my knowledge and gathered the necessary information to make this gift-presentation. It was an amazing surprise and a wonderful gift. Afterward I found out that my mother had written Karen an e-mail recounting my food history. I learned a lot from reading it, and remembered things I'd forgotten, and enjoyed it so much that I thought it would be fun to share on this blog. It also shows a bit where I came by my interest in food.

Before I let my mother take it away, I'd like to point out that she did raise my sister and I as a single mother without benefit of financial security. Food and cooking were not really a priority as she had a hard enough time keeping up with everything else. She did get us fed, she cooked often because she had to, we did eat out at fast food restaurants for awhile. I have no complaints. We all survived. I thank her for what she was able to do for us and show us about life. Now then, here's my mother, Dawn Goodman, writing to my friend Karen Roorda (I have inserted my comments in [brackets]):

Charles' History in Food by Dawn Goodman

Hi Karen:

What a wonderful thoughtful gift to give Charles. My problem is trying to remember 30 plus years ago, as well as having given Charles all his history (baby book, school records, photos, etc.) a long time ago, but I will do my best. Charles was nine pounds at birth and as a baby was not picky, he ate everything. At nine months he had to be put on low-fat milk because he was too roly-poly. He remained 'chunky' until junior high school when he shot up to six feet and thinned out. I do not remember him disliking any particular food although I'm sure there were some.

Being a single mother, working full-time, and keeping up the house and kids, I did not have much time for cooking. Also, Traci was a very picky eater, and as result we had a limited diet. I remember using a lot of Bisquick -- in pancakes with bananas, biscuits, coffee cakes, etc. But mostly it was the usual, over and over -- meatloaf, hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages (pigs in a blanket), macaroni and cheese (from a box), spaghetti, tuna casserole, fried chicken, pork and lamb chops, turkey, beef stew, potato and macaroni salad, Iceberg lettuce salad, coleslaw, and pizza. We ate a lot of zucchini, in bread, as a pureed soup base, patties and in salads. When pizza first came out it was in a box with a can of tomato sauce and dough. The toppings were up to each person. This was just before pizza parlors became popular. We ate out more often than not. There was McDonald's, Chinese food, Taco Bell, A&W drive ins, Sizzler (they were just starting). I seldom used a recipe only because I made the same things over and over. This was when nearly every recipe was made with one or the other of Campbell creamed soups; and yes, every dessert had some Jello in it. We ate few sweets except for cookies. I did make a banana bread/cake. Traci took the recipe to 1st grade for a Christmas book of recipes the kids made for their families. In it was our 'Rotten Banana Bread,' as the kids called it.

I was not a good cook and did not enjoy cooking. Because I didn't, I think it was in junior high when Charles took an interest in cooking. He made up a recipe and entered it in the once-a-year recipe contest in the local newspaper [Telegram Tribune, San Luis Obispo, California]. He didn't win but it was printed. It was called Pizza Casserole. There was Italian sausage, onion, zucchini, and tomato sauce with Bisquick biscuits on top. We ate it often. It was good. One time I was busy painting the outside of the house when he came out with a picnic lunch he had put together. He made me stop, clean up, and go for a short ride in the country. We had a lovely lunch which I've never forgotten. After he had been in France and come home he started culinary school. When a close friend was getting married he and two other students did the entire reception as a gift. He has always been interested in good food.

We were lucky to live near my grandparents and uncle and aunt. Because the ocean was only a few miles away we had access to fresh fish, clams, and abalone. This influenced Charles more than anything. When he was born there were still clams to be dug up at low tide in Pismo Beach [Clamming is now restricted due to over harvesting]. Grandma Ora made clam chowder and clam cakes. The abalone were on their way out by the time Charles was aware but we did have them from time to time. Grandpa Rollie raised sheep which we ate [I assume it was lamb we ate vs. mutton], and all the vegetables and fruit came out of their garden. Charles' favorite item was the homemade jerky our Uncle Herman made from deer that he hunted. We also had wonderful barbecues at the local park [see picture above], on homemade pits, and even in the fireplace when it was cold outside. It was a way of life fast disappearing. Favorite family recipes made by grandparents and aunts: Tamale Pie, enchiladas, Heavenly Hash - a fruit salad, Macaroni Loaf, Mock Ravioli, Hot Fudge Pudding (I think I've seen this in a box by Betty Crocker now?), Velvet Crumb Cake, plus others.

Dawn Goodman

Please Vote For Me: The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook Contest: I have entered my baked papaya recipe, 'Chef Wally's Baked Papaya,' into the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest. If selected the recipe will be published in cookbook published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. To vote go to the top of my blog to the Foodista icon. Thanks!

My Status: Continued wet, cold weather here in Southern California which is nice for a change. Planning to make some hearty winter dishes, recipes. Also new cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to try out. More cooking, eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: Reviews: Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine. Cooking The Cowboy Way, a review of the new cookbook by cowboy-chef Grady Spears.

Gleaning

My great-grandparents, Ora and Rolla Goodman, Orcutt, California

One of my favorite family stories is about how my great-grandmother, Ora Goodman - the inspiration for this blog - fed the hobos on Sundays. Sunday was pancake day at my great-grandmother's house. Every Sunday Gramma Ora made pancakes for the family, and always made extras for the local hobos. They'd come by the back door and she'd pass plates out to them. This isn't something I experienced but my mother did. She has childhood memories of this happening. The town this took place in, Orcutt, California, was a small town back in those days, and it still is. It was a poor town as well. The time period was the early to mid 1940s. The Great Depression was still a recent memory. There were still a lot of people living in poverty. My great-grandparents didn't have a lot but they did have a giving, generous spirit. When I first started reading about 'gleaning' - the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields - I thought of this story. I thought of what I knew about my great-grandparents, and how spreading around the little bit they did have was true to form. It was probably also a more giving time. My mother tells me that the hobos would mark the houses that gave them food. A mark on a fence post, a pile of rocks, who knows exactly how they let each other know that this was a house that gave handouts. I love how the message was spread. Any hobo passing through town could easily find a meal. My great-grandmother's house wasn't the only house in town that gave out free food. Apparently it was a common practice of the time -- and I love that. That generosity of spirit. The helping hand.

Gleaning has been around for a very long time. Historically, going back to biblical times, farmers purposefully left the edges of their fields unpicked, and unharvested for the less fortunate. My mother currently lives in the area where my great-grandparents lived. It's an agricultural area. A lot of produce is grown there. She tells me that after a field is picked any leftovers are taken to local food banks. A practice that has endured for centuries. Ancient cultures promoted gleaning as an early form of welfare. Some ancient Jewish communities required farmers to not reap all the way to the edges of a field so as to leave some for the poor. (Source: Wikipedia) There has actually been an uptick in the act of gleaning recently. Our current economic downturn seemingly a turning point. The desire to live simpler, to reach out to others. An urban gleaning movement has taken hold. Urban gleaners harvest public fruit: like picking from a neighbor's over-burdened tree; an untended orange tree is picked free of ripe fruit; trees that bear fruit in public places, parks, libraries, government buildings are targets as well. A group in Los Angeles, Fallen Fruit, has made it their mission to collect as much public produce as possible and give it to the poor, hungry and needy. Fallen Fruit has a list of gleaning 'Dos and Don'ts':

• Ask first, or leave a note with your contact information

• Take only what you need

• Be friendly

• Share your food

• Take a friend

• Go by foot

Fallen Fruit creates maps to publicly available fruit. Some groups distribute unwanted food to shelters, and soup kitchens. Others collect food that isn't sold at farmer's markets. Volunteers go into farmers' fields to harvest produce that can't be sold. Home gardeners grow extra produce and give it to local food pantries and soup kitchens. One such group in Washington D.C. started a program called 'Grow A Row'. Participants plant an extra row or two in their gardens and donate the vegetables to a local food bank. Neighborhood Fruit helps find public fruit local to where you live. Their homepage states "10,000 registered trees and more get added everyday." Another site Veggie Trader is for those with excess produce in their gardens looking for other home gardeners to exchange with. Food Forward collects backyard produce to donate to local food banks, and has donated 30,000 pounds of citrus to food pantries this year. All of these groups, and there's a whole lot more out there, have taken the Victory Garden concept and created a modern social movement.

Maybe all of this giving, this generosity of spirit, is something positive that has come out of our nation's financial malaise. It reminds me of the story of Gramma Ora's pancakes and feeding the hobos. Her act of 'gleaning.' It makes me think of simpler times when the act of giving was just a part of life. No forethought, no planning. If someone had less than you, you helped. If they were hungry, you gave them food. It's nice to see that giving spirit returning. I thank my great-grandmother for setting the example for me. Those were some very lucky hobos.

Follow: twitter.com/fallenfruit; twitter.com/backyardfruit; twitter.com/veggietrader; twitter.com/foodforwardla; twitter.com/snailwrangler.

My Status: Settling into late fall, happily. New cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to try out. More cooking, eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: my personal, childhood food history as told by my mother, Dawn Goodman. Reviews: Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine. Bread Matters, a review of the new bread book by Andrew Whitley.

The Local Report - Lotusland

89 miles, about 1.25 hours, from my home in Atwater Village.

Lotusland in Montecito, California is a wonder to behold. I had the privilege of seeing it this past Saturday. Faye, a follower of this blog, and a docent at Lotusland, very kindly invited me up to visit. I took Robert and my mother, Dawn, along with me. Lotusland has nothing to do with food but it is so unique that I decided to write a bit about it here. A 39-acre botanical garden containing subtropical and tropical plants from around the world, Lotusland also includes rare cycads (the oldest plant species in the world), cacti, palms and euphorbias. The place is a botanist and gardener's dream.

A well-known Polish opera singer and socialite, Madame Ganna Walska, purchased the estate that would become the gardens in 1941. She spent the next forty-three years designing unusual displays with exotic plants. A series of gardens takes the visitor through a labyrinth of landscape adventures. There are a total of twenty-six uniquely different gardens spread across the thirty-nine acres. Gardens such as the Japanese, the Aloe, the Fern, the Cactus, the Topiary, the Cycad, and the Succulent to name a few. Her original purpose for purchasing the property was to create a retreat for Tibetan monks. The original name was 'Tibetland' and after the monks never appeared, she renamed the property Lotusland in honor of the Indian lotus that grew in one of the property's ponds. 'Madame,' as she is and was known, spent a lot time and resources seeking out the most unusual species of plants, and often securing the biggest and the best plants available. She was a demanding, intelligent and extremely creative personality. She had a vision of what she wanted and didn't stop until she had it. After marrying and divorcing six husbands designing, overseeing, and working in the gardens became her life work. She worked on Lotusland up to her death in 1984 when she was in her late 90s. She left the property to a foundation in her name, and the gardens are now owned by the citizens of Montecito.

The gardens are truly stunning. My favorite garden was the Theater Garden. A theater with stage and seating all in plants. Curved hedges and a raised grassy area formed the stage. Rows of hedges behind and around the stage formed the backstage areas where props were stored and actors changed costumes. Madame actually staged plays there often. I had heard about Lotusland from my mother who had visited before but I didn't quite grasp the uniqueness of what it was. It's hard to until actually witnessing it in person. The only way to visit Lotusland is to make a reservation to go on a docent-lead tour. As mentioned above, our docent was Faye. Her knowledge of the plants, and the history of the place was astounding. Not only did she know every plant's botanical name, she was also able to tell us where it came from, how it grows, and why Madame chose it for Lotusland. It was a vastly interesting two and half hour experience. One I absolutely recommend.

Me, my mother, Dawn, and Faye, our docent.

Pictures don't really do it justice but here are few we took during our tour.

The following two photos are of my favorite garden: the 'Theater Garden' where Madame put on outdoor plays!

Lotusland is located in Montecito, California, for reservations call 805-969-9990, or e-mail: reservations@lotusland.org. Website: http://www.lotusland.org/

My Status: Settling into fall, happily. New cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to try out. More cooking, eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: 'gleaning,' or the act of gathering public produce, or leftover farmer's market produce, and giving it to the poor, needy and hungry. A history of the movement, and those that are involved with it. Reviews: The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook and Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine.

Sonoma County

Sonoma County reminds me of France. I mean look at the above picture of Dry Creek Valley. It could easily have been taken in the south of France. The Languedoc maybe. Or Burgundy to the west even. It also has a lot of what makes France special. Great food, amazing wine, beautiful countryside. Sonoma County, the step-sister to the more well-liked, more popular Napa Valley, is my preference of the two. Slower, rougher, less populated but just as interesting in the areas of food and wine -- and it also has the stunning Sonoma Coast. So take that Napa Valley!

On a recent vacation to the area I was reminded how much folks in the Bay Area like to eat. I'd always known this; from living in San Francisco during the early 80s through the early 90s, and from working in the food and restaurant business. I sold cheese at Oakville Grocery -- the S.F. food emporium; I cooked at Jeremiah Tower's Santa Fe Bar & Grill in Berkeley; I helped Chef Tower open Stars restaurant in San Francisco; I met all the chefs and foodies in town; I ate at all the great restaurants in the area: Stars, Zuni Cafe, Chez Panisse, Square One, Masa's, Mustard's in Napa, on and on. It was a great time to eat in San Francisco. The food scene during that period was phenomenal. Once I'd left it and moved on, I missed it terribly.

Thankfully I was able to experience it again. Robert and I ate very well during our week's stay in Gureneville on the Russian River. I'd read about Zazu Restaurant & Farm, and Bovolo somewhere on the Internet and knew I wanted to try both. Both places are owned by married Chefs Duskie Estes and John Stewart; they also own the Black Pig Meat Co. where they make their own bacon and salumi from pigs that come from a sustainable hog operation, Pure Country Pork, in the Northwest. John is the salumist, studied with Mario Battali, and is responsible for the Black Pig meats, bacon and salumi that Zazu and Bovolo serve. Bovolo is a cafe inside a bookstore in Healdsburg, and Zazu is located on the edge of Santa Rosa and has a kitchen garden.

We ate at Zazu on a Wednesday night. The place was packed. The food was bliss. They describe themselves as a roadhouse restaurant serving playful Americana and Northern Italian inspired food. That is apt and I love the idea of an old-fashioned roadhouse. The place absolutely had that feel. Long and narrow; set just off the two-lane road; a dirt parking lot; and a counter with stools when you first walk in. We started with the Black Pig Salumi - 'Butcher's Plate'; four 'flavors' of salumi: backyard thyme, lomo, harissa, and felino served with pickled grapes. The salumi was rough and coarse and nicely fatty. The four preparations each distinctively different from the other without dwarfing the cured pork flavor of the meat. The pickled grapes? Really interesting -- little grape explosions in the mouth. We shared a "Caesar" -- romaine leaves with Vella dry jack and boccorones, or sardines. Robert had Seared Day Boat Scallops, Orzo Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Fennel Pollen, Backyard Tomatoes and Herbs. I had the Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Little Point Reyes Blue Cheese Ravioli, Ruby Chard. We ended with a house-made Chocolate Gelato with Scharfenberger Chocolate Sauce. I love cooking like this. Using local ingredients (as close as the kitchen garden); earthy and big in flavor and style. Somehow the food is exactly what should be served in the middle of wine country. European country cooking without being in Europe.

Bovolo was as good. The menu more simplified. The menu cover says 'Pizza, Gelato, Salumi.' They refer to the food as 'Slow Food... Fast.' Note the snail on their sign. I ate the World Famous Pork Cheek Sandwich with Roasted Peppers, Salsa Verde. The picture explains it better than I can. I'm still at a loss for words weeks later. The sandwich was served hot; the pork, the peppers and salsa verde all melded together into one crazily delicious taste sensation. These cooks know what they're doing. I also had the White Bean Salad -- spinach leaves, white beans, red onion in a green goddess-type dressing. Robert had the Farfalline Pasta Carbonara, Housemade Bacon, Farm Egg, Parmesan. It was the perfect wine country lunch. We'd spent an hour or so wandering around Healdsburg's town square and finished up sitting in Bovolo's garden eating this food. Napa Valley? Never heard of it.

The rest of the vacation wasn't quite as food-filled as described above. We had our moments of swimming and kayaking on the Russian River; bicycling around Gureneville, and just relaxing. But there is one other food related experience I do want to share. Guerneville, a very small resort town, happens to have a used bookstore. We were at the coffee place next door one day and wandered in. I asked the owner if he had any cookbooks and boy did he. Several shelves full and more coming. A local man who had a huge cookbook collection had died recently; the store owner bought the whole collection at the estate sale. I snatched these books up: 'Craig Claiborne's Kitchen Primer,' 'Beard on Pasta,' 'Food In Good Season' by Betty Fussell, 'James Beard's Treasury of Outdoor Cooking,' and probably my favorite 'La Cuisine de France - The Modern French Cookbook' by Mapie, the Countess de Toulouse-Lautrec! It's over 700 pages long. The copyright is 1964. She was only three years after Julia and 'Mastering The Art of French Cooking'. It's written in English; each recipe has the title in both English and French.

And I'm still not sure if there's any connection to the French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec but there must be. I haven't had time to read through it yet. I'll report back. I couldn't leave without this book. The crowning moment in the used bookstore came when I noticed that the owner had a copy of 'Mastering The Art of French Cooking - Volume One' on a shelf behind the register. I asked about it. He said he hadn't had time yet to inventory, price and shelve it; he pulled it out and put it down on the counter in front of me. I opened it: there on the title page were three signatures, Julia Child, Simone Beck and Paul Child. The book was in pristine condition. He was asking $2,000 for it. I left without it. So that's it for my Sonoma County based food adventures for the moment. It's a magical place and I love it there. I can't wait to go again next year. Or sooner even.

In This Post: Zazu Restaurant & Farm, Bovolo, Black Pig Meat Co., Pure Country Pork

My Status: trying to get back on track after a wonderful vacation. More cooking, eating, dining out, writing and blogging. Thinking ahead to cooler fall weather and praying that the fires in Los Angeles end soon, and that there are not more of them.

Upcoming Posts: 'gleaning,' or the act of gathering public produce, or leftover farmer's market produce, and giving it to the poor, needy and hungry. A history of the movement, and those that are involved with it. Reviews: 'The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook' and 'Cooking Light,' a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine.

The Local Report - Auntie Em's Kitchen

4.2 miles, about 12 minutes, from my home in Atwater Village.

I like my neighborhood. It feels like a neighborhood. In Los Angeles that's saying something. Neighborhoods here can comprise large geographical areas. Maybe they're actually more 'areas' than neighborhoods. I've lived in other areas of L.A.: the Fairfax district, Hollywood, West Hollywood. I moved to the eastside of Los Angeles in 1999; to Silver Lake. I quickly fell into the whole scene, the Silver Lake vibe. It reminded me of San Francisco, the East Village in New York: it wasn't L.A. Funky, more laid back, more creative, more mixed: socially, economically, racially. I'd found my L.A. home. It all worked for me. I now live in Atwater Village -- really just Silver Lake adjacent. Still quite happy in the neighborhood.

One of the reasons I like my 'hood so much is the preponderance of locally owned and operated businesses: cafes, restaurants, bars, stores and shops. Auntie Em's Kitchen is one such local business. Located in Eagle Rock, a neighborhood to the east of Atwater Village, it's a longtime fixture in the Eastside dining establishment. Owned by the indefatigable Chef Terri Wahl, the food is local, seasonal and prepared and served with a down home spirit that makes the dining experience fun and relaxing.

Robert and I had lunch there the other day. The place reminded me so much of the funky, vegetarian, hippy places I used to see all along Haight Street in San Francisco in the early 80s. Things at Auntie Em's are loose around the edges, very laid back. Want coffee? Go to the self-serve coffee island and help yourself. The room we were seated in had a reach-in refrigerator that the cooks came to for supplies. In the back was a refrigerator case full of cheeses for sale. Not only does Auntie Em's have a cafe and bakery but they also cater, sell housewares, condiments, sweets and cheese, and they recently began a farmer's market produce delivery service. I signed up for the produce delivery and I love it. Terri and her staff keep a keen eye out for whatever is fresh and seasonal. They shop at the local farmer's markets, and they work with local farmers and purveyors to keep up with what is seasonably available. The restaurant's menu changes according to what is fresh and available.

We both ordered salads; Robert had the Tossed Cobb -- chicken breast, applewood smoked bacon, avocado, blue cheese, egg, tomatoes, scallions and romaine lettuce tossed with a house dressing. I had the Grilled Steak -- thinly sliced marinated skirt steak, tomatoes, carmelized onions and blue cheese served on baby greens. The waitress told us that the first thing they were famous for was the cobb salad. The next thing was the red velvet cupcake -- a mini one of which came with the check gratis.

Auntie Em's Kitchen is a full-service fresh, organic, local and sustainable operation. My kind of place. I am glad it's part of my neighborhood.

My Status: enjoying all the summer produce; writing, cooking, blogging and eating!

Upcoming Posts: The Wedge Salad: a recipe, the origins of the salad and of Iceberg lettuce. Review: 'The Barcelona Cookbook'.

The Local 100 (Redux)

Needing to take a quick, deep breath (to do some food research and recipe testing), and also wanting to go back in time a bit, I am re-posting a previous blog post. I started this blog on January 30, 2009; as I am nearing the six month mark I thought I'd take a moment to pause and focus on why I started it. The post below was not my first post but it is the post where I explain why I started '100 Miles', and what I hope it will accomplish. I've been posting recently about a great trip Robert and I took to Europe, and while all those posts were food-related, I now want to circle back around to the origins of the blog, and to more of the themes and activities that 'living life locally' engenders.

My great-grandmother, Ora Goodman, standing in her garden in Orcutt, California

This is a re-post from February 3, 2009.

Victory gardens. A White House farmer. The Slow Food movement. Eating local and organic. One hundred miles from where you live. The idea of keeping life local intrigues me. Not only as it regards food and eating but for living life in general. If we all lived our lives locally how different would they be? Quite different in my view. More intimate. Possibly more rewarding. None of these ideas are necessarily new. American chefs have been pushing ‘local’ for years. And I have no political agenda in writing this blog. Yes, living life locally will help the carbon footprint but I am not advocating total abstinence from living life – one should still travel to overseas locations, take trips by car and airplane, do the things that make life pleasurable. I just wonder -- if our lives were consciously more intimate might they be more fulfilling?

As I mention in my blog description, my great-grandmother lived her life locally but it was by dint of circumstance not of choice. She and my great-grandfather were not rich people yet they lived an abundant life. Somehow they didn’t need a lot to survive. My great-grandmother’s backyard garden fed a family of four plus any and all visiting relatives for many years. My great-grandfather fished local waters, hunted with my great-uncle in local mountains, and grew fruits and vegetables in the garden. I learned very valuable lessons from them about living a simple yet satisfying life.

My great-grandparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman's garden in Orcutt, California.

The idea for this blog actually came to me through a friend, Martine Rothstein, who makes every attempt to live her life locally. Her company, Burden Free Foods, uses only local ingredients in all its products. On a recent visit we were discussing buying and cooking with local ingredients only. Through her work with her company she has sourced many local New Jersey farmers and purveyors for both her business and her family. She mentioned trying to keep it all within a 100-mile radius. It made a lot of sense to me. I began to think about it as a way of life.

I live in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles -- a small 3-block ‘village’ with restaurants, cafes, hair salons, a taco stand, yoga and dance studios, and various shops. On one end is a Starbucks, and in the middle is Kaldi Coffee & Tea, a small independent coffee house that roasts its own coffee beans. I am currently re-training myself not to automatically go to Starbucks (not a big fan anyway) but to go to Kaldi instead – a local business that needs my support. My partner, Robert, and I often walk from my condo to eat at one of the restaurants; we try to get to the weekly farmers market; and I recently started getting a haircut at Salon Mix, a local Atwater Village hair salon. All efforts to localize my life.

It is 100 Miles as a concept that I will explore in this blog. As well as a place where I will put down on paper memories of my experiences working in the food industry, of other foodies, chefs and friends I have met along the way. Old and new discoveries made. Places visited and recipes prepared. Amazing meals I have had. All with the idea that living closer to home as much as possible is ultimately better for the spirit.

One hundred miles from home.

Charles G. Thompson
February 3, 2009

End of re-post.

My Status: it's been hot in Los Angeles, summer really is here (finally!); enjoying all the summer produce; writing, cooking, blogging and eating!

Upcoming Posts: The Wedge Salad: a recipe, the origins of the salad and of Iceberg lettuce. Review: 'The Barcelona Cookbook'.