I’m so happy to have landed in what seems like the land of plenty Oakland, CA. Plenty of fresh food from farmer’s markets. Plenty of familiar faces. Plenty of events and workshops connected to food! Plenty of restaurants, markets and shops. Plenty of gardens and urban green projects. Plenty of opportunity to balance the urban feel with escape to the hills, the woods and the ocean. OH! Plenty of great music.

This weekend I will be checking out the EatReal festival in Jack London Square. I can’t wait to finger through recipes at food lit displays and talk to fermenting folks about krauting my weeds. I am in the process of sprucing up my business and am so happy to have lots of other food happy and creative spirits around me. New friends at work have been buying and trading for little bags of Sea Whip, Sea Palm, Nori, Wakame and Kombu. Mixing them into raw coconut soups and pairing them with local brews.

Need a little inspiration? If you are getting into the canning spirit try rinsing some seaweeds well and adding them to your jars or buy up a few bags to keep stored away for the winter months. Still got some fresh farmer’s market cukes around? Marinate wakame and toss with whatever’s crisp at the market. Growing some heirloom popping corn? Grind up sea whip (bull kelp) and toasted nori, mix with nutritional yeast and cayenne and store in a shaker for an easy and highly nutritious seasoning. Try sea palm as a gluten free noodle substitute. And you can never go wrong with a kombu dashi broth for a simple miso soup, or sautee fresh corn, potatoes, wakame and leeks from the market and stir into your kombu broth for a little more hearty soup.

Experiment! DIY with seaweeds.

Be Sociable, Share!

•