We are thrilled to announce that bluegrass/Americana duo Anne and Pete Sibley will be joining the fun we have planned for Edible Monterey Bay’s 1st Anniversary Celebration this Saturday, October 13th. Their sweet harmonies will serenade diners at the all-organic, five-course farm-to-table feast being held at the beautiful Live Earth Farm overlooking the Pajaro Valley. With a spectacular menu prepared by the talented Brad Briske, it’s an experience you’ll remember for long time to come.
The party begins at 3:30 pm and you’ll be welcomed to the farm with a glass of Equinox champagne, or a goblet of 3 of a kind natural sparkling fruit drink, to sip as Live Earth founder Tom Broz shows us around the farm.
Winter vegetables have just gone into the ground at Live Earth’s 100-acre property in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains and summer crops are winding down. We’ll learn about the farm’s year-round growing cycle, their 700-member Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) distribution system and a series of hands-on classes to educate young people about the environment through the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program.
Chef Brad Briske is already hard at work creating EMB’s birthday dinner which gets underway after a reception that will begin at 4:30. The popular chef headed the kitchen at Main Street Garden Café in Soquel and worked at Gabriella Café in Santa Cruz before being hired away by Carmel’s Casanova Restaurant earlier this year—so he’s an expert on all the locally grown ingredients available here on the Central Coast and knows how to showcase them.
His menu starts with an appetizer of Albacore crudo with fermented dry farmed tomato, tomato water “silken tofu” and balsamic granita. The chef calls his second course Clash of the Seasons en brodo because it combines roasted winter pumpkin and summer dry farmed tomato broth, along with Pie Ranch wheat berries and shelling beans, Fogline Farm chicken, sun gold tomatoes and prosciutto.
But that’s just the beginning, the menu goes on to include: Grape leaf wrapped drunken goat cheese, with Serendipity Farms butter lettuces, borage and Petite Syrah vinaigrette; and a main course of Fogline Farm Chicken and Pork sausages, with smoked fingerling potatoes, sweet apple and pear mostarda and aioli, accompanied by Serendipity Medley. Attending this fabulous dinner is the only way to find out what the Serendipity Medley will be—even we don’t know yet!
Wines to accompany our local feast will be provided by Storrs Winery of Santa Cruz, Heller Estate Organic Vineyards of Carmel Valley and Equinox Champagne Cellars of Santa Cruz.
Also playing a key role in helping the chef, preparing desserts and serving the meal are four local organizations that offer vocational training in sustainable agriculture and culinary arts to at-risk youth: Food What?!, Lightfoot Industries, Pie Ranch, and the Santa Cruz Regional Occupational Program. We’re proud to say that we’re bringing them together for their first collaboration—and they’re very excited about it, too!
Over the course of the dinner, we’ll hear the teens’ inspiring stories and honor Edible Monterey Bay’s 2012 local heroes award winners as well as Jim Kasson, a local photographer who won an award for his work in Edible Monterey Bay.
The music for our celebration couldn’t be more perfect for a sunny Saturday afternoon spent outdoors at the farm. Husband and wife duo Anne and Pete Sibley—winners of the Great American Duet Sing-off on The Prairie Home Companion—sing folk and bluegrass tunes accompanied by guitar and banjo. They’ve just finished a summer concert tour appearing at festivals throughout the country and we can’t wait to hear them perform for us.
Please join Edible Monterey Bay magazine and all our friends for the 1st Anniversary Celebration this Saturday. Tickets for this unforgettable experience are $75, all-inclusive.
About the author
Deborah Luhrman is publisher and editor of Edible Monterey Bay. A lifelong journalist, she has reported from around the globe, but now prefers covering our flourishing local food scene and growing her own vegetables in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
