CHEESESLAVE

My friend Liz (above left) and I (above right) took a trip up to Three Stone Hearth last Thursday.

I have a lot of photos so I’m going to split this up into a number of posts.

Three Stone Hearth is a community supported kitchen (or CSK) in Berkeley, California, founded by Jessica Prentice, Larry Wisch, Porsche Combash, Misa Koketsu, and Catherine Spanger. A community supported kitchen is very much like community supported agriculture (or CSA), where you become a member of a farm and get a box of vegetables each week. With a CSK, members join the kitchen and each week they can order a box of prepared foods available for pick up or delivery. There is no minimum with Three Stone Hearth — and you don’t have to have a standing order.

The foods are made with sustainably-raised local produce, meats and dairy products whenever possible, because they believe in supporting small-scale, local, ecological, and pasture-based farmers and ranchers.

My friend Angelique (above left) drove from San Francisco to volunteer with us. (That is co-owner, Larry Wisch on the right).

We volunteered in the kitchen on Friday and then on Saturday night we attended the Full Moon Feast (which I will write about in another post).

I love aprons. Always have. I always like to wear an apron when I’m making holiday pies or cooking a big dinner. I’m always wiping and washing and wiping my hands — and it’s a pain trying to keep a dish towel on your shoulder. So much easier to wear an apron.

Lately, since I’ve been cooking so much (3 meals a day, every day), I’ve gotten used to wearing an apron most of the day. I feel naked without it. And it comes in handy for all kinds of things — I especially love aprons with pockets — for clothespins when I’m doing laundry, or to stick my iPod while I’m listening to audiobooks while I do the dishes.

My blogger friend, Paula, sent me this gorgeous apron. All the way from Alaska! Isn’t it fabulous? I’m amazed at how “me” it is. I love pink, chartreuse and orange — they are my favorite colors!

It’s beautifully sewn, too. I wish I could sew like this.

Thanks, Paula! I absolutely love it. It’s so pretty, I hate to wipe my hands on it (but I still do — got plenty of duck fat on it today).

I’m going to send Paula some mp3s and kefir grains in exchange (this, week, I promise! :-P)

Pretty cool, isn’t it — blogging and trading things by mail. Very fun!

Here’s Paula’s blog: http://www.steveandpaularunyan.blogspot.com/

And her Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5728859

She makes custom aprons, too.

PS: Here is the recipe I use for roast duck. It’s so easy. Just takes over 2 hours to cook. You need a roaster (preferably not aluminum) and a rack. I saved all the fat from the bottom of the pan, which I will use for frying. I fried some chicken livers in it tonight, along with some butter — which Kate and I had for dinner (I also had a little of the duck).