Feste's Finds

"...and where is there among you the one who here, on this very earth, tastes in its wholeness the sanctity with which the sky that we breathe in, pervades at each instant your bread and wine. "

- O.V.de L. Milosz

Baking is not a transitory profession. People tend to take baking as a lifestyle, and nobody more so than brick oven bakers. There is a small, but growing number of brick oven bakeries around the country, many of them centered in the San Francisco Bay area. A surprising number of the best ovens were built by acknowledged brick-oven master Alan Scott who uses simple and efficient designs and local materials to create ovens that can feed entire communities. Because the brick ovens tend to be fairly small compared to commercial gas-fired ovens, and require such attention to detail, they are not suitable for large-scale bakeries but are ideal for a small, community-scale, sustainable business.

Most brick oven bakers are also catering to a local community. WildFlour bakery, for instance, in tiny Freestone, sells all of its 900 daily loaves from its hybrid bakery-coffeeshop and community center. The texture and flavor of these breads are entirely different from any loaf baked in a conventional oven.?

Wood plays an important role. Because of the proximity of almond orchards, most California brick oven bakers use almond wood in their ovens. The wood burns clean and at high temperature and is readily available for bakers to buy due to the fact that almond trees are regularly cut down and replanted every couple of decades after they become less productive.

Brick ovens cook with a radiant heat. The bricks are super-heated when the oven is fired (literally, a large fire is lit inside the oven itself) in the morning and then, slowly, the bricks radiate heat back out over the course of the day. Once the coals are raked aside, the loaves, which were individually hand-shaped the previous day, are placed in the oven to bake. Depending on the size of the oven, the shape of the bread, and the number of loaves baked per load, each load of loaves can produce unique results.. But if you?re not looking for consistency, the 2,000 year old process needs no improvement.

"Whether you build a wood-fired oven for family use or to supply the community,? says Scott, the process of building the structure, and then using it to bake bread counts as one of the best experiences of community life."

The Joy of Sake is a celebration of the art of sake brewing, featuring 325 premium sakes is the largest sake tasting in the United States. The Joy of Sake offers a rare opportunity to sample outstanding labels in peak condition, many of which are not otherwise available in the U.S. The full spectrum of sake styles in the junmai, ginjo and daiginjo categories is on display, including gold and silver award-wining labels from the U.S. National Sake Appraisal, a rigorous blind tasting conducted by ten judges from the U.S. and Japan every year prior to the Joy of Sake events.

Sixteen Bay Area restaurants will serve seasonal appetizers inspired by Japan's classic kaiseki cuisine to complement the sakes. Participating restaurants include Ame, Betelnut, Delica, Hana, Hime, Kirala, Kyo-ya, Live Sushi Bar, Memphis Minnie's, Namu, Ozumo, Roy's, Sanraku, Sushi Ran, Yoshi's and Yuzu.

The 2008 San Francisco Joy of Sake will be held on October 23, 2008 at The Galleria Design Center, 101 Henry Adams Street in San Francisco from 6:00PM to 8:30PM. Information on this year's Joy of Sake, as well as a photo gallery from last year's event, may be found at joyofsake.com. Tickets are $75.00 and may be ordered on-line or through the local sake hotline in San Francisco at 888-799-7242.

North Berkeley Spice of Life Festival Sunday, October 19, 2008 from 10am-6pm on North Shattuck Avenue, the North Berkeley Spice of Life Festival will savor the "Spice of Life" with an exciting new Culinary Stage at the Elephant Pharmacy parking lot hosted by Kitchen on Fire's Chef MikeC showcasing the East Bay's finest chefs. At the stage a range of cooking demos and cookbook signings by popular neighborhood chefs and restaurants will be featured, along with sales and sampling of gourmet food products.

Throughout the Festival, gourmet food offerings from a range of North Berkeley restaurants and the event will be "green" with the use of compostable food plates, cups and utensils with the assistance of the City of Berkeley's Recycling Program. The North Berkeley All-Organic Farmers Market will be held as part of the event in its usual Thursday location on Shattuck. A Raffle and Silent Auction of goods and services from local businesses will benefit, among others,the Edible Schoolyard Project.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Guide to Ocean-Friendly Sushi makes its debut on October 22, and sushi lovers are invited to join the aquarium in a sushi party as part of a coast-to-coast celebration. Sushi lovers who sign up online to become Seafood Watch advocates at www.seafoodwatch.org will receive a tool kit to help them spread the word about the many ways to enjoy sushi without harming ocean habitats. Kits will be mailed out in time to reach advocates by the week of October 22, said Sheila Bowman, senior outreach manager for Seafood Watch.Each kit includes printed copies of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's new Seafood Watch Sushi pocket guide, a set of reusable, biodegradable chopsticks and colorful cards to leave behind at a favorite sushi restaurant. The cards can be used to thank chefs who serve sustainable seafood or alert them when they're using items on the aquarium?s "red list," which identifies seafood that was caught or farmed in ways that harm the ocean. "Every sushi restaurant serves some sustainable items," Bowman said. "We've created the tools so people can find those good choices and enjoy them!"The aquarium's sushi recommendations will be available online beginning October 22 and can be accessed through its website and Seafood Watch Mobile service, www.seafoodwatch.org. .

We are here and it is now. Further than
that all human knowledge is moonshine
-H.L. Mencken