Dr Paul Thomas, Mary Vincent & White Truffle "Let no one ever confess that he dined where truffles were not. However good any entree may be, it seems bad unless enriched by truffles. Who has not felt his mouth water when any allusion was made to truffles... A saute of truffles is a dish the honors of which the mistress of the house reserves to herself; in fine, the truffle is the diamond of the kitchen."Excerpt from The Physiology of Taste or Transcendental Gastronomy by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin written in 1825 1st Napa Truffle Festival I was enamored with the 1st Annual Napa Truffle Festival sponsored by Lexus December 10-12, 2010. There's not much opportunity to try 'fresh' truffles unless you dine at a very nice restaurant, frequent a specialty food retailer, and/or have a great friend who has brought you European truffles. Did you know that a truffle is best within 4 days? This is why they are very hard to find, and fairly expensive in the U.S. There's a new business initiative to produce truffles in the US which would make it easier and potentially very profitable for business owners. The American Truffle Company, the conference organizer, has a business inoculating seedlings and partnering and profiting with grower's successes. They brought together Michelin Star Chefs for a 13 Michelin Star Dinner, some of the world's Truffle Scientists to speak on the Science of Truffle Cultivation, organized a Truffle Orchard Tour of Carneros' Robert Sinskey Vineyards and a Champagne Brunch with an Epicurean Marketplace. The Festival showcased the black Perigord Truffle (tuber melanosporum) and the black summer Burgundy truffle (tuber aestivum/uncinatum). The Weekend Truffle Festival experience with several pictures and Biology and Science updates are below. Champagne Brunch and Epicurean Marketplace You'll see pictures of Italian White Truffles, Umbrian Black Truffles, and the Westin Verasa's BANK Restaurant Champagne Brunch Catalan Flatbread: Maitake Mushrooms, Fresh Mozzarella, and Fresh Burgundy Truffle. Dinner at Farm Chef de Cuisine Ryan Jette at Farm created a special vegetarian menu for me highlighting the wines of the region and used organic and sustainable agricultural ingredients. The cuisine was beautifully presented and architected. I highly recommend Farm for the amazing food, ambiance, modernity, creativity, and service! Dinner highlights included: - Squash Soup with Apple Radish and Truffles paired with Domaine J. Laurens, Cremant de Limoux, France, NV - Roasted Beet Essence with Persimmon, shaved Truffle and Goat Cheese - French Fingerling Salad with Pommes Maxim's Romaine Spears, Burgundy Truffle Egg Emulsion paired with Vinum Cellars, White Elephant, Napa Valley - Butter Lettuce with Calendula Flower with Homemade Ricotta - Black Winter Truffle Risotto, Preserved Meyer Lemon, Watercress paired with Domaine Vocoret, Chablis, France, 2008 - Roasted Brussel Sprout with Shaved Truffle- Chanterelle Mushrooms with Swish Chard, Shaved Truffles, and Pureed Potatoes paired with Buena Vista, Syrah, Carneros, 2006 - Lemon Posset with Tapioca Pearls - Egg Nog Custard with **Shaved White Truffles from Alba (**Chef Ryan Jette personally came out to shave the White Truffle) Lunch & Dinner with Michelin Star Chef Ken Frank, La Toque Chef Ken Frank's La Toque is synonymous with Excellence. He prepared the most impressive Truffle lunches and dinners during the Truffle Festival. I let him know in advance I would be requesting vegetarian for the 13 Michelin Star Dinner, hosted and led by Chef Ken Frank. He said that if I wanted a vegan course in the future, go to 'Ask Ken' on the La Toque website, and the message goes straight to his smartphone! Amazing person and Chef. The La Toque Lunch featured: - Chestnut Bisque with Pumpkin Seed Oil, Black Truffle Crème Fraiche and Shaved Burgundy Truffle The impressive 13 Michelin Star Dinner La Toque Dinner included: - Sunchoke with Truffle Toast, paired with Staglin Family Chardonnay 2006 in magnum - Espelette Pepper Ricotta Ravioli with Braised Rancho Gordo Butter Beans and Shaved Truffle, paired with Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru "Morgeots", Gagnard-Delagrange 2005 - Pearl Tapioca with Fiscalini Cheddar, paired with Miner Pinot Noir Gary's Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands 2002 - Roasted Red Beet Risotto with Barolo and Roasted Porcini (foraged by the same person who collected the various species in the centerpieces). - Warm Beignet and White Chocolate Truffle Sauce, Panna Cotta with Hazelnut Anglaise and Burgundy Truffle, Chestnut Truffle Ice Cream Sandwich Thank you Ken and Wine Director Scott Tracy for a spectacular vegetarian dinner! All 13 Michelin Star Truffle Dinner Chefs are below: Ken Frank La Toque, Napa (1 Michelin Star) David Kinch Manresa, Los Gatos (2 Michelin Stars) Nancy Oakes Boulevard, San Francisco (1 Michelin Star) Gabriel Kreuther The Modern, New York City (1 Michelin Star) Sylvain Portay Le Louis XV, Monte Carlo (3 Michelin Stars) Mix, Las Vegas (1 Michelin Star) Adour, New York City (2 Michelin Stars) Josiah Citrin Mélisse, Santa Monica (2 Michelin Stars) Truffle Orchard at Robert Sinskey Vineyards William Collins brought Rico, his Lagotto Romagnolo Truffle Dog, to the Robert Sinskey Vineyard Truffle Tour. Robert Sinskey Vineyards uses only organic and biodynamic practices on its grape vines, as well as in the truffle orchard. Even though Robert Sinskey Vineyards is doing well, they have diversified and have planted a Truffle Vineyard. Dr. Alexander Urban, Faculty member at University Vienna's Department of Systematic Evolutionary Botany also spoke at the Science-Based Truffle Cultivation Seminar. Tuber melanosporum is the product of a symbiotic marriage between a subterranean mushroom and the roots of a tree. The truffle itself is the fruiting body of a fungal colony and usually grows beneath the drip line of the outermost branches of hazels and oaks. Because it cannot produce its own food, the fungus unites with a tree's hair-like rootlets to develop symbiotic organs, called mycorrhizae, through which it feeds on carbohydrates and other nutrients photosynthesized in the tree canopy. In turn, the mycorrhizae emit hyphae, gossamer threads that extend in great webs through the soil, seeking moisture and minerals, including the vital nutrient phosphorus, which they share with the tree roots. At the same time, the hyphae spread the mycorrhizal infection to neighboring roots, forming a protective shelf around them against disease-causing organisms and infusing the soil with antibiotics. This subterranean activity is revealed by scorched earth, or " brûlé," which manifests itself as a near absence of surface vegetation. Dr. Alexander Urban stated some of these highlights in his talk: - Land is disappearing and thus Truffles are disappearing - There’s much more opportunity to see an ‘Old Growth' Forest in California than in Europe - It would be good to re-establish forests to have more productivity of truffles - It’s important to get the landowners together - If you leave truffles, you’re much more likely to increase future yields - If there’s much more competition, you’re much more likely to lose the Truffles - Success of truffle cultivation relies to a large part of natural self-regulation - Benefits of Healthy Soils:Soil Structure, Microbial - Potential of truffle cultivation in the USA - Reliable supply of controlled mycorrhized plants (PCR) available - CA has mostly acidic soils and massive aounts of limestone are required - Truffle cultivation is green agriculture - Truffle orchards can have a high value for biodiversity conservation, if autochthonous host trees are used - Low input of fertilizers and pesticides are important and ground water is needed (Per Robert Chang Managing Director American Truffle Company, on average 1 acre of truffle orchard can offset carbon of 10 households of 4) Thanks to the conference organizers and participants I'm even more impressed or shall I say addicted to truffles. I hope you, the Gratitude Gourmet readers, can enjoy these amazing Truffle flavor profiles, and please share your thoughts on your Truffle Stories. Stay tuned because another Napa Truffle Festival is planned for next year, and I hope to see you then! Truffles-To-Give: 3-Tier Tiffin Our 3-tier Indian tiffin by Coco-Zen holds a total of 15 large dessert vegan truffles made from Organic Coconut Milk (5 truffles per flavor of Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Espresso Bean and Chocolate Orange Blossom). Price incudes Priority Mail US shipping for freshness & please refrigerate them within 2-3 days upon receipt if not consumed. If refrigerated, the truffles will remain fresh up to 10 days. *BUY HERE* Available now! Kim Barnouin illustrates how you can eat healthy and enjoy every minute of it in her new book: Skinny Bitch, the Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. Here's her recipe for Curried Pumpkin Soup, courtesy of Running Press. Curried Pumpkin Soup - MAKES 6 SERVINGS Ingredients: 3 tablespoons Earth Balance 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped 1 onion, roughly chopped 2 cups (500 g) pumpkin purée (not pie filling) 1 tablespoon curry powder 1/4 cup (50 g) evaporated cane sugar 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar 3 cups (720 ml) vegetable stock 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry white wine 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) almond milk Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 2 tablespoons chopped toasted pumpkin seeds Directions: In a large pot, add the Earth Balance and melt over medium heat. Add the apples and onion. Cook until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Add the pumpkin purée, curry, and both sugars, and cook 2 minutes. Add the stock and wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low, partially cover, and cook about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer half of the soup to a food processor or blender. Let it sit 10 minutes to cool. Keep the remaining soup in the pot and set aside to cool. Purée the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Transfer the remaining soup to the blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Return all the soup to the pan and cook gently over medium-low heat until heated through. Pour in the milk and stir until hot. Add the salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with the pumpkin seeds. Serving Size: 358 g; Calories 190; Fat 7 g; Saturated Fat 2.5 g; Cholesterol 0 mg; Carbohydrates 28 g; Fiber 4 g; Protein 2 g Check out this Smart Money article discussing 10 things that are happening in the snack food marketplace that are rarely discussed in the media, i.e. Olestra is banned in Canada and the United Kingdom, there are bugs in foods that are called 'natural' etc.
This Article is well worth the read. Let me know what you think. By Contributing Writer, Lorraine LoBianco Restaurateur Kevin Goldfein bought Rosti Tuscan Kitchen’s Santa Monica, California restaurant two years ago. A favorite in the Montana neighborhood since 1995, it was in need of a facelift. Kevin wanted to bring the Santa Monica restaurant into the 21st Century; not just with remodeling, new paint, more outside seating and an Italian-style sidewalk garden, but with a new sensibility that extended to his menu. Two months ago, he added vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free menus to his Santa Monica and Encino locations. I recently sat down with Kevin at his Santa Monica restaurant to discuss the vegan menu and get some suggestions for wine pairings. Lorraine: Going to an Italian restaurant can be a predictable experience for a vegan. The menu is full of dishes with sausage, chicken, beef, lamb, and fish, but not a lot of variety for a vegan. Rosti Tuscan Kitchen’s vegan menu is more than just the usual salads, meatless marinara dish or soups. You’ve also got raviolis and sandwiches on egg-less Ciabatta bread. What motivated you to add a vegan menu to Rosti? Kevin: I wanted to offer more things to more people and it doesn’t change the style of our restaurant. I don’t have a vegan lifestyle. However, my cholesterol is high so I’ve started to eat healthier and started to just cut red meat and cheeses out of my diet as much as I can because it’s healthier for me. And since I’ve owned Rosti, I’ve noticed that I eat here about eight times a week. And there’s a lot of things I can eat on my menu that don’t have cheese and don’t have meat and those just by chance translate into vegan. And that’s just a testament to a true Tuscan-inspired menu and Tuscan preparation of food, which is our style of restaurant. It’s very traditional in that respect because it’s simple ingredients made with olive oil, not a lot of butter, not a lot of heavy sauces. If it’s vegetables, it’s just the vegetables without these heavy dressings and heavy sauces and heavy cheeses. Our menu is very easy to adapt to vegan and adapt to vegetarian. I looked at our salad menu and if you take out one ingredient on basically every salad, now it’s vegan, or it’s vegetarian. And because we prepare everything here on sight, we don’t bring in heavy dressings and other stuff, we can control it and have confidence, when serving it to a vegan, that this truly is vegan. That’s why we introduced the menu because we already had the stuff so it was very simple. I’ll give you an example – the arugula and fig salad. It’s vegetarian already, so in order to make it vegan the only thing we had to do was take out the goat cheese and change it from a honey balsamic dressing to a balsamic dressing because vegans don’t eat honey. We’d have vegans come in and say “What can I eat?” and we’d go through the menu with them and say “If you take off this, then it’s vegan.” The thing with all-vegan restaurants is…why not have a place where everyone can eat? That’s why I did this, so if you’re a vegan and you have a friend who isn’t a vegan, you can both come here and [the vegan] can feel confident that there’s an actual [vegan] menu, it’s not just, “Well, can you take that off?” The staff is trained to look for clues, [if you say,] “can I have this without cheese?” they will hand you the vegan menu. Lorraine: You’ve got a bruschetta and several panini sandwiches on Ciabatta bread. Where do you get your bread? Kevin: We get our bread made from a bakery and we have it brought here every day but it’s not baked when it comes, it’s pre-baked. So we bake all of our bread here in our oven throughout the day, that’s why it’s so fresh. A lot of restaurants get it in the morning freshly baked and by the end of the day, it’s not fresh anymore. We bake it all day long. Ciabatta bread does not have egg in it, that’s why it has such a light flavor. Our pastas don’t have egg in them, except for the fettuccine, so we can’t do a [vegan] fettuccine, but we can do a spaghetti, a capellini and we can do a penne and all those don’t have egg in them, so those are vegan. Instead of a pomodoro sauce, which has cheese in it or a ragu sauce which has meat in it, we can do a marinara sauce and suddenly there’s a complete vegan dish. Lorraine: Rosti does a cheese-less pizza with choice of toppings. Why did you choose not to use soy cheese? Kevin: I bombarded my vendor to get me the number one product at the vegan convention. I read on the blogs that people will freak out and come for miles around if you sell it and I got the cheese and I threw it on a pizza and I just didn’t like it. And that’s the struggle that I always have, serving something that I don’t like, even though other people like it. I’m not the kind of restaurant owner that doesn’t want people to eat what they want; I want people to change their food. I want them to change their pasta dish. If they don’t like mushrooms, go ahead, I don’t care. But I really don’t want to serve something that I don’t think is good. I don’t want to serve something that I don’t stand behind. I only want to put our best foot forward. With our vegan menu, I can, because every one of those items is made by us. It’s something I can stand behind. And I like it. Lorraine: Do you have plans to expand the vegan menu and does it change with the seasons? Kevin: We have some seasonality; we have some raviolis that change; we have an artichoke ravioli and a butternut squash ravioli running right now. In the winter, we’re going to have a wild mushroom ravioli. We have a sweet corn ravioli in the summer. We have new things coming all the time, but our base, core menu changes about every two years. Lorraine: How does the vegan menu work in the kitchen? Kevin: We have a pretty precise system on our computers. If you want a Veggie Chopped Light, there’s a button – “Vegan Menu Veggie Chopped Light” on the computer that tells the kitchen, “Don’t make a Turkey Chopped Light and hold the turkey, it says Veggie Chopped Light.” And there are pictures and recipes on the oven for everything we do. So if there’s a salad they haven’t made in a while, they can look at it and reference it and get the run-down on what’s in it and get a picture of what it’s supposed to look like. Lorraine: Gratitude Gourmet readers have told us that they are very interested in wine pairing. Meat eaters have the basic rules: red wine for meat, white for chicken and fish. What types of wines would a vegan consider when eating at Rosti? Kevin: We don’t serve wine in the Santa Monica store, but we do allow people to bring their own and there’s no corkage fee. You come here on a Friday night or even tonight [Sunday] and you’ll see people here with their wine. We have groups that come here every Friday night with three or four bottles of wine and they just camp out and eat pasta; it’s really neat. It’s more of a family-style restaurant here and that’s our niche and I like our niche. The one in Encino [serves wine and] is more of a sit-down restaurant, it’s a lot bigger, it’s almost twice the size and it’s not more formal but it’s definitely more of a dinner house. With our marinara sauce, a red wine would be great. But not something too heavy, so I wouldn’t go with a Cabernet or a strong Malbec. If we’re going to talk about Italian wines, since we’re an Italian restaurant, a Merlot would go well; a Morello with lots of super Tuscan grapes. A Sangiovese would go fantastic. Sometimes a Chianti is nice, but many people don’t like Chiantis because they’re very dry and it’s got a lot of tannins in it. I would suggest a Sangiovese because it is a lot softer. If you’re going to do a pasta with an olive oil sauce, I think a Chardonnay would go well, a Pinot Grigio would go well. Another nice wine is a Malvasia, nice grapes that are crisp. Now with salads, I think that crisp white wines are really good too. Vegetables or a sandwich with lots of vegetables on it: a very light Pinot Grigio. And that’s the thing about Italy, there are a lot of grapes out there that aren’t really well known, like Vernaccia wine [which is a] very nice, light, grape; a very traditional wine in Tuscany. There are lots of blends of grapes, Pinot gris grapes that go very well. I would also suggest a Zinfandel, because that’s a little bit spicy, has some spices in it. I would suggest going online or going to your local wine store and looking for very crisp wines made from different grapes. Very affordable, too. You can get some great wines for $10 to eat with a salad. I want everyone to know that we’re a Tuscan Kitchen, a Tuscan-style Italian casual restaurant. I haven’t been to Italy yet, but I went to the neighborhood trattorias in New York and really looked at what people are doing– not the big ones in Zagat – but the neighborhood ones that people love. We’re not going to be on the cover of the LA Times as a five-star restaurant. That’s not who we are. But if you want to take a casual stroll with your girlfriend and your new baby, you come to Rosti because it’s easy. You want to meet your folks and eat somewhere, you come to Rosti because it’s easy.” ---------------- After the Q&A, Kevin ordered a tasting of his favorites from the vegan menu. We started with the Ciabatta bread with Rosti’s own olive oil which they sell at the restaurant. It’s a light but very flavorful oil that was nicely soaked up with the bread, which had a great chewy crust. Kevin asked me to sample the lentil soup, of which he is justly proud. It’s a sweet, filling soup with celery and carrots and was the perfect starter on a cold, drizzly afternoon by the ocean. All of Rosti’s vegetables come from a local farm in Encino and the proof of their freshness is on the plate. The roasted beet and apple salad with chopped nuts was the perfect combination of tart and sweet and crunchy. I have to admit I never liked beets until I tried that salad, so Rosti’s pairing has made me a convert. This is a must-order for any visit. The Grilled Vegetable salad (also on the regular menu with goat cheese) has a nice variety of fresh vegetables tossed in a vinaigrette that isn’t too tangy or masks the taste of the veggies. The Rigatoni pasta with roasted peppers was made vegan by simply removing the sausage, and you won’t miss it because the peppers are fresh and sweet and give weight to the dish. The Penne Puttanesca pasta is made with Kalamata olives that are flavorful but don’t dominate. My favorite of the pastas was the butternut squash ravioli. Normally served on the regular menu with a butter sauce, it is still delicious on its own. Vegans can order it with the sauce of their choice. I dipped it into the marinara sauce. It was hard to be polite and share it with my fellow diners. Kevin’s vision for Rosti Tuscan Kitchen is a family-style restaurant, but his pastas aren’t drowned in a heavy, generic Italian sauce that often doubles as pizza sauce in small Italian restaurants. Both of the red pastas we tried – the Puttanesca and the Rigatoni’s Marinara each had a distinctive flavor and neither was heavy. As someone who is not a vegan, but trying to adopt more vegan foods into my life, I must admit that I found it strange at first not to eat cheese at an Italian restaurant, but the flavors were so interesting and, to my taste buds, new, that I forgot all about it. What better way to introduce vegan food to a non-vegan than at an Italian restaurant? For more information on Kevin Goldfein’s Rosti Tuscan Kitchen restaurants in Santa Monica and Encino, featuring the all-new vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free menus, visit the website at http://www.rostituscankitchen.com/VeganMenu.pdf Did you know that on a per acre basis, growing truffles can be 7-10 times as profitable as growing grapes, on average? The American Truffle Company proudly introduces The Napa Truffle Festival presented by Lexus. The Napa Truffle Festival is destined to be North America's premier tuffle event, uniquely featuring the best Michelin star chefs and world’s top truffle scientists. The festival will showcase the black Périgord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) and the black summer Burgundy truffle (Tuber aestivum/uncinatum) through a variety of cooking demonstration classes and truffle cultivation seminars. Credit:The Napa Truffle Festival You'll also experience a 13-Michelin Star six-course Truffle Dinner, with each course created and expertly prepared by a Michelin star celebrity chef. Top truffle scientists will cover the principles of truffle cultivation based on rigorous scientific methodology and research. There will also be an exciting tour of the Robert Sinskey Vineyards Truffle Orchard in the world-renowned Carneros region of Sonoma, plus other fascinating activities. For those that are vegetarian or vegan, please contact the restaurant for available options. Part of the proceeds will go to Feeding America and The Hunger Project. Here's the 3 Day Agenda, and you can register here. Product Giveaway: Do you have a favorite Truffle Recipe? If so, please let us know in the Gratitude Gourmet blog comments below, and 1 person will win an 'Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread Product Coupon'. Holiday Truffle Pops by Coco-Zen make a festive gift. Each tin contains 6 holiday shaped truffles on a bamboo stick. The dark chocolate assortment includes 2 of each: * Bear - Chocolate Orange Blossom * Tree - Chocolate Mint Bliss * Snowman - Chocolate Espresso Bean Price incudes Priority Mail US shipping for freshness - Purchase Here. Have you tried Bear Naked's Trail Mix and Soft-Baked Granola Cookies? You can still pump up your energy: Get pumped up with the protein in Bear Naked's new 100% Pure and Natural Trail Mixes in Apple Pecan Flax, Chocolate Cherry and Cranberry Protein. These combinations of sweet dried fruit chunks, clusters of signature granola, and various nuts and seeds come in resalable bags, so you can chow down on a handful, re-fuel, and reseal. You don’t have to nix the cookie. Swap your average cookies for 100% Pure and Natural Soft-Baked Granola Cookies in Fruit and Nut or Double Chocolate. They’re just as decadent as they sound, and made with 10 grams of whole grains per serving! The hearty cookies stay soft and allow you to stay fit. Who knew that nature’s grains were so indulging? Bear Naked also has a Limited Time T-Shirt offer: Buy 3 and get a T-shirt. Send in 3 bags and their partner Terracycle will upcycle them into products like tote bags and shower curtains! More information is here. "The RSPO has established 8 fundamental principles and 39 criteria regarding the production of sustainable palm oil. A key criterion is that new plantations are not to replace primary forest areas, or areas required to maintain or enhance one or more High Conservation Values. The other criteria deal with respecting the rights of local inhabitants and employees and conserving the habitats of endangered animal species. Moreover, an RSPO working group has been set up that is considering the questions like how the issues of the emission of greenhouse gases and the climate should be approached within RSPO." For further information, see www.rspo.org and www.rspo.eu. Per a Reuters article: U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White in August banned the planting and sales of Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" biotech sugar beets after determining that their approval in 2005 by the USDA was illegal. He said the government must conduct a thorough environmental review before approving the crop to comply with the law.
But shortly after the ruling, the USDA issued permits allowing companies to plant seedlings to produce seed for future GMO sugar beet crops. In his ruling Tuesday Judge White said those seedlings "shall be removed from the ground. Earthjustice, a consumer group that brought the case against the USDA and had asked the judge to order the young plants be destroyed, said the action was the first court-ordered destruction of a GMO crop. You can read the full article here. Sly and Eve of Rude Eve's Baked Goods, a newly launched bakery in Brooklyn, have created some of the most unique and deliciously bold flavored, natural granolas. They are beautifully packaged in a glass jar tied with raffia and star anise. Flavors include: Intense Ginger, Earthy Blackstrap Molasses & Cocoa, and Rosewater. Two pounds in a 64-oz jar. ($25.00, plus shipping) Available exclusively on RegionalBest.com, www.regionalbest.com. Box of 24 includes a variety of shapes - angel, candy cane, snowman and tree. Fun shaped chocolates by Coco-Zen on a lollipop stick are great for holiday party favors for the kids. They can also be hung on a Christmas tree instead of candy canes. Made from Fair Trade Certified™ and organic chocolate, these festive treats provide holiday fun and bring cheer to planet & people. Each Chocolate-On-A-Stick is individually wrapped for easy hand out, and also comes with a jute string loop for hanging as a holiday ornament. 'Dark Chocolate' is vegan and doesn't contain the white snowflake/star in pic. Price includes Priority Mail US Shipping for freshness. Buy Now. Make Holiday Shopping Easy on Yourself by shopping in the Gratitude Gourmet Online Store. We have Books, Kitchen, Music, Camera and Photo, Gourmet Food, Health and Personal Care, Electronics, Jewelry, Apparel and Accessories. There are always sales and FREE shipping on many items, especially Books. Check out the Gratitude Gourmet Store NOW for the best selection. Summer is over and those long evening jogs and early morning dog walks are now under the cover of darkness. ila SPORT is a pedometer, milometer and personal safety alarm in one. The alarm can be activated by pressing a button at the top of the gadget – note it won’t set off during vigorous exercise; you can deactivate it with a small on/off switch. There's also a belt clip for securing it to your clothes, a built-in clock and a backlight. The name ila comes from the Sanscrit Goddess of voice. So this winter, don’t stop exercising but keep fit and stay safe with the ila SPORT. They are available for purchase here. The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development published a great study called, "Achieving Program Goals? An Evaluation of Two Decades of the Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture at the University of California, Santa Cruz". I met Jan Perez, one of the Lead Authors at a recent Food Summit at Stanford University, and she told me about the study. I thought you as a Gratitude Gourmet Reader would be interested. Here's the Abstract: Abstract: The Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture (AEH) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been teaching people organic and ecological horticulture for 43 years. This paper examines the extent to which the program has met the goals of growing farmers and gardeners, and contributing to change in the food system. It also explores specific programmatic ways the AEH contributed to these outcomes. We surveyed program alumni from 1989 through 2008. Findings suggest that the program has successfully met its goals. According to alumni suggestions, the primary way the program contributed to these outcomes was by developing apprentice knowledge and skills through hands-on activities. In addition, other educational components, not always explicitly addressed in similar programs, were also key. We use different learning theories to help understand the AEH’s success and make recommendations for similar programs. Here is the Download Link (NOTE: Jan Perez mentioned to me it's free to download now, but in the near future it will be subscription-based so download now.) Dec 6 - New York City to Host Advance Screening of Groundbreaking Documentary “Forks Over Knives”12/2/2010
On December 6, an exclusive advance screening of “Forks Over Knives,” a groundbreaking new documentary featuring T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. (bestselling author of The China Study) and Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. (former top surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease). (US Screenings will occur starting March 11) Former President Bill Clinton credited these two well-credentialed researchers for starting a movement to treat many degenerative diseases this way — and was so persuaded by their work, he adopted the diet based on the evidence that it will likely arrest or even reverse his own condition. Here's the Gratitude Gourmet article and video on the subject. “Forks Over Knives” features other physicians, researchers and Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. The film examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the so-called “diseases of affluence” that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, through a whole food, plant-based diet. Proceeds from the screening will benefit Farm Sanctuary’s lifesaving rescue, education and advocacy work on behalf of the abused and neglected victims of the “food animal” industry. The exclusive New York City engagement begins with a sold-out pre-screening VIP reception hosted by David and Marisa Wolfson from 5 - 7 p.m., followed by the screening and Q&A/panel discussion from 7:30 - 10 p.m. at AMC Loews 19th Street East 6 (890 Broadway at 19th Street). Delicious vegan hors d’oeuvres will be provided exclusively by famed Manhattan gourmet vegan restaurant Candle 79. $10 donation to Farm Sanctuary, per person, screening only. More information and registration is here. Thanks in advance to Lorraine LoBianco, our fabulously talented Gratitude Gourmet writer for this sweet tip!
If you're traveling in Southern California, I highly recommend a visit to the Rose Garden Tea Room in the Huntington botanical gardens. The Tea Room provides a variety of delicious options, from a traditional English tea to lunches, light snacks, and desserts. I was commenting on how there are many vegetarian and vegan options, and the server heard me and asked if I wanted something especially made for me, she would ask the Chef to prepare it (and at no additional cost)! What a special offer that you don't hear everyday. The Chef came out to the dining area and presented me with a special entree that he made vegan, and it was delicious. Note: Reservations are required for the Tea Room. While you're there, yo must visit the Huntington Botanical Gardens which covers 120 acres, including the Desert Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, and the Chinese garden. The camellia collection is one of the largest in the country. Other important botanical attractions include the Subtropical, Herb, Jungle, and Palm gardens. Our fabulous Docent Tour Guide was mentioning that many of the plants and trees at the Huntington Gardens are endangered. I asked if there is work being done to reproduce the living specimens, and she said 'Yes', and that scientists and researchers from around the world are working on this. I've included some pictures I took in the slideshow above. I hope you visit, and let me know what you enjoyed! |