Distracted. Busy. Life. Working my butt off.

All of the above.

I know I have not posted anything in quiet some time. Truth be told, it’s been nice to not have ONE MORE THING on my plate. The last couple months have been a blur. I moved and had my car vandalized in the same week. I got promoted and Paul and I both got raises in the same week. My hours changed at work, so I’m having the insane luxury of seeing the Big Sur sunrise every morning on my drive from Monterey down Highway 1 to work at Sierra Mar.

I had a Lunch Special at work, and, to me, it was a big deal. Most likely not to others, but to me, it was “special”, and very tasty.

Pan Seared Scallops with Snap Peas and Fried Trumped Mushrooms, served table-side with a Ginger-Lime Miso Soup.

I was going on foraging adventures gathering local edible flowers to garnish our amazing food at Sierra Mar with.

I did a dinner at Joseph Phelps Vineyards in Napa. It was an amazing experience and the setting was nothing less than spectacular.

So. I’ve been busy. Spending limited time on my computer and concentrating on work and eating and sleeping. I know it’s not an excuse for not blogging, and I will try and be better at it in the future, documenting my adventures instead of letting them collect and then dumping all of them on you at once. Although I am sharing some of them with you now, this is only a small amount of the things I have been up to. I will begin documenting them more responsibly from now on

For instance, I have another Pop-up dinner coming up in June, and you will all be getting a first hand account of how it goes and what I will be serving.

That’s all for now though.

One of the many things I love about my new job is the opportunity it has given me to do things like visit an apple farm on my day off.

While this post may be a bit late in getting posted, I could not pass up the opportunity to share with you how grateful I am and how privileged I feel to have been able to visit the Prevedelli Farm in Watsonville.

Turning off of Highway 1 and into the farm country of the Watsonville hills is a sight in itself, but if you keep going, turning here and there, delving deeper and deeper through raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry fields, past apple orchards and pear orchards, you begin to feel yourself unwind a bit.

Prevedelli Farms is no exception. Following one of these meandering roads, I turned off and made my way past an old farm house, arriving at the farms. I was welcomed warmly by Nick, who I buy weekly from at the Monterey Farmers’ Market for Sierra Mar.

We began our little walk-about through his family’s orchards, all the while Nick grabbing numerous varieties of apples off trees here and there, insisting that I take them, or eat them as we walked. I obliged happily, walking, eating and listening.

“This one is super sweet and perfect for cooking with”.

“This apple is tart and one of my favorite varieties”.

Phrases enthusiastically cast from my hosts’  mouth as we chatted and I learned about apples in the cold, misty air of the morning.

In addition to the incredible amount of different varieties of apples on the farm, the Prevedelli’s also have an abundance of other tasty treats. Blackberries the size of my thumb litter the property, along with sections of pears, including my favorite, Asian Pears, which, on this farm, happen to be giant.

While I can’t remember (try as I might) all the varieties of apples that we discussed, I CAN remember what an amazing treat it was to get to tour this incredible farm, and how generous our hosts were. It was a reminder of why we at Sierra Mar buy from people like Nick and his family, and it makes us proud and happy to support local farmers such as the Prevedellis.

Thank you to Nick and everyone at Prevedelli Farms.

I’ve been thinking for quite a while that I would like a farm.

There is a joke(somewhat) in my family, and we all casually call it “The Ranch”… “Once we get the ranch we can get some pigs Pops”… “Well the ranch will be covered in aspens, so we can see them change on our own property”… “Ugh. I guess I’ll try planting this once we get the ranch”, you get the picture.

Such sayings are a commonality within conversations on a weekly basis.

For those of you who have been to my house, you know that we aren’t THAT far-off from having something close to a ranch. Well, as close as you can get in the middle of Santa Cruz, being a quarter mile from Trader Joe’s and the MASSIVE new Target that is opening. Still though, there is a HUGE garden, many small little gardens, fruit trees everywhere, a chicken coop (the coyotes ate them), and a wide field to throw the frisbee for the dog (when she visits) in. It’s as close to a ranch as we are going to get at this moment in time (ya work with what ya got, right?).

We are surrounded by fig and olive trees, two different varieties of plums, peaches, kiwis, persimmons, lemons (we call it the cocktail tree), and an ample supply of fresh herbs, not to mention the seasonal vegetables. I’m pretty sure there’s a zucchini the size of a baseball bat in the yard right now.

While all of this is fine and dandy, and we really do love our place (except for the guy who we share a fence with who plays terrible classic rock on the weekends and makes it impossible to enjoy being in our own backyard), I’m feeling a change coming on.

Something, bigger, better, and that allows dogs. No. Wait. Scratch that. WANTS dogs; and not just one, like, three, so they can be buddies, ya know?

During our road trip we drove through the Doloras River Valley in Colorado and absolutely head-over-heels fell in love with it. I think somewhere down the line, I want to live somewhere like that. Raise and grow all my own food, and just plain ol’ take it easy. No traffic, to sirens in the background while you’re sitting on your deck trying to enjoy the day. No stupid Harley riders with their insanely loud engines (yay for THAT SouthPark episode), Just peace and quiet.

Not a bad day to roast a pig Hawaiian style in the sand on the beaches of Carmel, California.

This is just what we did. Although, I can’t take credit for the arduous process of creating the coals (and enough of them), digging the hole, and burying the pig. I CAN however take credit for pig-sitting duty with my dear friend Maya and drinking wine out of my Klean Kanteen while our little friend slow-cooked in the ground.

Wrapped in leaves, stuffed with things like pumpkin, pineapple, and potatoes, we unearthed the piggy after roughly 8-9 hours in the ground.

After we took it out, the butchering began. It was an interesting process because the pig was already cooked and ready to eat. So, cut or break of a limb or a piece of something, and eat it.

I’m a pig… but, I already know that so… nothing new! Maya seems to enjoy it though

I can say with confidence that this whole process has been/is one of, the better experiences of my life. Not only is it food-related (already scoring points), but watching and partaking in the process of killing something you are going to eat, literally from farm to table (or paper plate in our case), is something that I value tremendously. I hope that I will have more opportunities like this one, and encourage anyone who has the chance to participate in something so tasty, to do so.