Juice Cleansing

So I am doing a juice cleanse. I have wanted to attempt one for quite some time and finally circumstances have worked out perfectly to enable me to do so. Those circumstances being:
~ my cousin came home for Spring Break and provided both the impetus and the expertise to get my aunt and I on it.
~ it is a slow week at work so my low energy level wouldn't be too big of an impediment to functionality.
~ we were all feeling somewhat bloated from the Easter holiday and were thus ready and willing to do a bit of a purge.


Now the reasoning behind this process is that over time -with all of the processed foods that we consume on a daily basis - toxins and preservatives build up in our systems and it sometimes takes drastic measure to get them out. Such as consuming only organic fruits and vegetables in liquid form for 3 to 7 days.



The idea is not to go out and buy bottled juice - even ones that advertise themselves as being organic - as these will inevitable contain some type of preservative themselves. To be truly effective the juices consumed need to be made fresh on a daily (if possible hourly) basis from fresh, organic produce. When I returned home from my family's Easter festivities I walked into the kitchen to find all the available counter space covered with just such produce. It was a beautiful sight. Also prominently displayed was the juicer - Juiceman Jr - ready and raring to go. My cousin is doing a much more intense cleanse - called the Master Cleanse - where she basically just drinks glorified lemonade for three days. But my aunt and I were easing ourselves into it by drinking fruit and veggie juice, and we even got the okay to munch on fruits and vegetables as well since we both felt the need to chew. Thus the delicious dinner you see featured above - a crunchy salad dressed with lemon juice and accompanied by fresh apple-carrot juice. The glasses were my cousin's sweet but futile attempt to keep us from missing our evening glass of wine.



I am now on my second day and I am definitely feeling the effects, but overall its not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I am not constantly hungry and while I am somewhat less energetic than usual, I am not completely incapacitated. I managed an hour of Pilates late night with no problem and am even starting to feel like this is may be doing me some good. Tonight my cousin and I are headed to Piedmont Springs for a sauna session to sweat some of these purged toxins out of us. Hopefully neither of us passes out...!

my burgeoning love affair with the girl and the fig

For those of you unfortunate enough to have never had an encounter with Sonoma's The Girl and The Fig, I am telling you now - get yourself there! It is breathtakingly fabulous, addictively delicious and I am in love. The head over heels kind.

Again, it was a place that multiple friends had recommended and I have been trying to get there for over a year now. And at long last, this weekend, I made it. Joy!

My partner in culinary crime (my aunt) and I headed into downtown Sonoma Sunday morning to experience the delights that The Girl had to offer. In our eagerness we got there a bit too early for the burgers we were jonesing for so we cruised the square for awhile, constantly checking the time.

Finally 11:30 arrived and we were promptly seated and served. We started with some festive morning beverages - a Bellini for my aunt and a Mimosa for me, accompanied by a flavortastic arugula and fig vinaigrette salad with feta cheese and pancetta. And then....our burgers arrived.

Now let me just take a moment to describe the wonder that are the burgers at this fine establishment. They are made from ground sirloin - sirloin - and come on a perfectly crisp Dutch Crunch bun with greens, red onions sauteed in balsamic vinegar and your choice of Brie or Cambazola cheese. I chose the Cambazola and it was sheer heaven. Melted to ooey gooey goodness and bursting with flavor, it was the perfect compliment to the beef. As our server set our plates before us my aunt and I looked at each other with unmitigated glee, preparing ourselves to dive in. The first bite of a big burger is something that must be approached with all the concentration and forethought of a good battle plan. You have to discern where the best place is to breach the bun's defences so that you get everything in one bite - bun, meat, cheese and all the toppings. After considering carefully I picked the big, juicy, messy slice of heaven up and struck gold on first bite perfection.

Now, while we were victims to the throes of a massive burger craving this weekend, The Girl has an extensive and varied menu so I shall be returning to sample some of her other charms...as should you!!

Redefining Chicken and Beer

My aunt and I found ourselves in the Napa/Sonoma area this weekend and decided to try out a place in Downtown Napa called The Bounty Hunter. A friend had raved about and after reading a review online I was intrigued by the idea of place that served chicken cooked on a beer can.

This place actually began as a highly specialized vendor of fine wines. Apparently they could find any wine for anyone, anywhere. Their wine list is so extensive in fact that it is actually a wine catalogue.

Quite a leap from a wine catalogue to chicken impaled on a beer can, you say? It actually makes perfect sense when you consider that their kitchen is the size of a bathroom and that most of their cooking is done outside on a grill.

After nibbling on surprisingly delicious duck rillette and various salads, the chicken was delivered to our table as you see it above, in all its beer can glory. Consuming such a dish requires one to ditch common table manners and literally tear into it with hands and teeth. The carving knife is quickly discarded as one gives into temptation to pick and pull off the meat with bare and burnt fingers, coating them with the spicy and flavorful Cajun rub that saturates the skin, making it completely irresistible (even to an anti-chicken skin girl such as myself). Basically, its not a place to take a date one is trying to impress, unless your definition of impressing is to be a total slob in public.

Final verdict - good, not mind-blowing.

Just a typical little Sunday dinner

I walked into the kitchen last night and found the preparations for a gourmet feast under way. My roommate had been struck by some inspirational cooking whim whilst shopping at Diablo Foods and came home with the makings of a bevvy of delights.

By the time we sat down to eat he had on the table the following:

- Broiled lamb chops seasoned with olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

- Fresh asparagus stalks sauteed with red pepper flakes in peperocino infused olive oil. Crunchy perfection with just a bit of a kick.

- Thick, juicy scallops browned in butter and olive oil. Two each was not enough...

- Sand Dabs also sauteed in butter and olive oil and served with a white wine caper sauce.

- Arugula and mixed green salad tossed with olive oil, fresh lemon and coarse ground black pepper, topped by shavings of hard Spanish sheep cheese and with a smudge of anchovy paste round the rim.

- A Diablo Foods lentil and capsicum salad completed the feast.

This incredible array of dishes was supplemented with two extraordinary, finger-lickin' good sauces. Stonewall Kitchen provided us with a sweet Fig and Vidalia Onion sauce that went with everything. It was intended for the lamb chops but in the end we dipped it all - even the Milka hazelnut milk chocolate we had for desert. Supplementing this divine ambrosia was Dulcet's Madras Curry Sauce and Marinade - a flavor explosion that was killer with the lamb, incredible with the scallops and delish with the two salads.

And to top it all off we guzzled Wente Brut Reserve sparkling wine - ultimately decimating three entire bottles. My head is feeling it this morning but it was well worth it!

Best Sandwich in Sonoma County

My sister Jenna and I drove up to Sonoma County this weekend to visit our sister Katelyn in event of her birthday. She in turn introduced us to the most delicious sandwich I have had in quite some time, at a place called - originally and simply enough - the Sandwich Spot.

This Spot boasts a long menu of "specialty sandwiches" that seem to be a result of long experimentation on the part of the owner as to what ingredients pair best with others. Their research has paid off because me-oh-my the sandwich I had was DELISH.

Just a classic combo of turkey, avocado, bacon, cheese and all the fixin's on a Dutch Crunch roll but what really set this sandwich above and beyond the rest were the details. The turkey was warm, the avocado thick and perfectly ripe, the Dutch crunch crunchy but not so much so that it left my mouth lacerated. But the real secret is the killer, garlicky, AMAZING secret sauce that they slather on all of their sandwiches. It gives you rank burps later on but is well worth it.

So, for all those who find themselves in Rohnert Park, near Sonoma State, take a little side trip and grab lunch at the Sandwich Spot because it is GOOD.

(7285 Snyder #B, Rohnert Park, CA 94928)

The Beginning

So I have been living in what most would consider Foodie Heaven with my aunt and various roommates and have decided to combine said culinary bliss with my propensity for food photography and create a blog! It really was my roommate's idea, actually, I am just implementing it.

This Foodie Heaven is a product of my aunt, cousin, roommate and my own love of and devotion to food and its preparation in all forms. Since each of us enjoys cooking so much, and since none of us have to do it every night and therefore are able to put extra effort into our meals we are constantly feasting. While this is not necessarily all that good for the waistline, it is very good for the soul = ).

I would like to use this forum to share with you some of the more delicious and delightful meals we have created and consumed. However, I shan't be restricting it to just home cooking. As a resident of the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area I have at my fingertips every kind of ethnic cuisine a foodie could ever desire. Thus I shall be sharing the evidence of my culinary adventures here as well. AND - as an addicted traveller I will also post my international experiences as well.

So that's my manifesto.

I have a bit of backlog so there will likely be a glut of posts at first which I promise will taper off.