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Labels: Passings

...9000 new homes are built south of Orcutt, 1300 up on Harris Grade Road and 295 are built at Seabreeze across Central Avenue from the Lompoc Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. On the City of Lompoc Web page....3600 residences listed as under construction or approved in the Lompoc area that are expected to produce an estimated 36,000 new vehicle trips per day. - The Lompoc Record.

...If owners of working farms and ranches are required to pay property taxes based on their land’s residential or commercial valuation, they usually have no choice but to sell the land to developers. A 1965 California law known as the Williamson Act helps preserve farms and ranches by allowing those who enroll in the program to have their land taxed at a rate based on actual use, not potential use.

Buried in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget plans for next year is a small but truly bad idea. He wants to save $40 million by canceling a farmland preservation program.

He thinks he can dump the costs on rural and suburban counties, a favorite gambit of Sacramento budget balancers. In this case, however, he will unhinge a successful State plan that rewards agriculture and local government for staving off sprawl.

At issue is the Williamson Act, designed to give farmers and ranchers a break on property taxes. Counties are reimbursed by Sacramento when they lower property taxes for agricultural land. The idea is to remove a temptation to shut down operations and sell to the highest bidder, namely developers. For 40 years, the program has meant that Marin County hills, Sonoma County pastures and Contra Costa County vistas are dotted with crops or cows, not subdivisions. - SFGate

California Department of Conservation statistics show that between 2002 and 2004, Fresno County lost 11 agricultural acres a day. Kern County lost 9 a day, Merced 4, Stanislaus 8, San Joaquin 5 and San Diego 10. Kings and Imperial both lost the equivalent of 6 acres a day during that period.

Statewide, the Division of Land Resource Protection, a branch of the Department of Conservation, said urban land expanded by nearly 93,000 acres between 2000 and 2002, as documented by the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program. The very best farmland, an irreplaceable natural resource, decreased during that time frame by nearly 50,000 acres, equal to about 74 square miles. - California Farm Bureau

California has been the nation's top agricultural state in cash receipts every year since 1948. - California Farm Bureau

Labels: Agriculture, Farmer's Markets, Government

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Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale is a national campaign where participants host their own bake sale anywhere in the U.S. from May 19 - August 31 and send their proceeds to Share Our Strength to help organizations in their community end childhood hunger.

Funds raised are granted to local organizations that work to increase participation by low-income children in summer and after-school feeding programs and to support nutrition education programs for low-income families. Since 2003, the campaign has raised over $3 million and engaged more than 1 million people in baking, selling or buying goods. Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale is supported by Food Network, the campaign's national television partner.

Let's get cookin'.

Labels: Food Banks, Great American Bake Sale, Hunger

Saffron's aroma is often described by connoisseurs as reminiscent of metallic honey with grassy or hay-like notes, while its taste has been noted also as hay-like and somewhat bitter. Saffron also contributes a luminous yellow-orange colouring to foods. Because of the unusual taste and colouring it adds to foods, saffron is widely used in Arab, Central Asian, European, Indian, Iranian, Moroccan and Cornish cuisines. Confectionaries and liquors also often include saffron. Common saffron substitutes include safflower (Carthamus tinctorius, which is often sold as "Portuguese saffron" or "assafroa") and turmeric (Curcuma longa). - Wikipedia

Labels: Restaurant, saffron, Santa Barbara

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Labels: bakery, Environmental, NYC

Filling
4 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 cups (24 ounces) sour cream
2 tablespoons (packed) finely grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Lemon leaves or twists

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir cookie crumbs and butter in medium bowl until evenly moistened. Press mixture onto bottom of 9-inch-diameter removable-bottom cheesecake pan with 3-inch-high sides. Bake crust until deep golden, about 12 minutes. Cool completely. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

Stack 3 large sheets of foil on work surface. Place same cake pan in center. Gather foil snugly around pan bottom and up sides to waterproof.

For filling:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese in large bowl until smooth and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar, then salt. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in sour cream, grated lemon peel, and lemon juice. Pour filling into pan.

Place wrapped cake pan in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake cake until filling is slightly puffed and moves only slightly when pan is shaken gently, about 1 hour 25 minutes. Remove cake pan from water bath; remove foil. Cool cake in pan on rack 2 hours. Chill uncovered until cold; cover and keep chilled at least 1 day and up to 2 days.

Cut around pan sides; carefully loosen pan bottom from sides and push up pan bottom to release cake. Place cake (still on pan bottom) on platter. Garnish with lemon leaves or twists.

Labels: Cheesecake, Lance Armstrong, Lemons, Taste of Yellow

Beverage maker Imbibe is launching a line of sodas based on The Sopranos. The new "Sopranos Old Fashioned Italian Sodas" will come in three flavors: Limoncello, Amaretto and Chianti. The headline on the press release is the best one I've gotten this month: "The Sopranos Old Fashioned Sodas Are Sure To Be A 'Hit.'" - CNBC

Labels: Beverages, sopranos

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A 400-acre brush fire on Santa Catalina island was moving toward the city of Avalon this afternoon as authorities were evacuating some residents and preparing to ferry additional fire crews to the island using a military ship. - latte times

Allstate corp., the State's third-biggest home insurer, will stop selling to new residential policies in California. - latte times

Labels: Avalon, California, Fires

oh, my....Griffith Park is on fire.

A fire was set in Griffith Park today above the Greek Theatre and spread quickly to the northeastern section of the park, threatening the Los Angeles Zoo and other nearby recreation facilities, officials said. - Latte Times

Labels: Greek Theatre, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, Zoo

Lee Bassian, owner of Bassian Farms in San Jose, remembers delivering his naturally raised meats to Google back when the company still operated out of a garage.

"One time our truck got a ticket because it weighed too much for a residential street," Bassian recalled.

Google's now-famous philosophy of providing wholesome food at no charge to its employees dates from its inception, although the company took it to a new level last year when it opened Cafe 150, a restaurant at corporate headquarters in Mountain View that only serves produce and meats raised within a 150-mile radius. It's one of 15 restaurants at Google, with three more due to open this month.

...Tomatoes also posed a challenge, as Google employees wanted them even in the winter, when they're only available from warmer climates like Mexico.

To provide a substitute in sandwiches and salads, Keller salted and grilled persimmons, a deep orange fruit grown nearby that ripens in the winter.

"You couldn't tell the difference," he said. "In the summer, they began complaining when we didn't have grilled persimmons," Keller added. - Palo Alto Daily News

Labels: Google, Sustainable

Oh...My...

Labels: Kentucky Derby, Street Sense

1 liter Maker’s Mark
Lots of fresh spearmint leaves
1 cup distilled water
1 cup granulated sugar
Powdered sugar for garnish
Mint sprigs for garnish

1. To prepare the mint extract, remove about 40 small mint leaves – wash and place in a small mixing bowl. Cover with 3 ounces of Maker’s Mark. Allow the leaves to soak for 15 minutes. Then gather the leaves in a clean, soap-free piece of cotton cloth and vigorously wring the mint bundle over the bowl of whisky. Dip the bundle again and repeat the process several times. Then set aside.

2. To prepare the simple syrup, mix 1 cup of granulated sugar and one cup of water in a cooking pot. Heat to dissolve the sugar. Stir constantly so the sugar does not burn. Set aside to cool.

3. To prepare the mint julep mixture, pour 3 1/2 cups of Maker’s Mark into a large glass bowl or glass pitcher. (Pour the remaining whisky from the liter bottle into another container and save it for another purpose). Add 1 cup of the simple syrup to the Maker’s Mark.

4. Now, begin adding the mint extract 1 tablespoon at a time to the julep mixture. Each batch of mint extract is different, so you must taste and smell after each tablespoon is added. You may have to leave the room a time or two to clear your nose. The tendency is to use too much mint. You are looking for a soft mint aroma and taste – generally about 3 tablespoons.

5. When you think it’s right, pour the whole mixture back into the empty liter bottle and refrigerate it for at least 24 hours to marry the flavors

6. To serve the mint julep, fill each glass (preferably a silver mint julep cup) half full with shaved ice. Insert a sprig of mint and then pack in more ice to about an inch over the top of the cup. Then, insert a straw that has been cut to one inch above the top of the cup so the nose is forced close to the mint when sipping the julep.

7. When frost forms on the cup, pour the refrigerated julep mixture over the ice and add a sprinkle of powdered sugar to the top of the ice. Makes 26-30 servings.

Labels: blogs, Horse Racing, Kentucky Derby, Martha Stewart

I firmly believe that people have a right to know that what they are eating and what they are feeding their children is safe. That is one of the reasons I initiated Country of Origin Labeling last year as a pilot project for fresh vegetables and produce with the Alabama Grocer's Association. We know where everything we buy comes from, whether it's clothing, a big screen TV, or a car. With so many food products coming into our country from around the world, I believe people should have the information they need to choose where their food comes from. Many food products from other countries are completely safe, but even the very small potential of tainted food requires us to diligently protect our food supply.

We must demand that other countries provide us with products that live up to the standards we have in the United States. If we do not allow a potentially harmful substance to be used by farmers and producers in our country, then other countries should not be able to send their tainted products to us. It is that simple. While the potential for a serious outbreak is small, it is not a risk I am willing to take with the health of Alabama's families.

Labels: Agriculture, Alabama, food labeling, food safety

Coming soon to NYC: The liquor that could inspire you to paint a field of sunflowers.

Absinthe, the green-tinted liquid that inspired legions of artists, writers and bohemians, from Van Gogh to Oscar Wilde, in Belle Epoque France, is coming here later this month for the first time in nearly a century.

Called Lucid and imported from France by New York-based Viridian Spirits, it will be the first genuine absinthe to be available in the U.S. since its ban in the 1910s.

Viridian is trying to correct the misperceptions that have given absinthe a bad rap. A liquor distilled from herbs, including wormwood, anise and fennel, which give it its distinct color and licorice taste, absinthe was first introduced in late 18th century France as an herbal remedy. It later caught on with artists and the Cafe Society, who nicknamed it "The Green Fairy" for its supposed clarifying effects on the mind. That absinthe was cheap and there was a wine shortage didn't hurt. At its height, the French consumed 36 million liters a year.

Salud! Absent Absinthe makes the desire go stronger. Here's to "lucidity!"

Labels: Beverages, France, The Green Fairy

Labels: California Wine Festival, Central Coast, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Wine Festival, Wine, Winery