July 2015 – Baja Beat – Inspired by My World

Off the Baja Beaten Path to SHED in Healdsburg, California

July 25, 2015 by Akiba 6 Comments

I was going through my emails the other morning when I was excited to see my monthly e-mail from SHED in Healdsburg, California. I always savor reading what new classes and events they have planned.

I lived in Healdsburg from 1995 to 2001 when it was still a sleepy town. It is an hour and a half north of San Francisco in the heart of the Sonoma County wine country surrounded by Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley. My youngest son went to elementary school there and played sports and swam in a magical pond in the middle of a vineyard with our Labrador. I have memories of them running on the dock and jumping in together on hot summer days.

While I was perusing SHED’s monthly e-mail and looking at their blog, my friend, Karen, sent me photos entitled “My Morning at SHED.” What a coincidence? She told me that she was talking to the owner, Cindy Daniels, about me – that if I ever moved back to Healdsburg, I would want to live at SHED. Cindy got a laugh out of that and said she would put a hammock in the back garden for me. I may take her up on it one day.

A visit to SHED feels like a fun and friendly tour of what’s happening in food and farming in the region. SHED is a gardening store, restaurant, fermentation bar, market and modern grange.

Cindy described grange halls as follows: “To those unfamiliar with the Grange movement, there’s a rich history that goes back to the late 1800’s when farms formed collectives to create healthier, more resilient communities and built grange halls to provide a place to share ideas and socialize. SHED engages the Grange’s history as both a rural meeting place and farmers’ exchange but is firmly rooted in contemporary Healdsburg. We are a gathering place that celebrates our region’s farmers and makers while tapping into a global community of chefs, producers, and visitors. Our dinners and programs, crafted to revive the Grange traditions of fellowship, conviviality, and exchange, feed a cultural appetite for ideas and interests ranging beyond the realm of food and farming, including art, culture, civic engagement, and community.”

You can participate in their CSA program (community supported agriculture – and art) and pick up a monthly CSA crate featuring whatever is growing fresh at their Home Farm: think – greens in winter, corn and tomatoes in summer as well as such treats from SHED as freshly milled polenta or heirloom beans, a jar of house-made pickled vegetables, a fresh loaf of bread from the ovens, an excellent cheese, or some olio nuevo squeezed from their own olives.

Whenever I am in Healdsburg, I head to SHED to shop. They offer beautiful housewares, pantry provisions and farm and garden tools. I bought a black La Chamba cooking pot from Columbia that is so beautiful, I consider it a work of art and display it in my home when I am not cooking with it.

Cindy believes their fermentation bar may be the only one of its kind in the country. You can choose from house-made kombucha and kefir water or try something called Shrubs. Shrubs are cocktails or soft drinks that were popular during America’s colonial era, made by mixing house vinegars with spirits, water or carbonated water.

SHED Grange Hall – The design of the building and its contents are so striking that it won the 2014 James Beard Froundation’s “Best Restaurant Design or Renovation in North America since January 1, 2011”

SHED interior

Fermentation Bar

CSA crate

Chamba pot from Colombia

This is a lineup of their summer classes:

Saturday, July 25: Summer in a Bottle: Shrub Workshop. Learn to prolong the season by making Shrubs, a refreshing farm drink, with SHED fermentation crafter Gillian Helquist. 11am; $50.

Thursday, July 30: Trash is for Tossers with zero-waste activist Lauren Singer, who ably keeps two years’ worth of waste in a, you know, Mason jar. Free.
At 6pm: Americana Jazz Blues instrumentalists Doug Lipton, Chris Amberger, and Lorca Hart perform live in the SHED café. Free.

Saturday, Aug. 1: Farmers’ Market Tour and Lunch. Great for groups! Take a behind-the-scenes tour of SHED, learn about milling, and enjoy fresh juices before heading over for a guided tour of the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market where we’ll sample foods and meet the farmers. Then, we’ll return to SHED to learn about fermentation and share a private luncheon. 10am; $85.

Saturday, Aug. 16: Root to Leaf Tasting and Signing. Join chef Steven Satterfield, the shaman of vegetable cooking, for a tasting from his new book and a talk on using every part of the plant. 3pm; $30.

Sunday, Sept. 13: Fermented Hot Sauce Workshop. Learn the secrets of creating your own Southeast Asian hot sauce with Lisa Murphy of Sosu Sauces. 1pm; $25.

SHED is the winner of a 2014 James Beard Award for restaurant design.

Thank you Karen for inspiring me this week.

www.healdsburgshed.com

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Meanwhile back in the Baja:

The Saturday morning Pedregal Farmers Market is open and the produce was bountiful: Mixed greens, arugula, mustard greens, microgreens, tomatoes, beets, tomatillos, spring onions, cucumbers, fennel, swiss chard, bok choy, zucchini, butternut squash, dill, sage, cilantro, carrots, mangoes, papaya, cantaloupe, organic chickens and eggs.

Flora Farm has opened a very large market and bar in downtown Cabo and it is fully stocked with produce, herbs, fresh bread, cinnamon rolls, meat, eggs and natural skin care products. The bar opens today and they will be serving traditional cocktails, wine, beer and their signature drinks which are a full-range of fruit and vegetable infused specialty cocktails such as the heirloom carrot Farmarita, Flora Farm’s spin on the traditional Margarita, and the Farm Julep made with fresh watermelon juice. It’s located on the corner of Marina Blvd. and Cabo San Lucas Blvd. across the street and up a half block from El Tesoro Hotel.

For those of you not familiar with Flora Farm, it is a ten-acre organic farm in the foothills of the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains. Flora’s Field Kitchen is handmade food using farm fresh ingredients. Flora Farm appeared in an article by the New York Times about 52 places to visit in 2015.

Buen Provecho, Akiba

iconocinco 5

July 16, 2015 by Akiba 3 Comments

A small boutique jewelry store caught my eye one morning while walking through the San Jose’ Art District. The name of the store is iconocinco 5 and it carries jewelry by two incredibly talented designers: Elisabeth Paradon and Nada Zeineh.

Iconocinco5

Established in Milan, Elisabeth Paradon is the designer and owner of Ziio. The French born artist fashions beautiful collections of necklaces, earrings, bracelets and headbands. All Ziio pieces are hand made in Italy by artisans from Veneto, Tuscany and Puglia.The pieces are made with semi-precious stones (blue-violet amethysts, royal blue lapis, pearls, jades and different types of colored coral). Silver, gold and the semi-precious stones are enhanced by Elisabeth Paradon’s foray into Murano glass art techniques to the point of attracting the interest of established houses like Lacroix and Missoni. I was drawn to the vibrant hues and bold use of color immediately. The pieces can be worn with a sarong, jeans, tee shirts or a bikini, but it would also be perfect with a little black dress. Ziio is sold in more than 30 countries and is bought not only for its stones and workmanship but also for what Italy is famous for: Design. The new Ziio collection coming out in September this year is called the Angel Collection – fresh but also glamorous.

Ziio – Image from Marcela

Ziio Beaded Necklace

Ziio Long Beaded Necklace

Ziio Headbands

How to Wear Ziio Headbands

Ziio Earrings

Image from Marcella – Ziio Angel Collection

Based in Beirut, Nada Zeineh is an architect by training. Since 1987, she has been designing jewelry in various materials like threads and plates of brass weaved, twisted, hammered thin, cut and welded all by hand and then dipped in 22k gold. In 2004 she created her label Nounzein and dedicated herself exclusively to jewelry and to small sculptures. Greco-roman culture, Islamic civilizations, flora and fauna, and ethnic jewelry inspire her creations. Nada is Lebanese and her pieces reflect the area she is from but she is Christian and she takes a lot of inspiration from the Bible. Nada Zeineh pieces are also hand made in Lebanon.

In an interview in 2014, Nada said: “My favorite jewelers are the thousands of women who bead, embroider, and knit; the women who spend their lives creating adornments for themselves to fulfill a dream—adornments with no brand and no name.” Shouraeyak.

Nounzein Necklance – Image from Marcela

Nounzein Assorted Jewelry

Nounzein Earrings

Nounzein Hammered Earrings

Nounzein Wrap Necklace

I interviewed Marcela, one of the owners who is Mexican and lives in Italy. She and her business partner, Maribel, own inconocinco 5 and MYM Design. They have several projects to be added to the store such as MYM Gold. These pieces are handmade by master artisans in Mexico. MYM Gold was described to me as evolving jewelry – pieces that can be worn together. These designs are 14k gold and you buy one piece and then add on to collect.

MYM Image from Marcela – Gold and Pearl Earring

In my interview with Marcela, she told me that she was greatly influenced by Nada Zeineh. “Somebody gave me a necklace by her and I finally found my style.”

What surprised me most about these incredibly beautiful designs was the price. The least expensive piece is $70 and the most expensive is $700 so there really is something for everyone. Marcela told me that they are awaiting a new shipment from Guadalajara in a few days. I will back with my daughter who is visiting.

Located across the street from The Baja Brewing Company and La Lupita restaurant in San Jose’ art district.

Last but certainly not least, thank you Ari for all of your help with the photos.

The Composed Salad

July 5, 2015 by Akiba 3 Comments

We probably won’t even recognize the typical grocery stores we shop in 5 years from now. Big food is suddenly looking like an underdog. Consumers want fresh and organic and there are signs that we collectively want to be on the road to healthier diets. Farmers Markets are booming because consumers consider local food healthier and tastier and that it is better for the environment.

The composed salad works beautifully when you come home from your local Farmers Market with an overflowing basket. You can create something of elegance, sophistication and opulence and it adapts itself to every season. It shows off the irresistible vegetables, herbs and fruits — but can also have rich components like cheese, eggs, toasted nuts, shellfish, poultry or meat.

Although the anything-goes factor is the defining beauty behind the composed salad, there is a guiding principle of restraint and balance as well as numerous unwritten rules: there are, naturally, right ways and wrong ways to compose your composed salad. Limiting what goes in to be able to taste each of the ingredients is key.

As a rule, I have found it helpful when preparing the dish to follow Coco Chanel’s lead for dressing yourself: when you’re finished, assess the whole in the mirror and remove one item before heading out for the day.

When properly executed, the result of the composed salad is your original masterpiece.

Something Leafy – makes a fluffy bed for the other ingredients. Choose among sweet and bitter greens or use a combination.

Escarole

Mesclun

Bibb or Boston lettuce

Spinach

Arugula

Watercress

Mâche

Soft herbs: basil, cilantro, mint, shiso, celery leaves

Something Rich – makes the salad feel like a satisfying meal.

Hard-boiled eggs (not too hard, cut in wedges)

Cheese: burrata, feta, mozzarella, goat cheese

Caramelized onions

Fried green tomatoes

Fried eggplant

Raw Vegetables – focuses attention on the best of summer produce.

Radishes

Sprouts

Avocados

Fennel

Bell peppers

Cucumbers

Shaved carrots

Shaved celery

Snap peas or snow peas

Mushrooms

Fresh corn kernels

Cooked Vegetables – can be grilled, blanched, or roasted

Beets

Zucchini or yellow squash

Cauliflower or broccoli florets

Eggplant

Green or yellow beans

Carrots

Bell peppers

Edamame

Leeks

Scallions

Something Tangy – wakes up the other flavors

Preserved lemon rind

Olives

Anchovies, white or traditional

Cornichons

Pickled sliced red onions

Capers (plain or fried) and caperberries

Something Earthy – makes the salad substantial and satisfying.

Beans: white, cranberry, cannellini, chickpeas

Potatoes

Sunchokes

Lentils

Grains: quinoa, farro, bulgur wheat, barley

Something Sweet and Juicy – brings welcome little bursts of flavor and contrasts nicely with the savory elements.

Cantaloupe

Tomatoes

Peaches

Nectarines

Melons

Mangoes

Figs

Pomegranate seeds

Something Meaty – optional, but a great opportunity to explore the world of cured meats, smoked fish, and other luxuries.

Prosciutto, jamón serrano or country ham (very thinly sliced)

Tuna, salmon or other meaty fish (grilled or canned)

Smoked trout, salmon, mackerel or whitefish

Shrimp or squid (poached, roasted or grilled)

Chicken (poached, roasted or grilled)

Saucisson sec, aged chorizo or salami (very thinly sliced)

Bacon or pancetta nuggets

Something Crunchy

Croutons

Coarse breadcrumbs

Pita crisps

Toasted nuts

Roasted chickpeas

Fried shallots or onions

These are ideas for different combinations:

Serve with your favorite dressing on the table and let everyone drizzle their individual plates. My favorite dressing at the moment is:

1 T Dijon Mustard

1 T Rice wine vinegar

salt and pepper

Whisk in Olive oil to desired consistency

Buen Provecho, Akiba

Baja Beat - Inspired by My World

Los Cabos Mexico

Month: July 2015

Off the Baja Beaten Path to SHED in Healdsburg, California

iconocinco 5

The Composed Salad