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SHINE and Aunt Barb’s Seaweed Salad

Guest Blog by Mignon Macias

Have you had Aunt Barb’s Seaweed Salad? Well, if you have then you’ll know what I mean when I say, YEAH AUNT BARB! And if you haven’t, you should get on into Shine and order yourself some!

Amanda and I took our Barb to try some of the tasty dishes Jessica Emich is creating at her (and her sisters’) restaurant. Of course, I had to order the probiotic slaw sampler by Zuke to start off our birthday bash (It was Barb’s birthday celebration). The raw appetizer included several different zesty pickled things.

Finally, food trends are catching up with Shine, where the Emich sisters strive to foster an atmosphere that nourishes community through food, music, and celebration.  In January, the New York Times named 10 food trends that have ‘legs & merit’. Appropriately, fermented foods were on that list.

For centuries, naturally cultured foods have played a key role in providing sustenance to civilizations across the globe. From Norwegian rakfisk (brine-cured fish) to Peruvian tocosh (fermented potato pulp), fermented foods provide significant health benefits to the human body. Certainly lacto-fermenting evolved as a means to preserve foods, but in modern cultures, the long-standing health advantage is what keeps it contemporary. These foods are rich in probiotics that populate the digestive tract with beneficial bacteria which support the immune system. Additionally, the enzymes in fermented foods help our bodies digest meals more efficiently. Since our birthday lunch began with these delectable condiments, we were off to a good start.

For our second course, we ordered Aunt Barb’s Seaweed Salad. This my friends, is ART in a bowl!

Tender micro greens and subtle wakame seaweed rest on a bed of tangy lemon massaged kale. House cultured carrots, thinly sliced cucumbers, and delicate sprouts make for a vibrant and crunchy salad. This dish is great to share before a sandwich, or to eat as a meal on it’s own.  We all shared two servings along with the more simple house salad, and decided to finish with some house beers as our final course.

We had a nice afternoon celebrating our Barb!  Hope this year’s journey around the sun is filled with fun and adventure!

Shine
2027 13th St.
Boulder, Co 80302
303.449.0120
OPEN FOR LUNCH & DINNER DAILY

 

 

 

Tasty Cleanse, Nourished Body

Guest blog by our beloved Mignon Macias:

I love connecting with people and sharing sincere enthusiasm for current passions. It’s exciting and inspiring. The other day I re-connected with Nicole T. after having not seen her for at least 2 years. Immediately we shared our smartphone snapshots, and exchanged tidbits about our lives that a quick catch-me-up session in a grocery store aisle permits. Within minutes, we realized that there was a reason for our running into each other. As Nicole pointed out, ‘ all things happen for a reason’.

Nicole had just begun a cleanse, and I was there to share with her the benefits of delicious naturally fermented foods from zuke pickled things. Everyday, but especially during a cleanse, fermented foods will improve gut flora which can boost overall health and improve digestion. This age-old process makes nutrients more readily available for absorption and enhances food flavors.

photos by Sugarcurse

Delicious flavors and inventive food combinations are what inspire the creators of Zuke pickled things, Mara and Willow King.  Their citrus ginger blend is a tangy addition to any salad, or as a condiment for fish or shrimp tacos, grilled meats, and steamy risotto. The fresh, organic ingredients (green cabbage, ginger, lemon zest, lemon juice, & sea salt) combined with the high level of lactobacilli in each jar, makes for a mouth watering treat that is rewarding and satisfying. A cleanse becomes more like a celebration, rather than deprivation.

Recently, as a modern culture, we have been re-discovering this traditional process of preserving foods with lactic acid fermentation. Nourished Kitchen explains well the benefits of eating fermented foods, and also shares amazing whole food recipes.

For a simple, quick, nutrient dense dish try this salad as a light meal, or as a side dish.

GREENS W/ CITRUS GINGER PICKLED THINGS:
Swiss chard (thinly sliced)

Purple or lance shaped kale (thinly sliced)
Shredded golden beets
citrus ginger pickled things

Slivered almonds
Chopped pears
Olive oil
Apple cider vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste

 

In addition to its amazing flavor, citrus ginger pickled things is an excellent source of many vitamins and minerals. Cabbage and lemons are rich in vitamin C, which help the body resist infectious agents. Lemon peel (zest) is high in potassium and calcium. Potassium plays a role in maintaining your heart function, and aiding in digestive capabilities.  Calcium is important for maintaining bones and teeth. It also plays a role in heart rhythm and muscle function. Sea salt is naturally rich in trace minerals, essential for many metabolic functions. And ginger improves the absorption and assimilation of essential nutrients in the body. It can also help with nausea, and aids in digestion.

It’s true, as Nicole said, all things DO happen for a reason. I thank you for your excitement and support. Here’s to a tasty cleanse and a nourished body!

Please send your favorite recipe ideas for our citrus ginger pickled things. We would like to share them.

 

The most intense of vegetables

Tom Robbin’s novel, Jitterbug Perfume, begins with these immortal words. ” The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.” Then he wanders in his marvelous bohemian prose for awhile and lands at my favorite lines about our dear beet: “The beet is what happens when the cherry finished with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies.”  Tell it, Tom.

Resisting the Commodification of Culture- Celebrations of the Harvest

One of our early inspirations for this business was the book “Wild Fermentation” written by the very inspiring Sandor Ellix Katz. In an early section of the book he says, ” We can merge our appetite with activism and choose to involve ourselves in food as cocreators. Food has historically been one of our most direct links to the life forces of the Earth. Bountiful harvests have always been occasions for celebrations and appreciation of the divine.” Katz suggests that through creating and enjoying cultured foods you “build your body’s cultural ecology as you engage and honor the life forces all around you.

We could not agree more!These are some wild plums that we harvested and then experimented with preserving  in salt to make something resembling the Japenese umeboshi. The result was a fascinating, lively, bubbling plum pickle which Mara reports eating for breakfast leaves her feeling great all day long.