This weekend… My sister was married. It was beautiful and wonderful and fun and overwhelming and filled with small crises (and large) that could not have been predicted despite my best efforts at anxiety and that only made the weekend more memorable and awesome. Crises like… A tree fell on the nearby transformer and knocked out power for the whole wedding! And… We made a wedding cake that collapsed and had to be remade the night before the wedding! You know. Just fun things like that.

But really, truly, the wedding could not have been more awesome. I got a little over-eager at the thought of my sister getting married and so long ago volunteered for a number of crafty sounding activities that seemed like the best idea ever. Ideas like: I wanted to buy beautiful jars and can family recipes as wedding gifts. And make the wedding cake. And other things like that. So this next series of posts will be dedicated to each item I created to celebrate my sister Alexis and new brother JP’s big day. Some of the things ended in crises (friendly warning: DON’T MAKE BUTTERSCOTCH IN BATCHES OF FIFTEEN. Ever). And others ended beautifully. All of them were crafted with love and I couldn’t have thought of a better way to celebrate my sister’s wedding. I would do it all again, in a heartbeat.

I love you Alexis and JP. Here’s to many more celebrations to come (though I might not make you a cake for all of them).

Onwards: my friend Sadie seemed skeptical at my choice (I admit, it was not the best looking one of the bunch) but I was smitten at first glance. It was a #8 (10 inches) Griswold, with an admittedly impressive layer of grime and muck. But the store owner was adamant that no cast iron skillet was too far gone and that it would be easy to fix up. And I, being the competitive and easily drawn-to-challenges person that I am, thought that seemed like the best idea ever.

If you are competitive like me and want to take up your own challenge, see below for the whole process. I tell you honestly it was far easier than I anticipated and I am immensely pleased with the results. Cast iron skillets are pretty much indestructible and easy to fix up, and the benefits of cooking in them (even heat, easy to clean, stove and oven and anything-you-can-throw-at-them proof, etc.) are awesome. If you come across one that looked like mine, here are some easy tips to fix them.

1. Supplies: you’ll need your cast-iron something; Easy-Off; Crisco or other light vegetable oil; steel wool or another metal scrubbing device; a hot oven.

2. Spray Easy-Off on your pan and let sit for 30 seconds to a few minutes, depending on how bad your pan is (I left mine for about 30 or 40 seconds) and scrub off. Repeat process several times, rinsing in-between with water, until all of residual grossness is off.

3. Wash pan with soap and water.

4. Heat oven to 500 degrees Farhenheit. When oven is heated place pan in the oven and heat for 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Remove pan from oven and spread thin layer of Crisco or vegetable oil on interior of pan, wiping off with a paper towel when done. Be careful not to burn yourself like I did.

6. Place pan back in oven (I have heard that you should turn upside down, with aluminum foil placed at the bottom of the oven to catch drippings, but I didn’t do this or find it necessary). Leave in oven for 15 to 30 minutes.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 two or three times or until your pan is nicely blackened with an even seasoning coating.

Voila! Your cast-iron skillet has been saved and is now well-seasoned and ready for cooking. Another beauty of cast-iron cooking is that you can cook without butter or oil because your pan retains the natural oils. If you find your food sticking too much or your pan difficult to clean, your pan isn’t well seasoned enough. Repeat steps 4 through 7. A final note on washing your pan: some people swear by never using soap, some people insist the oils will become rancid if you don’t. I have no firm opinion on the matter except that you should never soak your pan or use the dishwasher — handwash, dry completely when done (you can even heat on the stove after drying to really get the water off), and re-season when necessary and you’ll be fine.

Now… what to COOK?

Several weeks ago I was walking through the San Francisco Ferry Building and came upon a new storefront, Heath Ceramics. It was dreamy, I’ll just say that. So needless to say I peed my pants with excitement when I learned that their headquarters and studio were just over the bridge in Sausalito and where they give FACTORY TOURS and have EVEN MORE THINGS TO BUY. Luckily for me those more things to buy include seconds, which are just about the only things of theirs I can afford (I didn’t say it was cheap. Just pretty).

So a couple week ago (we’ll not count exactly — yes I am a delinquent blogger and have a backlog of posts to get up) I took an excursion with friends up to their factory. We biked across across the Golden Gate Bridge, planning to find some delicious eatery post-tour, eat ourselves into a stupor, and take the ferry back to the city when we were done. A perfect plan for a sunny Sunday.

The bike ride was lovely and I was not disappointed by the factory tour and the plethora of things that I Really Wanted to Buy But Could Not Afford. As it was a weekend the factory was not in full operation but the tour still gave us a great peek into the ins and outs of production. Heath Ceramics has made beautiful tableware and tiles since 1948. (As an aside: for a little design porn, check out a feature of the owners’ home here. Like I said… dreamy. If that doesn’t make you want to go out and re-do your non-existent fireplace with Heath tiles, well, I just don’t know what will). Lots of interesting tidbits about the company… The company was founded by Edith Heath but is now owned by Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey (of beautiful home-fame) who bought Heath in 2004. Heath strives to minimize their environmental impact by sourcing local earth, firing their kilns at low temperatures, reusing their clay scraps (which are turned into the tile) and recycling water. Since I came across them I see them everywhere and have noticed their wares used in restaurants all over the Bay Area, including some of my all-time favorites — Chez Panisse, The Slanted Door, and Farina, to name a few.

All in all… A dreamy Sunday. (Or was it Saturday? I blacked out after the food coma). I spent much of the time plotting my future dream home. It looks great, let me just say. I’ll be sure to invite you all over in 49 years when I can afford it.

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The organization that I work with, Haiti Projects, has been featured as today’s Daily Grommet — check us out! The video is also embedded below.

PS I realize this doesn’t have so much to do with food, per se… But keep checking back to Daily Grommet! They often feature some exciting kitchen accessories and delicious delicacies.

December had me living for four weeks in a region in Haiti four hours southwest of the epicenter of yesterday’s earthquake — what was perhaps the deadliest in the country’s history. Before traveling to Haiti I was already well-versed in the country’s history of political and environmental instability. The poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti has been overwhelmed by disasters of all kinds, most recently the bombardment of four hurricanes that left the country bereft of tens of thousands of homes and 80% of its agricultural crop. Its infrastructure was already in a weakened spot when yesterday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit.

I have been working for an international community development non-profit called Haiti Projects, which aims to alleviate poverty in the rural Fond des Blancs region of the country. The organization has a number of different programs including a family planning clinic, community library, and Women’s Cooperative. I work primarily with the Cooperative, which provides much needed employment for over 80 women. The women work as a collective and make handcrafted knit and embroidered goods. The work of the organization has been incredibly successful in alleviating poverty in the region and was recently awarded an Allende Foundation Award alongside Partners in Health for its innovative work in community and economic development. Haiti Projects was also recognized in a front page feature of the Boston Globe. I have been incredibly excited about my new work and was thrilled to be able to travel to Haiti in December. I feel blessed that I was able to visit and see the beauty of the country and now deeply saddened and worried about the fates of the people whose lives touched me, however briefly, during my visit.

The President of the organization, Sarah Hackett, with whom I stayed when I was there in December, remains in Fond des Blancs. Emails to us back home have confirmed that she is alright but information on the damage to the region of Fond des Blancs and the well-being of our co-workers and their families and friends remains limited. I will try to update when I can on news from Fond des Blancs.

If you are interested in supporting Haiti Projects you can do so on our website. Additionally, if you are interested in supporting the earthquake relief effort in Haiti, donate to the American Red Cross International Relief Fund. Your support is incredibly appreciated in this time of immense need.

I have posted some photos below of my time in Haiti, which I was hoping to post with stories in a more light-hearted time. For now, I hope they shed some light on the beauty of the Haitian culture and its people and allow you to feel a little more connected to this tragedy that feels both so far away and so close to home.

I am getting back into the swing of real life after a cross-country road trip, in which I moved my dog and all my worldly possessions (mostly boxes of cookbooks and cooking appliances) to San Francisco. Thus, the lack of posting recently.

One of my most favorite stops on our road trip was to Steamboat Springs, where an old family friend of my mom’s lives on a horse ranch. I know, I almost stopped right there. This was one of the best stops for a number of reasons (the golden aspen trees, awesome horses, amazing family… I could go on), but perhaps my favorite was breakfast. I am not generally a breakfast person — more of a coffee and go kind of morning person. But if breakfast were this good all the time I’d have it for every meal.

It started in the morning when we went down to the chicken coop to collect eggs. I have always wanted to do this — I harbor dreams of pastoral nostalgia constantly, despite the fact that I grew up in a suburb of Boston with only squirrels as wildlife and little connection to the agricultural roots of my Carnation Instant Breakfast mornings.

Collecting eggs is MAGICAL. I am telling you, there’s nothing like seeing an egg actually come OUT of a chicken to realize the magic of it all. Chickens MAKE eggs!

Anyway, I could go on, but I’ll just go on to the next best thing, which was eating the homemade sausage patties that came from their summer feeder pig.

Homegrown sausage and eggs I collected that morning. There is no way to describe to you the deliciousness that I experienced that morning. I have tried to make sausage and eggs since I’ve been back, and I’m disappointed every time. Even with local farmers market sausage, even with organic cage free gold gilded eggs. It’s just not the same.

First outdoor square footage I get I’m converting to a chicken coop, this decided it.