A Taste of Fall - Launch Party for The Positive Plate on 11-11-11

Alright folks!!  Here is the official launch party of The Positive Plate - Orange County's newest, hottest restaurant sustainability program spearheaded by Jesse Baker PhD of Ecofficiency!  We have an amazing line up of food from some of OC's best "green" restaurants in addition to stellar music (including Common Kings, Jacob Luttrell and American Idol's Michael Castro)!  It's all happening this Friday on 11-11-11 at an incredibly unique and fitting venue - The OC Food Bank in Irvine, CA.  Tickets are still available but they are going fast!  You can purchase them here for $60 a pop.  Each ticket includes unlimited food and drinks.

 

Sending a special THANK YOU to our restaurant and beverage sponsors.  AND, we are lucky enough to have Paul Schafer of PS Photo Media as our sponsoring photographer along with Fusion Linens as our linen donor.  Of course, Floral Sense will be there with sustainably designed arrangements decking out the event!  There WILL be a give-away of some arrangements too.  

Can't wait to see you there!!

Yours Truly,

Joanna

The Positive Plate Launch Party on November 11, 2011

Ok, I know I promised tidbits of Floral Sense press so, rest assured, they will be showcased in the coming posts.  But I wanted to insert an exciting announcement about The Positive Plate's launch party happening on 11/11/11 at Second Harvest Food Bank in Irvine, CA.  Seriously, I am SUPER stoked about this event as we will have several of our restaurants presenting signature fall dishes with a sustainable twist.  Love it!  Check out the brochure below and the website here for more detailed info.

Just keep in mind that admission is limited to 200 people so purchase your tickets soon!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Yours truly,

Joanna

Wish Upon A Wedding Southern California Gala: Blissful Wishes Ball

Wish Upon a Wedding Southern California Chapter held its second annual Blissful Wishes Ball at the gorgeous Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda last night.  For those of you unfamiliar with WUW, it is "the world's first nonprofit wedding wish granting organization, providing weddings for terminally ill individuals." It truly is an amazing organization!  The guests of honor that evening were Douglas Wang and Lizabeth Tso who were granted a wedding by WUW at Bella Collina in San Clemente.  The wedding was absolutely stunning but even more beautiful is the unwavering love this couple shares for each other and their children.  You can read up more on Douglas and Lizabeth here.  It was pretty emotional seeing the family take the stage and pour out their gratitude to the organization for giving them a wedding they have had to push back over and over again.  They were met with a very well deserved standing ovation!

Just to give you an idea of the caliber of weddings that are granted, I snapped a few images of the gala.  Truly, no detail goes unnoticed nor unaccounted.  Keep in mind, these aren't fabulous professional images but you'll see the love in those details!

Venue: Richard Nixon Library 

Ice Sculpture: Ice Bulb

Florals: French Buckets (AMAZING florist!  Love you Sussanna!)
Linens: Designer Specialty Linens


Catering: White House Catering


Cake and Desserts: A Wish and a Whisk


And some of my favorite people!
Robert Arthur of Invisible Touch Events


Veronica Taylor of Designer Specialty Linens and Hanssie Trainor of Hanssie Trainor Photography


Desiree Patterson of Good Gracious and Lindsey Sinatra of A Wish and A Whisk


Sending a special congrats to the ladies of Utterly Engaged, Henny and Lucia, for winning your Shining Star Award!


Hope to have inspired you a bit this week!

Your truly,
Joanna

Ecofficiency.org at Doheny Days

Come join Ecofficiency.org at Doheny Days this weekend.  We are greening it up!

 

Check out the Doheny Days Facebook page for more info on attending.  Hope to see you there!

Yours truly,

Joanna

Ecofficiency.org Speaker Series: Socially Responsible Investing

Our Speaker Series at Ecofficiency is finally up and running again after a bit of a hiatus.  We have a new venue too!  Please join us on Wednesday September 7 at Haute Cakes in Newport Beach from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Our speaker will be Kyle Scrimgeour from Core Capital Management covering the topic of Socially Responsible Investing.  

Complimentary appetizers and drinks will be provided. And a $5 donation at the door is appreciated!

Haute Cakes

1807 Westcliff Drive

Newport Beach, CA 

949.642.4114

See you there!

Yours truly,

Joanna

Ecofficiency Speaker Series at the The Camp - Greening Your Home Part 2

Happy Monday!

I'm sure you're excited to read about Speaker #2 from last week's Ecofficiency meeting. Meet the Building Doctors. Yeah, I was a bit puzzled too when James approached the stage wearing a set of blue scrubs. But I appreciate the humor! This company specializes in home energy audits and upgrades. And just as a doctor assesses a persons symptoms to determine a plan of health action, so do the Building Doctors for the home.

If you are interested in improving the efficiency of your home, this is a great place to start. Believe it or not, America's largest source of carbon emissions stem from our homes NOT our cars. Surprising, eh?

To start, a home's performance is determined not through its individual units or systems but as a whole. Part of the process of building auditing includes analyzing the various fundamentals in the home (such as air sealing, lighting, etc) and major systems (such as heating, air conditioning, ventilation). Once the problem areas are found, a treatment plan in drawn up. And the retrofitting begins. Interestingly enough, a common source of energy inefficiency? Gaping holes in duct pipes.

Once all is said and done, the performance of the home is tested again for quality assurance purposes. As for costs, that was never covered. But I would imagine that your utility costs would diminish over time as the efficiency of your home improves.

For more information about the Building Doctors, you can visit their website here.

Cheers!

Ecofficiency Speaker Series at the The Camp - Greening Your Home Part 1

As you probably know by now, Ecofficiency holds a monthly meeting at The Camp focusing on specific topics of everyday sustainability. This last Tuesday's meeting covered Greening Your Home. We were lucky enough to have 3 different speakers address various topics to assist us in making our home healthier to live in. Because each topic was so extensive, I will be spreading this meeting out over 2 blog posts.

The first speakers of the evening were Lisa and Ron Beres, a husband and wife team who co-authored Just Green It and pioneered Greennest.com. Both are building biologists who have dedicated their efforts to educating people on reducing the toxins in their home. Believe it or not, you can develop something called Sick Building Syndrome if toxins in your house reach a level that your body can no longer handle. So, here are a few tips for you to creating a a healthier living environment. Use your 5 sense and follow along!

1) Smell - Create better indoor air quality via increasing ventilation, replacing furnace filters, using HEPA vacuums and air purifiers, checking for lead paint, painting the walls with low or zero VOC paints, using non-toxic cleaning products.
2) Taste - Filter your drinking waters through reverse osmosis, carbon-based filters, distillation and shower-head filters. Avoid toxic plastic containers that contain BPA and/or are plastic #3, #6 #7. Use stainless steel water bottles and/or plastic #1, #2, #4, #5.
3) Sound - Reduce electro-pollutions that cause sleep deprivation and interfere with the body's immune system. Move your cell phone, cell phone charger, LCD tv and Plasma tv away from you sleeping areas.
4) Touch - Be conscious of the fabrics you sleep on as many are treated with formaldehyde and pesticides. Eliminate toxic flooring and pesticides.
5) Sight - Have a vision for your green life!

I hope this was insightful to you! Feel free to browse the Green Nest website here for more information on how to green your home. The Beres' book is a great place to start in case you need a manual to green living in your home.

PS - There is a book that I use regularly called Haley's Hints Green Edition that gives you great household tips from cooking to cleaning and everything in between. This is where I learned to create my own cleaning solutions with safe products such as vinegar, baking soda and toothpaste. Truthfully, I didn't care about having chemicals in my house until I had children. Just the thought of them getting into dangerous chemicals gives me chills but now I don't have to worry about it!

Cheers to green living!

Fibonacci's Dirty Little Secret

Alright, so maybe it's not really a secret but its dirty! Fibonacci's Campus Pointe Bistro has its own farm from where they harvest their own produce. And its just a walk away from the restaurant on a patch of real dirt! Check it out:







Just a little side thought - The florals on this dill plant look so much like a filler flower I like to use called Queen Anne's Lace. So what's to say that I can't use the florals from an edible garden to design with?


There is also a composting area. All composting material begin in the first bin and is moved/turned once a week into the following bin.


The progression eventually moves here where the soil is sifted. Its so easy, even the kids can do it!


So what even compelled me to visit the garden during my visit at Fibonacci's on Sunday? I noticed that all the disposable plates and utensils were made of raw, biodegradable material which was enough cause for applause. Then I had to find the trash cans after I was done with my meal.


I found a small crowd of people by the trash receptacle sorting through their garbage. Standing ovation? Getting there.


There were four different compartments: Compost, Fibonacci's Compostable Dinnerware, Recycle and Trash. Each label included a description of acceptable materials.


This composting material can be used for Fibonacci's very own garden! I love it! The system has been set up to sustain itself. (Insert standing ovation here)

Well done!

Cooks Confab Presents: School Lunch! at Fibonacci's by Waters Fine Catering

Clear sunny skies at a crisp 68 degrees set the perfect backdrop for Sunday's event at Fibonacci's Campus Pointe Bistro by Waters in San Diego for the Cooks Confab School Lunch event.


I had been looking forward to this event for several weeks after getting the heads-up from Chef Andrew Spurgin of Waters Fine Catering. There were 2 main reasons this event perked my interest. The first - I was shocked to hear that a school district was openly working with the community of local farms and chefs to create better school lunches. I have seen the intense resistance that public schools have made toward such needed changes. So, I absolutely needed to see how these changes were being implemented and who was at the forefront of making these big steps. Second - Sourcing ingredients from local farms is an issue that is close to my heart and my business. I wanted more opportunities to chat directly with the local farmers and hear their voice.

I was excited to see the actual farmers who supply the produce to the school districts showcased upon entering the building.






We were greeted with a cocktail area that included samples from: Tolosa Winery (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir)


Snake Oil Cocktail Co. (Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice; Strawberry “Milkshake”)


Waters Bar Service (Housemade Beet "Vermouth"; Hibiscus Extract, Raisin Reduction, Pressed Apple Foam, Micro Radish)

This one was my personal favorite because of the innovation in its unique mix of ingredients. The flavor profile was rather intriguing and the presentation was hard to pass up.


We were eventually lured away from bar service into the restaurant for a presentation on the topic of school lunches with the needs and challenges that are faced daily.

I realized part of the resistance from many school districts to changing lunch menus lies in the immense limitations. For example, all nutrition regulations must fit within $1 for each meal. The lunch items need to be convenient, healthy and desirable. The time to prep lunch for a school of students is limited with limited prep space. In addition, The time to serve these meals is limited to usually 30 minutes. And many schools have around 2000 to 3000 students to feed! Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg of issues.

Here's a chart that speaks volumes for itself:


However, it can be done and it is being done. Broccoli was finally introduced to the San Diego schools with local farms contributing approximately 1000 pounds a week. The response has been very positive allowing for more forward momentum.

(A side note - this event is reflective of what is happening in the San Diego county school district. I'm curious as to what Orange County and Los Angeles County have going on, if anything at all. If any of you readers have insight, please leave me a message below. I would love to hear from you!)

Skipping forward to lunch. Standing in the long line made me feel a bit nostalgic to the school lunch days with my tray in hand. I remember, as a kid, being excited that my mom had to hand me lunch money because she didn't have time to make me a sandwich. But looking back, I'm not sure what the hype was all about. The food was horrible: packaged tortilla chips with canned nacho cheese, chalupas (still not sure what that was), greasy chimichangas, dry tater tots, cardboard pizza. Oh, and I can't forget the chocolate milk in a plastic bag. So wrong in so many ways.



Here are few snaps of the stations before the crowds. I was spying for those plastic milk bags but didn't find any. It looks like we're off to a good start.






Whew, just look at the color on these plates! Each healthy lunch menu item passionately created by some very talented chefs using local produce. Its exciting to think that my own kids would be eating from this menu at school! I definitely want their school lunch to look like this.


Yep, those are edible flowers! I was kinda' tempted to make an arrangement with the flowers and salad into my coffee cup.


And of course - dessert!

This is the Blood Orange Juice Box bar.


See if you can match the menu item description to the picture:
Beef & Broccoli with Brown Rice
by Jason Knibb – NINE–TEN

Chicken & Local Vegetable "Pot Pie"
by Jeff Jackson & TK Kolanko – A. R. Valentien

Cream of Tomato Soup with Parmesan Cream & Bread Crumbs; Lentil–Barley Soup with Mint Yogurt; Strawberry Yogurt with Chocolate Dipping Sticks
by Trey Foshee & Lori Huffman – George’s California Modern

“Fish & Chips” Wild Striped Bass, Baked Vegetable Chips, Tartar Sauce
by Paul McCabe – KITCHEN 1540
by Donald Coffman – Paradise Point

Suzie's Farm Vegetable "Lasagna"; Jidori Chicken Roulade; Handmade Focaccia; Strawberries n' Cream
by Katie Grebow – Café Chloe
by Amy DiBiase – Chef/Consultant

Salad Bar from Waters’ Organic Garden with “a Bunch of Stuff That’s Good For You;” Fava Bean Tops and Beans, Peas and Tendrils, Garden Herbs; Roasted Vegetables and House Made Pickles; Tofu “Caprese” with Suzie’s Farms’ Cherry Tomatoes, Shiso Sesame Soba with Ginger-Sesame; Trio of Citrus with Strawberry Spherification, Black Sesame
by Andrew Spurgin – Waters Fine Catering
by Melissa Mayer – Martini Media

Wheat “Macaroni ‘n Cheese;” Carrot Turmeric Purée; Diced Vegetables; Gruyère Cheese
by Olivier Bioteau – Farm House Café

Nathan's Natural Alpine Chicken Satay; Thai Almond Sauce; Cucumber Relish
by Antonio Friscia – Stingaree

Potato-Cauliflower Tostada, Yellow Cherry Tomato, House Queso Fresco, Pickled Broccoli Stem, Salsa Verde
by Guest Chef Ricardo Heredia – Alchemy

Cashew Nut Ice Cream Cups with Honeyed Quinoa
by Jack Fisher – Jack Fisher Confections

Spring Flavored Paletas: Blood Orange Juice Box; Choco Banana Milk; New School Tangerine and Cream; Yogurt Honey Granola Pop
by Guest Chef Lisa Altman – Viva Pops

Surprisingly, my favorite was the salad bar of raw and roasted vegetables. So simple and clean!

My other surprise favorite station - the coffee! I have never seen coffee served this way and didn't expect the flavors to stand out so much. You probably won't see this happening in a school cafeteria but you can't kill the coffee lover in me.


There is another component of Fibonacci's that I will share about on Thursday but I'll leave the topic in suspense until then. And there were some very important organizations with tables set-up in the cocktail area which I will cover separately. In the meantime, I hope this has given you more food for thought....literally and figuratively.

A special Thank You to Chef Andrew Spurgin for the invite! You're a true inspiration and your passion is contagious!


Cheers!