Hello from Northern California!

[mariesdoats]

Hi All-- just a quick hello to let you all know that I've been enjoying reading your posts. I'm an avid baker, as well as cooking for friends and family and enjoying discoveries and new adventures in the many cookbooks on the too many bookshelves of cookbooks. Other than that, I like gadgets of every sort, including pots and pans and whatnot, as well as: hiking and the great (remote wildernesses) and small (backyard gardens) outdoors. I am a botanist by profession and currently staff at a botanical garden. So: the good life, pretty much all around. 

[Kim Shook]

Welcome, @mariesdoats!  Loved looking at your cake on the dessert thread.  You are very accomplished!  Enjoy!

[eugenep]

Hmmm..I wonder if that's the Botanical Gardens of San Francisco. 

 

Doesn't SF have a very large foodie culture? 

 

I am interested to hear what's the current food scene like if you happen to have a sense/intuition about it 

 

thanks 

[Okanagancook]

Welcome.

Lots of great threads both new and old.

Jump in.  We don’t bite.😀

[Smithy]

Welcome! 

[kayb]

Welcome! Happy to hear any tips regarding small backyard gardens. I'm gardenless this year (moving this weekend!) but will be laying out and preparing a series of raised beds this fall for next year!

 

[mariesdoats]

On 5/29/2019 at 1:03 PM, eugenep said:

Hmmm..I wonder if that's the Botanical Gardens of San Francisco. 

 

Doesn't SF have a very large foodie culture? 

 

I am interested to hear what's the current food scene like if you happen to have a sense/intuition about it 

 

thanks 

I’m actually about 1.5 hours away, at UC Davis! we have a 100-acre garden here. But yes yes— San Francisco, Napa County, and much of northern California has a very active, thriving food culture. Closer to home, Davis has a very large Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, just around the corner from where I live— indeed, our front yard is a CSA veggie box drop off spot for close friends who are local farmers, so it’s all I can do to keep up with the fresh produce, when a box or two is left behind. (we get the “leftover” boxes for free if no one has picked them up by Sunday at noon). I’ll post a photo from one particularly crazy week, if I can figure out how... good thing I like cooking, is all I can say!😉

Edited May 30, 2019 by mariesdoats (log)

[Smithy]

Wow, that's a lot of produce! Are you indicating that that was a Sunday leftovers haul?

 

Next question: any idea what type of apricots those are in the bottom photo? Whether or not you know the variety, please describe them. They look soft, juicy and fragile - like the type I grew up with in California, and unlike what I see in grocery stores. I'm fantasizing here - but if you burst my fantasy bubble, I'll survive.  

[mariesdoats]

On 5/29/2019 at 1:11 PM, Okanagancook said:

Welcome.

Lots of great threads both new and old.

Jump in.  We don’t bite.😀

 

I’ll thank everyone here who chimed in— thanks all for the warm welcome. I also wanted to say @Okanagancook that I spent a very happy 4 months living at a field station (wildlife biology! marine botany! oh my!) on Vancouver Island, not too far from Qualicum Bay, when I was a  college student. Just such a wonderful incredible experience— oh.my.god., the salmon. Plus: I learned to make Nanaimo Bars... which are just *crazy*. You people! oh sure, Canadians seem so lovely and sedate and reasonable and calm, and then you take a bite of that for the first time as a teen. “Who ARE you?”

[mariesdoats]

1 minute ago, Smithy said:

Wow, that's a lot of produce! Are you indicating that that was a Sunday leftovers haul?

 

Next question: any idea what type of apricots those are in the bottom photo? Whether or not you know the variety, please describe them. They look soft, juicy and fragile - like the type I grew up with in California, and unlike what I see in grocery stores. I'm fantasizing here - but if you burst my fantasy bubble, I'll survive.  

Yeah, crazy,.... those were the free Sunday boxes. I cook like a madman on Sundays like that, but still often have to give some away. Luckily, I go to the gym at 7 am Monday morning, and there are always staff who will grab anything I bring in.

 

But, just to be clear: many weekends, there is nothing at all there left behind and then I am kinda kicking myself for not picking up anything at the Saturday market. It’s always a gamble to skip the market. Short version: three day weekends are the best for leftovers; people forget to tell Jeff and Annie that they will be gone.

 

And: yes, those are the unforgettable, fragrant, delicate and irresistable Blenheim apricots from Winters and the nearby Capay Valley. Winters gets the earliest crop in the whole country— something about that little pocket of warmth and sunshine in the Inner Coast Ranges. I made ice cream, jam, desserts, and enjoyed fresh of course. Those are one item that NEVER gets away; the season is so so brief.

[mariesdoats]

19 hours ago, kayb said:

Welcome! Happy to hear any tips regarding small backyard gardens. I'm gardenless this year (moving this weekend!) but will be laying out and preparing a series of raised beds this fall for next year!

 

@kayb - my husband is the gardener this year; my work keeps me too busy to garden much (at home!) anymore.The good and bad news at work is that they transferred oversight of the whole 5300 acres of campus to our small team “because you are doing such a great job”. Yikes.

 

Maybe a home garden soon, however. I am also thinking of putting in a big flower garden next fall. So: Happy Planning to you! It’s almost the best part, the anticipating and imagining. As we like to joke at work:  “Definition: “A perennial” - a plant that—had it lived—would have bloomed year after year after year.” .... You might have to be a gardener to think that is funny. 

[Smithy]

12 minutes ago, mariesdoats said:

 “Definition: “A perennial” - a plant that—had it lived—would have bloomed year after year after year.” .... You might have to be a gardener to think that is funny. 

 

I think it's pretty funny, and I am the most casual of gardeners, so it doesn't take much gardening knowledge to appreciate it.  

 

Ah, those Blenheims! The last time I managed to lay my hands on some - I spent most of the summer in the San Joaquin Valley that year - I got a load of those lovely fruits. If you haven't tried making semifreddo with them, I recommend giving it a try. I got the idea from a Fine Cooking magazine, issue 124. Here's a link to their current article about it, complete with video: How to Make Semifreddo. In rereading the recipe I see they say not to use fresh apricots. I don't recall minding the "icy texture" one bit when I used the puree.

[Okanagancook]

@mariesdoats Vancouver Island is special.  If you like wine touring and enjoying biking and hiking consider a visit to the Okanagan.  Our wines are world class.  Not too far from SF and oh, the exchange rate 😍

On the excess produce topic, a little town south of here has started a drop box...if you have extra produce you take it there and anyone can help themselves.  A perfect idea because many folks have yard fruit trees which produce way more fruit than most can use.

[suzilightning]

@mariesdoats, all I can say is WOW!!!  Beautiful produce to someone who has a black thumb.  I'm waiting for the 4.99 basil bowl I bought to croak.

 

...and all I can think of is the song that my grandfather would sing to us … NO not "The men with the hairy ears"!

[SandyKate]

welcome!!!

[liuzhou]

On 5/31/2019 at 4:47 AM, mariesdoats said:

“Definition: “A perennial” - a plant that—had it lived—would have bloomed year after year after year.” .... You might have to be a gardener to think that is funny. 

 

 

My "garden" consists of eight pots on the balcony, all containing edibles. A miniature lime tree I grew from a pip (not fruiting), an avocado plant I grew from a stone (not fruiting), a bucket of mint* and a the rest is pots of basil plants.

I have grown many "perennials" over the years (according to that definition) and will continue to do so.

 

* I keep reading that mint is almost impossible to kill. If anyone wants their mint killed, I'm your man! I treat it as a perennial. That gets rid of it!