what does organic mean?

stuffed peppers

Bell peppers cut in half vertically

Green will not be as sweet

Meat Mixture
¾ lb. ground sirloin
2 tablespoons of finely chopped onion
1 clove chopped garlic
1 cup cooked rice
2 oz fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
8 oz tomato sauce, divided
generous grind of pepper
salt to taste
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Sauce
8 oz tomato sauce
8 oz chopped tomato with juice
pinch of sugar
dash balsamic vinegar or red wine
3 slices of provolone cheese

Directions
1. Microwave cored, halved peppers for 2 minutes; plunge in ice bath to halt cooking.
2. Sauté onion in a little olive oil for two minutes; add garlic in last 30 seconds.
3. Add ground meat to pan and brown. Drain off fat and return to pan.
4. Add cooked rice, 8 oz of tomato sauce, oregano, parsley, pepper flakes, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
5. Cook for five minutes, stirring frequently, or until thickened.
6. In the meantime, in separate pot, combine 8 oz of tomato sauce, 8 oz chopped tomatoes, pinch of sugar, dash of vinegar or red wine and cook for 10 minutes.
7. Put peppers in glass dish that’s been lightly sprayed with cooking spray.
8. Distribute meat mixture evenly among peppers.
9. Pour sauce over peppers.
10. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (This recipe is much more delicious if you allow the flavors to ripen.)

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until meat mixture is hot. Turn oven to 450 and place ½ slice of provolone cheese on each pepper half and bake until cheese is melted. Let stand for five minutes and serve.

Or you could just cook on intuition, which is what I prefer...

grilled pizza

Get to know your local pizzaria
and score some dough for cheap.
Knead and roll dough thin with flour.
Brush thin coat olive oil on both sides.

Heat grill.
Have all toppings prepared.
After the first side is crispy,
flip, sauce and top pizza.
Cover until done.

Pizza should be light, crispy and delicious.

One of my favorites:

Infuse Garlic into Extra Virgin Oil
Feta, Spinach, Grilled Tomato,
Artichoke, and Black Olive,
Manchego Cheese is nice addition

ceviche

sashimi grade white fish, red onion
jalapeno, serrano, cilantro, garlic
cube fish and tomato
toss in lemon-lime citrus mixture w/ kosher salt & white pepper.

black beans add color and taste contrast.
coconut milk will smooth it out.
sashimi will take less than an hour
in the fridge, spooning juice over the top a few times. serve with some tortilla or pita chips. a lighter white wine like Sauvignon Blanc pairs nicely.

from the vine

colores del sol
malbec 2009
mendoza, argentina

• blackberry
• currant
• oak
• smoke

score:
6 of 10 corks

gumbo jumbo

Cozy window-side tables, big couches and a colorful bar make an easy restaurant-lounge. Located at 80 South Market St. in downtown San Jose, the restaurant is open for lunch and dinner with live music on Friday and Saturday night. The food is on point. Gumbos, jambalayas and etouffees, all true to the “Holy Trinity” of Cajun cooking, are heady on flavor and pack some heat if you request spicy. The Asian fusion weaves flawlessly in San Jose’s culturally diverse population. The decor is vibrant yet relaxing. Morocco's Restaurant and Shisha Hooka Lounge make up the other two buildings in this downtown strip. It is nice to see an establishment that places high priority on the right things: food, music & atmosphere.

dungeness crab salad

Boil live dungeness crab 8-10 min. Let cool, remove meat from shell.

Chop:avocado, cliantro, jalapeno, red onion, tomato*

Squeeze one half lemon and one half lime into salted bowl. Add crab meat and diced ingredients and gently toss. Pour into desired size container to form salad before placing upside down onto plate.
Garnish with paprika and cilantro.

*I have replaced the tomato sucessfully with ripe mango

white russians & bananas foster

Fire, Booze & Dessert

I was making bananas fosters and it occured to me that the drink and the dessert share essential ingredients. I tried using a scoop of ice cream in place of milk-- a white russian float--tasted spot on, albeit a little richer.

"The Dude abides."

edible education

Berkeley restaurateur Alice Waters planted the seeds long ago. This year's seedlings in edible education initiatives will likely reap bountiful harvest in our current socio-economic predicament. Our culture has deviated from traditional food values and become a culture of convenience. Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation is an antidote for this cultural expedience, hailing programs like the Edible Schoolyard and School Lunch Reform. Created in 1996, her foundation is a powerful tool to educate and empower kids about food, and is currently effective in the entire Berkeley public school system. Water’s ideas are big, yet elegantly basic. Kids learn at school. They learn what’s cool, what’s important and what they like. The Chez Panisse Foundation has instituted food as a curriculum. And along the way students learn about sustainability, science, culture, language— about themselves. I bet very few kids know the feeling of satisfaction from nurturing a seed to a meal. I was fortunate to be raised in a family where food was a centerpiece for togetherness. However, overloaded schedules, fast food and a general disregard for this essential family ritual—for our own wellbeing— have all diluted our culture’s relationship with food. That’s why I love this primordial food education concept. It forces kids to look a food differently, is a legitimate learning tool and might just inspire families to break bread more often. Berkeley has always been a forward thinking place. So I find it especially refreshing that a program is already underway at the small high school I attended in Greensboro, NC. Food for Thought, Imagine that!

breaking down the senses

taste
sweet: builds body mass/lubricating effect
sour: mass/chemical & physical heat
salty: lubricating/ heat
pungent: heat/ dryness
bitter: drying/ depleting
astringent: compacting/ densifying

ayurveda & food

elemental composition of taste
sweet::earth & water
sour::earth & fire
salty::water & fire
pungent::fire & air
bitter::air & space
astringent::air & earth

vata
+pungent -sweet
+bitter -salty
+astringent -sour

pitta
+pungent -sweet
+sour -bitter
+salty -astringent

kapha
+sweet -pungent
+sour -bitter
+salty -astringent