Party for Bay Area Local Food Guide

The new Eat Local guide is about to come out from the California Alliance of Family Farmers and we’ll have some to hand out at our booth at the Ferry Plaza farmers market on Saturdays.

To welcome the new edition, CAFF is having a party.

 

From CAFF

The 2nd Edition Bay Area Local Food Guide is Coming!

June 26^th, 2008 – 1 Fort Mason (Officer’s Club), SF – 4:30 – 8:30 PM

On Thursday, June 26, join CAFF and their sponsors for the release of the 2^nd
Edition Bay Area Local Food Guide. Get the most up to date places to
find and eat local food; meet the local farmers, businesses and
organizations that satisfy our local food cravings; learn about local
food from an expert panel and taste the flavors of the seasons brought
to you by farms, restaurants, vintners and food artisans of the Bay.
Limited general admission tickets available; get yours today at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/34995

Some of the fabulous businesses providing tastings will include:

Restaurants:  Chez Panisse    * Eccolo   * Millenium   * Mission Pie  * Serpentine  * Slow Club  * Venus

Artisans:  * Acme Bread  * Bi-Rite Creamery   * Cole Coffee   * Fra’Mani

Farms: 
  * Drakes Bay Family Farms (oysters)     * Eatwell Farm    * Gabriel
Farms    * Harley Farms Goat Dairy    * Nana Mae’s Organic    * Redwood
Hill Farm

Wines: 
  * A Donkey and Goat Winery   * Concannon Vineyard   * Long Meadow
Ranch and Winery    * Porter Creek    * Preston Vineyards    *
Rosenblum    * Wild Hog Vinyards

For more information, you can view CAFF’s website at: http://guide.buylocalca.org/events.html

Borders and Security

We are in the process of securing our borders so foreigners can't sneak in. Our efforts include a huge cement wall, which is symbolic but ultimately impractical and won't work. Many feel we need to build this wall to protect us from terrorists, and of course Mexicans and Central Americans, who want all those jobs we refuse to do.

 

The response from Agri-business has been to close shop and move the production of food to the other side of the border, especially in receptive states like Guanaguato, in Mexico.

How secure are we when another country produces our food?

No Napa Market for Rancho Gordo Tomorrow

Unfortunately I have to cancel the Napa market tomorrow. I’ll be working- just not at the market. Of course, Joan and Sarah will be in San Francisco and you can always order online.

Heirloom Bean Book on Amazon

If you’re a bargain hunter, Heirloom Beans: Recipes From Rancho Gordo, my book being published this fall by Chronicle Books, is currently in a pre-order stage and only $15.61 instead of the retail price of $22.95. Of course, we know it’s going to be a bargain at any price, but if you’re looking for a deal, here it is.

No, I have no shame.

Meet the Staff

As most of you have noticed, I’ve semi-retired from the farmers market
and Joan is now the face of Rancho Gordo. She also runs all of our
operations here and has a hand in the packing of your mail orders. I
thought you should meet her!

She’s much nicer than I am and never seems to make mistakes. Often I’ll
come into the warehouse and hear her playing a CD of paso dobles. Life
can be like a bullfight for a young lass in the bean business, I
suppose!

We’ve also added a very nice fellow named Dan to the staff. I’ll
introduce you now.  He packs and prepares orders and moves all the
heavy things Joan and I don’t want to move. Ladies, he’s single!

Next time I’ll introduce you to Sarah, our gal at the market on Saturdays, who is a great cook and a confirmed Franco-phile.

 

 

We Get Letters

Lately it seems I have almost an hour of email to go through every morning. I’m not so sure things are better than they used to be. But I did get this nice email the other day and it almost makes up for all the time spent on the computer:

ok steve, i recently discovered your fabulous website & ordered
lots ‘o beans, which i am patiently awaiting. however, i can’t tell you
how fun your site & blog are! consequently, it’s all your fault
that i’m getting positively NOTHING else done around here! Happy? i
really hope so, since i have piles of snow & ice i should be
working on. but, c’mon, we know that beans are so much more fun than
snow & ice! i particularly like your cooking beans video-it’s a
hoot! thanks for it all, judie

I’m always happy to help!

Great Quote

Sorry for the lack of a post today. I was going to make up some excuse but there isn’t one!
Instead I’ll pass on this great quote:

"It’s too easy to criticize hope.
And in the end, cynicism is a lousy strategy."
–Seth Godin

Cooking With Clay, Part 7: Cazuelas from Puebla

While Puebla is best known for it’s pretty Talavera pottery with it’s ornate decoration and fusion of styles from the old world to the new, I of course go looking for the rustic pots and jars for cooking. Just outside of Puebla is the hip little town of Cholula and I found a studio there making traditional cazuelas.

The cazuelas are made from a form, not a potter’s wheel.

Obviously they come in all sizes. I considered renting the one shown above as a summer home.

Spreading the clay.

The crowded kiln.

I ended up not buying anything because these were loaded with lead. There are plenty of clever potters who know that the slightly more expensive lead-free slip can make them a lot more money. None of the potters I spoke with seemed to care much while almost all the craftsmen in San Felipe, just outside of Guanajuato were proud of their lead-free products. You can get small lead testing kits from any hardware store.

With This Ring…..

With this ring….I declare my love for beans.
My friend Carolyn Tillie is a very talented jewelry designer and she surprised me one day with this beautiful tribute to the Scarlet Runner. Isn’t it amazing?

Carrie blogs about food and art at Feast. Take a visit and see if she won’t make you a ring like this.

Farmers Market Update

Rain is predicted for Saturday and I gave Joan the option of not doing the market, but she turned to me, with a small tear welling in the corner of her eye and said, "I’d sooner cut off my right hand than deprive the good people of San Francisco an opportunity to purchase our beans."
"But Joan!" I pleaded, "Surely you don’t want to bother with the tortillas and chips. Don’t be a fool, girl!"
"But my customers need their low-fat complex carb tortillas to go with the beans!"
Visibly shaken, I relented. Joan will be at the market on Saturday, rain or shine.
What a trooper!