LUCKY HAND & NOJO

Thanks to recent press, and their relationship with the sustainable fish distribution company Two X Sea, Nojo has been on my radar as a restaurant to visit for a while.  I was finally able to visit earlier this week to photograph some of the pairings between their unique dishes and both Lucky Hand beers. 

Nojo has a great story, and is meant to be "a unique neighborhood restaurant specializing in Japanese style skewers and pub food."  The word 'nojo' itself means 'farm'... the restaurant emphasizes local, seasonal, and sustainably produced food.  They also utilize MANY different parts of the meats they serve.  This week, Lucky Hand Black Lager has been paired with a Salad of Beef Tendon, Radishes, Daikon Sprouts, Mung Beans & Kansuri Vinaigrette.  I will admit, hearing "beef tendon" threw me, but I like to think of myself as an adventurous eater, so I went for it... and I was amazed.  I was worried about the texture.  Would it be tough?  Chewy?  Some other weird consistency I hadn't considered?  But it was really like eating a delicious noodle salad.  It was probably one of my favorite dishes we sampled. 

Speaking of parts I don't normally see on a menu, we also tried duck neck, gizzards, and tongues.  This is the kind of eating experience I seriously enjoy and will be back for... a chance to try something new, different, maybe slightly bizarre, but ultimately awesome and delicious. 

In my mind Japanese food has pretty much become synonymous with sushi, udon noodles, and tempura.  This is unfortunate because, clearly, there is a LOT more to explore.  Left: Fried Potatoes, Tonkatsu Sauce, Scallions, Mayonnaise & Shaved Katsuo Bushi.  Right: Tsukune, Egg Yolk Sauce (chicken).

Left: Lucky Hand Black Lager.  Right: The infamous (at least in my mind) Beef Tendon Salad.

LUCKY HAND BREWING @ SF BEER WEEK!

SF Beer Week runs from February 10 until the 19th this year.  It's a madhouse of meet-the-brewer events, special dinners, food and beer pairings, and even a fun run with pit stops to sample new brews.  I was asked by Lucky Hand Brewing Company to document some of their events this week and it has been a blast! 

Lucky Hand is an organic beer company with two different beers thusfar... the Cali Common, a California Common Lager, and their Black Lager, a dark but very drinkable Schwarzbier.

The first event I photographed was a tasting event at Electric Mayhem on Mission St.  Adam and Bill of Lucky Hand poured samples of Cali Common and the Black Lager.  Electric Mayhem also made special onion rings using Cali Common in the batter.

{Adam and Bill of Lucky Hand}

After sampling the fare at Electric Mayhem, we headed over to Q Restaurant on Clement St.  Q was hosting a meet the brewer event, with a keg of Cali Common tapped and bottles of both beers available as well.  The specials for the evening also included food and beer pairings... Lucky Hand Black Lager and molasses braised beef medallion with Cypress Grove goat cheese on mashed potatoes, for example ;)

I was also able to sample Q's apple crisp, which was awesome... I would highly recommend a visit.  Check back for more beer week posts.  There will be more food and beer images to drool over ;)

SONOMA CHEESE

This past week I had the awesome opportunity to tag along with Francesco, the chef of Fish. restaurant on a cheese tasting adventure in Sonoma.  The Sonoma coast is amazing, maybe even more so on a cloudy gray day. 

Finding some of these cheese makers' takes a little treasure hunting.  Even with a "Sonoma Cheese Trail" map, it was difficult to find some of the places listed... some had no address listed, only phone numbers, and calling often meant leaving a voicemail (maybe they are too busy making cheese?).  We ended up at one creamery with goats, a yurt, and a cheese processing building, but no one around to talk to.

Finally we were able to speak to a cheese maker in person at Matos Farm in Santa Rosa.  Joe Matos and his family brought their recipe for Sao Jorge unpasteurized cheese over from Portugal in the 1970's.

{Cows at Matos Farm, Santa Rosa}

{Sign for Matos Farm & Sao Jorge Cow Cheese in aging room}

{Aging room at Matos Farm}

After visiting Matos we were able to head over to Achadinha Cheese Company in Petaluma.  Jim and Donna Pacheco, along with their kids, raise goats and pigs on their farm.  When we arrived, Donna was finishing up a new batch of feta.  As you talk to Donna, you understand how deeply she cares about her family, her farm, her animals, the cheese she makes, and the importance of knowing where your food comes from and how it is made.  It was fascinating to hear her explain the processes their cheese goes through from milking to aging.  In a batch of fresh curds, Donna loves when she can taste the grass the animals ate.  As she looks at the aging cheese she explains that each wheel needs to be hand brushed with olive oil to prevent them from drying out too much.  To see this kind of care and attention paid to the food she produces was exciting.  I absolutely loved my tour of their farm.  You can find cheese from Achadinha at many local farmer's markets.  Please support them!

We were able to taste curds, feta, capricious, and brancha cheese at Achadinha.

To top it all off, Donna's daughter let me hold a baby goat.  Jim estimates that 10 new babies are being born per week!  Again, amazing scenery, awesome cheese, wonderful down to earth people.

DECEMBER KAYAKING

Mike and I spent Christmas this year with our families in Michigan.  Due to the unusual weather (virtually no snow) we decided to kayak down the Manistee River with my parents.  It was beautiful and it began to snow at the end of our trip.  We probably wouldn't have gone kayaking had there been snow... we probably would have gone cross country skiing instead.  So it was an unexpected, but seriously enjoyable change of plans... including the hours it took to figure out where to put the kayaks in the river...  Can't wait to kayak in the winter next year.

NEW LANDSCAPE

Another long pause on the blog... apologies!  I have been working on a number of projects, personal and otherwise.  One of those includes updating my landscape portfolio and adding another portfolio which should be up soon!  As I looked through images from this last year I found this landscape from China Camp State Park and a seascape from Point Reyes that I took a couple months ago during a long, but gorgeous, 11.5 mile hike... Thought I would post them now.