ModLodge

Manresa & ModLodge: Our High-Brow / Low-Brow Food Weekend

Ever heard of Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos, CA? It is universally described as one of the best dining experiences in the country, and it's executive chef  David Kinch  recently "spanked" Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America's "Battle Cabbage".

This mecca  of fine dining is right in our own backyard, and we had never visited until this past Saturday. What a treat! We were celebrating my husband and son in laws' birthdays, and my step daughter's passing of the licensing exam to practice psychology.

Wow! What an amazing meal of locally sourced and organic produce and meats, along with some of the best wine pairings ever. This was foodie heaven and a very memorable experience.

We dined for almost 3 hours on Abalone, Sea Bream, Black Cod, Poached Chicken, Bavette of Beef and some of the freshest and most artfully prepared vegetables I've ever eaten. A great time was had by all.

Then Came Sunday:

How do you follow a food adventure like Manresa? You head in the opposite direction. And that's just what we did for our family dinner on Sunday.

Yes- Family Dinner. Since David's daughter Natalie and her husband Peter moved to our area in December, we have started the tradition of Sunday family dinners. This has quickly become everyone's favorite time of the week. Natalie and I often cook together and try out new recipes, or create our own with whatever produce and meat looks especially good and fresh at the market that day. Last week, for example, we made Lasagne with homemade spinach pasta, and cioppino.

 

With the help of my BFF the Kitchenaid mixer, we can do just about anything!

So here's how it went down yesterday:

 

Welcome to Sunday Family Dinner! Come on In!

 

Enjoy the sunset with some wine and let's have a "Sunset Magazine moment".

Cool recycled plastic adirondack chairs by Loll Designs, by the way. I highly recommend them. And the people at the company are just as cool as their products! We've met them at a few trade shows.

So anyway- back to the meal at hand:

 

Fresh corn and asparagus ready for prep.

 

Pan fry or oven roast asparagus w/ a bit of olive oil and garlic, then sprinkle with sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and parmesan cheese and serve.

 

Our "Low Brow" Sunday Supper.  Sweet potato Mash; bake in skin, mash and add butter, sour cream salt black pepper, cayenne pepper and a bit of salsa. White Corn on the Cob, Asparagus and what I like to call "Kitchen Sink Meatloaf" (or everything but the kitchen sink that is...).

This one was a mix of ground turkey and pork with spinach, onions and sweet peppers, tomatoes and parmesan inside with just a touch of white truffle oil to add some depth of flavor.

The ragtag presentation in faded pyrex bowls left a lot to be desired, but we enjoyed this meal for its simplicity.

And what about dessert? Oh yes my friend, we did that too. There were none of the truffles, beignets or fancy cheese platters of Saturday night, however. Just the best cookies ever created - thanks to a recipe from Cooks Illustrated magazine. (my new fave publication).

Brown Sugar Butter Cookies!

The boys got into the act by rolling the dough into balls and then dipping in sugar. And the Finale! Another great time was had by all.

Our New Organic Garden!

Many months, er- years in the making...the time is finally here to plant our organic vegetable/herb and flower garden. Woot!!

We decided to take the plunge and make an unused weed infested area in front of our house into the garden area. It was perfect- full sun and a shed for gardening tools as well as a water spicket.

The only problem? Yards of concete and bits of broken glass and other various and sundry scrap items.

 

The area after fencing and shed painting...pre boxes. 

The boys and I spent a few evenings picking up bits of broken glass in the area...

With the help of our favorite local landscaping crew  and some eco friendly paint, this area has been transformed into the future source of our nourishment and pastoral pleasure; complete with deer fencing and a now super cute garden shed.

And here are the 6 boxes w/ gravel surround and ready made drip watering system

Here is the reason that we need the tall deer fencing...We've already heard that this isn't tall enough so Dave has a plan to artfully and whimsically solve that problem...by building a series of bird houses to place on top of the fence posts.

The sight line from the front walk to the garden

The lavender, planted 5 years ago, thriving in front of the house

And our super seedlings awaiting their new home outside.

Art About The House

A few images  of some of the wall art around the house.  Some of it purchased from the artists  and some from thrift stores or sale bins. Most of it cost more to frame than the art itself. None of it is precious but all of it is us.

 

 A new favorite artist found on Etsy,  Rachel Austin.

 

Marimekko Pear Print from IKEA

 

More of  Rachel Austin from Etsy

 

Local Antique store find.

 

 Vintage Picasso Woodblock Prints

 

A pencil drawing from a Madrid street corner, and a cork board made in the 70's by my Mom.

 

Vintage wood block print by Castilla Marti in its original frame

 

Functional Art. Well, sort of; the boys are learning to tell time by colored balls!

 

The best art of all: KidArt.

The Great Gate, Finale

Our fabulous gate made by Phil is complete.  Well, Almost. We still need to add a coat of Muratic Acid to the metal so that it rusts in just the right manner; and then a coat of sealer to keep it that way.

Here's how it turned out:

 

Amazing, No?  The two large oak trees symbolize hubby and me, and our roots are each holding one of the twins, Ryder and Cole who are depicted as pear trees. This is a play on the "pair" of them as well as a nod to the old pear orchard that is a part of this property.  If you look closely you'll see their initials, R and C entwined in the branches of their respective trees, as well as little rock "pears" dangling from the outer limbs.

The large branches growing up from the bottom of Dave's tree are his grown children, Nathan and Natalie.

We're now known as "that house with the cool gate".  Passersby both in cars and on foot stop and stare...and some even take photos. We certainly don't mind. "Uncle Phil's" work should be adored. Just look what great talent can do with a bit of scrap metal and a discarded water tank!

Best Breakfast Ever!

My new fave breakfast is made w/fresh ingredients and is done in about 3 minutes!

I'll get a photo out soon...but for now just imagine how it looks and smells.

Green Egg On Toast:

1) Toast one slice of whole wheat bread.

2) While bread is toasting, crack one egg into a microwave safe bowl and scramble it.

3) Add julienned raw kale and or chard ( about 1/2 cup) to raw egg in bowl.

4) Add a few fresh or sundried tomato slices.

5) Add some fresh or dried herbs such as flat leaf parsley, cilantro, rosemary, basil

6) Sprinkle on a bit of parmesan or asiago cheese,  kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

7) Mix together and microwave on high for 2.5 to 3 minutes

8) Place egg/veggie mixture on top of toast which has been brushed w/ extra virgin olive oil.

9) Enjoy w/ some great coffee!

Food Food Food and never a thing to cook?

I love to cook and I find that for each night's dinner I want to make something I've never made before. It usually comes upon me at around 3pm, basically wrecking the end of my work day with thoughts of recipe searches and organic produce.

This means that hubby or I will often shop for groceries daily, as I cannot seem to plan more than a few hours out.

The food ideas come from what's in season and craveable. Last night it was organic dinosaur kale. The meal was a good one and a recipe that I'll continue to tweak but here goes:

Cook Brown rice in chicken broth w/ a bit of salt, garlic, tomato paste and a few sprigs of fresh Rosemary.

Meanwhile, saute sweet red peppers and garlic in olive oil. Add one rinsed can of Cannelini beans (white kidney beans) and a bit of salt and black pepper. Chop and rinse 2 bunches of dinosaur kale and place on top of the beans, pepper garlic mixture in the pan. Add about 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth and a few sprigs of fresh Rosemary. Let steam until the Kale is wilted but still dark green (about 3-5 minutes).  Add shredded parmessan or asiago cheese and mix. Then place the kale/bean mixture on top of the rice and serve with a crisp white wine such as Pino Grigio.   A lovely and quick winter's meal that the kids loved too. (minus the wine of course).

Oh- and yesterday I picked up what seems to be a great cookbook by NY Times blogger and Mario Battali on the Road in Spain friend Mark Bittman. He's authored almost a bazillion books but this one might be just the thing to help get me on track for even quicker yummier meals for the weeknights, with a little planning ahead, which will save my wallet: Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times.

I'll let you know how this new plan works and will share recipes as we go along on this yummy journey.

Rediscovering the classics, Rival and Presto

Cooking is my favorite hobby. Here at the lodge I cook at least 2 meals per day and it is the activity I crave when I want to get "zen" and relax.

I'm often whining about our kitchen set up. After using a wonderful Dacor gas range at my last home, which sported my newly renovated dream kitchen, I'm relegated to an El Cheapo electric range. Its temperature is not constant and one of the four burners barely works at all.

Nevertheless I try to "Keep Calm and Carry On". After all, it's not the kitchen it's the cook right? Some of the most talented people I see in the competitions on the Food Network and the Pillsbury bake offs develop their prize winning recipes in the most meager of set ups.

Well this past week I've had a revelation. While cleaning the kitchen cabinets I unearthed two appliances that were put away when we moved in eight years ago, and had not seen the light of day since: My mothers' old Rival crockpot and Presto electric fry pan. Memories of childhood in the 60's and 70's flooded my mind along with the smell of Rice-A-Roni, fried Spam and chicken with mushroom soup sauce...

So I decided to give these old school tools a whirl. Well- now I'm hooked! In the past week I've used the crock pot to make pork roast, Rancho Gordo Beans and chicken paprika. The Presto fry pan is perfect for frying chicken (for the SuperBowl), making pancakes for the day after, and creating the perfect huevos rancheros today, using the white bean chicken chili made yesterday in the crockpot.

Both of these cooking gems are still available today for under $40. The technology and styling doesn't seem to have changed at all in forty years. They haven't needed to. This is simplicity and sustainable design at its best. I think they are the perfect kitchen helpers for people in small spaces or anyone who wants to make good food with little effort and easy cleanup.

I look forward to perfecting many recipes with my new-found oldies.

The Great Gate (part one)

Lucky us! Our friend, neighbor and renowned Metal Sculptor, Phil Lange, is creating a gate for our driveway before he moves away to Costa Rica in early 2009.  Phil's gates are a gorgeous melding of rusted metal and stone. 

The process is an interesting mix of engineering and avant garde art. We've come up with the idea of two great oak trees merging in the center around two pear trees. The oaks represent my husband and I and the pear trees symbolize our twin boys.("a pair of pears") We're giving a nod to the oak filled property which also contains a 100 year old pear orchard.

This is proving to be one of the largest gates that Phil has ever created, at about 24 feet wide. The start of the process is the digging of huge holes for the massive posts...Just muddy enough for the boys to have a bit of fun before the cement pour.

Here they are making mud pies!

Of course, the artist in Phil always has extra projects up his sleeve. Here they take a break from the mud pies to work on a paper mache Stegasaurus:

  When she's done she'll be painted red and yellow...her name is Stephanie Stegasaurus.

Tire Swing

We've been in this home for 8 years.  My husband and I got engaged, sold our respective homes and purchased this home with the idea of living a more rural and serene lifestyle. The home is  now 15 years old and has 3 bedrooms 2 baths and is about 1700 sq.ft.  It is a ranch home that we've found out after the fact is a pre-fab home. The older couple from whom we purchased it had lived on this property for almost 40 years. The original home  here was a 100 year old farm house that basically rolled down the hill during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake here in California.

When Aubrey and Alice rebuilt after the earthquake, they decided to go pre-fab which was very forward thinking of them. Aubrey was one of the first engineers at IBM in the Silicon Valley, and was an innovator and an environmentalist.

Initially we had planned to remodel after living in the home for a few years to decide what and how we'd like to change the floor plan and finishes. We enjoy cooking and wanted a bit more room in the kitchen...and also an extra bedroom or an in-home office and an in-home laundry room.

To make a long story short, 8 years later, our lives and the economy have changed drastically. We now have a growing business and 4 year old twin boys. So that big time remodel is put on hold for a while longer, and we're now faced with minor upgrades of finishes such as  paint, flooring and countertops to maintain functionality.

We've decided that we can make our home fit our lifestyle and personal tastes in an economical way...and stave off a remodel for a while. Along the way, we're realizing that, even with two more people in the house, we don't need as much space as we once thought. And it is pleasing to know that we are really using every space in our home to its full potential...More square footage is more to keep clean too!

So we've made a few recent changes that I'll note here in upcoming blog posts. And I plan to note plans for the future upgrades of our home as we work toward the full remodel someday. It is fun to plan and dream and research new materials and designs.

In the meantime, during this summer and fall, we have decided to work on upgrading the outside environment around our home. I wouldn't really call it a yard...we have a paved driveway, some terraced beds in front of the house, and we back up to a forest.  So we're creating a raised bed area in front for an organic garden, and we're cutting hiking paths into the property below the house to the old pear orchard.

Below a photo of the old engineless tractor under an oak tree on the  bucolic path to the orchard.  The tractor functions now as a play structure for the boys, and its my idea of the ultimate garden sculpture. On our way to pick the last of the pears yesterday, we rested at this favorite spot. My son Cole said, I think that we need to have a tire swing here on this oak tree. Ah yes- that will be perfect! Life at the lodge at its simple best.

Welcome to the ModLodge!

      This is the story of David and Rebecca, a couple  who are growing a business and growing twin boys.  We live in a simple ranch house on 10 acres of astounding beauty in the California Redwoods. On this blog we will chronicle our home improvements with a goal of sharing ideas on making a plain little ranch house into a modern lodge; The ModLodge. We invite you to come along for the ride...  Here is a photo of the view from our living room at sunset: