Melissa’s Produce Has Just the Ticket

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

With autumn leaves falling, if you’re still longing for a summery taste of the tropics or a South Seas getaway, try heading out to the supermarket.

On a recent visit to Stater Brothers SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti came across a bounty of tropical treats just inside the entrance, beautifully arranged produce from Melissa’s, a specialty food company that provides produce from around the world.

Founded by Joe and Sharon Hernandez, Melissa’s has been providing fresh-from-the-farm produce sourced from local and global growers to restaurants and culinary professionals since 1984. The Los Angeles-based business has become the nation’s largest specialty produce company.

Now serving grocery stores, as well, grocery shoppers and visitors to its website can see what’s in season, get the latest harvest supply report, and find out what’s coming next.

SurfWriter Girls couldn’t resist looking at all the exotic fruits and vegetables and thinking about the countries they came from and the creative dishes we could make with them.

Strawberry papayas, blood oranges, finger limes, Kiwano melons, dragon fruit, Pinkglow pineapples, Passion fruit, Okinawan sweet potatoes, coquito coconuts, and more are currently center stage.

Seeing the beautiful fruits and vegetables on display reminded SurfWriter Girls of produce visionary Frieda Kaplan, the founder of Frieda’s, Inc. who revolutionized the food industry by introducing new produce that Americans had never tried before, including the New Zealand kiwifruit in 1962.

The country’s food knowledge has grown a lot since then, along with the desire to let our taste buds travel to faraway places. And lucky for us, produce suppliers like Melissa’s and Frieda’s have just the ticket.

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

Affordable, Fresh & Friendly

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

When SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel were invited to preview the new Urban Plates restaurant in Brea (3413 E. Imperial Hwy) that’s opening in mid-March we were excited to see how fresh everything is.

The restaurant prides itself on “changing the way the world eats by making fresh, wholesome and delicious food that is affordable and accessible to everyone.”

You can see the sandwiches and salads being made right in front of you and the fruits and vegetables arranged against the wall look like something out of a farmers’ market.

Executive chef Thomas McNamara told SurfWriter Girls the restaurant, which is a combination of cafeteria style and fine dining, makes everything fresh from scratch. He wants people to know that they can “eat good food and not break the bank.”

Shane Templeman, operations services manager, echoes that sentiment and explained that he uses social media to help get the word out about Urban Plates’ passion for food.

From the moment you arrive at the restaurant it feels like a party with people talking to each other and reading the menu boards, deciding what to order. Overhead signs direct you to the salads – which are huge! – and to the sandwiches, braises & stews.

Sandwiches, always a favorite, run the gamut from grilled wild albacore, free range chicken and grilled steak to barbecued beef and oven baked salmon, served on ciabatta bread or grilled brioche buns.

If you’re looking for comfort food, check out the braised beef and mushrooms with a side of mashed potatoes. Or opt for something more exotic like the Moroccan chicken potato peas braise with a Middle East, bazaar-blend of spices, including turmeric, paprika, ginger and cinnamon.

The beverage menu has local craft beers, local and regional wines, organic lemonade, iced tea, and seasonal replinishers, which vary throughout the year. The coffee is fair trade organic.

The dining area itself is a celebration of food with plates and cooking utensils on the walls and separate dining sections with outside seating available. It has a flow that encourages people to mingle and talk whether you’re just stopping in for a drink or a full meal.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti gave a hug to our friend, pastry chef Michele Deinstadt, who is a student in the Cypress College Hotel, Restaurant, Culinary program and also takes entrepreneur and marketing classes. She bakes everything from brownies, to layer cakes. And her molasses cookies are as big as saucers…and hard to resist!

Even though the restaurant was packed with diners, general manager Alex Baumberg found time to stop by to talk to about Urban Plates’ commitment to healthy food and its plans to serve the Brea community.

With its fresh, friendly environment, SurfWriter Girls know that this new eating spot will definitely be discovered soon.

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Popsicles Create a Century of Smiles

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

When the temperature rises who can resist a popsicle?

The popsicle is a true American classic – a colorful, sweet, icy creation that has been putting smiles on people’s faces since 1905.

Invented in San Francisco by Frank Epperson – an 11-year-old boy – it was one of those accidental discoveries. Epperson was mixing a powdered flavoring with soda water to make a fruit pop drink and left it out on the porch overnight with the wooden stir stick still in.

The concoction froze around the stick, resulting in the first popsicle – a combination of soda pop and icicle.

Popsicle, the brand, is currently owned by Good Humor, a subsidiary of Unilever.

Across America for generations the musical sound of the Good Humor truck would have kids running to get Popsicles on hot, summer days.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel remember the double-sided bars that you could break in half to share.

“I’d take them inside the house and cut them in half with a butter knife,” said Sunny, whose five younger siblings all wanted Popsicles.

“And, if you didn’t cut them just right, they split the wrong way,” Patti recalls. Her sister Eileen was the one in charge of breaking the bars.

Available in a rainbow of colors, Popsicles have been joined by other frosty inventions.

Fudgsicles, Creamsicles, Sidewalk Sundaes, Pop Ups, Rocket Pops, and more.

With so many new icy pops on the scene, over the past century the name “popsicle” has become the generic term for any icy treat on a stick.

Today frozen desserts are a $7 billion retail category and popsicles are one of the leaders of the pack with $2 billion in annual sales, providing retailers with cool profits and consumers with cool treats.

It’s amazing how something as simple as flavoring and ice could make such a mark in the marketplace…and in people’s lives.

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Chocolates Add Romance to Valentine’s Day

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

In the 1500s when the Spanish explorers sailed across the seas looking for treasures in the New World they found gold, silver, spices…and something more – chocolate.

Discovered in Mexico’s Aztec civilization, chocolate quickly became a favorite in the royal courts of Europe – prized for both its velvety taste and as an aphrodisiac.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel learned that the belief that chocolate had love-inducing powers originated with Aztec Emperor Montezuma himself, who was said to drink 50 golden goblets of chocolate each day.

By the mid-1800s, giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day as a way to celebrate romantic love was popular in much of the world.

One of the first chocolate-makers to create special Valentine’s, heart-shaped boxes was Richard Cadbury of the famous British chocolate company.

The Victorian-era Cadbury boxes were so beautiful that people kept them long after the chocolates were gone and the boxes became treasured family heirlooms.

The art of making chocolate spread throughout Europe and the Swiss, Belgians, and French established themselves among the premiere chocolate-makers.

Familiar names include Nestle, Lindt, Tobler, and Godiva.

And, in America, Hershey, Mars, and that ever-popular Mrs. See’s.

National Geographic named Swiss chocolate company Teuscher the best chocolate maker in the world.

To see – and taste – why these chocolates are the best SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti drove down the coast to Newport’s Fashion Island to visit the Teuscher Chocolate Shop.

The upscale chocolates are like precious jewels…and just as dear.

When you enter the Teuscher shop you feel like you are entering a shrine to chocolate.

“It’s a small shop,” says Sunny, “but it’s overwhelming with all the different types and styles of chocolate to try… some shaped like ducks and elephants…

and planes and fish.”

“And there’s hot chocolate, too,” adds Patti. “From the first sip there’s an intense burst of rich flavor. You just want to take it all in and enjoy each sip.”

In fashioning its chocolates Teuscher finds the best ingredients from around the world. Marcus, the shop owner, told SurfWriter Girls, “The chocolates have no preservatives in them. Every two weeks an order of chocolates comes from Switzerland.”

Myths, folklore – and now even science – tell us that chocolate does in fact put people in the mood for love.

So, on Valentine’s Day, to heighten the romantic mood, be sure to give your sweetheart some chocolates, whether it’s a fistful of M&M’s or that gold standard of Swiss perfection, Teuscher.

Or simply make s’mores on the beach.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Patti & Sunny

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Butternut Squash Brightens a Beef Stew

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Now with the fall harvest time here and an abundance of farm-fresh produce available, nothing says autumn like homemade Butternut Squash and Beef Stew.

The bright yellow squash adds a new flavor dimension to beef stew.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel especially like to make the stew on the weekend when there’s plenty of time to let it cook slowly in the crock pot.

You can start it the day before and let it cook overnight so it’s ready for lunch the next day. Or begin it in the morning and be out at the beach enjoying the day while it’s cooking. Then have it for dinner. The total cooking time is 10 hours.

“Butternut squash is a favorite of mine,” Sunny says, “because it’s so versatile and can be cooked in many ways. The squash has a subtle flavor and melts in your mouth.”

What’s more, it’s high in nutrients and fiber and low in calories with no cholesterol. One cup of squash (cubed) has just 63 calories and tons of Vitamin A (297% of the daily requirement) and Vitamin C (48%).

Sunny’s recipe for Butternut Squash Stew is hearty, but not heavy. “That’s because it has a lot of vegetables,” Sunny explains.

One of the seasonings Sunny uses in the stew is lemongrass, an herb that reminds her of her childhood home when she used to go out in the backyard and gather it fresh. “Then I would tie the leaves in a small bundle to put in soups and stews.”

If you don’t have wild lemongrass growing where you live, you can get it in the spice aisle at the supermarket in dry packets or as a paste. Sunny uses the paste.

Sunny’s Recipe for Butternut Squash Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs beef stew meat, chopped into 1” pieces

1 T. canola oil

5 small red or purple small potatoes

12 oz petite baby carrots or 3 large carrots, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

10 oz sliced cremini mushrooms

One 2.5 lbs butternut squash, peeled and chopped

1 quart beef broth (4 cups)

1 bay leaf

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 T. soy sauce

½ tsp lemon grass paste

2 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

¼ tsp pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

½ tsp paprika

½ cup flour

Directions:

Place the flour in a shallow dish with the beef and toss well to coat. Heat the canola oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and sauté for about five minutes until soft. Add the beef and garlic to the pan and continue sautéing until the beef has browned.

Place the beef, onions and garlic at the bottom of the Crock Pot. Next add the bay leaf, butternut squash, mushrooms, carrots and potatoes and afterwards pour the beef broth over them.

In a small mixing bowl combine the Worcestershire, soy sauce, sugar, paprika and lemon grass powder or paste and stir with a spoon until blended. Pour over the mixture in the Crock Pot.

Place the lid on the Crock Pot and turn the heat to low. Cook for 8 – 10 hours. Right before serving, add the salt, cayenne and black pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaf.

The recipe serves 8 – 10 people so after a morning or afternoon of surfing you can bring your friends home to a hot meal. Just set the table, serve it with warm French bread and you’re ready to enjoy some real comfort food.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti knew that the Butternut Squash and Beef Stew was a success when Patti’s husband Greg went back for seconds.

Your friends will, too.

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