OPENwater


it's a major deja vu moment for me right now, sitting at stacie's kitchen table with her, sam and jerome, trying to reign in our ADD and get focused for OPENwater in less than two weeks. imagine four creative, insane people with difficulty focusing (case in point: i'm writing a blog post right now as we are going over our party rental list) trying to power through a crazy amount details. and we're all opinionated.

ten days before last year's event we were arguing about how and where to best spit-roast a steer and worrying about sweet talking the fire marshal into giving us a permit. now, we are crossing our fingers hoping the central installment of the restaurant will function and wondering how we will schlep all of the spent fryer oil away from alameda.

frank from sfmoma calls intermittently. we're worried he no longer loves us, but deep inside we know he does.

baby bee charlotte is crying in the background.

the cat is sniffing us suspiciously.

we're all fighting over my bodyworking/self-torture tools.

i'm hungry.

this is all so we can bring you this epic event....we hope to see you there next weekend (if you ask me, a visit to hangar one is reason enough to come, let alone all of the amazing food and art installations we've been working on since february).

procrastinating....

jugs of vinegar at cannard farm :: october 2007


i've been working hard(ish) on the research and outline for my first talk.  i'm excited and really freaked out (and i'm perfecting the art of procrastination in the meantime, hence this blog post).  just a couple of months ago, i decided that i wanted to focus on speaking as one of my main projects, and a few weeks later, i got an offer for a bona fide speaking gig at a conference in front of actual human beings.  
i've been watching and re-watching ted talks, authors at google talks, and any other talks i can get my hands on in preparation.  i've been reading speeches and thinking of how i can organize this thing so i don't put everyone to sleep in 45-90 minutes, and i've been bugging all of the fantastic speakers in my life with my neuroses and cajoling them into promising to read my drafts (when i get one done).  
i've also had an epiphany--i know that most of the rest of the world already understands this, but it took me a lot of pain and stress to figure it out for myself: i can refine and reuse material.  that's the whole point of the academic model, duh!  i don't have to come up with something new each week.  instead, i can take ideas and thoughts and essays and blog posts and themes i've been working on and use every publishing and speaking opportunity to tweak and refine what i'm thinking about until i've got it down.  that's what my teachers do, that's what my role models do, and you know what else?  that's what we do in the kitchen.  
it all makes so much more sense now.  
ok, back to the sequestration of my carrel.
p.s. watching maira kalman's ADD in action and loving every moment of it was super-calming for me since i sometimes have a hard time completing sentences.

i carry your heart

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
--e.e. cummings
We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.


--Lao Tzu (translated by Stephen Mitchell)




i have been learning the lessons of abundance this year.  i honestly believe that there is always more.


but at the same time, i think it's really important to realize that i live in a world obsessed with more, faster, better, cheaper, etc.  and i don't want my entire life to become about all of that.  it's a challenge to remember that so much of the time, the gift is what's not there.  

tartine afterhours: tuesday, october 26th








the details:




who: the fab folks at tartine (and me)
what: a three-course family-style fixed menu celebrating oktoberfest
where: tartine bakery (600 guerrero st. sf, ca)
when: tuesday, october 26th at 8pm
why: to highlight the joy of good food and good company
how much: $35 plus wine and beer (cash only, please!)
to reserve: this dinner has sold out.  please join the mailing list by entering your name in the box on the sidebar to receive notice of our next dinner and enter the lottery.

we can't wait to see you!

i wish i had mad computer skillz...

thanks to sasha, my dad, sajad, and all of the other folks who sent me this!?!  photo by lucas foglia


because then i'd figure out how to copy this photo from the new york times magazine and upload it to this blog...

sheesh.  foiled again.  but happy, nonetheless.

about fifteen minutes before we took that photo, i swiped anya's bike (the cadillac of all bikes) and rode frantically around jack london square looking for a big old wild fennel plant to bring in as a prop, since they only had corn stalks, which seemed so wrong for a shot of foragers and cooks.  but all of the good wild fennel stalks were on the inside of chain link fences and i didn't feel like jumping a fence in my fancy jeans.  finally, i saw this one, beautiful green plant when i was riding around the edges of laney college.  the problem?  it was on the other side of the divider separating me from the freeway off-ramp.

i delicately got off the bike and walked it about 30 yards up the off-ramp, hacked that plant down with my bread knife, slung it across the bike basket, and then risked my life as i teeter-tottered the bike the twelve or so blocks back to the office.  i may have caused a few car accidents.  not sure.

Home Ec: How to Pull Fresh Mozzarella


Have you been wondering what that hand-pulled mozzarella on every restaurant menu is all about? Have you noticed that it's impossibly tender, better than even the most expensive imported Italian mozzarella?

Come spend an afternoon with chef Samin Nosrat for a delicious and demystifying hands-on cheese-pulling class. Put your mozzarella-making skills in practice and make the most of the end of tomato season!

Samin will talk and walk you through the intricacies of pulling the perfect ball of fresh mozzarella, and then it'll be your turn! Everyone will then get to pull several balls of mozzarella (it takes a while to get a hang of it!) under her guidance. You'll even get to try your hand at making a creamy burrata mozzarella!

After we gather around the table to enjoy some of the mozzarella we pull together, each student will take home his/her mozzarella, as well as a recipe book with ideas for cooking with your fresh mozzarella, step-by-step instructions for pulling mozzarella, and a list of trusted cheese purveyors and resources.

You'll leave empowered and informed, knowing how to make delicate, tender fresh mozzarella for the perfect salad, pizza or antipasto plate.

WHAT
How to Pull Mozzarella with Samin Nosrat

WHEN
Saturday, October 23
4 pm- 6:30 pm

or 

Saturday, October 30
4pm- 6.30 pm

WHERE
4629 Martin Luther King Junior Way
(At the corner of 47th and MLK)
Oakland, CA 94609

TICKETS
$85
To enroll visit the event page at Brown Paper Tickets:

for October 23rd class
for October 30th class

CLASS SIZE
20 students max.
Each student will pull and take home several balls of his/her own fresh mozzarella and a recipe guide.

ABOUT SAMIN NOSRAT
A professional cook and freelance writer, Samin Nosrat looks to tradition, culture and history for inspiration. Trained in the Chez Panisse kitchen, she cooked there for several years before moving to Italy, where she worked closely with the Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini and chef Benedetta Vitali for nearly two years. She spent five years as the sous chef and "farmwife" at Eccolo restaurant, butchering, brining, and preserving nearly everything in an effort to make the restaurant as self-sustaining as possible. Featured in the New York Times Moment blog as a mozzarella expert, her own writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Meatpaper, and Edible San Francisco, as well as on her blog, Ciao Samin. 

a few things to remember

blurry lulu; july, 2010

i spent a beautiful, quiet week in august with john friend in park city, utah wherein i took a lot of notes.  i mean, a lot.  he had a lot to say; i think i used up three pens.

much of the week was spent discussing the bhagavad gita, which i read for the first time this summer while in the midst of my own existential crisis of sorts.  

at the end of chapter sixteen, krisha says to arjuna, "let the scriptures be your authorities in determining right or wrong actions."

the scriptures--a touchy subject.  for some, "the scriptures" can refer to the bible, torah, or koran.  for others, like so many in my family including my mom, aunts and grandmother, it could refer to the works of hafiz or rumi, to which they turn regularly for a bit of guidance.  what i learned that week was that "the scriptures" could be anything that's written down that i know to be true--even if i wrote them down myself.   and "right and wrong" here in this context doesn't refer so much to good vs. bad as much as it means dharmic vs. adharmic, or right for you vs. not right for you.  

so john had us do an exercise, a simple one where we wrote down five things we knew to be true with the idea that we could always turn back to this page in our journal when faced with darkness or difficulty, or even just a tough decision.  and the idea is that as we go through life and realize more truths, we can add to this list and enrich our personal scriptures.

here's my list:
  • there is something beautiful about every thing
  • the way of nature is always an excellent starting point
  • the answer is always love
  • generosity breeds abundance
  • the most integrated way is to step back and look at the big picture
  • the more i love, the more i am loved
  • recognize that i am being breathed
  • love is the space between
and two more truths i've been taught to remember by my teachers:
  • remember that everyone is in pain, whether it's emotional, physical, or another kind.  no one is free of pain, and we must interact with others with this in mind.
  • at the root of everything, everyone just wants to be happy.  even misguided actions are results of the desire to be happy.

tartine afterhours: tuesday, september 28th


hi there!

the fantastic folks at tartine bakery and i are thrilled to announce our next tartine afterhours dinner on tuesday, september 28th.

we're especially excited about this dinner because it'll be held on the eve of the september 29th release of tartine bread, the beautiful new cookbook by chad robertson and eric wolfinger. in celebration of this lovely book, we're planning a special all-bread menu to highlight a few of the innumerable ways to enjoy this magnificent bread.

we sincerely hope you can join us!






the details:


who: the fab folks at tartine (and me)
what: a three-course family-style fixed menu celebrating the release of tartine bread
where: tartine bakery (600 guerrero st. sf, ca)
when: tuesday, september 28th at 8pm
why: to highlight the joy of good food and good company
how much: $35 plus wine (cash only, please!)
to reserve: this dinner has sold out.  please join the mailing list by entering your name in the box on the sidebar to receive notice of our next dinner and enter the lottery.

we can't wait to see you!

psst...



i just wanted to let you know about a little benefit dinner eric wolfinger is cooking up in the city next monday night...

(by the way, did you know i went to high school with that guy? and i gave him his first kitchen job way back when?)

what: a five-course meal with wine pairings benefitting MARIMED, a foundation bringing healthcare and medical training to post-quake Haiti
where: Outerlands
4001 Judah St.
San Francisco, CA
when: Monday, September 20th
7pm
who: Eric Wolfinger: photographer, baker & cook
how much: $125 per person, (100% tax deductible)
why: Eric takes time with people, cooks with them, and then makes photographs. From the remote Sierra Nevada in Colombia to the windowless basement of the most renowned bakery in paris, his work is a portrait of his experience.
The menu of this dinner is loosely based on the travels featured in the photography exhibit.
Each dinner ticket will be 100% tax deductible. Every dollar spent at this dinner will go to Haiti. For each person who has dinner, 18 Haitians will receive primary care--a full dining room of 40 people will bring healthcare to 625 folks who really need it.

To reserve, email Eric at ewolfinger@gmail.com




I begin to see that I live torn between two realities. On the one hand, there is the reality of my existence on the earth, which limits me in time and space, with all its threats and opportunities for satisfaction. On the other hand, there is a reality of being that is beyond this existence, a reality for which I have nostalgia.
--from The Reality of Being by Madame Jeanne DeSalzmann

currently obsessed with...

























  • tartine bread--eric wolfinger's photos are out of control beautiful.
  • bhakti yoga, the bhagavad gita, and neem karoli baba
  • john welwood
  • pandora bon iver radio (i'd marry justin vernon in a heartbeat)
  • a reignited love affair with my tiger tail
  • watermelon
  • gravenstein apples
  • theo chocolate bars...alternating between 45% and 91%
  • broccoli...i'm really big on broccoli right now.
  • trying to understand how to get the gluten out of the bran in whole wheat flour so i can make perfect whole wheat pasta.
  • doing my best to stay off facebook and in the real world
  • making and drinking the most disgusting juices imaginable each morning
  • rolfing, or more accurately, being rolfed. as often as my body can handle it.
  • handstands

Gate of Sweet Nectar


Calling out to hungry hearts
Everywhere through endless time
You who wander, you who thirst
I offer you this heart of mine.

Calling out to hungry spirits
Everywhere through endless time
Calling out to hungry hearts
All the lost and left behind

Gather round and share this meal
Your joy and sorrow
I make it mine.



















scribe winery, sonoma, ca :: july 2010



one of the most important things i've learned from my yoga practice is to search for the good in everything; it's always been my natural tendency to do that, which is one reason that tantric philosophy sits so well with me.

the thing is, looking for the light can't come at the cost of ignoring or denying the dark.

i always want my focus to be on what's beautiful, especially in the work i put out into the world, but sometimes i worry about coming off as too shiny-happy. the truth of the matter is, over the past year i've encountered such depth of beauty in my life that i could've never imagined it, while simultaneously uncovering layer upon layer of crap in my physical and emotional self. ugh.

so much effing crap.

i also worry, because from the outside, i think things must look so peachy. i don't want to seem like an ungrateful bastard. i mean, i have this great gig that's getting all of this press, my backbends have opened up like crazy, folks i've spent the past ten years idolizing are now turning to me for advice and friendship, and my bff is somehow patient enough to not only listen to all of my neuroses but actually offer sane advice that makes a difference in how i live my life.

but there's a flip side--one where the key words are struggle, pain, breakdowns, loneliness, money-worry, overwhelmed, and disorganization.

every day is filled with parts of both.

for now, my practice has become this: to be grateful for everything lovely, and to make space for the ugliness and let myself be okay with not being perfect (or being imperfectly perfect, as my teacher calls it), for not being perfectly healthy and happy, or perfectly on time, or perfectly together, or frankly, perfectly nice.

it's harder than it sounds.


tartine afterhours: august 18th


tartine afterhours.

a monthly series of family-style dinners at tartine bakery
complete with music, wine & cameraderie

the details:

who: the fab folks at tartine (and me)
what: a (mostly vegetarian) three-course family-style fixed menu
where: tartine bakery (600 guerrero st. sf, ca)
when: wednesday, august 18th at 8pm
why: to highlight the joy of good food and good company
how much: $35 plus wine (cash only, please!)
to reserve: this dinner has sold out.  please join the mailing list by entering your name in the box on the sidebar to receive notice of our next dinner and enter the lottery.

we can't wait to see you!

p.s. have you heard about tartine bread???

Home Ec: How to Pull Fresh Mozzarella




Have you been wondering what that hand-pulled mozzarella on every restaurant menu is all about? Have you noticed that it's impossibly tender, better than even the most expensive imported Italian mozzarella?

Come spend an afternoon with chef Samin Nosrat for a delicious and demystifying hands-on cheese-pulling class. Put your mozzarella-making skills in practice and get ready for the arrival of tomato season!

Samin will talk and walk you through the intricacies of pulling the perfect ball of fresh mozzarella, and then it'll be your turn! Everyone will then get to pull several balls of mozzarella (it takes a while to get a hang of it!) under her guidance. You'll even get to try your hand at making a creamy burrata mozzarella!

After we gather around the table to enjoy some of the mozzarella we pull together, each student will take home his/her mozzarella, as well as a recipe book with ideas for cooking with your fresh mozzarella, step-by-step instructions for pulling mozzarella, and a list of trusted cheese purveyors and resources.

You'll leave empowered and informed, knowing how to make delicate, tender fresh mozzarella for the perfect salad, pizza or antipasto plate.

WHAT
How to Pull Mozzarella with Samin Nosrat

WHEN
August 14 (this class is sold out)
4 pm- 6:30 pm

New Date Added
September 4
4pm- 6.30 pm


WHERE
4629 Martin Luther King Junior Way
(At the corner of 47th and MLK)
Oakland, CA 94609

TICKETS
$75
To Enroll: Visit the event page at Brown Paper Tickets


CLASS SIZE
18 students max.
Each student will pull and take home several balls of his/her own fresh mozzarella and a recipe guide.

ABOUT SAMIN NOSRAT
A professional cook and freelance writer, Samin Nosrat looks to tradition, culture and history for inspiration. Trained in the Chez Panisse kitchen, she cooked there for several years before moving to Italy, where she worked closely with the Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini and chef Benedetta Vitali for nearly two years. She spent five years as the sous chef and "farmwife" at Eccolo restaurant, butchering, brining, and preserving nearly everything in an effort to make the restaurant as self-sustaining as possible. Her writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Meatpaper, and Edible San Francisco, as well as on her blog, Ciao Samin.