This week's Sacramento News & Review features our own Lynn Gowdy on her favorite soups and stews for the season. Check it out!

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In case you missed it, there was a really interesting article in the Bee the other day about the number of restaurants in Sacramento that used to be auto shops or car showrooms. They range from Zocalo to Suzie Burger (pictured above). What with the price of gas these days, we might just see more car businesses closing. Let's hope they have the forethought to put in bike racks with valet parking!

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Got a sudden jones for Bing cherries or local peaches? The Sacramento Bee Web site has a great new interactive guide to area farmer's markets. It lists markets by day of the week, with maps, hours, and months of the year that they're open (for instance, the Cesar Chavez market just opened earlier this month for the season). You can also find an excellent list of what's in season, with example prices from a local market. Each week in the paper and online, they'll list a sample market with parking info., details on types of vendors, and other useful information. Another link gives you a list of produce that's waning, so you can get it now before it's done for the year. And there are even links to recipes so you know what to do when you get home with more produce than you can possibly eat before the next market beckons you.

Check it out: Sacbee Farmer's Markets Guide

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The latest issue of Edible Sacramento has just hit the streets. I wrote back in March about Raphael Garden Biodynamic farm at the Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks. I go into more depth about what exactly constitutes Biodynamic farming in this issue of Edible. Did you know that a lot of California and French wines are grown biodynamically? You'd be surprised. Bonny Doon has recently decided to put most of its resources toward Biodynamic practices. Read the article to find out what's got vintners and other local farmers so interested.

You'll also find "Sausage: A Love Supreme" by Hank Shaw. He writes about Morant's Old Fashioned Sausage Kitchen and other nearby link locations. And visit his blog to learn about making Greek loukaniko sausage.

Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic writes in the spring issue about Ginger Elizabeth chocolates, which you may have realized by now are a bit of an addiction for me. (see previous posts)

You'll also learn about what it takes to be a farmer these days from real-life farmer and author Mike Madison; what to cook with your farmer's market bounty; and the "Momnivore's Dilemma"--school lunches. Pick up your copy today (it's FREE) at Taylor's Market, the Coop, Corti Brothers, and a bunch of other yummy locations.

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Are you a locavore? Do you strive to eat local foods as much as possible and buy from local growers and markets? Well don't stop there! You can also buy food books from local authors, and we've got more of them here than you might realize. And you certainly don't have to limit your cusines to Central California style. Travel gastronomically from Vietnam to Italy to France, as well as Napa, Sri Lanka, and Seussville.

The big names are, of course, Biba Caggiano of Restaurant Biba and Mai Pham of Lemon Grass restaurant. Biba's most recent book, Biba's Italy: Favorite Recipes from the Splendid Cities, came out last fall, but she has many others on the theme of hearty Italian cooking. Mai Pham grew up with Vietnamese and Thai cooking, which are reflected in the menu at her restaurant. Pick up her book The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking: Favorite Recipes from Lemon Grass Restaurant and Cafes to learn the basics of these two cuisines or her more in-depth Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table.

Other local authors include Georgeanne Brennan (okay,she's in Yolo County, but that's pretty close!), whose fun Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook is aimed at kids. There's a recipe for green eggs and ham that doesn't just rely on food coloring! Georgeanne is prolific, and you'll find books by her about Provence (where she lives sometimes), Christmas sweets, cooking with herbs, and food made fast, among many others.

Now, I can't really write this post without shamelessly shilling my own book, can I? It DID come out this year and I've been demonstrating recipes from East Bay Restaurant Supply to Capital Public Radio. So show some love and support a local author who you might actually have seen buying her pork and pomegranates at the farmer's market. Hands-Off Cooking: Low-Supervision, High-Flavor Meals for Busy People will help you to cook Thai, Southern, Sri Lankan, Mexican, Egyptian, and plain old Californian. And quickly.

A few other local foodie authors to note: Elaine Corn writes for Sacramento Magazine and has written Now You're Cooking: Everything a Beginner Needs to Know to Start Cooking Today for the gadget lover in your life. She's also a fan of gooey desserts, corn, and has co-authored Lina Fat's book from the Fat family restaurant group. A Moveable Thirst: Tales and Tastes from a Season in Napa Wine Country by Sacramento Bee columnist Ricik Kushman and Nugget Markets winebuyer Hank Beal; The Plank Grilling Cookbook: Infuse Food with More Flavor Using Wood Planks is from a group of authors in Folsom and I often see it for sale at Taylor's Market; and Blithe Tomato by Davis farmer Mike Madison. While it's not a cookbook, it is a fantastic collection of essays on life as a farmer and what it's like to grow food for a living. (His sister is noted cookbook author Deborah Madison, formerly of Davis.)

I would tell you to shop local too, but I don't know a local bookstore that keeps these authors on hand (in fact, a check at the Avid Reader revealed that they barely knew that we had local cookbook authors aside from Biba. Hmph.). But you can, of course, buy the restaurateur books at their restaurants and you might even be able to contact authors directly. Or, you can just use these handy links. Shop globally, read locally, right?

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

What do you do when you have hundreds of cookbooks? Heidi Swanson, of 101cookbooks, answered the question for herself by starting her blog several years ago. Originally, she picked a cookbook from her collection each week and chose a recipe to make and photograph. Now, she writes a lot more about recipes that she develops as part of her cookbook-writing process, although she still highlights new cookbook finds as well. She's an inveterate collector, for sure!

And recently, I came across another blog, called The Millions, which is more about literature than cookbooks, but still deals with the question of what to do with too much to read. That blogger assigns a number to each of the books that he's waiting to read and then uses a random number generator to pick the next one! You'd have to really enjoy a sense of chance to use that process. No pushing the latest Harry Potter sequel to the top of the list.

So as a big book geek and librarian of my own growing cookbook collection, I decided I'd better do something to make sure I'm properly appreciating my stash. Not quite ready for the random number generation process, I took an old-fashioned approach. I wrote down the title of every book that I own that has savory recipes, including memoirs and food literature, like Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes. Then I cut them into individual pieces and put them all in an old cookie tin. I made my husband and neighbor guess how many I had. Bob guessed high at 350 and Ari guessed really low at 50 (apparently she doesn't understand the extent of my collection!). The real number was ONLY 245. Note that this doesn't include any of the food reference books or pastry and baking, not to mention preserving and bartending tomes.

The next step was to pick a winner for the week. Of course, if we only used one book a week, we'd take 5 years to get through the current collection. And chances are good that I'll add more to that any day now. Oh--and I didn't even include my own book (Hands-Off Cooking: Low-Supervision, High-Flavor Meals for Busy People) in the mix. That one gets used every week anyway. So I decided that we should try 2 or 3 recipes a week from the random pick and then use whatever else we wanted to fill in.

So this week's random pick was...the Metropolitan Cook Book. Not the most exciting of choices, but I had committed to this process and when would I otherwise use a vintage recipe collection from the thirties? Perhaps some lovely Broiled Finnan-Haddie or Veal and Ham Pie this week? Maybe some Rarebit or Boiled Onions in White Sauce? Or if I'm feeling off my feed, then the helpful Invalid Cookery section will come in handy. Toast Water anyone?

I've changed the links on the bottom right column to show which books I'm cooking from this week, crowned by the Random Pick. Join in the fun! Put your dinner-time dilemma to rest with my patented new Book Geek Project. I'll let you know how it goes.

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been following the news on the disappearance of bee colonies and possible reasons, like some people I know follow the scores and rankings during March madness. As I planted my heirloom tomatoes the other day (that I just purchased from the organic plant sale at Soil Born) I reached a new level of anxiety about the whole situation. Here were my little wonderful plants that I had hoped would bring many a burrata, basil and tomato salad during the summer months and there is chance they will yield nada...nothing....zip. Ugghh. Is it pesticides? Cell Phones? Mites? They don't really know but I did find this article, that I read the other day, to be enlightening and dare I say hopeful. Read it here....

Ways of Bee-ing

Posted by Jennifer Cliff at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just returned from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual conference, where I froze my patootie off in Chicago, but got to eat well in the process. I attended a seminar on local foods and how to promote them, and learned about the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign. It was started by FoodRoutes Network to help consumers determine how they can find local foods and why they should look for them.

We here at sacatomato are firm believers in eating locally when you can (we're not above drinking a good French wine or salivating over an aged Dutch gouda cheese), so for produce especially, we try to patronize our abundant farmer's markets. CAFF (the Community Alliance with Family Farmers), located in Davis, partnered with FoodRoutes in 2002 to bring the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign to California. There are now chapters all over the state, including one here in Sacramento Valley.

You can access a great online food guide to California, where you type in your zip code and the mileage from that point that you want to buy (i.e., within 50 miles) or just search by county. You'll get back a list of places that sell or carry local food--whether they be farmer's markets, restaurants, bed & breakfast inns, or caterers. Then you can contact them directly to do your local part.

Think of it as supporting your neighbors. If they can't make a living, then you're stuck with fewer choices and food that comes from farther away in larger quantities. And if you need convincing, just ask a farmer for a taste of their best fruit or vegetable, fresh from the picking. You won't need any more evidence than that.

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Tomorrow is the birthday of legendary farmworker activist Cesar Chavez. We have a downtown park named in his honor here in Sacramento, just a small testament to his important legacy in the history of California farming. In honor of his birthday, I thought you might be interested in reading an article I wrote recently on the 2007 Farm Bill:

The 2007 Farm Bill: Aiming for the Wallet and Hitting Us in the Stomachs

Do you eat food? Do you breathe air and drink water? Chances are, you do. Which means that you ought to have at least a passing knowledge of the 2007 Farm Bill, which is up for reauthorization by Congress this year. But even just dipping your toe into the inky depths of the Farm Bill details is pretty overwhelming. Despite the lack of coverage of this issue by mainstream media, specialty and niche publications and Web sites are all over the map with opinions, recommendations, and criticism for Farm Bill proposals past and present. It’s hard to know where to begin.

As residents of the fertile Sacramento Valley, though, we can narrow it down a bit by asking, “How does the Farm Bill affect me as a Californian?” First, you have to know some of the amazing facts about the agriculture produced in our state:

• California is the fifth largest agricultural economy in the world. That’s just our state alone.
  
• We raise an astonishing diversity of more than 400 crop and animal commodities.
  
• California produces almost 50 percent of the fruit, nut, and vegetable crops in the entire country, but only 13 percent of the total agricultural output in the U.S. That means that our farmers are more likely to grow produce than a crop like grain or cotton, which needs processing to be used.
  
• California rice accounts for 500,000 acres of production, with 95 percent of those in the Sacramento Valley.
  

Continue reading "Feliz Cumpleanos Cesar Chavez" »

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't yet read The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals(although it's on my Christmas list!), but from what I hear, it's a must-read for people concerned about how their food gets to the table. This Wednesday at UCDavis, you can see the author, UCBerkeley professor Michael Pollan, speak on a panel discussion, sign books, and then speak solo.

Pollan is also the author of The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, an interesting take on how some plants have evolved to meet the needs of humans. His newest book takes apart four types of meals and follows the ingredients from production to plate. He looks at a fast-food meal, an organic meal from Whole Foods Market, a grass-fed chicken from a small farm, and a meal that Pollan hunts and gathers himself. Since the book publication, there has been an ongoing exchange between Pollan and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on how his company sources their "organic" and "whole" foods. Interestingly, Whole Foods has recently committed to buying from local farmers in each of its markets.

Learn more tomorrow at Mondavi Center at UCDavis
4-5:30, panel discussion, FREE
5:30-6:15, book signing, FREE
8-9:30, Pollan solo talk, $19-$29 (50% discount for students & children)
Info: 866-754-2787 or 530-754-2787

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

If you haven't yet read Fast Food Nation(the book), then at least make plans to go see the movie, which opens this Friday.

I got to attend an advance screening last night at Century Theaters on Ethan Way, and the movie was an interestingly dramatized version of the statistics-heavy book. Directed by Richard Linklater (of "Slackers" fame), the story focuses on a fast food executive, an immigrant couple working in the meat industry, and a teenager who staffs the counter at the fast food restaurant. Through these stories, you learn about the emotionless business decisions that go into making that burger and fries that 25% of Americans eat every day.

"Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," Schlosser wrote in his groundbreaking book. Both the movie and (especially) the book will give even the heartiest meat eater pause to consider where their food comes from and how eating locally or from smaller-scale producers might just be a matter of life and death.

Posted by Ann Martin Rolke at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Brian Halweil, a senior researcher for World Watch and also the editor of Edible East End, has just published a new World Watch paper: Catch of the Day: Choosing Seafood for Healthier Oceans.



Here's a blurb: "The world’s beleaguered fish populations have found an unlikely ally: seafood eaters, according to a new Worldwatch study by Brian Halweil, a senior researcher and globally recognized food expert. From Chinese universities that refuse to serve shark fin soup, to U.S. supermarkets that feature sustainably harvested shrimp, to Japanese consumers who are restoring wild oyster beds, a well-informed population of seafood eaters, distributors, restaurants, and supermarkets is playing a growing role in fostering a more sustainable, lower-impact fishing industry."



Click here to read a sample.

Posted by Jennifer Cliff at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Jennifer Cliff at 9:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)