Herb Walk with William Broen

William Broen, bioregional herbalist

Last Saturday Dave and I met a group at Tucker's Grove for an herb walk led by William Broen. William took us on a 2-1/2 hour walk, identifying edible and medicinal plants as well as a few poisonous ones to avoid.

First he showed us poison hemlock.


It looks like a carrot top and also like Queen Anne's lace, but it's very poisonous. Look for red blotches on the stem to help you identify it. Do not eat it.

The hemlock was in a patch of wild blackberries.

The bushes are beginning to bloom, but no berries yet. We'll have to check back maybe next month.

Oxalis is blooming all over town.

As kids, we used to call it sour grass. We'd chew on the end of the stems. It contains oxalic acid, so it's best not to eat a lot of it, but you can eat some and you can certainly use the flowers as garnish.

Next he showed us mugwort.


These silver-backed leaves have a smoother edge than some which are more jagged. People put it near their beds or under their pillows to stimulate dreaming. It's very bitter but the tea is good for digestion and to help break a fever. It's antibacterial and antiparasitic. It is often picked during the full moon.

Mugwort often grows near poison oak.

Some people use a poultice of mugwort to treat poison oak. Not everyone is allergic to poision oak but most of us don't want to find out. In the fall poison oak turns red. It has five lobes and grows on the stem in clusters of three.

This is a yellow dock plant.

As a poultice, it will soothe bee and nettle stings. It's also good for anemia.

This will be a beautiful display of California wild roses in a couple of months.

The rose is very fragrant and leaves a rose hip after the bloom fades. The tiny hips turn red and are full of vitamin C. September is a good time to collect them. They are tart but good for your heart. They would probably make a good rose hip jam if you can find enough of them.

This dandelion doesn't look particularly yummy.


However this much-maligned plant is quite edible and is treated with great respect in Europe. It is especially good for the lymphatic system.

We came across two varieties of plantain.

Chew a little of this fibrous leaf and apply it to insect bites. It's cooling and according to one of the women with us on the walk, it really helped soothe the bee sting on her toe.

Here's the narrow leaf plantain.

We stood under a California live oak and learned that the acorns must be leached in water before eating. They were part of the native American diet here.

The California bay laurel is highly fragrant and can be used in cooking, but only use about 1/3 of the amount in the recipe. It's much stronger than the commercial variety. Roasted bay nuts are also edible.


An elderberry tree! You can eat blue or purple berries but not the red variety. The leaves, roots, and bark are purgative, so you might not want to eat those. Rub the underside of the leaf and it will smell like peanuts.


We found a chaparral current bush. A few of the currents were purple enough to try.

The miner's lettuce was quite delicious. Better than most of lettuce greens growing in my garden.

Look for a little white flower growing out of the center of the rounded leaf. We also found chickweed growing alongside the miner's lettuce.

Look for a ground cover with a small white star-like flower. The stem has tiny white hairs on one side if you hold it up to the light. It was quite tasty too.

The black sage drew lots of bees.

It has a strong sage fragrance. Chewing the leaves is good for sore throats and for gingervitis. It will also help to dry up breast milk when weaning.

Pineapple weed grows easily here. Sometimes I even see it in sidewalk cracks.

(Click for a close-up)

It's a close relative of chamomile but doesn't have the white flowers. It sure smells like chamomile.

The yerba buena was quite minty and apparently doesn't often show up this far south. Maybe it's all the rain we've had this year.

Cheeseweed mallow grows readily in my garden without invitation. I had no idea that it was useful. We ate a little and were surprised by its gelatinous texture which can be soothing to the digestive system.

As you can see, we learned a lot on this walk. There will be another walk on July 11th at 5 pm for a requested donation of $10. What a deal! Contact William at willbroen@hotmail.com if you want to be on his mailing list for more herb walks in Southern California.

The Lion Cake

I can't really take credit for this pancake, but here is the story behind the picture.

Over the holidays I worked at Williams Sonoma at La Cumbre. I thought it would be a good opportunity to find out what people are cooking at home. However I soon realized it was a good opportunity to spend a lot of money buying cooking stuff with my discount. Yes, I spent more than I made, but I did buy some fine Christmas gifts.

This is one of them. Williams Sonoma sells these pancake forms in sets of three. The designs change during the year. I knew my granddaughter Saraphina would like this set because it includes a monkey.

Shaun perfected the method of making these pancakes, as you can see. You put the form onto a flat skillet or griddle then use a squeeze bottle to fill the mold with pancake batter (a buttermilk pancake recipe comes with the molds). When the pancake firms, you remove the mold and turn it over to cook briefly on the other side.

But a plain pancake wasn't enough for Shaun. Once on the plate, he filled the eyes and nose spaces with raspberry jam, sliced some bananas on top and gave it a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Delightful!

Now doesn't that make you want to run right out to Williams Sonoma to get a set of molds for tomorrow's breakfast? Last time I was there they had a set which included a sun, a moon, and the planet Saturn. Hmm, what time do they open?

Edible SB

If you haven't seen the latest issue of Edible Santa Barbara, hurry to the farmer's market and pick one up. They are also available at several local businesses. The article on local honeybees is mine. I also have a hand in the Thanksgiving toast in honor of the delicious Thanksgiving meal we prepared from the recipes in Pascale Beale-Groom's article.

Working with the Edible editors and writers is lots of fun. In fact after hearing us talk, the Starlight Mice decided to accompany me to the Saturday Farmer's Market this to get a close up view of some of the local foods I've been talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if some new adventures show up on their blog.

Speaking of blogs, between articles, I've been doing a few blog pieces on the Edible Santa Barbara blog. Most of these stories are focused on this month's Eat Local Challenge.

Isla Vista Food Co-op is also doing an October Eat Local Challenge and they have the supplies you need to make it easier. Next Saturday, October 24, is their 2nd annual Co-op Country Fair.

(Click on the flyer for a more readable version)

Our whole family enjoyed it last year, but this year our granddaughter will really love it! If you're worried about parking, check out the bus schedule. There's a bus that takes you right to the Co-op. I've also been writing for the Co-op newsletter, the Sunflower Seed. You can pick one up at the store or download a copy from their blog page (scroll down to Fall Issue in the column on the right side of the blog page).

Tonight I'm baking salt water to find out what local Ledbetter Beach salt tastes like. After 7 hours of accelerated evaporation I think I have a yield of about a teaspoon, but I'm sure there are more ions suspended in the remaining water just waiting for the right moment to crystallize. Stay tuned....

Have Penguin Will Travel

It took me a couple of months to find the perfect excuse to buy my very own Penguin. If you watch the video, you'll see why it was so difficult to resist. Basically, it turns tap water into soda water. Is it cost effective... hmm. That excuse probably doesn't work.

However, you will soon be hearing about some eat local challenges for October. The idea is to try to eat only foods produced within a certain radius of your home. Some people will try to eat only foods grown or raised within 100 miles of their home for the whole month. Others will identify a broader range or choose certain meals or days to focus locally. The idea is to become more aware of where our food comes from so we recognize the importance of supporting our local farms and farmers.

Tap water from my faucet made into a soda is genius! And I can make syrups from my garden to flavor it. The first was a rose petal syrup from the roses blooming in my front yard, then the chocolate mint growing prolifically in the side yard, and a batch of orange rosemary syrup from the rosemary in the backyard and oranges in the front. I did use non-local sugar in the syrup, but I'll work on a recipe to make it with locally-produced honey from San Marcos Farms.

Anne and John Wiley join me in a local soda tasting

Edible Santa Barbara
The Fall issue of Edible Santa Barbara will be out soon. Watch for it at the Farmer's Markets, Lazy Acres, C'est Cheese, and many other distribution points around town. If you didn't get a chance to read my article on Full of Life Flatbread, just click on that link. But be prepared to schedule a weekend trip to Los Alamos after reading. You'll probably see us there. It's a great quick get-away and the food is creative, locally-sourced, and quite delicious.

My article in the upcoming issue is on bees. Plus I test all the recipes for the magazine. Lucky me!

Krista (the editor) and I made all of Pascale's recipes for a Thanksgiving Dinner and staged a Thanksgiving Feast on a very hot day in August. I can assure you that all the food in the photos is real and smelled wonderful, making it very difficult to wait patiently through all those photos. But it was worth the wait. Ahh, that carrot puree.

Montecito Country Kitchen


Speaking of Pascale, the owner of Montecito Country Kitchen, I have been working my way through her salts, teas, and herb/spice combinations. I bought the whole collection of salts. Some are coarse, some fine. Some are smoked. There are pinks, greys, black, and white. They are primarily finishing salts to sprinkle lightly on the top of your salad, steak, or caramel dessert.

The teas and spice mixes are good pantry items. The teas are beautiful, smell good, and lovely to add to a cup of hot water when a friend stops by. The seasoning mixtures (like herbes de Provence) make great gifts... if you can give them up.

Pascale's Mediterranean cookbooks, Spring and Summer, are gorgeous--filled with photos, many she has taken herself. Again, these are photos of real food, not lacquered or sprayed to look like well-prepared food. And the tastes are quite wonderful. Autumn will be released in October, just in time for holiday gifts.

Penryn Fruit Loop
Laurence Hauben is now offering fresh fruit for purchase and pickup. The fruit is from Penyrn Orchard, a 4-1/2 acre ranch in Placer County. Each week we have the opportunity to reserve a share of the fruit headed for the Santa Monica Farmer's Market. They grow many unusual varieties that are more delicate and less likely to survive large scale commercial transport. This week it's Crispin Apples and Asian pears, followed by a potluck dinner at Laurence's home.

To get your name on her email list, contact Laurence at sbslowfood@gmail.com. She is also the leader of our local Slow Food Convivium. A couple of months ago Laurence dug a pit in her backyard to cook a really large fish and sent out an invitation to join her in a spontaneous potluck gathering. We visited and ate together at long tables under the trees. Yes, you want to be on this list.

Taste of the Town
There are lots of food-focused happenings around town. I'll end with a link to Rosminah's photos of Sunday's Taste of the Town fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation. With my friends Maria and Joe, I ate my way around the event, twice. Rosminah was right, the rabbit pate from Square One was awesome!

Apricots - U Pick

Take Winchester Canyon Road across Cathedral Oaks until you see the Apricots and Vincent Farm signs on your left. You'll go up a little road and follow the arrows marked on the road to park.

Stop at the shed to pick up your bucket and easy picker tool. As you walk across the road to the orchard, look for the trees that are dropping ripe fruit on the ground. That's the place to start. I often search the ground for ripe apricots that aren't damaged. At this point in the season, the fruit is falling fast.

After you've filled your pail, you weigh your fruit and pay for it. It's good to have some $1 with you so you have the exact amount.

These are incredibly sweet apricots with that lovely apricot tang. The harvest only lasts two to three weeks and we are in week two. We picked our third bucket yesterday and are freezing pitted apricots to use in future crumbles and jams.

IV Co-op
Vincent Farm apricots are also available at the IV Co-op and at the Farmers Market this week.

BTW, those of you who have made it out to the IV Co-op, (see post below) have until the 27th to send me your impressions so you can be entered in the sticky bun drawing. That's only four days away.

Isla Vista Community Cooperative

If you haven't been to the Isla Vista Food Co-Op, you need to go there! They buy the freshest seasonal fruits and vegetables from local farms. You can buy bulk organic herbs and spices and just about anything else you need to fill your pantry at really reasonable prices... because it's a cooperative. That means you pay a yearly membership fee. You can volunteer hours of work, but it is not required.

A Little History
Dave and I first participated in the co-op during the summer right after the IV riots. We'd rented an inexpensive apartment in IV and discovered that we could get really fresh produce and cheeses if we bought through a group that met a someone's house. Our job was to gather the cheese orders, pick up bulk cheese from Quality Market (a lovely market at Mission and De la Vina where the baby store is located today), and cut it into portions to fit the orders. Then we took it to the Saturday gathering place (someone's yard) for other members to pick up. This was the late 60s and early 70s at their best. It seems like there were about 20 participants, but there might have been more.

The Co-op Today
Now all this is available 7 days a week under one roof. It's even fresher and they offer a whole selection of dairy products, healthy snacks, and even eco-friendly housecleaning products.

Fostering community is still an important mission. They have frequent tastings and special events. In fact, there is an event coming up on July 3rd, but don't wait until then to check it out.

They also make delicious sandwiches, so if you work in Goleta, you can shop at lunch AND get a great healthy sandwich.

IV isn't crowded during the summer and the co-op would really love it if more Santa Barbara folks would come out to shop there. When you go out to Costco, drop by the Co-op as well.

To get there, take Storke Road toward the ocean. When Storke dead-ends into El Colegio Road, turn left onto El Colegio. After the next stop light, turn right onto Camino Pescadero. Then turn left on Seville (you'll see the Swiss Chalet apartments at that corner). The co-op will be on your right.

A Request
Since I've agreed to help the Co-op put together a summer newsletter, I want to know what interests you about the market. So here's my proposition. If you already shop there, email me a note about why you shop there. If you don't shop there now, go out there for a visit and email me your impressions. What would you come back to buy? What would you like to know about the Co-op?


The Reward
Everyone who emails me about the Co-op will be entered in a drawing for a pan of 8 sticky buns (not vegan). I'll choose two winners. The deadline for the drawing is June 27, but the sooner the better.

Here's my pitch for buying local seasonal food:

• You support and help maintain local food sources
• Your food is fresher and more flavorful because it can be picked when it is ripe
  
• Seasonal food gives you something to look forward to
• Food traveling long distances is more likely to have begun to deteriorate, losing nutrients and fostering more bacteria growth

Food for Adults

Okay, last post I mentioned that the money from our upcoming Taste of the Nation event would go to feed local kids. But here's the thing, to help those kids, local restaurants, caterers, beer brewers, and wine makers are offering you tastes of their own creations for a donation of only $55... if you buy your tickets online (http://tinyurl.com/TOTNSB) now, before all the tickets are gone.

If you wait until Sunday to purchase at the door:

• Admission will be $75 (instead of $55)
  
• The event may be sold out

Being on the organizing committee has a lot of benefits, like working with people who passionately share my love for good food. But the most exciting benefit is getting a preview of what foods will be offered at the event. So just to temp you a little here is a little inside scoop on the kinds of things that are planned:

• Ca'Dario - Ravioli al burro e salvia spinach and ricotta ravioli with brown butter and sage sauce

• Ariel Catering - Local ridgback shrimp a la plancha with golden sun-dried tomato and apricot gazpacho

• Opal Restaurant and Bar - Vegetable curry puff pastry empanadas with a mild jalapeno cilantro aioli

• Square One - Whole roasted spring lamb flatbread, harrisa, cured lemon-olive relish

• Montecito Country Club - Mini lamb gyro, basil chili tzatziki, butter lettuce, shaved marinated shallots, confit cherry tomatoes in mini pita pockets

This is only a tiny selection of what the 20+ food booths will be offering. There will also be wine and beer tastings, awesome views of the ocean, music, live and silent auction items, and even a photo booth. All on the upper lawn at the Montecito Country Club this Sunday, May 31st from 3 to 6 pm.

All of the ticket sale money goes to Food Banks in California, with 70% of it staying in Santa Barbara to support our own Food Bank and nutrition education for grade school children.

Hope to see you there!

Food for Kids

Click on the graphic to see a larger, more readable, version

Share Our Strength is a national non-profit group that brings together local food professionals to raise money to help feed local children. Our local event takes place on Sunday, May 31st, on the upper lawn at the Montecito Country Club. Enjoy an afternoon of food and wine sampling with live music and spectacular views of the ocean and Channel Islands, .

I have been working on the organizing committee for this event. Tickets are $55 in support of the Food Bank of Santa Barbara. You can purchase your tickets online now at http://taste.strength.org/site/Clubs?club_id=1401&pg=main. We have sponsorship levels if you would like to donate an additional amount.

We are also looking for volunteers to help us on the day of the event. Email me (Nancy@StarlightBakery.com) if you would like to volunteer on the day of the event.

Marshmallow Rabbit Winners
Our marshmallow rabbit winners (just in time for Easter) were Roxanne Erskine and Laurel Lyle. I'm told those little bunnies almost didn't make it to the Easter table... a nibble here and a nibble there.

Edible Santa Barbara Magazine
If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you get a copy before they run out. Copies are available at places like the Farmer's Markets, C'est Cheese, and IV Co-op.

I personally tested the recipes, so I can tell you they are all really good. In fact I'm making the shrimp fritters again tonight.

I'm thinking that a subscription to this magazine would make a thoughtful gift for out-of-town friends and family.

What We're Up To
Dave is keeping up with consulting jobs and working on his solar project in his spare time. I'm assisting in cooking classes at Braille Institute and Peabody Charter School and working on future articles for Edible Santa Barbara. We're also expanding our vegetable garden. Yum!

Stay in touch. We miss seeing our friends on a more weekly basis.

Emerging from Chocolate World

Persimmon Fudge

Hmm, not sure I'm actually ready to emerge from Chocolate World. Every day for the past 3 months I've thought, "I'm really getting pretty sick of eating chocolate." But then a few hours later I come up with another idea to try... and taste. Oh, the burden of creativity.

After deciding to give up our commercial kitchen at the end of December, I signed up for an online chocolate course to learn how to use chocolate in a way that consistently produces professional looking results. The course began in early January.

Chocolate is very tricky stuff. Even an accurate thermometer doesn't guarantee perfect results (or sometimes even acceptable results). Plus I had to develop centers using things like homemade fondant, caramel, fudge, and toffee. These are temperamental candies where I have to control the crystallization of a sugar syrup to create just the right form of crystallization. One small mistake and it becomes something entirely different. You can see my final results and read about what went wrong along the way on my Chocolate Temper wiki.

So, to celebrate finishing this course, I'd like to offer two lucky winners each 12 Marshmallow Rabbits. This is not your traditional marshmallow rabbit. Nope, it looks like this:

Marshmallow Rabbit

I start with a homemade marshmallow, dipped in homemade caramel topped with a pecan half. That is dipped into a bath of perfectly tempered chocolate. (Tempered means that it will have a lustrous shine and a clean crisp snap.) The bunny faces are lovingly painted in white chocolate.

Here's what you have to do to enter this drawing. Go to my Chocolate Temper wiki to identify the 5 candies I submitted for my final project as well as the one candy that I chose not to submit. Email me (Nancy@Starlightbakery.com) with your list. If correct, you will be entered in the drawing to take place at noon on March 29th, rabbits to be delivered the following week.

I would offer it closer to Easter, but I need to fly to Portland to help an aged friend celebrate her 60th birthday.

Edible Santa Barbara Magazine
Be on the lookout for the new quarterly Edible Santa Barbara Magazine. It will be on the stands at the end of March. It will focus on local regional foods and wines. I'll be writing articles for it. Plus I've been testing the recipes and I can tell you they are really good! It's the kind of magazine you'll want to collect and save.

Stella Mare's Jazz
We've also been going to Stella Mare's (by the bird refuge) every other Weds. night to sit by the fire and listen to jazz. Our son Shaun plays the drums in a jazz trio (bass and keyboard) that night. Upcoming dates are March 28 and April 1st. They start at 7 pm. Stella Mare's makes delicious appetizers. My favorites are the grilled artichoke and the crab cakes. You can order wine, a cocktail, or hot chocolate as well.

Maybe we'll see you there? Saraphina goes with us and likes to sing along with the trio, so the more friends to distract her, the better.

Mission Accomplished

The BCRC Tea and Fashion Show was a raging success. In fact you might want to buy your tickets now for next year. We sold out ten days early and had a waiting list of 25. This is unheard of in Santa Barbara where everyone waits until the last minute to buy tickets for events.

I deeply appreciate all the people who helped plan, bake, prep, plate, and serve. It was a symphony of smiles and laughter. From now on I'm only serving on committees where our focus is on eating.

The Sad News
Dave and I have decided to give up our commercial kitchen space. That means after December, we can no longer do large scale baking or offer a weekly special. We will, however, work on our website, to put up photos of the things we can bake if you have a private party and need someone to bake.

Blogs
Stay in touch because we're always baking. I will continue to update this Starlight Bakery blog with special notes about what we are baking and my local food discoveries. The Starlight Mice will continue their adventurous mischief as well. In fact, two mice have recently returned home from a trip to Egypt.

Bries for December

This is a ready-t0-bake brie wrapped in puff pastry. Inside the pastry, the brie is topped with raspberry jam, chopped apples, and almonds.

Take it out of the freezer, bake at 400 degrees about 45 minutes (until puffed and golden). Let it sit about 15 to 20 minutes to cool the molten cheese a bit.

These keep in the freezer a long time. I recently served one I made last December. They are great to take to a party or serve as an appetizer. They also make good gifts.

I will have them available until the end of the month.

Ingredients: Brie, puff pastry, almonds, apples, raspberry jam.

Starlight Mice
We have also had requests for Starlight Mice for gifts and for holiday platters. (Actually they are really good to eat too.)

I'll be making these challah dough mice with chocolate hearts.

You can order these through the end of the year as well. Just send me an email and let me know when you need them.

Prices

• Ready-to-Bake Brie - $15 each
  
• Starlight Mice - $1.30 each

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Tea Menu

Okay, I have the best committee in the world to work with me on the Breast Cancer Resource Center tea menu. Here we are making sure that our menu works. We've eaten our way through two working meetings. We think we have the menu pinned down, but it might take a little more tasting.

It might not surprise you to note that a Starlight Mouse showed up when we started our cheese tasting. We were looking for cheeses that pair especially well with hoshigaki (hand massaged dried persimmons) and grapes. The staff at C'est Cheese helped us choose a selection of cheeses that taste delicious with hoshigaki. Then our committee tasted and narrowed down the selection to these three: Double cream gouda, Ossau Irati, and Midnight Moon.

Obviously the Starlight Mouse is eager to confirm our choices.

Also on the tea menu are a pineapple fruit bowl filled with melon, grapes, pineapple, and pomegranate; salmon with cucumber, dill, and cream cheese finger sandwiches; layered sundried tomato pesto, basil pesto, and goat cheese finger sandwiches; almond pound cake slices with lemon curd and raspberry; rosemary lemon tea cookies; and chocolate coated nibs from Chocolate Maya.

As of last night 70 of the 100 seats at the tea and fashion show were already filled. This is awesome for an event in Santa Barbara... where people usually wait until the last minute to buy tickets. So, if you want to join us, purchase your tickets ($40) quickly at https://www.regform.net/bcrc/tfs/tfs.php.

Apple Pies
This is the last week for ready-to-bake apple pies. The pies are $14 each and you need to get your order in by Sunday noon for pick up on Monday at our kitchen at 5392 Hollister between 9 am and 6 pm.

Brie en Croute
Yes, we will make bries in December, but not until after the tea. I'll let you know more about those in December.

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

P.S. There's a Starlight Mouse sighting update at www.StarlightMice.blogspot.com

A Busy Week

In addition to watching election returns and baking, we have been busy this week planning the menu for the upcoming Breast Cancer Resource Center Tea, which Starlight Bakery is hosting.

BCRC Tea
The Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) is our local information and support center for women and men dealing with breast cancer and breast health issues.

The BCRC is often the first stop after a breast cancer diagnosis but we also provide information and support to anyone who needs help getting a breast lump evaluated, waiting for the results, and to family members looking for ways to support a loved one. It was built and run by the community it serves... a network of local women and men reaching out to help each other during times of uncertainty, treatment, and healing.

The tea will include a Coldwater Creek fashion show featuring models from the BCRC. The event will be held on Saturday, Dec. 6th at the Unitarian church hall (where we held our first organizatonal meeting for the BCRC). Tickets ($40) are available online at https://www.regform.net/bcrc/tfs/tfs.php or by calling the Breast Cancer Resource Center at 569-9693. There will also be an admission free Artisan Faire in the courtyard with opportunities to buy holiday gifts made by local craftsmen.

Apple Pies
I have more apple pies. I will continue to stock the freezer until Thanksgiving. But get your order in now, so you won't be disappointed when we run out.

Rosemary Focaccia
This bread is really versatile. For the tea, we are slicing it in thin horizontal slices and layering it with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and cucumbers. Then we cut it into strips and cut those into colorfully-layered finger sandwiches. The strips can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to cut the sandwiches... an easy make-ahead appetizer.

I'll add a photo the next time I make them.

Special Items this Week

• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00
• Ready-to-Bake Apple Pie - $14.00
  

Drawing of Week
I've been hired to bake pans of cinnamon rolls and sticky buns for a weekly meeting at a local technology company. I have an extra pan of 8 sticky buns available this week. If you place your apple pie order by this Sunday noon (for pickup on the 10th, 17th, or 24th), I'll enter you in a drawing for the sticky buns.

Roxanne Erskine won the apple pie last week. Yay Roxanne!

Pickup or Delivery
You can pick up your order from 9 am to 6 pm at 5392 Hollister on Monday or I can deliver it to your place on work on Tuesday morning.

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

American-Made Apple Pies

Get your order in now for our frozen ready-to-bake apple pies.

I have to warn you that if you plan to taste your pie ahead, you might want to order an extra. You may remember the story of my neighbor Daniel who baked one to take to a holiday dinner. He and and his brother Javier decided to take a little taste while it was cooling. Then they sat down and ate the whole pie. Oops.

Daniel ran across the street to get another one, but we had none left.

We are using Granny Smith apples with brown sugar and a light touch of orange in the filling. The streusal topping contains homemade almond paste (no almond extract flavoring). The crust and topping are buttery and delicious.

Baking is easy. Defrost your pie for 30 minutes to an hour, then bake it at 375 degrees for 1 to 1-1/2 hours (until the filling bubbles like jam). Try to let it cool before eating.

Pie pick ups will be from 9 am to 6 pm on Mondays November 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th at our bakery kitchen at 5392 Hollister. Tell me the date you want your pie(s) ready for pick up. It will help us a lot if you let us know now, even if you don't want to pick up a pie this week.

We are making 9" pies. If you'd like us to use a special pie plate from your collection, bring it by on one of the Mondays before your pick up.

Ingredients: Apples, organic unbleached flour, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, almonds, tapioca starch, cornstarch, orange zest, and salt.

Rosemary Focaccia

The IV Co-op Fair was a great success! We took an oven and generator so we could serve hot samples of rosemary focaccia made into fragrant garlic bread. I noticed several people came back for thirds. Lots of people told us they buy our bread weekly. One woman said her roommates sent her out to pick up the focaccia for a special dinner they were making and by the time she got to the Co-op, it was sold out.

We are back to one day a week at the bakery (Mondays). Dave bakes his breads on Monday evenings, so you can either stop by to pick up frozen focaccia during the day on Monday or set up a delivery time and place with me for Tuesday. The good news is all our breads freeze well and only need about 10 to 15 minutes in the oven to crisp the crust back up when they are almost defrosted.

Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Special Items this Week

• Ready-to-Bake Apple Pie (9 inch) - $14.00
• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00

Drawing for an Apple Pie
Answer the poll question of the week by noon Sunday and email me that you participated. I'll put you in our drawing for a free apple pie. Anyone who orders this week will be entered in the drawing automatically. (The last person who won an apple pie is now an enthusiastic an apple pie customer.)

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Padaro Pumpkins

Yesterday my sister Barbara and I took a trip out to Carpinteria, got off at the Santa Claus exit and turned left over the bridge, then right onto Via Real and headed toward the large pumpkin balloon we could see floating above the Padaro Floral pumpkin patch. (The balloon lets you know that the pumpkin patch is open.)


We parked and followed a wall sunflowers to patch. The patch was packed with kids.


Many of the kids were sitting on benches listening to Michelle, one of the owners, tell them about pumpkins, and gourds, and Indian corn... all available at the patch.


Interesting shapes and colorful corn and all at really reasonable prices. I think the Indian corn was 50 cents an ear.

I was most intrigued by the bumpy gray Hubbard squash that Michelle and her father both told me was really good for pumpkin pie. Michelle said customers always come back to buy more before it sells out.


Uhh, yeah. I wouldn't have bought it either if my sister hadn't assured me that I could trust their judgement (she knows from experience that Michelle is an excellent baker). It was $8 for this boulder-sized squash.

We lugged it home and then tried to figure how exactly to cut it. It was like trying to open a coconut. The outer skin could be chipped away, not peeled. None of my knives would cut through it.

Using the cleaver like an ax was slightly more successful but a little scary. Together we came up with a plan where I placed the cleaver where I wanted to cut it and Barbara pounded on it with a hammer. Then we forcefully dislodged the cleaver and moved it gradually around the circumference until the squash opened enough that we could crack the two halves apart.

It's a very meaty squash without a lot of seeds or that stringy gooey stuff in the center.

I roasted the hunks in my convection oven. Eventually the pulp got soft and caramellized. The bits that I tasted as I scooped it out and bagged it up were delicious. I'm looking forward to making a pumpkin pie with it. The texture is dense, not watery, smooth, and the flavor is richly sweet.

Apple Pies in November
We will only offer Rosemary Focaccia bread this week again so we can ramp up for apple pie making in November. You have one more week to decide how many ready-to-bake apple pies you want to order in November.

This Week's Special Item

• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00

Pickup and Delivery
I can deliver your bread to a place of work on Tuesday morning or you can pick it up from our kitchen at 5392 Hollister on Tuesday between noon and 6 pm.

Thanks!

Nancy & Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

P.S. Don't forget the I.V. Co-op Fair on Saturday. We'll be baking some Belgian Ginger Rolls (vegan) for you to taste in the morning and Rosemary Focaccia garlic bread in the afternoon.