My parents came for a visit! One week of not-very-eco-friendly zooming back and forth to the San Francisco Bay Area, determined to see everyone and do everything then send them (and me) home exhausted.
To start off our week of food, family and extremes in weather and temperature – I packed a cooler with Nevada County Free Range Beef grass fed, grass finished local steaks and we headed off to a backyard barbeque – 150 miles from home where the steaks were no longer local – but super delicious cooked on the grill !
There we drank local wines and steamed the first harvest of yellow squash and zucchini from the garden in Marin County. I’m jealous of my cousin’s green thumb and better growing weather.
After some fog and fine (non-local, but really nice) restaurant stops in the city, we switched gears, removed our jackets and came back ‘up the hill’ to my neighborhood. We took a vote – and the best dinner of the week was at Diego’s Restaurant in Grass Valley, where June – the restaurant’s lovely owner, adds local flavor to the Chilean menu by buying produce and meats from our local producers … and she and her friendly staff made us feel right at home … right down to joking about me being a slow eater – just like family !
Our whirlwind tour finished with a stroll through the Nevada City Farmers Market on Saturday morning. We just made it in time for the last of the apricots from Chaffin Orchards (Thanks Chris !) and a couple of bruised peaches … sometimes those are the best tasting anyway!
Stowed in their suitcases will be handmade skin cream from Sunlight Botanicals, scented with herbs from Margo’s garden … and the yummiest olive oil from Chaffin Orchards. To be appreciated (non-locally) at their next destination …
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