Alice Waters And Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
A fabulous insight to one of the most celebrated restaurants in the nation and the woman who is responsible for bringing Laura Chenel goat cheese to the masses!
As a somewhat foodie, I appreciated very much the history/beginnings of some of the Bay Area’s food stars: Jeremiah Tower (Stars), Steve Sullivan (Acme Bread) and Judy Rogers (Zuni Cafe) to name a few.
It does not get into the business side of things – which would have been an entirely separate book on its own – but rather details the slow food movement and the growth of the “buy local, buy organic” movement. The success/popularity of farmer’s markets today is all thanks to Ms. Waters.
This book will leave you craving a lovely french snack of crusty baguette and artisanal brie as well as a meal at the famous Chez Panisse.
strong voices
A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine asked me to snap some photos for an advocacy training she was organizing.
She is a part of the staff of amazing women and men that work for an amazing group, Breast Cancer Fund. Their mission is to identify and advocate the elimination of environmental & preventable causes of breast cancer.
Though I was there to “photograph” the event, I learned a thing or two – which is always a good thing. I learned which plastics are “bad” (even though they are recyclable) and I’m starting to double check the labels on all our cosmetics – especially the ones Mads uses.
I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, I grew up without all these precautions, I turned out just fine. I’m sure you did. But, I can attest to the effects of hazardous chemicals on the human body.
So, I’m being more cautious about using plastic anything – which is difficult for me since I find joy in the versatility of plastic ziploc bags. (I use them for everything and anything!)
I’ve gone back to covering food with paper towels when reheating them in the microwave, rather than using the plastic cover. (I’m waiting to make my move to throw it out, S might be lost without it.)
I am definitely not reusing the plastic water bottles – either recycling them as soon as I am finished or I depend on my handy dandy camelbak BPA-free water bottle.
Lastly, I’ve started to look up all the cosmetics we use in the cosmetic safety database and making notes on what and what not to buy next time I’m at the store.
And of course, I had to take photos of the food:
get your jam on!
yummy, healthy brekkies
potato & green salad
turkey sammies, vietnamese style
So, this week we received some yummy things from the farm:
Cranberries I think I’ll freeze these for later use. I make a mean upside down cranberry spice cake that my uncle requests every holiday season.
Sweet Potatoes Hmm, sweet potatoes. Homemade sweet potato fries? Possibly.
Pink Lady Apples We’ll leave the apples for snackin’. Mads is starting to really enjoy apples and even biting into them. She leaves cute little bite marks behind.
Green Chard A recipe for a greens omelet accompanied our fruits and veggies, so I think I’ll make that for dinner this week. It includes loads of cheese, so I am pretty sure that Mads will eat it.
Broccoli Am not quite sure what to do with the broccoli just yet. Maybe a broccoli-cheddar quiche? Oh wait, no we’re doing the chard omelet. A broccoli gratin, perhaps?
Thoughts? Ideas?
Inspired by our friend, LP, we decided to sign up for a bi-weekly delivery of a small box of farm fresh goodies. Below are the contents from our box a few weeks ago:
Bell peppers, heirloom tomatoes, corn, carrots, mushrooms, nectarines, onions – all from local farms, to boot! I’m guilty of never buying enough fresh veggies at the store and this is what I love about this delivery service – we’re guaranteed fresh veggies every other week and supplements nicely the veggies and fruits that I do actually buy at the store. (It also serves as a guide as to what’s in season.)
This week we received (sorry, no pic): summer squash, basil, flame grapes, gypsy peppers, heirloom tomatoes, rose potatoes and 1 head of lettuce.
A Day Off
A few weeks ago, I took a much needed day off. Mads was threatening to crash the party by getting sick, but lucky for me, she held off until the following Monday to get sick. After I dropped her off at day care, I dropped off my dry cleaning and headed downtown for my mani/pedi at Bliss.
My 90 minutes of pampering was followed by lunch at the SFMOMA cafe (the food wasn’t too bad, actually), with plenty of time to explore before my allotted time slot for the Frida Kahlo exhibit. The Kahlo exhibit was just okay (imho) – I was more interested in the display of Frida’s personal photos they had on exhibit. In my pre-Kahlo visit, I came across a very pretty floral curtain.
I think that the artist spent a summer disassembling silk flowers with his family only to reassemble it into a large curtain.
The exhibit that I did enjoy was a photo exhibit by Lee Miller, model & photographer. The exhibit showcased some of her “model” photos, and most her photos from WWII. There was an amazing photo of an explosion outside of Mont Saint Michel, I believe.
At the end of the day, I realized that I need more days off. I was relaxed and refreshed for the next week. What a difference a day makes.