VIP Yoga, Meditation, and Swag Bag Giveaway with Malika Chopra!

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Club Dine In!

I am giving away 8 VIP passes to “Seren-i-Tea in the Square,” an interactive event featuring music, meditation, yoga, education, natural refreshment and inspiration – all aimed at encouraging people to take time out to achieve balance in their hectic lives. The event, hosted by Mallika Chopra, daughter of famed author Dr. Deepak Chopra and founder of Intent.com.

Anyone can register for the event, but each Club Dine In VIP will receive a custom tote that contains a yoga mat, a designer scarf and other items, a total value of $75. Also, each Club Dine In member will receive a $50 Whole Foods gift card.

All you have to do is go to Club Dine In’s Facebook page and leave a comment with a positive message. I will randomly pick 9 fans to join me for this exclusive event in San Francisco.

What Seren-i-Tea in the Square,an interactive midday event featuring meditation, yoga, education and refreshments.

Who Registration for this event is open to the public, but 9 of my readers get to attend with me as VIP guests!

Featured guests include:
Mallika Chopra – The daughter of Deepak Chopra, Mallika Chopra is a mother, author, blogger and founder of Intent.com. She will serve as event keynote to guide participants in finding serenity in their daily lives.
Stephanie Snyder – Well known for her unique ability to infuse her challenging classes with strategic sequencing, yoga philosophy, technical alignment, and heart-felt humor, Stephanie has been featured on the cover of Yoga Journal Magazine, has been a contributing writer to Yoga Journals’ “Home Practice” and was named San Francisco’s most sought after yoga teacher by InStyle Magazine.

When: Saturday, June 25, 2011 from 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.

Where Union Square, 333 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94108
Why Our hectic days are consumed with jobs, loved-ones, everyday pressures and obligations. Often the last obligation we think about is the one we have to ourselves.
This event is aimed at providing a real-time “self-moment” for participants and will offer tools and techniques to make “me-time” a deliberate and important part of daily routines – helping us achieve balance from within.

About Seren-i-tea
Sokenbicha will donate $5 for every person who attends Seren-i-Tea to nonprofit partners making a significant impact in San Francisco:

Headstand brings stress reduction techniques and yoga to youth in economically-disadvantaged communities.
Off the Mat uses the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and ignite grassroots social change in the world.

About Sokenbicha

Sokenbicha combines the refreshing taste of water with the flavor and goodness of all-natural, authentically brewed tea and botanicals.
Each of the five varieties of Sokenbicha is unsweetened, zero calorie and made with natural botanicals sourced from around the globe.
One of Japan’s largest tea brands, Sokenbicha is created in partnership with and endorsed by Japan’s revered natural health and wellness experts – Nihondo.
From the packaging to the process of developing the beverage sold inside, Sokenbicha reflects a commitment to environmental sustainability.

Be sure to follow @SokenbichaTea on Twitter and Liking Sokenbicha on Facebook. Also, guests can register for the event here: http://bit.ly/SereniTea

Club Dine In! is on Twitter and Facebook. Follow @clubdinein for daily health, fitness, and social news, recipes and delicious tips! Join the Club Dine In! community on Facebook to connect with like-minded individuals and find out about exclusive Club Dine! events. Be sure to sign-up to receive posts and updates straight into your inbox!

Farmer’s Market Finds: Squash Blossoms, Peaches, and Art

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Club Dine In!

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I went with my farmers market newbie friend, who didn’t bring enough of her own reusable bag. I gave her an extra bag and taught her how to carry her goods so they made it home undamaged.

I went to the Fort Mason farmers market with a childhood friend, who also lives in the neighborhood. She is sort of a farmer’s market newbie and we couldn’t have picked a better day for her to explore the market. There were new vendors, the sun was out, and overall conviviality was contagious. The whole market was literally bursting with sweet, plump fruit. Raspberries, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, green plums, peaches, and the last of the lingering citrus crop. A grocery store can never make one smile like an open air market, with just picked fruits and vegetables. Just something so special and magical about the air at farmer’s market.

I made a sad mistake and left out the memory card of my camera. Though, I did take these with my iPhone 4 and used a filter from Instagram on some of them.

Also, the Fort Mason Center Farmers Market was awarded Best Cool Market by SF Weekly! I

Grape leaves from CMC Farms. You can make dolmas with these babies.

Butter lettuce- Swank Hill Farms

Royal Rainer Cherries- Hamada Farms

Purple Basil, absolutely beautiful. Purple is nature is incredible.
Raspberries- the perfect snack when coding late night.

Chive Blossoms- Happy Boy Farms. Just use them as you normally would use chives. They are just so pretty as an edible garnish.

Peaches! I am surprised to see them so early in the year. I always associated peaches with summer. -Hamada Farms

Green Plums; they taste like green apples. -CMC Farms

I love eggplants!

Farmer’s Market Find: Blueberries and Peaches

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Club Dine In!

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During the middle of the week, I went to the Castro Farmer’s Market after seeing a post on Facebook from Serendipity Farms. It’s an evening market, open from 4-8PM, so it’s great for those who can’t wake up early.

I loved the Castro Farmers Market, because of it’s character. The market is set up on a quaint looking street that is lined with trees and homes. The weather was chilly, but sunny and windless. It felt very romantic.

I recognized most of the farmer’s, but was happy to discover new ones. Blueberries, peaches, cherries, raspberries, and strawberries were on the scene.

I wish these were not packaged in environmentally unfriendly plastic containers.

Herbs are available in abundance now!

Zucchini

Pastured, organic eggs. These are the best eggs I have ever brought home. Satish said to me, “Isn’t this how eggs are supposed to be… it was like opening a jewel box, so many colors, shapes, and sizes.”

Farmer’s Market Find: Raspberries, Cherries and Babies!

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Club Dine In!

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Satish and I met up with a really good friend and her baby at the Thursday Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market. We were having a nice heat wave so we thought it would be fun to get breakfast there, before Satish and I had to get back to work. We shared Namu’s Okonomiyaki and Pizza Politana’s Margherita pizza with a farm fresh egg. After breakfast, we walked around the marketplace and played with my friend’s baby. It was my first time at the Thursday market. The pastured eggs looked so good, but we were going straight to our office so I couldn’t get them. Which, I am still a little bummed about.

Since we celebrated Mother’s Day early, we had Sunday to ourselves. We met up with another good friend at the Fort Mason Farmer’s Market with his baby. They were giving mommy alone time for Mother’s Day. We hadn’t seen their baby in awhile and it was so much fun playing with him. He was so sweet and playful.

Brook Cherries- Hamada Farms

Sugar Snap Peas- Happy Boy Farm

The tiniest cauliflowers! – Happy Boy Farm

First sighting of raspberries!

Zucchinis already?! I am taking out the grill this week.

The yummiest thing at the market today!

I also bought raw, unpasteurized almonds (Cipponeri Family Farms), red flame raisins (Hamada Farms), red onion, cheddar cauliflower, and cluster tomatoes (Swank Hill Farms). I still have produce from last week so I didn’t need to stock up as I usually do. Bumper from Swank Hill Farm was really sweet and gifted me a container of their shelled English peas. I am really excited to try out a few recipes with them! Right now, I am thinking a cheddar cauliflower and English pea curry served with a quinoa pilaf. I will keep you updated on Twitter and Facebook!

Wake Up The World (Brunch) Event May 14th!

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Club Dine In!

World Fair Trade Day is May 14. Join the Wake Up the World campaign to take action for Fair Trade. Supporting farmers and workers around the world is as easy as a cup of coffee and a banana.

Fair Trade USA and Stag Dining Group invite you to join us for Wake Up the World Brunch on Saturday, May 14th at 10am in San Francisco. Chefs Jordan Grosser and Ted Fleury are committed to creating unforgettable dining experiences with a keen eye on social, economic and environmental sustainability. In celebration of World Fair Trade Day, Stag has prepared a delightful brunch menu that features a wide variety of Fair Trade Certified ingredients, paired with Fair Trade Certified coffee, tea and cocktails.

Please enter the code ClubDineIn20 for 20% off!

Grilled Asparagus with Lavender Salt

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Club Dine In!

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One of my favorite things about Spring is asparagus. Actually, I think I have already overdid it with the asparagus. I won 8 bunches of asparagus from a recipe contest on the Fort Mason’s Farmers Market Facebook page and I’ve really tried eating it all. Though, asparagus are relatively low-maintenance. I don’t need to do much with them and they cook rather fast. This is one of my most basic recipes for asparagus, that I probably make once a week. It’s fast. And, sometimes, I eat the whole bunch by myself. They are that good. Fresh asparagus, that haven’t been doused in pesticides or altered by biotech companies (want to have this discussion?), are healthy. I don’t question it.

Lavender is my secret ingredient. I discovered cooking with lavender when one of my college roommates brought home a bottle of Herbs de Provence (a mixture of dried herbs which include lavender). I was amazed that you could cook with lavender as I had always thought of it as a nice smelling flower. It turns out that lavender in food is magical and has many, many healing properties. It really is magical and most people cannot pinpoint what “that” flavor is, making you a culinary star. Like all other herbs, I only get organic lavender.

Often times, I eat the grilled asparagus with a fried egg for complete meal. It’s breakfast, lunch, brunch, or dinner. It’s also very satiating. Try it with a runny, pasture-raised egg. You will be amazed.

Ingredients
1 bunch thin asparagus
2 tablespoon olive oil or organic butter
lavender salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper (optional)
1-2 pasture-raised eggs (optional)

Method
Heat a cast iron pan on medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the oil or butter and coat the pan well. Add in the asparagus a handful at a time. You do not want to overcrowd the pan. Let the asparagus cook for a couple of minutes before turning them with a wooden spatula. Cook for a couple of minutes more or until they are tender. Sprinkle lavender salt over the asparagus and transfer to a plate. Repeat this procedure until all of the asparagus is cooked.

In the same pan or a small skillet, heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil or butter. Wash the eggs and crack one egg into the pan. Cook until the whites appear solid, about 3-4 minutes. Serve immediately over the bed of cooked asparagus.

You can use a cast-iron grill pan or a regular heavy bottomed pan to cook the asparagus. I like using this pan because it creates beautiful grill marks on the asparagus.

A regular (cast-iron) pan works just as well.

Asparagus are easy yet elegant enough for potlucks. I took this dish to a potluck brunch a couple of weeks ago.

Farmer’s Market Find: Lavender and Mint

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Club Dine In!

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San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market on a Saturday afternoon.

It’s been two weeks since I made it to the farmers market and almost a month since I’ve been to the Saturday Ferry Plaza Market. I like to visit this market once a month to stock up on things that I can’t normally find at the Fort Mason Farmer’s Market. After a really stressful workweek, I was looking forward to hanging out at the market yesterday. Though, I made a rookie mistake and went one hour before closing time. Almost everything was picked over or just gone. Also, there were more people then usual at the market since the weather was super nice. Short spring dresses and sandals nice.

I was being hard on myself for showing up so late to farmers market and started to explain the farmer at Eatwell Farm about my morning. All he said was “It’s okay, it doesn’t really matter.” I smiled and agreed. He then asked to see my wrists and dropped a few droplets of lavender essential oil onto them. That just made my day.

I love cooking with lavender. It adds magic to food. Even though culinary lavender isn’t expensive, it tastes luxurious. And you only need a little bit for flavor. I discovered the power of lavender in food while in college when I made a simple meal for a friend using Herbs de Provence, which has lavender as one of the herbs in it. He was really impressed and couldn’t put his finger on that flavor. Lavender has been my secret ingredient eversince. Lavender has also long been used for its medicinal properties in Eastern medicine. I suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in college and natural remedies were my best cures. I used lavender in a variety ways to soothe and calm my system. Lavender helped me sleep easier, reduced my stomach spasms, and aided in concentration. (Ayurvedically, IBS is experienced by Vata constitutions and lavender is balancing for Vatas.)

Unfortunately, I didn’t any pictures of the lovely lavender Eatwell Farms had. I did buy a bunch and will save 1/3 of the flowers for cooking and put the rest on my bedside stand.

I also got my hands on really fragrant herbs.

Flowering sage- Eatwell Farms

Spearmint- Star Route Farms

Sadly, I found out that last week was the last of the Cara Cara oranges. They were my best fruit find in the entire last year. If I had known, I would have had Satish stop by the market last week and grab as many of the Cara Caras as possible. At least cherries are here now.

I went a little late, so the cherries were practically all gone.

Since we have been working around the clock, popcorn has become our go-to snack. I would never eat processed, microwaveable popcorn. We pop ours over the stove. It takes two minutes and we can flavor it with whatever we are in the mood for: extra virgin olive oil, Irish butter, lavender salt, smoked paprika, etc.

Blue popping corn makes a for a great, whole grain snack.-Tierra Vegetables

I also bought hummus to snack on with vegetables -Affi’s Marin Gourmet

Sweet William flowers, the same ones Kate Middleton used in her wedding bouquet to marry Prince William at the Royal Wedding. (We also released the Royal Wedding game.)

The warm weather made me crave a refreshing, crisp salad. -Twin Girl Farms

Fiddlehead Fern- Far West Fungi

Happy Earth Day

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Club Dine In!

Farmer’s Market Find: Raw, Local Honey

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Club Dine In!

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The whole row of flowers was buzzing with bees today!

I just happened to be at the Ferry Plaza during their Tuesday farmers market, so I browsed a little and ended up getting raw honey. I actually had been searching for raw honey with pollen. Honey has been revered in Eastern cultures for thousands of years. In Ayurveda, honey is used for many ailments and preventive measures. Raw honey with pollen is prescribed to those suffering from allergies to scrape mucus and to build resistance and immunity. Of course, thousands of years ago, there wasn’t a concept of industrial farms, adulterating food with additives and fillers,or pesticides. Also, honey was never radiated or cooked. Actually, all of this only happened in the last 150 years. Unfortunately, there is now the issue of Colony Collapse Disorder where worker bees are mysteriously disappearing from their hives. The issue of CCD goes beyond just consuming honey. Bees pollinate other many other food (apples, lemons, chestnuts) and are very vital to our food supply ecosystem.

There is a significant difference between honey produced on large industrial farms and honey produced on small, local family farms. Sadly, bees are treated like livestock on industrial farms. They are forcefully fed corn syrup, not nectar from wildflowers. Shocking. The honey found in most grocery stores comes from China and is adulterated with other substances. In other words, most of the time you are not getting pure honey. That is a huge reason why honey from large, industrial beekeepers is so cheap. The benefit of buying local honey is that you can trace it back to the beekeeper and know that the honey is pure. Pure, raw honey is full of antioxidants and enzymes that are good for your health. You can ask questions about beekeeping and honey cultivation. Also, most small beekeepers take care of their bees, do not use deadly pesticides or treatments and let their bees swarm and drink nectar. In the end, you get pure honey.

Sure, honey produced on small farms that use sustainable and ethical practices will be much more expensive. But then again, how much honey do you really need to consume? An 8 ounce jar of honey lasts us for a full year, if not more.Snyders Honey at the Ferry Plaza Tuesday’s market. Their hives are located at Crystal Springs Reservoir south of San Francisco. Super local.

Gina and I at the Fort Mason Farmers Market. Gina sells Snyders Honey along with her family’s olives and olive oils.

For more information about bees and CCD check out the film Vanishing of the Bees. You can also sign a petition to tell the EPA to get to the bottom of CCD.

Farmer’s Market Find: Ranunculus, Purple Tulips, and Asparagus

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Club Dine In!

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If there is anything more than desserts that I love photographing, it’s flowers. And flowers are everywhere. I really wasn’t expecting to find a flower stall at the FM today, but there it was, all bright and pretty. It was the most crowded booth also. “Mommy, I want the purple ones.” “Oh, these will be great for dinner tonight.” “I am going to buy myself flowers.” Everyone was buzzing around the flowers like bees. I actually had to step away and come back when it was a little less crowded and I could snap a few pictures without getting in someone’s way. Then I bought myself a bunch of pretty yellow ranunculus with hints of purple in it.

These flowers are organic and local, which is especially important for all of the same reasons organic, local produce is. Non-organic flowers are laden with harmful pesticides, which you do not want to bring into your environment. Also, pesticides from floral agriculture has as much negative impact on the land and farm workers as non-organic produce does.

My 11th grade English teacher asked us to look for the “color purple” in nature after reading the book “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker. At that time, all of us concluded that the color purple is a rare find. Ever since that assignment, I have always kept an eye out for the color purple. In the last year, I’ve changed my mind about it being rare. Purple flowers, radishes, carrots, lettuce, fruit, asparagus, artichokes it’s all over the market!

I didn’t notice a whole lot of change or new additions at the market this week. I did get two bunches of asparagus from the Fort Mason Farmer’s Market for winning an asparagus recipe contest on their Facebook page. Asparagus are one of my favorite vegetables. I didn’t grow up eating them, because they are not part of the normal Indian diet. Also, due to asparagus’ high Vata quality, it wasn’t suitable to my parent’s Doshas. Anyway, I love eating asparagus with eggs, in salads, with quinoa, and in almost anyway possible. The simplest way is of course by just grilling them, sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper, with a drizzle of really good extra-virgin olive oil.

I bought Pink Cara Cara Oranges (Hamadas Farms), Broccoli (Swank Farms), Cauliflower and Fingerling Potatoes (Rio de Parros Organics), and 1 bunch organic ranunculus (Thomas Farms) Total= $16

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