Spice Dish

Goat, Goat, Llama, Cheese!

The drive was long, foggy and full of traffic. It’s the weekend of the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival and so we’re taking the long way down the peninsula. We’re heading to Pescadero, a tiny rural town bordered by the Pacific. The very windy mountain road and foggy near misses have made us a little woozy. Just when we finally wonder if the drive is worth it, we arrive into the town. It smells sweet, like wet moss, flowers and the ocean. 

 

We’ve come to visit the goats. We’ll Harley Farms more specifically. Harley Farms is a family run, small scale, “green” farm that produces world award winning goat cheese. The farm’s herd of female goats were in a great mood the day we visited because… it’s mating season. The two male goats Elvis and Lucky (yes, only two playboys)  were ruling the roost. The only other male around was Bart the guard llama, who kicks and spits at predators. He wandered the field, led by his giant protruding teeth, keeping watch over his girls.

The goats toddled around in their little cliques, stopping by to nibble on shoes and bags. They played Queen of the Mountain on top of the chicken tractor (an organic fertilization process I first heard about from Pollan).

The dairy house was small but clearly efficient. It was there I got to test my hand at milking Angie the lovely little goat. Her utters were soft, warm, fuzzy and very full of milk. The cup of milk we had all filled was given to the farm kitties as we headed to the check out where the cheese itself was made. The small kitchen, again seemed just the right size. It wasn’t a large mechanized process. It’s hands on. It’s done with care and love.

That's Angie!

The cheese tasting could not have come fast enough, but was very well worth the wait. I’m pretty sure we bought our weight in cheese actually. Chevre topped with dried apricots? Check. An herb rolled log. Yup. Award winning Fromage Blanc? Double check.

I highly recommend you go to Harley Farms. See their good for the land practices, taste their amazing product, pet the friendly goats.

 

Harley Farms Goat Dairy
205 North Street, PO Box 173, Pescadero, CA 94060

 

Enjoy!

EB

Tomatoes Galore

If you're anything like me you've got an abundance of tomatoes right now. Since I'm heading out of town for a bit and knew there was NO WAY I could eat all the amazing tomatoes chilling on my counter, I decided to 'put some up'. There isn't much better than a bright tomato sauce on a cool day, long after the season is over.

This is a sauce that is easily frozen but is, of course, amazing when fresh. It's also startlingly easy, all it calls for is a few ingredients and a low warm oven.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

2 lbs tomatoes
1 head garlic
Olive Oil
Several tbs Herbs de Provence
Salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 250*. Slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. Lay slices on a baking sheet on a silpat or spread olive oil on the sheet. Disperse garlic cloves around the pan. Drizzle oil and seasonings all over the tomatoes and garlic. Roast for about 2 hours. Once roasted put tomatoes and garlic (remove skins) in a large saucepan. Simmer for 20 minutes. At this point, cool to room temp then freeze. Keeps for 2-3 months (just about the time your fresh tomato craving should kick in!)

Enjoy-

I'm off to Europe. Check back when I get back!

EB

Tomato Watch 2009

So the good news first... my tomato plant is HUGE. Bad news... the bugs are devouring it! Any non-pesticide suggestions?

Thanks
EB

Summer Fling!

Okay. Yes I’m a teacher. When people find out they invariably say “ooh you’re so lucky to have summers off!” Yeah. No. I don’t get summers off. I’m a newbie on the professorial circuit and I’m still paying my crappy schedule-summer session-not getting paid dues. However, I do get a day or two off a week during the summer. Which yes, is awesome (although a paycheck would be awesomer!) I am going to take full advantage of these few precious days. I plan to not only catch up in the blogging world but to also to make the most of the summer by doing all those things I've yearned about all winter like:

Photo by pedrosimoes7
1. Go to PARIS!

2. Go to a ball game or two.

3. Catch up on This American Life at the gym.

4. Go organic in the garden.

5. Improve my Spanish.

6. Explore my city with Mundane Journeys.

7.Read. For fun. Honestly. Just one book!

8. Drink beer and go for the brass ring.

9. Cook from my sorely neglected, ever growing collection of vintage cookbooks.

10. Go to the park. Manshelf?

What will you be doing with your summer?

EB

 

CSA Comin' My Way

I've had a bit of a dilemma lately. For starters I really only want to eat local, organic produce. Not much of a dilemma, no, but I've been working every weekend so my farmer's market trips (as much as I love them) have fallen by the wayside. I've wanted to re-sign up with a CSA (that too had fallen by the wayside during a bout of unemployment) but even while employed the expense was something I couldn't pony up for these days.

Thanks to a little soap boxing on my part, I've convinced a few friends to split the cost. My CSA box delivery from Terra Firma starts this week.

I can't tell you how excited I am to eat the way I want, in a way that is good for the earth, to convert a few friends and to support a local farm. Does this make me a food-dork? Sure. Fine. I'm ok with that.

If you don't belong to a CSA... get on the bandwagon! Know your food, know your farmer, know that it will be delicious.

Enjoy!

EBS

Look Ma I'm A Farmer!

Look Ma I'm a Farmer! Ok not really. Actually every time I try to grow something... I kill it. Black Thumb.... definitely not green. But strangely I always try again. This Spring I've decided to grow my own tomatoes. Now, I live in an apartment. One that most definitely does not have a backyard. There is a slab of concrete where I get to park my car (yes I have a space!) and on that slab my neighbor has set up a makeshift 'garden' comprised of lots o' pots of flowers lined up against the other concrete slab that is the wall. I really wanted to grow something, but since this is the space I have to work with, I got one of these upside down growing things, stuck a tomato seedling in there and hung it from a bamboo pole. But check this out... Voila! It's growing!!

A week of constant watering and check those out. Those are little yellow blossoms! If this whole, me growing another life form thing, works out... I'll keep you updated on the progress. If not... well, those blossoms were nice.

EB