By Katy Budge I sang that song a lot as a kid, but it wasn’t until this year that I’d ever tasted a mulberry! (Of course, I’ve never seen a monkey with socks on chasing a weasel, but that’s neither here nor there.) Due to their very short shelf life of only a few days, mulberries aren’t a common sight on most grocery shelves. I … Continue reading Have You Ever Mulled Over Mulberries?
Volume 1, Issue 4 “Cooking Ex-Libris” is a CasaFestiva.com series exploring new recipes from my own cookbooks. Enjoy! By Katy Budge Well, of course I have Mastering the Art of French Cooking on my bookshelf. C’est de rigeur, oui? This seminal tome — written by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck, illustrated by Sidonie Coryn — pulled back the curtain on all those fancy French … Continue reading Cooking Ex-Libris: Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Text and Photos By Katy Budge Heading to the Calistoga/St. Helena area? Here’s a quick look at what I discovered on a recent trip. (It was a pleasant surprise to find out that the immediate area had been spared fire damage, by the way. However, north of town towards Santa Rosa was described as an absolute disaster area, and we chose not to make the … Continue reading Forks in the Road: Calistoga & St. Helena
The Good Food Awards (GFA) weekend is a great way to discover some of the best of the best – American food and beverage producers that value a better food system, a healthy environment, and authentic products. Sustainability is a subject near and dear to my heart, and it was encouraging to see all the companies that share that mindset. The intent of this entire effort … Continue reading Celebrating Sustainability at the Good Food Awards
Last September, a milestone birthday (not mine – I’m still in some “mid years”) hatched the idea for a fabulous whirlwind adventure through the beautiful West. The secondary goal of the journey was to visit some national parks (Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Lake Mead thrown in for good measure) in a new trailer. But of course, there was a lot of eating and drinking … Continue reading “Forks in the Road”: 60 Candles, 7 States, 4 National Parks, 3 Weeks
By design, my travels often include some wonderful culinary adventures. Here’s a sampling of what my tastebuds enjoyed during a recent trip to Seattle – it’s wonder I didn’t gain 45 pounds! Slurp-tastic! Sure, there are other places to go for oysters in Seattle, but why bother. Elliott’s Oyster House has “Oyster House” in its name for a reason. There’s always a broad selection of … Continue reading “Forks in the Road”: Sated in Seattle
(A version of this piece originally appeared in the Spring 2015 edition of the Solstice Green Directory) By Katy Budge A popular culinary herb throughout the world, Ocimum basilicum – aka basil – has a long and intriguing history. Native to India and cultivated there for over 5000 years, basil was considered sacred, a status that helped garner its “basilicum” moniker in the Western world. … Continue reading Basil Up!
A few weeks ago, as the promise of much needed rain was teasing the Central Coast, a ripe opportunity arose for the Glean SLO program. John Rourke and Chris Freitas of San Luis Berry Farm had gotten as much of an organic strawberry harvest as they could before the rain would hit, so they invited a couple local groups, including Glean SLO, to pick as much … Continue reading Picking Flowers for the Food Bank?
In the course of writing an article on a local CSA (Talley Farms’ Fresh Harvest, Arroyo Grande, CA), I ended up with a couple bags of freshly picked fava beans. I also ended up with a big dose of appreciation for any chefs and home cooks that serve these delectable broad beans on any sort of regular basis. Fava beans are essentially the vegetable equivalent … Continue reading Favas: A Fav to Eat, But Not to Prepare
