Earlier this month, my mother and I attend the Elizabeth Gamble Garden’s Spring Tour, which is held annually in Palo Alto.  Each year, Gamble Garden feature Palo Alto residential gardens on the garden tour as well as their own extensive garden on Waverley Street.  The spring bloom at Gamble Garden is especially spectacular.

I have been attending this tour for about 15 years and a most extraordinary garden was featured this year.   This garden was truly “garden as art.”  Envisioned, designed, sculpted, and crafted by husband and wife gardening team, O’Malley and Jonathan Stoumen.  What is unique about their garden… it is entirely edible!

Seven years ago the Stoumens moved to Palo Alto from Healdsburg to be closer to family.  They purchased their Spanish style bungalow and began the transformation process.  Their  garden was in much need of tlc… it possessed a gravel front yard and backyard with a few plastic flowers stuck in the ground and one large redwood tree.  The forgotten landscape was an empty canvas for the Stoumens, which they wiped clean and began the process to transform the space into an edible paradise.

After O’Malley and Jonathan designed their new gardens, they laid out the backyard planting beds in true north and south orientation to minimize plant-to-plant shading.  They also designed a trellis system from rebar.  To do this, they manually bent long pieces of rebar into arched shapes, which where then inserted into submerged pipes located along the beds and then secured the rebar at their junctures with wire and welding. This trellis system assists the large and trailing plants to grow naturally.  The rebar was formed into a variety of shapes, such as a canopy arching over the length of their walkway, where pole bean plants grow upon and dangle in the breeze. Their tomato plants are trellised in this fashion too.  The tomatoes are allowed to stretch to the sky and not feel confined to a cage. They also build a green house in the backyard where they grow all their seedlings.

The Stoumens also built a beautiful chicken coop, which is the focal point of the backyard, and where an apricot and peach tree reside for shade for the chickens.  The coop houses five chickens, which not only provide delicious fresh eggs, but also are allowed to forage in the planting beds in between seasonal planting for bugs, snails, grubs, and larvae.  O’Malley said, “They are the best for pest control.  My beds are virtually pest-free.”  In addition, she composts chicken manure which is used for fertilizer.

For the nighttime intruders, Jonathan has installed a solar-powered Zareba Red Snap’ R electric fence, which keeps squirrels, raccoons, and rats out of the blueberry bushes and tomatoes.  He has also installed motion-activated sprinklers to keep nighttime critters out of the fruit trees.

Jonathan and O’Malley have planted a fruit orchard in the front yard with six varieties of trees and citrus: pluots, cherries, apples, pears, plums, and figs.  But what is unique is the fashion in which the trees are planted.  They have selected three semi-dwarf varieties of each fruit and have planted them in a triangular form eighteen inches apart.  The varieties selected offer the advantage of a longer and more staggered harvest.  The three trees are pruned to appear as one tree.

A variety of water features and bird feeders have been included in the design of the gardens to encourage birds to come visit.  Birds assist in the pest management of the gardens, although some of them like to eat the berries, which O’Malley has four varieties.  She nets the berry bushes to keep the birds out.

Mulching is a large part of the over all health and maintenance of her garden.  Mulch is used in all the beds in a variety of forms.  The neighbors’ grass clippings and leaves are used in the front yard while pine shavings and alfalfa pellets are used in the raised beds in the back.  All of this organic matter helps with fertilization, water retention, and makes for happy worms.  O’Malley uses all the green matter waste from her house and garden either by composting, chipping, and finally mulching.   The design of their gardens and all of these practices are to aid in healthy biodynamics.

When I sat down with O’Malley and asked her where she had learned all of her gardening knowledge she replied that she had been gardening all her life… she learned to love gardening from her mother.  And now she and Jonathan have taught their two children to love gardening.  She told me that she and Jonathan had lived in Humboldt County prior to Healdsburg, where they lived “off the grid” in the Coast Range.  It was there that they had to learn to live off the land. They grew all their own food.  In addition, they installed a Swiss windmill, which generated all their electricity for their home.  In moving back to Palo Alto, they were excited to recreate and adapt their earlier gardening experience to suburban living, utilizing their knowledge in architecture, edible gardening, plant propagation, and solar power.

Jonathan has been an architect for over 40 years specializing in sustainable architecture for both residential and commercial buildings.  Jonathan is a pioneer in the solar design of buildings and products.   Their garden in Palo Alto is an extension of what he advocates in his work.

What struck me on my two visits to this garden was the level of thought and detail given to each and every aspect of this space. Every detail of this garden is treated with great attention to functionality and artistic interpretation, which in the finished work, exudes the knowledge, craftsmanship, and love that had been poured into the garden’s creation.  The Stoumens are true visionaries.  They have created an environment that is uniquely their own, all the while demonstrating to us that home gardening biodynamics is truly in all of our grasps…all the while valuing and embracing art!

Jonathan Stoumen, Architect
LEED AP
Residential and Commercial
www.stoumen.com
(650) 996-0101

O’Malley’s chickens have their own website.  It started when O’Malley would send chicken pictures to her daughter at work for fun.  She said, “Keep them coming mom, as they always make me laugh.”   O’Malley  started adding captions on them like the chickens were at work.   Pretty soon many people were requesting her daily chicken emails.  O’Malley decided to start a website where she can post her “chickens at work” photos.  That was in 2010…her site is now viewed worldwide.  It is subscription based and now viewers submit their chicken photos to her via the site and she has a weekly caption contest.

www.workdaychickenpictures.com

The post An Edible Garden As Art appeared first on Teresa Giovanzana.

To be honest, I have never cooked with rhubarb until I decided to write this article.  There was always this mystery surrounding this vegetable for me.  Every spring I am surprised by the arrival of the beautiful red stalks at my market.  I always stopped to admire them… they are just waiting for someone to pick them up and bring them home.   I have always just walked away until this month.   My mother used to make rhubarb pie for my dad when I was a young girl.  He loved rhubarb pie… or any pie she made for that matter.  I never even tried a piece of her pie as a young girl.  I guess it was too foreign… it wasn’t even a fruit that I could eat with my PB&J.

So I decided it was time to cook with rhubarb.  And you and I would go on this maiden journey together.

Funny, how you can stroll past a vegetable in the produce section and not really give it a second thought.  What was the journey that this humble vegetable had traveled to make its way to California?  Or, more importantly, my kitchen?  Now I am not alluding to Highway 5, which runs north and south through the entire state of California.  No, I am talking about the indigenous origin of rhubarb.

So what is the back story on my mystery vegetable?  Rhubarb is from China and for many years traveled the Silk Road to the Middle East, India, and finally reaching Europe in the 14^th century.  Rhubarb was traded along with other very precious spices, such as cinnamon, saffron, and opium, which were highly valued and therefore commanded a high price.  It was noted in the early 1400s… that rhubarb is considered one of the best merchandises coming from China and is equal in value to silks, satins, musk, rubies, diamonds, and pearls.

It was Marco Polo who finally found the plant being grown and harvested in Asia and brought it back to Italy where it was planted and cultivated for European consumption as well as used for medicinal purposes.  Such an exotic and interesting past for a humble vegetable sitting in our markets this time of year!

I have decided to make individual Rhubarb Flan Tarts with Pistachio Crumble.  I found this recipe on one of my favorite blog sites Cannelle et Vanille.  The recipe was written by the blogger Aran Goyoaga.   Rhubarb can be used for all sorts of culinary dishes.  It is primarily used in desserts but can be used in savory dishes too.  And it can be pickled quite easily.  Cooks enjoy rhubarb in pie, cobbler, crisps, cake, jam, ice cream, and savory chutney, which can be enjoyed with meats such as pork.  Rhubarb pairs wonderfully with strawberries, apples, and ginger.  It is important to note that the leaves of rhubarb are poisonous, which are never found attached to the stocks at the market.

Rhubarb Flan Tarts with Pistachio Crumble recipe included at bottom.  Enjoy!

Rhubarb Flan and Pistachio Crumble Tart
By Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle et Vanille blog (posted 3/20/2009)
Book: Small Plates and Sweet Treats
 
Vanilla Bean Sugar Dough
1 stick butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
1 egg
, beaten
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla bean together.  Add the egg and mix until combined.  Scrape the bowl.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until dough comes together.  Do not over mix.  It will be crumbly.  Turn out the dough on a floured board.  Form the dough into a disk, flatten it and wrap it in plastic wrap.   Refrigerate the dough for at least two hours.

Roll the dough to about 1/16″-1/8″. Cut circles larger than your tart rings and fill the rings with the dough. Gently form the dough to the bottom edge of the ring and up the sides.  Pinch off the excess dough at the top edge.  If there are any cracks in the dough, repair with small pieces of dough to make the dough solid around the entire rim of tart ring.  Place the filled tart rings in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
 
Poached Rhubarb
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
1 pound rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces

In a small saucepan, add the water and sugar on medium heat to dissolve the sugar and create a syrup.  Add the pieces of rhubarb and turn heat down to barely simmering and gently poach the rhubarb in the syrup for about 3 minutes until the rhubarb is tender but still keeps it shape.  Remove the rhubarb from the syrup and drain. Be careful not to mush it too much.
 
Flan
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup whole milk
½ cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
3 eggs
, beaten
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch

In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream, whole milk, half of the sugar and the vanilla bean to a boil.  Be careful not to scald.

In the meantime, whisk the eggs, rest of sugar and cornstarch together making sure the cornstarch is dissolved. Temper the hot cream into the egg mixture and whisk until combined. Strain the egg mixture through a fine sieve and cool over an ice bath.
 
Pistachio Crumble
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup flour
½ cup pistachios, chopped
pinch of salt

In a Cuisinart with the blade attachment, add all ingredients together and pulse the mixture until it becomes crumbly and begins to hold together.  Do not over crop the nuts and mixture to be too fine.  Place in an air tight container and refrigerate over night.
 
Assemble the tarts
Start by blind baking the tart shells. Place a round of parchment paper on top of the dough and fill the ring with beans or pie weights. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Drain the poached rhubarb really well and fill the pre-baked tart shells with it. Only use the pieces that have held together.  Fill the tart with a couple of scoops of the flan mixture and bake in a 350F oven for about 5 minutes until it is slightly set.

Place the crumble on top of the rhubarb and flan and finish baking at 350F for about another 10 minutes until the flan has set and the crumble begins to lightly brown.

Makes 6 individual tarts

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Our Eureka lemon tree is loaded right now with so many lemons!  It is absolutely beautiful.  And the blossoms for next year’s lemons have just opened.  The scent is magnificent.  And, the bees are very busy buzzing all around the tree collecting their coveted pollen.

Each spring it is the same… what to make with all those beautiful lemons?!  The cooking magazines are always filled with great suggestions.  Lemon Meringue pie is always a favorite in my house, as well as lemon bars, and lemon curd sandwich cookies, and we enjoy barbequing marinated Greek lemon chicken this time of year.   But my guys have been asking for lemonade.  All three of us love that liquid sunshine… and it is so easy to make.

For me, lemonade brings me back to a simpler time in my youth… as it probably brings you back too.  It makes me think of hot summer days playing with the kids on my block until the darkness of night.  I probably think of “lemonade” and “summer” together because us kids always had a lemonade stand!

My two best friends growing up were the sisters that lived next door to me, Vicki and Janan.  They are a few years older that I am and were a wealth of information in my youth as little “Terry.”  I idolized the two of them and hung on every word they said to me.  We had a large contingency of boys and girls on our block and enjoyed numerous games and activities together.  Although, I have to say, playing Barbies with Vicki and Janan was my all time favorite thing to do with them!  Vicki and Janan are still my very close friends!  Their lifelong friendship has truly been one of the greatest gifts of my life.

Every summer we would have a lemonade sale in one of our front yards.  There was always great excitement and busy work preparing for our lemonade venture.  Vicki, who is the eldest, was always our fearless leader, regardless what we did, and would delegate our lemonade stand jobs to get it started.  She was then, as is now, a born leader.  Vicki not only was our CEO but she was CFO too… she took care of the moneybox.  Janan is a creative type like me and would focus on making the lemonade and quality control.  Being the youngest, I did what ever I could to help, but I recall “styling” being my forte’ then.  I would help put the tablecloth on the table, pick fresh flowers and arrange them in a vase, make order of the cups on the table, and help color a sign in crayons.  Funny how I haven’t veered too far from that job now!

My mother had a Myers’ lemon bush in her backyard, which is still happily producing numerous lemons today.  In fact, most of my neighbors had lemon trees in their yards as well.  We would pick lemons with wild abandon until one of our moms would shout out the kitchen window, “Stop picking all the lemons!”  In one of our kitchens, we would squeeze the lemon halves into juice until our small hands would ache and be stinging from the acid.  We would dump all the needed ingredients, juice, water, and sugar, into pitchers without measuring and stir, stir, stir… recipe not required.

Lemonade? Check.  Glasses?  Check.  Lemonade sign?  Check.  Moneybox?  Check.  Finally we were ready for business!  We would sit in folding chairs on the shaded sidewalk during the heat of the afternoon and wait.  The big decision to make was whether to sell the lemonade for 10 cents or 20 cents a glass.  We would get a few customers… a random neighbor lady… the kids on the block… our moms.  We eventually always got thirsty and began drinking the product that wasn’t selling.  Our lemonade stand afternoons always ended the same… with a lot of laughter and an empty pitcher!  I miss those days…

With so many precious memories swimming around in my head, I had to make a pitcher of lemonade and photograph the liquid sunshine as homage to those happy childhood days.  As I walked to my vegetable garden to pick lemons and take pictures, I passed some of my favorite spring flowers that only bloom once a year:  Calla Lily, Snowball Viburnum, Montana Clematis, and dwarf geranium.   I have a predominately white flower garden, which I just love.  This article is dedicated to all things unique and special this time of year: lemons and my spring flowers… and Vicki and Janan.

Janan, Terry, and Vicki

I have also made one of my favorite desserts for you to enjoy… Lemon Bars… I absolutely love them!  Remember… when life hands you lemons make lemonade!

Recipes below.

LEMONADE
3 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 cups of superfine sugar
4 cups of water
2 lemons sliced a 1/4″ thick
1/2 cup cranberry juice (optional for pink lemonade)

In a medium size pot, add the sugar to two cups of the water and heat to dissolve the sugar – stir sugar water to help dissolve.  Turn off heat immediately after sugar has dissolved.  Let cool.  While sugar water is cooling, squeeze the lemons to make 3 cups of lemon juice.  This could take 2 dozen lemons or more.  Add lemon juice to a large pitcher and add sugar water and the balance of the 2 cups of water.  If you want pink lemonade, add the cranberry juice at this time.  Add the lemon slices to the pitcher for garnish.  Add ice and serve.

Makes 8 cups.

LEMON BARS
Recipe by Susan Logozzo at Cook’s Illustrated Magazine
Makes two dozen bars

The Crust
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus extra to sprinkle on top of bars when finished
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at very cool room temp., cut into 1-inch pieces, plus extra for greasing the pan

Lemon Filling
4 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons finely grated zest from two large lemons
2/3 cup juice from 3 to 4 large lemons, strained
1/3 cup whole milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. FOR THE CRUST: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly butter a 13 X 9-inch baking dish and line with one sheet parchment or wax paper.  dot paper with butter, then lay second sheet crosswise over it.

2. Pulse flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and salt in food processor work bowl fitted with the steel blade.  Add butter and process to blend, 8 to 10 seconds, then pulse until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal, about three 1-second burst.  sprinkle mixture into lined pan and press firmly with fingers into even 1/4-inch layer over entire pan bottom and about 1/2-inch up sides.  refrigerate for 30 minutes, then bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Let cool on cooling rack.

3. FOR THE FILLING: Meanwhile, whisk eggs, sugar, and flour in medium bowl, then stir in lemon zest and juice, milk, and salt to blend well.  Wisk until all of the flour has been incorporated.  This mixture will be pour as is onto warm shortbread when it is ready.

4. TO FINISH THE BARS: Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.  Stir filling mixture to reblend; pour onto warm crust.  Bake until filling feels firm when touched lightly, about 20 minutes.  trasfer pan to wire rack; cool to near room temperature, at least 30 minutes.  Grab the two edges of the lengthwise lining paper that you have used.  Gently lift the lemon bars out of the pan and place on a cutting board.  Peel paper down, and cut into serving-size bars, wiping knife or pizza cutter clean between cuts, as necessary.  For decoration, lightly dust the lemon bars with the powdered sugar.

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Some of you may know this… some of you may have guessed this… but I am crazy about tomatoes!  I grow them, eat them, cook them, can them, and give them away to my family and friends.  I just can’t get enough of them.  The beautiful colorful orbs actual give me joy to just look at and photograph them.   In the fall I become sad when I am picking the last and final tomato, off my last and final tomato plant.  You and I both know that we will not taste anything so fabulous until next summer when next year’s crop begins to produce.  Yes, you can buy what looks like a tomato in the market…but you and I both know that it is not.  What is sold in the market in the winter does not taste anything close to a sweet and juicy vine-ripened tomato in the heat of the summer.  Those sad mealy orange looking fruits in the market are picked green in far away countries, such as Mexico and Chile, shipped to the US, go through customs, and then gassed with ethylene which forces the green tomato to finally turn red.  Ethylene is a natural hormone that signals the tomato to turn red.  All tomatoes plants go through this process while it is on the vine.  But artificially gassing a green tomato after it is picked only turns the tomato red… it cannot develop the natural sugar nor change the texture of the tomato.

Every April I get excited… it is time to plant my vegetable garden and buy my tomato plants!  I shop at a number of locations to find unique heirloom plants.  In past years I have gone to Love Apple Farm’s Tomato Sale in Scotts Valley to buy my plants.  They have a fantastic selection of over 100 heirloom varieties.  This year, their sale goes from March 30^th to June 30^th.  It is an awesome view to step into their greenhouse and see the immense expanse of tomato plants to choose from.  Their tomato plant sale is in Scotts Valley and is always worth the trip.   This year I bought my plants at the Santa Clara County Master Gardeners’ 19^th Annual Spring Garden Market, which was held last weekend at History San Jose at Kelly Park.

This year my criterion for tomato selection was unique shapes, sizes, and colors.  I purchased 16 plants…far more than a family of three could possibly eat!  But I can’t help myself when shopping for tomato plants…. the choices are endless!  I also get wrapped up in the shopping frenzy that one experiences at the tomato tables at the Master Gardeners’ sale.   All of the other shoppers are equally as tomato crazed as I am… grabbing numerous plants and loading up their boxes, wagons, wheel barrels, and the like.  And yes, there is a little bit of running and excitement involved!  But it makes for a very fun event!  More than a thousand vegetable gardening devotees come to this free event every year.  It is a beautiful thing to witness!

All three of these photos have my friends in them.  The photo directly above is my friends in the check out line.  I think they had over 75 tomato plants!

This year, the Master Gardeners propagated 79 varieties of heirloom tomatoes that they classify into four groups: classic, beefsteak, cherry, and paste.  Their seedlings are displayed on long tables in these categories.  Master Gardeners also propagated more than a 100 varieties of peppers, as well as eggplant, herbs, and flowers.  The plants are $3 each, which I believe is a good price for the quality of the organically raised plants and the enormous selection to choose from.

In addition, the Master Gardeners invite other related companies to participate in the event where they may set up booths and sell their products.  These vendors range from nurseries, garden art, home chicken coops and bee keeping, CSA cooperatives, garden tools, etc., as well as there are Master Gardeners available for questions at their own booth.

This is Amie Frisch, Executive director of the non-profit organization Veggielution Community Farm which is located at Emma Prusch Farm in San Jose.  Veggielution is a 6 acre community farm that grows vegetables with community volunteers and then shares the vegetables with the greater community through donations, their vegetable stand, and CSA.

So now I have all my plants at home and I need to plant them.  First, I have to tell you, my dear husband adds chicken manure to my raised beds each year, which really adds a lot of nutrients to the soil.  I use E. B. Stone Organics fertilizer 4-6-2 with each plant.  This year I added a few dead fish heads and worm castings to the soil because Cynthia Sandberg, owner of Love Apple Farm, said it was a tried and true method that she does every year.  Love Apple Farm is a gardening and cooking educational center located in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Cynthia has a wonderful article that she wrote on her website called, How to Grow Better Tomatoes (see link below).  The article covers soil health and prep, plant choice, care, soil amendments, feeding, and disease control.  Throughout the tomato season, Love Apple Farm conducts one-day seminars on growing tomatoes, as well as seminars on other subjects.  I attended a seminar on home cheese making.  Great fun!  Check out their website for a list of all their seminars.   The farm at the center has a very large vegetable garden where they practice biodynamics.  Love Apple Farm sells their vegetables to Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos and at their farm stand in Scotts Valley.  Manresa’s menu changes frequently to highlight the best products grown at Love Apple Farm, which they have an exclusive partnership with.  Chef-Proprietor, David Kinch, owns Manresa Restaurant, which has been awarded 2 Michelin stars for excellence.

It is time… plant your vegetable garden.  Get your children involved by taking them shopping to select the plants and seeds and then planting the garden together…make it an annual family event.  If the kids are involved in the entire process I guarantee you they will eat their vegetables!  Have fun!

Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County
http://www.mastergardeners.org/scc.html

California Master Gardener Handbook
Sold by the University of California
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/LawnGarden/3382.aspx

Love Apple Farm Tomato Sale
http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/love-apple-farms-2008-tom.html

Love Apple Farm’s article How I Grow Better Tomato
http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/2013/04/2013-re-post-how-i-plant-a-tomato.html

Veggielution
www.veggielution.org

Manresa Restaurant
http://www.manresarestaurant.com

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In the past 10 years, the coffee industry has experienced a rebirth… something quite different than what Starbuck’s and Peet’s is pouring… it is an artisanal coffee movement which is called Third Wave Coffee.  The movement is comprised of small independently owned coffee roasting companies and coffee houses that have redefined coffee connoisseurship.  Their mission is clear; source the beans direct from farmers to acquire the highest quality and flavor, roast the beans in a manner that will develop their unique characteristics, and create the best cup of coffee ever to be tasted.

The San Francisco bay area has been on the forefront of this new coffee phenomenon with one of the founding companies of Direct Trade in San Jose…Barefoot Coffee.  Barefoot Coffee is passionately sourcing, roasting, and pouring coffee for all those who will taste.  Andy Newbom, one of the founding pioneers of the Third Wave Coffee movement, founded Barefoot Coffee in 2003. Today, Barefoot Coffee is owned by Jonathan and Jillian Dolin, and operated by a small group of trained and certified coffee professionals that shared their passion and knowledge with me of their favorite brew.

Barefoot Coffee directly sources their beans from farms in seven countries.  Direct Trade is mutually beneficial in many ways.  Barefoot Coffee employees make annual trips to some of the seven countries to work with the farmers.   This working relationship fosters sustainability for the land, better working conditions for employees, growing the highest quality beans possible, and Direct Trade pays the farmers 25% more for the beans than Fair Trade.  The knowledge Barefoot Coffee learns from this relationship is an intimate knowledge and understanding of the bean’s origin that play a vital role in final selection and ultimately the roasting of the beans.

The coffee bean is actual the seed of a fruit, which the industry calls the fruit “cherries.”  Each red cherry produces two green coffee beans.  The red cherries are processed in one of three ways: the traditional way of drying in the sun, water processed to break apart and wash away the outer pulp of the fruit from the bean, and honey processed, which utilizes less water but leaves behind some pulp.  The honey process is a new method that ultimately impacts the cup character.

Barefoot Coffee’s three roasters, David, Patrick, and Nicolle, lovingly roast small batches of beans in two coffee roasters in their San Jose location. They believe in roasting their high quality beans in a way that enhances their natural inherent qualities of flavor. Barefoot Coffee roasts their beans for a light, medium, and full-bodied coffee, but accomplish this without bringing up the internal bean temperature past 310 degrees, which enhances and maintains the bean’s natural flavor characteristics – this is what makes their roasting process unique.  The roasting of the green coffee beans actually transforms the beans to a caramelizing state, which is the artistic crafting of coffee roasting.  Each shipment of beans received is methodically put through a series of roastings and tastings to achieve the desired cup of coffee.  Like wine, coffee has over 6000 taste notes that describe its flavor, as well as language to describe body, acidity, and balance characteristics.

Also like wine tasting, Barefoot Coffee has a coffee bar for tasting their various coffees.  Their barista Vito prepares samplings of coffee, which include a tasting of 2 to 3 different varietals and espresso samplings which contrast how it changes with milk.  Vito, or the roasters, can discuss with you how coffee beans are affected by terroir, elevation, climate, country, farm, and processing, which all impart on the distinct flavor notes.  I had the opportunity to taste their coffee at their bar and found it to be extraordinary…unlike I have ever tasted before.  The coffee possesses a variety of flavor notes that can be described as bright and clean such as blood orange, green apple, peach, and guava.  Or more deep and complex flavor notes such as chocolate, butter, root beer, fig, and nougat.  Barefoot Coffee also brews and bottles a “Cold Brew” that is delicious over ice.  For a real treat for coffee aficionados, they offer classes on espresso making and coffee bean roasting.  And, tasting coffee at Barefoot Coffee’s bar is much more affordable than what you would pay at other popular coffee shops…and a lot more fun…leaving you with a serious caffeine buzz!  No worries, they roast decaf coffee too!

Barefoot Coffee sells their products at their headquarters in San Jose, wholesale, on line, and in retail cafes.  Presently there are two Barefoot Coffee cafes, which are located in Los Gatos and Campbell, where you can experience their coffee tasting and espresso samplings. These establishments are traditional cafes serving single cups of coffee and light food items.  They also sell Barefoot Coffee’s packaged beans for home brewing.  Barefoot Coffee’s future plans are to open more coffee houses.

Barefoot Coffee (headquarters, roasting facility, and coffee bar)
76 Sunol Street
San Jose,  CA  95126
(408) 293-7200
Coffee Bar hours: Thursday to Saturday, 9 AM to 2 PM
http://www.barefootcoffee.com
info@barefootcoffee.com

Barefoot Coffee (café and retail sales)
15567 Union Avenue
Los Gatos,  CA  95032
(408) 377-1052

Barefoot Coffee (café and retail sales)
1819 S. Bascom Avenue
Campbell,  CA  95008
(408) 340-5025

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1 1/4 cups of milk
1/3 cup butter
1 pkg. Rapid rise instant yeast (about 2 1/4 teas.)
pinch of salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups of flour
1 egg, beaten with 1 tea. of water
Sprinkles or pearl sugar for decoration
6 Easter eggs, dyed

In a small saucepan, warm milk and butter, just until butter melts.

In a large stand mixer, combine yeast, salt, eggs, and sugar.  Add warm milk (not hot) to mixture.  If it is too hot it will kill the yeast.  Read yeast package for appropriate temperature. Add half of the flour and with the dough hook, beat until smooth.  Slowly add remaining flour to form a stiff dough, adding flour until the dough is not sticky anymore.

With the dough hook or by hand on a lightly floured board,knead dough until smooth.  Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.  This will take about one hour.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.  Punch dough down; divide into 12 pieces.  Roll each into a rope 1 inch thick and 14 inches long.  Twist two together to form a braid.  Pinch ends, loop into a circle and transfer to baking sheet.  Repeat to form six rings.  Cover and let rise until dough doubles in size.  This will take about one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Add water to final egg in recipe and beat.  Brush each bread with beaten egg wash.  Sprinkle with pearl sugar or sprinkles.  Gently place an Easter egg in the middle of each dough ring, making an indentation with the egg.  Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Cool on rack.

The post Italian Easter Bread appeared first on Teresa Giovanzana.

Easter has always been a special time for my family and me.  As an Italian American kid, Easter had been greeted with great expectation because I was completing my Lenten fast of meatless Fridays and no candy for 40 days.  On Easter morning my family and I would get dressed up, go to church, and then come home to a large brunch which would include baked egg dishes, sweet Italian bread that had colored eggs baked right into the dough, thick slices of glazed ham, and bowls of strawberries.  My mother and grandmother would set the table with special plates, linen napkins, the good silver, beautiful spring flowers, and bunnies.  My younger brother and I were allowed to drink orange juice out of colored vintage stemware.  It was a feast, for the eyes and the stomach, sitting round the Easter table, a spectacle to behold.  After brunch was over, my father would become excited and start running from window to window shouting, “I think I just saw the Easter Bunny run by!” My younger brother and I would begin running to all the windows with him with great joy and hope that maybe we could spy a glimpse of the famous rabbit ourselves.  Oddly, my father was the only member of our family that ever caught a glimpse!

I had a special Easter basket which the Easter Bunny refilled each year.  I loved that basket and still have it today.   The basket is pink and yellow and had green grass.  It has tiny little white lilies that twine around the basket’s tall handle on one side, and once filled, would be wrapped with colored cellophane paper and tied with a huge beautiful bow at the top.  The Easter Bunny filled the basket with all my favorite Easter candy treats…including yellow peeps!  I would perch my Easter basket in a prominent location in my bedroom, and over the course of the next weeks, I would savor eating each piece of candy until there was no more.

I have added all of these traditions, antics, and recipes to my annual Easter tradition since I am a wife and mother now.  I have enjoyed running from window to window with my son over the years.  But he is now 16 and has sadly learned long ago that the Easter Bunny was in cahoots with Santa Claus…along with those mischievous leprechauns, who trashed our living room and painted the dog’s tail green on St. Patrick’s Day.  The other day, I hesitantly asked my son if he wanted to color eggs this year…something he grumbled about last year, but to appease me, conceded to dye eggs.  But this year he replied, “If you want to mom.  I’ll color eggs with you.”  Oh, the sweet joy of coloring eggs with my son!  I guess there are some things that we should never out grow!

I have photographed an Easter tablescape, which includes my grandmother’s Easter Brunch Eggs, roasted asparagus with sautéed bell peppers, orange baked ham, Italian sweet bread with colored eggs, and strawberries. May you have a very happy and delicious Easter!

God Bless.

Links to the recipes are below.

MENU

Baked Easter Brunch Eggs with bacon, vegetables, and herbs

Roasted Asparagus with Sautéed Red and Yellow Bell Peppers and chives

Orange Baked Ham

Italian Easter Bread

Strawberries

The post Buona Pasqua! Happy Easter! appeared first on Teresa Giovanzana.

1 (5 to 8 pound) fully cooked, spiral-cut smoked ham on the bone
3 cloves of garlic
4 1/2 oz. orange marmalade
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
Zest from 1/2 orange
1/8 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the ham in a heavy roasting pan.

In a food processor, mince the garlic.   Add the marmalade, mustard, brown sugar, orange zest, and orange juice and process until smooth.  Pour the glaze over the ham and bake for 1 hour, until the ham is fully heated and the glaze is well browned.  Serve hot or at room temperature.  Serves 25 for cocktails.

The post Orange Baked Ham appeared first on Teresa Giovanzana.