The Great American Menu

I thought this was interesting. What's your home state and its signature food? Find out here:

http://deadspin.com/the-great-american-menu-foods-of-the-states-ranked-an-1349137024/@Jessica

Ode to Our State Bird

Crispy fried lemongrass quail with heirloom tomatoes, silken tofu and young black pepper, courtesy of chef Mark Malicki.

It's okay to be jealous.

End of Summer Treats

Behold a sassy jalapeño margarita, padrone peppers with pancetta, and an heirloom tomato salad with figs, arugula and feta. Thanks, Healdsburg Bar and Grill!

What are your favorite foods to eat during Indian summer?

Piggies!

Trout brought home these little piggies to raise for home cured bacon, tenderloin and other porky morsels this winter. I got to meet them on their drive home and wanted to introduce you. There will be more visits with them to come!

I peeked in on last year's pigs as they matured, but missed the slaughter. I think this is a crucial part of the cycle to witness as a meat eater (I suggest reading The Girl Hunter and Cleaving if it strikes an ethical cord for you). I caught the end of butchering that year and am fascinated with the efficiency of raising meat. My hat goes off to my empowered friends for putting in the hard work themselves- it makes a far more conscientious carnivore. 

I never dreamed piglets could be even stinkier than adult pigs, but I still have lots to learn if the masters' patience allows.

This essay by Thomas Keller completely changed my thinking about how we eat and cook meat, and reinforced my deep respect for the labor that goes into each ingredient we consume. Please read before you picket!

Mitch Visits!

If you haven't heard from me in a while, it's because I've been too busy having fun with my bestie who came for a visit from Minnesota last week. I'm dogsitting, but the pup, Zero, is so cool we let him join the gang and pretty much took him everywhere with us.

Our first stop was Golden Gate Park, where we conveniently parked in front of the Conservatory of Flowers for a brief walk around the Music Concourse.

Time was of the essence, so I got us out of the city to spare my poor friend from my San Francisco navigating instincts. We stopped at Sol Food in San Rafael en route to the beach. I went for a steak combo (though probably a rash decision for take out) and Mitch got the most scrumptious pork chop pressed sandwich that anyone could have ever dreamed up. Yum!

We took a short hike at Pinnacle Gulch in Bodega Bay. I love this place if you have a dog and are short on time, but look out! Parking is super pricey, though I like to think it's for a good cause.

Here I'm helping Mitch identify kelp from jellyfish.

We stopped to say hello to Hitchcock in my beloved Bodega, put on the map with the filming of The Birds.

Wine tasting! But not just yet ...

We couldn't come all this way without the perfect Northern California picture.

The next day we went for a tour and tasting at Korbel.

Then when we couldn't get enough champagne, we headed to Iron Horse for more. (With a little lunch break, of course.) This is a local's favorite I hadn't been to yet, and it has one of the most breathtaking views of vineyards framed by mountains.

Don't worry, I also gave Mitch a taste of Dry Creek (Unti) and Alexander Valley (Hawkes) wines, not just Russian River.

On our last day, we met up with the colony of harbor seals at Goat Rock.

Aren't they cute?

Look out, Mitch found a taffy shop! How is this the one candy I've yet to understand? Flavors like vanilla cake? Apple pie? Is taffy the new jelly bean?

All I cared about was that she send some home to her amazing taffy-loving husband, who cashed in some miles so she could have a spontaneous trip with her kooky bestie in California.

My First Quilt Square

One small step for the community quilt ladies, one giant step for a fledgling sewer!

One Pig Dinner

Last week, I found myself in Healdsburg, at a Montessori school getting CPR and first-aid certified to be exact. "When in Rome," I thought afterwards, and went to Zin Restaurant, as the locals do. Having worked here just after college and again last year, this is like a second family. So yes, I'm biased.

Wednesday is One Pig Dinner Night featuring one of Tony's Local "Old Spot and Berkshire" Cross Hogs. And here I thought I was just getting an appetizer. But wait, the bread! I forgot how tangy their homemade super sourdough is. Don't mind if I do.

I went for the wine pairings, the lovely and local Sanglier Rose and Quivera Zin, both of Sonoma County. And then ate more bread.

The first course came and went- Hard Cider Braised Pork Cheek and Shank on Falls Mill Grits. It was so amazingly delicious that I couldn't bear to put my fork down to take a picture. But gee whiz, was it something else.

Second course was Smoked Shoulder and Spicy Grilled Loin, with white beans and Eastside Farm swiss chard. I cleaned my plate. 

The grand finale was maple pecan bread pudding with candied bacon. I am loving all the bacon in desserts these days! I had it stretched onto long skewers and dipped in chocolate, and then recently as a bacon cupcake. The fatty, salty, smokey flavors just beg for sugar to round them out.

Thanks for a terrific night, Zin!

Fantastic Forage

Oh, the things we found during my foraging workshop this weekend! If you read yesterday's post, you'll have learned a little bit more about the farm hosting the event. Now you get to learn what's out there.

Our teacher, and author of the blog and book Fat of the Land, Langdon Cook, came in holding a basket of fiddlehead ferns on his arm that he found on the drive in. I pictured him spotting them from his moving car and skidding to a stop in a dramatic stunt move, a la Dukes of Hazzard.

We passed the plate around as we made introductions. I sampled one, but whoops, there's time for that later. These little beauties are best when cooked! But enough of that- it was time to head out and get down to business to make sure we had lunch.

Our first edible find was oxalis, or sour grass, part of the clover family. This is great as a garnish to salad, with a lemony kick. It can be overpowering, so a small dose is fine.

Kevin Feinstein also joined us, author of The Bay Area Forager and the blog Feral Kevin. He and Langdon were a wealth of wisdom and complimented each other well with their information. Kevin's expertise on foraging in the area made him an indispensable addition to our group.

Here, he points out nasturtium flowers and wild radish seed pods that crunch like pickled green beans when you pick the right one. Is it bad that I wanted to deep fry them in beer batter? I kept that suggestion under wraps. I was with a pretty healthy bunch.

Here is a weed with small yellow flowers used to make a tea similar to chamomile. Can anyone identify it? As usual, I forgot the name. We weren't going to use it in our cooking, but I grabbed some to take home.

A couple things before I get too much farther. As I mentioned in my previous post, foraging should only be done on pristine land, that is, not by the side of the road, near telephone lines, near a building that has had lead paint at any time, or at farms using pesticides and fertilizers.

In this case, we went to a farm that has been organic for 40 years and most of the picking was on upslopes to avoid runoff. The nature of the soil is the important thing, not how clean the plant is.

It's also important to be aware of how you are foraging, so try to keep it sustainable by properly collecting plants so they will keep growing back. I needed to hear this, since I overzealously jumped in and started ripping things out by the roots. Luckily, it was early on before I could cause too much damage. Okay, let's keep going.

Through the poison oak and brush lies our lunch. We were mainly after nettles and miner's lettuce. The nettle is the bright green leaf poking out.

Careful, these really hurt, and I wasn't brave enough to go without gloves. Cut down at least a few layers of leaves on the stalk, and only cut the young ones that haven't gone to seed. If you cut them down like so, they will keep growing back. These are packed with nutrition and I was told they "make kale look like junk food." Just don't touch, or your skin will bug you for the rest of the day.

Langdon pointed out the thistle berries starting to pop up. They won't be ready until the summer, but we were advised they are the greatest thing in the world (and get huge at volcano bases in the Northwest where Langdon is from!).

Forget-me-nots, a gentle reminder of my grandmother as her favorite flower.

Kevin taught all of us about the undervalued thistle, which has a delicious celery quality at the root when allowed to grow large enough. Sadly, they are usually attacked by weed fanatics immediately upon sight and don't have the chance to mature to their ideal edible state. The leaves can also be plucked from the stem to eat.

The soil was soft enough to grab two of these babies for lunch. Can you believe that weeds are

Kevin explained the nettle look alike that often grows next to it. Look out for the brown stem, it should be green all the way through or it's not nettle.

This is tough to see, but that middle weed between the cultivated rows (weeds are a great sign of a dignified organic farm) is mallow, the original marshmallow maker.

Are you hungry enough now? Let's head to the kitchen.

But before I forget, if you have any interest in foraging without an expert, it's important to learn the poisonous plants first, especially when it comes to mushrooms. (I'll stick with my buddies to identify for a while!)

The best field guides are Pojar and Mackinnon's Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast and David Aurora's All That the Rain Promises and More, which also has my vote for the best book cover.

Let's cook!

Summit Brewery

What trip to the Midwest would be complete without sampling some local brew? Ever the organization pro that she is, Mitch scheduled a tour of Summit brewery for her husband and me while she put in a few hours of work in the morning. We were sad to leave her behind, but happy to drink at 10:30 in the morning. To Summit Brewery we go!

These machines fill the kegs, a little over one per second.

This is the giant fridge where all the beer is stored. It's about the size of a large barn, and they trusted us enough to let us wander around for a few minutes.

Can I have just a few extra minutes? Check on me in an hour.

The conveyer belt that leads to labels and packaging.

They don't bottle during the tours, so we didn't get the chance to do our Laverne and Shirley bit.

Our terrific volunteer tour guide, who said he works for beer.

The copper vats where every batch begins.

In the fermentation room.

In front of the mash vats.

On to tasting! My fave was the oatmeal stout, of course. (Do check out their website, it's terrific! www.summitbrewing.com)

Prost!