Summertime Salsa

Heirloom tomatoes from Rhodes Family Farm in Visalia, spring onions from Fat Cabbage Farm in Pescadero, sweet white corn from G&S Farms in Brentwood, white peaches from Kashiwase Farms in Winton

Farm-to-Table Dinner

I feel very lucky that my work recently has lead me to visit with small, sustainable farms that produce delicious food. This past week, I was able walk the fields with Fred at Baia Nicchia and Shawn at Terra Bella Family Farm. Baia Nicchia is at the Sunol Ag Park and sells heirloom tomatoes, peppers and other veggies like baby radishes to high end restaurants such as Oliveto. Terra Bella Family Farm in Pleasanton sells through farmers' markets and a successful CSA in the East Bay.

After picking up produce at these farms, I was excited to prepare dinner that night using some of these freshly harvested ingredients including the "micro-green" radishes, yellow squash, and heirloom tomatoes (to go along with ravioli from Santa Cruz Pasta Factory).

I can't say definitively that the food really tasted better because it was harvested that morning, but I can say that it tasted pretty darn good. And perhaps more importantly, I felt more connected to the food after spending some time with Fred and Shawn, learning about and seeing the food they grow.

Summertime Dinner

Summertime dinner from the Mountain View farmers' market:

Meatballs: ground pork from Full of Life Farm, ground beef from Pampero Ranch

Asparagus from Bounty of the Valley Farm

Roasted Bintje potatoes from Thomas Farm

Brunch at 18 Reasons

18 Reasons is a non-profit in the Mission District of San Francisco that is connected to the legendary Bi-Rite Market and that has a great mission:

18 Reasons brings people together to deepen our relationship to food and each other. Through an innovative community center and thought provoking, fun programming, we inspire action and foster collaboration toward creating a just and sustainable food system.

How cool is that?

We recently took our friends to brunch at 18 Reasons with produce mostly harvested from Bi-Rite Farms in Sonoma. We were celebrating our good friend's birthday - and it was nice to be able to celebrate her birthday with delicious, sustainably grown food while introducing her to 18 Reasons and the inspiring work that they do.

Scream Sorbet

I love visiting the farmers' market and being able to know where my food comes from when I cook dinner. It's good to chat with the friendly folks at Happy Boy Farms when I'm picking up squash or tomatoes, and even better when I'm enjoying lettuce from Fat Cabbage Farm or eggs from Surfside Chickens because I've visited those farms. What I have not expected as much (but I'm starting to get used to) is buying processed or prepared food and knowing where my food comes from. Kudos to producers like Scream Sorbet, who are taking the extra step to source locally and seasonally and provide transparency in where their ingredients come from - like this delicious Strawberry Lemon sorbet with Seascape strawberries from Rodriguez Ranch and lemon juice from Sun Rise Farm.

A New Family Tradition: Cherry Picking in Brentwood

Just an hour outside of San Francisco lies an abundance of small family farms in Brentwood that produce some of the most delicious summer fruits and vegetables available in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, many of these farms open up their orchards to families every summer for u-pick cherries, peaches and more. A non-profit called Harvest Time maintains an impressive website for agri-tourism in Brentwood, including a great farm trail map of over 40 growers in the area.

We took our 3 year old daughter, Kaiya, on her first ever trip cherry picking at Seko Farms and peach picking at Wolfe Ranch and she had a blast! I had never been to a cherry or peach tree orchard before and it was a refreshing and inspiring experience to see the orchards and share this experience as a family - I hope to make this a new, annual family tradition.

Typical Spring Dinner

Potato leek soup: Yukon gold potatoes from Full Belly Farm, leeks from Fat Cabbage Farm, onions from Swank Farm

Spinach salad: spinach from Happy Boy Farms, raspberries from Rodriguez Farms, goat cheese

Bread & olive oil: baguette from Acme, olive oil from Soul Food Farm