A Tasty Meal from from the Garden

This morning we prepared a delicious brunch using organic ingredients from the garden.

First, we harvested some heirloom lettuce mesclun (Lactuca sativa) from the balcony lettuce garden, that I had sown from seeds purchased at the SF Botanical Garden. 


These gourmet baby greens are beautiful and easy to grow.  And even easier to harvest!

We use a clean, sharp pair of scissors and cut larger leaves periodically, leaving enough baby leaves remaining so the plant keeps growing, thereby extending the harvest so we can enjoy our San Francisco-grown salads a bit longer.  

Home grown greens taste better!

These tender leaves are light, crisp and have a fresh, clean flavor with a bit of a bite to them.











Next we tossed them with an organic garden grown tomato, kalamata olives, feta cheese, and a few basil leaves from the herb garden.  And a scrumptious, nutritious salad was born!

We paired it with a wild caught Sockeye salmon fillet that we seasoned with organic garlic and herbs- thyme and two types of parsley, flat leaf and curly leaf (Petroselinum crispum, 'Aphrodite'), also from our container herb garden.

 
We finished off the meal with a perfectly sweet and tart blackberry crisp, from blackberries we harvested from the park earlier in the morning.  This is urban foraging at its best!

How can you resist these fantastically juicy and nutritious berries, often ignored and growing wild throughout SF and northern California?
 






You can create an unforgettable dessert to share with friends or family and get some important antioxidants and micro nutrients that help fight cancer.  According to Web MD, "Foods such as broccoli, berries, and garlic showed some of the strongest links to cancer prevention."  Check out the health benefits of blackberries while you savor... every... bite.

Make Time for Power Naps (at Work Too)

As the warm summer evenings finally arrive in San Francisco and we find ourselves enjoying some late nights, there's more reason than ever to make sure we get a daily nap, even at the office.   Studies have now proven the health, mood, stress reduction, weigh control, and productivity benefits of taking even short 20-30 minute naps during the day, particularly in the early afternoon or after lunch when you may feel sluggish.

Check out this 2 minute video on how and why to power nap. (Or if you prefer a Scottish narrator, try this one.)

And the great news is that more and more employers are recognizing this as a healthy norm in the office, according to Yahoo News.  Try saving the last 30 minutes of your lunch hour, dim the lights and find a quiet spot.  Or make a sleep mask and try napping in your parked car.  To help you fall asleep, you can even download some relaxing napsounds. And don't get discouraged if you can't fall asleep the first few times you try, eventually your body will welcome this down time and learn to nap. Just don't forget to set your phone alarm.  

For more how-to information try these tips wiki.how or ehow.com.

Happy napping!