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Life is too short to eat bad food! Sharing great recipes, farm life, stories and photography from our Northern California dairy farm.

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Showing posts with label steve kinsey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steve kinsey. Show all posts

October 10, 2011

A VIP Lunch and Potatoes for 70

If you follow me on Facebook, many of you noticed I was a bit stressed over roasting baby potatoes for 70 last week for Marin County Farm Bureau's V.I.P. Luncheon.  Sweatin' bullets actually.  But when friends and farmers come together, there's all sorts of help.....I should know this by now.

The V.I.P. lunch was held at the Pomi Ranch, a.k.a. Deer Camp.  My first job of the day was to get these potatoes going.  After board member, Nicola, washed all 40 pounds of them, Mark Pomi, had a plan for success; boil them first to soften them up. After that was completed, he and neighbor, Alan Cooper halved them as I layered them all in a gigantic roasting pan with all the goodies. We used olive oil, kosher salt, garlic, pepper and fresh rosemary sprigs from my garden.  Pop them in the oven for a while and that was it! 


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January 7, 2011

Goog's the Man!

Remember Goog?  Goog {Jerry Corda} the Dairyman / San Antonio Volunteer Fire Chief / board member of Marin County Farm Bureau and past President / delegate for DFA -Dairy Farmers of America / Marin County Fire and involved with many other commitments where he volunteers his time.

Last night Dominic and I attended Goog's retirement dinner celebrating his 23 years as Volunteer Fire Chief for San Antonio F.D.  He has been with the department since it formed in 1966 with eight volunteers and one fire truck.  The department has since grown to 25 volunteers and six fire apparatus and conducts weekly training of volunteers all year long.

 


















Goog's cousin, Hank, calls up Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey to say a few words.....
















A crowd of 200 fill the Petaluma Elks Lodge to enjoy dinner and the presentation.  I really enjoyed hearing people share stories about Goog from the past.  One of them in particular touched my heart.  Fellow firefighter from a neighboring fire agency, Kevin Marks told the story of how he first met Goog.  Many years ago during an emergency response to a vehicle accident where the vehicle ended up down a steep hill with the victim trapped inside, Goog was on the scene, along with Kevin.  With what Kevin called the "angel" on its way {rescue helicopter}, Kevin looked at Goog and wasn't sure how they were going to be able to get the victim up the steep hill after he was extricated from the car.  Goog told Kevin to let him worry about that while Kevin and his team extricated the victim from the car.  The next thing Kevin knew, Goog and the other volunteer firefighters had quickly built a ramp up the side of the hill which allowed them to move the victim up the hill to the rescue helicopter and ultimately saving his life. 

It's that kind of intuitive thinking that makes Goog a true mentor and inspiration.













Goog and Damen.........


Goog and the ladies {me, Goog, Diane & Cindy}...............













Thank you, Goog for your years of selfless service and for being a true inspiration to fire fighters, dairymen and our community.



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November 14, 2010

Ag Summit for D & some authentic Mexican Food for Me

Dominic is either working on the ranch or he's attending meetings.  He once counted 24 meetings within a one month span.  This may not sound like very many meetings to someone if it's part of their job description, but it's not part of Dominic's.  Although, the meetings have everything to do with Agriculture....every single one. He attends these meetings on top of his seven day work week, all for the betterment of agriculture.  I could go on and on about how heavily regulated California is and how difficult it is to sustain a business here, but I won't.  The all day Ag Summit he just attended was put on by our county Supervisor, Steve Kinsey and the Extension Office here in Marin.  It was held to discuss ideas and goals for the future of Ag in Marin and how these goals can be achieved.

So you can imagine, how I feel when he's at a meeting like that, and I'm at a place like Guaymas, on a beautiful, 75 degree November day with four girlfriends, I tend to feel a bit guilty.
Okay.........not that guilty, I was still able to enjoy myself.

Guaymas is an authentic Mexican restaurant that sits right on the water in Tiburon.  Boy, did we ever luck out with the weather!  The outdoor patio was actually too warm.  But we endured.....no worries.  















This was the view from our table on the upper patio.  With San Francisco off in the distance and Angel Island just a short ferry ride away {you can see it on the left side of the photo}, it can't get more picturesque than this.















We started with some Hanna wine.  We brought our own....we're not wine snobs or anything ;) but considering it was my friend, Wendy's birthday, some special vino was most definitely required.


















Chips and guaq to start.














Ever since the Border Grill's Alaskan Halibut tacos at the Foodbuzz Fest I ate, I can't get enough of halibut. Devi and I shared the Alaskan Halibut with roasted jalapeno polenta cake, which came with a bowl of rice and black beans and corn tortillas.  I made my own Alaskan Halibut tacos out of this dish.  Halibut is definitely my favorite type of fish.

















We also shared a trio of tamales; chicken, pork and green corn masa with cactus and plantain {this one was sweet tasting, almost like dessert for me}.  This was a huge plate full of tamales and we barely put a dent in them....leftovers!


Deb, Wendy & Jody.














Birthday girl's Ceviche....














Round Two:  Dutton Estate Syrah.  This was actually one of Wendy's birthday presents and she wanted to open it.  What's a great bottle of wine if you can't enjoy it with four other good friends, right?!


















The only issue with outdoor restaurant seating are the birds!  At least they wait until the customers have vacated the table before devouring the leftovers.














Good friends, good food and wine = a great day.
















Downtown Tiburon.


Happy Sunday!
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October 7, 2010

Marin County Farm Bureau V.I.P. Luncheon

As many of you already know, Dominic is the current President of Marin County Farm Bureau and yesterday the organization held it's annual V.I.P. Luncheon.  The attendees usually include; all of our elected representatives, many of our county department heads, planning commissioners and planning staff and many other agriculture organizations.  This is an opportunity to bring the ranchers and all of our elected representatives together to get to know each other a little better on a more personal level.

Each year this luncheon is hosted on a Marin County ranch.  This year it was at the Pomi Ranch {aka: deer camp}.  By holding the event at a local ranch, our elected representatives can experience first hand where we, as ranchers live and the type of lifestyles we lead with the hopes of them better understanding where we're coming from when we speak on county and state issues.

Here's a glimpse of how the luncheon progressed.....

Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey was one of the first to arrive at noon.
Dominic, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Alisa Stevenson















Congresswoman Woolsey and her aide, Wendy Friefeld talking with Gerry Corda and Dominic.

Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey & Mark Pomi

Supervisor Judy Arnold with Martin Pozzi & Mike Lawson


Supervisor Steve Kinsey and Suzy Golt of Marin Humane Society

Ellie Rilla from UC Ag Ext., Stacy Carlsen-Ag Commissioner & Lisa Bush

Gary Sack-CFBF & Bob Berner-Executive Director MALT


Linda Dahl-Director  MC Parks &Open Space with Tim Little-Undersheriff


Newly appointed Assistant Chief to Marin Co. F.D., Jason Weber




















David Escobar, Sam Dolcini, Stacy Carlsen & Dan Nackerman


The tables were set and lunch was ready by 12:30.

Included on the menu was barbecued tri tip.




Fellow rancher, Jeff Rowley, donated his time to cook for the day.

My father-in-law, George, made his creamy mushroom saffron risotto for the crowd.  So Good.  We also had a nice, fresh green salad as well.




V.I.P. Wines; important at any V.I.P event






























Looks like everyone enjoyed lunch and we lucked out with a nice, sunny day.
Pete Theran; Planning Commissioner



Congresswoman Woolsey addresses the crowd





Supervisor Kinsey speaks to the crowd







Dominic introduces Jim Judd, who is running for Congress.


 
Dominic with Dominic Rowley who also helped to cook and the 'clean up crew'




My kids shaking dice after cleaning up.





Oooh......I think it's time to go.


Happy Thursday!

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