Beyond Cuckoo

Farm to Table

It’s no secret that I love to cook, or that now I’ve retired, I’m officially Beyond Cuckoo. (Well, that part I’m still working on—but more about that soon.) This week, canvas bags in hand and like Ina Garten, husband in tow, I hit the Wednesday Santa Rosa Farmers Market.

For those that don’t know, or who live on another planet, Ina Garten is the infamous Barefoot Contessa, whose new book, Cooking for Jeffrey, is due out October 25, 2016. I have one of Ina’s earliest dinner party books and love her wit and charm, along with a few choice recipes. I’m attracted to the personal approach she takes with her newest collection because she and I share many years cooking for love; i.e. love for food and love for those for which we cook. I’m not a fan of restaurant food. Certainly not fast food chains, but even high end restaurants. I see food preparation as a transfer of energy. The source of that energy, and the way it is produced and prepared, are important to how food sustains the body. The business of cooking food, no matter how skilled, is stressed. It’s the nature of business. Home cooking on the other hand instills comfort—physical, mental, and spiritual.

This philosophy along with the belief, that ideally, food is healthiest when grown nearby, takes us back to the Farmer’s Market http://thesantarosafarmersmarket.com/  to hunt and gather our breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The Wednesday Market has grown in size—close to that of the weekend market. Seniors shopping on Wednesday get a one-dollar market buck good with any vendor. The feel is relaxed—a perfect way to shop and a contradiction to grocery stores, or dare I say it? —Big Box Stores. (I have a panic attack just looking at a Costco.) Shopping on Wednesday also allows for weekly meal preparation planned around what is available, fresh, seasonal and healthy.

Here’s what we came away with this week: Fresh boneless rainbow trout, smoked salmon, heirloom and early girl tomatoes, red Italian garlic, red onions, and the sweetest Ambrosia melons imaginable. I stuffed the trout with vegies, tied with string, and marinated the bundles. The melon and salmon became oerderves with a local Sauvignon Blanc. The heirloom tomatoes accompanied the grilled fish along with brown rice to complete a light, healthy, early Fall supper. So good and so easy.

I suspect that my husband Blake (Cooking for Blake? Hmmm—has a ring, don’t you think?) and I have arrived at the most creative and productive season in our lives. One in which we have the luxury to pick and choose from every variety and abundance available. Food is a starting point—the fuel that stokes the fire. I toast to Chi the fuel that stokes the soul. Stay tuned and become, along with me, Beyond Cuckoo.