I feel so lucky to have my very own orange tree that grows happy, colorful fruit all winter. In the dreariest part of the year, in the midst of a howling rain storm, my husband will go outside every morning and return to the kitchen with a giant basket bursting in the color of summer and sun. Orange!

Orange Ginger Scones Recipe

Orange season is nearing its end, but my tree still offers me dozens of the glorious fruit each day. I've been making tall cups of freshly squeezed orange juice every morning, using the peels to make orange-cello liquor, and finding every creative way to take advantage of their sparkling, sweet flavor.

This weekend, my husband and I enjoyed these bright, orange zested scones that melt in your mouth. Ginger and orange zest offer a zip, while a hint of sugar and an orange juice glaze refresh, the whole flavor rounded with smooth, creamy vanilla. I've added whole wheat flour to make them healthier than the average scone, and enough butter to keep them light as clouds.

These scones are a tribute to my favorite winter fruit. Thank you for bringing such cheer, Orange!

Hot from the oven: orange ginger scones!

Orange Ginger Scones Recipe
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tablespoons organic sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 inch cube peeled and grated fresh ginger
Peels from 2 oranges zested
1/2 cup cold butter
1 egg
3/4 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used Spice Islands--it's corn syrup-free)

Orange Vanilla Glaze Recipe
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons orange juice
Peel from 1 orange zested
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Farmers' Market or Backyard Ingredients: whole wheat flour, oranges, butter, egg
California Local Ingredients: sour cream, buttermilk
Supermarket Fare: all-purpose flour, sugar, powdered sugar, soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine dry ingredients from flours through salt in a large mixing bowl and combine with a whisk. Next, add the ginger and orange zest and stir.

Using a cheese grater, add the cold butter to the dry mixture. Cut into the mixture with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles course crumbs.

In a medium bowl, combine the egg, sour cream, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir to combine, and then add to the dry mixture. Stir until a soft dough forms.

Using a soup spoon, drop the dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet with about 1 inch in between each scone. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or until tops are slightly golden.

Orange Vanilla Glaze Recipe

Remove from oven and use a spatula to transfer scones to a wire rack. While the scones are cooling, make the glaze by combining all the ingredients in a medium bowl. The glaze should be a thin consistency (not thick like frosting). Add more powdered sugar for a thicker glaze. Use a large spoon to add a spoonful of glaze to the top of each scone. Allow the extra to run off.

Serve while warm, and they'll melt in your mouth.

Yield: 12 scones

Labels: eating locally, farmers market ingredients, orange, orange ginger scones recipe, orange vanilla glaze recipe, seasonal

Tender: Farmers, Cooks, Eaters by Tamara Murphy

One of the produce-based recipes you'll find in Tender: Roasted Farmers' Market Corn with Herbed Chili Butter

Labels: Cookbook review, eating locally, farmers' market cookbook, Jody Ericson Dorow, local food, Marlen Boivin, Nancy Gellos, Seattle farmers market, sustainable eating, Tamara Murphy, Tender

Everyone knows The Firehouse Restaurant as a Sacramento icon for its picturesque court yard, abundant wine cellar, and historic charm. Yet, on a recent sit-down with Executive Chef Deneb Williams, I was delighted to learn that The Firehouse is also surprisingly alive and modern. From its menu to food-sourcing practices to a unionized kitchen staff, Firehouse is innovative and inspiring.
First, there’s the menu. Chef Williams has done some traveling in his day, and his global tastes are reflected in a new bill of fare that is bright and playful. The Mahi Mahi Tacos blend the flavors of honey, cumin, cilantro, mango, cucumber, and avocado, and are served as you might find them on the streets of Mexico, rustically wrapped in paper.

Classic Dungeness Crab Cakes come alive with the pop of plump corn, fresh cilantro, and a light, sweet pepper coulis. Another classic, the caprese salad, becomes a modern day display of creativity in Chef Williams’ Heirloom Tomato Napoleon, which appears in a rounded stack looking deceptively like a large, whole tomato.

In fact, most of Williams’ dishes are immaculately displayed, and even more studiously planned months in advance. Churning out three new seasonal menus each year, with the addition of nightly specials and formal occasion dinners, (like Valentine’s Day), Williams will run through 38 different menus and 50 tastings to test them, in a single year.

This is a guy who needs to be fully awake at the whisk! And he is.

Williams proceeds to rattle off several websites on sustainable fishing that I should be sure to read. When I ask him how he keeps up with all the information, he doesn’t hesitate, “I’m completely obsessed with what I do!”

He speaks passionately about the farms he has visited in pursuit of the perfect ingredients for The Firehouse menu. He describes his process for sourcing quality ingredients for a menu that must be planned 120 days in advance.

With the oddly cold start to our Sacramento summer, the tardy tomato season sent Williams to Southern California for heirloom tomatoes he would otherwise have purchased locally. This is a quandary that he clearly approaches thoughtfully.

“I have to react quickly,” he says. “I’ve got squash, basil, and onions coming in locally now. I’ll definitely run specials when our local tomatoes are finally ripe.”

Williams trains his chefs to respond quickly, too. He trains them to prepare every item on the menu to meet the dietary needs of Firehouse customers. “We can make anything on the menu vegetarian, vegan, etcetera,” he explains enthusiastically.

He speaks highly of the chefs he works with, all of whom are part of this union restaurant. “I’m only as good as my cooks,” he says with pride. “Most of my cooks could be executive chefs at other restaurants.”

This pride and passion aren’t immediately apparent when you step through the ancient doors of this historic, quiet, reserved restaurant. Yet, somewhere inside the kitchen, hidden from diners’ view, an explosion of creativity and zeal is taking place. If you eat there, rest assured, you will experience it: in your mouth.

Labels: Chef Deneb Williams, eating locally, restaurant review Sacramento, Sacramento locavore, Sacramento locavore chef, Sacramento restaurant, Sacramento vegetarian, The Firehouse Restaurant

As the country plunges further into recession, Deep Economy offers a financial solution based on common sense. Written long before the current financial crisis, Bill McKibben’s book casts doubt on our current model of capitalism, a system sustained by the production of everything from food to fuel on a massive scale: a model that benefits some, but leaves many behind. Instead, McKibben suggests we take a look closer to home at a financial model benefitting everyone, including our planet.

Chock full of case studies, the book features community organic farms in Cuba, solar energy sharing plans in U.S. neighborhoods, and rabbit micro-businesses in China. Globally, community members are coming together to develop new financial projects that branch out and touch the lives of all affected, while simultaneously protecting our planet. Sure, most folks realize the ecological benefits of eating locally—but who knew it could have financial pay-offs as well?

Deep Economy is not a liberal or a conservative text. Well researched, it draws upon economic studies to poke holes in the current American capitalist logic that suggests “more is better. “

McKibben points out that “The idea that there is a state called happiness, and that we can dependably figure out what it feels like and how to measure it, is extremely subversive. It would allow economists to start thinking about life in far richer terms, allow them to stop asking ‘What did you buy?’ and start asking ‘Is your life good?’…Because if you ask someone ‘Is your life good?’ and count on the answer to mean something, then you’ll be able to move to the real heart of the matter, the question haunting our moment on earth: Is more better?”

McKibben examines the benefits—psychological, financial, and environmental—of being part of a thriving community structure. The book dismisses as flawed our current economic model, which relies heavily on a sense of individualism, a model that the planet physically cannot sustain.

If Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle proves that eating locally is good for our planet, and Dr. Daphne Miller’s The Jungle Effect illustrates the health benefits of such a diet, then Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy casts the final, favorable vote by showing the financial benefits of local eating. This book stands up in favor of family, community, quality over quantity, planet sustainability, and richness of life.

As our politicians discuss bailout packages and CEO salaries, perhaps one of them will pick up a copy of Deep Economy. I believe they will find a winning solution in its pages. In the meantime, the book offers a way for all of us to follow its wisdom in our own, simple lives.

Labels: "Animal, "The Jungle Effect", Bill McKibben, book review, community garden, Deep Economy, eating locally, economics, locavore, Miracle", planet, recession, sustainability, vegetable