One Last Time: A Trip to the Vineyard!

We actually "discovered" St. Francis Wine back in Cincinnati in our neighborhood wine shop. Dave (the owner) casually said one day- "I think you would like this wine- and it's really underpriced- It won't stay this cheap for long." It was actually the "wine" of the month at Dave's store and we had recently joined his wine club. Well, we loved it- and Dave was right- it didn't stay that cheap for long. The last time we I looked at the wine store in Cincinnati it was $24.00 a bottle. At least here we can get it for about $16. So it's not what you would call cheap but it sure is good. I wonder how much of it will make it home with us. It became that wine we saved for only special occasions- just the two of us. Not here in San Francisco - We take that drive up to Sonoma and load the case- after case- into the trunk of the car. Here is our house wine- shoot- we might open a bottle any ole day of the week- with nothing particular to celebrate. So we took the last trip to Sonoma and paid our last visit to the winery- and loaded the last cases into the trunk that will make the trip across several state lines on our trip home.

My first trip to St. Francis was exactly 1 year and 9 days ago when our dear friend Gay was here to visit. It should be noted that when "we" go to wine tastings at the wineries, Max et.al. does the tasting and I do the driving.

This time Don and I decided to go for the wine and food pairing- always a treat! Four wines- and four delicious bites from a great chef. Such a wonderful way to say goodbye! Ok, so I did do some tasting at this one, but we also had food, so it wasn't exactly just drinking since the food does tend to moderate the effects of a few swallows of wine.


As I was wandering around the grounds (and Don was making our last purchase) the song "I left my heart in San Francisco" kept playing and replaying in my mind- and I felt sad one more time. San Francisco is the only city I've ever loved- and it's hard to leave a love- especially a first love- a young love. Why I was only 19 when I fell in love with this city- and there isn't anything quite like a summer love (ask me- I finally married mine!) (I thought I was a first love. We dated when we were 17- we actually fell in love the summer of our 17th year- and that was two years before she met San Francisco.) (I just love that Don is jealous- of a city- isn't this just so wonderful!) Oh I'm so grateful for the opportunity to really know this city I love- But oh it does make the leaving sad- when I stop to pause- and remember the moments of this year. And before I get really sad at these moments (that keep coming a bit more often the shorter the time is I have here) well I just start singing another song- "And if you can't be with the one you love, Love the one you're with" so here's to Cincinnati- the one I'll be with, and love!
So on those cold nights in Cincinnati, I'll sip a glass of St. Francis and think about "this city on the hill with the morning fog..."

One Last Time: A Trip to the Market!

We are so close to our return to Cincinnati now. And so lately here when we do something it is something we're doing for the VERY LAST TIME. Saturday was one of those days. It was off to the Farmer's Market in the Ferry Building.


I love the Farmer's Market- In fact I think looking at vegetables is rather like walking through a flower garden- Don would tease me in Cincinnati because when we would grow tomatoes- or peppers- I wouldn't pick them because I liked to look at them on the plant- just like looking at flowers. They are beautiful!

All the bright colors!

So we bought leeks and sweet potatoes and tomatoes (the absolutely very last of the season here) and sugar snap peas. San Francisco has a LONG GROWING SEASON- I'm going to miss this. But we'll take somethings home with us- like the joy of a Farmer's Market- and I've found a blog for Cincinnati's Locavore's-
http://cincinnatilocavore.blogspot.com/
and I found a CSA- Community Supported Agriculture to join when I return. But I digress.

What Max didn't say here was that she was trying to take this locavore thing to a bit of an extreme as we return to Cincinnati. By that I mean local in our back yard. To be more precise, I was supposed to plant a large garden in our yard, take care of it, weed it, and harvest it. That makes me the local part. I used to garden a lot. When I was little, we all had to chip in and work in Dad's garden. We turned the soil with spades and rakes, and then we were in the garden, stooped over picking green beans, okra, tomatoes, radishes, peppers, onions, and whatever else was planted. It was hot, humid, itchy, and certainly not much fun. I asked Max if she was going to take care of that garden in August when things ripened, the temperature is in the 90's, the humidity is in the 90's and the mosquito's are very very hungry. Consequently, she is now looking for a local "CSA" that will do all of that for her for a price - something that will most likely exceed what we want and cost more than normal, but Barbara Kingsolver would be proud because we will be locavores.

We brought the the vegetables home and I made the MOST INCREDIBLE "Leek and Chard Tart" or as Don said- "Onion Pie". Onions in an egg base all in a pie crust is an onion pie.

So here goes: I found the recipe on:
http://confessionsoftart.blogspot.com/2008/10/leek-and-swiss-chard-tart-or-is-it.html

And mostly followed her approach.

First you make the crust- a butter crust. I'm gradually moving entirely to the butter category. I've been rather on the fence- and usually mix it up with half butter and half Crisco for the crusts- but the flavor from an all butter is to die for- and with some practice it is just as flaky as the ones with Crisco- and I keep thinking- would I spread Crisco on a piece of bread- and when I stop to think how disgusting that sounds- I think about spreading butter on the bread and the smile comes all over my face.
So I'm going to just move to butter for pies (I still toy with the idea of lard for biscuits but Don keeps discouraging me- and usually I am persuaded.) Note that she doesn't mention spreading lard on a piece of bread and eating it. But to the butter- I am on board.

So here is the recipe:

Leek and Chard Tart:

Crust:
Mix 1 and 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 tsp of salt.
Add in 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp of butter (you got it- this crust has BUTTER) cut into small pieces.
Using a pastry blender (I use a pastry fork- just looks like a big serving fork) to blend the butter into the flour. You probably could use a food processor- but I don't. But you blend the butter into the flour until the butter pieces are not larger than a small pea.
Now you add 1/3 cup of ice water.
NOTE: The butter should be VERY COLD- and the water should be VERY COLD. And you don't want to overwork a crust. So add the ice water and toss just to mix- I needed more than a 1/3 of water- so I add a tbsp at a time- careful not to overwork- or to make too wet.
And then you form the dough into a disk- wrap in plastic wrap and put into refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (I went for a 2 hour walk down on the Marina with Don.)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
After the dough is chilled- roll out to a circle larger than your tart pan (or pie pan or quiche pan- any will work for this). And place crust in the pan.
Bake the crust for 25 minutes. (This blog suggests that you cover the bottom with a buttered piece of aluminum foil for the first 20 minutes). Ann Waters in THE ART OF SIMPLE FOOD does not prebake the crust for her tart- but she doesn't use eggs in hers.

Filling:
3 pieces of bacon cut into small pieces (We used the Niman Ranch bacon- which is VERY ANIMAL FRIENDLY- I'm trying to use only "happy" eggs- and "happy" pigs in this house.) But vegetarians can skip this and use a tbsp of butter instead.
3 leeks (white and light green part cut in small slices). Cook until the leeks glisten and are soft.

And then add 1/2 bunch of swiss chard cut in small pieces.

Saute until chard is limp. Spread mixture on the crust.

Whisk 5 eggs and 1 cup of milk and salt and pepper together. Pour over the vegetable mixture.

Now place the tart in a oven that has been preheated to 375 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees for 30 minutes- until eggs are set. (At this point we had a real disaster- somehow- not sure how- the oven turned off- and we waited for 30 minutes- while the tart sat in a cooling oven- but by this time it is getting very late- and we are getting very hungry - long walks on the Marina sure do delay dinner- so I turned the oven up and just baked- and the tart did just fine!) This dinner finally was served at about 9:30, but it was awfully good.

And it tasted incredible- and was still just as good when I had it for lunch today. So bake one soon- or just schedule a visit to see us in Cincinnati- and request the tart!

Anniversary Album: Matthew and Sharon

Wow! Did I ever get derailed! Not that this is a new or novel experience for me- derailment- is one of my solid strengths! But I was on a roll! I'd loaded the pictures for this blog, And then suddenly there was the election, And of course now I have lots of time since I'm not on the Internet checking and rechecking the news, the polls, And then rechecking the news, the polls. Now with not so very much to do I've had a work stoppage. And so I try to find my place, my train of thought, because after all- Matthew and Sharon have been safely back in NYC for two weeks. So let's see if I can conjure up the memories. Well, I'll give it a try.

First, it was SO MUCH FUN to spend the actual day of the FIRST ANNIVERSARY with Matthew and Sharon- especially given that we didn't spend THE actual WEDDING DAY with them- elopement rather interrupted that. Now I did suggest to Don that perhaps it would be more fitting if we just sent Matthew and Sharon off to a romantic dinner alone for their anniversary- and he looked at me like I was OUT OF MY MIND- why, he said. Why would we even consider that- when we wanted to spend the evening with them- why would we even give them the option. He had a point- and we didn't give them the option. And it was romantic- in fact I think probably now everyone that reads this will rush to celebrate ALL ANNIVERSARIES with the parents and parents-in-law.
We went to a great restaurant called Absinthe- a great little restaurant here in San Francisco (which of course has no shortage of "great little restaurants").
We started with a champagne toast!

See I told you this was a romantic dinner! It started off terrific!

Don't the BRIDE AND GROOM make some handsome couple?!

And the food was terrific!

And Matthew did try the absinthe (absinthe is said to have psychoactive properties and was banned in much of Europe and the United States in early 1900's. But it's making a come back- and is now widely available in Europe- the 1990's and now the US- 2007). The picture above reflects the way we were told by the waitress to made an absinthe cocktail. Absinthe is in the bottom of this glass. That's a sugar cube on top of a strainer over the absinthe. The method is to add water to the sugar cube which dissolves and drips into the absinthe. He was advised to add some sugar, taste it, and then add more sugar if desired. Apparently this stuff tastes pretty powerful and the sugar is added to make it palatable. I have to tell you though- it would be real difficult to evaluate for psychoactive properties using Matthew as the only subject in a trial. He acted the same before and after. Whether or not he was under some psychoactive influence is always hard to tell with Matthew. I couldn't tell if he liked it- or rather liked the novelty of it.

And there was of course chocolate at the end- what first anniversary would be complete without chocolate.

We cooked at home for breakfast the MORNING AFTER the FIRST ANNIVERSARY- And I do believe that Matthew and Sharon might be the only couple that we would dare fix "Poached Eggs on Brussel Sprouts" to start the day.

But Matthew and Sharon didn't bat an eye- in fact they pronounced it absolutely wonderful (Don won't go that far with this particular breakfast- but he was trying to impress Matthew and Sharon so he didn't forgo the Brussel sprouts for the usual fried potatoes on the side- usually it's NO SPROUTS FOR BREAKFAST- but not with Matthew and Sharon in town!)
But we did have homemade biscuits and preserves- just in case.

And then we were off for the day. In retrospect I think I operated much like a wedding photographer- albeit with much less equipment. I did make Sharon and Matthew stop and pose in front of every scenic pause during the next two days of seeing the sights of San Francisco- the bridge (of course), Berkeley Botanical Garden (of course for our resident arborist), Japanese Garden, and the just opened Academy of Science with it's Living Roof!






AND THEN WE WENT TO DINNER AT THE REAL ALICE WATERS' RESTAURANT, CHEZ PANISSE.

Now I know that some of you haven't been following the life and career of one Alice Waters- and the revolution she started in food/restaurants. But Alice Waters is the absolute ULTIMATE of the EAT LOCAL AND ORGANIC AND HUMANE AND SUSTAINABLE movement- she did SLOW FOOD before there was SLOW FOOD. And she does know presentation, presentation, presentation!

This display- with the apple tart for the evening sat on the bar between the kitchen and the dining room as we walked to our table! WOW!

I don't think I could have talked Don into this little adventure if it hadn't been for Sharon- or maybe he would have gone with me and then scowled the whole time. But with Sharon and Matthew. Don had a great time! He was the most adventuresome in his selection. How about those squid? I'm certain those squid were sustainable, local (from the bay?) and certainly organic. Those little squid were certainly not treated with any of those awful chemicals. And I'll bet they were happy squid just before they got thrown in the boiling water.

And before this dining experience I'd never even heard of "Wild Nettles" much less had "Wild Nettles Pizza"- though the oysters in the picture (farmed just north of San Francisco) are always a favorite of Sharon, Matthew and me- Don won't touch them! And I'll bet those "wild nettles" were organic and totally unaware that they were being grown just to be put on a pizza. I believe most farmers spray the wild nettles to keep them out of their pasture. We got a pizza.

And of course there was wine!

And beer!


And of course enjoying our special company!

And dessert!

We tried 4 different deserts! As you might guess from all of this, organic, natural, sustainable, or slow doesn't necessarily mean inexpensive. I know for a fact that Alice was very proud of this food and consequently, was reluctant to give it up without a price to match.

And Sharon and I left with copies- autographed copies- of Alice Waters' most recent book.

I think we might become Alice Waters' groupies!

We Interupt This Blog For An Unpaid Political Announcement: We Did It!

First I want to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to Mary Jo Peairs in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mary Jo- You did it! And I am forever grateful. Mary Jo and her husband, Don, were early supporters of Obama- way back when- way back when you didn't have to fight crowds to hear him speak- way back when most people weren't even paying that much attention. But Mary Jo and Don were- paying attention- and doing the work that ultimately gave us all this glorious morning. I was lucky enough to reach Mary Jo by phone last night- she sounded really busy- and it was late in Cincinnati. The Peairs home was the Obama Headquarters for our neighborhood- Wyoming- and they were celebrating their BIG SUCCESS!

And I want the world to know that MY GRANDDAUGHTER and GRANDSON (with their mother, aunt, uncle, and cousins) were cheering Obama on in Colorado just days before the election! I am so very proud that Marianne- my spontaneous and passionate daughter-in-law, and most importantly the mother of my wonderful GRANDDAUGHTER AND GRANDSON- upon hearing that Obama was in town didn't hesitate a moment- and headed the group of 3 adults and 2 toddlers and 2 babies- one only 4 weeks old- off to this historic moment.

You can really see the enthusiasm of Hayes, our grandson!

And what fun all this new fangled technology- update to the minute cell phone calls from Brandy in Las Vegas and blog updates from Matthew in NYC and text messages from Amber as she waited in Grant Park in Chicago for OBAMA to arrive- and the official celebration began!

And we had such a great time sharing this exciting evening with, Betty, a very special lady- and our good friend. Betty is 89 years old and she said this was the very first election she has followed so closely. She is a cable news addict extraordinaire. Her late husband was a West Point graduate, a retired general and a decorated veteran of three wars. She lost one son when he was piloting a spy plane over Russia 30+ years ago that was shot down. Her youngest son interrupted college to become a Dust Off pilot in Vietnam rescuing over 3000 wounded young men. Betty is a talented artist- and one of the smartest people I have ever met- and an enthusiastic Obama supporter! We felt so lucky to share this excitement with her in her home.

We popped the top on the champagne early!

And we finished the champagne and then started on the Vermouth, nibbled on crackers and cheese while we waited for the BIG MOMENT!

When we finally got home it was too late for supper- but not too late for the all American Apple Pie.


But I wasn't really prepared for how pensive I would feel this morning.

But first- the very best part of waking up this morning- was not the realization that we would have Obama as our next President- but rather was not being a wakened by Don experiencing crushing chest pain. I did not call 911. I did not ride in the back of the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I did not wait numbly in a waiting room while the doctors rushed him to the cath lab to save his life. We can now rest a bit easier- At least when Democrats are elected President, the next morning starts much more gently, quietly, peacefully. I like these kind of mornings!

But now to start again- I wasn't really prepared for how pensive I would feel this morning. I didn't vote for Obama because he was a Black man- any more than I would have voted against him because he was. For me it was all about the issues- the economy, the wars, education, health care. But in the end today I haven't been thinking about the issues. I've been thinking about the man, this first Black Man to be elected to the Presidency of the United Stated of America. I am so very proud. My goodness, I don't think I ever really thought it possible during my lifetime. I grew up in Tulsa- and for my first 18 1/2 years I never sat in the same room with a black person- much less talk to a black person. Don and I spent 12 years in the Tulsa Public Schools- yet were never told that in 1921 our city had been home to the very worst race riot in the history of the country that resulted in the loss of 75-300 lives, over 1000 homes -the destruction of a healthy middle class Black community that left over 10,000 black people homeless. Our white world was very, very separate from the black world. And then I went to college and OU and my world so suddenly changed. And now I revisit all those moments and am so very proud- proud of my country- and proud of the hard work that this country has done these last decades. We've come such a long, long way. I still get teary eyed when I think of Colin Powell and his family crying with the news that the FIRST BLACK MAN is our new President Elect. I'm so very proud. Oh I don't think for a minute that the troubled history of our great nation is settled once and for all- But for today I am just so very proud. And so grateful that I got to live this moment. It really is true that in this country anything is possible. I've see it! And our two newspapers have already been requested by Amber- who will be saving them- because the whole country knows that this moment is indeed extraordinary.

Matthew Sharon and Big Trees

The other part of our trip to the Sierra mountains involved visiting Sequoia National Park, the place where the largest trees in the world grow. These are the Giant Sequoia redwoods, relatives of the the Coastal Redwoods that we have visited so often in Muir Woods as well as in the coastal mountains both north and south of San Francisco. My relationship with the tall Coastal Redwoods was love at first sight- the relationship is enduring. Though the Giant Sequoias tried to tease me away from my first love I did not waver. Oh, the Giant Sequoias are impressive, but they just don't take my breathe away- not the way the Coastal Redwoods do. The Sequoias don't grow as tall as the Coastal Redwoods, but they do get significantly bigger in diameter and therefore, their mass is larger than coastal's. But it isn't just the size of these massive trees- or even the fact that they were standing right here in California 2000-3000 years ago (being kept from abysmal loneliness by the locals- Native Americans- who did not ever consider cutting them down for shingles for their tee pees- but don't get me started!) when Jesus was walking about the middle east- though it probably wasn't considered the middle east at that point of anyone's world. Anyway- I think I lost this particular train of thought- But it was heading towards- though not in any linear fashion- Don- this sentence is for you- it was rather how different the relationship of these two trees with the world around them. With the Coastal Redwoods they are connected at the top which creates this giant canopy that then becomes another above ground world- in fact some of it's plant and animal life never come to the surface of this earth for generations and generations, while for the Giant Sequoias there is open space between the trees- they're not all connected so you can actually tell when one begins and another ends. I like the connected part of the Coastal Redwoods- and the fact that there is another world going on quite separate from mine so high above us all. You all might have some trouble following the red words above. I certainly wouldn't want to try to diagram those sentences, but it's what Max wants to say, so it will remain. I think you can mostly get the message that the Coastals keep each other company and the Sequoias were kept from being lonely by the Native Americans (at least that's what I think she said).

It was about a two hour drive south of Yosemite, but the drive was well worth it. When these trees were first discovered and decisions were made to preserve them, they were often given names of military leaders, but also names of states. Our first stop was to visit the General Grant Tree, the second largest tree in the world which is located at the edge of Kings Canyon National Park. This tree is 268 feet tall and has a circumference of 107.5 feet and is estimated to be 1800 to 2000 years old. That's the base of it behind Max.

We also got to see some more fall colors in this grove. These California dogwoods were just turning.

From Grant we drove to Sequoia National Park to the Giant Forest where trees of this "general" size are pretty common. The predominant tree is the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world. It is 274 feet tall, 103 feet in circumference and estimated to be 2300 to 2700 years old.

To give you some perspective of the size of the this tree, they built a brick foot print of the trunk that Max is standing in the center of in the picture below.

As we were preparing to hike into the Giant Forest to look at the array of trees we were abruptly stopped by the presence of a mother black bear with two cubs, one brown and one black. She and the cubs were obviously comfortable foraging for food in the presence of humans, as they basically ignored us. Oh my God! And I was not reassured when Don said- well the only person that has to worry is the slowest- And guess who is the slowest- you got it- yours truly!

It took just a bit for it to sink in- this is not the zoo- and there is no high chain link fence- just wide open spaces- and not that much space between us- and the bears. AND THEY WERE SOOOOOOOO CUTE! The mother was big and black- and there was one little brown bear and one little black bear. I actually had never seen bears move so much- certainly not in the zoo- where they are always laying around looking hot and miserable- these bears weren't looking miserable. Nonetheless we stayed well out of her way. Note that these pictures were taken with a telephoto lens and then enlarged further on my computer. We didn't want to get near her and her cubs. But there are some people that don't seem to have much sense that these are wild animals that could easily turn on you. This guy below obviously has outwitted the process of natural selection. He even got closer so he could make sure he got close ups.

Did this idiot really believe that a split rail fence would protect him from an angry mother bear?? And then this guy followed her and hid behind a tree and to flash pictures from about 15 feet away. I must say that the bear had a lot more patience that I would have had.

We all decided that getting away from these crazy people was in our best interest so we headed to a hiking path into the Giant's Forest. Just as we were leaving a large group of European tourists arrived, saw the bears and started running towards yelling "Ursa" in between taking puffs on their cigarettes. It reminded me of the book "The Ugly American" written to reflect how boorish Americans can be when in another country. They were yelling and screaming- and smoking non stop on the trails in the woods- and this is high alert for forest fires. We wanted to get away from them as fast as possible, so off we went on the trail to the Giants.

Look in the far left side of the picture above and you can see Sharon sitting on a bench next to this tree.

In the above there is also a person just visible between the two trunks of these giants.

And above is Matthew standing next to a fairly typical tree in this forest.

As we were finishing our hike and returning to the starting point, guess who Max almost walked into? She looked up there about 15 yards in front of her was momma and babies. Now this was a double "Oh My God!" moment. I was leading our little merry group- Don, Matthew and Sharon were photographing every single tree in that particular forest- so I was up ahead- I rounded the corner- and there they were- THE BEARS! Not too many feet away- and no little picket fence- They were standing in the path for our return- well trust me- that is not the way we were going to go!

We took another wide detour and headed back to the car. The guys went back for the car while Sharon and I waited- well trust me- we were on HIGH ALERT for the bears!

And we didn't only see bears in this park. On our walk back to the car, this buck was looking for something to eat.

And this coyote didn't seem to be very afraid of us as we drove on the park roads. I think that maybe all of these animals have read the park rules about not bothering them.

Finally on our drive back to the cabin, the sun was setting and we were hoping that we would find a vista where we could see the sun set. We were lucky in that a pull off came into view just as the sky was turning red and we got these pictures.