Russian River 2008

10 people + 6 wineries + 2 cabins + 1 Mystery Box + 1 watermelon + Lots of wine = Russian River 2008

For the past two years, I've managed to miss out on my friends' annual visit to a friend's cabin that his grandfather built on the Russian River. Luckily, this year, I managed to free up the weekend for a fabulous weekend of good food, wine and company, which left me wishing I made the trip in previous years.

This third annual event lived up to all the good stories I'd heard, though I missed the Friday night festivities (which were QUITE the festivities judging by the still sleeping people when we arrived at 10am ready to go wine tasting) for a dinner at Range with some friends. Saturday morning consisted of a quick nap on the front patio to make up for the early start, followed by visits to Rochioli (warmup stop), Ridge (my personal favorite that did the worst damage to the wallet) and Papapietro Perry (loved the 777). Slight starving, we made a quick detour to Hamburger Ranch and Pasta Farm. One of the group asked the clueless server if they served "free range" pasta, since they are a Pasta Farm - I think the humor was lost on her. For a place that touts the best burgers, I was lefting wanting more...and more they gave us when they encouraged us to taste the freshly made ribs on the way out. Now stuffed and food comatose, we randomly selected Stonestreet (one of the prettiest wineries, but definitely the stuffiest attitude) Alexander Valley Vineyards (for the prices, I REALLY wanted to like the wines) and Stryker (we stopped here just because I liked the name) to round out the afternoon.

Back at the cabin, many napped while others relived their childhood's playing a couple vicious games of go-fish. Meanwhile, I plotted away how to use the Mystery Box from Thursday to supplement the massive amounts of steaks we had for supper. Oh yes, it was yet another Mystery Thursday and here's our newest box:

Greek Basil. Fennel. Potatoes. Torpedo Onions. Frisee. Portuguese Kale. Cilantro. Baby Carrots. French Breakfast Radishes. Chantenay Carrots. Scallions. Baby Spinach. Chioggia Beets.

Not to mention the 15 pounds of avocados and 10 bunches of basil that we separately pre-ordered...

Dinner that night was scrumptious, thanks to many helping hands!

Baby Spinach salad with roasted chioggia beets, sauteed onions, prosciutto, and grilled peaches
Roasted chantenay carrots and rosemary garlic potatoes
Grilled steaks
S'mores

Oh, and what's the watermelon for, you ask? I suppose you'll have to come along to find out...

Mystery Thursdays - Piccino

A funny thing happened during our Mystery Thursdays pickup -

I'm just getting into this blogging thing of my own, but I've been reading food blogs for quite some time. I remember one of the first food blogs I started reading, 101 Cookbooks, and being quite inspired by how fresh, quick and healthy the food looked and the fantastic photography on the site. From there, I started adding more and more food blogs to my Google Reader and now, I'm probably sharing so many food articles from so many different blogs that my friends are (silently) screaming, "Enough already with the food!" (Or maybe you guys are just drooling too much on your keyboard that you've short circuited your computer?)

Last Thursday's pickup was a bit on the crazy side - T picked me up from the airport (flying home from the client site) and we dashed over to Piccino. Granted, it was a short flight, but after working until 9 or 10 each night, I'd seen better days. We noticed some people video taping people picking up their boxes, but didn't think too much of it. Mystery box, avocados and cherries in hand, we headed back to the car and were approached by the video people. They asked if we knew what we were going to cook with our newly acquired bounty and if we minded being interviewed. Frazzled, tired and hungry, the last thing I wanted to do was be video recorded (it brings back horrible memories of Communications class having to watch yourself on video in front of the entire class after embaressing yourself presenting in the first place), but I was pretty sure T would take the opportunity. I think they picked up more on my state of mind than T's eagerness to talk and left us alone.

Bummer. Because then I recognized her as Heidi from 101 Cookbooks. Ok, so I was a little star struck and regretting we hadn't said anything. After all, at least a part of this blog's existence can be attributed to her and her blog. (Speaking of star struck, we saw Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs at the bar on Thursday. So maybe Dirty Jobs isn't quite the tv show you want to talk about on a food blog. But, the Discovery Channel is ranked up there with the Food Network in my mind, so sorry readers!).

I digress - We ended up making a fabulous meal with our Mystery Box ingredients, which I'll have to post later this week, and had we given it any thought before we picked up the box, we would have had a nice little blurb for the camera.

Since the last Mystery Thursday, I've been asked a good number of times, "So what'd you get in your mystery box this week, ChuThis?" Granted, I've only actually bought a Mystery box a few times now, but it REALLY excites me to see friends and family getting into the fresh, local vegetables idea, or at least curious enough to ask me about it. And, I'm in the middle of reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, which I'm sure I'll wholeheartedly recommend to everyone who asks.

So, to answer your question, this is what we received at Piccinio:

(Click on photo to see larger size)

In addition, our Mystery Box also contained Little Gem Lettuces, Genovese Basil, Gallegan Kale, Cauliflower, Cilantro, and English Peas. Plus, our 10 pounds of cherries, which disappeared faster than I could acquire a cherry pitter to make cherry pie.

Mystery Thursdays - Globe

As much as I'd love to deny it, I'm a procrastinator. Of course, I believe it's because I work best under pressure and where is the pressure if you don't wait until the very last minute? Tomorrow is yet another Mystery Thursday (from Marquita Farm) and I still haven't posted any photos or recipes from the last Mystery Thursday...two weeks ago! I suppose if I did this in true procrastinator fashion, I'd be writing this at the wee hours of Thursday morning or from the airport - so, see Mom, I'm not a total procrastinator!

Speaking of Mom - my parents flew out at the end of May to help with the move, see the new place and celebrate my birthday. I was excited to take my Mom (who has heard plenty about my farm fresh vegetables) to Mystery Thursday at Globe, who happened to have a Marquita Farm Mystery Dinner featuring ingredients from the Mystery boxes . Marquita Farm alternates the delivery locations between the different restaurants that buy from them; the list of restaurants is rather extensive and some of the best dining in San Francisco.

Located near the Financial District, Globe offers seasonal cuisine in a laid back atmosphere. It reminded me a tad of Scott Howard (my previously favorite restaurant on the border of the Financial District and North Beach), but the prices were higher and the atmosphere a bit louder. Service was nothing stellar, but I can't find any faults in particular to point out. Foodwise, my mom did have the hand-cut egg pasta with calamari bolognese, minced calamari replacing the typical beef. It was interesting enough that we've contemplated giving the dish a whirl at home. Surprise, surprise - I ordered the following prix fixe menu to get some ideas of how to use the vegetables at home.

- Local halibut ceviche, avocados, fava beans and cilantro
- Spinach fettuccini, caramelized cauliflower, shallots and breadcrumbs
- Zinfandel braised beef cheeks over collard greens, baby carrots and peas
- Buckwheat strawberry galette with buttermilk ice cream

The next day at home, my dad and I opened the mystery box to find a ton of my favorite vegetables - fava beans, cauliflower, cilantro, baby carrots, scallions, bacon avocados, English peas, spinach, salad mix, collard greens, and purple Sicilian artichokes.

(Click on photo to see larger size)

I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve over the next delivery - my buddy T and I are splitting a mystery box, 10 pounds of cherries and a 5 pound bag of avocados!