Past Events: 2007 Events: The Rest of the Year...

ENJOY YOUR SELECTION
FROM OUR MENU:

By Kimberly

06/20/2008

A quick rundown of Slow Food Monterey Bay Events after the February dinner:

To welcome in the Spring, in March we gathered for a tasting of wine and 'small bites', as suggested by members Annie & Jerry Manes. Folks brought wine and goodies to share for a walk-around mingler. During the gathering, our Mama Cat Sheba bore a litter of kittens!

In April we enjoyed a Spring Herb Dinner. We are fortunate to include among our members Pamela Mason & Steven Rehn of Cole Canyon Nursery, which specializes in herbs. Everyone who came to the dinner received an herb plant from Cole Canyon to take home. The menu included an herbed pizza from Allan, Greek rice salad from Diane, herbed goat cheese & arugula salad from Patricia, and beet and carrot salads with herbs. We continued with vegetables & hard-cooked eggs served with Frankfurt style Green Herb Sauce from Roxanne, Persian Sabzi (braised beef with herbs) and rice from Carolyn, and grilled spring lamb chops with green sauce. Dessert was lemon verbena pound cake with fresh strawberries.

In May, we held our annual fundraiser for the Freedom School Garden program. Our theme this year was Eating Locally. We began with Harley Farms goat cheese from Pescadero and Fava bean puree with green garlic & olive oil. We were able to obtain locally caught salmon for the grill, accompanied by beet salad with tarragon & green garlic, carrot salad with herbs & spring onions, & lettuce salad with edible flowers & garden herbs. Dessert was local strawberries & crispy cookies. As always, Roxanne was a huge part of putting this event together. She works with the students on the cooking part of the program.

For June we repeated our popular Make Your Own Pizza Event, held both Sunday and Monday nights so some of our Farmers' Market members could attend. These were casual, relaxed gatherings of friends.

The Monterey Bay Convivium of Slow Food USA was founded in July of 2002, and our first gathering as a Convivium was a Monterey Bay Grand Aioli. To commemorate our 5-year anniversary, we repeated the concept. The Grand Aioli is one of the forms that a traditional French Bastille Day (July 14) picnic might take. Aioli is a sauce based on lots of fresh garlic and olive oil, traditionally accompanied by an assortment of raw and cooked vegetables, chickpeas (we had scarlet runner beans), hardboiled eggs, salt cod (we prefer our local salmon). Fresh fruit tarts completed the meal. Several folks contributed to the dinner; we learned early on that it's more fun if anyone who wants to is allowed to play.

In August we held a farm dinner at High Ground Organics which was also a benefit for the Open Space Alliance of Santa Cruz County. Jean Harrah was a huge part of putting this one together. All of the vegetables used came from either High Ground or Mariquita Farm, and all other food was locally produced, except for some seasonings. We began with a selection of crudites accompanied by white romesco sauce. Taking glasses of River Run wine, beer or herbal tisanes, guests then went for a tour of the farm. The main event was pit cooked lamb from Red Dog Ranch in Elkhorn (unfortunately somewhat overdone) and Monterey Bay Salmon, accompanied by roasted vegetables with meyer lemon mayonnaise, potato salad, cole slaw, and green salad. Dessert was strawberry shortcake, made with butter & cream from Deep Roots Ranch--definitely the BEST.

In September Jean & Jerry Thomas invited us to gather on the Farm for a Chile Feast. We began with a casual tasting of dried chiles. Jean designed a menu starting with Sopapillas with honey, tortilla chips, Guacamole, and Pico de Gallo, (with margaritas). We continued with Chile Rellenos & Quinoa Stuffed Poblanos (vegetarian), Green Chile Pork Stew, Beans Borracho (with beer), Spanish rice, and a soothing flan for dessert. Jean prepared the sopapillas & chile rellenos, I prepared the pork stew, and we had lots of help with other the dishes. Many thanks to Christy Parker & her grandparents for providing the chiles for the rellenos and pork stew, already roasted and peeled!

In October we joined with the Santa Cruz Convivium and the Dante Alighieri Society. We gathered once more at the sustainable farm of Convivium members Jean & Jerry Thomas, where we shared a potluck of delicious homemade foods and live Italian music, followed by an Italian sing-along.

In November members Jean Harrah and Bob Thorsen of Deep Roots Ranch provided a young Gloucester Old Spot cross PIG for our dining pleasure. We borrowed a Caja China roasting box from Marty Kay Field, and used that to cook the pig. We served it bedecked with bay leaves & rosemary. Accompaniments included ratatouille & risotto al Barolo from Lloyd & Lindy, Butternut Squash Gratin with Leeks, Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts from Lauri, stuffed mushrooms from Cindy, a green cabbage dish from Kameha, wild rice with apricots from Jaqui, salad from Fred & Sefla, apple sauce from Carol, & roasted root vegetables. Dessert included a cranberry-pear pie & chocolates from Lloyd & Lindy, upside-down cake with seasonal fruit from Roxanne, apple pie from Jean T., and home-grown poached pears with Cabernet chocolate sauce from Cindy, and quince tart made with Thomas Farm fruit. Greg served as wine coordinator, a great help.

December saw us gathering for our annual Dungeness Crab Dinner. This year we started our feast with vegetable minestrone. As the centerpiece of our celebration we featured a San Francisco-style Crab Louis, recreated from Roxanne's childhood memories--true Slow Food! "My childhood memories are of piles of cracked crab in the center of a newspaper covered table, many people gathered 'round, picking crab for their salad, wine and beer to slosh down bites of sourdough bread, lively conversation as each person built the salad put together with crisp lettuce, garnishes (olives, hard-boiled eggs, cucumbers, radishes, carrot curls, avocado, artichoke hearts, etc.) on his own plate. The dressing was always a homemade Louis of traditional ingredients." Roxanne, of course, made the dressing, and others pitched in with all of the other salad components. For dessert, I made my grandmother's Hazelnut Halfmoons, and Annie, Lloyd & Lindy also brought cookies. Ken served as wine coordinator.