oakland

Photos of the Eating About Beer Summer homebrew potluck in Humanist Halll

phil October 25, 2011

This summer’s Eating about Beer Summer Homebrew Potluck (2011) was hosted at the Humanist Hall this past September.  It was a festive event, but I was struck by how simple, peaceful, and colorful scenes were in the venue.

 

Berry pies

 

Proceeds went to the Alameda Point Collaborative.

 

Behind the curtain

 

Homebrew by Eric

 

hops in jars

 

and homebrew in a bucket

 

there’s a little kitchen at the Humanist hall, which maintained the same bright, solid colors of the rest of the venue.

 

donation money jar

 

peephole

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 6 – Vendors and other photos

phil September 27, 2011

This is Part 6 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5).  These photos are various ones that I took while walking around the festival on Saturday, the 24th.

 

Ebbett’s Good to Go – Order and pick-up windows and a t-shirt.

 

 

 

 

Condiments from Belcampo

 

 

 

 

Belcampo served a koreatown kimchi hot dog and beef tallow fries.

 

 

 

 

Here’s an overhead view of the marketplace and the DIY Make It stage.

 

 

 

 

Fried fish taco from The Taco Guys – “Taco de Maui – batter-fried sustainable ono (wahoo), shredded gem lettuce, pickled radishes, sriracha mayo and cilantro”

 

 

 

 

Lamb (!!) taco from The Taco Guys – “braised red hill farms leg of lamb, grilled jalapenos, burmese spices, pickled cucumbers with sesame, thai basil, local sheep’s yogurt sauce”

 

 

 

 

the ever photogenic ritual roasters trailer, sputnik

 

a la marzocco and a demitasse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a cafe mocha with a heart-shaped rosetta from ritual.

 

 

 

 

jack london square at dusk.  It was still fairly crowded despite the fact that the festival was closing down for the evening.

 

 

 

 

Jim ‘n Nick’s truck always has something clever on its rear

 

 

 

 

Jim ‘n Nick’s: meat in the oven

 

 

 

 

Big Cat & The Hipnotics were playing the blues.

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 5 – Vendors and other photos

phil September 26, 2011

This is Part 5 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6).

Pork, frying by Urban Style Barbecue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guys from The Whole Beast breaking down some delicious-looking lamb for gyros.

 

 

 

 

Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ always have a decked-out trailer.  “First we send him to heaven, then we send you there”

 

 

 

 

Fried smelt from Forage SF.  Looked so good.

 

 

 

 

Cheeseburgers from 4505 meats.  They were dripping with juicy goodness.

 

 

 

 

Mac ‘n Cheese from Homeroom.

 

 

 

 

A great window display from Kara’s Cupcakes with palm trees in the reflection

 

 

 

 

Caramelizing homemade marshmallows for s’mores at Kika’s Treats.  One of the cookies is dipped in chocolate.

 

 

 

 

Jack London Square had a table and a raffle.  The bike arch of wheels was on display.

 

 

 

 

Beekeeping at the Urban Homesteading area

 

 

 

 

Sprouts cooking club – cooking classes for kids.  They looked like they were having a great time,

 

 

 

 

A meatloaf sandwich from Prather Ranch’s American Eatery

 

 

 

 

Festivalgoers at the main stage.

 

 

 

 

A DIY mozzarella cheese workshop at the DIY Make-it area

 

 

 

 

Vegetarians, fret not – there was a vegetarian analog for all of the steer and pig butchery going on.

 

 

 

 

food crates at the Wholes Foods Main Craft Stage

 

 

 

 

Super-excited winner of the pickling competition

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 4 – The Flying Knives Steer Butchery Competition, continued

phil September 26, 2011

This is Part 4 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6)

This post is a continuation of the Flying Knives Steer Butchery Competition – perhaps the most exciting part of Eat Real Festival.

 

 

Dave the Butcher gets the crowd involved.

 

 

 

 

Some cuts of meat start to make their way onto the display

 

 

 

 

Jose ‘Pepe’ Penaloza cuts thin slices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave goes hands-free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anya and Dave hold up a cut for the excited crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Tomahawk cut from the Yedra brothers and Rian Rinn

 

 

 

 

Damn.  That’s a good looking spread from the Yedra brothers and Rian Rinn.

 

 

 

 

The judges (4505, in this case) were swilled with beer to help take away their judging inhibitions.

 

 

 

 

Zach’s (from Shopper’s Corner)  “Santa Cruz – Beware of Locals” sticker.

 

 

 

 

Jose ‘Pepe’ Penaloza, rocking the Butcher’s Guild t-shirt.

 

 

 

 

Anya wows the crowd with a bit of her mastery of butcher’s cuts

 

 

 

 

Zach Gero and Josh Kleinsmith work together with the bone saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave the Butcher gets in on the bone saw action too.

 

 

 

 

Cuts of beef.

 

 

 

 

More cuts of beef from the eventual winners by a large margin Rian Rinn and the Yedra brothers.  They were judged on efficiency, accuracy of cuts, technique and teamwork.  These guys had hardly any waste.

 

 

 

 

Bone saw, needing cleaning.

 

 

 

 

Gerrit Van den Noord, Jose ‘Pepe’ Penaloza, and Adam Tibero of the Butcher’s guild still had a very impressive spread, topped with rosemary sprigs.

 

 

 

 

Adam Tiberio’s apron

 

 

 

 

Meat hook

 

 

 

 

Kidney, with basil

 

 

 

 

Another look at the Butcher’s guild team spread.

 

 

 

 

Cuts of meat, being hauled away for the lucky staff members to distribute.

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 3 – The Flying Knives Steer Butchery Competition

phil September 26, 2011

This is Part 3 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)

The butchery competitions are probably the most exciting parts of Eat Real Festival (Photos from last year can be found here).  Teams of butchers compete live and on stage in front of hundreds of onlookers to break meat into retail cuts in a 45-minute window.  Then, a winner is chosen by a team of judges from local restaurants (This year’s judges included 4505 meats, Brown Sugar Kitchen, among others) for a bottle of fancy St. Georges gin and a trophy.

This year, three teams competed:

As the audience filled in, the butchers unpacked their knives, hooks, and sharpeners.

 

 

 

 

The audience awaits..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 3 hindquarters arrived on a cart, each aged for 21 days to a month.

 

 

 

 

They were loaded onto three hanging hooks, spread across the stage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trophies and gin.

 

 

 

 

Dave the Butcher, a crowd favorite, sharpens his knife before the start of competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zach and Josh talk strategy prior to the start of competition.

 

 

 

 

Anya Fernald, MC and founder of Eat Real and The Next Iron Chef judge, introduces the butchers to the eager crowd.

 

Rian gets underway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few minutes into the competition – knives, hooks, and pieces of meat are flying and the crowd is loving it.

 

More images to come in Part 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 2 – Kraut-a-thon with Happy Girl Kitchen Co and Farmhouse Culture and Cooking with Jam

phil September 25, 2011

This is Part 2 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6).

Farmhouse Culture and the Happy Girl Kitchen Company hosted a Kraut-a-thon at the DIY Make It area.  It was another great hands-on event where audience members got to get their hands dirty making a classic sauerkraut using natural microorganisms.

Kraut-a-thon

 

 

 

 

Extolling the virtues of fermented vegetables.  Especially interesting was the fact that the nutritional content of the vegetables can actually improve after fermentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Demonstrating her cabbage cutting technique

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had the audience get involved right away.  Cutting boards, microplanes, knives, veggies, salt and spices were all provided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt is an important component in making a sauerkraut.  The audience was instructed to salt until it tastes just too salty to taste for a salad.  Not adding enough salt results in a soggy sauerkraut.  Also, using non-iodized salt is a requirement – the iodine inhibits the growth of microorganisms.

 

 

 

 

Hand mixing the sauerkraut.  Farmhouse culture and the Happy girl kitchen company even provided a handwashing station for the audience to use prior to getting in on the action.

 Cooking with Jam

Rachel Saunders, Michele Polzine and Fran Loewen led a talk on ways to use jam in normal cooking.  They fielded a slew of questions from an interested audience at the Master Craft stage of Eat Real Festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rachel Saunders has been making jam for 13 years and offers a line of preserves (Blue Chair Fruit) that can be found at farmers markets and various Bay-Area restaurants as well as a sold-out cookbook with great photography and delicious recipes.  I’ve been picking up her jam since I first started seeing it at the farmers market a number of years ago.

 

 

 

 

A jam pyramid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the event for the audience was probably the samples – they served a peach leaf ice cream with a plum jam topping.  Samples went REALLY quickly.

 

 

 

 

Blue chair’s Norweigan intern, dutifully scooping..

 

 

 

 

.. and then applying the plum jam topping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 1 – Blue Bottle Coffee, Ritual Coffee, and Beauty’s Bagel

phil September 25, 2011

I once again took photos for this year’s Eat Real Festival, held in Oakland’s Jack London Square from September 23-25, 2011.  This post is the first of many from the festival.  (Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6) The event’s organizers had a fully packed schedule and there were a lot of really interesting things to photograph.

One of the things that I noticed this year was that there were more hands-on activities.  There was a DIY Make-it area and a DIY Eat-it area complete with a community oven, sponsored by King Arthur Flour (I am a fan).

Coffee Brewing with Blue Bottle Coffee

One of the first DIY activities was a coffee brewing workshop put on by the fine folks at Blue Bottle coffee, who roast their beans only a few blocks away.  4 of their training staff led a workshop on making coffee with paper filters and their Bonmac ceramic drippers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Benjamin Brewer started the talk by giving an overview of the process and continued to make key points as each of the other trainers demonstrated their drip-brewing processes.

 

 

 

 

 

The coffee grounds were precisely weighed on digital scales to ensure a coffee to water ratio of 1:10 in the cup.  “In the cup” is a key phrase, Benjamin explained.  The coffee grounds absorb a fair amount of hot water and thus a little extra hot water needs to be added to the filter to achieve a 1:10 ratio in the cup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benjamin emphasized freshness – the beans in the demo were only between 1-3 days old.  After the beans were weighed, the trainers took turns grinding them and bringing the grounds back to their table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot water was poured in via goose-necked pitchers until the target weight was reached.  In the above photo, Brian demonstrated when to pull the dripper away before guiding attendees in brewing their own drip coffee.

 

 

 

 

I stepped outside after this workshop to make my way to the DIY Eat-it area, where Beauty’s Bagels were putting on a bagel workshop.

Third-wave coffee was well represented at the festival.  Ritual Roasters‘ always-photogenic coffee trailer, Sputnik was there once again.

 Bagel making with  Beauty’s Bagel

Oakland’s Beauty’s Bagel led a DIY workshop where they showed how to make their Montreal-style bagels.  They had premade and proofed the dough and workshop attendees floured up their hands and got to rolling their own bagels after watching a quick demo.

Here’s Blake Joffe cutting up the dough for the first demonstration.  They used King Arthur’s high gluten flour (14.2% protein content)  for maximum chewiness.

 

 

Some bagel recipes call for creating balls and poking holes through them to create their distinctive shape, but here Amy Remsen rolls them out and creates a loop.

 

Completed demo bagels.

 

 

 

 

After they created a few demo bagels, the audience members were invited to get involved and create their own.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, things were getting started with the wood-burning oven

Various bagels rolled by various bagel-makers.  The bagels were then boiled in honey-water and thrown into the oven.