Welcome to our kitchen

From gluten free flours and ingredients to fresh fruit, cheeses and local wines, gathering the goods that will feed us on Thanksgiving (and during the coming seasons) has been a lot of work–but a welcome pleasure. 

We arrived on a rainy Tuesday, the car overflowing with groceries and dry goods, feeling ready to cook. November has brought seasonal temperatures to the ridge (think chunky sweaters!), but also grey skies and buckets of rain. Not ideal for harvesting seasonal favorites from our garden, but perfect for building a fire, curling up with a cup of tea and a book, and making and tasting our favorite things. 

An unexpected power outage during the area’s biggest rainstorm in history made us feel like the spirit of Jaime de Angulo, the ranch’s founder, joined us for dinner. We made a fire and sat by candlelight, the absence of the internet an opportunity to connect on an authentic, less distracted level.

Our friend Jesse was the guest chef and lifesaver of the storm, fetching us logs and making sure we had an ETA on the power coming back on. Fittingly, the meal we planned for the night was a Viking-style spread of lamb shoulder, fennel and carrots with polenta, a warming feast that filled us up like three travelers stranded in a hilltop cabin. 

After the rain, we donned our raincoats and hiked down the ridge with Harley, Ranjo and Isla, a welcome outing after a day of rest. Despite our best intentions of productivity, we laughed at Mother Nature forcing her will on us. The ridge’s escape-from-it-all energy reminded us that it’s OK to relax and do nothing, and embrace the unpredictability of each day.