For the past month I've been helping my friend Renee from Fresh Ideas set up the Exhibition Promenade for the OC Fair. I've planted flowers, herbs and even veggies in a baby grand piano, an 8' galvanized tub (pollinator garden), half oil barrels, gazebo's, a row boat and even a wine garden and now we are live in Costa Mesa.



I am now performing demos on stage and appearing each week in a special area called 'Culinary Craftsman'. I've been creating everything from pasta to herbal wreaths and pepper ristras. Last week Melissa's produce marketing guru, Robert Schueller, sent me the most beautiful 'fiery red' peppers from Holland for the ristras. Fresh herbs from The Plant Stand and branches from our olive and bay leaf trees went into making the herb wreaths.

 



Canning and preserving is making a big comeback across the country and we'd like to see more people get involved, there are various contests every year at the fair from jams and jellies to preserved and dried foods, beef jerky, dried fruit and more. If you missed the water bath canning demonstrations that I did last week (I made strawberry jam and my super secret sweet pickle relish) I'll be repeating the demo this week on Fri, 7/29 at 4:30. The demos are free with fair admission.

 



 

In upcoming Culinary Craftsman demo's I have some unusual projects planned, I'll show you how to make a gardeners soap from scratch, a burn balm for those of us who deal with hot ovens, speaking of hot ovens how about some apple cinnamon rolls? I have much more on the menu for you and I'll let you know next week just what might be in season for the OC Fair Culinary Craftsman demo's. This week I'll be showing you how to make potato gnocchi, meatballs for the meatball eating contest, seed bombs and more. Check my facebook page and tweets for updates,