Norwitz Notions

A couple of months ago, I found myself at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, by the Primavera Tortilla stand. Primavera is a Sonoma County-based company that makes their own masa (tortilla/tamale dough) from organic stoneground corn. The handmade tortillas looked good but were pricey (and the fancy flavored ones had dairy) so I bought a bag of masa instead.

Primavera
17070 Sonoma Hwy. (Hwy. 12)
Agua Caliente, CA
(707) 939-9350

Some good articles:
Tortillas a mano
Rancho tamales are a family affair
Primavera in the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
Tortilla Spat: How Mexico’s iconic flatbread went industrial and lost its flavor

The seller told me it would keep in the fridge for a few days but I could freeze it too. I didn’t get to it right away, so I stuck it in the freezer. Between then and now, I had my tortilla-making adventures using masa harina (flour you mix with water). I defrosted the Primavera masa about a week ago.

Various articles I’ve seen talk about how it freezes well (both the dough in general and Primavera’s in particular), but mine didn’t fare as well. When I tried to form it, it was both soggy and dry. Tortillas made with it came out tasting good, with decent texture, but they are very thick (not a bad thing!) and fall apart.

I had better luck adding a bit of water and kneading the dough for a minute or two, as if it were being made from flour. Then letting it sit for a couple minutes. It still sticks to the tortilla press (despite using plastic covers) and falls apart, but not as badly.

So, tonight, I came up with a different plan. I added water to the rest of the masa, kneaded it, and set it aside. Then I divided it in two for top and bottom. The idea? a giant pupusa.

First, I sauteed some sliced onions (on a mandolin) in olive oil. My original idea for the filling was to saute onions and also fry up some tofu bits with curry. But I forgot and was too tired, so it was just onions.

Next, I put oil, then some cornmeal, in a hot cast iron pan, and plopped in half the dough, flattening it the best I could with the spatula.

Topped it all with a healthy dollop of onions.

Then added the rest of the dough on top, spreading it out first with the spatula, then with my fingers.

As I took pictures, I kept thinking that I should post it all anyway, as an example of failed meals. I get ideas in my head and, trust me, sometimes they come out pretty awful. I was sure this was another of those times.

Then I realized I needed to turn the pie over. I cut it in quarters (chop hard to get through the onions) and flipped them one at a time, adding more olive oil underneath. I stood back and looked and knew I had made something good.

Yep, these taste as good as they look. You can use any filling you want. The plain onions were a bit bland, though savory. Cheese would be amazing, if you eat it. You could make this a main dish by adding meat or tofu or another protein.

Serve it for breakfast…for the first time in 2 years, I felt like I could have omelets again. This is the closest I have come without actually eating eggs. It would be fabulous brunch food too. But I enjoyed it for dinner, with a big salad.

When it came time for Miriam’s 3rd birthday party, we didn’t know where to hold it. Our house is too small and full of cats. The weather is too iffy to plan something outdoors. And we can’t stand most of the venues that turn children’s parties into entertainment extravagances.

Fortunately, we discovered the Boys and Girls Club. They are national, and Petaluma alone has 10 clubhouses. We used the main Petaluma location:

Boys & Girls Club Petaluma
Lucchesi Park Clubhouse
203 Maria Dr., Petaluma, CA 94954
(707) 769-5322
http://www.petalumabgc.org/

This is a large building with several function rooms, a gymnasium, a commercial kitchen, a teen room, and a central space with game tables. Most are for rent by the hour. We chose the multi-purpose room, which is quite large, with plenty of tables and chairs. There are lights and electrical outlets, but no water. Bathrooms are across the hall. The kitchen is a couple rooms down.

(Miriam watching her friends play musical chairs)

The cost? $40/hour for the room and $10/hour for a staff person to be on site. We chose Sunday, March 2, 2008, and had the place completely to ourselves. These folks are very accommodating. I didn’t even have to negotiate but they gave us kitchen privileges and an extra half hour before and after the party at no additional cost. They even allowed us to have the gym as a backup for the piñata if the weather was bad. So, for a two hour party and an hour of setup/cleanup, the total was $110 (2 hours for the room, 3 hours for the staff person).

One wrinkle: to rent the space, you must provide a liability insurance waiver. If you have homeowner’s insurance (or possibly renter’s insurance), you simply go to your provider and they give you the waiver for next to nothing. But ours said they didn’t do that. The only other solution was to go with the independent insurance the club recommended. But they wanted $175!! For a two-hour children’s party! Others were similar.

After a day or two of sheer panic, we simply switched homeowner’s insurance companies. We ended up saving hundreds of dollars a year on our premium and the waiver cost a whopping $4.

(Miriam in background with her cousin Jaiden. In front, from left, Aunt Kim, cousin Kalea, cousin Stephanie, Grandma Julie)

A rare trait among public buildings: The Boys and Girls Club doesn’t use pesticides or herbicides inside or outside. They also don’t have air fresheners. (The director couldn’t understand why anyone would consider using stuff like this around kids.) When I went during the week to check it out, the bathrooms and other rooms had little to no scent at all (except for some paint smell in the art room). It was very nice.

The day of the party though, the whole place had a mild but persistent cleaning chemical scent. We opened the windows in the party room and wiped down the tables (they were thick with cleaning residues) with our own cleaner. This made a big difference and the chemically sensitive among us survived.

It’s important to me to be able to provide my own food (too many allergies to risk it) and that was no problem here. Just no alcohol (you can…but it costs extra). And I liked having our own games and other activities, not orchestrated by staff or a preset menu of options.

Partway into the party, some of the older kids (age 6 or so) told me they were bored (they loved the games I had but they weren’t nonstop so they didn’t know what to do with themselves). I resisted the urge to fix it and entertain them. I expressed sympathy and told them what was coming up and went to work on something else. Before I even turned back around, they had discovered the crayons I brought and a stack of paper plates make great fun.

The one thing I wasn’t crazy about with the rental is that you’re required to clean up, or you forfeit all or part of your hefty deposit (ours was $400). That sounds reasonable in theory…until you’re rushing to get folks outside for a piñata (without them going home) and, in addition to picking up, wiping off food residue, and putting the chairs back, you have to scrub all the tables, vacuum the floor (they loaned us a vacuum), and even take out the trash (hey, at least they didn’t make us clean the bathrooms, though I was required to check them). I would have gladly paid the staff person another $5 for a half hour of cleaning, but it wasn’t an option. On the bright side, I totally forgot to take out the trash (it was all in one bag in the can) and they didn’t ding us for it.

The club had some nice outdoor space too. Since it was a gorgeous day, we had our piñata outside. It was a huge errr…hit.

All in all, I was happy with the space. The room fit our needs perfectly. I would have preferred another hour though (people showed up late so there wasn’t enough time to do everything; we skipped present opening and held the piñata bash after the official end time). From an MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) perspective, it was a decent choice, though I’d look into the possibility of providing them with some cleaning products ahead of time for a larger event.

Why I don’t get enough sleep.

This is what happens when I get up in the wee hours to use the bathroom…

My go-to dish. Super easy to make and Miriam’s favorite. If you ask her favorite food, she’ll tell you “kidney beans!!!!!”

Normally I like to make beans from scratch, but it’s hard with a bunch of different kinds (because they require different cooking times). So canned is loads easier.

Recipe:

4 cans of plain whole beans. Any combo you wish; use 3-4 different kinds. I like kidney, Garbanzo, pinto, black, and white.
Good quality extra virgin olive oil (about 1/2 cup).
Apple cider vinegar (about 1/3 cup).
Several big squirts (a couple of tablespoons) of good brown mustard. Don’t use yellow stuff! I like Annie’s Horseradish Mustard, Whole Food’s German Mustard, and others like that.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Several tablespoons of freshly chopped oregano. Or another fresh herb. If you use dried, put in about 1 tablespoon of oregano, thyme, or whatever you like.

Open the cans and pour into a colander so the liquid drains away.

Put the drained beans into a large bowl.

Add the oil and vinegar, adjust acidity as needed.

Add mustard, salt, and pepper. Taste. It’s easy to under-salt this dish because the beans are very bland.

When everything is right, add the herbs.

Mix well (without crushing beans) then taste and adjust! My amounts are just guesses. The amount you will use will depend on the ingredients (they’re different each time) and your personal taste.

Put in fridge. It is best the next day but you can eat it after it chills. Or right away, if you prefer.

Rock fish, rock cod, plain cod…I don’t know. But it made a tasty stew. I got fillets at Costco.

Don’t fuss over ingredients. I made this out of what I found in my fridge and freezer. Next time I’ll make it with completely different vegetables. And why are there 4 carrots in the picture but 3 in the pot? because I always grab an extra one to munch on while cooking.

Ingredients (this time):

Rock cod/fish, about 2 lbs of fillets, diced
3 carrots
1 green pepper
Cup or so of chopped fennel stem/leaf (frozen)
2 cups or so of thinly sliced onion (frozen)
Crimini mushrooms, a couple big handfuls
Diced tomatoes, 1 can
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
Water as needed

Saute the onions in olive oil until they sweat. Add carrots, mushrooms, and pepper and saute for 5 more minutes or so.

Add the other ingredients. Turn down heat, cover, and simmer for about half an hour, stirring frequently and not letting it come to a boil.

Would be absolutely amazing with Monica’s Olive Bread. We ate it plain, for two days.

When I was at the Marin County Fair on July 4th, 2007, one of the booths was promoting healthy eating for kids and they had samples of a blender drink. All fruit (no juice) and no added sugar. It was fabulous on that blindingly hot day (about 100*F).

Their slushie recipe:

Ice cubes (between 1/3 and 1/2 of the blender)
Fresh watermelon (a cup or so)
Fresh strawberries (a cup of so)
Lime juice (freshly squeezed, maybe 1 lime’s worth)

I’ve made a lot of smoothies, usually with soy milk, but only rarely have made slushies. The difference is the ice. Slushies are very cold and have that wonderful bumpy texture.

My recipe is more intense because 1) I like it that way and 2) I can’t find my ice cube trays. But the diluted (with ice) kind would be better on a very hot day so you could drink more of it.

Soon after the fair, a vendor at the Farmer’s Market had a ton of organic strawberries they were practically giving away. They said they had been rejected from Whole Foods because they were too ripe. Indeed, they were at their peak and wouldn’t have lasted overnight without refrigeration. So we got a whole flat (12 overflowing baskets) for a mere $9. I gave away 2 baskets, put 3 in the fridge, and froze the remaining 7.

I poured the strawberries into a bowl of cold tap water (no chlorine in ours). Then I pulled off the caps by hand and put them on a clean dish towel on a cookie sheet. When they were done (I did this in two batches), I put them back into a fresh bowl of water, swished, and scooped them back on to the towel. Then I poured them off the towel on to the cookie sheet. It’s best if you don’t wash them, but these were a bit older and I felt it was necessary.

I used 2 big cookie sheets. Ideally, you don’t want the strawberries to touch each other, but at least keep them in a single layer. The drier they are, the better. Freeze overnight, then transfer to zipper bags (they will take some prying) or your container of choice and store in the freezer. My 7 baskets made 2 stuffed gallon bags worth.

My slushie recipe:

Fresh melon (leftover from a holiday fruit salad: cantaloupe, honeydew, chopped mint, a touch of salt, and some liquid in the bottom of the bowl, about 1/3 blender full)
Frozen strawberries (about the same quantity as the melon)

It came out really well. We do have watermelon in the fridge, and I liked the watermelon/strawberry blend a lot, but I wanted to use up the melon salad first. I also want to do some with peaches (we have some older ones in the fridge). Lime or lemon juice would be good too.

I love that it is pure fruit. Juice is promoted as a healthy food but it’s just not. It’s stripped of fiber and a lot of the best nutrients. Commercial brands are extremely sweet (even if they don’t add sugar; they either use sweet fruits or add white grape or apple juice), use peeled fruits, are filtered, and are pasteurized. Ick . If you make your own juice, that’s different. though I recommend eating the pulp too (can be in a different recipe) so you get the whole fruit).

For a lower carb slushie, choose berries, melon (not watermelon), or stone fruit, and use ice cubes or water to dilute it some.

These blends would make great popsicles, by the way. Our usual source of strawberries says she puts her unwashed strawberries in the blender (she only removes the caps) and then puts the unadulterated puree into popsicle molds.

Now I have frozen strawberries to use in drinks or slushies all summer long. Slicing them would be easier on my blender (a couple got left whole) but it’s more work and takes more trays for freezing.

Since then, I’ve made slushies every which way. You need something frozen (ice cubes or fruit) mixed with very liquid fruit or firmer fruit with liquid added.

One recent recipe:

Frozen raspberries (a couple cups)
A couple squeeze of lemon
Various leftover fruit (a few slices of mango, half an overripe banana)
Water to make it blend and thin it out

This lovely eggplant dip or spread is quite easy to make and there are a lot of variations (even more so than for the spelling). I don’t follow an exact recipe. I just do it by taste.

Ingredients:

Eggplant (globe is best but you can use any kind; leave the skin on)
Tahini
Lemon juice (organic jarred is okay)
Olive oil (good stuff)
Salt & pepper
Seasoning (garlic is traditional; I like hot pepper)

First, prepare the eggplant:

Wash eggplant, cut off and discard caps.
Prick skin with knife or fork in several spots.
Put eggplant on baking dish.
Bake at medium heat (350*F is fine) until collapsed and soft, very very soft (this may take a while; be sure to turn the eggplants over partway through).
Mash as is (easiest in food processor; if you want to mash by hand, cook it more) or scrape away skin and then mash.

I prefer to leave the skins on the eggplant. I like the flavor better (there isn’t much of a different) and it adds color and nutrition.

Add the other ingredients to your mash. For every 6 cups cooked eggplant, add approximately 1 cup tahini, 1/2 cup lemon juice. If you use garlic, a couple of cloves will be enough for a mild flavor. Add pepper sparingly and don’t undersalt. This is just a base; you can make it however it tastes right to you. Process slightly chunky or make it silken smooth, your choice.

Refrigerate and serve cold or at room temperature (or warm if you like). Add olive oil (just enough to make it glisten without tasting too oily) before serving.

Use as a spread for wraps or sandwiches or eat it with raw veggies, crackers, pita bread, on salads, or just with a spoon.

Other spellings: Baba-Ganouj, baba ganouj, baba ganoush, baba gannoujh.

Foodlab is an internet mailing list for sharing recipes, tips, support and more while discovering and living with food allergies/intolerances. Monica started the list a couple of years ago, after realizing that off-topic discussions of food allergies were starting to take over a parenting list. Most of the folks on Foodlab (the active posters anyway) are parents whose kids have food intolerances and many of the parents have reactions themselves.

It’s an international list, with most subscribers living in the US. Monica lives in Los Angeles, and I got to meet her when I was in LA for Expo West last year. This year, we planned a potluck and invited all local Foodlab members. Unfortunately, there were some last minute cancellations, but we had a lot of fun.

(Miriam, Cyndi, Jessica, Monica)

Monica and Matt, and 3.5 year old son Donovan, hosted the event. Jessica came with 2 year old daughter Roxie. And Michael and I (Cyndi) were there with barely 3 year old Miriam.

(Monica & Jessica)

(Cyndi & Monica)

Our first order of business was to go through the several supermarket-sized bags of samples and literature I’d brought from Expo West to share.

(Jessica, Roxie, Monica)

Next we started cooking.

(Jessica making vegan curry)

(Jessica & Cyndi making tortillas)

And then we ate.

(Miriam, Donovan, & Roxie ready to eat, with Michael in the background)

All of the food was amazing. We banned any ingredient that none of us could eat (dairy, gluten) and anything that would cause a problem for someone if they got a trace (soy, canola, orange, egg, chocolate). We allowed but discouraged foods that one or more people had a problem with (reaction or a choice) but where a trace wouldn’t matter (meat, corn). And it was a given in this group that everything would be fresh and free of food additives.

(Jessica’s vegan curry)

Here’s what we ate:

Monica:

Olive bread
Crab cakes
Misc pre-dinner snacks (veggies & chips)

Jessica:

Keifer (non-dairy keifer grains fermenting apple juice)
Curry
Hummus with eggplant
Cashew cream with fresh strawberries (similar to my recipe)

Cyndi:

Pickled red onions
Corn tortillas (made on site with Jessica)
Halibut ceviche

I found these at Expo West earlier this month. This review got moved up higher on the list because they surprised me today with a box of samples in the mail.

I’m not sure what to make of them. They’re billed as sports supplements (even the kids version) but what they really are is candy. I don’t eat much candy (a couple pieces a year) so it’s hard for me to categorize them, but they are like gummy bears or gumdrops. They’re quite chewy but I don’t know if those others are too.

“Sharkies are fun shaped, chewable source of carbohydrates and electrolytes – your body’s preferred source of fuel during activities…Although children can and will consume Sharkies as a ‘better for you’ candy, none of the sugars in Sharkies are refined and half the product is rice syrup giving it complex carbohydrates for sustained energy.”

In other words…sugar. “Fun” is a matter of opinion, but they are cute little sharks. They are definitely chewable. And the carbs, well, each 45 gram package contains a whopping 35 grams of usable carbs (36 total minus 1 gram fiber).

But what are they referring to when they say “electrolytes.” Each package has 110 mg of sodium, which isn’t enough to replenish salts if you’re sweating. And 30 mg of potassium, which is, what? 1% of the daily requirement? No other electrolyte is mentioned (except calcium is at 0% RDA). They say: “The naturally occurring electrolytes in Sharkies come from the potassium in the fruit juice and the sodium in the rice and water.”

So I can do without their misleading marketing. They’re candy. Let’s accept that and move on to the rest of the review.

The good news is they are gluten-free, soy-free, corn-free (except for citric acid, which is usually grown on corn and can be a problem for exceptionally sensitive folks), canola-free, vegan, and certified organic. They also taste pretty decent. They are so-so when you start eating them, but grow on you as you chew (they last about 30 seconds), and the aftertaste is good. I tried the watermelon.

For someone looking for an all-natural candy, free of several major allergens, they’re a good find.

The bad allergy news is they are pulling the “natural flavors” bit so it can be hard to know what is in what. They do list the flavor combos on the front of the package though, and I just hope they are accurate. The watermelon doesn’t mention oranges and it didn’t make Miriam sick, so I’m pretty confident it doesn’t have oranges in it. The Fruit Splash has tangerine, so Michael took those away. Citrus Squeeze doesn’t say which citrus. I will have to call them.

Sharkies, Inc.
10556 Combie Rd., Suite 6672
Auburn, CA 95602
Toll-Free Phone: 877.666.5377
Fax: 530.268.8010
email: Dwight@sgnllc.com

I make a lot of my food from scratch, but some things are just too difficult. There is a small subset of irreplaceable products…and when they’re gone, I panic.

French Meadow Bakery’s gluten-free tortillas are in that category. I eat them about 5 days a week for lunch (as wraps/burritos). They have two: Healthy Hemp and Women’s. Both are organic, vegan, lowcarb, and high protein. And they taste good too. The Healthy Hemp are also soy-free.

Except that they had two gluten-free tortillas. They are gone.

The problem was quality. They tended to spoil quickly (they shipped them to stores frozen but most stores wouldn’t sell them frozen; they’d put them in the fridge), they stuck together, and they’d sometimes fall apart during use (microwaving worked better than toasting or heating on the stove). I didn’t have these issues (except for spoilage) with the Women’s, just with the Healthy Hemp, but French Meadow told me they got complaints about both.

I emailed them in February, and got this reply:

Subject: Re: What happened to your tortillas!!!?!?!?
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:57:00 -0500
From: Dingmann, Emily <edingmann@frenchmeadow.com>

Hello Cyndi,
Thank you very much for your feedback, it truly is something we value here at French Meadow Bakery. I am sorry that these were some of your favorite tortillas, unfortunately they were not a top-seller, there were some quality issues and we are coming out with improved tortillas.

We have discontinued the Woman’s Tortilla and Hemp Tortilla but we are currently working on new tortillas:
– Improved Gluten Free Tortilla
– Improved Hemp Tortilla (this will have gluten in it)

These should be out sometime this spring; we are aiming to have them ready at Expo, so hopefully you will have the opportunity to sample our new Gluten Free tortilla.

Please feel free to contact me with any other questions.
Thank you for Supporting French Meadow Bakery,
Emily
Emily Dingmann
Sales Coordinator, French Meadow Bakery
2604 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55408
Phone: 612-870-4740 x 17; Fax: 612-870-0907
www.frenchmeadow.com

So I stopped by their booth the other week at Expo West and spoke to them again. The tortillas weren’t ready and there were no samples. It sounded like they hadn’t worked through the reformulations.Unfortunately, they seemed to have no commitment at all to gluten-free. One woman told me that the old tortillas stuck together so they “had to add some wheat.” In the same tone that you might tell someone you added some tapioca starch. I don’t think they realize the market they have. The gluten-free community didn’t really know about their tortillas, but the people I told thought they were great. Yes, the quality suffered and I’m glad they’re fixing it. But adding a bit of wheat means the world to someone who can’t have the slightest trace.

I explained to them that they had the only gluten-free tortilla on the market that wasn’t filled with carbs. Lowcarb tortillas exist but they use wheat gluten. Corn tortillas are easy enough to find, but not everyone can have corn and they have a lot of starch and no protein (and they’re small). There are rice tortillas but they are pure starch and taste horrible too.

I begged them to keep making gluten-free, lowcarb, vegan, organic tortillas. I also explained that, while I can eat soy, a lot of food restricted people can’t, and the Healthy Hemp tortillas were the only alternative for a lot of folks.

So what was their response? they proudly trotted out their new gluten-free products. Cookies and brownies. Oh boy. Don’t they understand that gluten-free cookies are a dime a dozen but real food is what we have trouble finding? Not that some folks won’t appreciate a new source of gluten-free treats, after all, theirs are dairy-free and soy-free too (but contain eggs and aren’t organic).

If you share my opinion of the matter, please contact French Meadow Bakery and politely ask them to reformulate their gluten-free tortillas to continue to be vegan, organic, and low in carbs (and soy-free, if that is important to you). Make sure they know there is a gluten-free customer base that loves their products and wants more.

2604 Lyndale Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
bread@frenchmeadow.com
612-870-4740 or 1-877-No-Yeast
Fax: 612-870-0907

There are basically two ways to drive between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles or San Diego: 101 or 5. I took I-5 for years, and it is the fastest route, but it goes through hours of agricultural areas and just isn’t safe for me anymore. Add in a 3 year old who doesn’t understand the concept of “we’ll stop in a couple of hours” and there is just no way.

Several years ago, I started taking 101 instead of 5 when heading to San Diego to clean out my mom’s apartment over the course of several months. If you start from the South Bay, it’s only an extra half hour or so, because it’s an extra shlep to get over to 5. From the North Bay, where I am now, it’s more like an extra hour.

Google Maps: Petaluma to Los Angeles

Via 5: 6:20, 413 miles.
Via 101: 7:42, 468 miles.
My experience, via 101: 7 hours each way, not counting stops.

A friend of mine who also has multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) likes to drive 5 for the quickness factor, but does it at night, when they aren’t out working the fields or dropping pesticides by plane (don’t be fooled though…the crop irrigation sprinklers are on 24/7, and they put out chemicals too). This year though, even she said it was time to switch to 101. I like 101 better anyway. It’s far prettier, with gorgeous views of the ocean, and there are real places to stop, not just highway food and gas stations. Now that I’m doing my travelling with a child, I appreciate the nicer stops too.

I have four stops along the way that are kid-friendly and good for adults too. All are reasonably MCS-safe and good places to picnic, with nontoxic bathrooms. There are plenty more possible stops, but I haven’t checked them out.

MCS Notes: From just north of Salinas to a bit south of King City (around an hour’s drive), the area is solid agriculture. Big corporate (Dole, etc) farms with huge flat fields that get massive amounts of pesticides. There are some scattered farms north and south of this area as well. I manage more or less by keeping windows shut, A/C or whatever to recirculate, oxygen on via nasal canula , and no talking (breathing air through my mouth). The pesticides/herbicides are so strong they will come into the car (Miriam got fairly ill from them) but these measures will help a lot. Be sure to plan your trip very carefully so that you will not need gas or bathrooms for that hour. Before and after you can find oasis’s of clean air.

Stop #1 (A) – Toro Regional Park

Toro Park – 501 Monterey-Salinas Highway 68, Salinas, CA 93908
Hours and contact info: http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/parks/toro.html

Detailed descriptions & photos: http://www.wildernet.com/pages/area.cfm?areaID=CAMOTO&CU_ID=1

Photos & map: http://www.mtycounty.com/pgs-parks/parks-cnty/toro.html

From the north: Take 101 S to Salinas, then get on to 68 S towards Monterey, and go about 6 miles.

From the south: Take 101 N to Chualar River Road a few miles south of Salinas. The road will curve around to the right and become River Road. Take to highway 68 and turn left, towards Monterey. The park is less than 2 miles down.

Picnic areas, playgrounds, and bathrooms are not far from the entrance. We didn’t check out the hiking trails but the park has 4,756 acres to roam around in and 20 miles of trails. We stopped here a year ago and it was a great place for a picnic and to let Miriam play. Since it was a weekday in March, it was practically deserted.

The air quality is not perfect, as it does get some air flow from nearby agriculture. There is nothing directly there but you should keep your windows closed as you approach, especially along River Road. The bathrooms were fine and the playground nearest the entrance (pictured below), with the animals to ride on, was okay. The grass and roads also seemed okay. But some of the other playgrounds had a terrible chemical smell that I couldn’t be near. I think it was the bark.

Stop #2 (B) – Camp Roberts Rest Stop

This is actually two stops, one northbound and one southbound. They are a short distance apart and aren’t connected. The Camp Roberts area is a semi-wilderness oasis, just south of the pesticide/agriculture nastiness. A few farms are south of it, but they are spotty. So the air in Camp Roberts is pretty decent, though it is close to the freeway. I especially like this stop though because it is halfway between Petaluma and LA.

8.5 miles North of San Miguel. Monterey County. South of King City.

Both rest stops have large grassy areas with picnic tables. There is water and the bathrooms are moderately safe, with some residual cleaning chemical smell. No air fresheners. We stopped at the northbound area in March 2007, and the southbound both in 2007 and March 2008.

Northbound:

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/ra/ra32.htm

Southbound:

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/ra/ra33.htm

Stop #3 (C) – Mitchell Park, San Luis Obispo

Mitchell Park
1400 Osos St
(corner of Pismo & Santa Rosa)
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

From the north: exit 101 S at Monterey Street. Turn left at Toro Street. Turn right at Pismo Street. To continue south: head northwest on Osos Street. Turn left at Higuera Street. Turn right on Marsh Street. Take 101 S.

From the south: exit 101 S at Marsh Street (202A). Turn right at Osos Street. To continue north: head northwest on Osos Street. Take 101 N.

Looking on the map, there are tons of parks, with and without playgrounds, in SLO. Here is a great list of them, geared for parents, with photos: http://www.centralcoastkids.com/parks/san-luis-obispo.cfm.

We drove into SLO because I heard there was a good picnic area on the main downtown street (not sure which street they meant). We didn’t find that but we stopped to ask someone to guide us to a playground and she sent us to Mitchell Park, which turned out to be perfect.

There was a nice picnic area, lots of grass to run around on, a large big-kids play structure, a smaller toddler structure, and bathrooms that had no smell of any kind. The overall air quality is pretty decent.

Stop #4 (D) – Shell Beach, Pismo Beach

This is very close to San Luis Obispo, so use one for northbound and the other for southbound. It’s fairly easy to find going south, as you pass it and then can take the next exit and double back. But we missed it on the way north. By the time we saw the beach, the exit was right there and the next one was many miles up.

Dinosaur Caves Park
Shell Beach Rd at Cliff Ave
Pismo Beach, CA

From the north: 101 S to Shell Beach Road exit on north end of Pismo Beach. Go about 1.5 miles until you see a playground on a cliff to your right. To continue south: take the on ramp to 101 S that is right at the park (on Price Street).

From the south: 101 N to Shell Beach Road exit. Turn left on CA-1/Mattie Road. Turn right at Price Street.

There are many beaches and parks in Pismo Beach but Shell Beach is right off the freeway and completely gorgeous. Here is a list of parks: http://www.centralcoastkids.com/parks/pismo-beach.cfm

Air quality in this town is stellar. There is nothing bad directly around it and you get clean ocean breezes. The bathrooms at the park were fine, with a slight cleaning product smell, but I didn’t need my mask.

Other resources:

Central Coast Kids has lists of parks and beaches by city, with pictures and descriptions.

Another fabulous recipe by Monica of Foodlab, served at our recent Los Angeles Foodlab potluck.

She writes: “The olive bread is just Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix, using the egg-free instructions, with the flax meal egg sub, and adding about 1/2 cup of oil-cured olives, very coarsely chopped. I used the bread maker instead of the stand mixer, but just had it ‘knead’ for 10 minutes (instead of mixing for 2 minutes in a stand mixer) then rest for an hour and bake for 60 minutes. I used olive oil for the vegetable oil called for on the package.”

Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix
INGREDIENTS: Sorghum Flour, Tapioca Flour, Sweet Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Organic Natural Evaporated Cane Sugar, Chicory Root, White Rice Flour, Millet Flour, Honey and Molasses; Rice Bran, Sea Salt, Xanthan Gum, Yeast Packet.
1 slice of bread (1/16th of loaf) has 25 usable grams of carbs (29 total minus 4 fiber).

I didn’t get to see the bread made, but I pulled it out of the bread maker. Never having seen it before, I thought it was worth a picture. Here’s the bottom:

And here’s the same bread from the top:

This stuff was amazing. I swear, I still have fantasies about it. If it weren’t so carby, I’d run out and buy a bread maker and a case of mix. It was a very moist and soft bread. I’m not sure how it would hold up in a sandwich, though part of that may be that we ate it while it was still warm. It went very well with Jessica’s curry.

This recipe comes from Foodlab listmom Monica, who has graciously allowed me to post it here. She made them for our recent Los Angeles Foodlab potluck and I took some pictures.

Not only are these cakes delicious, but they’re free of eggs, dairy, gluten, soy, corn, and even low in carbs. Alas, they are not kosher (we keep our home kosher but eat shellfish when out), but Monica assures me that salmon or another fish would work well too. I recommend using undercooked fish if possible, so they’ll cook up perfectly when fried. Canned or leftover fish should work too.

All the explanations below are Monica’s.

Ingredients:

1 lb. crab meat
1 c. almond meal (subbed for bread crumbs)
1 Tbsp. flax meal in 3 Tbsp. hot water (subbed for 1 egg)
Hot sauce (to taste)
3 Tbsp. vegenaise (subbed for mayo)
1 Tbsp. seafood seasoning
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. prepared mustard
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

Notes:

– I got the crab meat from Trader Joe’s, canned in the refrigerated section. Brand name is Byrd. The recipe is on the back, but I made a couple of substitutions, so I’ll recite what I did.

– Subbed out Worcestershire sauce with equivalent amount of a mix of everything I could get of the ingredients of Worcestershire sauce: namely, Thai Fish Sauce, molasses, balsamic vinegar, ground cloves, powdered onion and garlic. (Commercial Worcestershire sauce appears to always have soy in it. When I get ahold of some tamarind extract, I’m going to make a larger batch of my own home brew I think.)

– Vegenaise has soy in it so used the avocado vegenaise recipe posted by Andrew on Foodlab.

Instructions:

Soak the flax meal in the hot water for several minutes. (I dumped the flax meal into one of my Oxo 4-tablespoon angled measures… they’re wonderful little doohickeys if you need to hint about stocking stuffers.)

Blend everything but the crab meat and almond meal in a largish mixing bowl.

After it’s all mixed up, add the crab meat and mix it together gently (well, I wasn’t that gentle, but I like my crab cakes more mixed and less lumpy).

When the crab is mixed into the sauce, add the almond meal and mix until blended.

Form into patties. Chill the patties for a couple of hours for easier handling.

Saute in olive oil, about 5-8 minutes a side should do it (but depends on how crispy you like them).

Let’s see…it’s raw, it’s lowcarb, it’s lowfat, it’s high in protein, it’s filled with healthy stuff, it’s dairy & egg-free, it’s gluten-free, it’s legume-free…what’s not to love? Oh yeah, and it is astoundingly delicious and not hard to make either.

The basic recipe is for Mexican Ceviche at http://www.recipezaar.com/8899. There are as many ways to make ceviche as there are fish in the sea, but I like the classic Mexican. Being kosher at home, I stick with fin fish, though shellfish works very well in the dish.

Costco has amazingly good (and very fresh) wild halibut at a reasonable price (be sure to get the fillets). Halibut season starts about a week into March, so it was just in time for this potluck. You can use any firm white fish (or anything really) you like, just be sure it’s good quality with no off smells.

Start the recipe at least one day before you plan to serve it. The finished dish will keep in the fridge for several days.

Fish Recipe:

2 lbs halibut fillets or other fish/shellfish
4-6 large limes (buy a couple extra just in case)

Cut raw fish into cubes about 1/2″ wide (don’t worry about being exact, but aim for semi-uniform pieces). Put in large bowl (glass or ceramic is best).

Squeeze fresh lime juice over fish (or into bowl first if there are seeds to remove) until the fish is covered. I like to include the pulp. Try to avoid limes that are large and juicy because they are overly watery.

Put bowl into fridge overnight, stirring every few hours or when you remember.

Ceviche Recipe:

2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2/3 to 1 cup finely chopped herbs, a mixture of parsley and cilantro, with a sprig of oregano (the first two must be fresh but you can sub dried oregano)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped (this will be mildly spicy)
4 oz (8 TB) white or rice vinegar
1 large onion, finely chopped (optional)
1-2 dashes hot sauce

Remove fish from fridge, drain (not all the way) and save juice.

Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and return to fridge for several hours.

Drain excess liquid before serving, mix with the saved lime/fish juice, and put into a cocktail or just drink it. Specific ideas welcome…I’m guessing vodka would be nice.
Serve in a large bowl, or on tortillas.

I’ve made this a few times now. The pictures are from the most recent time, the Los Angeles Foodlab gathering, and, I have to say, it never really came together. It was good, but never felt like a cohesive dish. Not even after sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. Let me try to deconstruct the differences.

I added onion this time; I usually don’t use it. It was definitely a mistake to use yellow: red would have been better. I added back the lime juice I’d drained from the fish (in top picture) because the fish pieces were too big (the hazards of traveling without my own knives; this also led to the herbs being too coarse) and not fully “cooked.” But it meant I never drained the liquid later either, which I should have. Also, it wasn’t quite tomato season yet so some of them were under-ripe. You need the acid juice to help the dish meld. I also left out the hot sauce and pepper because of worries over allergies of the potluck guests.

Everyone loved the dish, but I know how good it could have been. Next time I will be more faithful to the recipe.

Update June 2008:

I made a new batch and it turned out amazing.

2 lbs fresh halibut marinated overnight in lime juice, then drain
Mixed with 1 cup fresh diced tomato
2 cups sweet peppers (yellow, red, orange)
Fresh oregano
Small dollop of Dave’s Insanity Sauce
Tiny bit of parsley (would have liked cilantro and more parsley)
1/2 red onion, diced
Salt, pepper, & vinegar

On our last night in Los Angeles, we wanted to go out and try a vegan place. I get so sick of having one thing on a menu I can eat (if that) and I was hoping for more choices. After an extensive web search, including posts to Chowhound, my host and I came to a single conclusion: vegan places don’t like Tuesdays. Our first choice, Cru, was closed, as was Elf and several others. So we settled on Flore.

Flore Vegan Cuisine
3818 W. Sunset Blvd. (at Hyperion)
Silverlake, CA 90026
323-953-0611
Tues-Fri 11am – 10pm
Sat-Sun Brunch 10am – 1pm, lunch/dinner served 1pm – 9pm
Closed Monday

Michael was sick with a post-convention cold, so Emmy and I headed to Silverlake for takeout. Parking was difficult (watch out for lightly marked resident-only streets, with strict enforcement), but we managed to find a place a block away. Flore was tiny with a handful of tables. The place was full, but that meant only around a dozen customers. They have an outdoor table but it was empty.

The menu is posted near the door but there is nothing up by the register, where you order if you’re not at a table. It took several tries to get a menu. Several minutes later, I asked for a second menu, saying it was hard for both of us to look at that tiny type together. At first the two young men said they only had one menu. Then, after realizing what I meant, said–with the slightest curl of the lips–they thought I wanted large type. Chowhound and Yelp folks mentioned the attitude in reviews: we were a good 20 years older than anyone else there, customer or staff. And they seemed the type to make sure we knew it.

The good news is that, not only is everything on the menu 100% vegan, but they mark what is gluten-free too. The only gluten in the item I wanted was the bread, so I asked for lettuce instead. I was offered spelt bread. One of the workers rolled her eyes as I calmly told the cashier that spelt was a type of wheat and had lots of gluten in it. The cook said lettuce was no problem.

There were three sides options (or you could pay an extra $1.50 to upgrade to a deli case item): green salad (1 cup of lettuce, shredded carrot, cucumber, and sprouts with a small container of dressing), fruit salad (1 pint of honeydew, pineapple, and 2 little slices of kiwi), or potato salad.

After ordering, the waiter said it would be 15-20 mins. I was surprised. There was no line for tables and we were the only people ordering takeout. There were at least 4 staff people present and working. Does it really take 20 mins to make a couple of sandwiches? Fortunately, the order only took about 10 mins.

The bottom line is this is lunch food at dinner prices. My Tempeh Tu-No Melt was very good, with a creamy cashew cheese, and an expert lettuce wrap, but it wasn’t worth $9. Not even with a side of fruit salad. Michael’s B.L.T.A. was good too but similar to what we might make at home, with fried tempeh bacon, lettuce, and tomato, on six-grain bread. With a side salad and tahini dressing for $9. Emmy had The Wrap with a side salad and italian dressing for $10. Tofu, vegetables, rice, and dressing in a wheat tortilla.

The amount of food was fine for lunch but we would have needed to split an extra dish for dinner. The food was fresh and tasted good, but nothing was spectacular. If I were walking distance, I’d ignore the prices and gladly go again, but it wasn’t worth driving to.