A whole lot more than a hill of beans!

Today, my mother in law, Jax, and I drove out to the coast for beans and quality family time. I haven't been to Phipps Country Store since my birthday in July, and we'd eaten through our supply of lovely heirloom, organic beans so it was about time to make another trip. I picked up quite a variety of lovely beans with such fun names like Buckskin, Desert Pebble, Cranberry, Adzuki, and Gigantes. And who but fellow foodies would appreciate rows of beans in their recycled glass homes? (The glass jars were a Freecycle find - four boxes full of large mason jars, perfect for storing grains and beans, free to me and kept out of the landfill. Hooray for Freecycle!)

I also cleared out their bin of organic yellow popcorn, since Mr.M has been making popcorn on the stove most nights for a snack. I'd never made popcorn outside of the microwave, which is a sad confession, and it is so much tastier from the stove! With fewer unpopped kernels and no fake chemical butter flavoring, it's a better value all around. He makes it with 2 teaspoons of Canola or Olive oil and we split a batch, so each serving has one of the healthy oils we need for the day.

We had lunch at Duarte's Tavern, a family owned business since 1894 and James Beard "American Classic" award winner. I had locally caught sole and a Mexican cabbage salad made with cabbage grown on site. The Mexican cabbage salad was the highlight of my meal, with a tangy lime and cilantro dressing, jalapeno, and olive oil. My mother in law had their famous artichoke soup, and Jax had a fit, upset about being restrained in a high chair and not allowed to eat his crayons, followed by a quarter of Grandma's soup, half a tuna fish sandwich and most of my broccoli, a piece of crusty sourdough bread, a few bites of my mashed potatoes, a pat of butter that I couldn't pry away from him, and a fork-full of the cabbage salad! I think it's more food than he's eaten in the past week, combined, and he'd had an orange and raisins to snack on in the car and half a cucumber that he snitched in Phipps (we paid for the cucumber, of course.)

We picked up a jar of the Quince-Rhubarb jelly at Duarte's, and Strawberry-Rhubarb jelly at Phipps. Since cranberries aren't grown locally, I'm putting sweet-tart jellies and pomegranate seeds on the table to quell the sweet-tart-with-turkey needs of my cranberry loving diners at Thanksgiving. As cranberries are one of the few foods that I just don't like, it's not too much of a sacrifice for me. I'll be sure to report back if the jellies and pomegranates don't pass the turkey test!

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Mr.M and I spent Sunday at the Green Festival in San Francisco, and I had lunch at Cafe Gratitude's booth. Their menu is organic, raw, and vegan, and the meals have names like, "I am Honored," "I am Fabulous," and "I am Passionate." Ordering there was fun, and while I was skeptical that raw and vegan would be bland and boring, I was pleasantly surprised to find my meal flavorful, filling, and fun to eat! (I had "I am Honored," a nacho-esque meal of carrot-flax chips, fresh salsa and guacamole, and a salad that had grains and sunflower seeds.)

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Our grain CSA shares should be ready this week, and I'm looking forward to trying teff for the first time. We'll also be getting more pancake mix, rye flour, and wheat flour, so I need to do more baking. Does anyone have a good rye bread or whole wheat bread recipe that doesn't call for all purpose flour?

Anniversary at Flea Street Cafe

Hello, Eat Local Challengers! My blog was featured on the Eat Local Challenge website yesterday, and I'm excited to have some new visitors reading along! Please comment if anything strikes you (I love comments!), and do come back again.

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Three years ago yesterday, Mr.M and I were married, and to celebrate our anniversary, we went to the Flea Street Cafe for dinner. What a great restaurant! With a focus on local, seasonal, sustainable ingredients, it's the perfect choice for an Eat Local Challenger. And with delicious food and friendly service, it would be a great choice for a nice dinner whether you care about the source of your food or not.

From the top of their menu:

For twenty five years, Jesse Cool and the staff of Flea St. Cafe have been committed to using local, organic and seasonal ingredients. Our seafood is chosen with consideration of over-fishing and endangered species. We cook with meat that is raised naturally and humanely, without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics. Our free-range chicken is from Marin Sun Farms in Petaluma. We buy all of our produce and dairy products from local farms and dairies. We are committed to a healthier, more sustainable environment involving all aspects of the food we prepare for you. We honor and respect the hard-working, caring individuals who grow and produce these foods. Their efforts in the field, on ranches or on the fishing boats are transformed in our kitchen. We partner, hand-in-hand to create beautiful, delicious and nurturing food.

For an appetizer, we shared the Crab & Smoked Trout Cake with caper tartar sauce and watercress salad. We dug in before I took a picture, but believe me that it was gorgeous in addition to the wonderfully smoky fish, tart, salty caper, creamy sauce and peppery green flavors. We were also served a dish of seasonal flavors - cucumbers and an eggplant spread that even Mr.M, an eggplant avoider, enjoyed.

We shared two entrees. The first was Coleman Pasture Raised Lamb Two Ways, braised ribletts, grilled loin chop, fig chutney, and saffron wheatberries. Juicy and beautifully seasoned, the lamb chop was just perfect, and a fig and red onion sauce complimented it perfectly. The ribletts were also really tasty, but the chop won out in flavor for me.

Our second entree was Coleman Organic Slow Braised Short Ribs, red wine beet au jus, green beans with blue cheese, heirloom tomato salad, and potato salad. The meat was crisp on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth tender on the inside, rich and juicy, and paired beautifully with the tomatoes and green beans.

We shared a trio of chocolates with a truffle, cake, and mousse. I was already full and just tried a small taste of each. All were delicious, but the truffle was my favorite. I'll try the meyer lemon semi froddo next time. After the rich meal, a tart and fresh dessert would have been a better finish.

All in all, we had a wonderful meal and will definitely return to Flea Street Cafe.