Alice Waters in Illinois

[shroomgirl]

What a weekend!!! Saturday Harry Connick was in St. Louis and his band jammed afterwards at Jazz at the Bistro. Also was the first day of the market....loads of buyers with a few farmers selling out by 9:15.
baby potatoes, asparagus, arugula, garlic scapes, carrots, shell peas, sugar snap peas, frais du bois, mixed spicy greens, radishes, new funky turnips, eggs, goat cheese......Chef Kirk Warner from King Louie's made a salad with arugula, spicy mix...topped with sauteed turnips with honey, dijon mustard, olive oil garlic scapes and a goat cheese flan he made and brought, then demoed how to make. Crumbled parmeson crisps for a crunch. It was fabulous.
So. Sunday I had to cook and got a late start for the 200 each way soujourn to go to a Slow Foods fundraiser in Urbana Illinois.
Showed up at 6:30 for a 6:00 event....most seats were taken, I went to the back dining room, found nothing....so I sat at an empty table with a couple of purses and a camera. Patrick Martin sat next to me, Lawerence Mate sat across from me and diagonal 2' away sat Alice Waters. We talked for 2.5 hours. Everything from what the SLU dieticians are proposing for Gardens of Humanity, to the organic gardens going in at the University, to produce from the market, to Master Gardeners giving organic advice.....So she is inspirational in sending cookbook writers to farmers markets for signings. When I told her chickens came into the market frozen she said have a store open and sell fresh ones from a refrigerator in the store. When I mentioned farmers not growing through the winter she said, have Elliot Coleman speak....then put up a root cellar store with garlic braids, roots, squash, mushrooms, etc....
So she wants to come to St. Louis for a tour, and to sign books at the market. What a treat! Air, I've been walking on air for 3 days.
Alice was on her way to tape with Emeril and Martha in NYC....and do something with meals on wheels.

*Oh yeah the coolest part, she said she'd like to take me to dinner the next time I'm in California.....wasn't planning a trip to SF but think I'm there soon.

[cape chef]

Shroom,

How exciting!!!

This is a woman you could talk to for days and never become board.

What a treat for you...i'm sure she will love your market.

[shroomgirl]

Her goal is to have a garden and themetic studies in each public school....they did it for PE now it needs to happen for food. There are 10 pilot schools in CA.....I told her about the friend who told me about 4H in Mo with green houses at the high schools, they could be growing food <lettuce> throughout the winter for the cafeteria.
***She had farmers and chefs picnic...the first year she had 2 farmers-2 chefs....next 15-15 next 60-60....then it got to be 3000 guests and too huge to manuver. Our first picnic was at the Kruse Farm in Col. Ill., one of the chefs made confit and turnips....got lost, had too much Yequem the night before, did a no-show....so after a couple of hours, I pulled burners from the car, viniager, mustard, oil, chutney....we cooked from the field. I'd made butternut pies (with lard crust), brownies, etc for dessert. So Dave Owens and Maggie Kelly and I prepped, and cooked for 75 people....it was gorgeous. Great wine, educators, chefs and farmers.....We had a talk on Monarch migrations and Bt, by a teacher who takes his 5th graders out during migration to tag and do research on them. That was Sept. of 1999. My gosh it has been an amazing 4 years.

[chiffonade]

Here I am stuck in the Land of Jethro (for at least another month or so) while you're out soaking up culture!

As a matter of fact, I'm starting to get twitchy to buy Chez Panisse Fruit. I have Chez Panisse Vegetables and I love it. I've had to curb my cookbook purchases and have lately restricted expenditures to antique books. Anyone have the book and care to offer a review?

[mudbug]

shroomgirl,

Fabulous! It's events like that which are treasured for life and friendships forged to be nutured.

Thanks for sharing!

[marmalady]

Shroom - How neat! I can just picture the two of you chatting away with each other! Did you feel like you were talking with an old friend?

[shroomgirl]

Not quite, but it was cool speaking the same language....there was an inherent base of knowledge, so acronims and problem solving gave us common ground. It seems that we can work on mutual goals. One of the questions she asked me was where I was from, and when I said Sacramento,Ca. she gave a knowing nod.

[chefboy2160]

Way cool shroomgirl , you sound like you are still on cloud nine , i know I would be . So when will you be arriving in SF and where will you dine . Please keep us posted and yes Im jealouse .

[pattycake]

how fun for you!
I was in SF this past weekend, and finally got to dinner at Chez Panisse. It was wonderful (although the dessert was a disappointment)..I bought two of her cookbooks..Chez Panisse desserts and Chez Panisse Cafe..the Cafe cookbook looks incredible, and I am already marinating goat cheese for the baked goat cheese salad.

the only thing is, it doubled my frustration about the produce situation here in central wyoming..we can't get any really high quality stuff, virtually no variety,and the farmers market doesn't start until late july early august..and then, most of the stuff is brought up from colorado.

I would love to bend Alice Waters' ear about how to obtain good stuff out here...Im sure she would have some fantastic ideas...

thanks for letting me share!

[shroomgirl]

Contact your Dept of Ag marketing section and ask where farmer's markets are....or what produce is grown in WY.
One of the western states started a section in a local paper free for farmers to advertise their crops....was an outstanding public service and also help the farmers sell their crops.

[mudbug]

pattycake and shroomgirl,

You can also check for farmers markets in your state.

Here is a listing for Wyoming. Good luck!

[pattycake]

thank you!

I called the local number for the casper farmers market and they told me "it" would be held the second week in august!
tomatoes and corn and colorado peaches mostly...we have a severe drought going on out here and i doubt we'll see very much...
appreciate your efforts!!!

[mudbug]

pattycake,

Wonderful! You're welcome! Keep us updated on what goodies they have!

[Devotay]

Glad you had such a good time, Shroom, and isn't Alice marvelous? There's just a delightful aura around her.

Sorry I couldn't make it to that event, nor the paralell one in Chicago - too busy here I'm happy to report. We'll have a big one here the weekend of September 4-8, featuring Deb Madison & her great new book, Local Flavors, as well as Lynn Rosetto Kasper and Slow Food USA President Patrick Martins. I'll post a thread here about it later, but for more info, go to my website (below) and click on the green "Field to Family" icon.

The school garden thing is something I've been persuing for quite some time, but with only minimal success. Undeterred, I press on. Hope you and all the readers join in.

Schroo: Remember, It's important to breathe!

PS: Enjoyed your report!