Be Wise Ranch CSA Harvest Dinner

Earlier in July I was lucky enough to be invited to Be Wise Ranch's Harvest Dinner. I have talked about Be Wise again and again...their produce and CSA membership is simply wonderful.

The dinner was truly lovely. The farm is very pretty with huge bushes of tomatoes and other wonderful produce everywhere. The farm is in Escondido and began in 1977. Bill Brammer owns the farm and has seen it through many changes over the years. Most recently, The Witch Creek  Fire (which was so damaging to San Diego County) damaged quite a bit of the farm. They are still working through the damage, three years later. Sandra Broussard manages quite a bit of the farms operations, all of the CSA memberships, etc. She is wonderful and you can tell she is very passionate about what she does...as are all of the people at Be Wise. They do not currently have any public viewing available, but you can certainly join their CSA or buy their products at San Diego grocery stores.

For any newbies, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You basically pay a small membership fee and then every week or every other week, you get a huge box of wonderful organic produce. With Be Wise, they have 30-40 drop spots in San Diego County, so you can certainly find a place near to you. I get a large shipment every other week. The shipment is $30. The produce lasts me and my boyfriend for the whole two weeks! It is such a great deal, you get to try such fresh stuff, and you get to try produce you might not normally buy...which leads to creativity in the kitchen! And if you don't live in San Diego, seek out a CSA in your area!  It is so great for the farms, and you get excellent, fresh, in season produce. You will be protecting you and your families health from pesticides and other nasty things that conventional farming does. You will also be helping a local company and saving our environment from all the damaging effects of conventional farming. If you can't join a CSA, at least shop at a farmer's market for your produce. Support local farmers! It is so important. Last, if you can't find a CSA, and you can't find a farmer's market, go to Trader Joe's and look for local produce. Trader Joe's buys some of their produce from Be Wise and I am sure that they practice that in other areas of the country as well.

Please look at their Be Wise's website for lots of history and more information on the CSA.

It is truly amazing that a local farm produces this high quality produce right in a suburb of San Diego in this day and age. Not only do they grow wonderful stuff, they also create a wonderful workplace for their employees...most of their employees have been there at least 15 years!!!!

Now...onto the good stuff!!!!

Here is Sandra giving me a tour of their state of the art packing facility. This is a new building because the original was burned in the fire.

They have lots and lots and lots of tomatoes.....it smelled like blue cheese in there to me strangely, but Sandra said it was all these beauties I was smelling:

Here is the room we had champagne in and also got to hear Bill talk about the farm and how important the CSA program is. They have about 2500 members!!!!

This is where we were setting up along with the caterers, Dining Details

Here are some pictures of the farm in Escondido. Those are all tomatoes! All kinds of varieties.....

The farm is part of the San Pasqual Valley Agricultural Preserve, so they don't own the land, they lease it.

Here is where the dinner was! So whimsical...It really seemed like something out of an Anthropologie Catalog. It kind of reminded me of a scene from the most recent Marie Antoinette movie by Sophia Coppola.

This was the area for the band and cocktail hour. Again, so whimsical with all the random upholstered chairs. I loved it. I really felt like I was in a fairy tale!

Baby lettuce for CSA members....

This piece of equipment actually can fit over and around all those rows of tomatoes for spreading minerals or other natural ingredients to make those maters grow big and juicy!

After my leisurely tour of the farm with Sandra, a bit of panic set in. There were about 25-30 flower arrangements that needed to be made! Sandra asked if I would mind helping and of course I helped! She had a huge box of basil and squash blossoms to mix in with the flowers. It was SO fun. I felt like I must have been in flower heaven. 

Here is where the madness began:

Here are some of the finished products...literally in the nick of time.....

Here is the bar set up complete with white wine, red wine, and a local beer on tap:

And here is the set up with the tables, flowers, etc:

Here is the band...jamming away!

Here are some guests:

This little shrimp and gazpacho was unreal. The soup was nice and chilled and it was great to cool off...it was about 98 degrees out there....

Everyone was called to the table and there were all kinds of little heirloom tomatoes decorating the tables. 

The table also had bread with almonds, various sea salts, and avocado butter. It was all delicious.

The first course of dinner was some kind of shortrib, so I did not try it. 

Next was an "intermezzo" which had tomato granita, dill, cucumbers, and radish. It was so refreshing and even though it was a fancy preparation you really could taste all the vegetables and herbs so well. Dining Details did a great job of using Be Wise produce and really making the natural flavors shine through. 

Next was this salad which was delectable! It had a goat cheese stuffed squash blossom, tomatoes, avocado, green onion, cilantro and grapefruit. It was so interesting with all of these different layers and textures. Plus, if it has goat cheese, it wins me over. 

Then came the main course. There was a vegetarian option of a stuffed tomato, but I love fish. This was wild salmon with a basil and mustard crust, beet risotto, zucchini ribbons, corn puree, and cherry tomatoes. Again, this had so many layers of flavors and textures...and although it was a fancy preparation, all of the flavors of the produce really stood out. 

Last was dessert. We each got two little desserts: peach pie and almond sherry cake with blueberry compote. They were both unreal. 

I feel so lucky to have attended such an eloquent dinner with such a passionate farm. There were so many heartfelt, dedicated people working at the farm, you could feel it in the air. Thank you Sandra for inviting me! 

Here Sandra and I are together:

Thank you Be Wise Ranch for an incredible night, and for bringing me so close to my food. 

The Missing...

Hi Bloggies,

I have been MIA. Why?

• I have been swamped at work.
• I blog on my work computer and have not been bringing it home...because I am so tired at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is get back on my computer.
• My trusty Canon which I have had for YEARS finally bit the dust. 
• I really need a new camera and really want a new computer, the one I have at home is not really worth it's weight in pretzels. 

In other news, we have been having some fun. We went up to Orange County (San Clemente to be precise) for a night because my mom gave us a free hotel room. We ate a massive dinner at a restaurant called "The Fisherman" where we sat on a dock overlooking the Pacific. The view was amazing and dinner consisted of several kinds of crab. It was lovely. On our way home, we poked around San Juan Capistrano and found lots of cute shops and a historic district which were much cuter than I expected.

I have also been experimenting with some of the 5 minute bread recipes. Here are some sandwich buns:

Here is some focaccia 

I also met Mick Jagger and Ron Wood:

Ok, they were impersonators, but it was still fun to meet them! 

This was at a music festival called Fiesta Del Sol in Solana Beach. Aaron and I had a great time. We listened to some great bands, tried some great street food (lots of veggie options for me!) And we bought a really cool father's day gift for my dad. The theme this year was "going off the grid" so they had a ton of eco displays and green vendors. It was a great festival. There are so many in San Diego and they are all kind of the same...crap on a stick for sale, bad cover bands, etc. This was much better with unique vendors and information, great music and delicious food. We also got talked into a timeshare presentation and as a result got a free four day cruise! 

Peroni and I have been going to the beach on the weekends while Aaron works on his car. It's actually been really gloomy lately in my neighborhood. It's June Gloom! It's actually crazy, 90% of San Diego County is Sunny and then 1-2 miles east of the coastline: GREY. 

As if by miracle, the sun came out for our Memorial Day Weekend pool party! It really was unreal...gloomy Friday, gloomy Tuesday, and all three days of the weekend were perfect. 

These are my cute friends at the pool...the Jessica's! 

I made a feast! We had about 15 people. I made tacos with a choice of carne asada (I didn't eat it, I just cooked it), langoustinos, or raw veggies. I also made fresh guacamole with avocados from my CSA and we had an awesome variety of tortillas from Trader Joe's. I was going to make my own tortillas but thought that was a little overboard. :) We also had lots of beer, sangria, sparkling water, etc. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the table and set up...everything was cute and green. 

I bought these vintage green trays at an antique store in San Juan Capistrano the weekend prior. They were $18 for 10. I love them. They are sturdy and reusable...and CUTE! 

I have really been enjoying the farmer's markets here. They are just overflowing with fresh produce and flowers right now and it's been hard to restrain myself especially since I get the CSA package and don't need much else. My fridge is so packed with fresh produce right now, I just want to go home and cook! Seriously, the farmers markets in San Diego are unreal. (Some of the amazing local, organic produce I have right now includes: strawberries, two kinds of cherries, three kinds of lettuce, two kinds of cabbage, purple kale, cucumbers, zucchinis, oranges, lemons  (tons of lemons), grapefruit, sunflower sprouts, baby mixed sprouts and flower petals, watermelon, button mushrooms, asparagus, avocados, carrots, and more I can't think of...)  Hopefully I can take some pictures soon to share because my words don't do the farmer's markets here justice. 

I have been making some delish meals and try to get inspired by my CSA shipments and the farmers markets. Last night was a perfect example of this philosophy:

Fresh fish from the farmers market, mashed potatoes and turnips from the CSA, flowers and green sprouts from the farmer's market, and asparagus from the farmers market. I also made a lemon compote with lemons from Aaron's Dad's house. It was a totaly local meal! And it was wonderful. Just what Aaron and I needed after a rough Monday at work. 

Although I don't have any pictures, Aaron and I have been taking a swing dance class! Tonight is our last class. It has been so much fun! It's a great excuse to get out and dance on a Tuesday night and we usually turn it into date night by grabbing a drink or frozen yogurt on the way home. :)

Here are P-dog and I waiting for my sister and her friend that were shopping (they visited us for a while over Memorial Day weekend from SF)

I will update more and just use my Iphone pictures (that's where all of these photos came from).

Also, hopefully something fantastic will come through at work and I will have a little extra money to buy a new Canon! 

In the meantime, I am so happy to have so much fresh produce to work with in the kitchen and have been really trying to read as much as possible. I also subscribed to two new magazine with GREAT recipes: VegNews and Vegetarian Times. 

Have a lovely day, blog friends!

I'm BAAACK...a dandelion green recipe and I am a hippee...

Hi Bloggies!

I told you I would be busy and my have I been!

Well I am back with some fun posts.

First of all, I just want you to lay your eyes on all of this gorgeous citrus fruit. Some is from my CSA and some is from this cute little stand in Lakeside by Aaron's Dad's House.

Just so you can get an idea about how big this grapefruit is, I put it by Peroni's head. Peroni only weighs 16 lbs, so you get the idea:

I received some dandelion greens in my CSA package about a month ago and wasn't sure what to do with them. You can actually pick dandelion greens around your yard and neighborhood and eat them! They are really bitter, so you if they are young you need to sauté or braise them for a while or if they are more mature, you should boil them for a couple of minutes to get the bitter taste out. I made a gumbo of sorts, inspired by Raechel Ray with lots of twists:

Sauté in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil: 

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small sweet white onion, chopped

2-4 carrots, chopped

1 bell pepper, green or red, roughly chopped

2 small zucchini, cut into half moons

Salt and Pepper

Fresh Herbs (I used thyme and parsley)

After veggies soften (5-7 minutes) , add in one bunch dandelion greens (stemmed, rinsed, and roughly chopped) and saute until soft (2-3 minutes).

Stir in one tablespoon of flour and let it cook out (this is for thickening) for about 2 minutes.

Add a 1/2 cup of white wine. Let that cook off for about 2-3 minutes.

Add in one large can of chopped tomatoes, or diced (I used Trader Joe's canned marinara sauce)Add in 2 cups of stock or water. (I used a vegetarian bullion cube with some water).

Add in as much liquid as you want...more for a thinner texture or less for a thicker texture.

This made about 5 servings for us. 

We served ours topped with some Israeli Cous Cous mixed with chopped fresh parsley and lemon. 

This was delish! Even Aaron liked it. It would be good with any kind of greens and I think you could use rice, regular cous cous, some orzo pasta, etc. You can also use whatever veggies you have on hand. Everything in mine was from the CSA with the exception of the onions and garlic. Yum!

OK, and here is why I am a hippee:

I bought some reusable silverware (which I am just leaving at my desk at work for lunches, etc.) and a little sandwich bag. It's wasteful to use baggies all the time and plastic silver wear is expensive and wasteful. This little bamboo set works great!

I haven't tried the sandwich bag yet. It's washable, which is nice.

Last, I tried oats in a jar. It's all the rage in the blog world. You basically take your nut butter jar that is basically empty but has some remnants leftover and add hot oats to it. I also added some strawberries in mine.

Verdict

I am NOT a fan. I had oats and almond butter all over my hand by the time I was done and had more oats left over in the jar than I did nut butter in my stomach. Waste of time. I will stick to eating my oats in bowl. 

More to come!