Follow the Crumbs: San Francisco

San Francisco is easily one of my personal favorite cities in America.  Stand on the back of a moving cable car and you will see why.  (For an even more extraordinary experience, catch the last car from the wharf, around midnight, and watch the city shut down while the Bay Bridge glows sleepily on the east.)  There’s the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars, bicycles, daunting hills, bicycles on daunting hills, the beach, trees (the scent of eucalyptus in Golden Gate Park is intoxicating), museums, ballet, opera, music, nightlife.  If hipster is your thing, then you must already know that Jack Kerouac spent a significant amount of time in San Francisco, spawning the Beat Movement in the 50’s. 

Fog shrouds the city a lot and supposedly, it rains 65% of the time in June when it’s summer everywhere else in the States.  Mark Twain purportedly said that the coldest winter he’s ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.  Disputable, but I find even the unpredictable weather charming and romantic. 

The people in San Francisco are one of the friendliest in America I have met.  They are a fascinating amalgamation of liberal, quirky, trendy, intellectual, vibrant, fit, successful, romantic, brilliant, down-to-earth, artsy, healthy, biophiliac, uncomplicated, and beautiful.  SF is one of those places where striking a lengthy, personal conversation with a total stranger is de facto. 

And incredible food?  Sine qua non.    

Picnic at the Presidio (www. http://offthegridsf.com/picnic)

This is testament of how biophiliac San Francisco is.  Even on a soggy, gloomy Sunday, the locals are outside, having a picnic.  You have to admire that tenacity.  

The Presidio is a massive park that lies in the northern cusp of the San Francisco peninsula.  On a really good day, you can see the top of the Golden Gate Bridge jutting out in the sky from there.  Roll your windows down as you drive through the park entrance and accept the welcome of the thick thatch of eucalyptus.  Beware that the transition from big city to big forest will be sudden. 

“Picnic at the Presidio” is a degustation event where dozens of local food vendors park and provide an eclectic mix of eats to the hungry (and in this case, wet) picnic-goers.  The Picnic is held every Sunday through the summer with a gamut of food ranging from cheese, chocolate, farmers, fish, ethnic food, sandwiches, pizza, dessert, wine, and libations.  Yes, you can get all these and more at any grocery, but the difference is, at an event like the Picnic, you’re putting a face, a voice, a personality to the genius behind your food.  It is a shift from buying chocolate from a faceless mega-corporation whose highest purpose of existence is to make money, to a thirty-something hipster in a Patagonia vest who could navigate you on how they carefully source their cacao, tune you into the surprising notes in each variety they used, and clue you in the volume of tweaks they did to come up with just the right blend.  It is an alternative to buying a box of strawberries from big agriculture to shaking the hand of the farmer who actually grew those strawberries.  It is a very intimate experience.  And an even better story to tell.  

As I prowl the other food stalls and trucks that day, I had the fleeting desire to have a bottomless pit for a stomach.  There were so many things to try!  In under an hour, I devoured an Argentine empanada filled with prosciutto, fontina, and mozzarella, two oysters, a mimosa, a crème brulee, some cheese, strawberries, and chocolate.  I wanted to sample other local hits like pizza from Del Popolo, oxtail and grits from Streatery, ice cream from Humphry Slocombe, and a Rituals cappuccino, but sometimes, a girl needs to know when to throw the towel in.  After all, I still had an appointment for wine and a big dinner ahead.  I was ready though to be cajoled for some sisig or adobo, but I guess the Filipino food trucks Hapa and Senor Sisig were parked elsewhere that day.   

Spare for the unavailability of a dry patch of grass to sit on on a rainy day, the Picnic at the Presidio is not only an amazing milieu for a smorgasbord, it is also a great way to tap into the local food culture built around artisans.  This attention to detail to yield the highest quality output does exist in America and it is what makes American food great.  I was afraid that getting soaked would ruin my picnic experience, but instead, I felt as though I’ve been initiated into a secret society of (sodden) die-hards.  And with that thought, I strolled back to the car cradling my precious loot of Achadinha aged goat’s cheese and Dandelion Madagascar chocolate under my sweater to shield them from the drizzle.  

Ferry Market Building (http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/)

If you are still in doubt that you may have gremlin in your DNA and that you can’t get wet lest you multiply, the Ferry Market Building on Embarcadero is an amazing place for gourmands who like to seek both shelter and local food indoors.  The Ferry Market Building is an historic building on the waterfront that was first opened in 1898.  It has been restored just in the last few years and has since been the go-to for those in search for fresh regional specialty food and produce.

The interior of the Ferry Market Building is very illustrious, reminiscent of an old European train station.  As you walk the wide corridor lined with food stalls and specialty food shops, prepare your olfactory senses to be arrested by the most primitive of aromas to a food lover - baking bread and roasting coffee.  

Here are my favorite Ferry Market Building picks:

• Blue Bottle for exceptional coffee.  They are known for their long-lines – everyone wants a piece of that slow-drip coffee.  Stand in line anyway.  Make friends.  You’re in San Francisco!
• Acme bread for European-style artisanal bread baked fresh onsite.
• Cowgirl Creamery for a dizzying slew of cheese.  Don’t be bashful.  Ask to try samples! They would love to indulge you.
• Cowgirl Creamery Sidekick for cheesy everything.  Try their cheese toasties – melted Cabot cheddar on toasted wheat bread with caramelized onions and maple mustard.  Your life will never be the same again.  Or for something different, why not go for the poached egg with pancetta topped over cheese grits (I did!).  And if you sit at the sushi-bar-style-eatery, the chatty cooks will let you in on the best local spots.  I hope you write fast.  

• Hog Island for oysters and champagne.  On a nice day, snag an outside table.  The Bay Bridge looks gorgeous from there. 
• Slanted Door for French-Vietnamese sit-down
• Frog Hollow Farm for a healthy breakfast of fresh juices, pastry, granola.
• Boccalone Salumeria for “tasty salted pig parts” (read: salumi).  These are good unrefrigerated for about five weeks so take one home!    
• On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, there is an outdoor farmer’s market and some kitschy street art on Market Street
• For history and architecture lessons, join the free guided walking tour led by San Francisco City Guides (http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=25).  They do these on Saturdays at noon, but check the website for disruptions. 
• While you’re in the Embarcadero, walk off those calories and step outside and stroll northwest to TCHO, a local gourmet chocolate maker.  They run free tours where you can see how they make their chocolate in-house.  Tours run twice daily, but check the website http://www.tcho.com/tour/ - you need reservations.  

Also Noteworthy

• It would just be utterly deplorable to end up at a Starbucks or Coffee Bean while in San Francisco.  For an amazing cup of joe, Sightglass on 7^th Street is coffee heaven.  Seriously.  As you sip your coffee in the mezzanine of this industrial chic converted warehouse, standby and watch your head swell up before it explodes.  Their coffee is that good.  It has a rich buttery after-taste and I wonder if that’s because they source their own beans and roast them in-house.  Leave the iPad – they don’t have wi-fi, but bring your bicycle in – it’s welcome here.

• Flour + Water on 2401 Harrison (cross street is 20^th) has amazing American-Italian grub with choices ranging from squid ink pasta (I had a bowl of that) and chervil tagliarini with shellfish (I had a bowl of that, too – hey, no judgments!)  If you come here hungry (which you should) why not go for the housemade fresh pasta tasting, a mosaic of seasonal creations of about five pasta plates?   
• And actually, this neighborhood that is called “20^th Street Corridor” is an excellent pocket obscure restaurants.  It’s away from the tourist crowd and there’s a handful other high quality establishments such as Central Kitchen, Salumeria, and a nondescript speakeasy-esque bar called Trick Dog (there’s no sign outside, but if you walk by and see this crowded room with people hanging outside, just walk in).  

• Can’t scratch off that ramen itch?  Then give in!  Katana-ya on 430 Geary by Union Square is my favorite hole-in-the-wall for fatty broth and noodles.  Better than the ones I had in Japan town, honestly. 
• Tartine on 561 Valencia is most likely where the locals will steer you to lunch on fresh baked breads and great sandwiches.  They also serve dinner.
• The type to brunch?  Outerlands on 4001 Judah Street has organic, local, delicious food.  Also open for lunch and dinner.
• Jonesing for the San Francisco artsy flavor?  Foreign Cinema on 2534 Mission has outdoor film screenings of classics with dinner, string lights, wine and.. okay, you get the drift. 

***

A Digestif

• The best digs is crashing at a friend’s/family’s couch for free (well, maybe that’s debatable).  Absent of that or any affordable hotel rooms, try www.airbnb.com where you can rent a room from a local for a fee lower than that of a hotel’s.  There is that potential for shared bathrooms, but so what?  I stayed at the house of two established painters and the conversations about art, inspiration, San Francisco, and rain over tea is an experience the Hilton will never be able to replicate.
• San Francisco is rich in art and culture, so don’t miss out.  I will not name all the museums but my favorites are De Young (where I saw Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” on exhibit and on loan from Musee d’Orsay in Paris – drove me to tears) and Legion of Honor.  My artist AirBnB hosts also recommended Stanford Museum (a short drive outside of SF) for their Rodin collection.
• The best way to immerse yourself in the rhythm of San Francisco is to take public transportation.  Buy multi day passes from www.sfmta.com (they will give you a free map) or try SideCar, a ride sharing system with locals and an alternative to taxi cabs.  

Labor of Love: A Garden Update

I have a good problem to have.  I can't keep up with my bountiful garden.  I cut up two lettuce heads and some chard to give to my co-worker tomorrow.  I'm securing my meat supply in the fall.  Her and husband hunt, you see.  She got a cow tag (which I guess is pretty rare) and if she is successful in getting one, hello wild fillet mignon!

It's really rad what how much food you can grow in such a small space.  This is a Greenland Gardener 4'x4' raised bed. Look at how much food I have growing in such a small box!

The tomatoes I started from seed in mid-March are finally flowering!

The broccoli is getting really huge.  I harvested this tonight for dinner before they bolt.  They say broccoli doesn't do well in the heat.  But it's mind-boggling how we've had 90+ degree weather, then now back to the 80's and this thing didn't even flinch.  I have two more of these broccoli and they both look happy so far.

Radish is ready!  I can't wait for the beets next to it to be ready.  Chevre and beets are amazing together!  

The chard are also thriving... and so are the kales.  

Another shocker is these two-star lettuce which supposedly do not like the heat.  Well, you can tell how they seem to agree with the weather.  

I've never had luck growing mint but I've read from the university's coop extension website that chocolate mint is a variety that does well in our hot climate.  Looks like they might be right!  This needs to go in the ground soon!

These are the spinach that I'm letting flower in hopes that they drop their seeds and show up as volunteers in the fall.

My first cucumber blossom!

Green bean in the making!

I picked about five strawberries today.  They were very sweet and perfect for dessert!

And from the garden to the table, tonight's dinner of broccoli sauteed in garlic and anchovies, tossed in pasta!

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Holy Crop!

Ahh... I love this time of the year.  That sweet spot straddling spring and summer. The days are noticeably longer but the temps remain pleasant.  The first long weekend after a considerable drought is peeking its head.  The smell of sleepy wood burning stoves are replaced by the scent of barbeque dinners, usually accompanied by the sound of laughter and gatherings, especially on the weekends.  The orchestra of critters are back in the evenings and in the morning, the birds, the birds - you cannot escape them.  It's delightful!



This also means that I have a temporary and much deserved reprieve from all the hard work in the garden!  Except for those that are still too small to be planted outside, 95% of what I've grown from seed is in the ground.  For a brief, impermanent moment, the cold and warm stuff share real estate in the raised bed.  And I have really nothing to do in the garden - except harvest!

The cold crops are getting amazingly huge, like this broccoli here.  The leaves are bigger than my palm! No florets yet, but a voice inside my head keeps saying, "Any day now.. Any day now.."










Meanwhile, I underestimated the peas.  I read online that they don't flower in warm weather.  Well, guess what?  They do.  At least here where it has been getting up to 80's during the day some days but the night temps still hover in the high 40's. I picked three peas today and holy snap!  I didn't realize until today that THAT was how peas were supposed to taste like - sweet and VERY oozy juicy!  What a revelation!

These are the tomatoes I've grown from seed that I transplanted this weekend.  They're protected from the evening chills by these Wall O' Waters and they seem to like that since they've grown up so fast right before my eyes!  (Wall O' Waters is this round plastic contraption that goes around plants.  How it works it has vertical pockets that you fill with water.  It absorbs the heat during the day and releases it at night.  This effectively increases the night temperatures within the wall by maybe 5-10 degrees, give or take.)

And here's more food sleeping together in the same bed.

Spinach and Kale (that I made tonight into pre-dinner kale chips)

Strawberries mixed in with a bunch of lettuce varieties

Garlic - easiest thing to grow EVER!

"Volunteer" thyme from last summer - it dropped seeds in the pot and came back this spring on its own.  No coaxing required!

Pineapple Sage - when it flowers, it attracts hummingbirds!

I've succumbed to the urge to get one more self-watering container.  This City Pickers was on sale at Home Depot for $29 and with a $5 off coupon, I thought it wasn't bad a deal at all.  I really like self-watering containers/sub-irrigation planters because they are literally hassle and worry free.  Especially when gardening in the high desert, I've found that these self-watering containers work well.  I tweaked the potting soil altogether (Kellog's potting mix from Home Depot - never again!).  I made my own mix using high quality organic Black Gold compost, coconut coir, perlite, and Full Circle Compost's Soil Elite.  I have a cucumber, a green bean bush, and a few peppers in that box.  

Growing our food in the yard takes time and energy, yes, no contest.  But it's time well spent knowing that I'm part of the solution to the growing food crisis in the world.  There's a certain reassurance that I am putting the best quality food I can on our table everyday.  The profanity at the table at how everything tastes exponentially better than what we're used to is excusable.  And yes, a sweet bonus.

Growing Pains: Lessons from the Garden #3

You win some, you lose some.

Something has been enjoying these mesclun mix before me and I can't ID what it is/they are.  It's interesting that how the strawberries and the two-star lettuces next to it are spared.

I was almost driven by either insanity or obsession to catch the culprit - to no avail.  I tried scattering eggshells around thinking it will deter some creepy crawler (that's what they say online).  Obviously not.

It's rather interesting how grocery stores insulate us from the reality of agriculture and nature.  The produce they sell are "perfect", flawless, shiny, hole-free.  But what I am learning is that that's not how it really is.  Nature is as complex as it is diverse and unless you're spraying pesticide all over the place, bugs and caterpillars will find  their way to your garden.  They, like us, need to feed to survive, too, you know?  From an ideological perspective, I'm choosing my own homegrown, imperfect-looking greens because I know exactly what went in that crop.  Perfect-looking crops that have been inundated with toxic pesticides?  Too good to be true, so no, thank you.   

I'm implementing some organic and natural control methods for these annoying and anonymous critters.  but the best one I have tried so far is to simply have healthy plants sowed in nutrient-dense soil. Like humans, if plants' immunity is built up through adequate nutrition, water, and sunshine, I think they are still bound to survive, critters notwithstanding.

But I also acknowledge that there comes a point of surrender or acceptance that sometimes, in life, you win some, you just gotta lose some.

So I'm switching strategies.  I'm keeping these holed-up greens undisturbed and letting them, whoever they are, have at it.  It appears that their salad of preference is mesclun, which is a-okay since it is SUPER easy to grow from seed.  Call it a sacrificial lamb, if you will.

As long as at the end of the day, even though I let them have theirs, I can still have mine.

Fresh salad on the dinner table for two!

Bon appetit!

Plant Sales in Reno this Weekend!

May 15th is the published "frost-free" date for the 775 area.  If you're new to gardening lingo, that means, after May 15th, there is a very high probability that the temperatures will not dip in the low 40's.  Why is that important?  Summer veggies like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers (i.e. the easy stuff you should be growing) will freeze to death at the slight frost.

Look at the forecast for this week:

So this time of the year spells the local nurserires and growers to get out and sell summer seedlings.  Yes, you can go to Home Depot to buy your stash, but be prepared to spend more money and also know that those probably came from California and likely not adapated to local growing conditions.  In addition, if the plant came from a commercial grower, it is likely to have been sprayed with fungicide and pesticides.

What's the alternative?  Local plant sales!  Here's a round up of the plant sales in the Reno area this weekend:

1.  The City of Reno Recreation Office

The great thing is that they sell plants for $1.50 a pop.  You cannot beat that price.  All proceeds benefit the Reno Municipal Rose Garden and the Children's Snack Garden.    

May 18th, Saturday

7:30AM to Noon

190 Telegraph St. 

Call 224-1680 for more info.

2.  Great Basin Community Food Coop Annual Seedling Sale

May 18th, Saturday

9:00 AM to Noon

240 Court Street

3.  UNR's Annual Master Gardener Plant Faire

May 18th, Saturday

7:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Agriculture Education Bldg, Valley Rd., Reno, NV



Growing Pains: Lessons from the Garden #2

If your biggest problem is a cutworm (or a couple of them), then be thankful.  There are worse things in life.  It could be much, much worse. 

My strawberry patch has not been the most maintenance-free.  A few weeks ago, I discovered that aphids partied on the stems of my growing strawberry plants.  Since, I have tried the very sophisticated water hose blast method and it seemed to work.  I followed up with a foliar application of insect frass, but it rained that evening, so there goes that.  I just have to do a repeat this weekend. 

Anyway, before leaving for a camping trip, I noticed some new damage on leaves of a few plants that look like pacman munch bites.  There has been some major snackage.  It's not the signature of aphids and it can't possibly be slugs because it's too dry here. 

With a headlamp and The Dutch within a shrieking distance, I went out and sleuthed.  I found the culprit!  Big, fat cutworms.  The best way of getting rid of them is picking them and eliminating them to your discretion.  They are nocturnes so hunt for them at night, as late as possible.

I am not completely convinced that we have controlled the cutworms altogether.  But before I get consumed by it all, I remind myself to keep things in perspective.  Nothing, I mean, NOTHING, is worth any bad vibes.  Life is way too short for that. 

Gardening, as with anything in life, is not in a sealed vacuum.  Things are bound to go wrong just as they are bound to go right.  It will be utter foolishness to think it could only be the former without the latter.   

And on we go.

Hope for the Black Thumb

I was cleaning up some old files in my computer and found a draft of an unposted blog entry dated June 2011.  Retrospection is an awesome thing, especially when things come into full circle!

*****

They said that a rose bush is an uber sturdy plant. They're invincible.  It would be impossible to kill one.

Oh really?

I killed two already.

Short of saying hello to them once in a while, I have not done anything to them. I am one of those who let the drip system run its course. I’m clueless about deadheading, hence, the two surviving rosebushes in the front yard are growing vertically and oddly.
However, apparently, I’m good with lavenders. Or just lucky?

Because summer is here and there is nothing more I want right now than to grow a mini-lavender farm in the backyard, and perhaps a small herb garden, I am propelled to banish the idea that I am impossible in the garden and just go for it. I have mowed the lawn one and a half times now in my whole life, so that must be as good a start as any! Just the thought of making a vegetable pasta dish from scratch with hand plucked tomatoes and basil from the backyard makes me want to madly rush to Home Depot right now and load the trunk with soil and seeds and a gardening tool set in a cutesy bag.

*****

Fast forward to the present, two years later, and look what I have growing in the backyard now! It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Greenland Gardener Raised Bed Garden Kit]

Swiss chard, winterbor kale, and broccoli

It's starting to warm up so there will be a lot of kale meals this weekend before they get pulled out and  replaced with summer veggies - tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.

Radish sown from seed.

Spinach sown from seed after a few days of rain 

Broccoli in the foreground and swiss chard in the background.  No broccoli florets yet...

[The Grow Box Self-Watering Container]

..and subsequently ended up at the dinner table.

Lettuce growing in the desert - who knew?

Pea tendrils are so mysterious to me..

Peas are cold-lovers.  I was ready to give up on this since I planted too late and now it's getting too warm.  But look what I found today!  I might harvest ONE pea this season!

I am stalling a little bit on what to plant in the Grow Box for summer.  I already transplanted some thyme I've grown from seed and I'm thinking basil and green beans.  Yes, that's it!

[Strawberry/Etc. Bed]

Yes, they're coming!  

Mesclun salad mix and the remaining lettuce (which will be salad dinner this week).

More strawberries, green onions and garlic.  Garlic must be the EASIEST thing to grow.  Separate garlic cloves (yes, the kind you buy at the store) chuck garlic cloves in rich soil about 2" deep and wait.  You can't go wrong.  

[Indoors]

The most economical way of growing your own vegetable garden is to start what you can from seed.  Depending on where you live, hot-loving plants like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, beans, basil need to be started indoors way in advance.  In areas where the growing period is short (period where temperatures dip in the 40's) such as Northern Nevada, your plants will be ready to go in the ground around May 15th if you started sowing indoors around March.

Future firestarters - Peppers!

Marigolds grown in a plastic container of store-bought veggies. 

This makings of Jack-and-the-Beanstalk beans

Ben and Jerry's hot pepper flavor!

Parsley reaching for the sunshine

Cucumber AND lemon cucumber  

Lavender, in my experience, is one of the hardest things to grow from seed.  My germination rate has been 4% (i.e. one out of 25), whereas everything else I've sown otherwise has been either 100% or 98%.  So that makes this one a rockstar!

Genovese basil - so many culinary possibilities!

The summer superstars and future caprese - beefsteak and cherry tomatoes!  

The biggest surprise is that the hard work you put into growing your own food is really all worthwhile when you chomp your meal and notice the staggering difference of fresh, quality, homegrown food as opposed to something that's been refrigerated and has traveled a thousand miles to get to your dinner table.  It eliminates so much waste, too.  How many times have you bought a lettuce head and only ended up eating a portion of it while the rest went bad in the fridge? Isn't it a waste to buy a bunch of herbs when you only need a few sprigs so you end up tossing the rest after it goes bad a few days later?

Sometimes, the case for gardening is pure reason and oftentimes, too simple.  If you have space and some time, isn't it the most obvious thing to do?  I am stoked about this yard-ening business (apparently) and if I'm using my own experiences growing things to give this little food revolution movement a little momentum, then it's just a bonus!

Happy summer!