Bakesale for Japan: April 2, 2011

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, 
can transform the world. --Howard Zinn



Where: For a complete list of locations across the country, click here.

Sister bakesales: Akron Vegan Bakesale for Japan (Akron, OH) 
                                         Toronto Bakes for Japan (Toronto, ON) 

When: Saturday, April 2nd from 10am-2pm  
Who:  Professional and amateur bakers, cooks, artists, artisans, and musicians coming together around food to make something BIG happen.
How: Want to help?  We'll need bakers, artists, volunteers, and lots and lots of customers.  Please send offers of help to bakesaleforjapan@gmail.com
Why: So we can donate BIG BUCKS to Peace Winds Japan and help our brothers and sisters over there in the best way we can.  Stay tuned for details.

We will be folding 1,000 paper cranes to send to friends in Japan.  Do you have origami paper to donate?  Can you teach others how to fold cranes on the day of the sale?  If so, send me an email.

Our long list of accomplished collaborators includes folks from: 
  • Pizzaiolo
  • BiRite Market & Creamery
  • Gioia Pizzeria
  • A16 & SPQR
  • Chez Panisse
  • Peko-Peko
  • ClaireSquares
  • Tartine Bakery
  • Summer Kitchen Bakeshop
  • Starter Bakery
  • Bakers Dozen
  • Viola 
  • Blossom Bluff Orchards
  • Tell Tale Preserve Company
  • Four Barrel Coffee
  • Blue Bottle Coffee
  • Mr. Espresso
  • Oxbow Public Market
  • June Taylor Company
  • Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe
  • Bar Jules

...and so many more that I haven't had time to list.  I will keep adding to this list later in the week!

Last year, we raised $23,000 at our Bakesale for Haiti.  Can we double, triple, or quadruple that number this time?

If you'd like to offer a corporate sponsorship, match, or involve your organization, please email me at bakesaleforjapan@gmail.com.

Don't live in the Bay Area?  Host your own Bakesale for Japan on April 2nd!  Let's band together and take this thing national.  Email me and I will get you set up.  

Please check back daily for updates.

bakesale for japan, anyone?

alright folks, i'm thinking bakesale for japan on saturday, april 2nd.  i'm gonna work with sylvan to find the right organization to donate proceeds to.

who's with me?

i'll need bakers, cooks, graphic designers, PR peeps, volunteers, and lots of customers to make it big.

let's see if we can break bakesale for haiti's record ($23,000)!

email me at bakesaleforjapan@gmail.com if you want to help, and make sure to let me know what your skillz are!

thanks!
samin

10:32 pm--edited to add: 


Here's what I know so far:

  • It will be on Saturday, 4/2
  • We now have three locations: 
    • Oakland: Pizzaiolo
    • Berkeley: Gioia
    • San Francisco: BiRite Market
  • You DO NOT have to be a professional cook/baker to participate!
  • If you are donating goods from a certified/licensed food business, you are welcome to label the goods with your logo/identity if you wish.
  • Individually wrapped treats,packaged dozens and half-dozens, as well as whole cakes/pies/tarts/loaves etc. are preferred (rather than a basket of cookies meant to be sold one by one)
  • Bake as much as you like!  The more stuff we have to sell, the better!  We literally cannot have too many baked goods.
  • Gluten-free/ dairy-free/ vegan items are welcome and should be clearly labeled as such.
  • All items must be delivered with a complete list of ingredients, as well as an item name.  
  • Please plan to deliver your goods in containers you will not need returned.  
  • If you'd like to donate a non-food item, such as artwork, a gift certificate, etc, please email me with specifics 
  • I will also need quite a few volunteers to help organize, collect, and distribute baked goods, as well as work the sales, so if you're not into baking, let me know if you want to help in this way.
  • Japanese specialties such as mochi and other delicacies are more than welcome.  
  • We sell everything by suggested donation, so the more delicious/special the items, and the nicer the packaging/presentation, the more money we can get! Please keep this in mind (i.e. no cake mixes and regular old rice krispie treats, please).  
Please keep an eye on my twitter (@ciaosamin) and blog (ciao samin) for periodic updates.

When I get a flier made sometime this week, I will be sending it to all of you to help spread the word!

Tell all of your friends!  We cannot have too many volunteer bakers, and we certainly cannot have too many patrons!!!


Thank you!
Samin


tartine afterhours: tuesday, march 22


Tartine_107 2

the details:
who: the fab folks at tartine (and me)
what: an early spring three course family-style fixed menu
where: tartine bakery (600 guerrero st. sf, ca)
when: tuesday, march 22nd at 8pm
why: to highlight the joy of good food and good company
how much: $35 plus wine and gratuity (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.

Home Ec: A Four-Part Series of Cooking Fundamentals at Soul Food Farm




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I’m thrilled to introduce a series of classes on what I consider to be the four most important elements of cooking. 

I learned how to cook by watching the cooks in the Chez Panisse kitchen, by carefully tasting and training my palate, and eventually by apprenticing and working in that kitchen. That experience blew my mind open, and after several months in the kitchen I started to recognize patterns and rules common to every dish, no matter what the ingredients or particular methods of preparation. 

I eventually came to realize that with a careful understanding of how to apply four basic elements, I could make anything taste delicious. Over the past eleven years, everything I’ve continued to learn in the kitchen has essentially been a refinement of my understanding of the application of salt, acid, fat and heat. 

As a teacher of both professional and home cooks, it’s my ultimate goal to give people the tools to become intuitive cooks and free them from the reigns of cookbooks, recipes, and measuring implements by helping them refine their palates, sensitivity in the kitchen, and understanding of basic kitchen science. The most important lessons I share with my students are those that impart a fundamental understanding of universal tenets. 

I’d like to invite you into the beautiful Soul Food Farm kitchen with me for this unique, empowering series of classes. You’re welcome to take as many or few as you like, but the series is designed as an immersion and elements of each class will interplay with the other three to help give students a comprehensive understanding of cooking. In each class, I will describe and demonstrate for each element its roles and functions, basic science, and effects on taste in a dish. We’ll taste and discuss thoughtfully in an effort to give our palates a bit of contextual understanding. And of course, because I believe so strongly in the power of experience (and muscle memory) you’ll get a chance to put your new skills to use as we all cook a lovely lunch together with the concepts of the day in mind. 

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lovely photos courtesy of Bart Nagel
In the afternoon, we’ll retire to a table set in the shade of the farm, eat our lunch, drink some wine, and I’ll answer any further questions that may have arisen while we cooked. You’ll leave empowered and inspired to return to the kitchen, ready to practice your skills, refine your knowledge, and looking at food with a whole new perspective.







Class size will be limited to 15 people in order to ensure that all students have a hands-on experience.  To reserve a spot, please use the following links:


Nowrouz: A Conversation about Food and Persian New Year



originally uploaded by {cindy}

i'm excited to announce that i'll be doing a talk and tasting on eid nowrouz, the first day of spring, at 18 Reasons about the history and significance of the many food traditions of persian new year.  


persian new year has always been the only holiday my family has observed together, and as a child i was steeped in the ancient traditions of this meaningful celebration.  from planting sprouts in early march to jumping over fires as the old year draws to an end to cleanse our souls, something about the many symbols and rituals of this special holiday has made it the most important time of year for me.  the fact that food plays an prominent role in many of its customs makes it even more pleasing to me now as an adult.  


please come join me...i'll be bringing a host of traditional treats straight from my mama's kitchen.  

shedding externalities

a lot of what i've been working on over the past couple of years has to do with simplifying, getting to the heart of things, and letting go of what's unnecessary.  

in terms of the pop-up, it's been about experimenting with what it means to cook really high-quality food and share it with the folks who want it.  do we have to do it in a restaurant?  does there have to be a "fancy, white tablecloth" sort of narrative around the whole affair?  how many people have to come between the cooks and the customers?  this has been a project completely bent on stripping down the food chain to its simplest possible form, and it's been really interesting and rewarding.

in terms of my classes, it's about encouraging folks to get into the kitchen, get their hands dirty, and let go of whatever preconceived notions they have about what it means to cook a certain way, or at a certain level.  when we abandon the idea that we need a bunch of fancy tools, expensive ingredients, formal training or whatever external elements we've been conditioned to believe are necessary for a good meal, we can really tune in to the brilliance of the experience of cooking, of connecting with the food, understanding where it comes from, and sharing it with people we care about.  just doing that will make your meal more delicious and satisfying without even picking up a knife.

in the tartine dinners, it's about letting go of what ideas we might have about what it feels like to cook or dine in a restaurant.  we challenge people's comfort levels by smushing them cheek to jowl at communal tables, force them to interact by making the food family-style, and ambush them with generosity to do our best to make them feel loved.  because it's not set up to be a business, we have the luxury of taking really, really good care of the customers without being concerned with how much money we're going to get out of them.  a lot of the artifice and theatricality of restaurant dining is left behind, and instead replaced with a spirited sense of authenticity.  it's an experiment--one that's not exactly financially viable, but incredibly rewarding nonetheless.

whether consciously or not, it's been relatively simple for me to bring my work into focus in this way, but somehow in the secret corners of my heart and mind that determine who i really am, and how i really feel and think, i haven't been able to replicate this lens.  it's such a subtle thing that i haven't noticed it until just now, perhaps the most deeply reflective period of my life.  

 let me break things down: yesterday i had a moment of clarity wherein i realized that i have always burdened myself with worrying about what others will think.  that worry has controlled and directed pretty much every action and decision throughout my life.  coming to understand this so clearly while simultaneously examining the central themes of my work has been pretty disconcerting.

the formula:

    aversive personality (buddhist psychology)
+ enneagram type 3 (the achiever)
+ enfp (mbti)
  -----------------------------
  samin: incredible potential to achieve success, but also crippled by an obsession with what others think  

the past few months have been some of the most challenging i've ever faced.  though the successes i've had and opportunities i've been given have been wonderful, they've made me ever so acutely aware of how many more eyes are on me.  it's weird, because i don't really shy away from attention (that's putting it mildly) and i am pretty darned comfortable as a public figure.  but the part of my psyche (or ego, if you will) that's so consumed with worrying about what others think of me and my every action has really been triggered into overdrive lately, and it's been a cause of great anxiety.  coming to realize this on a deep level is the first step toward loosening its shackles on my heart and mind.

i spent the afternoon with a sweet friend yesterday; she has the gift of making me feel totally safe around her, and i deeply appreciate that.  i told her of the many ways lately in which i've been paralyzed by these worries, like to the point that i'll write an entire blog post but then not post it because i'm worried about what one certain person might think or say.  i don't want to do anything that anyone could perceive as hurtful, narcissistic, egotistical, or mean, and in consuming myself with dreaming up all of the possible scenarios of what people might think, i lose the joy of the experience itself.

i'm committing myself to relaxing a bit around these fears, to trying to take things a little more lightly, and to shedding the externalities in my every day life.  i want to let go of the inner/outer narrative that binds me in my thoughts and actions and instead return to a place of living from my heart, with the purity of intention and experience that i value so much in my work.   

tartine afterhours: tuesday, february 22nd


the details:

who: the fab folks at tartine (and me)
what: a warm, wintery three course family-style fixed menu
where: tartine bakery (600 guerrero st. sf, ca)
when: tuesday, february 22nd at 8pm
why: to highlight the joy of good food and good company
how much: $35 plus wine and gratuity (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.

putting it out there...

     photo by alice tu

i have an idea and i'm going to need some help to make it happen:

i'd like to teach a sort of basic cooking immersion this year.  it's a four-part series, and ideally it'd take place over the course of four saturdays, once a month for four months.  eventually, i'd like to start staggering the series and have multiple groups going at a time.  this is something i've been thinking about for over ten years and i think it can change the way a lot of people think about cooking.

the way i'm structuring the classes is somewhat unique, but i'm super excited and proud of the idea, and i've got the support of some pretty great folks who we all know and love for the project.  the problem is this: i don't have a space.

the hours at the kitchen where i teach my other classes are very limited, so i wouldn't be able to go into the sort of depth i'd like to with the subject matter if i taught the classes there.  and other spaces i've thought about don't have sufficiently large kitchens.

so, if you have a kitchen (commercial or not) that you'd be willing to let me use for my classes, please let me know.  if you are willing to host a series, you and a friend can take the class for free!

send me an email at saminnosrat@yahoo.com

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 to the test!

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, March 12
5pm-7.30pm

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

There are a limited number of scholarship spots available to students willing to commit to set up and clean up.  Please email Samin directly at saminnosrat@yahoo.com for more information.

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. 

nigel slater's the kitchen diaries


i'm so inspired by this book that i feel like i have to quote the entire first page for you:

Right food, right place, right time.  It is my belief--and the point of this book--that this is the best recipe of all.  A crab sandwich by the sea on a June afternoon; a slice of goose with apple sauce and roast potatoes on Christmas Day; hot sausages and a chunk of roast pumpkin on a frost-sparkling night in November.  These are meals whose success relies not on the expertise of the cook but more on the basic premise that this is the food of the moment--something eaten at a time when it is most appropriate, when the ingredients are at their peak of perfection, when the food, the cook, and the time of year are at one with each other.

There is something deeply, unshakeably right about eating food in season: fresh runner beans in July, grilled sardines on a blisteringly hot August evening, a bowl of gently aromatic stew on a rainy day in February.  Yes, it is about the quality of the ingredients too, their provenance and the way they are cooked, but the very best eating is also about the feeling that the time is right.

I do believe, for instance, that a cold Saturday in January is a good time to make gingerbread.  It is when I made it and we had a good time with it.  It felt right.  So I offer it to you as a suggestion, just as I offer a cheesecake at Easter, a curry for a cold night in April and a pale gooseberry fool for a June afternoon.  It is about seasonality, certainly, but also about going with the flow, cooking with the natural rhythm of the earth.

Learning to eat with the ebb and flow of the seasons is the single thing that has made my eating more enjoyable.  Our culinary seasons have been blurred by commerce, and in particular by the supermarkets' much vaunted idea that consumers want all things to be available all year round.  I don't believe this is true.  I have honestly never met anyone who wants to eat a slice of watermelon on a cold March evening, or a plate of asparagus in January.  It is a myth put about by the giant supermarkets.  I worry that today it is all too easy to lose sight of food's natural timing and, worse, to miss it when it is at its sublime best.  Hence my attempt at writing a book about rebuilding a cook's relationship with nature.

--Nigel Slater

balance



Light as a feather, originally uploaded by p2wy.


2011 is about balance, redefining relationships, and focus.  


a little more of this, a little less of that.


a little more time spent reading books, and a little less time spent on the internet.  one of my goals for the year is to really focus in on the specific subject matter my first book will cover, and how i want to present it.  but before i can write, i want to read, to immerse myself in the books that inspired me to start writing, cooking, and teaching.  i'm not going to set a number goal or anything like that, i'm just going to commit to having books (or the new yorker) with me at pretty much all times.  


a little more income, a little less running around like a crazy person.  it's the whole work smarter, not harder thing.


a little more cardio, a little less yoga.  it became painfully clear to me last year that my body just isn't built to do only one activity, no matter how holistic and integrated that activity might be.  this doesn't mean i'm not going to go deeper into my practice, it just means i have to redefine my relationship to yoga.  


a little more vegetables, a little less sweets.  particularly juice.  oh, how i love the green juice.


a little more no, a little less yes.  to create time and space for myself, for what i want to work on, who i want to spend time with, i need to learn how to graciously decline.  this is a hard one, since taarof, not "no, thank you," is embedded in my dna.  


a little more teaching, writing and speaking gigs, a little less catering gigs.


a little more quality, a little less quantity.  more of a focus on aesthetics, on curating, on putting my best work out into the world, less worry about doing everything for everyone.  


a little less email, a little more sanity.  and hopefully, more pitches, pieces, and columns.  


already, i know that there is a lot of really fantastic stuff in store for me this year.  so many projects i spent the second half of 2010 working on will see the light of day in 2011, and i couldn't be prouder or more excited.  it was a fantastic year of collaboration, of diving in heart-first, and of doing things i never dreamt i could do.  i don't want any of that to end, i only want it to become a bit more sustainable.  


i can't wait to share it all with you, my friends!

New Year's Eve at Tartine Afterhours

Chad, Liz, Lori and the rest of the Tartine gang and I are thrilled to announce a New Year's Eve celebration at Tartine Afterhours!  We'll have freshly shucked oysters, piles of Dungeness crab, big bowls of Caesar salad, and a huge batch of Liz's famous eggnog...plus, all sorts of other secret treats are in store.  Shine off your fancy shoes and bring along a bottle of your favorite hot sauce because things are gonna get ridiculous.  

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the details:

who: the fab folks at tartine (and me)
what: a raucous family-style crab feed celebrating new year's eve
where: tartine bakery (600 guerrero st. sf, ca)
when: friday, december 31st at 9pm
why: to highlight the joy of good food and good company
how much: $75 plus wine and gratuity (cash only, please!)--price includes cocktails & hors d'oeuvre, family style-dinner, bubbly toast at midnight, party favors, and endless fun!
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.

don't forget to bring a bottle of your favorite hot sauce--we can't wait to see you!

ch-ch-ch-changes

as we inch toward the end of the year, i keep looking back at how unexpected every single thing that's happened this year has been.

i won't take you through a painful play-by-play (at least, not yet), but i will muse on an underlying theme.  two, actually.

first of all, the friendly folks at the story contacted me this week for an update on, well, my story.  they wanted to know how things have changed for me since we ran that piece in september of 2009.  they asked, do you have anything interesting to report?  i asked back, how much time do you have?

so we talked for a little while, and they asked all of the usual questions and i answered with all of the usual answers.  and then, my lovely interviewer brynne, asked me something really interesting, something i've danced around for a long time without really ever taking the time to consider head-on:

have i changed in any fundamental way since eccolo closed?

and the answer came to me immediately.  without a flicker of hesitation in my voice, i said, YES!

you see, when i was carrying the weight of a failing business on my shoulders, i operated with a scarcity-mentality.  all of my actions came from a place of feeling that there wasn't enough to go around--not enough resources, or money, or customers, or anything.  employees had to go after 8 hours, food cost had to be painfully low, staff meals had to be as cheap as possible (no bundt!), prices had to be low, and on and on and on, or else there wouldn't be enough.  i was under constant pressure to keep everything together, and that meant pulling everything around me in and holding it tightly in my hands, as close as possible to myself, in an effort to make this business succeed.


and no matter what we did, it wasn't ever enough.


it killed me to operate that way, because food is, if nothing else, about sitting at a table and sharing with others.  it's about coming together and being generous.  when, in a state of extreme financial jeopardy, the opportunity to be generous was stripped away from us, so was all of the joy we found in our work.  and since no one works in the restaurant business to get rich, joy is one of our only perks.  no joy meant no reason to continue.

so, we scrapped it all, and started over, the blind leading the blind.

well, not quite blind.

i've been singularly guided by one thing in every project i've undertaken this year: a mentality of generosity.  there may not be enough money to make us all rich, but there will always be enough food to feed everyone who helps me.  there will always be a moment to sit down and enjoy each other's company (even though i might forget that from time to time).

approaching my work with the philosophy that generosity begets abundance has fundamentally changed me and the way i work.  i may not be rich, but i am happier than i have ever been, and that is priceless.

and secondly, perhaps almost in response to that change, another theme has emerged: one of learning how to draw boundaries in order to protect myself.  months and months ago, when in a moment of crisis i sought some advice from my yoga teacher abby tucker, she told me to pull in.  she told me it was time to suck it up, draw some boundaries, build a foundation, and pull the heck in.  i'm a little slow sometimes, so it's taken me a while, but the last few months have really become a time for me to do just that.

as an unapologetic extrovert, this hasn't been easy.  as a genetically (somewhat) paranoid  conspiracy theorist, i haven't been able to do much to quiet my mind as it guesses what everyone out there must think about the way i'm acting.

but i'm realizing the importance of learning how to pull in now, before it gets too be too late.

i'm lucky to be fairly close to some prominent public figures who are kind enough to act as mentors to me.  one of them handles the pressures of being constantly watched by everyone around him with unparalleled grace.  i've been known to break down in his presence, because in some ways, for me, it's one of the safest places i've got--he understands how i feel without me having to say a word because years ago, he was in the same place.

i ask him the same question every time i crash: how do you do it?

and he always answers the same way, by pointing to his wife.

she has kept him grounded, he says, and reminds him who he is, that he is not only part of a family, but responsible to that family in ways that have nothing to do with whether or not he was on oprah or spoke at the white house last week.  what's really important is being a good father, husband and friend.  what's really important is remembering who you are.

instead of freaking me out because i don't have a husband or a family to keep things real for me, i realize that i have to find that same strength, that same grounding force, within my own self.  and that's where pulling in comes in.  because if all i do is send energy, love, work, generosity and power outward, there will be nothing left for myself, and i will fall apart.

so for me, the challenge is now to strike a balance, between giving out unconditionally, and pulling in carefully.  sounds like it'll be the theme for a lot longer than just this year.

Free All Three!

I just wanted to let you know about a fundraiser going on this Monday, December 6th to raise money for the families of the detained hikers in Iran.  Oh, how this story breaks my heart.  Sheesh.  

The first time I went to Iran, when I was 14 (for some reason I associate my first pair of Birkenstocks, which I inexplicably loved to wear with brightly colored socks with that age), we spent the entire summer at my uncle's house, which was basically around the corner from  Zendaneh Evin.  Though it wasn't explained to me, I was on some level aware of the unthinkable things that had gone on in that prison.  I just figured those times had long passed.  

I couldn't have been more wrong.  

Out here, we only hear about a fraction of the folks who are detained and violated in that prison (or any such place, really).  Way out here, we're only moved to action when there's some way we can relate to the victims.  That makes me sad, though I'm guilty of it myself.  But you know what?  Some action is better than none, and you've always got to start somewhere.  

So, if you've got a chance, stop by this fundraiser, or bake some sweets for the bakesale.  


On December 6, New York Times bestselling authors based in the Bay Area will perform at a benefit for the effort to release Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer from prison in Iran. Organized by bestselling author Katie Crouch with the help of friends of Shane and Josh, the benefit will feature performances by: 

• Daniel Handler, screenwriter, accordionist, and author of 24 books, including the Lemony Snicket works, A Series of Unfortunate Events. 
• Andrew Sean Greer, bestselling author of The Story of a Marriage and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was named a best book of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune. 
• Lia Rose, San Francisco singer, songwriter, musician, and member of Built for the Sea.
Nato Green, comic from Laughter Against the Machine and the Iron Comic
MC’d by James Tracy, author of the Civil Disobedience Handbook and A Different Kind of Power: Working Class Whites in the Original Rainbow Coalition Melville House Fall 2011. 

The benefit will also feature: 
• An interview by Newsweek contributor and Stanford professor Chanan Tigay with the recently released Sarah Shourd about her experience in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. 
• A screening of Songs to Enemies and Deserts, a film by Shane Bauer and David Martinez about Sudanese farmers and herders caught between two factions of armed rebels. 

There will also be a silent auction of items such as private yoga classes, massages, signed first edition books, and cooking lessons by local luminaries. 

Iranian forces detained Shane Bauer, his fiancée Sarah Shourd and their close friend Josh Fattal on July 31, 2009 while they were enjoying a recreational hike in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. Sarah was released on September 14, 2010, on humanitarian grounds after spending 410 days in solitary confinement. Shane and Josh remain in Evin Prison. More information can be found at http://www.freethehikers.org. 


The details


When: Monday, December 6th from 7.30-9.30pm
Where: Verdi Club 
            2424 Mariposa St.
            San Francisco, CA


If you'd like to contribute baked goods to the bake sale, please email David Brazil at dzbrazil@yahoo.com..  

forty books to celebrate



i had to swing by chez panisse today, and when i tracked cal down in the kitchen, he and nathan were flipping through the auberge of the flowering hearth, a book i haven't picked up for at least eight or nine years, but whose mythical story i love as much as its recipes.

i wondered why they'd chosen this book to cook out of today of all days, and they told me it's their book for the week.  

when i made another confused face, they went on to explain that for each of the forty weeks leading up to the fortieth birthday celebration of the restaurant next august, they'll be writing menus inspired by one of the seminal cookbooks in the chez panisse library.  

brilliant!  but how come i hadn't heard about this yet?  

it's only the second week, cal said.  no one really knows about it yet.  

what was last week?  

richard olney, of course.  

so then i started asking who else was on the list:

scott peacock?  yes.  
niloufer ichaporia?  yes.  
mfk fisher?  yes.
elizabeth david?   
marcella hazan?
madhur jaffrey?

yes.  yes.  yes!

i am in love with this idea...and want to make my own list of forty cookbooks.  who would be on yours?

a few of my favorites:
the cooking of southwest france
honey from a weed
mastering the art of french cooking
the tuscan year 
jane grigson's fruit book
the fannie farmer cookbook
marion cunningham's breakfast book
the art of mexican cooking by diana kennedy
on food and cooking

tartine afterhours: wednesday, december 1st




the details:
who: the fab folks at tartine (and me)
what: a three-course family-style fixed menu celebrating hanukkah
where: tartine bakery (600 guerrero st. sf, ca)
when: wednesday, december 1st 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!
The most beautiful paintings and sculptures, the greatest poetry, have not always been born from torment or bitterness. Often they have sprung from contemplation, from joy, from an instinct or wonder toward all things. To create from joy, to create from wonder, demands a continual discipline, a great compassion...With time and sincerity, you will discover a way to work and write that does not harm you spiritually, that does not tempt you to vanity, that is the deepest expression of your spirituality. You will find a voice that is not your voice only, but the voice of Reality itself. If you can be empty enough, that voice can speak through you. If you can be humble enough, that voice can inhabit and use you.


-- Thuksey Rinpoche




(thank you for this, amy!)
(it's the middle of the night and i'm not really sure where i'm going with this, but bear with me.)

i've been thinking a lot about the four gates of speech, the ancient sufi tradition that advises us to make our words pass through four mental gates before we speak them.

at the first gate we ask ourselves, are these words true?

if they are, we then may pass onto the second gate: are they necessary?

if so, then are they beneficial?

and if they are, then are they kind?

if not, then they should remain unspoken.

i've never been soft-spoken exactly, so this is a whole new concept for me. and unsurprisingly, i tend to get stuck most often at the second gate. like, is it really necessary for me to update my facebook status with what i had for breakfast today? even if it was a really awesome breakfast of special panettone from tartine that chad gave me? or, as much as i want to post a list of things on my blog that i would love for my birthday, now that a bazillion people i've never met and probably never will read this, would that really be the smartest thing to do?

uh...no.

there is a lot going on in my life, in my email inbox, in my calendar these days that i wish i could share (here and in general) with my friends and my greater community. i'm juggling a lot of balls right now as i try to figure out how to best strike a balance between pulling in and pushing out, between give and take, and being a public and a private person.

at first, i thought the answer was easy: don't tell the internet about the big stuff, just tell friends. now i wonder if my friends even really want to hear about this stuff. and i'm having a little difficulty discerning who my friends are, and what it means for me to really be someone's friend as i become more and more overwhelmed by the details of operating "samin" and grow increasingly worse at all forms of correspondence and seem to have less and less time for everyone in my life. i have one friend i speak to on a daily basis, and that's about all i've got room for. even that relationship is strained by the weight of geography and the careful treading of time differences, both of our general emotional instability, and the fact that we both are workaholics.

but then, my work is all about personal connection, so if i were to say, try to separate personal emails from "work" emails, i wouldn't know where to begin. i'm constantly playing games with myself, trying to establish rules and boundaries to make my life flow a little bit more easily, but there is nothing clear or distinct about anything i do, really. so where does that leave me?

i wish i could tell you about the incredible project i've been working on for the past year and more, or the people and publications i've got collaborations planned with. but some of this stuff is not mine to tell, and i've been let down too many times by "maybes" and "probablys" to announce things that aren't surefire bets anymore.

i had dinner at pizzaiolo the other night and charlie came and sat with me at the bar. i love that guy, partly because he's one of the few people in my life who has one foot in the food world and the other in the yoga world, so he gets where i'm coming from without my having to explain anything. we talked about a bunch of things, from anson mills polenta to meditation teachers to mistakes we've made, from learning how to be good leaders and not work ourselves to the bone, to what it is that people really want most from us.

at one point, he said something really insightful, about how he feels like i've been building up my ojas for the past year as i slowly become focused and find my way. it's funny, because on the surface, it would appear that i haven't been building anything up, not my savings, nor my energy, not any space in my life or schedule. i am running on empty, and have been for a long while. i know this won't last, and have been trying to lay a foundation for a more balanced existence. everyone around me knows things have got to change, most of all me. but way underneath all of that, there is a source of juiciness, of vigor, that has been flourishing. there's a lot of churning going on, and i think it's gonna give way to something BIG at some point, but if you asked me what, i'd just fumble clumsily with my words. i wouldn't even have to consider the four gates, because there wouldn't be anything to say.