BAY AREA SPOTLIGHT: Farm Fresh To You!

It was a sad, sad sight: I had cleaned my refrigerator, and put everything back. All that was left was a door full of condiments, three bottles of wine (one white, one rose, one bubbly), a chunk of parmesan cheese, a nearly-expired carton of almond milk, tortillas, and the end of a stick of butter.

You see, with my schedule being as it is (a full-time job - lately, with 11-hour days, running group, and attempting to have some semblance of a social life while getting important errands done)...I often neglect to stock my fridge. This leads to spending $$$ every day on lunch (and sometimes dinner too) and neglecting one of my favorite things to do in life - cooking. Ironically, I live right between Whole Foods and Mollie Stone's - which are possibly two of the most expensive (yet comprehensive) grocery stores in San Francisco, but can't seem to find the time to go shopping. So after a weekend run on the Embarcadero with my friend Jay, we both ended up in the SF Ferry Building to get coffee...and we were both persuaded to sign up for Farm Fresh To You, a delivery service that boasts Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The guy gave us $10 off our first order, so naturally, I went for the Mixed Regular box: about 10 lbs. of seasonal veggie and fruit offerings (regularly $31.50 per delivery, $21.50 with the discount!). That makes my produce an average of $2.15 per lb. for organic produce - unheard of at Whole Foods or Mollie Stone's. KA-CHING!

My first box arrived on Tuesday. Inside:

Yellow peaches
Black Plums
Blueberries
Summer Squash
Chard
Gypsy Peppers
Lipstick Peppers
Heirloom Tomatoes
Greenleaf Lettuce
Red Beets
Nantes Carrots
Red Onions

Everything is CERTIFIED ORGANIC. I have to say, I was pretty impressed, even if a couple of the items looked a bit weathered. I did receive a little newsletter in the box from Thaddeus (I'm guessing, the head farmer of Capay Farms) acknowledging that the latest produce offerings have been "pretty rough" due to the awkward transition between spring and summer. But no matter - I find a strange familiar happiness when I can smell the dirt on my vegetables. My green-thumbed grandfather used to grow bok choy and eggplant and tomatoes in our yard (among many other things) and we were fortunate to have truly fresh produce on a regular basis, so this is very comforting for me. PLUS, this will totally put my creative cooking skills to the test, as you don't really get a choice as to what they give you. I smell an Iron Chef session coming on, don't you?

For more information about Community Supported Agriculture and delivery from Capay Farms, visit http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com or stop by the San Francisco Ferry Building.

GREEN FOOD SPOTLIGHT: The Plant Cafe Organic

The Plant Cafe Organic
Neighborhood: Marina/Cow Hollow
3352 Steiner St (between Chestnut St & Lombard St)
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 931-2777
www.theplantcafe.com


Anyone who has been paying attention to my Yelp reviews, my Facebook posts, or my Tweets (on Twitter) knows that ever since I started running in September, I've been delving deeper into the world of vegetarian and green foods. I feel very fortunate to be living in the Bay Area, where our options seem endless when one wants to eat healthy, sustainable foods. The Plant Cafe Organic (formerly known as Lettus Cafe Organic) has fast become one of my favorite go-to restaurants when I want to eat healthy but I don't have time to go to the grocery store or farmer's market to get all the ingredients myself.

In the mornings, they have breakfast selections, and on weekends, they have a separate brunch menu, which I have yet to try. I personally like their smoothies for the morning, though pricey ($6.50), they are delicious. I highly recommend the mango, which has mango, banana, and ginger. They also have a full juice bar, with one of the best selections of juices I've seen in the city.

Midday, the cafe is full of Marina-ites and employees from the Presidio (i.e. LucasFilm folks) who are getting salads and sandwiches. They have an extensive salad menu ($8-9), as well as the option to "create your own" ($5.95 for small), where you get five "toppings" and a dressing, and the option to add protein (chicken, tofu, specialty cheese) for an extra couple of bucks. I haven't had any of the sandwiches here, but I have had the California Burger ($10.95) - it's The Plant Cafe's own version of a Gardenburger, but it's tastier and fresher than those patties pulled from the frozen food section of Trader Joe's.

After 5:30pm, the dinner crowd heads in - mostly young professionals who don't want to cook, or folks who just finished a workout and want to end their day with a healthy meal. They have a variety of items...quinoa bowls, udon, a fish special, soups, curries. The cold soba noodles ($7.50) are great - a big bowl of noodles, pea sprouts, cabbage, and ginger-lime dressing. My favorite thing to order for dinner is the seasonal tempeh special ($10.95) - it changes every few months, but I have yet to find a version that I don't like. And to finish off a really delicious, healthy meal? The raw cashew raspberry cheesecake - all of the flavor of a sinfully rich dessert, but none of the guilt. Really.

The Plant Cafe may seem pretty yuppie, but it has a hippie soul and is striving to bring local, sustainable goodness to the masses. Bring on the quinoa! (Pretty awesome, since the word "quinoa" wasn't even in my vocabulary until last year.)

New Year's Detox...$85 A Day!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I know, I know..it's been forever since I've posted anything on this blog, but life kind of got in the way. I promise I'll try to keep updating as best I can!

~bernad*va

Imagine spending $85 a day on food. Completely possible, if you eat out three times a day, OR if you decide to have dinner at Chez Panisse on a nightly basis. But would you spend $85 a day on food...that you can't even chew?

So, this particular blog isn't quite about cuisine. It's about a cleansing juice fast that one of my friends introduced me to: The Blueprint Cleanse. It's been popular in New York City for the past year or so, and my cousin has done it (and she loves it), and so far, my friend seems to like it. Here's the deal: there are three levels of the cleanse. One for beginners (total omnivores), one for those who eat mainly vegetarian, and one for the stricter vegetarian/vegan types. You get six bottles of all natural, organic juices per day, and you can do the fast for one day up to twenty days. Sounds hardcore, but let me tell you, nothing could possibly be worse than the effects that I experienced when I tried the Master Cleanse a couple of years ago.

I really like the combinations of juices that they've set up. My friend is doing the Renovation Cleanse, which sets you up with:

1. Green Juice: Romaine, kale, cucumber, parsley, celery, spinach, green apple, lemon.
2. Pineapple-Apple-Mint
3. Green Juice (same as the first)
4. Spicy Lemonade: Lemon, Water, Agave, Cayenne
5. Carrot-Apple-Beet-Ginger-Lemon
6. Cashew Nut Milk

My friend says the juices are delicious! And my cousin says the program is "dummy proof".

I haven't exactly convinced myself that it would be worth it to participate, so I've decided to do my own sort of cleanse. I started my day off with a carrot-beet-celery juice combo, and have tempeh leftovers from last night for lunch. I bought some organic juice from Whole Foods (a green veggie juice, a carrot-beet-celery juice, lemonade sweetened with agave) and am going to drink that tomorrow and see how I feel about not eating solid foods for a day. We'll see how long it takes before I cave.