Happy 40th Birthday Chez Panisse & Congratulations Alice Waters!

I finally made it!

I've always dreamt of eating at Alice Waters', the godmother of the organic food movement, remarkable restaurant "Chez Panisse", and I finally had the opportunity to do so last week Thursday.  The week of their 40th Anniversary.  I've read numerous articles, saw documentaries, and heard wonderful reviews of Chez Panisse, so I had very high expectations.  And after dinner, I was very pleased to have my expectations exceeded.

Writing about my experience at Chez Panisse today is very appropriate since I am gearing up for my 2011's Kanu Hawaii EAT LOCAL Challenge for September.  Current challenges like this is a tribute and reflection of Alice Waters' accomplishments with the Slow Food Movement that she started in America back in the 1970s, 40 years ago.

When you buy organic produce from Whole Foods Market, or if you notice the promotion of local produce in the mainstream of restaurants, and if you have eaten at restaurants like town in Kaimuki, or Heeia Pier General Store & cafe, you indirectly have Alice Waters to thank.

When my friend Patty made reservations 1 month before we had all of our travel plans, we were given a choice to eat downstairs or upstairs.  Downstairs featured special preplanned menus and upstairs in the cafe, a menu of different items to order from.  We decided to go with the upstairs menu, so we could try a number of different things.  Since there were 3 of us, we would have 3 different appetizers, 3 different entrees and 3 different desserts = 9 tastes of 9 dishes.

I invited my French Canadian friend Louis Vachon, just in case our waiter was French, but Louis didn't have to bust out his mother tongue - shucks.  I love it when people can speak French - I wanted to feel the whole experience...oh well we were in Berkeley, California.

First, they gave us the best table in the cafe - by the open window and under the tree with vines of greens beans.

For appetizers, we had:

Grilled anchoiade toast with cherry tomatoes and marjoram

Avocado and beet salad with ginger vinaigrette

Tartare of local halibut Tahitienne with tomato, mint, and Little Gems lettuce

For entrees, we had:

Gigot aux olives noires - grilled Watson Ranch lamb leg with little turnips, green beans & black olives

Fried Devil's Gulch Ranch rabbit with corn, romano beans, squash blossoms & tomatillo salsa

Fish and shellfish stew with tomato, saffron, fennel and rouille

For dessert, we had:

Flavor King pluot tart with framboise cream

Bittersweet chocolate pave with coffee-chocolate ice cream

A bowl of Sunny Slope Orchard Black Mission figs and Cal Red peach

We had a bottle of Rose from France for our appetizers and a bottle of Green & Red Zinfindel for our entrees and desserts.

The menu for downstairs was:
King salmon tartare with cucumbers and watercress
Summer squash and squash blossom risotto
Grilled BN Ranch grass-fed Bolinas beef tenderloin with olive sauce and Chino Ranch green beans
Cannard Farm raspberry ice cream vacherin

Every dish was beautifully composed and the flavors perfectly matched and we got to taste 9 different dishes, so we were very happy with our choice of eating upstairs in the cafe.

It is really hard to imagine that Chez Panisse in 1971 was so revolutionary now.  The restaurant is modest and tiny, but it surely is an example that fresh simple food, treated with respect can achieve huge influence.

It was an honor, thank you Alice!

Week 2 - Day #14 Engine 2 Challenge

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Today, was a pretty boring day, but learned that Zippy's has a couple of vegetarian options. 

For breakfast, I stuck with the Rip Big Bowl Breakfast at home with a banana - I am getting pretty tired of this but it does keep me pretty full until lunch.

Since it's Mother's Day, my sister took my mom and I to Zippy's because it wouldn't be as busy as the fancy restaurants.  She was wrong, everyone was at Zippy's for Mother's Day.  I went in thinking that I would be eating a salad with no dressing, but they had a tofu patty sandwich on a whole wheat bun.  I ordered it with extra mushrooms and no mayo with a side salad.  I have to say that the sandwich was pretty good.

I had to work for a couple of hours, but got to go home and spend the afternoon doing nothing, so I decided to bake myself a Mother's Day Engine 2 Dark Chocolate Brownie....no oil, no eggs.  I got the recipe from the E2 book and instead of oil I used applesauce and instead of eggs I used Ener-G an egg substitute mixture of tapioca flour and other binding ingredients.  It was an easy recipe and delicious.  Moist and very chocolaty.  Next time, I would add more applesauce and less time in the oven.

YUM!  Happy Mother's Day to me.

For dinner, I decided to have leftovers, salad and lentil soup with kabocha.

Breakfast - Rip Big Bowl Breakfast and a soy cappuccino
Lunch - Tofu patty sandwich on whole wheat
Dinner - Salad and Lentil soup
Dessert - E2 Dark Chocolate Cake

Week 2 - Day #13 Engine 2 Challenge

I had enchiladas on the brain since Thursday, so decided to make it for dinner.

Breakfast - Rip's Big Bowl Breakfast with Almond Milk
Lunch -1/2 E2 burrito at Whole Foods Market Kahala
Dinner - Enchiladas ala Natalia

The TSP (textured soy protein) was okay for Thursday night's soft tacos, but I wanted to create my own from scratch.  So here is my new recipe for enchiladas.

2 small sweet local onions (diced)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine
2 medium dried chipotle chiles (soaked in hot vegetable broth & minced)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 box of crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 box extra firm 365 tofu (drained and minced)
2 tablespoons ground chili powder
2 tablespoons fresh sage
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning (basil, oregano)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup cooked white navy beans
Cook all ingredients listed and added in the order above.  Let mixture cook for 10 minutes and until all liquid has evaporated.

Make fresh corn torillas (see #Day 11 for directions).  Place in plastic bag to steam and soften.

Also, made my own salsa.
In a dry small pot:
2 small halved sweet local onions
1 halved jalapeno
Heat and blacken onions and jalapeno, on all sides.  Add cup of vegetable broth and cook for 10 minutes.  Take off heat, add one medium Hawaiian hot pepper (take half the seeds out) and let sit until cool.

Place cooled onion, jalapeno & vegetable broth mixture in blender and add one can of 365 no-salt diced tomatoes.  Blend, taste and add salt to taste.

In a baking dish, place 1/2 cup of salsa on the bottom of the pan, roll tofu mixture in soft corn tortillas and place on salsa in baking dish.  Place enchiladas side by side until pan is full.  Cover salsa over enchiladas and sprinkle nutritional yeast on top.  Bake on 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve with a salad and guacamole.

This meal was so satisfying and hearty.  You will have to try this recipe.

You will have leftover tofu mixture, tortillas, and salsa.  Just right for another great meal.

Week 2 - Day #12 Engine 2 Challenge

Today, was a day to clean the refrigerator and to eat the week's delicious leftovers!  What great way to safe money and enjoy the highlights of the week.

Breakfast - Rip Big Bowl Breakfast w/ fresh strawberries and almond milk
Lunch - Kale salad and leftover TSP Mexican mixture with rice
Dinner - Leftover Thai Bibimbap

Week 2 - Day #11 Engine 2 Challenge

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

Okay, it's time to make fresh corn tortillas.  I decided to make soft tacos with a textured soy protein in place of ground meat.  I bought a popular TSP, Smart Ground, Mexican Style.  I needed to make it taste less premade and more homemade.  So I did the onion in the dry & hot pan with vegetable broth and white wine technique, but also added a small amount of tomato paste, chili powder and garlic.  It also needed a little more texture, so I added a cup of black eye peas.

I made fresh corn tortillas with a Masa Harina mix.  Follow directions on the package.  After you've make fresh tortillas, you will never buy another already made bag of tortillas.  It's too easy

I bought already made salsa and guacamole from Whole Foods Market Kahala, because I did not have time to make my own and you cannot have soft tacos without the condiments.  And forget the shredded romaine lettuce for a fresh crunch.

Week 2 - Day #10 Engine 2 Challenge

Okay, it is getting a little boring for breakfast and lunch.  Had my homemade Engine 2 Big Bowl Breakfast and for lunch leftover lentil soup and kale salad with fig balsamic dressing.

For dinner I decided to make my version of a bibimbap with a Thai influence.

I made the peanut/almond/tofu sauce for my quinoa pasta with three vegetable sides - sauteed carrots with thyme, sauteed mushrooms with onions, garlic and white wine and sauteed garlic kale.  Bob came by and brought his tofu in 5 spice.

All of the vegetable dishes started with onions in a very dry & hot pan, then vegetable broth and at this point lower the heat and cook for a minute, and finally add main vegetable ingredient with seasonings.

When heating the peanut/almond/tofu sauce (see previous entry for recipe), in a large saute pan heat some vegetable broth with some of the liquid in the mushrooms.  Add 1 cup of tofu sauce whisk and then add the cooked quinoa pasta.  I would've added green onions, if I had some.  This is so creamy and delicious - with no dairy!

Week 2 - Day #9 Engine 2 Challenge

Having the Rip Big Bowl cereal for breakfast has been such an easy and fulfilling breakfast, but I know I will need to change it up soon.  I purchased two new cereals and both E2 approved - Uncle Sam Toasted Whole Wheat Berry Flakes and Flaxseed and Nature's Path Organic Millet Rice Fruit Juice Sweetened and will started using them tomorrow.

For lunch, I decided to purchase the NEW E2 burrito with the flaxseed torilla.  The burrito bar will let you get a vegetable item from the salad bar to put on the open face E2 burrito, today I got the garlicky kale salad to put on the burrito filled with rice, beans, sauteed vegetables, shredded cabbage, salsa and guacamole.  All for $7.99  It was so huge that I could not eat the entire meal, so will save it for tomorrow.

Tonight I wanted to have some pasta, so I made an easy Italian tomato sauce.  Here is the recipe:
1/2 diced white onion
1 cup white wine
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
2 diced medium sized tomatoes
1 cup reserved pasta water
salt to taste
1 cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 cup shredded fresh basil
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1 bundle of brocolli, blanched and chopped to 1/2 inch pieces)
1/2 box Quinoa pasta (cooking instructions on the box)
minced flat leaf parsley

In a very hot clean pot, drop the minced onions until brown, then add white wine and reduce for about 2 minutes.  Add garlic, diced tomatoes, pasta water and salt to taste, cook for 2 minutes.  Add vegetable broth, thyme, chili flakes, fresh basil and grape tomatoes, cook down for 5 minutes.  Before serving, add cooked Quinoa pasta.  Serve with fresh minced flat leaf parsley.

Breakfast - Rip's Big Bowl Breakfast
Lunch - Whole Foods E2 burrito with garlicky kale salad
Dinner - Quinoa Pasta with fresh Italian tomato sauce and a mixed green salad w/ E2 Fig Balsamic
Dessert - Small bowl of frozen E2 Chocolate Mousse