Mural in Marin County outside Whole Earth Grocery, the health food store of all health food stores. Honest.I spent a bit of time this weekend uncomfortably chronicling my weekend in San Fran.  Seemed apropos.

Went for work purposes which in my line of work often means just to eat. Which is what this trip was in fact all about.  Eat. Get inspiration. Talk.  All good. I ended up jotting down just about everything. 

And it was all so boring.  So many blogs are about where-I-ate and what-I-did.

Many of them are quite good but it just wasn't in my heart. 

I got in a few good one-liners and then I gave up.  Do you really care what I did day by day?

If you're here, we're here to talk about eating traceably and how to navigate doing so in the world or at least how I'm doing as a frazzled person in the work force, running around like a nut.

Yes, San Fran is all about local, sustainable, traceable food.  But just like NYC, unless you go to very specific restaurants and/or cook your own food you bought at some endless, gorgeous farmer's market, it's still hard.

We did many things that would make you very proud.

We drove up to Marin Sun Farms and met with founder Dave Evans and talked to him about meat and purveying and harvesting the livestock and countless other related topics smack in the middle of the Redwoods in Marin County.

Found this breath of fresh air at the Marin Sun Farm market. The whole paper is full of positive news just like it says. And, drumroll for happiness, it's free.

Found this at Whole Earth. Fungi for the whole family. I'll let you now how that goes.At the Ferry Plaza Building Farmer's Market.  Fabulous mexican food.  Really great salmon sandwich.  A pineapple cucumber juice that was BONUS unsweetened and perfect.

If you're comparing mushrooms to bling, matsutakes are major ice.

But as much as San Franciscan are crazy proud of the culture they've created and they are something to emulate, it's still freaking hard to really keep on the traceable track. 

We're still in America and I do think that I thought I might be okay not to pack my own food with me like I would if I was going to Florida or Ohio or wherever.

I had great carnitas.  Great mexican food period.

Tacos Sinaloa, Oakland, CA. Land of the brilliant carnitas

A very good paratha. 

Gobhi paratha @ Vik's

From left: peanut banana, meyer lemon huckleberry, pumpkin chip, coconut @ Dynamo Donut, Mission District

God, I love a clean kitchen. @dynamo donutDonuts gone!

Dinner at Zuni was great but suprisingly not very tracable. A conversation ensued how they don't claim to be. I think it's just the fact that they're very much on the map and came of age during a time right after Chez Panisse and their food is quite fresh that they must be. Not so much.

I don't feel that great since I've been eating away from home. The difference is always amazing to me.

Next post I'll be back to setting the stage again and figuring how to make this easier to accomodate.

Sherwin and I have been talking about making this a sixty day stretch since the information keeps coming in and we're getting a few readers. And because if I don't, I'll hear about it, here are a few of the photos I did take in between my phone dying.

Adios, City by the Bay.

So.

Getting back to the everyday.

At some point, can’t say when, I fell madly in love with plain yogurt.

I had a restaurant named Lassi. Named after the Indian yogurt drink. I eat a lot of yogurt.

A lot.

So I’ve tried tons of it. When the Fage Greek yogurt craze started, I was already knee deep in praising it’s fabulousness. Later when places started to pop up around NYC that made their own, I was trying theirs. Fun doesn’t begin to describe what I was having. And to top it off, I had some crazy rule in my head that if you knew who made it, the full fat content didn’t count. It was ugly but it was an ugly that I could deal with.

And then one day, like breathing air for the first time I tried Argyle Cheesemakers Yogurt. OH. MY. GOD.

Jesus Mary and Joseph. From Argyle, New York, this yogurt is one of those things that you wonder why anyone else would bother with anything remotely second rate. Driving a Porsche and then getting back into your Dodge Dart.

And to top it off, they have a maple yogurt as well that is just syrup out of the tree and into the yogurt.

Now that is the Oscar gown of anything related to mousse, cremeux or parfait.

For the record, I’m so not overreacting. Honest.

To honor this creamy cloud of fabulousness, here’s the recipe for the granola we make at Print. Which is up there in the granola world as well. So go to your nearest bulk healthfood store or search out the best remotely traceable stuff on the web and have what I’m having for breakfast:

PRINT. Granola

(this is generous amount for home and works well in any proportion)

1lb. rolled oats

4 oz. sesame seeds

4 oz. pumpkin seeds

4 oz. sunflower seeds

4 oz. brown sugar

4 oz. coconut

4 oz. bran flakes

4 oz. almonds

2 oz. currants

¼ oz. salt

½ vanilla bean-scraped

Combine well and add:

½ lb. honey.

Spread out on sheet pan and bake at 325 degrees for 22 minutes stirring every 5-7 minutes.

When you take it out of the oven and it’s still hot, add:

2 oz. dried currants

2 oz. dried cranberries

Mix them in and let granola cool.

Keep it in a dry, airtight container. Good for about 2 weeks if really in a dry, airtight container.

Next up, let’s talk quince.

I also really have a love for quince that one day I should address.

If you’re seeing it at the farmer’s market and have no idea what to do with the hard, tasteless raw fruit,

I’m here to tell you that in that little fruit there is some amazing chemistry.

Poach like pears for considerably longer, and amazing things happen.

Usually I’ll make a poaching liquid of 2 parts water to 1 part sugar and a vanilla bean.

You can add star anise or cinnamon or black pepper or all of them but it’s really amazing what happens even when you don’t.

Peel the quince like you would an apple. Cut into ¼s. Take the pits out. Put into the hot, simmering liquid. If you have parchment or wax paper, cut a circle that can lay on top of the liquid as the quince cook. Cut a small opening in the middle of the paper as a vent for the steam. Let cook for upward of 1 ½ -2 hours.

A very distinct and even ethereal flavor develops. The color turns to a decisive blush and if you let it cook even more, can turn a beautiful mahogany.

The texture remains firm but gets smooth and tender.

Sounds too good to be true?

Here’s a photo of the cooking quince:

I’m leaving for San Francisco tomorrow morning for a two day trip where my boss once again brings us up to date on the center of the greening of the planet. It’s 48 hours of straight eating in beautiful places. Not too shabby. I’ve packed only minimal food as everything should be traceable there.

Taco trucks too?

From  Amy Little, Organizer NESAWG , the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group : 

Is supporting your local farmer, visiting your farmers market, CSA, food coop, or other local food source important to you? What about having fresh, local food for your child’s school meals? Or as a farmer or rancher, do you want to figure out ways to add value to your food products to capitalize on sales in your community?

There is a groundbreaking opportunity for you to support local farmers and ranchers and to ensure your local food system continues to grow.

In the coming days, we will be joining members of Congress and other farm and food advocates in introducing the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act! 

Click to read more and get involved.

So recipes will have to wait because I've got something to say.

Confession: I don't know a whole lot about Michael Pollan. I'm supposed to. I'm supposed to have read all of his books, followed his tweets and dug down deep in the word he is spreading. From what I get a whif of, I am all about the word he is spreading. I have never heard a word about his work that I disagree with.

Sadly, there is a copy of the Omnivore's Dilema on the diningroom table.

It sits there in a pile of mail and magazines I haven't gotten to yet.

Find the great book I should be reading

See?

Honestly, when I read I like to read something cultural that has little to do with my work. Unless, of course, it must apply to my work in the immediate. AND the fact is that I tried to start The Omnivore's Dilema and it was a bit dry for me at that moment.

At any other time, I may be able to do it. Read it, love it, adore it.

I've truly looked forward to that day.

And then today a funny thing happened.

I went to the bookstore to pick up a gift for my friend Michael Laiskonis.

He's leaving his post as executive pastry chef at Le Bernardin and I was on my way to lunch.

I got the book I was looking for for him and then I saw the most riveting of things.

A book by Michael Pollan, Food Rules, illustrated by Maira Kalman.

If you are unfamiliar with Maira's work, she is an illustrator with an uncanny wit. www.mairakalman.com

A very impressive portfolio.

And yes, that's how shallow I am.

Bought it. Read it on the subway uptown.

Loved it.  Guess I needed the pictures.

It looks like this.

Awesome front:

Excellent Back:

And a few gems in the middle like this:

(Ghandi's fork and knife)

Amazingly, it seems much like common sense that we've lost along the way. I guess that's point we're all trying to push.

I had a great friend and mentor of food and health that used to stress this at every moment. Here's a photo of him and his awesome face.

Miss you much, E.

I've put in a query with my aforementioned friend Michael about the traceability of my lunch today. Waiting to hear back. I know they're putting some real green initiatives into place, so I'm looking forward to hearing about them. I haven't written about fish yet and that would be a good starting point.

For dinner tonight, the mushroom barley soup I made last night.

By the way, my freezer is full these days.  A much better way to live.  Much more sane than laying out cash at each meal. It's mindblowing how easy that's become.