This was my first time at this “low-waste, alcohol free, pet free, smoke free and must have fun event.”  I went with my blogging friend Laureen Hudson, her daughter (Michael stayed in Petaluma with Miriam and Aurora’s big brothers), and Laureen’s friend Lisa.

Held at the beautiful and green Salmon Creek School (pause a moment to lament that we don’t live near enough for my daughter to attend a school with such clean air and lack of chemical stink), it was a mix of hippie aesthetic with practical advice, local businesses, and of course samples galore.

Fermentation roughly falls into two categories: dead and alive.  This event covered both.  Alcohol and bread are the two best examples of the former.  You can’t make them without fermentation (excluding things like crackers or tortillas) but we eat them for the taste and general nutrition (and they preserve foods without winter or electricity).  There are few to no probiotics.  Probiotics are what make ferments live.  You eat these for all the usual reasons but also for the nutritional powerhouse of the yeasts and bacteria.  Yoghurt, kefir, krauts, and pickles are the best known live ferments (though they aren’t always sold live).

As regular readers of my blog know, I make a variety of vegetable ferments (krauts and pickles).  And I long to make more.  I’ve tried my hand at coconut yoghurt and have plans to make water kefir next.  Another project on my list is dairy-free cheese (something pungent, like blue).

Many attendees lamented the lack of alcohol at a festival dedicated in part to its production.  But there were workshops covering spirits; my guess is logistical concerns kept out the samples.  Cheese (from cow, sheep, or goat milk) was another large component.  Since dairy and I don’t get along well, I had to skip that part.  No one there makes non-dairy cheese but I will make this my mission to find out how.

The Beverage People in Santa Rosa has classes and equipment/ingredients for sale for a wide variety of fermented products, but their specialities are beer, wine, and cheese.  My friend Gabe Jackson, who works there, even made us a case and a half of blackberry wine (picked from our garden–and yes, a post on that is coming!).  He’s promised to keep his eyes open for information on non-dairy cheesemaking.  His dairy cheese class at the festival was a big hit.

I attended classes on sauerkraut and pickle making, both with demos and fairly straightforward advice for beginners.  Kathryn Lukas, the owner of The Farmhouse Culture, demonstrated a simple cabbage ferment.  The woman next to me sounded peals of joy when Kathryn said don’t bother to pound your cabbage, just massage it a bit with salt to release the juices.  Since it had never occurred to me to pound my veggies, I just smiled, but now I wonder what I do that isn’t necessary or what little things I might be missing.  Kraut making is pretty easy, but there is a lot that can go wrong too.

Another thing that that hadn’t occurred to me was the sugar content of the vegetables.  Usually with ferments sugar is a good thing, even necessary, as it feeds the yeasts.  But *aha moment* what makes krauts go off often is the yeasts gaining control; krauts and pickles are a bacterial ferment, not so much yeast.

Most of our kraut is red onion.  Most of the time it comes out fabulous.  Once in a while we get an unwelcome surprise.  I asked Kathryn her opinion and she said it was likely the sugar in the onions.  Which can vary a lot.  I don’t know how to fix this…can I add some acid?  Can I measure the sugar to know which onions to avoid?  I don’t want to mix with large amounts of other vegetables.

Kathryn says to keep your vegetable blends no less than 75% cabbage so they come out well every time.  That works great for kim chee, which I also make, but sometimes you want something different.  I asked her if there was a chart of different buggies (desirable and undesirable) but she didn’t know of one.  I would find that very helpful, since I know what my off ferments look/smell/taste like and could match the bugs.

Jill Nussinow (the “Veggie Queen“) taught pickles.  These should be easy but even more can go wrong than with krauts.  I’ve made cucumber pickles and had one fantastic batch, a couple okay batches, and one batch we couldn’t eat.  Turnip pickles were so-so and tomato pickles were a total fail (though I sat near someone who said her green tomato pickles come out great, so I’ll give it another try).  Cool temperatures seem to be pretty important (you can get away with summer temps with kraut) and so is good technique.  Other than that, I’m not exactly sure why mine fail so often.

This very expensive crook was much touted at the festival.  What do the experts say? does it make better kraut or pickles?  The answer is no, but it does make it a lot easier.  You still have to weigh down the veggies (you never want them to contact air); this crock does come with weights.  But apparently when you fill the outside rim with water and put on the lid, you get a seal that lets CO2 leave without letting air in.  So less chance of trouble.

In addition to the pricey rimmed crock, Cultivate in Sebastopol had a variety of crocks and other equipment, at decent prices.

One ferment I’ve been wanting to make for a while is water kefir.  Dairy kefir is pretty common and makes a drink similar to liquid yoghurt, though the buggies are totally different.  Instead of using a bit as a starter, like you do with yoghurt, you strain and save the kefir grains, which are like tapioca.  You put the grains into your new liquid and go again.  The grains will multiply with time so there are plenty to share.

You can use dairy kefir grains in a non-dairy liquid and they will turn into water kefir grains.  It’s the same minus a few cultures that only reproduce with dairy.  So you can’t make dairy kefir with water kefir grains.

Water kefir is delicious and can be made fizzy or flat.  Apple juice is a common base, so is coconut water (not to be confused with coconut milk).  But you can make it with water too, as long as you add some sugar to feed the yeastie beasties.  Like with all ferments, the bugs eat the sugar and you’re left with a low (or at least lower) carb product.

The folks at Cleansing Ministries Rejuvenation Center in Santa Rosa gave a demonstration on making ginger root beer water kefir.  I can’t wait to make it.  Once I get my hands on some water kefir grains, I’ll blog the full recipe and my results.  Miriam adores kefired apple juice, which she had at a friend’s once, but I am allergic to raw apples and apple juice and found that the symptoms kicked in after too many samples of apple ginger kefir.

Nowhere could you see the hippie/mainstream dichotomy of the festival better than by looking at the water kefir demo and the “Fermented Foods and your health” talk. Karen Miller-Youst admonished us not to make kefir in a room where there had been anger and Dr. John La Puma gave us isolated sounds bites about the medical wonders of fermented foods.

John started us off with his credentials (part his resume and part the famous people he’s worked with), accompanied by a glossy flyer advertising his book.  The flyer was similar to the talk, filled with little tips like “cooked carrots and cooked tomatoes are better for you than raw” (something that is not only banal but wrong: soft or ground carrots make it easier to get the nutrients out but raw whole ones still have them and there is exactly one nutrient, lycopene, in tomatoes that is present in higher amounts when cooked, not exactly a reason to give up raw produce).

But onward to the talk.  What would you consider the number one reason to eat live fermented foods?  John’s was that probiotics lower the incidence of antibiotic-induced diarrhea (he even said it twice and had it on a slide).  Yep, it’s true, but…  His other reasons were about how probiotics are good for various gut conditions.  Also true.  But very allopathic.  You can’t be a doctor unless you treat disease, and all bodily workings are mostly separate from each other.  Right? Not really.

Granted, I left the talk before the end (the room was giving me a headache, the only problem I had in the building), but not once did I hear him say anything about the normal role ferments play in human health.  How every traditional culture has them in spades.  How they exist in nature as well and are part of non-agricultural societies cuisines.  How they work and why they are not just “healthy” things we can eat but essential to keeping our bodies balanced.

Fortunately, the organizers and attendees in Freestone needed no convincing.  The emphasis was on how to get more ferments in our lives, not why.  A nice playground and a butterfly ride for the kids, tons of samples (I could could have drunk Farmhouse Culture’s pickle juice all day), foods for sale, and live music rounded out the day.  I’ll be back next year!

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I got my chance May 8, 2009.  I announced the meal as vegan and gluten-free (the other meals there are vegetarian or vegetarian plus some fish), planned a menu, and set to work.  I quickly realized that, while my cooking skills are pretty good, my catering skills are quite lacking.  It didn’t help that we were never sure exactly how many people would show up (RSVPs are due two days before, but they’re flexible).

I planned for 20, got 18 (equivalent of 15 since several were small children), and cooked enough for 30.  Whoops.

A few folks lingering over dinner

After many years of cooking Passover Seders for upwards of 20 people, I have learned the trick of saving complex or new recipes for smaller venues.  Everything I made was simple to moderate and something I’d cooked many times before.

The Menu:

Chili-Cornbread Casserole
Roasted vegetables (red beets, golden beets, rutabaga, & leek with rosemary)
Green salad (romaine, cherry tomato, daikon radish, carrot, orange cauliflower, & mustard balsamic dressing)
Fresh strawberries with cashew cream
Challah (from masa) with sesame seed & oatmeal

Chili Cornbread Casserole

The good news is the food all came out fabulous.  No mishaps at all.  I can’t tell you how relieved I was about that.  The bad news is we had some disasters with the timing.  One of the disadvantages to cooking a large meal outside of your home is that you tend to forget things.  Well, Michael and I left a box of miscellaneous items behind.  Unfortunately, they were essential items for both of the dishes I had to finish up and bake in the synagogue kitchen.

Michael running home to get it set us back about 45 minutes, and we were already running 15 minutes late.  So everything was pushed back an hour (which means at least my time estimates were dead on).  The challah also took longer than expected, even though I had deliberately made them thinner than usual so they’d cook faster.

Salad and strawberries

All in all, I’d call it a success.  The next time I get the chance to cook for a crowd, I’ll have a clearer idea of amounts.  And hopefully the timing will work out better.

Roasted root vegetables

For anyone interested in the amounts of ingredients I used and what it all cost, check out my blog entry Catering Lessons: The Cost of Cooking for 30.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Some of her pictures are quite good and a few are pretty amazing.  Though for every good one, there are 50 shots of her toes, the floor, or somebody’s butt (one of her photographic obsessions…the other one being taking awkwardly posed pictures of herself that I delete directly from the camera, lest we get arrested).

None of the photos below are edited in any way.  I often crop, adjust lighting, remove red eye, and so forth for blog pictures, but not here.  Miriam is 3 years and 9 months old.  She’ll turn 4 at the end of February.

Being smaller is sometimes an advantage.  The unusual angle makes the picture. Compare this picture of Michael cutting pumpkins to the cropped and lightened version I used in the blog entry for pumpkin puree.

Michael cutting pumpkins

Miriam colored the book with chalk then composed a picture documenting it.

Miriam's aunt Connie holding a Clifford the Big Red Dog coloring

This isn’t the prettiest shot but Miriam loves her computer pictures.  And it’s one of the few photos of me that isn’t awful.

Cyndi at the computer

The cats are some of Miriam’s favorite subjects.

Hope waiting for the door to open

Miriam and her cousin Jaiden took about 100 shots with my camera the day after Thanksgiving.  This is Miriam’s best.

Cousin Jaiden

Household objects are a common theme.  My parents brought this ceramic lion home after a trip to Europe in the 1960′s.

Lion face

This styrofoam box has been colored, pitted, used as a hat, and, of course, filled with rocks.

Rocks and rubber band in a styrofoam box

One in a long series of Melanie photos (she being the most patient of the kitties).

Melanie on the couch

This is my favorite of all of Miriam’s photos.

Closeup of Melanie

Turning the camera in on herself.

Miriam self portrait

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Peterson’s Farm
636 Gossage Ave, Petaluma, CA 94952
ettamarie@petersonsfarm.com
http://www.petersonsfarm.com/

The Peterson Farm as viewed from our driveway

Yes, we are lucky enough to live across the street from a small, working, chemical-free farm.  In a mere 6 acres, Ettamarie and Ray Peterson manage to raise hundreds of pumpkins (including several delicious varieties, not just ornamental ones), fresh eggs, glorious raw honey, and a few miscellaneous things depending on the season.

Naturally, we always get our Halloween pumpkins here.  This year they graced our Sukkah too.  They make good pie when they’re done being pretty.

Cyndi & Miriam pick out pumpkins

Neighbors wander in as needed for a carton of eggs or a jar of honey but this isn’t an attraction you can just drive over to: make an appointment first.  Mostly, they host school groups.  The joyous noise of children discovering their perfect pumpkin floats through our windows all October.

Peterson's Farm barn

There is a picnic area.

Peterson's Farm picnic area

And a large barn for workshops and classes.

Peterson's Farm Barn Interior

But what Peterson’s Farm is famous for is Ettamarie and her bees.  Here she is showing off a real hive inside a glass display case (there is a hose off to the right, through the window, that lets the bees go outside as desired).

Ettamarie Peterson & her bees

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Sukkot occurs 5 days after Yom Kippur, in late September or October.  It reminds us of the time when the Jews wandered in the desert in the years between leaving slavery in Egypt and entering the land of Israel.  The Sukkah (or Succah) is a temporary hut reflective of the ones carried through the desert during the Exodus.

It can be any size: big enough for one person or for a crowd.  You spend the 8 days of the holiday taking your meals in it, or sleeping there if you wish.  One wall can be a building and another is open (or partially open).  The other two are made out of just about any material.  Our two side walls weren’t as sturdy as the article linked to above say is required, but they worked.

The roof needs to be of materials grown from the ground.  We used mulberry branches from the tree in the pictures.  You should be able to see the stars but not have gaps that are too large.

I organized the Sukkah building party (for Sunday, just before the start of the holiday Monday at sundown) before I had a clue what we were going to use as materials. Then our tenant built a raised bed for my garden.  I said it was too tall and he said, no problem, I’ll just cut off the top.  When I saw the leftover wood, I knew immediately that was the Sukkah roof’s frame.  It was small but I figured it was big enough for our family to eat in and we could each spend some time standing in it for the gathering.  I also considered the mulberry tree to be an extension of the Sukkah roof.

So, here’s how we started: one wobbly wood frame, an open space in the driveway (dig that new gravel we put down a few weeks ago), an old garage door we’re painting this year (so I don’t care about screw holes), some scrap wood, the chuppah poles from our wedding (6 foot long dowels wrapped in ribbon), and some miscellaneous tools and fasteners.

Sukkah Frame

First, we reinforced the frame with some extra nails.  Then we cut some scrap wood and nailed a piece across each of the 4 corners.  This was to serve as a stop for the poles.  Next, we turned the frame over, put the poles so they were on top of the scrap wood corners, and held them to the frame with pipe clamps.  Finally, what you see in the picture, is someone pre-drilling the holes in the frame for screwing the frame to the garage.

Building the Sukkah

Did I mention that both the batteries for my electric drill and circular saw (interchangeable batteries) were dead?  Yes, I’d charged them, but they’re old.  Couldn’t find our hand saws either.   We borrowed a circular saw for the scrap wood but had to use hammer and nails for the hole pre-drilling and brute strength to screw the frame to the garage door.

Putting the Sukkah up

We did it!  Our Sukkah was a 4′x8′ wooden frame screwed to a garage.  With 6′ poles on all corners, helping support the weight and create the structure.  A friend loaned us the clothes for the two side walls and I tacked an old sheet up for the back wall.  The floor was an old area rug and we covered the roof with freshly cut mulberry branches.

The round glass-top table was inside the Sukkah most of the time but we pulled it out for our celebration potluck Wednesday night.  We added some more tables to hold food and other items.

Our Sukkah decorations were minimal but we had some Stars of David Miriam made in Synagogue over the High Holy Days, beeswax candles from Bloomfield Bees, and half a dozen pumpkins from Peterson’s Farm.

Our dinner was the cornbread challah I invented for the occasion, ceviche, a couple of salads, wine and seltzer.

Celebrating Sukkot

All in all, I’m very proud of our Sukkah (and no telling me how pathetic it was…it doesn’t look like the pictures you see in books but it met the religious requirements and was a lot of fun).  Maybe soon all those bricks will be my long-dreamed of patio and we’ll eat outside all year round.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

This year, a first-night seder on April 19, 2008, wasn’t the most stressful, but it was the weirdest.  All the food came out well but, otherwise, everything that could have gone wrong did.

I always find dietary and other restrictions to be a challenge (in a fun competitive sense) and I pride myself on creating a safe space for all of my guests, with food they can eat (perhaps not everything, but a decent meal).  But this year pushed me to the brink.

We had our own restrictions: no meat, nothing that Miriam is allergic to (she can get sick from crumbs and I want her to have a few days a year with other people where she can eat anything she wants), no chemical products on the guests, etc, but they’re seamless for us.  And we can still have a full seder.

(In foreground: matzoh plate next to my seat; in background: the main table with Miriam (brown dress), her Aunties Connie and Jan (holding babies), 3 other friends, and Grandma Julie standing at right.  The note on the door to our bedroom warns people not to open it, since that’s where the kitties spent the evening.)

This year, due to medical issues with guests, we had to leave the doors and windows wide open but couldn’t turn on the heat, we couldn’t light our candles (beeswax even), we couldn’t take photographs (except when the reactive guest left the room, so my food and other photos are lacking), we had two guests who invited themselves at the last minute (and one arrived scented and had to scramble to change clothes and wash-up), dinner was completely out of order and late, we had 4 (yes, four) cancellations the day of the seder, there were 2 guests who simply didn’t show up (medical emergency and they had a bad email address for me), oh and we nearly killed one guest (her fish allergy, which we always managed to accomodate in the past by being careful, was far worse that day, and we did more last minute cooking than usual, which made for more fumes)

Add to that the fact that I dropped a few of the usual rituals and customs to save time, but then ended up with even more gone due to the above restrictions.  We didn’t start with eating hardboiled eggs like we have in most years, due to Miriam’s allergy.  Two years in a row now I’ve had the idea of using whole walnuts instead, but then I can’t find any.  We skipped the handwashing and didn’t sing a single song.  And the post meal sections got lost entirely.  No Elijah’s cup, which I’m still upset over.  We only did the hunt for the affikomen.  It felt more like a dinner party than a seder.

Oy.

We were supposed to have 20 guests (including 5 children) but, with all the additions and subtractions, we ended up with 16 (including 4 children).  Three were new to our seder (2 had never been to any seder).

We had two tables.  The main one is our regular dining room table.  Michael always sits there, at the end furthest from the kitchen.  Then we move a buffet and desk back to add another table.  I always sit at this one, in the chair nearest the kitchen (behind the wood doors to the right).

(Main table to left has Grandma Julie (white shirt) and 2 friends; secondary table has my cousin Sara next to Miriam (visiting from the other table) and 3 friends)

Ritual Foods:

Oat flour matzoh
Horseradish
Parsley
Wine
Grape juice
Charoset
Salt water
Roasted beet (an ancient alternative to a roasted lamb shank)
Roasted egg

(Seder Plate: Parsley, horseradish root, roasted egg, roasted beet, salt water, charoset)

Dinner Menu:

Beet borscht
Gefilte fish
Mushroom and olive compote
Baked yams
Pan seared roasted halibut with rosemary
Drinks: Wine (red & white), grape juice, water, seltzer, lemon slices
Dessert: Macadamia Nut Torte

(Connie offers a toast)

(Sara gets Miriam some yams, as a friend looks on)

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

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.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

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

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

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).

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

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

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

When you’re dealing with food allergies, it can be hard to come up with traditional foods without making them seem like substitutes. Miriam’s allergic to gluten (wheat), eggs, oranges, and chocolate. And we eat very little dairy and little to no artificial stuff. Oh and low sugar, but that one goes out the window with a birthday.

But this cake is amazing. It has soy and nuts, so doesn’t work for all food allergic people, but it does avoid what we can’t have. It’s so good that people with no dietary restrictions love it. A week before the party, a friend told me her husband asked if we were going to have “that yummy cake” we had last year.

Cake:

Many thanks to Danielle Nelson of Foodlab for turning us on to the recipe (which she doesn’t remember the author of). Below is the version we actually used, which is slightly adapted from the original.

Recipe:

1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup SWEET rice flour (white)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sunflower (or other bland) oil
2/3 cup maple syrup
4 oz silken tofu
1.5 cups grated carrots
2/3 cup chopped, lightly toasted walnuts

Substitution notes: regular raisins can be used instead of golden; the recipe calls for orange juice to soak the raisins in, instead of water, guar gum can be used instead of xanthan gum (which has traces of corn); the recipe calls for canola oil, which we don’t use.

We double the recipe and use two pans.

Preheat the oven to 325*F. Lightly grease an 8″ round cake pan or equivalent.

Soak raisins in water for 10 min. Drain. Mix together flours, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, gum and salt.

Whisk oil, maple syrup and tofu until smooth. Stir into dry ingredients. Fold in the grated carrots, nuts and raisins.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hr or until done.

Frosting:

Now for the frosting. It’s not strictly necessary but it does make it look more like a birthday cake. I am not happy with either of the frostings we made. Last year we used a standard cream cheese frosting from Joy of Cooking. The cake is already very sweet though and this just compounded it.

This year I wanted a vegan frosting so I used the recipe for Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening (palm oil)
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine (Earth Balance)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer

INSTRUCTIONS
Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.

It was decent when first made, though not fluffy. But Michael had to make it the night before and put it in the fridge and it came out flat, even after warming to room temperature. It didn’t spread evenly and basically tasted like sweet grease (which I enjoy but Michael was not so thrilled with). Next time we’re either going to forgo the frosting or work on a different version, something vegan and not so sweet.

Here’s a shot of the same cake (in the same pans, though the top cake is trimmed), with cream cheese frosting and decorated with golden raisins and dried cranberries, from Miriam’s 2nd birthday party, Feb 2007.

If you’re wondering why one cake is square and the other round…there is no reason, just a lack of cake pans.

Our birthday girl needed some help with the candles. Below, Michael cuts the cake, as the children wait.

(many thanks to Yorick Phoenix for several of the photos)

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

A few of the guests sharing their meal.

There was an organic turkey, stuffing, a variety of side dishes, desserts, and more.

Main food tables.

Michael carving the turkey.

Dessert Table.

I brought five offerings, all homemade (from scratch), organic, and vegan: 1) Cranberry sauce (made with lemon instead of orange due to my daughter’s allergy); 2) pumpkin pie with a pecan crust (I cooked and pureed pumpkins from the farm across the street from me); 3) cashew cream; 4) edamame salad with roasted red cabbage; and 5) two vases of flowers and greenery from my (certified organic) property.

My food offerings plus one of my flower arrangements (the one on the right). Note how they’re on a special table to avoid cross-contamination with potential allergens. All foods at Ecology House or Environmental Health Network events are labelled with ingredients.

Organic isn’t just about the food either. Ecology House was built with lower-toxin materials and uses no pesticides, herbicides, carpets, or VOC-containing products. All residents and guests are required to use fragrance-free nontoxic personal care products (we buy organic when possible). Most of us can’t afford all organic clothing, but it’s all my daughter wore for her first 6 months, with a large percentage of organic fiber afterwards.

How wonderful it was to celebrate the holiday not just with good friends and good food, but in a place with clean unpolluted air.

Ending on a cute note. Miriam having fun (age 2 1/2).

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