eG Foodblog: Chardgirl - 21st Century Peasant

[rancho_gordo]

Is that shiso?

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nope, it's not shiso or lambsquarters... good guesses though!

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Stinging nettles?

[kellycolorado]

Thankyou for the beautiful, beautiful photos. Although it's bittersweet as I sit her in the frozen tundra. I still wouldn't mind some gelato from Ciao Bella right now though.

I wish I could run down and buy some of that produce right now (and spend way too much money in the Marketplace... sigh.)

Your broccoli looks amazing and I love the looks of that veggie/grain salad a few pages back. Thanks for sharing!

-Kelly

[fou de Bassan]

Chardgirl,

Thanks so much for the time and effort you've put into this blog! Especially considering your regular day is chock full. We appreciate the words and beautiful, beautiful photos.

I'm going to guess epazote (and be wrong, I think).

[chardgirl]

Is that shiso?

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nope, it's not shiso or lambsquarters... good guesses though!

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Stinging nettles?

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Yes, stinging nettles! This photo is from Star Route's stinging nettles basket. We don't have any right now. For anyone not aquainted with them: click

[chardgirl]

Hi Chardgirl, thank you for all the wonderful photos and commentary.

I loved seeing some of the mole prep.  At your big cookout on Sunday how was the mole served?  Was is a sauce for the goat or some other meat or was it served on its own?

Was it warm enough to sit outside down there or did you have to squeeze inside?  (I was up in Berkeley for most of the day and it was crystal clear but pretty nippy there!)

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The mole question is an excellent one. Here's what Mr. Chardgirl and I did that we will do differently next time:

The birria/goat was prepared by Don Miguel. (Don is like 'mr.' we call him that since he's older than us). The 'sides' were prepared by Maria and Lourdes. Although all three of them are from the same area of Michoacan, they are from different families. So Maria and Lourdes made a mole and a salsa verde (the tomatillo one) Don Miguel made a salsa to go with the birria. So we were heavy on the salsas. My plate #1 of food was 2 kinds of beans, and 2 salsas. It was delicious just like that! I'm light on the photos since I was in the heady steam of being hostess/Detail Matrix.

So! To answer your question: the mole didn't specifically go with the birria, but it was great with the beans.

Yes, we ate outside. It wasn't quite as chilly as Saturday was. It was a gloriously clear day. That is, until the neighbors kids and their three friends hopped on their very LOUD dirt bikes. But I'll spare all of you the ugly litiginous details. (I know, I use big words but don't know how to spell them...)

Guests entered the house at their own risk as I didn't have enough time to truly clean it up. Everyone was marvelously gracious though. and they LOVED seeing the goats.

[chardgirl]

Chardgirl,

Thanks so much for the time and effort you've put into this blog!  Especially considering your regular day is chock full.  We appreciate the words and beautiful, beautiful photos. 

I'm going to guess epazote (and be wrong, I think).

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epazote photo

Edited December 6, 2005 by chardgirl (log)

[chardgirl]

A bit like lambs' quarters, though more regular and deeper serration to the leaves than I recall.

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Lambsquarters

[rancho_gordo]

Do you have a good shot of your booth? I don't think people understand quite how beautiful your food is. Normally it's like a bee hive and you can't see all the good produce but if you get there early it's pretty breathtaking, and as enjoyable as your blog as been, I don't think it's demonstrated quite what artists you and Andy are! I have no problem tooting your horn if you won't.

Mariquita is "heavy hitter" on the local food scene because their product is excellent and they're such great people.

ChardieGirl- I copied you and had your broccoli and Fatted Calf products for dinner. I had the crepinettes (sp) and beans as the starch. Oink for joy!

[chardgirl]

Do you have a good shot of your booth? I don't think people understand quite how beautiful your food is. Normally it's like a bee hive and you can't see all the good produce but if you get there early it's pretty breathtaking, and as enjoyable as your blog as been, I don't think it's demonstrated quite what artists you and Andy are! I have no problem tooting your horn if you won't.

Mariquita is "heavy hitter" on the local food scene because their product is excellent and they're such great people.

ChardieGirl- I copied you and had your broccoli and Fatted Calf products for dinner. I had the crepinettes (sp) and beans as the starch. Oink for joy!

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thanks for tooting my horn! you're too sweet.

[chardgirl]

Meals on Monday: left overs Breakfast and lunch. Dinner? a glass of 'leftover' wine that I REALLY enjoyed that someone left behind yesterday: Rodney Strong 1999 reserve cabarnet sonoma county. there you have it, don't ask me to describe it, except I think I tasted oak.

Dinner besides wine: leftovers for kids and Mr. Chardgirl. Really good leftovers. Me? to the movies with 'the girls'. My three friends who are all teachers, we've known each other since before husbands/kids. We're going to see Pride and Prejudice, so I'm having popcorn (over priced though it is) for dinner. Don't tell me you've never done that!

more Ferry Plaza photos when I return tonight. We've been doing that market since it started in (1991?) something like that. I have too many photos that I want to share. Stay tuned!

cg

[rjwong]

Thank you for the blog, chardgirl! It truly has been very educational to me.

Now, back to learning and eating my vegetables...

[chardgirl]

more photos....

Our broccoli di cicco, one of our 'signature' crops along with erbette chard. There are other farmers that grow both of these items, but we seem to pile these two items very high at market!

Bloody Marys at the Slanted Door. Todd and I had our little lunch at the bar (no waiting): we had tea. But the bartender made at least 8 bloody marys right in front of us, and each time got out 2 pickle jars: pickled carrots and dilly beans: they were Todd's! That made T. happy. We sipped tea and watched the bloody marys get passed about....

eating the crispy imperial roll: the photo as it came out of the kitchen is in a previous post in this blog. You wrap up the actual fried roll with some noodles, a mint leaf all inside of a lettuce leaf then dip the whole thing.

my friend Lee at Tierra Vegetables:

PHEW! I took so many photos on Saturday. And more on Sunday too. I had to be a strict editor, that part was difficult.

Kids and cooking? I think they did make something this evening that involved tofu and hopefully delicious next day beans!

until tomorrow morning.

cg

[chardgirl]

Recipes... I think I was supposed to give more recipes?

Here's one for Greens Tacos: one of my favorite way to eat my leafy greens at breakfast or dinner.

And our a-z recipepage with over 90 buttons of different vegetables to click: some of the pages are lots of information/recipes on them!

cg

[misgabi]

Gorgeous blog. Love the pic of (eatwell -I hope!!!) that had the butternut pumpkin (squash in the good old US of A). My most favourite veg - do you grow it??? use it??

Just curious

[IrishCream]

I'm getting nervous that we won't see the whole goat BBQ before the noon deadline. I so want to see it in all its glory.

[chardgirl]

More on the goat roast: thanks for your patience

Montalayo filling: it's the haggis of Mexico! (one of you already noticed that above...) this mixture is put in the scrubbed out goat stomach: it has potatoes, onions, fresh oregano, fresh thyme and marjoram, chopped up heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, one of the stomachs that in Spanish is called librillo, all chopped up and stuffed inside the stomach:

Don Miguel scrubbing out the stomach, using 'cal' or lime the mineral:

all stuffed and ready to drop in the pot:

Dropping into the pot of birria to steam on top:

[chardgirl]

a bit more on the goat roast:

How we heated the tortillas: I didn't get a photo of Paula actually heating them, but here's a photo of the old disk that we use to heat them over an open fire:

and here's a photo from a 2004 event so you can see how we do it. (Also notice that there's no fence in the background but there are weeds... since then we've built the fence and the weeds are gone thanks to the goats!)

[chardgirl]

The table was set: (the chairs were vegetable totes)

By this time of the day I was petering out but also still attending to many details... sorry about the few photos of the actual plate of food. I'll do better documenting my next goat roast, even if I'm not blogging!

Here's 1/2 of the dessert: this goat roast was put on for one of our slow food conviviums, we belong to 3 total. this one is the greater bay area food professional one, and the chef from Piatti Santa Clara came and brought this: (he also brought some delicious sticky buns for the morning cooking crew, they were eaten so fast there's no photo):

also our friend Robert who's one of the 2 founders of Scharffen Berger Chocolate came and brought some private stash 2 different dark chocolates, I liked one of them very much: I think it was a 70% varietal, but again, I was so busy with other details I didn't get the name or a photo! but that was the other half of dessert.

I will continue to look for photos and try to post at least a couple more before noon. Right now the chef orders/invoices, the fight erupting RIGHT NOW over the lego advent calendar and my kids lunch for their one day of school are all calling me, I'll be back before noon and see how much more I can pull off! Ask questions now or forever hold your peace....

cg

[ludja]

...!

Here's 1/2 of the dessert: this goat roast was put on for one of our slow food conviviums, we belong to 3 total. this one is the greater bay area food professional one, ...

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I hesitate to post a question b/c your schedule sounds pretty full right now...

Maybe Soba will consider leaving the blog open for an extra half day???

My question was about the three different slow food conviviums you belong to. You mentioned the "food professional" group and I was wondering if you could describe the other two a bit as well.

Thanks again! Looking forward to other goat roast pix if they make it in! Good luck with your busy day as well.

[rjwong]

FYI I'm certain there are a number of discussion threads about goat, including this one being shamelessly plugged by yours truly.

[whatsup1]

Great blog, and I love your website.

[chardgirl]

...!

Here's 1/2 of the dessert: this goat roast was put on for one of our slow food conviviums, we belong to 3 total. this one is the greater bay area food professional one, ...

←

I hesitate to post a question b/c your schedule sounds pretty full right now...

Maybe Soba will consider leaving the blog open for an extra half day???

My question was about the three different slow food conviviums you belong to. You mentioned the "food professional" group and I was wondering if you could describe the other two a bit as well.

Thanks again! Looking forward to other goat roast pix if they make it in! Good luck with your busy day as well.

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It's ok, I'm here for the next 2 hours and can answer questions... and even hopefully post my beautiful cheese plate with cut oranges I hope to have for a brunch with Mr. Chardgirl: all before noon! (soba A.: no need to change)

Re: Slow Food Conviviums: we belong to the food professional one because those are our colleagues up in SF: pastry chefs, chef chefs, cookbook writers, jam makers, etc etc. they have a few 'educational' events for their members which I really enjoy when I can make it to them: one they had last year that I missed was a fermentation workshop: they brought sauerkraut, beer, and all kinds of other fermented items and discussed them. I'm in the middle of trying to strongarm Harold McGee (he's already agreed in principle) to have a Q & A session with him that we could use as a fundraiser as Slowfood Intl (Carlo's directive) so they can invite lots of Kenyan farmers (I think it's Kenya) to next year's Terra Madre: a big conference that was held last year just for farmers and producers of food. I got to go! It was great! But that's another discussion for another time.

The other two conviviums we belong to are our local ones: Slow Food Monterey Bayled by Kim and George: they have low-cost dinners in their home and other evnets: and they've adopted a local Watsonville school garden as their 'project': their members have gone out to at least one work day to help build raised beds and they raise money and get materials donated.

The other convivium we belong to is Slow Food Carmel: run by our friend Gaby. she does all kinds of things down there, and she adopted a shrimp boat that was a family run operation and inspired Mr. Chardgirl and I to adopt a farm like our own. We raised $1000 at a dinner for them with Anne Gingrass at Desiree last month! And I got to wait tables and I didn't spill wine on anyone....

[Lori in PA]

Hello, from a fellow homeschooler -- we're in our 13th year. You spoke of cooking with your kids. Do you plan particular times to do this, complete with a plan for what you want to teach, or does it just happen serendipitously? My personal experience: during the school year, I do most dinner cooking and the kids fix their own breakfasts and lunches for the most part. In the summer, I have a little more time flexibility and often work with one child at a time teaching particular cooking skills.

[Pan]

It's been really interesting to follow the life of a farm wife for a week. I expect this will really humanize the experience of vegetable-buying for many of us.

[chardgirl]

Gorgeous blog.    Love the pic of (eatwell -I hope!!!) that had the butternut pumpkin (squash in the good old US of A).  My most favourite veg - do you grow it???  use it??

Just curious

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Yes, we grow butternut squash. Here's my recipe pageand here's a photo.

The chefs love this versatile vegetable because of it's smooth skin you can peel it quickly. And the neck is dense so you can do different things with the cutting up of it. And it's got gorgeous orange flesh and a great flavor. it's my favorite too!