Point Reyes

I had no idea that Point Reyes National Seashore was going to be be beautiful! My favorite spot I have seen so far is Big Sur, but Point Reyes takes a close second. I've had the opportunity to explore the coast a bit since being out here, and my breath is taken away every time I see the cliffs and bluffs and crazy blue color and waves and vast sea. The Pacific Ocean just seems more wild to me than the Atlantic. The beaches in Northern California aren't what your typical east coaster is expecting a California beach to be. They are, for the most part, painfully beautiful, mysterious, and unpredictable. Raf and I went to a beach in January where it was warm and sunny all day and we could play frisbee and sit in the sand. Then we go in June and you practically have to wear a hat and gloves.

We had two friends--Abby and Dan (who happen to know each other) come visit us, overlapping each others stay. It was nice to have some east coast folks to show around! Anyway, we spent a windy,chilly Saturday at the seashore with them. We had a picnic at the top of a gigantic rock overlooking the ocean, hiked down a steep cliff to an historic lighthouse, and then frolicked a bit at a beach. The water was FREEZING and the wind was whipping, but we had a pretty great time breathing in the salty air and enjoying the company of buddies!

Tiny Dan at the top of our picnic rock.

Descending.

That day was too windy, but usually you can see gray whales here!

Abby and me.

Dan and Raf.

Beach sillies!




Weirdest. Sign. Ever.

Our place

When I stop and think about it, I have a pretty big crush on our apartment. It's Lilliputian and a bit humble in some ways, but really a perfect fit. I usually feel all warm and fuzzy whenever I am walking home, knowing that I get to come home through the squeaky door, walk into the light-filled kitchen, and make a cup of tea and snuggle in the "all purpose room" (it is a studio apt).


It is the most perfect location: a stone's throw from campus, in the amazing (and fabulously walkable) hills of Berkeley, close to Gourmet Ghetto, downtown Berkeley, BART, you name it...It is adorable with old school charm and cute old building details (such as an old fashioned ice box/turned cabinet and a fold out, kitchen-table-breakfast-nook and glass doorknobs, etc.) it has a fireplace and a roof deck and is a quick walk to the farmer's market, go up the street a bit and you have views of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge and we have great neighbors in our building (including a cute pup). Sometimes we even swap food with the folks in the apartment right next to ours when one of us discovers a great new recipe. Nothing is better than answering to a knock at your door and being greeted with:

(a ridiculously yummy vegetable tower!)

We just went through some rearranging. Well, mostly me organizing my crap, getting rid of some of my crap, and finding new and more aesthetically pleasing ways of displaying my crap :) Actually, it is mostly my art supplies and jewelry making materials. I think I finally have a set-up that works.



Anyway, we just really scored with a great place to live! :)

Oliver Berkeley plums!

Recently, my sweetie came home from a walk with a big smile on his face, saying he had something for me. He began unloading his pockets (pants AND jacket!) with what looked like perfect, bright red cherries. Berkeley is loaded with city trees ripe with fruit that we are just beginning to discover...Anyway, I washed it and took a bite-- only to discover a very definite plum flavor. These were mini plums-- and they were delicious!


At Capoeira the next evening we were talking to our Mestra about our discovery and she said, "Oh yeah, those plums are Oliver Berkeley." Or so I thought. Later that night when we were walking home from class I asked Raf, "So, who is this Oliver Berkeley guy?", thinking he must be a very important person--you know, the one they named the CITY after, not to mention all of these plum trees in his honor. Raf stopped dead in his tracks, looked at me and just started cracking up. It then occurred to me...she said that those plums were all over Berkeley. Yes. Yes, indeed they are. Sheesh. Moving on...

We went for a walk the next day, this time on a hunt for more plums. As it turns out, they really are everywhere. They come in a lot of different colors, each with a slight difference in flavor. We found some pinkish ones that were a bit more tart and then stumbled upon a tree in front of someone's garage that was loaded with the bright red variety (apparently called cherry plums). We saw one of the occupants of the house washing his truck and asked if we could pick some. He happily obliged (apparently they were part of the reason he was washing his truck). Raf, with basket in tow, began to climb up this gigantic tree while I kept watch and pointed to the areas that had the best/most fruit. Fortunately I got a few photos of him up there, because it was pretty darn cute.


We picked quite a few, thanked our benefactor, and headed home with our bounty. On the walk back, we discovered a bright yellow variety on a small, easier to reach tree! SO, we loaded up with some of those too. Yep, we had (and still have!) quite a few plums. We ate a bunch of them as is, I made a super yummy almond-plum tart, I am planning to freeze a bunch, and maybe squeak out a few jars of jam if I have time. So glad we discovered that June is plum season!

This tart was sooooo good, btw...i tried to find the recipe to post online, but couldn't. I got it from the 2009 Edible Finger Lakes calendar.

Candied citrus peels--hooray!

Last October I met up with a few of my BFFs in Colorado for a fabulous long weekend. We spent a day in Boulder, and one of our first stops was a locally owned spice shop. One of the items I picked up was a small bag of candied orange peels (orange gold!). I was brainstorming all of the fall baked goods I would add them to on my flight home. And then I realized that it was such a tiny bag, that I would probably have to ration it...I think I ended up adding them mostly to chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate chip cookies, and one batch of cherry scones. Then they were gone. I was considering ordering them online, when the spring issue of Edible East Bay came out. If you haven't checked out an "Edible" magazine from your region yet, do yourself a favor and get one or read them online! Anyway, there was a recipe from one of the Chez Panisse pastry chefs on how to make candied citrus peels...YES! So, I bought a few California-grown, organic oranges and Raf scavenged the 'hood for a few Meyer lemons--and let me just tell you: they turned out AMAZING! So many yums! You can use any citrus fruits, so I think next year, when they are in season I will try pomelos!

These have already been blanched (2 times for the lemons and 3 times for the oranges).

The peels right after they come out of the syrup.

After 2 days of drying.

Sugared in organic evaporated cane juice.

Some recommendations:
1. Use ORGANIC fruit! Afterall, the peel is where most of the pesticides are concentrated...
2. Make sure you simmer in the syrup until they are translucent.
3. Dry them for at least 2-3 days.
4. Use the juice for something yummy (I made lemon poppyseed scones, lemon tahini dressing, and drank the orange juice straight up!)
5. It isn't necessary to add the sugar at the end. In fact we like them better without it. It looks pretty though, and helps them to not stick together as much.
6. Add them to many-a-baked-good or savory dish, or eat them plain!!

Belted

This past Sunday, Raf and I participated in a Capoeira Batizado. It is a really fun ceremony where capoeiristas participating from our school move up to a new belt. When I visited Raf last May to find our apartment, he was experiencing in his first Batizado. I was lucky enough to be here for it, and I was really intrigued. The music, movement, energy, and basically whole feeling of Capoeira totally captivated me. Watching the very experienced folks play is really mesmerizing. The sheer skill and beauty of it, along with the rhythmic beats of the live music, well, let's just say that it wasn't hard for him to convince me that it would be a fun thing to do together once I officially arrived. And so I have been doing it for nearly a year! It has been a major learning process for me, and the acrobatic parts (which I love the most) are slow-going, but I definitely can feel my body changing. I can stay up for a decent amount of time in a hand stand (compared to never), can go into a back-bend from a standing position and in general just love the way my body feels (stronger and more flexible) when it is moving in such a way. Yay! To earn your belt you play against someone or a few people who are very experienced. I was a bit nervous (okay, I was super nervous), but I think I did okay, although it was a little goofy to watch on video ;) But I did it, and now I have a light green belt-- hooray!

The British are Coming!

Isn't it funny how visitors visiting makes you fall in love with where you live all over again (that is, if you loved where you live in the first place). At the end of March, my dear friend Abbie came to visit from jolly old England, along with her colleague, Annik. Abbie and I met and were pals in Ithaca, where she was attending Cornell, and then she up and moved back to the UK and I up and moved to the Bay Area. I was delighted to find out that she was coming to California for a conference. I haven't even been a resident here for even a year yet, so when a buddy comes to see me, I get SO excited to explore with them/have someone to ooh and ahh over this beautiful place with! I get especially psyched when I have an excuse to do something new in San Francisco. I still marvel over the fact that I am a quick train ride across the bay from such an amazing city.

After the gals sat around waiting for me to finish a costume fitting for a film (with Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen!) I was an extra in, we started our adventure at the Golden Gate Bridge and a walk down Chrissy Field. It is incredibly beautiful there. The views of the bridge are breathtaking and there is a beach where people frolic and picnic. We had an especially good time checking out the crabs and star fish that were in the shallows of the water! The starfish were SO unbelievably cute! Don't you love the picture of the two sweeties holding hands? ;)

After a meal at a Thai restaurant we stumbled upon starving, we decided to head across the Bay Bridge to explore Berkeley. A long stroll in the hills dropped us off at the Berkeley Rose Garden, which is my favorite place to hang in our city, just in time for a classic Berkeley sunset.



And then off through the Gourmet Ghetto until we reached our final destination for the night for some wood fired pizza (which we ended up not being able to get-- boo!), a beer, and a lovely outdoor patio experience at Jupiter!


The next day we started our morning on a tour of Alcatraz. I would say that it is very interesting to see this place once. It is definitely an experience to see what life was like for prisoners out on this little island and to learn of the history, but I don't think it is something I would want to do again (Sorry future visitors! I will wait for you back in SF!).

A tiny prison cell.

The old warden's house, before a fire gutted it!

The rest of the day had us literally walking from one side of the city to the other. We started in the Mission, where we had ice cream at the fabulous Humphry Slocombe, (so ridiculously good by the way) where I had "secret breakfast" flavor-- a concoction of corn flakes and whiskey and deliciousness. Those calories lasted us for most of the day as we walked and walked and walked up through Lower Haight, up to Haight-Ashbury, and finally landing at Golden Gate Park where we napped in the grass in the sun as it started to go down. We walked all the way down to the Civic Center BART from there, passing quintessential San Francisco neighborhoods and Victorian row houses (much to my delight). We ended up at a vegetarian restaurant, Ananda Fuara, by pleasant accident for a REALLY nourishing bowl of lentil soup and some vegetables before saying our goodbyes...until next time, Abbie!! xoxo!

Strawberry Rosewater Jam and Meyer Lemon Marmalade

A couple of weeks ago I went strawberry picking with two pals at Eatwell Farm in Dixon, CA (www.eatwell.com) and we seriously ate soooo many...

I ended up taking home 6 pounds (organic and amazing and only $1/pound--I know, right?) with intentions of freezing and attempting a batch of jam. I have been wanting to make jam without sugar for a long time and recently read about Pomona's Universal Pectin (www.pomonapectin.com), which comes with a bunch of recipes inside the package. The beauty of this stuff is that it uses calcium powder to activate the pectin rather than relying on sugar, so you can get away with using MUCH less sweetener. I chose to use agave and added a bit of rosewater at the end to make it a bit more fragrant. It turned out amazing...and all of a sudden I want to make jam out of everything in sight!

One of the many beauties of living in Northern California is the Meyer lemon, and how they grow pretty much everywhere. This time of year they start to dwindle in production, and you see trees all over the place busting out with nearly overripe fruit that people just don't use. A few scavenging trips later and I had 6 perfectly ripe lemons sitting on my kitchen counter. The next project became Meyer lemon marmalade! I am a huge fan of lemon-flavored-anything, and lemon curd in particular, which this stuff totally reminds me of. This marmalade turned out so good--no joke--seriously addictive. I also made this with agave so it is just sweet enough to complement the tartness of the lemons. Meyer lemons are less acidic than regular ones, and a bit sweeter. They are a cross between a lemon and an orange a have the most lovely scent when first picked off of the tree. A perfect choice for marmalade.

Now, I am daydreaming about all of the other fruits I will preserve this summer to store and give as holiday gifts. And next time I will try honey...

Heaven in a bowl...

Greek yogurt, fresh mango, a touch of honey, and pistachios....so yum!