Poppy’s Revenge 

DK Crawford

I snuck gently under the full moon on soft feet through the crispy jagged foxtail forest after making sure Cayo was otherwise occupied so their pointy, armored heads wouldn’t embed in his fur, or get in his ears or nose as they have past summers. I have been secretly waiting for the giant poppies I spied earlier in the spring to make their seed pods. I keep passing them each day, noting their placement and waiting for them to mature. I am coveting their seeds and envisioning giant poppies engulfing my garden next spring. 

I come from a lineage of seed-snatchers. I remember sudden stops on the side of winding southern highways so my mother could jump out and scramble down an embankment to grab some special wildflower seed she’s spied as we flew by it at 65 mpg. How she couldn't put on her mascara but her eyes could spot a rare wildflower so quickly was something I never rectified. If she was compelled enough by her find, she would dump out a cup of whatever she was drinking from Stuckey's and dig up a seedling and its native around it and I’d start triage as the passenger giving it water and cool air as continued on. 

I finally got close to the pods and grabbed a large bulbous head and snapped its summer-browned stem. But as I do, I smell green live plant juices dripping from it and feel slightly sickened  -- I plucked it too soon! I stuff the young pod in my pocket and. “Ouch!" the serrated disk on its top bites into my hand. It’s sharp edges remind me of the antique western spurs we had at our farm — metal made to “almost” cut and jingle and command attention and authority. Who knew the seed pod of a giant lavender poppy could be so formidable; almost dangerous? What does the poppy need to protect its seeds from other than night thieves like me? 

Cayo and I love and walk out into the dark streets. This is our time under the moon and stars. We own the silence and still air and gentle night sounds. The noise and angst and hustle of the city has stopped for the day -- locked itself behind doors and curtains and hidden away until tomorrow. This is our sacred time to dance and run and play and sniff freely and discover mysteries that go unnoticed in the light of busyness. We breathe in the grace. 

As we turn toward home over the familiar terrain of dried magnolia leaves crunching loudly under foot and visit special tufts of grasses Cayo loves to rub against, I realize how dark it is around us. Like pitch dark. Many of our neighbors have their interior lights on still, but curiously, the street lights are out. As we turn down our alley my eyes acclimate more and more to the shadows and hues of blacks and grays of the night so I can see where I’m stepping. 

We open our door and inside the kitchen are met with a fluorescent shock of bright light and stark white walls and my pupils almost explode. I reach into my pocket and take out the poppy pod and the few fallen peaches I gathered along the way and put them, my coat and the leash on the table. As I look down to take off my shoes, on the white floor right in front of my door are three dime-sized spots of a ruddy thick red liquid. 

I look around and everything seems normal. I put my finger in the liquid and bring it up to my nose and get the undeniable smell of iron. Blood. Fresh blood. I look at Cayo who seems fine, and Poupart the cat is curled in a ball. I look at my hands and everything around me and these three thick spots appear to be the only thing out of place. I call my girlfriend who lives in the neighborhood and have her stay on the phone with me while I open closets and look underneath the couch and bed. (In my neighborhood, having an escaped and injured convict run through your unlocked house while you’re out on a walk wouldn’t be unheard of.) But I find no evidence of anyone and Cayo isn’t sniffing and acting like someone came through. 

I get on the ground with Cayo and examine every part of his body. I go to the mirror to make sure my nose isn’t randomly bleeding. I check my feet, all seems fine. I look all over my house because if one of us is bleeding, surely we did so elsewhere as well? But there is nothing. Nothing on white comforters, on dog beds, on floors. The kitty wakes up with a stretch and comes over and smells as I am cleaning up the blood. He seems curious and starts smelling the doorway and acting intrigued. My friend on the phone suggests maybe he brought in a rat I’m not aware of that might resurface. “A maimed rat?” I say to her, horrified at the option of going to sleep and having some unknown bleeding creature jump on me shrieking in the night. 

I shuffle gently from door-to-door making certain everything is locked, wishing I wasn’t the only adult in the house and I keep glancing where the spots were, feeling a bit like Lady MacBeth. The animals are now asleep, unaware of any danger. As I reach to turn off the light, my eyes land on the poppy pod taken too soon that rests seemingly benignly on the table near the door...

"Suspend Disbelief" DK Crawford © 2015, All Rights Reserved

Suspend Belief, if only for a moment

DK Crawford

Today I looked in the garden and almost didn't notice this tiny pink-striped bell-shaped blossom hanging downside-up in midair. This comfrey plant, (given to me by a friend who has since moved to Costa Rica), has served many important healing purposes in our family. Comfrey, known as "the bone knitter" can help heal injuries swiftly. We harvest its prickly leaves, blend or macerate them with water or oil, and make a poultice from them that we wrap around the injury. A friend of mine recently read an article about making poultices in the summer and freezing them so you'll have them all winter -- brilliant idea. 

But today, the comfrey and its frozen diorama invited me to look at things a different way. So what if I'm having a challenge believing in myself, my talent, my ability to heal or love or be more or enough or even survive? Some days suck and believing seems like just way too much! It's an almost impossible task to be able to believe every single day. But what if, by a message sent by a tiny seemingly magically-suspended flower, we consider in our darkest moments not trying to force ourselves to believe but perhaps to just suspend disbelieving? What if on dark days we look to this image and ask that when our hearts and souls don't have the capacity to believe in the best, we merely just ask that we suspend entertaining the worst-of-the-worst thoughts with a "Hmmm?" "Well? or maybe?" 

I felt a sigh of relief when I saw this dangling delicate puffed-up topsy-turvy lantern hanging where it shouldn't and thought "OK! I'll choose to just say maybe for the day"... Kind of like watching a butterfly or bird loft effortlessly on the draft of a breeze, maybe we aren't meant to be flapping and working and achieving all the time. Maybe some days we just keep our thoughts aloft with a "hmmm" and a "maybe"and perhaps that's the very best we can do and really what we're meant to do until we are stronger and more full of conviction. Somehow this simple illustration that morphed into an idea filled with with grace and possibility and just enough happiness to feel at peace.

"Wind Shadows" DK Crawford © 2015, All Rights Reserved

My Convo with the Wind

DK Crawford

I am the wind, blowing and gusting and speaking through all that I touch.

I tickle the wind chimes so I can laugh,

I rustle leaves and grasses to soothe and hush,

I shake shadows to illustrate,

I rattle windows when I am frustrated.

We are not so very different you and I.

Neither of us feels heard often enough, yet we both keep speaking.

But even if the words and music we create is for our own ears and hearts, we must keep speaking.

Promise me you will.

Bowed But Not Broken © DK Crawford 2015, all rights reserved

My Garden
DK Crawford © 2015

My garden is wild, unkempt, and in-between -- just like me.

She is full-to-bursting, vibrant and vital.

She is tired, over-full and taxed. 

She is ALIVE!

She battles adversities while I dream and goes deep underground in indeterminable silences to work on herself. She faces drought, being forgotten, mildewy disease, and nasty predators that want to suck her vitality and steal her fruit.

Yet each day in spite of what tries to harm her, she risks anew... to grow, heal and repair. With steely determination, she sinks roots deeper and thrusts delicate shoots upward out of the soil in protest. 

My garden is not pristine, or measured in pounds of produce or predictable. But she is fierce every. single. day. When I cannot summon my own strength, I look to her for inspiration as she dares to reach up one more time. 

When she is tired and spent, eaten and and her petals droop with the last drops of hope for tomorrow, I marvel at her. My garden is brave and beautiful in every single phase. She is wild and relentless. My garden is me. 

Patagonia's Thursday Farmers' Market Full of Local Organic Treats

Blue took a break from eating carrots at the market, here with what's left of the bunch © DK Crawford 2013

Part of our bounty from the farmers' market

Patagonia has started to host occasional Thursday afternoon farmer's markets from 4:30-6:30 behind the Patagonia retail store that features organic produce and gifts from the sea and 1% of all proceeds will be going to the Edible School Yard Project. The next market is tomorrow August 29th., but it doesn't happen every Thursday, so check in advance of going.

Patagonia Farmers' Market Thursdays in Ventura

Johnny Fonteyn showing off his melon

Two weekends ago, a girlfriend and I visited our first one. I loved shopping late afternoon on a Thursday right before the weekend. And because it's a smaller market, each farmer took the time to give me amazing details and tips about their produce! We learned how to pick a ripe melon from Rio Gozo Farm's Johnny Fonteyn, that his bride Elizabeth has joined forces with a girlfriend and farms an extra half-acre of squash and flowers. We found out about varieties of grapes we didn't know of and got figs from sunny Ojai even though they hadn't ripened in Ventura yet.

Strawberry Jam from Rio Gozo Farm of Ojai

When we got home, we opened our bounty and sat out in the garden sharing tiny finger-sized ears of baby corn and seascape strawberries from McGrath Farms, two varieties of grapes from BD Dautch's Eathtrine Farm in Ojai, and a Mountain Sweet orange melon from Rio Gozo that was full and juicy and so so sweet. And then we talked about the crabs and realized we simply had to go back and get some! He also sells even got home, grabbed more money and went back for whole live crabs, yup they have em'!

Tomatillos

Fresh Live Crabs making bubbles...

Squash that can't decide if it's gonna be yellow or green :)

One Gun Ranch was there too

Organic Non-GMO Baby Corn from McGrath Farms in Camarillo

Coreopsis Flowers

Seasons of Love Don't Die: How the garden is teaching me the beauty of life, death and the in-between

Often, nature teaches us something we forget. I have personally found grace and wisdom and a respite from the existential angst I sometimes feel when I am digging in the dirt. Tending seedlings and flowers and plants and trees, has shown me how seasons work and how every stage in the life and death of an organism is useful and necessary -- one stage of being is not any better than another. It has even shown me just how beautiful each stage can be.

What if we, spiritually speaking, are more like perennial plants than the annuals we seem to think we are? meaning... what if we go through several lives and the energy of what we are, carries forward in a new body. And what if the life we see in front of us today, is really just one of the phases of our being?

We may see ourselves like squash plants, that only live for a season and the purpose of giving gorgeous summer fruit, but in reality, perhaps we are more like a fruit tree, that loses its leaves and hibernates each winter? or asparagus that lasts for years though goes underground each season, only to come through and produce beautiful crisp spears each year. What if what we see in this lifetime is more like a single season of a plant's life or of our life, rather than being its entirety?

If people were plants, the normal, annual plants we all buy each year, we'd start off as a seed with untapped potential. Until water and sun arrive and optimal conditions, there is no known life, or what we view as life. A sprout would be our infancy, a seedling -- just as we start to learn, talk and grow. When plants put out leaves and start to grow taller, that would be adolescence,  preparing us for adulthood. Then we have the potential of fertility begin, that mimics when plants blossom and, if optimal conditions occur, we and plants, start to bear fruit -- or children.

As that plant gives life to its fruit, its leaves and stored energy start to wane a bit. The body is achieving its life purpose to give to the next generation. As the fruit grows, stored energy is transferred into the young, and at some point, the fruit is picked, the plant foliage begins to fade and this is when many people pull up their plants. Yet if the plant and some of its fruit are left alone, this is also when the plant starts to give back to the next generation. As it fades and starts to flower and go to seed, it is giving the gift of future generations. Not only are the seeds of value to people, but birds and butterflies and bees thrive on being around plants going to seed*. To me, this resembles the latter years of humans, when there is still so much wisdom to be given, yet in our culture, that is often forgotten.

As that plant wilts and dies, its foliage appears to melt back into the ground, or is removed and put into compost. Sometimes its seeds are composted as well. The body of that plant nurtures what will become the soil and life energy for the next generation and it lives on in future generations. And sometimes seeds that were left on that plant also sprout. Either way, the DNA and energetic wisdom all are transferred into the next generation.

In nature, it all happen so fast and a plant's season can mimic a condensed version of what happens in our lifetimes. And, as one steps back and sees the amount of seeds in a packet, and watches how many seeds grow or don't, and how much fruit and seed comes from that one seed, you can start to see this small example of a lifetime and how it might play out on a grander scale. 

I believe that just as that energy of plants is carried from generation-to-generation, so too is the energy and wisdom of people. And, if we concentrate on the love energy only that is shared between people, I believe that is the compost that keeps giving to the next and next generation.

Plants don't appear to fret the phases they encounter and to me, it's so easy as a gardener to see how very useful each and every phase of a plant's life is. Yes sprouting seeds are exciting, so are seedlings, the flowering stage and the producing of fruit. Also exciting to me though is watching the bees and bugs so happily interact and collect pollen from the older plants I let go to seed. And taking those well-used stalks and leaves and putting them in the compost to feed next year's crop also feels happy, as does pulling out the baked compost when it's done. 

How is it then, that we as a society worship youth. And how is it we don't see our usefulness throughout the end of our lives and ultimately that the energy we share continues on? We value when we flower, we value when our progeny take their first steps, but we grieve when our elders stop bearing fruit, when they go to seed, and ultimately when they die. 

If we are all indeed part of the larger microcosm and if we can use the example of one season of plants in one garden to illustrate how things work, then we continue to give, we continue to be of use throughout our entire lifetimes, and each and every moment of what we give here and beyond, is still part of the beauty of our existence. I only hope my garden can help bend your mind a bit the way it has bent mine. Surrounded by the beauty and grace of how everything has a purpose and a time, I am always humbled and calmed when I am digging in the dirt.

*Bee on fennel flower ©DK Crawford 2013

Magical FGM Lemon Verbena Mint Herbal Tea -- Dreamy

Photo © 2012 DK Crawford features FGM Tea and the first Fig Tart of the season by Kate Slaton Dunbar of Petite Reve Cafe.

My Fairy Gardenmother taught me how to make this tea. Everyone should have an FGM... She is wiser and spirited and listens to the earth. She's like a mother, sister, dear friend and mentor rolled into gorgeous package.

My FGM is a talented artist with a serious passion for chickens, heirloom roses, her family and cooking. She fed us, (me and my rope-pulling partner-in-crime sister creature -- another story!), this tea when we visited a few times and mentioned its calming effects when we were all going through particularly stressful times in our lives. She did not, however, mention to me that there was another secret to the tea we were drinking, a magical, residual effect.

How did you make it I ask? She was vague and spoke with her hands in-between grabbing large handfuls of herbs. Simply gather bunches of fresh herbs from your garden, boil a large pot of of water, pour it over the cut herbs and let it steep overnight in the fridge. On the next day, strain the herbs. That was my instructions and well, they worked!

I will add that, then you pour a cup of your tea into a glass and look at its color. If it's quite dark, you may wish to add some water to the mixture. If you want it sweetened or with ice, add stevia, coconut sugar, cane sugar, etc, to your taste. I'm keeping it simple because that's how it was told to me and that's how it works. I find that extraordinarily freeing.

If you do not grow these herbs, go to your local farmers' market to buy them, or ask if any friend's have extra in their gardens as they both grow like weeds! I usually 4-5 stalks of lemon verbena and a big handful of mint (I use several varieties of mint), and use a huge pot of water. My mixture is often quite dark and I add about 1/3 of extra filtered water to it before I serve. I keep a cauldron or pitcher of it in my fridge and drink it each evening, or whenever I need uplifting or calming.

The herbs in this photo, I picked from my garden. They are lemon verbena, pineapple mint, and a hint of chocolate mint. Before you mix them, taste them raw in the garden, imagine that flavor concentrated and decide if you think they will blend well or not.

Lemon verbena is calming and relaxes your nervous system, it's like drinking up a big, fulfilling sigh. :) Mint can be calming too, but is also uplifting, refreshing, lightening for your mood and great for your digestion. This combination is Heaven!

"The hidden secret though, what was "that" about??", you ask. Well? There are two really, Firstly, this tea helps calm your belly before sleeping so if I'd eaten anything questionable, this helped my belly feel settled. But the SECRET is that after making this tea at home and drinking it for several evenings in a row, I started to notice a new twist... Whenever I drank it before bedtime, I had wonderful, vivid dreams that I could remember. "That" effect, is to me, just as delicious as the tea!

Double Yolks Squared~!!

We got gorgeous brown eggs from the Ventura Farmers' Market this Saturday as we do most weekends. We were in a hurry between my photoshoots and Chris's music gigs so we divided our duties and Chris picked up eggs and blood oranges while I searched for boysenberries, apricots and spikey artichokes. Today, (Sunday), morning when I lifted the dozen I thought, "Wow, these are heavy!" then when I opened the carton I noticed they were unusually large and lovely. Chris does have a good eye for value...

When I went to crack the first egg, two yolks tumbled out. Remarkable, but I have had this happen once before in my life. Then, when I cracked the second and peered inside, there was a yolk in each half of the shell. Naturally, I stopped what I was doing and went to get my camera all the while tripping over the dog and having the yolks sliding around in the tiny bowl.

According to one article, finding a double-yolked egg is a less than .01% chance. However, this article also states that because these eggs are also larger, they are more likely to be grouped together. I have 10 eggs left from this dozen and am curious what will happen! but not ready to use them quite yet so not cracking.

Some sources say double-yolked eggs portend pregnancy or a marriage that will happen because of a pregnancy. Others believe it can mean the birth of twins or a windfall or death.

Have you found a double-yolked egg? I hope I get that windfall soon so I can take care of my twins and newly wed husband who needs counseling after being forced to the alter with a shotgun...

Agave Maria's striving for a unique concept

Photos by DK Crawford and Chris Jensen © 2011

As printed in The VC Reporter

Agave Maria’s
Restaurant & Cantina
106 S. Montgomery St.
Ojai
646-6353
$4.95-26.95

I’d been dying to eat at the oh-so-cleverly named Agave Maria’s since it opened about a month ago. Owned by powerhouse Mary Trudeau, who brought with her one of the chefs from Rainbow Bridge, Agave Maria’s mission (as stated on its website) is to feature fresh, wholesome ingredients.

When we arrived at 5:45 p.m., the patio was alive with voices and children running around the fountain. Festive friends of mine were there, enjoying dinner. We followed their ebullient lead and ordered “Pixie”rita Margaritas made from local Ojai tangerine juice and Azul silver tequila.

“Look at the tequila list in the back of the menu — it reads like a list of Saints!” exclaimed one of them. Indeed, there are at least 40 offerings of sipping tequilas, including three organic choices from Casa Noble and a Platinum Jose Cuervo.

We’d arrived hungry, so I immediately ordered an appetizer. The menu has mostly classic Mexican dishes with a few twists. When I asked the waitress for recommendations, she confessed she hadn’t tasted anything on the menu but then said certain items looked good. We ordered the nachos grande with shredded beef and asked for another menu as we’d only received one.

Meanwhile, our friends insisted we taste their carne asada plate and chile relleno. The asada was tender with a deep, black charred flavor. The relleno was a fresh spicy chile with a medium-thick batter on it, delicious. They left shortly afterward, thrilled, and swore they’d return.

Our final dining companion arrived and we tried to order a drink for her. But the first person to appear at our table couldn’t take drink orders and the waitress, along with the menus we’d tried to secure, couldn’t be found.

I passed my friend the house-made corn chips and salsa. “Hmm,” she pondered after a few bites. I took a bite and found the salsa unusual; it was thick, more like tomato paste.

Our piled-high nachos arrived on a large oval plate. A layer of impenetrable cheese sat on top of the nachos but we found success in removing the chips from the sides of the dish and sort of breaking off parts of the cheese and meat mixture. There were refried beans and shredded beef, a large scoop of sour cream and guacamole, and a hint of pico de gallo. The dish was huge and could easily be an appetizer for six if you didn’t want to fill up before dinner.

There was a steady stream of customers filtering in the entire evening. Other than the outside patio, there is a covered area with cantaloupe walls and a turquoise exposed-beam ceiling that has a cozy fireplace, couches and some tables. I poked my head into the bar and dining room to find a buzzing hive of activity. I started to understand why our waitress disappeared; this new Ojai hotspot appeared understaffed, especially for a Friday evening.

I started with perhaps one of the most unusual dishes on the menu — the shrimp with coconut and lime especial. It was a saffron-hued, gorgeous plate of rice circled by medium-sized prawns with their tails still on. It was delicious and creamy with a hint of heat and tasted exactly like Thai red curry. It wasn’t what I was expecting as a special at a Mexican restaurant but it was quite tasty and everything was cooked perfectly.

I next tasted the cheese enchilada. It also had plenty of cheese on top and was surrounded by a deep red tomato sauce. My first bite, I got the creamy cheese on the inside, the corn flavor of the tortilla and a bitter aftertaste from the tomato sauce as though it had been cooked in black iron or made with seeds.

Next, I sampled my friend’s Pacific red snapper ceviche made with lemon, onions, cilantro, cucumbers, organic tomatoes and diced jalapeños.
The first sensation I noticed was that the fish was pungent as it passed under my nose. The second flavor I got was the pronounced citrus. I could barely taste the fish and it was cut into small pieces that made it texturally disappear.

Finally, we tried the asada salad with paprika dressing. It was the same meat I’d tried earlier on my friend’s plate but it was sliced on a bed of romaine, carrots, tomatoes and jicama. The paprika dressing was sweet with a hint of smoky paprika. It kind of reminded me of French dressing with a kick. The salad had the same ingredients as the dinner salad that accompanied the entrees, only a larger version. I wanted it to have more oomph rather than be the bigger brother of what someone received earlier before his meal. The meat was good and the ingredients were fresh. All the basic components were there but the salad didn’t sing.


For dessert, there were churros and leche cake but the waitress didn’t recommend them. I so appreciate honesty from a waitress but I ultimately felt discouraged because, first, she didn’t know the menu; and, then, what she did know, she didn’t care for.

Agave Maria’s has a beautiful, revitalized environment, perfect location and a brilliant concept. Who wouldn’t want to taste fresh, wholesome Mexican food? I ultimately hope it takes the amazing ingredients found in Ojai to create dishes with more nuance and intrigue, encourages the servers to taste them, and has more staff available on weekends.

Cake!! ~lust t t t~

My beautiful foodie girlfriends went a huntin' and a peckin' in Los Angeles the other day. I could not make it and was very sad but they brought home a lifetime of cake from Sweet Lady Jane on Melrose.

"Be here at 2 and bring your camera, you won't be sorry"... that was the entire message. I showed up at 2, played for a moment or two and came out with some fun photos.

What's your favorite? Enjoy!!

p.s. please try to refrain from licking the screen...

Seeds of Change Free Seeds Have Arrived!!

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

They're Here! They're Here!! Today my 25 free packets of organic seeds from Seeds of Change Arrived. Twelve days I wrote a blog entry about Seeds of Change giving away free organic seeds through their Sowing the Millions Project. It took 5 minutes for me enter my information and pay $4 for shipping and today they arrived, just like magic! As of today the program is closed because they gave away 1 MILLION seeds!! If anyone else reading this received free seeds, please email me what you got and let's keep up on what you do with them!

I plan on planting some and giving away others. I'd love to hear the list of what you got and see images of the seeds growing and being harvested.

My envelope included hermetically sealed (good for 2 years) certified organic packets of:
2 Zeolights Calendula (medicinal)
Bronze Arrow Lettuce (rare/heirloom)
Purira Chile (extreme heat, off the scoville scale)
Santiam Tomato
Moneymaker Tomato
False Blue Indigo (heirloom)
Bandit Leek
Black Krim Tomato
Carmona Red Lettuce (scrumptious big butterhead)
Misato Rose Radish (spicy late sudden radish)
Evening Stock (fill the evening air with heady, intoxicating fragrance)
Green Glaze Collards (heirloom) (known as Greasy Greens by southerners)
Brune D'Hiver Lettuce (heirloom) (cold hardy)
Integrata de Wild Lettuce (wild looking, cold weather)
Jericho Lettuce (bred in the hot desert of Israel -- bold resistant)
Sunrise Cosmos (can be used as companion to corn to deter earwigs)
Apricotia Poppy (Spanish orange, texture of crumpled velvet)
Galilee LIlac Double Larkspur (rare) (fully doubled flowers)
Pineapple Tomato (huge yellow beefsteak w red streaks, low acid)
Merlot Lettuce (dark maroon leaves, high antioxidant anthocyanins)
Cinnamon Mexican Spice Basil (finest tea basil and attracts pollinators)
Louisiana Green Velvet Okra (smooth, ribless pods)
Early Palla Rossa Radicchio (red chicory, distinctive flavor -- served raw or wilted)
Jerusalem Sunrise Lemon Sunflower (lemony yellow petals)

Free Organic Seeds from Seeds of Change!!

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

What a remarkably beautiful opportunity! Seeds of Change has launched the Sowing the Millions Project and you can get 25 packs of certified organic seeds free!! (you pay shipping) or 75 packets if you are an organization just by signing up. For every seed request, they are also giving matching donations to the American Horticultural Society.

Click here to sign up and get planting! p.s., if you send me photos of your babies I'll be happy to do some on-going posts of all the progress!

Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" Looking to feature a Ventura County Restaurant

I just received an email from Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares". They are interested in helping revamp a local restaurant and asked if I'd blog about it. Well, sure I will!

Do I believe quick-fix reality shows can save restaurants? Mmmm maybe? They are looking both for volunteer restaurants and for nominations. Who in Ventura County do you think should be visited by Gordon Ramsay?

In my opinion as a foodie, gardener, writer and critic, I believe we have some of the most amazing resources for food here possible in Ventura County and yet? I am not tremendously excited about going out to eat on the whole. I want to see someone have the opportunity to showcase the strengths of what Ventura County has to offer in a new, fresh way. I believe if the show focused on that it could be phenomenal. Particularly so if they really highlight local produce and cuisine and helped a restaurant that was ready have a whole new life. Here is the info they sent...

NOW CASTING!

FOX's hit show "KITCHEN NIGHTMARES"
wants to hear from Los Angeles!


Are you trying to make some green,
but still running in the red?

Is your food not the best it should be?

Or maybe you have a great location,
but it doesn’t seem to bring in many customers?

Call or Email for Information:
Toll Free: 866-226-2226
KitchenNightmares2011@yahoo.com

Download application or apply online at:
www.theconlincompany.com

and for nominations??

Gordon Ramsay needs your help finding his next
Kitchen Nightmare!

Has your favorite restaurant gone bad? Have you tried a new eatery only to discover it doesn't cut the mustard? If so, we need your nomination! FOX's hit show, Kitchen Nightmares is currently searching for new restaurants to be featured in the upcoming season. If you know of a restaurant that desperately needs expert guidance, we want to know about it! Send us the restaurant's name, location and a brief description why you think Gordon Ramsay should take over.

e-mail us at:
KitchenNightmares2011@yahoo.com
or
call the hotline with restaurant info at 1-866-226-2226.

Nature protects its precious new growth, do you?

"This is the hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver."
Friedrich Nietzsche

Today on my walk I was struck by the beauty of these cactus blossoms and then by the volume of spikes surround them. I thought all the way home about why cacti have spikes. What exactly are they protecting? Why don't we have spikes?

From researching I learned that the stem and crown of the cactus is its most vulnerable part. It's responsible for moving, storing and processing water and all of its photosynthetic actions used to convert light into food. The flowers of cacti are how they reproduce and imperative to their growth and survival.

On my walk, I kept thinking about the little budding ideas I have in my mind and about how part of me wants to share them with everyone. I have this desire to give away my very best treasures to the world almost even before I can understand them. Sometimes I give them to benign creatures who give them back or advise me to hold onto them and help me grow them. Other times I've given my precious infant concepts to people who put a cloak of negativity around them before they are even fully formed that often impairs or diseases them before they have a chance to produce. Have you determined who in your world is "safe" to share ideas with and who continually damps them down?

If, like a cactus blossom, your budding ideas are imperative to your survival and what you produce in the world, are you careful to guard who you share them with and when? It's time to find your safe people. God did not give us spikes to protect our thoughts and new treasures but he did give us boundaries. I am learning about how to use boundaries kindly, not as a defense against others but more as an offense to allow budding life to grow.

The cactus flower also requires bats and birds to help its pollen move from one part of the plant to another to fully fertilize. So we too at times need helpful others to move our ideas forward. Part of the wisdom I'm trying to learn is when to keep psychological spikes around my vulnerable new growth and when to let others in.

The cactus spikes protect against predators who want to eat its stem and flowers and sabotage its growth but they allow birds and bats to still seek its nectar. Holding our ideas firmly but with an openness that doesn't suffocate and allows the right others in, is a balance. But if we glean from nature, few plants or animals are completely defenseless. Nor are we meant to be.

When you have new ideas, picture the cactus then challenge yourself to become the best protector and grower you can. Just because we weren't given spikes doesn't mean we aren't meant to foster our creative growth. I believe humans were given choices and boundaries, rather than spikes so we'll learn to be discerning.

Some believe you should greet life with a closed fist and protect and fight and hold tight to what's yours, others meet life with an open palm, defenseless, unprotected and yielding to anyone or thing that comes along. There is a time for both, but I offer up the suggestion of the visual of spines, more like a half-open hand that can both protect and be open to the world and pollinators at the right moment.

Rain Drops on Calla Lillies

Not everything is about food, right? Is that possible?

Calla Lilies are NOT edible, in fact they are toxic if you do.

They are both a symbol of new life as they multiply and bloom prolifically, and purity if they are white and weddings and death because they also denote resurrection. Whew, what a dual flower!

After the recent rains, I couldn't help but photograph their simple beauty enhanced by raindrops. If I were to pick what they mean? I'd consider virility and strength. When you look at them, what do they make you think of?

It's HIP to be vegan

Originally printed in the VC Reporter

HIP – A Vegetarian Joint
928 E. Ojai Ave
Ojai
646-1750
www.HipVeganCafe.com
$4.25-12.95

The stars have aligned and a new vegan restaurant has opened its heart chakra and doors to Ojai. HIP is led by Nancy Samuel, a seasoned vegetarian restaurateur/chef (this is her sixth), in the guise of a tiny yogini with a ready smile and serious passion for eating vegan.

HIP is tucked away in the back of what was formerly Treasure Beach Café’s courtyard. Outside is a Zen courtyard anchored with a Buddha statue and plants. Inside are vibrant hues of fire-truck red and sunshine-yellow flowered tabletops. A chalkboard to the right of the counter shows daily specials. Ours was Russian veggie borscht soup and Indian curry quiche. Also featured were raw fudge brownies, cheesecake and chocolates or baked pear crisp or carrot cake.

We sat down with the menus for a moment to ponder our choices. A woman came in to report she’d eaten lunch there two days that week, and the soups she had were the best in years. She said they were so busy she’d waited to return and tell them during a lull — naturally, that made us order the borscht.

We also chose the extremely raw salad, a Hip Hip Hooraw wrap and the tostada. The menu also features a tempeh burger, bake tamari-ginger tofu sandwich and seitan barbecue as well as other wraps, Mexican dishes, salads and sandwiches. To drink, there are fresh juices, kombucha, kevita and date shakes made with delicious homemade cashew milk. (We tasted a sip of the milk alone.)

Our fuchsia bowl of borscht arrived with earthy steam rising from it.

The first bite of the clear scarlet liquid revealed thin slices of carrots, beets and dill with hints of cayenne. It was a pleasure to taste, and a gentleman having a bowl next to us remarked that he thought he’d miss sour cream in it but it was perfect without.

Next, our extremely raw salad arrived.

It was a large bowl loaded with marinated greens like collards, sea veggies, lettuces, slices of avocado, sprouts and a seed pâté. On top were slices of raw, dehydrated onion crisps. The dressing choices were tahini poppy seed, miso ginger and the house vinaigrette.

The marinated greens were divine. I found myself not wanting to add any dressing to them, and the avocado and the sea veggies were abundant with their distinct flavors. But I did dress the lettuces and surprised myself with which dressing I preferred. I thought the tahini would be savory but it was sweeter, and I imagined the miso ginger to be lightly sweet but it was savory. The vinaigrette, which didn’t appeal to me when described, turned out to be this creamy, delicate, green concoction with parsley, onion and balsamic that I could not stop eating.

Our Hip Hip Hooraw wrap arrived, and it looked like some sort of Dr. Seuss caterpillar.If you’ve ever tried to wrap something in a collard leaf you’d know they splinter and break in odd places. It was organic and fun both to look at and to try to wrangle into my mouth.

Inside the delicious fresh collard leaves was a spicy jalapeno pâté, guacamole, lettuce mix and sprouts. I’d been warned the jalapeno pâté might be spicy. (It varies.) My first five crunchy bites were heaven then heat started to grow inside my mouth. These were particularly warm jalapenos and I loved the flavors and crunch of the wrap but next time I’d either substitute the seed pâté, or ask to have half jalapeno, half seed pâté on my wrap. In fairness, they’d recommended I have the seed if I had any questions about spiciness, but I’d wanted to try it. Smartly, it was served with cooling cucumber slices that I savored between bites.

Our tostada arrived and I deemed it “couture vegan.” It had layers of salsa, grated beet, deep-green and purple lettuces, black beans, brown rice and a frilly topping of sprouts, and reminded me of a fancy hat.
First bite, I loved with its filling warmth. We’d elected to add Daiya mozzarella (a vegan cheese made from tapioca and pea protein), and it added a luscious creamy element. The salsa was zesty, the black beans, warm and soupy.

All our plates were large portions; you won’t go away hungry. And patrons are encouraged to bring their own to-go and take-out containers.

We had to sample a sweet. I’m not a huge cheesecake fan but when I heard it’s made from coconut oil, I was intrigued. Just before our cheesecake arrived, a woman came in asking about the coconut pie. “This is my third slice,” she sheepishly admitted. Alas, the pie had suffered a minor accident in the kitchen so they hadn’t put it out, but as it was still delightfully edible, they acquiesced. I begged to have a taste too.

The coconut pie was fluffy and creamy, and I could taste the agave sweetener in it, perhaps a bit too much for my preference? But my companion and the coconut pie-loving lady lapped it up with sighs and almost moans. I, meanwhile, had moments of joy eating the lightly limey, denser, coconut cheesecake.

HIP appears to have brought something to downtown Ojai that it desperately desired — I’ve heard tales from one famous Ojai songstress of a perpetual line coming out of its door. Thankfully, at 2:30, we missed the crowd. The service and staff were very helpful, the random, funky music choices were uplifting; and perhaps, most importantly, though we walked out full, we felt good, truly the hallmark of healthy, livening food.

Vegetables Need Beauty Shots Too -- Romanesco

I've been searching for romanesco (Roman Cauliflower), an entire year, wanting to photograph and eat it! I heard last year it made a showing at the Oxnard Farmers' Market then :::poof:::: it was gone!

This year, while at The Local Cafe, I overheard farmer Elizabeth of Rio Gozo Farm say that they had romanesco! I begged, pleaded and threatened to pillage her field and she finally agreed to let me shoot a few. I found these fractaled, complex veggies so inspiring! Tonight I couldn't help but post the first photo -- a simple beauty shot.

All the organic produce I've seen from Rio Gozo is stunning and ultimately yes, tasty too. Their CSA folks are so very lucky!

Tonight the romanesco had to be eaten. I steamed it, added a bit of butter, lemon, salt and pepper to it and tossed them lightly and ohhhhhhhh they were delicious. Sadly though, it looks like I'll have to wait another entire year to take more photographs of them but I have several other types of images of them I"ll be adding.

Thanks Johnny and Elizabeth for letting me shoot your babies!