Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Egg Quest: The Peeps

May 12, 2011 by Kristina

The search for truly rich and delicious eggs has been quite a little journey. It began well over a year ago, and since then I have searched grocery stores, farmer’s markets, roadside signs, and private farms. And while I did find some amazing eggs, nothing sparked the A-ha, Eureka, I’ve Found it! moment. The eggs that have come the closest are from two local farms, Tomatero Farm in Watsonville, CA and Soul Food Farm in Vacaville, CA. Both farms feature their extremely good eggs in some of the highest end, sustainability-focused restaurants such as Nopa, Chez Panisse, Coi, and Frances.

Yet still, something was lacking. The richest orange-yolk shades continued to elude me. And the prices (usually around $7/dozen) were seriously straining my struggling writer / wine-slinger budget. So what’s a bona-fide egg fanatic to do? Crazy as it sounds, we decided to go straight to the source. Well, actually, we brought the source to us.

The Ladies.

Yes, we decided to keep chickens. Pretending we were living in the country and not country-club adjacent, we picked up 6 precious little chicks at Rivertown Feed Store in Petaluma, CA, and hand-raised them until they were old enough to start producing their own easter egg-colored beauties. We were so excited about the whole process of caring for the ladies, we failed to document anything and preserve the experience for friends, readers, and our future reminiscing selves.

The Peeps.

No, Not These Peeps.

So this spring, when we were feeling adventurous again, we decided to add to our little flock and raise four new peeps (so dubbed for the adorable yet incessant sound they constantly emit.) And this time, I swore we would spend more time with them and document as much as possible, so that in a few months, we have more than just incredible eggs and big squawking chickens to show for it.

Fresh Eggs from our Ladies

While to many people this this may be a ridiculous or overly precious endeavor, I think even more people are inspired by the idea of keeping chickens, as evidenced by the huge, though mostly undocumented, growth in raising backyard chickens. The benefits are many, and the hassle, work, and expense involved are not burdensome. It’s a hobby of sorts, but one that promises a sustainable, healthy, and humane way to involve ourselves with a key element in our food sourcing. Modern writers and thinkers have long been lamenting the lack of direct connection we have with our food and our land — keeping chickens is a revolutionary way of reconnecting with both.

Monkey Jr. and Author

Plus, they are super-cute.

Pippa the Runt at 1 Day Old, Quickly Falling Fast Asleep

Posted in Chicken & Egg, Farm | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Dearth of Decent Dive Bar Wine: A Bit of a Rant

October 5, 2010 by Kristina

I relish the modern upscale wine lounge. A place where the list includes dozens of wines by the glass, where one can relax on a plush sofa or a charming bistro table with some friends or on a date. I also enjoy dining out at the bar in nicer restaurants where one may order a light meal and an interesting glass of wine, usually region-specific and almost always agreeable for the given price. And the sheer value of opening a lovely bottle at home and either sharing it with a few select friends or alone and in cosy pajamas is simply undeniable.

But every once in a while, I just want to hang out in a place that’s more casual. A place with an interesting mix of people, where the patrons are a cross-section of society and where you are guaranteed a cheap drink and a slightly sardonic bartender.

The dive bar is an institution probably  as old as wine itself. The tavern, the pub, the kneipe, the lokal, the taproom, the saloon, and countless others in all various forms and languages are all examples of this type of establishment. The dive bar is the modern incarnation of that age-old place where one can get a decent drink at a fair price and there are no real qualifications for admission, other than being of legal age and reasonable sobriety. Basically, if you can pay for a drink, you’re old enough to do so, and you’re not too drunk to stand, you’ll fit in just fine.

Dive bars get a bad rap sometimes for being less than reputable, but they really are fascinating places to spend an hour or two on a lazy Tuesday evening. There isn’t just one kind of patron; rather, there are all sorts of people from all different professions, backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, and education levels. No matter where you go in to world, the dive bar is a place where, if you know the general rules of common courtesy and have a mild-to-fair appreciation for alcoholic beverages, you can spend some time in a welcoming and oftentimes fascinating environment. At least it’s never dull.

The one black mark of a dive bar is the utter lack of decent/tasty/quaffable wine. At least here in the states, I have noticed that it is next to impossible to acquire a drinkable glass of wine– and I live in Northern California! There is a huge microbrew movement that has been pretty phonomenal in the bar and restaurant scenes for at least the past couple of decades. You can now go into just about any dive bar and have your choice from all manner of beers: from the humble Miller High Life or PBR, to the hoppy craft brew IPAs, to the elegant Hoegaarden white beers and Trumer Pilsners.  So why, pray tell, it is so enormously difficult to get a simple yet well-made glass of wine in these establishments?

If you don’t believe me, please visit your local dive and notice the refreshing variety of beers. Then ask for a glass of wine. I can almost promise you that the response will likely be, ” Red or White?” Then there will be two options: either a cheap chardonnay that has been aged with oak chips to give it that lovely sour-wood quality, or a cabernet sauvignon-based blend that tastes bittersweet in its undeveloped and saccharine nature.  Yuck.

I have asked various bar managers and owners, and all I seem to get for  a response is a shrug of the shoulders. Various reasonings supplied have run along the lines of, “no one is interested,” or “it’s too expensive,” or “it doesn’t fit with our vibe.” To which I reply, Yes! We are interested! People don’t ask for wine because they know it will be awful plonk and they’d rather not subject their taste buds to that drudgery. And No! Decent wine doesn’t have to be expensive! There are plenty of bottles you can get that wholesale for $7-12, that you can turn around and sell for $6-8 per glass. You just need to put an ounce of effort to find them. And while you may claim it isn’t in your bar’s particular style, keep in mind that fancy microbrews hardly fit in with the vibe back in the 1980′s, but they sure seem to be indispensible now.

Needless to say, there are plenty of establishments that do cater to the needs of the wine lover. I love these places and have no wish for them to disappear. I would simply like to see the humble dive bar continue to display its welcoming and egalitarian nature by offering all its imbibers something to get excited about.

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Traveling in Place

September 26, 2010 by Kristina

We dream of traveling to far off countries filled with things exotic and unusual. We long for experiences unlike that which we have encountered before. Even something as simple as market day in an unknown land is rich with newness and unique sensations.

When we are prevented satiating this hunger for the unknown, we can often feel confined and lonely—as if somehow the trappings of our everyday existence stifle us and make us feel less like ourselves. If our true self only emerges when we are exploring, how are we ever to feel at home?

This is when we must turn the act of exploring to something more local. Familiar though this territory may be, we can put ourselves in the boots of those traveling here – see what they are seeing for the first time. While it may not be so fresh to us as we are now, trapped in our mundane masterpiece of monotony, it can be wholly new to us—the renewed adventurer.

Personally, the Point Reyes shoreline is well-known and beloved. But on a typically foggy day, with wines in tow from both local Sonoma County and distant New Zealand (a memory of previous adventures,) Hog Island Oyster Company is fresh and new when taken in as a distinctive experience. Never again will we have these succulent divinities known as oysters paired with these particular cheeses that near mystic experiences. Never again will these wines from these vintages be open together with this simple yet delectable feast.

And we are, right now, wholly joined in laughter and contradictory ponderings. We can share this inimitable moment and yet still be lost in our own dreams and longings.

When the worlds of responsibility, economics, obligations, and frustration collide to keep us tethered against our will, we must survive by exploring that which might be less unusual to our personal identities—yet can also be exceptional in its imaginative freshness. And we can do it together or alone, as we somehow always are, no matter the company we keep or where we are in the world.

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Does it Smell Like Summer Tonight?

September 22, 2010 by Kristina

I was sitting on the couch taking a break from studying French AOC regulations, and taking in a bit babbling television. With racing thoughts and an increasing headache, I couldn’t seem to relax. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back and caught the heady scent of  roses on the night air, the still air that is just beginning to release the aching heat of the day. The sweetness invaded my mind and spun around me, tantalizing in its delicate faintness.

I clicked off the distractions and wandered outside. The crickets were beginning to sing and I wondered where they’ve been all summer. This season has been unseasonably cool for us in Northern California, and it seems as if everything has been on hold. In the wine world, grape harvesting is almost two weeks behind across the board, and summer stone fruits haven’t had the juicy sweetness that comes with their usual ripening.

The saddest part of it all has been the utter lack of ripe tomatoes from the garden. Our tomatoes are either hard and greenish or brown and withered— the few days of searing heat destroyed some and did nothing for the others. Summer should mean salads composed of fragrant basil,  sweet tomatoes, and utterly fresh goat cheese. It should mean cool silky tomato soups, or light pastas dressed with pungent olive oil and chopped tomatoes. We should have more tomatoes than we know what to do with!

Alas, the closest I came to summer this year was a few heirlooms and a basket of cherry tomatoes from the Central Valley, where they had less difficulty ripening than our more coastal regions. I had picked them up that morning at the farmer’s market in San Rafael and used them for a Southern France-inspired dinner of green bean salad with tarragon vinaigrette, rustic tomato tart, and thick tuna steaks seared on the grill. It was the perfect rendition of summer, but little was I to know it would be very nearly the only al fresco dining experience I was to enjoy this year.

I thought it was a good idea to study inside after dinner — how glad I am now that I gave it up to take in the night fragrance of those roses. Autumn is most decidedly upon us, and I am afraid to say I haven’t smelled that fragrance again since. And perhaps we’ll get a few straggler tomatoes before the chill takes over fully– but otherwise we will have to wait for next season.

I’m finding it very hard to get excited about stews and brussels sprouts.

Posted in Seasons | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Working in Wine

August 3, 2010 by Kristina

Doesn’t a career in wine sound fun? Like your existence could be a delicious, sybaritic adventure full of wine-soaked dinners and a never-ending supply of fantastic bottles of wine to sample? Is this the image that has led me to my crazy current course of action?

So in case I haven’t mentioned recently (and I’m sure I haven’t,) we’ve left San Francisco. I miss the fog, the restaurants, the nightlife that doesn’t end at 9 pm… I feel like a traitor to my city, but honestly, the knowledge that I’ve left those astronomically high rents behind have done much to assuage my guilt. Who can afford to pay $1800 for a one bedroom in the Richmond? Especially making the kind of money we’re making these days? There is a cost to pursuing your dreams, and it starts with accepting bottom-of-the-totem pole salaries in exchange for that blessed career builder called “experience.”

Knowing for some time now that I wanted to focus more on the wine aspect of food and wine, I started looking for work in the wine country back in the early part of the year. I won’t bore your with the gruesome details of my nearly three month stretch of unemployment.  It’s too painful. And this blog isn’t about painful, is it? After months of searching, I finally accepted not one, but two offers.

Several days a week, I get to hang out in the tasting room at Gundlach Bundschu Winery in ever-beautiful Sonoma. I spend all day talking about wine and meeting people from all over the world who have come to visit California’s oldest family-owned winery. It’s all estate-grown and bottled, for 152 years! It’s incredible being in a place with this much history, especially living in the US, where everything has always felt young in comparison to our cousins in Europe. And the wine is beautifully elegant, well-balanced, and delicious. The fruit, alcohol, tannins, and acid all seem to sing together in harmony on just about all of the wines. It’s pretty remarkable.

The Production Area of Gundlach Bundschu

In addition to my days at the winery, I spend two nights a week at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America, in St. Helena. I’m running the door in the evenings, when it’s full of reservations and walk-ins looking to experience the fun of eating around an open kitchen or relax on the terrace with a postcard-view of the Napa Valley. Though I was seeking a break from restaurants, the opportunity to work at Greystone was also too good to pass up. Historic in it’s own right, the campus also offers tons of wine classes and hosts exams for us bourgeoning wine “professionals.”

So here we are, in the North Bay where the sun actually shines in the summer, learning and studying, cooking and tasting, and getting some great experience. I have to say that I do miss the excitement and activity of San Francisco, and maybe we’ll be back sooner than we think. But in the meantime, I’m going to take one of my rare days off to drink some wine in the sun by the pool.

Posted in San Francisco, Uncategorized, Wine, Wine Country | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Wine Country Chronicles: Barrel Tasting

April 7, 2010 by Kristina

Every year, an organization called Wine Road Northern Sonoma County puts on an all-weekend-long event for wineries to offer barrel samples for their soon-to-be released vintages. It’s a lovely opportunity for people to get a sort of “sneak peek” at what the last year’s harvest has in store for them. It’s a simple enough arrangement: At any participating winery (this year there were 130!), you pay $30 and receive a souvenier glass and a wristband that allows you to access tastes from the barrels, current releases, and delightful nibbles at ANY of the participating wineries for the ENTIRE Friday thru Sunday weekend. It’s an incredible value in these days where some wineries are charging up to $40 to sample 2-3 wines.  

There are minor downfalls, as with any deal this wonderful. The low price tag and sheer number of wineries and tasting rooms involved create an irresistible opportunity for local college kids, large groups of giggling housewives, and others looking more to get down and party than those looking to seriously taste and explore the possibilities of each wine. However, these large groups of people probably are the only reason why it is possible to hold an event of this magnitude! But as long as I can get a little wine in my glass and am able to say a few words to those pouring (often the winemakers themselves,) it really isn’t much of a complaint at all. Especially if it exposes those who might not have a huge passion for wine to some really neat stuff. Anything that has the possibility to spark interest in the uninterested is great for wine industry… right?

And of course, there’s the wine. It was wonderful to be able to do a vertical tasting of the wines from several different wineries. Wilson Winery let us taste their 2008 still in the barrel, as well as their ’05, ’06,  and ’07 vintages. What is remarkable about doing a vertical tasting is how amazingly different each wine can really be. It’s a fantastic opportunity to see how nature affected each year’s grape harvest and how the personality and style of each wine really is varied. 

Attending barrel tasting also gives us an excellent opportunity to purchase “futures.” Basically, this means you have the opportunity to buy the not-yet-released wines you are tasting before they are available to the public. You don’t get to take them home right away, of course. You have to be patient and wait until the wine is in the bottle and officially released! But most wineries offer these futures at a pretty little discount– sometimes as much as 50% off what they will eventually retail for! So it’s a special deal, especially if you are excited by what you taste in the barrel.

What a fantastic way to ring in the spring! To taste some delicious wines straight from the barrel while taking in the gorgeous scenery… The bare vines, so naked and vulnerable, with the riotous streaks of yellow mustard bursting through the rows… Already I’m looking forward to next year, when I can take possession of our futures and start exploring the new season’s offerings!

Posted in Wine, Wine Country | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Local New Zealand

February 1, 2010 by Kristina

One of the greatest ways to move oneself out of a rut is to travel. And one of the greatest travel destinations in the world must be New Zealand. How lucky for me then, that we had an opportunity to spend three full weeks in the land of Kiwis and Lord of the Ring filming locations. Feeling creatively stagnant before this trip, I’m thrilled to be exploding with new ideas for poems, articles, recipes, photos, general life-plans. It helps that this trip came right at the beginning of the new year, when the excitement of New Year’s resolutions hasn’t worn off to grim resignation or shamed defeat yet.  I will eat less cheese! I will drink less wine! I will eat more leafy greens and less cream and more root vegetables! I will do yoga every day and some sort of cardiovascular activity at least 2-3 times a week! Right?! 

Of course, one must not attempt all these things when on holiday, that would be detrimental to experiencing the most a country has to offer, the totality of the national culture. So we’ve been on a hiatus from the grey, dreary weather as well as those pesky resolutions.

Thankfully, we were able to explore New Zealand, through hikes in the mountains and along the beaches, through restaurants and street food, farmers markets, grocery stores, and wineries. Though we weren’t  huge fans of most of the local beers, we did love some other things uniquely Kiwi.

Chris at the Nelson Farmer's Market

For instance, at a local Saturday market, we were able to sample a whitebait patty, which seems to have consisted solely of eggs, butter, and tiny little briny fish. Fairly mild, it’s served on a buttered slice of white bread. Though it is not quite “gourmet,” it was delicious and savory, perfect for nibbling on while strolling in the hot New Zealand sun. 

When the heat turned into a heavy humidity that wouldn’t be stirred by the slightest breeze, I turned to Real Fruit Ice Cream. Advertised by wooden placards as we drove through small towns, it was irresistable in its cooling, frozen-fruit and chocolate-y way. I haven’t eaten an ice cream cone in years, and this was well worth a break in the fast! You are asked what ice cream you want (I chose plain frozen yogurt) and then a fruit (raspberries) and if you would like chocolate added (obviously yes.) Then the whole thing gets whirred up in a big stainless steel machine until its almost totally blended, leaving you with the tiniest bits of frozen fruit and chocolate chunks. Creamy purple goodness! 

There were lots of delicious morsels and great meals, including a three-course meal we created using only local New Zealand ingredients! It featured lamb three ways (meatballs, a braise, and roasted rack of lamb,) local cherries, potatoes, eggs, yogurt, herbs, greens, cheeses… It was fun to be able to reach for summer ingredients in January and not feel guilty! 

But now we’re home, and I’m back to making rich winter stews and using only canned tomatoes. Sigh. At least I have the memory of the warm sun and dramatic mountains to sustain me until we reach summer here, or I embark on another excursion. And thankfully this trip has provided me with bucketfuls of inspiration that will hopefully also sustain me creatively as well. 

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.