Busy

I have been very busy this week.

On Wednesday, Linnae and I went to Rainbow grocery to explore the bulk section. Although a little overwhelmed, Linnae managed to get a lot of food.

Today, she also came to Millennium to help me at work. It was nice to have someone around. I face a wall all day, in a basement, in a corner.

She made carrot cake, and cheesecake filling and chocolate barley malt cookies. I was busy roasting carrots for a dried apricot and carrot compote, and infusing coconut milk with coffee and espresso powder for ice cream.

Besides all of that, on Mondays I have an apprentice from the Spark program. http://www.sparkprogram.org/

Kaila is 12 years old and wants to be a chef, so I am going to show her what it is like to work in a fancy restaurant. There is a graduation event in May, and we have to come up with a project to present. We decided it would be great to make a cookbook filled with healthy meals and snacks, and have tasty samples of food. On her first day, which was last Monday, she said she wanted to work in a restaurant because "it looks like everyone is having fun." It was nice to be reminded, despite the 9 hour chaos, that I am making desserts for a living. I get to eat ice cream whenever I want, and not only that, I get to make the flavors I want to eat. It's pretty awesome.

By the way, if you haven't already signed up for forageSF, you're missing out. I went to one underground farmers market and now I get all of these emails about other events going on in the city. They have free potluck dinners, mushroom foraging events, and they have a blog at http://foragesf.wordpress.com/ check it out.

Anyway, there's a lot going on right now. I'm still looking for a food photographer to take some pictures for my catering website. I'm officially a caterer, specializing in vegan, organic and local food. Sarah Smart Catering, eh I like my name.

Linnae Turns Vegan Today

Despite the rain today, its almost spring and that means spring vegetables. Thank goodness, because I am tired of citrus and root vegetables.

The farmer's market was full of greens on Wednesday.

Starting today, Linnae will become vegan, and that means I need to be ready with a ton of exciting recipes. The only problem: she doesn't have an oven, which means she is going to have to eat a lot of stews, sauteed things and raw things. Once or so a week, she is going to come over to my house (which has an oven) and make casseroles and cakes to take back with her.

I'm not a nutritionist, so these ideas are simply what I have researched and learned about detoxes. You need to do your own research before you chose to go on a detox diet or at least talk to your doctor.

To Linnae:

Turning vegan can be hard when your body is used to eating over processed and sugary foods like prepared foods. So, to help ease into the diet I suggest starting with a detox. A detox is really just a diet designed to remove toxins from your body. It doesn't require anything but focusing on eating simple meals that are filled with vegetables and minimal spices and oils. This is a big change from what you normally eat, but it will help you feel more energized, your skin will look great, and you will probably lose weight. There are lots of detox diet plans out there: master cleanse, juice diets, etc. I think a combination of raw food, lots of water and minimal grains is ideal. There are a few things to keep in mind, remember to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Keep count, its more then you normally drink I bet. You need to drink laxative tea at night. You aren't going to be getting a lot of fiber, and the more you, you know, go the less likely you are to have those toxins in your body.

For breakfast have a smoothie. Adding supplements, if you can afford them, boosts the vitamins and minerals you get in your smoothie. This should fill you up for awhile, an appropriate snack if you get hungry is 100% fruit juice or raw vegetables. A small amount of whole fruit is okay, but you don't want to eat that much sugar. For lunch, some soup that is mostly broth with vegetables is great. Don't eat bread with it though, instead, eat some more vegetables, prepared in a different way. For example, steamed broccoli with sesame seeds or carrots and hummus. You can eat a never ending supply of raw vegetables. They are good for you. The most important thing is to eat small portions throughout the day to keep your metabolism going. Don't eat unless your hungry.

Dinner introduces the grains. More steamed vegetables, on rice is a good choice. Avoid tofu, soy is one of the most mucus forming foods on the planet and won't help you detox. Beans are a good alternative to rice along with lentils or quinoa. You could eat salads throughout the day too, just stick with a light dressing.

I don't want you to be miserable during this detox, I mean, you should do only what your are comfortable with. We'll work on this together! The detox should last about 7 days, however, if you think that 3 or 4 days is more reasonable thats okay too. Don't work out while on the detox diet, you should take things slow and get plenty of sleep and try not to stress yourself out. I suggest you do some research on your own too.

After this, we'll start normal vegan food. It's a lot more interesting.

Eating Local and the Underground Farmer's Market

I think a good place to start when introducing a vegan diet to someone who has never really thought about where food comes from is to talk about eating local. I personally believe that a vegan diet is about minimizing the amount of energy it takes to produce the food you eat. While most people insist on eating organic produce, I support local produce. When you buy an organic apple from out of state, the amount of energy that it took to get that apple to you will actually outweigh the benefits of eating organic. When you eat local, you support your community. Time magazine wrote a really great article about this:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1595245-1,00.html

In San Francisco, we are surrounded by farmer's markets and grocery stores that offer local produce. There are multiple markets throughout the city on a weekly basis. While most of them have a wide variety of produce, due to obvious legalities, the amount of home made products are limited beyond soaps. I would like to introduce a new concept that I explored last night. The San Francisco Underground Farmer's market.

Hosted by forageSF, the farmer's market was more like a bake sale or food flea market. They described their event as "helping to get some exposure for all of our fellow producers without the cash for a commercial kitchen." (http://foragesf.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/the-market-is-happening/)

At least 20 vendors were there selling anything from vegan cupcakes to truffles and kombucha to corned beef sandwiches. Some people focused on organic and local more then others. There was a group of people from Oakland that collects honey from urban bees. There was also a woman who had a display of fresh ground spices and herbs. Although limited, there was fresh produce too such as foraged mushrooms including black trumpets and gold chanterelles.

Personally, I was a little frustrated at the bowls of plastic tasting spoons and garbage cans filled with trash, but the concept was great. With a little bit more attention to the environment, I think its a great way to encourage people to explore what their own city can offer while supplying inspiration to people who are just beginning to experiment in their own kitchens. Not only were there plenty of free samples, the people who made them were right there eager to share with you how they made their food.

I want Linnae to start exploring different places to buy food beyond chain grocery stores. There are small Asian markets that have vegan ingredients you have never heard of, and Rainbow Grocery, with the entire half of the store focused on bulk items. There are trips you can take where you pick mushrooms in East Bay or classes on growing backyard produce. Understanding that what you eat has an impact on the environment is the first step I took, and now Linnae will take on becoming a vegan.