tomato season canning extravaganza!

love me tomatoes-and we all know they are at their peak. just last week i was at the farmers' market and noticed how they were selling at incredible prices!
NOTE at a farmers market: when items are super cheap=they are at peak of season and are about to be extinct until next season so buy up! i will go into pricing and produce seasonally, but let me tell you this-BUY TOMATOES NOW!
i am taking advantage of this fantastic time to buy up every last ounce of heirloom tomatoes at the Irvine Farmers' Market...beware! the best deals happen at the END of the market, especially with SUPER-PERISHABLES like tomatoes, they are like 2-day diamonds!
I am going to preserve the bounty at a friend's house in LA, teaching pressure canning while preserving the peak of the summer season...watch out!

PaTcHwOrK arts & crafts fair 5 is coming to town-November 15th!

i just finished having a meeting with Harveys Seatbelt Bags for what will be another exciting Patchwork Craft show. In case you haven't heard of it, Patchwork is the brainchild of my niece Nicole of Random Nicole and myself. Back when we lived in Irvine, after a few glasses of wine, Nicole mentioned how she always wanted to have a craft fair...i realized that Orange County really didnt have a decent one, so we joined forces to create a hip-contemporary and community-based festival. What started out as a 30 vendor operation is now over 90 vendors large, with awesome community supporters, music and demos and even a mention on NPR!
So far, our scheduled date for the holiday show is NOVEMBER 15th, 2009 from 11-5 PM. I will send out more info on the event but for right now:

*If you are an interested vendor, please see our website for information on an application. NOTE: they are due October 1st (no exceptions).

* WE ARE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS: if you and/or friends would like to help, please send me an email (via facebook or store site). We will have one mandatory volunteer meeting a few weeks before the event. Shifts for the event are based on your availability and are 3-4 hours long.

affordable art: Sharon Montrose

i love etsy, it really is an addiction when you are on the computer too much.
Every week or so, they have a Featured Seller on the bottom of their homepage. There is an interview about what inspires them, who else to they like on etsy, how they ended up doing what they do, etc...
Last week, they featured Los Angeles photographer Sharon Montrose who does these pretty kick-a** photographs of animals against a white background...very natural but minimalist at the same time, i love them!


These photographs are so reasonable-she even has bookmarks and notepads-what a great and original gift!

Here is a link to her etsy store if you couldn't find it from the interview.

word for the day: Industrial Organic

Last week i mentioned something about the Opportunity Green Conference and one of the readers commented how some of the natural products companies are being bought by major/big-time corporations. This automatically triggered a diagram i saw while reading Cool Cuisine: Taking a Bite Out of Global Warming last year (PS if you want a copy, we should be getting them in next month) of SOME of the "who owns who" in the organic food industry. A quick search lead me to Phil Howard of Michigan State University's work..get ready!

Now note: this was created in Jan 2008, well over a year ago AND we both know this does not include every "organic/green" product out there, JUST FOOD (and probably not all of that either).
This is another big debate in the green industry-some say that having small, start-ups bought by big business is a good thing: more marketing dollars. Others however, say that the integrity of the original mission-statement, ingredients, operation, sourcing of raw goods, and manufacturing might be compromised with a buy-out.
my opinion: if you wanted "green", why not do it yourself, or better yet, change what you are doing now.
i would love to hear more comments on this chart or the debate!

CSA cooking: pesto and bruschetta

basket inventory: BIG time basil, carrots, curly kale, dandelion greens, avocados, cantaloupe, various citrus, eggplant...and some other items. to be honest, i gave more than 1/2 of my basket away to a gentleman in our neighborhood who hard been having a hard time looking for work and was really struggling. The best that i could do was give him some of my food so that he could help his family..times are tough!
The great thing about CSA food is that it lasts a lot longer than "conventional"/store bought produce, i still have items from even 2 weeks ago! so i have been using what i have to get us through to next week.

EASY PESTO:
big handful of basil leaves
cup or so of Parmesan cheese (which i will call "parm" from now on)
salt, or spicy salt in our case!
cup of nuts (usually people use pine nuts, but i have seen walnuts, you want "buttery" flavored nuts) this time i used a mix of pine nuts and pepitas (pumkin seeds) for mexi-flair
olive oil



combine everything but the oil in a food processor until well chopped. then little by little, add the oil until it is the consistency that you like. taste; add more basil if you like more basil, nuts if you like more nuts, salt/season...you get it. store in the fridge for a week.
pesto is great on pasta, toasted bread, on top on an Italian-themed egg dish, it is just plain good. add more peppers or cilantro for variation. we used ours on spaghetti squash i bought at the Irvine Farmers Market.

EASY BRUSCHETTA:
* my internship at Avanti Cafe (which i will be talking about later) has taught me even more that simple food is incredible when using great ingredients, this recipe was derived from watching Chef Tanya make a family meal a few weeks ago. This is a wonderful recipe to get rid of tomatoes that are getting soft or if you don't want the trouble of making a sauce.

tomatoes (at least a cup, but more is better), diced in irregular pieces
dash or 2 of salt (to taste)
pepper, italian spice mix (to your liking, start with small amounts- 1 tsp), Avnati makes a good one called Tuscan Kiss
olive oil about 1-2 tbsp
finely chopped basil (have 5 leaves and add more after tasting, we like a lot)
1 shallot or small red onion sliced fine

mix everything in a bowl except oil. taste; add oil slowly until it is where you like it. let it sit on the counter for a little bit and then chill for 30 min. mix again. add to crusty bread or we added scoops to our squash and pesto!

the beekeepers are coming!

I am so excited about my friends Kelly and Janet of the Backyard Beekeepers coming in to do their seasonal lecture on local/renegade beekeeping!! This Sunday, from 3-5 the ladies will talk about basic beekeeping, the bee crisis and what it takes to raise your own hive (which allows you to yield INCREDIBLE crops like never before. These ladies produce some amazing honey that doesn't stay in the store too long...yes it's that good!
Not only do they make honey and rescue bees throughout Southern California, they also make lip balm and natural lotion from it! Both Janet and Kelly have amazing homes filled with chickens, produce, hives and even a horse (Janet that is)!

affordable art: Virginia Kraljevic

I just recently found these whimsical prints from artist Virginia Kraljevic. I think that these would look adorable in a children's room or small hallway (even framed on your office desk). Most of the prints can be found on Virigina's etsy store.


For under $25 a pop you can have these works or some adorable pins and cards like the ones below: