The Hammer's Pineapple Upside Down Mini Bundt Cakes

Have you heard about Kitchens for Good? I first wrote about them last February in my Close to the Source blog for Edible San Diego. They were just getting underway with their pilot 13-week culinary job training program at the Jacobs Center. The course is designed for adults 18 and older who have had various barriers to employment.

Since then they've held three sessions, with graduates either continuing to work for their catering company at the Jacobs Center or going on to take other jobs.

I thought it would be interesting to have a cook date with one of the graduates and was set up with Lorne "The Hammer" Jones. What a cool guy. Jones is currently holding down three culinary jobs--at Draft Republic, Cueva Bar, and Delaware North, a food vendor for the Chargers. "I love Kitchens for Good," he said. "I love the people. It's so cool to be back here."

Jones got his nickname as an infantry machine gunner and company gunnery sargeant in the Marines. "It's all about leadership. The tag I had was being firm, fair, and constant--like a hammer." It's a nickname that's stuck, even after he got out of service following the Gulf War. But his time as a Marine also included working part-time in restaurants, both in Hawaii and Japan, where life is expensive, especially for someone married and in the service. For Jones those restaurant jobs, particuarly during the six years he was in Japan, were a great experience.

"Everything in Japan is very precise," he recalled. "I liked that their philosophy is to be humble. It's a sign of greatness to always be learning. The moment you meet someone who knows everything, run away from them."

Jones grew up the youngest of five kids. "My way into my mom's heart was through cooking. I just loved spending with her. So, I learned from her and taught myself, eventually making meals for my family. My inspiration was the love in her face. I gained a passion for food through love."

He also was a grandma's boy, spending every weekend with her and going to church with her all day Sunday. "She was an old Baptist lady and you go in the morning, step out for awhile to socialize, then go back in--all day," he laughed. Her cooking, too, for those special Sundays inspired him.

While Jones, who graduated last September in Kitchens for Good's third class, is well trained and well versed in savory cooking, his passion is baking. So for our time together he made his version of his beloved grandmother's Pineapple Upside Down Cake, but instead making individual cakes in molded mini-bundt pans. The cakes are easy for home cooks to make and well worth the effort. They're rich like a donut. The acid and sweetness of the pineapple complement the cake and that sublime caramel. Topped by Chantilly cream and even a maraschino cherry, the cake is a cool, retro dessert that should be in everyone's repertoire.

Pineapple Upside Down Mini Bundt Cakes

From Lorne Jones
(printable recipe)

Yield: 18 mini bundt cakes

Ingredients

For the batter

2/3 cup soft unsalted butter

1 1/3 cups of sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/3 cups milk

2, 20-ounce cans of pineapple rings, drained (10 rings per can)

For the caramel topping

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups of brown sugar

For the Chantilly cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Maraschino cherries to garnish

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350°.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and brown sugar. Slowly beat until thoroughly blended. Add the first egg and wait until it’s mixed in before adding the second egg. Once it’s incorporated, stop the mixing process and scrape down the bowl. Then add the third and fourth eggs, waiting in between until the third is fully incorporated. Add vanilla. Stop and scrape the bowl again.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Little by little add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Alternate with adding the milk. When everything is fully blended and the batter slowly slides off a spatula it’s ready.

Fill three gallon-size plastic storage bags with the batter—fill each one about half way. Use twine to tie each off at the top above the batter. Set aside.

To make the caramel, add the stick of butter to a pan and slowly melt over low heat. When it’s almost melted add the brown sugar. Stir and heat low and slow—don’t bring the mixture to a boil. When it just starts to simmer, remove it from the heat and stir.

Pour about a tablespoon of the caramel into each mini bundt pan. Place one pineapple ring on top of the caramel in each pan. Pick up one of the batter bags and cut off the tip, about half an inch. Carefully pipe batter on top of each pineapple ring to about halfway up the mini bundt pan. When that’s empty, use the second and so on until you’ve filled all the pans. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Using a toothpick, insert in the center of one or two to make sure they’re fully baked. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

While the cakes are baking, make the Chantilly cream. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the whipping cream. Turn on the mixer and slowly bring up the speed to whip. Once the cream becomes frothy and soft peaks form, slowly add the powdered sugar. Then add the vanilla. Continue whipping until you have fluffy stiff peaks. Cut the tip off a large plastic storage bag. Insert a star piping tip. Carefully spoon Chantilly cream into the bag. Refrigerate until ready to use.

When the cakes are finished baking, remove them from the oven. Turn the parchment-lined sheet pan over the cakes and quickly flip them so the cakes rest on the parchment right-side up. Let cool. To plate, place a cake on a dessert plate. Pipe the Chantilly cream into the hole in the center of the cake. Top with a maraschino cherry. Serve.

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Broccoli Flower Salad

Last Saturday I went shopping at the Little Italy Mercato and was tickled to see Idzai Mubaiwa of African Sisters. I wrote a piece on women farmers for Edible San Diego last year and included this amazing woman, who emigrated here from Zimbabwe in 2002. Idzai got started farming in San Diego four years ago, thanks to the International Rescue Committee. They taught her how to run her business and helped get her into the North Park Farmers Market. Idzai has four daughters. One is at Howard University and, she bragged, one of her younger daughters was just accepted to Vassar.

This time of year, of course, the pickings at some of the farm stalls are slim, but I found two items to buy from Idzai. One was a gorgeous bunch of rainbow Swiss chard, which I'm cooking up in a hearty mushroom barley soup--just to also have some greens in there. The other was a bunch of broccoli flowers.

Now broccoli flowers sound unusual but really they are simply the sweet, petite yellow blossoms that sprout from the mature heads of broccoli. Yes, the florets you love to eat more than the stems are actually flower buds in waiting. Let them go and they'll blossom.

The challenge with eating them is that as the broccoli ages enough to bloom, the stems become tough. So, no roasting these. You can certainly boil or steam them to serve with a nice sauce or vinaigrette or strip the flowers, add the stems to soup, and then use the flowers as a garnish. But I like a good crunch, so I make a salad with them. If the ones you find are too tough to eat raw for your taste, then you can blanch them for about a minute.

This week, I basically rummaged through my fridge and pantry to figure out what would pair nicely with the broccoli. I had celery and scallions, mandarin oranges, a bowl of walnuts I'd already toasted, and garbanzo beans. I figured a hard-boiled egg would go nicely in there, too.

For a dressing, I made a simple vinaigrette with a sharp-flavored aged red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, whole grain mustard, and kosher salt.

What I found worked for me in prepping the broccoli was to slice the stalks, then remove most of the flowers from the florets before chopping them.

I used the small, tasty inner stalks of the celery and pulled as much of the fibrous strings off the peeled mandarin sections as I could. For the hard boiled egg, I used an egg slicer and just ran it twice in different directions to get a dice.

As I write this, it's the first Monday of the new year--heavy with dark clouds that portend a week's worth of rain. So the bright colors and flavors of this salad really lightened my day, even as it gave me a hearty lunch. The potent punch of the vinaigrette complemented the broccoli. I love the crunch of the stems and walnuts and the burst of sweetness from the little slices of orange. This is a happy meal! Plus, it's a great way to start the new year off healthfully.

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Make Your Own Hot Sauce!

Photo courtesy of Todd Renner

I love hot sauces, but I know people who are so passionate about them that they treat them as collectibles. I think they're mostly focusing on the labels.

Now marketing is all well and good, but you and I? We love the flavor, right? And that means a sauce that has a kick but isn't going to knock you on your keister. After all, if your mouth is scalded, you're thousands of taste buds away from enjoying your food.

While I admit to having some favorite ready-made hot sauces, I have a few I enjoy making because a) it's a great way to control the flavor you want and b) it's so easy! Years ago, I learned how to make a dynamite hot sauce from some friends during tamale-making season. This is Consuelo's Hot Sauce and I love it! Yes, it's hot but in moderation it can create the most wonderful mouth tingle and chile flavor. I enjoy incorporating it into salsas or adding to soups or drizzling on fish. Then Lorri Allen taught me her thick sriracha-style sauce and it's always in my refrigerator. The tangy heat that comes from the combination of chiles and vinegar, with a garlic finish just makes me swoon in happiness.

Recently I interviewed Chef Todd Renner of Tender Greens in downtown San Diego. The interview was for a piece I wrote for my Edible San Diego blog, Close to the Source, on their new breakfast menu. But Renner started telling me about his passion for condiments, especially hot sauces. He's working on a signature line of them that Tender Greens will sell.

And, then he invited me to come back to learn how to make them.

Renner loves canning and preserving. He also loves mixing savory and sweet. After all, he was trained as a pastry chef. So, his ideas for new sauces basically come from that background--he has all sorts of various flavor combos in his head.

What was fascinating to me as he talked me through the process is just how versatile it is--and the very reason why you should make your own sauces. We made a classic thin Louisiana-style red hot sauce--ready to pour on everything from scrambled eggs to a shrimp taco. Then we made his Mango Habanero Sauce. The mango flavor pops, for reasons you'll understand in a moment. But that mango? It could easily become pineapple or coconut or banana. Renner even suggested adding spinach or beets. You don't even need to use habanero chiles. Jalapeños or serranos will do just as well. And you can switch up the vinegars. Renner is not a rigid traditionalist. As he says, "It makes it exciting!"

At first glance, the quantity of ingredients called for in both these recipes will seem pretty high. But it all cooks down to a reasonable amount--meaning if you like canning, you can have a couple of jars for yourself and some to give to people you really like to enjoy.

A couple of tips from Renner:

• To get the smoothest consistency, be sure to blend the mixtures while they're still hot--just be careful since steam will create enough pressure to blow the blender lid off. Make sure the lid is on firmly and use a folded towel while holding the lid to protect your hands.

• If you want to change the yield but don't want to do the math when it comes to the liquids, Renner says the idea is simply to cover the ingredients with the vinegar in the pot. 

Classic Red Hot Sauce
from Todd Renner
(printable recipe)

This sauce is hugely versatile. Really, it can be your go to for just about anything you'd add hot sauce to. Renner enjoys it on fish--as do I.

Yield: 4 pints

1 pounds Fresno red chiles, destemmed
5 ounces or 30 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 gallon distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup salt to start

Place all ingredients into a pot. Simmer 30 minutes until tender. Blend until smooth. It will be loose. Strain through a chinois.

Taste and add more salt or vinegar if necessary. Fill bottles or jars.

I recently made my favorite spicy coleslaw for a party. Instead of using Tobasco sauce, I used this Classic Red Hot Sauce and it was sublime.

For the Mango Habanero Sauce, Renner you'll fine that the recipe calls for dried, not raw, mango. He uses dried mango for two reasons--it doesn't add water so you just get pure concentrated flavor and you also get a consistent flavor. You can pick up dried mango--or other dried fruits--at most markets. Renner likes to get his from Trader Joe's.

Mango Habanero Sauce
from Todd Renner
(printable recipe)

I love the pure mango sweetness blended with the heat of the chiles and sourness of the vinegar. It's bright and tropical. And the color? Like the setting sun. Not sure about what to use this sauce for? Renner suggests grilled chicken tacos, jerk-style pork, and ribs. Make sure you apply it as a finishing sauce. It'll just burn up on a grill or under a broiler.

Yield: 5 pints

1 pound dried mango
7 ounces or 26 habanero chiles
4 ounces shallots( 2 or 3 shallots)
1/2 gallon unseasoned rice vinegar
Zest of 3 oranges

1/4 cup salt to start

Combine the first four ingredients in a pot and simmer 30 minutes until tender. Add the zest and salt.

Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust the salt and vinegar if necessary. Fill bottles or jars.

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Pork Porterhouse Chop with Garlic Sage Compound Butter

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a delicious unnamed pork part I enjoyed from Cook Family Butcher Shop. I've since written a post on the new shop for my Close to the Source blog on Edible San Diego. The butchers there kindly gave me a few cuts of meat to take home and try, including a thick porterhouse chop--something I've never had.

These chops are huge; mine was over a pound in weight, including richly marbled meat and a thick outer cap of fat all united by a T-bone. That's something you don't usually find in your typical supermarket meat department, which touts pork as "the other white meat," meaning lean to the point of no flavor. I'll send you to my Close to the Source post for more about the shop and the Cook Pigs Ranch philosophy of raising pigs to extract the most flavor from them in a humane way.

Right now, I just want to take you through the process of cooking a cut of meat you may not be familiar with. And the process is extremely easy. All I did was grill it on my stove top (no way was I going out on a rainy night to use my outdoor grill). It begins with a 24-hour brining. I used a simple brine inspired by Chef Anne Burrell that includes kosher salt, fresh sage leaves, crushed garlic, sugar, and a bay leaf mixed in a quart of water. Stir it up, add the chop, cover, and refrigerate.

At some point between brining and cooking you can make a simple compound butter to add even more richness to the dish. Because my brine included sage leaves from my garden, I stuck with the flavor profile and made a compound butter with minced sage leaves, diced red onion, garlic, and sea salt. All you need to do is leave the a stick of butter out until it's room temperature, slice off about a tablespoon and melt that in a small saucepan.

 

 

Add the sage, red onion, garlic, and sea salt, and saute gently until it's just cooked through, about five minutes. Remove from the heat and place the mixture in a small bowl. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Then slice the rest of the butter, add the slices to the bowl, and thoroughly mix all the ingredients with a fork. Pull out a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap and place the butter mixture on it. Shape into a small log about an inch thick. Then fold the paper or wrap over the log and roll it a bit until it's evenly shaped. Then fold up the rest around the log and refrigerate it at least an hour so that it's firm (you can also make it a couple of days before). Remove it from the refrigerator before you begin cooking the chop.

When you plan to cook the chop, remove it from the brine and pat it down to remove the excess moisture. I also trimmed off much of the fat cap since it would only create even more of a smoky oil splattering mess than I already expected from stove-top grilling. Slather the chop in olive oil and, as Burrell suggests, sprinkle the meat with crushed red pepper flakes. Heat a cast iron skillet and when it's good and hot, place the chop in the skillet and cover with a splatter guard.

 
Cook for four to five minutes on each side until the internal temperature is about 145° and then hold the chop vertically with a pair of tongs to grill the edge of fat. That'll take about a minute. Remove from the skillet and let it rest. You should have a chop cooked medium rare.

For this meal I decided to include farro, leftovers from a batch I had made the day before, and some beautiful spicy red mustard that I got from Coral Tree Farm in Encinitas. I broke up the mustard leaves and quickly sauteed them in the skillet in which I'd cooked the chop. One less pan to cook and extra flavor for the mustard! 

Now, you're almost ready to eat. Cut the meat off the bone and slice it. (Save the bone to gnaw on secretly later.) Place the slices on the cooked mustard and top with a couple of slices of the compound butter. Serve with warm farro.

Happy New Year!



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Name that Pig Part!

I've been spending some time with the butchers at Cook Family Butcher Shop in Kearny Mesa for a story I'll be posting in early January on my Close to the Source blog on Edible San Diego. It's a very cool place, owned by Cook Pigs Ranch in Julian that I hope you'll visit and buy from.

But, there's one cut that I recommend that as of now still has no name. While I was watching owner and plant manager Nick Bartsch, head butcher Travis Stockstill, and their crew transform halves of pigs into more familiar roasts, hams, loins, and chops, there grew a pile of longish strips of meat and fat--perhaps one to two inches wide and four or more inches long--that grew increasingly appealing to me. This was the strip that sits between the long bones of tomahawk chops. To get that handle just right, they have to cut out the connecting meat between the bones and, well, I couldn't see that going to waste.

As it happens, Nick couldn't either. He had taken a pile of them home and was marinating them in a blend of Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. I think he was in day four when we were chatting about it.

I was ridiculously enthusiastic about this and he sent me home with about half a dozen to try. I figured it would be simple enough to enjoy them cut up into bite-sized pieces and stir fried with vegetables. But what I really wanted to do was marinate them for a few days and then run them under the broiler to see if they'd crispen up.

So, I piggybacked on Nick's idea and created a marinade of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes. I marinated the strips of meat for three days.

Then under the heat they went for about five minutes total. They had a lovely gloss to them and curled up, almost like grilled octopus. Next time I'll try weaving them on skewers.

Regardless, they were delicious. It turns out they didn't get especially crispy. The texture was on the chewier side--not tough, but a mouth satisfying resistance with every bite. And, they had the most incredible sweet salty garlicky flavor, warmed by the sesame oil. 

So, I'd like to suggest you ask for them, but they have no name. We joked around at the time with some ideas, like  boneless ribs (not exactly accurate).

Do you have a good idea for a name for this obscure pig part? Give me your suggestions and I'll pass them on to Nick and Travis.

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!


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Eat, Drink Local Week: Brought to You By Edible San Diego

As you may know, I am a regular contributor to Edible San Diego. In fact, I can't think of any publishers I've worked with who are hungrier to learn about and advocate for our local food community than Riley Davenport and John Vawter. (And as delightful to work with!)

So, it was no surprise to find out that they are launching a new week-long community event--or, actually, series of events--to celebrate just that, local food and the many diverse people who bring it to us--the farmers and ranchers and fishermen, the winemakers, the olive and avocado oil producers, the coffee roasters and brewpubs. We're rich in talent and commitment to creating healthier and more sustainable methods of bringing food and drink to the table and these producers often go unacknowledged.

Time now, San Diego, to meet Edible San Diego's first annual Eat, Drink Local Week, which will be held September 1 through 8.

Eat, Drink Local events--and there are a whole bunch of them--will raise funds for three non-profits that promote healthy food and agriculture education: Olivewood Gardens (which I volunteer for as a cooking teacher), Seeds @ City Urban Farm, and Wild Willow Farm.

But, first let's talk about the restaurants. More than two dozen restaurants, all of which source locally, have donated funds to the event to participate and support its goals. Edible San Diego is encouraging us, in turn, to dine at these restaurants, which include Alchemy, Blue Ribbon Artisan Pizzeria, Cafe Merlot, Carnitas Snack Shack, Craftsmen New American Tavern, Cups, El Take It Easy, Estancia, Farm House Cafe, Healthy Creations, Jeremy's on the Hill, JSix Restaurant, Leroy's Kitchen + Lounge, Local Habit, El Q'ero Restaurant, Restaurant at The Pearl, Saltbox, Sbicca, Sea Rocket Bistro, SOL Bistro, Starlite, Stone World Bistro & Gardens, Tender Greens, The Fishery, The Linkery, The Lions Share, The Red Door and Wine Bar, The Tractor Room, and The Wellington. (P.S. if you're a locally sourcing restaurant and want to participate, contact Riley at info@ediblesandiego.com)

And then there are the events--truly something for everyone and all of which will feature local food and beverage artisans--and some with local musicians. Some require purchasing tickets online. Others you can just show up to. Here are the events and you can go to Edible San Diego's website for more information and the eventbrite link to purchase tickets.

Kickoff: Cocktails, Appetizers, and Live Jazz
Saturday, Sept. 1 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Top of the Park, with live jazz, beverages, and hors d'oeuvres. It's also the fall issue release party, with new magazines hot off the press.

Taste of Local
Sunday, Sept. 2 from noon to 3 p.m. at Whole Foods Market Hillcrest, featuring local growers and food vendors and a chef demo. Proceeds from food sales will be donated to the three non-profit beneficiaries of Eat, Drink Local

Collaboration Kitchen
Sunday, Sept. 2 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Catalina Offshore Products, featuring a cooking demo by Chef/Owner Olivier Bioteau of Farm House Cafe. Warehouse chic decor and BYOB

Coffee & Chocolate Indulgence with Jazz
Monday, Sept. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. at SOL Markets in Liberty Station, with jazz, locally made chocolates and locally roasted coffee--for $20.

Farm-to-Table Beer Dinner
Tuesday, Sept. 4 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Local Habit, with a three-course dinner and beer pairings created by Chef Nick Brune

Moonlight Jazz & Local Wine Tasting
Wednesday, Sept. 5 from 6 to 9 p.m. at LOUNGEsix at Hotel Solamar--a rooftop evening of jazz, wines, and Chef Christian Grave's locally sourced hors d'oeurves

Free Subscription Night
The first 10 patrons to dine at any of the participating restaurants for Eat, Drink Local Week will receive a free, one-year subscription to Edible San Diego; all other diners that night can get a one-year subscription for half off.

Beerfest & Foodtrucks
Saturday, Sept. 8 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Fixtures Living--a great way to conclude the week by enjoying local beer crafters and food trucks. The ticket price includes a $10 ticket to the food truck of your choice, a taste of every beer offered, and live music by the Bayou Brothers.


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Learning to Make Chorizo and Pancetta

When I learned that chefs Jared Van Camp and Sam Burman of Quality Social were going to be teaching a two-part charcuterie making class at Cups, I knew I had to check this out. And, in fact, not only have I attended the first class and am looking forward to the second next month, I'll be writing a piece for Edible San Diego's summer issue on charcuterie making at home around this class and interviews with local chefs.

In the meantime, however, I wanted to share some photos of what went on. Van Camp and Burman taught a group of 16 how to make Spanish-style chorizo and pancetta.

Spanish chorizo, of course, differs from Mexican chorizo in that it's dried and cured. Mexican chorizo is fresh sausage. In Quality Social's recipe, pork shoulder and fat back are ground separately and then blended with chipotle, dried Ancho chile powder, cayenne pepper, minced garlic, and smoked sweet paprika. A bit of bacto-ferm is dissolved into distilled water and then also added to the mixture. Once the mixture is fully blended and feeling a little tacky it's ready to be stuffed into hog casings, tied, and hung in a cool space for 18 to 20 days.

Jared Van Camp grinding pork for Spanish chorizo

Grating garlic into the ground pork, fat back, and spices

The trick to the perfect sausage is blending the meat, fat, and spices just enough but not overblending so that the fat warms up and loses its shape. You want those fat modules in the finished, cured salumi for a "mosaic" effect.

The meat mixture is placed into the sausage filling machine. As Van Camp turns the lever, Burman gently eases the filling into pork casings and eliminates air pockets.

When the casing is full, it's time to tie off individual sausages. Burman also ties in a loop for hanging.

Once everyone had filled and tied their sausages, we moved on to pancetta. This is a much simpler process. The pork belly lies flat and a flavor blend is rubbed into the top, fatty part of the belly. It's refrigerated for seven days during which time the flavor is absorbed into the fat and meat, then it's thoroughly rinsed and patted dry. The meat side is then sprinkled with finely ground pepper (toast whole pepper corns briefly before grinding to power up the flavor). Finally, the pork belly is rolled up and tied off at two-inch intervals and hung to dry for one to two weeks, depending on how dry you want the cure.

The fat side of the pork belly is rubbed with a mixture of minced garlic, Kosher salt (no jokes, please), dark brown sugar, coarsely ground black pepper, cracked juniper berries, crumbled bay leaves, grated nutmeg, and fresh thyme leaves, plus Instacure.

The newly spiced belly will sit in the refrigerator for a week, and will be turned every couple of days.

At our next class, the chefs will return with our charcuterie and will teach us how to make condiments to accompany the charcuterie. Stay tuned!

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The Renegade Lunch Lady + Olivewood Gardens = A Sizzling Weekend!

As most of my friends and readers here know, I'm passionate about Olivewood Gardens. I teach there regularly as a volunteer and even wrote a piece about it for the Fall 2010 issue of Edible San Diego.

Olivewood Gardens, which is a stunning seven-acre teaching site in National City, helps neighborhood students -- mostly in elementary school -- learn about gardening, nutrition, and cooking -- while simultaneously weaving in the science and math skills of their school curriculum. So, a cooking session is more than demonstrating a recipe from produce grown in the organic garden. It's a hands-on experience that can be about understanding how flavors work together, practicing knife skills, learning about vitamins, figuring out fractions, and having fun!

But, it takes funding to keep this effort going. The weekend of Oct. 1 will combine three great fundraising events, all centered around nationally renowned chef, author, and children’s nutrition advocate, Chef Ann Cooper, aka the “Renegade Lunch Lady.” She will be the featured guest at the 1st Annual Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center Fundraiser, created by San Diego chefs Julie Sayer Darling and Melissa Mayer.

Chef Ann, has been featured on ABC News Nightline, CNBC, CNN, The Martha Stewart Show, and TED, and is committed to “changing the way we feed our children, one lunch at a time.”

This three-day event, with Chef Ann as the featured guest, will take place October 1-3, 2010. All proceeds will benefit the Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center.

School kids, their families, and community members can all get involved, meet Chef Ann, and help promote children’s nutrition in San Diego. Here is the schedule:

DAY 1, FRIDAY, OCT. 1, 2010:

Junior League’s Southwest Exchange Conference

Keynote Address by Chef Ann Cooper, “The Renegade Lunch Lady”

6:00-8:00 pm; Fibonacci’s, 10300 Campus Point Dr, San Diego, CA 92121

Tickets: $10 per person and open to the public; includes appetizers and cash bar

San Diegans will have the opportunity to engage in an inspiring discussion about how to make school lunches healthier for our children both nationally and here in San Diego. You don’t want to miss a chance to see this dynamic nationally recognized speaker.

DAY 2, SATURDAY, OCT. 2, 2010:

Organic Dinner and Conversation with Chef Ann Cooper.

6:00 -10:00 pm; Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center, 2505 N Ave., National City, CA, 91950

Tickets: $200 per person. Purchase online through Olivewood Gardens. Guests may also RSVP: 619.336-2253 / amyc@icfdn.org.

Eighty guests will enjoy an exclusive dinner under the stars with Chef Ann Cooper on the beautiful grounds of Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center. Guest San Diego chefs and mixologist, Ron Oliver of The Marine Room, will create a sumptuous, organic champagne reception and five-course dinner. All organic produce will be donated by Suzie’s Farm. A silent auction with choice items will take place throughout the evening with all proceeds benefiting Olivewood Gardens.

Chefs include: Amy DiBiase of Cosmopolitan Restaurant and Hotel, Flor Franco of Indulge Catering, Katie Grebow of Cafe Chloe, Ricardo Heredia of Alchemy, Joe Manganelli of Cucina Urbana, Melissa Mayer of Suzie’s Farm, pastry chef Sara Polchynski, Rancho La Puerta, and Chad White of Roseville.

DAY 3, SUNDAY, OCT. 3, 2010: Garden Picnic

11:00 am- 3:00 pm; Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center, 2505 N Ave., National City, CA, 91950

Tickets: Adults, $50, kids 12 and under, $10. Purchase online through Olivewood Gardens. Guests may also RSVP: 619.336-2253 / amyc@icfdn.org.

Families will enjoy fun, farming, and food at the Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center! Guests will tour edible gardens, learn about gardening and nutrition with hands-on activities, and eat freshly prepared local foods cooked by top San Diego chefs and food writers. And don’t forget your bathing suits and flip-flops! The pool will be open with a lifeguard on duty.

A national television show will be filming the events that day too. Come and see who it is!

Chefs include: Amy DiBiase of Cosmopolitan Restaurant and Hotel, Ricardo Heredia of Alchemy, Kristen Conairis of Wicked Goodies, MIHO Gastrotruck, pastry chef Sara Polchynski, Rancho La Puerta, personal chef, Diane Stopford, and Chad White of Roseville.

Food writers include Susan Russo and, well, me! Please come to one, two, or all of these great events! I'll be there and hope to see you!

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