Moishe House SoCal Retreat

Get ready for a ton of photos! A little recap of my seminar at the Moishe House Food Justice Cooking Retreat and more from my tour of SoCal. Yay!

Dudes. I just had one of those epic weeks where you feel totally re-inspired, ready to face the world and kick butt and drink bourbon! Or something like that. I had the honor to teach a cooking class at a Moishe House Cooking Retreat at their ranch in Encinitas, CA. If you aren’t familiar with Moishe House, they are a non-profit of over 60 houses around the world that serve as hubs for Jewish learning. People live in the houses, do Jewy things and sometimes get to go to cool retreats like this one! How cool is that?

I taught two fig themed cooking classes, (they are in season- go get you some!) with the challenge of the classes being on Shabbat. So no flame, no electricity, no problem! I just pretended I was on a reality show and cooked up a Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini (below), Kale and Fig Salad, Black Bean Tacos with Fig Salsa, and Fig and Mascarpone for dessert. Yum! Would you like to see any of those recipes on WJWE?

I can’t say enough of how awesome the coordinators and attendees of the retreat were. I wanted to put them in my pocket and take them all back to Austin with me! Besides cooking, we did other things too. Like eating! Check out this lox. Oh yeah. Most of these photos are from Instagram if you want to follow me that would be super!

Hello, lover.

We also participated in discussions on Jewish food justice and what that means, sang by the bonfire (I mostly listened and danced off-beat), had an epic game of flip cup (my team dominated of course) and then got to do some hands-on activities like making our own sauerkraut! I’m inspired to have more fermentation recipes on WJWE in the future.

Proof that I can be outdoorsy- look I’m a farmer!

After a tough weekend of eating and hot tubbing, I headed up to Laguna Beach for a little R&R with some old friends and the Real Housewives. Only in the OC does your waiter ask you out on a post-white-wine-lunch yoga date. I could get used to it here!

I tried to go surfing for the first time ever, but the waves were too big for safety (screw safety!) so instead, I went for a long jog walk on the beach and cuddled up with a mimosa.

Um, yeah. I’m not leaving.

But alas I had to move on- I had more visiting to do! This time, I drove further north to LA to see Samantha and my friend Mindy from college (who often gives me recipe inspiration) for the great Kosher Food Schlep 2014. AKA we walked around the Jewish neighborhood of LA and ate ALL THE CARBS. How great is the name of this restaurant? They win!

We saw things like a whole wall of gefilte fish!!

And noshed on treats like the best falafel ever from Nagila Meating Place.

Here I am with Mindy in kosher candy heaven!

There were epic battles like who would win in an arm wrestling match: Black & White Cookie or Rainbow Cookie???

But we all agreed these jellies are so gross they are good.

Now I’m back in Austin and a little tanner, and a little wiser (I hope). Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a new recipe!