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Daphne's Delectable Galettes Recipe.

Cuisine: Daphne's Delectable (Mushroom) Galettes RECIPE

Dough
Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 tblsp sugar

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1/3-1/2 cup ice water

Directions:

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a bowl. Cut in the butter by hand or using a mixer with a paddle attachment, leaving pea sized chunks. Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tblsp and toss it with the flour mixture until you can bring the dough into a ball. Press it into a disk ad refrigerate for 15 min if the butter feels soft.

Filling and Assembly
Ingredients:
2 cups mushroom stock
2-3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Red wine
½ cup olive oil
1 large onion cut into ½ inch dice
2 teaspoons minced rosemary
Salt and freshly milled pepper
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1-pound large white mushrooms
½ pound portabella or shitake mushrooms 2 garlic cloves minced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1-tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons melted butter or beaten egg for the glaze

Directions:
Season stock with a few teaspoons mustard and just enough vinegar to sharpen the flavours. Set aside

Heat 1 tblsp of the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and rosemary and cook over medium heat until the onion is slightly browned, about 12 min. Season with ½ tsp salt, a little pepper, an the red pepper flakes. Remove to a bowl.

Heat half the remaining oil in the same skillet over high heat. Add half the mushrooms and sauté until browned, and then season with salt and pepper. Remove to the bowl with the onions, and then repeat with the remaining mushrooms. Return everything to the pan, add the garlic and tomato paste diluted with a few spoonfuls of the stock. Add a tspn of the vinegar. Add the remaining stock, bring to a boil, and then stir in the butter and the parsley. Cook for 5 min, then drain, reserving the juices.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. roll out the dough for one large or 6 Individual galettes. Then add mushrooms. Loosely fold the dough over the filling and brush it with melted butter or egg. Bake until the crust is browned, about 25 min. Heat any reserved juices and spoon them into mushrooms.

Recipe from Daphne Morgen.

Dispensaries, Discrepancies, and Discrimination

  
Marijuana is making its rounds around the web. And it seems like there is more and more movement to try and make it legal and stop the harassment of police at dispensaries.

Here are a few articles worth noting:

SF Weekly's Blog posted "Cops Claim Pot Clubs are Crime Magnets, Won't Provide Evidence To Back It Up" today (Wednesday, May 12, 2010).

The gist of the article is in the headlines. SFPD claims that the medical marijuana dispensaries on Ocean Avenue bring crime to the neighborhood. As someone deeply familiar with Ocean Avenue and the OMI, really?

My dear friend is a community organizer of the OMI. She sits on the Ocean Avenue Revitalization Collaborative, and she is actively involved in creating the OMI's cultural legacy. She has been doing this work since she was born, and she was born in the OMI over 50 years ago. I've worked with her for years, many of which have been supporting her work in the OMI. Never have I heard this issue mentioned. And trust me, I hear ALL the gossip of Ocean Avenue. Currently, the most pressing issue is whether or not Ocean Avenue wants to become a Community Benefit District.

What concerns me about this article is the start of an unsubstantiated assault on medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco by SFPD, specifically by Police Chief Gascon. I have lived in San Francisco for over 12 years doing community work all of those years. One thing I have learned in that time is San Francisco is overwhelmingly pro-marijuana.

This assault on legal establishments makes me cringe. It seems only a short step until more local laws are infringed upon.

Need a reminder? San Francisco is, on paper, a Sanctuary City. However, defining what made San Francisco a Sanctuary City, it used to mean city agencies not cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is changing. The new ICE Secure Communities initiative is a prime example. Secure Communities mandates that any time someone is booked by local or state law enforcement their fingerprints be compared to biometrics in the US Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Securities databases. It ties the hands of San Francisco to enforce its own Sanctuary City Policy. (Want more information? Click here and here.)

Then, I came across "Why Ending Marijuana Prohibition Is a Racial Justice Issue" an article in Race in America, a part of Change.org. 

Here are a couple of key quotes:

Of the 1.8 million drug arrests made last year, 750,000 were for nothing more than possession of a small amount of marijuana. That represents more than 40% of all drug arrests. The best available national evidence indicates that roughly the same proportion of blacks and whites use marijuana — but that black people are roughly three times more likely to be arrested for possessing marijuana. [...]

What's difficult to understand is how and why the number of people arrested annually for marijuana possession has roughly doubled during the past 20 years — even as support for ending marijuana prohibition has also doubled during the same period of time. [...]

In California, 61,400 people were arrested for marijuana possession in 2008, a 300% increase since 1990. In California, black people made up less than 7% of the state population but 22% of people arrested for all marijuana offenses and 33% of all marijuana felony arrests in 2008. More black people are arrested in California for marijuana felonies than whites, although there are six times more whites in the state population — and huge numbers of white people involved in growing and selling marijuana.

This is alarming and makes even a stronger case for why SFPD and Police Chief Gascon should stop assaulting legal establishments, especially establishments in historically black and brown neighborhoods. Ocean View was one of the few places after World War II where black/African American families could afford to purchase a home. During the 1960s, more black/African American families moved to the neighborhood. There is cultural and historical significance to Ocean View. Picking on the dispensaries on Ocean Avenue is an assault on black and brown people.

We do need to solve the problems of crime and violence. Discriminating against people of color and legal dispensaries doesn't do this. Instead, it reinforces the tension between SFPD and communities of color, and it continues the cycle of distrust.

Maybe, instead, we could learn something from the dispensaries. I know I have never seen a more diverse group of people communing between four walls. Never. It is amazing to behold. They may be more of the solution than the problem than we even know.

Here's to hoping and toking.

Camaraderie: Daphne's Delectable Galettes

I love Daphne. I met her thanks to our mutual friend Beth. Beth produced a show called Provocateur: The Un-Cabaret that was performed at Mama Calizo's Voice Factory in May 2008. We were both in the show and became fast friends. It was the combination of performance, drinking, and social justice that did it. Well...that and we both love the S. in The S. Kitchen.

The other night Daphne invited John and I to dinner. I have never had dinner at Daphne's, and I was excited to see what she created. I was confident that her world travels would invade her spice cabinet and menu box. I was positive that her Canadian and American upbringing would bring fresh inspiration to the table. I was hopeful that I might find inspiration for Slowly Growing Green.

She didn't disappoint. Inspire she did. In fact, inspiration was mutual. Daphne saw the invite for Slowly Growing Green and wanted to rise to its challenge: using local ingredients as much as possible. So she created deliciously delicate mushroom galettes using herbs from her mother's garden (her mother was visiting from Canada, and while not geographically "local" it was local in relation to family) and California vegetables. It was divine, so divine that my husband, who hates mushrooms, loved it too!

Sadly, Daphne can't make it to Slowly Growing Green on Sunday, May 16th from 4pm to 7pm. She wants to be there, but a girl's got to make a living, and she is working that night. Boo!

But she will be there in spirit thanks to her galettes! I am going to tackle the recipe. Be forewarned: I am not a real baker, nor am I a pastry chef. Thus, the challenge. It will be fun. Well...at least it will be fun for me. ;) Hopefully, it turns out as delicious as hers.

And stay tuned for other inspirations for Slowly Growing Green. I am heading to the Farmer's Market today. Who knows what freshness will inspire!

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson on Cobert Report: Legalize Pot!

    
I just had to share this. It comes from The Colbert Report. Former New Mexico Governor, Gary Johnson, was on the show last night (May 10, 2010) talking about the pros of legalizing marijuana. Now, I have done a lot of reading and research on the push to legalize marijuana. Mostly, they are pot or marijuana advocates that are academics, users, researchers, and celebrities. Sometimes, you get a local politician. Rarely, do you find a (former) governor, let alone a Republican governor who also supports gay marriage, getting into the public arena espousing why marijuana should be legal, or at least decriminalized. He is articulate and succinct, something I tend to lack. So I will let him tell you why it should be legal. But then again, if you are already on this site, I am preaching to the converted.

You definitely want to check it out.

And help spread the word! It is really simple. Who better than a Republican to deliver a message other Republicans might be able to hear? (Notice I said might. This won't work for tea baggers.)  So send this on to that crazy aunt or conservative grandparent or that friend that just might need a little push. Who knows? They might just actually change their mind.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Gary Johnson
www.colbertnation.com

Slowly Growing Green

      
Learn more and RSVP at the Facebook Event Page!

Details in a nutshell:

Date and Time: Sunday, May 16th from 4pm to 7pm.

Hosts are Jennifer C. and Huckleberry G. 

Guest of honor is Urban Sprouts.
Buy local, and bring your own plate, utensil, and cup.
Hope to see you there!