In the Kitchen » local food in california

Archimedes Kitchen- a night in photos

Wendy Van Wagner — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:25:45 +0000

The Pop-Up Dinner was a fabulous success, to begin, we had 4 brawny lads cooking away all day In the Kitchen…..2 of them are cooks at New Moon Cafe. Here they are preparing to plate the first course!

Here we have a composed beet salad with goat cheese whipped cream, roasted beets, shaved radish, cress,smoked carrots and a “soil” made from steel cut oats, beer and some other magic.

Smiling Chef Aaron preparing to serve the soup course! Each bowl had a whole poached egg!!

The dinners look on as Aaron discusses each course…..yum!

Plating the polenta and local rabbit entree with smoked carrots, savory granola and other goodness!

Watching the chefs work was so much fun! The way we set the table up gave everyone a perfect view into the kitchen!

We look forward to hosting another pop up dinner at In the Kitchen, and attending one soon at Polly’s Paladar!

Loomis Flower Farm

Wendy Van Wagner — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:25:24 +0000

I just catered a beautiful wedding in Loomis at a new (to me) venue called the Loomis Flower Farm.

Here are some photos of the wonderful, happy and talented In the Kitchen staff cooking amazing food and creating a convivial atmosphere! Thanks for another great event guys! I love what I do!

*Note the the man at the stove is Aaron Taber who will be cooking this Friday’s pop up dinner at In the Kitchen under the name Archimedes Kitchen….i think there are 2 spaces left!!

* Note the bride in one of the photos helping herself to a very large platter of delicious food!!

And thank YOU!

Wendy Van Wagner — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:37:12 +0000

I love this feeling, putting to bed the old, the past……..starting out fresh……as an ex- boyfriend said upon dumping me, “New beginnings, babe!” Indeed!

I know 2012 has a lot of fabulous things in store, and I can’t wait to see what they are!

Before we begin a new year, I want to thank you. Thank you for reading this blog, thank you for taking cooking classes, thank you for hiring In the Kitchen to cater your event, thank you for making me feel like a valued part of our community.

Thank you to my family, my mom and dad for believing in my dream to open In the Kitchen. Thank you to my brother Tim for always be willing to help with the heavy lifting and for picking up the compost each week and for growing AMAZING food! Thank you to my husband Joe for the countless loads of kitchen (and home) laundry, for taking out the trash, for re-prioritizing your own work schedule so that you can help me at the kitchen, for being such a devoted husband and father. Thank you Felix for lighting the fire within me to keep on!

Thank you to everyone who has worked with me this past year to cater weddings and other events, it is very hard work and you are all so gracious and hard working. Thank you to Jen Smitt for often being the lead in this kitchen for these events and making beautiful food!

Thank you to Atma, Susan, Ann, Brenda and many others who create their own yummy food products In the Kitchen, while expanding our community. Thank you to Briar Patch for championing my classes and now offering your own!

Thank you farmers who grow beautiful food. Thank you Zion St neighbors and businesses who have welcomed me to the neighborhood.

Thank you everyone who came out on Sunday for our 4th annual brunch to celebrate the new year together! thank you Amber for taking these photos!

You are invited to In the Kitchen’s 4th Annual New Years Day Brunch!

Wendy Van Wagner — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:25:59 +0000

January 1st

1pm

FREE!

You are invited to In the Kitchen’s 4th annual New Years Day Brunch on January 1st at 1 pm!

We are mixing it up this year and will feature a South of the Border menu……all vegetarian, all love.

This is our way of saying thank you to friends, family and community for another year of support of In the Kitchen!

We are looking for a few volunteers the morning of to help prep with us starting at 10:30 am. Email me if you would like to help out, it will be fun!!

I will also be giving out a beautiful In the Kitchen (3 year anniversary!) calendar created by the lovely and talented Miranda Currie!

The Ultimate Christmas Gift…..A subscription to In the Kitchen’s winter CSK

Wendy Van Wagner — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:36:13 +0000

Have you heard that In the Kitchen is offering a Winter CSK (community supported kitchen)?

* This makes an awesome Christmas gift!

For 6 weeks, you will pick up a box of wholesome prepared convenience foods to aid in the feeding and care of your family throughout the week. Each box will include:

1 qt of soup

1 qt of a gluten free grain salad

1 pint lacto-fermented vegetable, or a sauce or jam, each week will be something new!

A bundle of burritos (5 bean, cheese and rice burritos)

A raw goodies from next Level Foods

A loaf of break from the Breadnk

The CSK will provide go-to items to stock your refrigerator throughout the week so you always have something to pull a meal together with! Kids LOVE the burritos in their school lunches.

All food will be packaged in either glass mason jars (that we ask you to bring back each week for re-use) or recyclable packaging. All food is vegetarian and prepared with a high vibration!

When:
Mondays- January 16, 23, 30 February 6, 13, 20

Where:
In the Kitchen- 648 Zion St, Nevada City
(530) 478-0669

Time:
Monday 4:30-6pm

*if you forget to pick up your foods, it is up to you to contact ITK to pick up the following day.

Cost:
$342 for 6 weeks
$57/week

To register for the CSK, please send a check payable to In the Kitchen to 648 Zion St Nevada City, Ca 95959
Please include your name, email and phone number and note which CSK session(s) you wish to subscribe to.

Holiday gift musings

Wendy Van Wagner — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:11:51 +0000

I think more and more of us are trying to pair down our lives, simplify the excess and focus on what is real, what is truly meaningful. Christmas is a wonderful time to put this into practice I think. Not that you have to be a scrooge about, I think of it more being a time to focus on quality, not quantity. Now that Joe and I have our son Felix in our lives, it both makes me what to re-live the magic of Christmas and the winter holidays, as well as create new traditions for our family.

Don’t worry, we already sat on Santa’s lap, once Felix put the whole Santa’s lap and gift connection together, he was all over that!

In terms of gift giving, I like to think back to what my great-grandmother told me she used to get in her stocking on Christmas morning. And yes, it was JUST a stocking of gifts, not a whole room full of presents, the opening of them taking all day! She would wake up and excitedly scurry into the living room to look in her stocking by the fire……in it she would usually find things like a big, bright, juicy orange! A candy cane, a small game like jax, new stockings and maybe a doll. These simple pleasures were a big deal 100 years ago!

Now maybe I am just getting old, but those gifts sounds so perfect!! Everyone seems to have their own holiday gift giving guide, so this is mine. These seem like pretty easy gifts to give to most people.

A 10 lb bag of locally grown mandarin oranges- I love Johanssons

Socks- I mean who doesn’t like socks!?

A special truffle fron Nevada City Truffle Shop

Giving the gift of an experience is always a winner….you can even go the route of the coupon gift……”good for one load of laundry, good for one back massage”. And make sure to cash them in!!

A special soap or candle.

I know these gifts are not mind blowingly unique, but basically they are the gifts of the year I have decided will be my go-to gifts and I feel pretty solid about them

Merry Christmas, enjoy the warmth and love of friends and family this winter!

xx,

wendy

Wednesday night soup night with Living Lands!

Wendy Van Wagner — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:42:19 +0000

Victorian Christmas Soup Night, December 14, 5 – 7pm in Nevada City

Start your evening at Victorian Christmas with a warming, soup dinner with Living Lands. We’ll be serving soup in downtown Nevada City so you can walk from dinner to the evening festivities on Broad Street. Suggested donation: $7 – $10 per person. All proceed will go directly to supporting our work in Nevada City!

Educational Talk with Eva Tobie: How to get the most bang for your buck!

Wendy Van Wagner — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:29:14 +0000

Eva Tobie will wrap up the final Educational Talk at In the Kitchen before the holidays. Look for more talks when we return in 2012!

Is there a specific topic you would like to see offered as an In the Kitchen Educational Talk? If so, please send me an email and I will do my best to track down the expert in that field!

Monday, December 12th

Educational talk with Eva Tobie on “Getting The Most Bang For Your Buck”
6 – 7:30 PM
$10

How to choose the choicest nutrient dense foods for the best value.
Examples of meals that give your family the best source of vitamins and minerals for the best cost. Some of the comparisons may surprise you! Come check out what to put in your shopping cart to make that dollar stretch and your health to soar!

Eva Tobie is proud to be a “Health Nut” and has made it her passion to research what plant nutrients are best for our bodies and how to make them taste delicious! She has a Natural chef degree from the Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts in Berkley, Ca and studied Weston Price cooking classes locally. Eva worked as a private chef and taught cooking classes of what she learned, while she pursued more herbalist studies. She then continued her curiosity on delicious nutrition and received a Chef Instructors Degree from Living Light Culinary School in Fort Bragg, Ca. She studied all three levels of Raw Nutrition courses taught by two doctors that have been raw foodist for 20 year each. Eva recently finished a plant based Nutrition course from e-Cornell University from the T. Colin Campbell Foundation. She was raised on a 65 acre organic vegetable farm with 11 other siblings in southern New Hampshire.

Eva hosts The “Living Lucks” held at The Briar Patch Bi-monthly. You can find her on Saturday mornings with her business partner Atma Campbell at the Nevada City Farmer’s Market as well as teaching raw food cooking classes at IN THE KItCHEN locally.

She loves researching and inventing recipes in her kitchen, as well as hiking, swimming, dancing or being awed by herbs and veggies in her garden. Eva wanted to know how much endurance and strength her plant based body could handle, so she decided to take a 16,000 foot trek in the Himalayas and her family came along to try and keep up!

Holiday Wild Gift Fair and Wild Food Tasting- December 6th at In the Kitchen

Wendy Van Wagner — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 04:51:46 +0000

Reserve your space now for a private dinner by Archimedes Kitchen January 13th!

Wendy Van Wagner — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:10:38 +0000

Archimedes Kitchen @ In The Kitchen

ARCHIMEDES’ KITCHEN IS A TEST KITCHEN AND RESEARCH CENTER FOR COOKING. WE USE INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO FOOD TO CREATE SOMETHING NEW, WONDERFUL AND MOST IMPORTANTLY DELICIOUS. WE EMPHASIZE AN UNDERSTANDING OF INGREDIENTS AND COOKING TECHNIQUES BOTH CLASSIC AND MODERN IN ORDER TO INCREASE SKILL LEVELS AND REFINE INDIVIDUAL COOKING STYLES. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER AND “WHY?” IS OUR FAVORITE QUESTION.

Most recently Archimedes Kitchen had a pop-up in San Francisco and here is what people are saying about it!

Menu

Join us as we sit down In the Kitchen and feast together enjoying a warming winter meal, celebrating the new year, good food and friends!

Friday Jan. 13th- Nevada City CA

7-10 pm

Winter beet salad- warm goat cheese, aged balsamic, smoked carrot, cress

Parsley Root Soup- fennel, coriander, ras el hanout

House made winter squash tofu- steel cut oats, fresh yeast, brown butter, forest mushrooms

Rabbit Porchetta- carrot polenta, fresh herbs, cranberry granola, timothy hay

Caramelized white chocolate and goat cheese cake- flexible chocolate, citrus curd, parsnip ice cream

$35

Sign up here.

BYOB

ARCHIMEDES’ KITCHEN IS DEDICATED TO USING LOCAL, ORGANIC, AND CONSCIOUSLY SOURCED PRODUCTS.

To sign up and reserve your space email ARCHIMEDESKITCHEN@GMAIL.COM