Monday, October 29, 2012
Inspirations From the Goat Farm
We had quite a few successful meetup events over the past 7 or so months. One of the most memorable however was visiting Soledad Goat Farm in the Mojave Desert, on October 13th. Away from the usual city routine, we met Julian and Carol Pearce, owners of a haven filled with about 300+ goats of various breeds, along with rescue animals like canines, mules, and even geese! The Pearces, who make their living producing and selling their award- winning goat cheese, greeted us so graciously, and provided an educational tour of their cheese making operation. Along the way we met the newest and youngest addition to their family, "Hope", a 10-week old goat who was born blind, but with as much if not more vigor as her seeing brothers and sisters. Hope amazed us all as she pranced around the farm, constantly searching for her "Dad", Julian, who is clearly enamored with his little girl, so sweet and loving! Here is a small video clip of Hope! FYI: Sorry for having to view this sideways. Now I know that I need to point it horizontally when to shooting on my android!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Summer Bounty
So....summer may be over, but here in Los Angeles, the heat always comes and goes...
Anybody who is lucky enough to have even a small plot of land to grow fruits and vegetables can enjoy their bounty year-round. And even though we hit some remarkably high summer temps (sometimes reaching 104F), I would say I did okay with my small, humble crop this year....
Making use of the most sunny spots, I ended up planting about 12 tomato plants, 6 eggplant plants, a couple Italian zucchini plants, dozen bell peppers, a variety of herbs, and towards the end of the season, some pepper plants such as jalapeno, habanero, etc....the tastiest and juiciest of them all, hands-down, was the heirloom tomato varieties (Green zebra, Cherokee purple). From my harvest, I was proud to give some fruit to friends and family. The rest I used for my sheer palate pleasures, or to use in experimental recipes.
Now, I look forward to selecting seeds for winter planting....more to come...
 |
| On a good summer day... |
Start of a Blog- From Paris to L.A.
WELCOME!
Goodness, I am sooo relieved to finally start writing this blog! I had so wanted to start this back in March 2012, when I launched a community meetup group in Los Angeles, called "Let's Eat Farm to Table". Sadly the blog was to be delayed. After a few months, however, and over a dozen successful meetup events, it was time to start documenting these experiences.
But before moving on, let me tell you how the meetup inspiration got started in the first place...
As 2012 dawned upon us, I felt the itch to check another item off my bucket list: Cooking classes abroad. So, with about a week's paid vacation on my payroll, I decided to jet to Paris and take a few classes at "L'Atelier Des Sens". It was surprisingly cozy for a winter break, and a lovely way to reconnect with the culture that gave us, "L'art de la cuisine!" I had already inherited the love of cooking from my grandma and mastered a few family recipes in recent years. But this was different. My experience took me beyond the delicate art of croissant-making and the perfect parchment-paper salmon with leeks. After discovering that I was the only non-native in class, our chef engaged us in a discussion about food quality differences between France and the U.S. In a snooty, yet intellectual approach, his argument was very simple: Why do Americans choose non-fat/low-fat alternatives to real dairy products? Why do we consume so many artificial sweeteners and substitutes? Also, the fact that our meats and poultry are so conveniently packaged, but deconstructed far beyond recognition. How is it that we allow so much processing and convenience at the cost of good nutrition? It made me think of all things that have gone wrong with our food culture over generations. As we added heavy cream to cook our leeks, I thought about what lessons to take back home with me to L.A. Not that I wasn't already aware of all the points our chef made. It just put things in a different perspective for once. So when I returned, not only was I excited to cook that great salmon dish for my family, but I felt compelled to start a group for like-minded people to experience real food through local sources. I wanted to do the research but also wanted to see who would join me on my adventure! That's how "Let's Eat Farm to Table" began.
Since March 2012, members from all over the Los Angeles area have joined our meetup group at farms and farmer's market tours, local restaurants, cooking classes, and community gardens. We have collectively expanded our understanding of where our food comes from through sustainable farming and gardening techniques, composting, goat cheese production, and more. We even got to milk a cow during one of our first meetups, at Amy's Farm in Ontario.
This blog follows our various meetup events and also my personal adventures from the garden to the table. I hope you will enjoy what I share with you...whether you are a meetup member, or just someone who enjoys learning about fresh, locally sourced food!
Goodness, I am sooo relieved to finally start writing this blog! I had so wanted to start this back in March 2012, when I launched a community meetup group in Los Angeles, called "Let's Eat Farm to Table". Sadly the blog was to be delayed. After a few months, however, and over a dozen successful meetup events, it was time to start documenting these experiences.
But before moving on, let me tell you how the meetup inspiration got started in the first place...
As 2012 dawned upon us, I felt the itch to check another item off my bucket list: Cooking classes abroad. So, with about a week's paid vacation on my payroll, I decided to jet to Paris and take a few classes at "L'Atelier Des Sens". It was surprisingly cozy for a winter break, and a lovely way to reconnect with the culture that gave us, "L'art de la cuisine!" I had already inherited the love of cooking from my grandma and mastered a few family recipes in recent years. But this was different. My experience took me beyond the delicate art of croissant-making and the perfect parchment-paper salmon with leeks. After discovering that I was the only non-native in class, our chef engaged us in a discussion about food quality differences between France and the U.S. In a snooty, yet intellectual approach, his argument was very simple: Why do Americans choose non-fat/low-fat alternatives to real dairy products? Why do we consume so many artificial sweeteners and substitutes? Also, the fact that our meats and poultry are so conveniently packaged, but deconstructed far beyond recognition. How is it that we allow so much processing and convenience at the cost of good nutrition? It made me think of all things that have gone wrong with our food culture over generations. As we added heavy cream to cook our leeks, I thought about what lessons to take back home with me to L.A. Not that I wasn't already aware of all the points our chef made. It just put things in a different perspective for once. So when I returned, not only was I excited to cook that great salmon dish for my family, but I felt compelled to start a group for like-minded people to experience real food through local sources. I wanted to do the research but also wanted to see who would join me on my adventure! That's how "Let's Eat Farm to Table" began.
Since March 2012, members from all over the Los Angeles area have joined our meetup group at farms and farmer's market tours, local restaurants, cooking classes, and community gardens. We have collectively expanded our understanding of where our food comes from through sustainable farming and gardening techniques, composting, goat cheese production, and more. We even got to milk a cow during one of our first meetups, at Amy's Farm in Ontario.
This blog follows our various meetup events and also my personal adventures from the garden to the table. I hope you will enjoy what I share with you...whether you are a meetup member, or just someone who enjoys learning about fresh, locally sourced food!
 |
| Fresh, organically grown pickins at Amy's Farm (From our meetup in May 2012) |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)