Didn't end up eating another English muffin yesterday for breakfast. Instead, we went back to Sweetie Pies and had scones and tea (for me, coffee for Hagan). We had our first meeting of the day at 11 with the COO (chief operations officer) of Oxbow Public Market, Bart. He told us all about how he got involved with Oxbow (he and a friend started it), and answered all of our questions and more. Over the course of our chat he recommended that we stop specifically at the fish stand, a company called Konaloa, to talk to them about their sustainable fishing practices.
We talked to this guy, Kevin, for close to half an hour about how outrageously dedicated the company is to sustainable fishing His spiel: using huge trawling nets means that fishermen catch much more than just a particular type of fish. They catch sea turtles, sharks, and lots of fish that are really too young to be harvested, ether because of their size or because they're pregnant. Because of this indiscriminate fishing, the young fish are being wiped out along with older fish, so the population of fish that are left behind isn't enough to sustain the numbers that we're used to. Fish populations are dwindling. So Konaloa is dedicated to using sustainable fishing practices; TEDIOUS, time-consuming practices, but ones that ensure that there are fish left to make more fish. They do line fishing and harpoon fishing, ensuring that they're only bringing in the exact type and size of fish that they intend to. Additionally, they only catch "to order," meaning that their fish isn't sitting around in warehouses, waiting to be purchased; we're talking FRESH FISH. They pride themselves on the personal relationships that have formed between fishermen and the company itself, and they're dedicated to paying fair wages to fishermen (to the extent that they'll pay more per pound of fish to companies that will provide health insurance and guarantee a living wage to fishermen in places as far flung as Vietnam). He was totally passionate about the company that he's working for, and it carried over to what he was saying. The company is, like, the ultimate in green. Their fishing boats are required to bring back waste (like the boxes that carry bait) to be recycled, all of their shipping boxes are made of recycled paper printed with non-chemical ink, they don't use ice for packaging and shipping ice, and instead use food-grade gel freezer packs to keep fish cold. Fish that's being shipped from around the world is being shipped on commercial flights to ensure that they aren't adding to their carbon footprint by having private shipping, and a lot of their fishing is done in the Marshall Islands, so the fish is coming from the same waters that Japanese fish are coming from (AKA it's the bet quality fish that money can buy). Bottom Line: incredible quality fish, socially just business practices, sustainable methods, for, admittedly, higher priced fish. Cost, understandably, increases as value increases. Still a pretty cool business.
Sorry for that rant, but it was really cool.
We had a meeting with Laddie at Long Meadow Ranch at 2, and that was great, too. From what it sounds like, she and her husband just up and decided that they'd like to have a vineyard, so they bought 650 acres of land in the Valley back in the 80s as a summer home. They started with grapes and then found a whole grove of olive trees that they didn't know existed until they literally stumbled across them while out riding horseback on their property one day (the horse tripped). So they expanded their market to include olive oil. From there, they expanded to produce. They had a roadside market for people to stop in and purchase, but they had too much food to sell for that to remain a viable way to sell their whole crop. With all the natural abundance of their land, they decided to open a restaurant that would use their own grown products. That restaurant, called Farmstead, does just that. After chatting with Laddie for a good long while, we went in to sample this farm-fresh food for ourselves (she was super cool; we tried to convince her to sit and eat with us, but she had things to prepare for a presentation on local produce at the hospital today). It was nearly 3:30 by the time we went in to the restaurant, so it was pretty empty. Laddie asked the chef, Seamus, to come out to meet with us; he's from Arkansas (Fayetteville), so we chatted for a little while with him too. Also super cool.
Then we started to eat. And eat. And eat. Had cheese biscuits and honey butter, and asparagus covered in ricotta cheese and lemon to start with. Then progressed to gnocchi with lamb ragu (for Hagan), and a cheeseburger with rosemary roasted fries (for me). Add to the mix the Sauvignon Blanc that we enjoyed throughout, and it was a GREAT meal. Favorite, I think, in the time I was in Napa (Morimoto was AWESOME, but I could just see myself returning to Farmstead. It's more my kinda place; blue jeans welcomed).
After lunch we took the long way home. Which led us past a sign to Sonoma. Hagan decided I would be missing out if we didn't stop by, so we went and checked out some gorgeous, gorgeous homes. Then we were driving and he decided that it would be awful if I didn't get to see San Francisco, especially since we were already going in the right direction, so we went! We stopped at Baker Beach and had beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge, and took a nice long walk (I was still feeling full). Then into the city itself, where I got to see streetcars, Fisherman's Wharf (we stopped to buy some sourdough bread at Boudin), and the harbor Sea Lions. I was still stuffed (seriously) from dinner by the time we left around quarter to 9, so Hagan just munched on sourdough and some cheese that I had bought at Oxbow in the morning. Back to the House of Hagans, and to bed to read for a while before passing out.
Right now, I'm at the Sacramento airport, getting ready to leave, and our flight is boarding, so I'm going to do today's itinerary in a separate post (hopefully Phoenix has free wi-fi and I can post from there). See ya in Phoenix!
No comments:
Post a Comment