Datebook - Go Wild Consulting subway entrance increases foot traffic; the junction of Market, Post...
2
Despite having read the thing start to finish, I’m still not sure what to think about “Urban Code: 100 Lessons for Understand- ing the City.” But I do know this: authors Anne Mikoleit and Moritz Pürckhauer would feel right at home in the snug plaza next to One Post Street, where black steps rise to meet an iron fence that frames a subterranean entrance to Muni and BART. You can sit on the steps with your back protected — lesson No. 65 — and use the perch to observe your environment, lesson No. 66. The subway entrance increases foot traffic; the junction of Market, Post and Montgomery streets makes it a crossroads where people are inclined to meet and yes, there’s a hot-dog stand (lessons 77, 56 and 57). All these elements blend into a setting where you feel immersed in the Big City but apart from it as well, a duality of expe- rience and perception that strikes at the heart of “the inherent logic of the city,” that this slim book seeks to make overt. It falls short, but that’s because cities are too varied to be reduced to a Dylan Entelis / The Chronicle One Post Plaza, where black steps meet an iron fence at Market and Montgom- ery streets, is a simply crafted space where diverse people feel welcome. Guide to understanding cities takes a few mystifying detours JOHN KING Place King continues on E12 Datebook San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Wednesday, September 28, 2011 | Section E GWB Social City: ‘Formal flannel’ at Heart of Gold Gala E2 This year’s crop of Emmy nominees in the best actor-drama category rightly included Idris Elba, a name that may not be as familiar to viewers as the other nominees. If so, and if you get BBC America, it’s way past time to remedy that situa- tion. Elba plays the title role in the cable channel’s superb psychological crime series “Luther,” which, after launching last year, begins a four- episode “sequel” tonight. Here’s one series you’re not likely to find on PBS’ “Masterpiece Mystery.” It’s gritty, brooding, emo- tionally raw and often violent, but about as far from front-parlor who- dunits as “The Wire” was from “Murder She Wrote.” While the crimes are often both grisly and complicated, “Luther” is as much a character- driven drama, anchored by one brilliant but tor- tured man, as it is a police procedural. Last season saw Luther’s marriage fall apart and his wife Zoe take up with another man and then get killed by Luther’s colleague and former best friend. Things aren’t exactly looking up this year. As Luther tries to catch a psychotic serial killer who attacks his victim while wearing a freakish Punch mask, he also rescues teenage Jenny from a life of prostitution and has to contend with the vicious madam’s demands to be compensated for her loss of income. Luther is pri- marily concerned with the Punch killer in the first two episodes, and then a different but equal- ly horrific case in epi- sodes three and four, involving a nondescript guy who attacks and kills at random and seems to Gripping series on crime, ghosts DAVID WIEGAND Television N Luther: 10 p.m., Wednesday, BBC America cable channel M Bedlam: 10 p.m., Saturday this week, then moving to 9 p.m. Saturdays on Oct. 8, BBC America cable channel Wiegand continues on E3 By Jessica Carew Kraft SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE It’s acorn season. They’re fall- ing by the barrel-load into our yards and parks, littering the ground with squirrel food. But Jolie Lonner Egert doesn’t see this as a nuisance. She calls acorns the “original California cuisine.” And the Fairfax-based ethnobotanist is bet- ting that they’ll be the next locavore sensa- tion. “I think in 10 years, you’ll be able to walk into any farm-to- table restaurant and order acorn pancakes,” she said. Egert runs Go Wild, an ecolog- ical education company that offers classes on foraging and preparing edible wild plants across the Bay Area. For the past four years, she’s spent her Sep- tembers gathering the harvest from oak trees and teaching oth- ers how to do the same. Sporting a felted acorn cap and gesturing with a squirrel puppet, Egert led a lively presentation earlier this month at Hidden Villa, an organic farm in Los Altos, in which she explained to a group of families how oak trees used to provide an easy, plentiful crop for native Californians. A mature oak tree can produce 300 to 500 pounds of acorns per sea- son, yielding a massive surplus even after a vast network of in- sects, birds and mammals have been fed. The trees are also extremely adaptable. California has at least 20 species of oak, grow- ing in every part of the state and covering over a third of the land mass. “Oaks are shape-shift- ers — they can grow in the desert, or in wet, cold cli- mates,” Egert said. She believes that if we can re-plant and sustainably manage our oaks the way native Califor- nians did, then today’s residents will have a secure and abundant food source during the coming decades of unpredictable climate change. It’s simply a matter of getting Americans to try them. “In Mexico, Korea and all across the Mediterranean, peo- ple eat acorns,” she said. Audi- Photos by David Butow / Special to The Chronicle Sisters Reagan Harwood, 10 (left), and Monroe Harwood, 6, of Palo Alto crush the acorns at Hidden Villa farm in Los Altos. Not just for squirrels Ethnobotanist Jolie Lonner Egert is nuts about acorns and teaches a workshop on their many uses as food. Ethnobotanist says acorns poised for comeback as a sustainable food aided by state’s plentiful and adaptable oaks HOME & GARDEN Acorn workshops For future acorn events, go to www.gowild consulting.com. Acorns continues on E8
Transcript of Datebook - Go Wild Consulting subway entrance increases foot traffic; the junction of Market, Post...
Despite having read thething start to finish, I’mstill not sure what to thinkabout “Urban Code: 100Lessons for Understand-ing the City.”
But I do know this:authors Anne Mikoleitand Moritz Pürckhauerwould feel right at homein the snug plaza next toOne Post Street, whereblack steps rise to meet aniron fence that frames asubterranean entrance toMuni and BART.
You can sit on the stepswith your back protected— lesson No. 65 — and usethe perch to observe your
environment, lesson No.66. The subway entranceincreases foot traffic; thejunction of Market, Post
and Montgomery streetsmakes it a crossroadswhere people are inclinedto meet and yes, there’s ahot-dog stand (lessons 77,56 and 57).
All these elementsblend into a setting whereyou feel immersed in theBig City but apart from itas well, a duality of expe-rience and perceptionthat strikes at the heart of“the inherent logic of thecity,” that this slim bookseeks to make overt. Itfalls short, but that’sbecause cities are toovaried to be reduced to a
Dylan Entelis / The Chronicle
One Post Plaza, where black steps meet an iron fence at Market and Montgom-ery streets, is a simply crafted space where diverse people feel welcome.
Guide to understanding citiestakes a few mystifying detours
JOHN KING Place
King continues on E12
DatebookSan Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Wednesday, September 28, 2011 | Section EGWB
Social City:‘Formal flannel’at Heart of GoldGala E2
This year’s crop ofEmmy nominees in thebest actor-drama categoryrightly included IdrisElba, a name that may notbe as familiar to viewersas the other nominees. Ifso, and if you get BBCAmerica, it’s way pasttime to remedy that situa-tion.
Elba plays the title rolein the cable channel’ssuperb psychologicalcrime series “Luther,”
which, after launchinglast year, begins a four-episode “sequel” tonight.
Here’s one series you’renot likely to find on PBS’“Masterpiece Mystery.”It’s gritty, brooding, emo-tionally raw and oftenviolent, but about as farfrom front-parlor who-dunits as “The Wire” wasfrom “Murder SheWrote.”
While the crimes areoften both grisly andcomplicated, “Luther” isas much a character-driven drama, anchoredby one brilliant but tor-tured man, as it is a policeprocedural. Last seasonsaw Luther’s marriage fallapart and his wife Zoetake up with another manand then get killed byLuther’s colleague andformer best friend.
Things aren’t exactlylooking up this year. AsLuther tries to catch apsychotic serial killer whoattacks his victim whilewearing a freakish Punchmask, he also rescuesteenage Jenny from a lifeof prostitution and has tocontend with the viciousmadam’s demands to becompensated for her lossof income. Luther is pri-marily concerned withthe Punch killer in thefirst two episodes, andthen a different but equal-ly horrific case in epi-sodes three and four,involving a nondescriptguy who attacks and killsat random and seems to
Grippingserieson crime,ghosts
DAVIDWIEGANDTelevision
NLuther: 10 p.m.,Wednesday, BBCAmerica cable
channel
MBedlam: 10 p.m.,Saturday thisweek, then moving
to 9 p.m. Saturdays onOct. 8, BBC America cablechannel
Wiegand continues on E3
By Jessica Carew KraftSPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
It’s acorn season. They’re fall-ing by the barrel-load into ouryards and parks, littering theground with squirrel food. ButJolie Lonner Egert doesn’t seethis as a nuisance. She callsacorns the “originalCalifornia cuisine.”And the Fairfax-basedethnobotanist is bet-ting that they’ll be thenext locavore sensa-tion. “I think in 10years, you’ll be able towalk into any farm-to-table restaurant andorder acorn pancakes,” she said.
Egert runs Go Wild, an ecolog-ical education company thatoffers classes on foraging andpreparing edible wild plantsacross the Bay Area. For the pastfour years, she’s spent her Sep-tembers gathering the harvestfrom oak trees and teaching oth-ers how to do the same.
Sporting a felted acorn cap andgesturing with a squirrel puppet,Egert led a lively presentationearlier this month at HiddenVilla, an organic farm in Los
Altos, in which she explained to agroup of families how oak treesused to provide an easy, plentifulcrop for native Californians. Amature oak tree can produce 300to 500 pounds of acorns per sea-son, yielding a massive surpluseven after a vast network of in-sects, birds and mammals have
been fed.The trees are also
extremely adaptable.California has at least20 species of oak, grow-ing in every part of thestate and covering overa third of the land mass.“Oaks are shape-shift-ers — they can grow in
the desert, or in wet, cold cli-mates,” Egert said.
She believes that if we canre-plant and sustainably manageour oaks the way native Califor-nians did, then today’s residentswill have a secure and abundantfood source during the comingdecades of unpredictable climatechange. It’s simply a matter ofgetting Americans to try them.
“In Mexico, Korea and allacross the Mediterranean, peo-ple eat acorns,” she said. Audi-
Photos by David Butow / Special to The Chronicle
Sisters Reagan Harwood, 10 (left), and Monroe Harwood, 6, of Palo Alto crush the acorns at Hidden Villa farm in Los Altos.
Not just for squirrels
Ethnobotanist Jolie Lonner Egert is nuts about acorns andteaches a workshop on their many uses as food.
Ethnobotanist says acorns poised for comeback as a sustainable food aidedby state’s plentiful and adaptable oaks
HOME & GARDEN
AcornworkshopsFor future acornevents, go towww.gowildconsulting.com.
Acorns continues on E8
ence member Jing Zhousaid that he grew upeating acorn jelly in cen-tral China, and currentlybuys it at a local Koreanmarket in Los Altos.“You make it like tofu,”he said. “You cut it andserve it with ginger andsoy sauce.”
Egert prefers heracorns in baked goods.Acorn flour can be usedin any recipe that callsfor corn meal or nutmeal. She also likes tosaute chopped acorns insugar and butter, roastthe nibs with honey, orboil them into an oat-meal-consistency por-ridge.
So how do they taste?Egert served the crowd
a range of acorn goodies.A tray full of cakes dis-appeared quickly, and theadults were offered ataste of Spanish-madeacorn liqueur.
After sampling ahandful of chopped anddried acorns, RebeccaSherwood of Los Altoshad some difficulty nail-ing down the flavor.“They’re not like wal-nuts, which have more oiland fat and a creamytaste. They’re just verymild and chewy.”
Nutritionally, acornsare a good choice.They’re gluten-free, low-fat, and loaded with vita-mins and minerals. Butthey do take a lot of prep-aration. And a specificset of tools.
First, they must bedried until their insidesrattle. A good dehydratorcan accomplish this in
two days. Then the nutshave to be cracked open,scanned for burrowingbugs or mold, and theinner kernel ground intocoarse flour.
At the Hidden Villaevent, kids used the tra-ditional method ofpounding the acornswith stone mortar andpestle.
“This is the sound youwould have heard upon
entering a native Pomovillage 200 years ago,”Egert said, as the ham-mering and gigglingresounded across thefarm.
Loaded into a poroussack, the flour then hasto soak in running waterfor several days to leachout the bitter-tastingtannins.
Egert and her hus-band, David Egert, whoteaches biology at theCollege of Marin, areconstantly experimentingwith new methods foreach of these steps inorder to perfect the pro-cess.
“People tell me thatacorns take too muchwork. But then I askthem, ‘What would youhave to do to grow wheatright here?’ ” she said,
pointing toward a majes-tic Oregon white oak.
She ran through therequirements: “You’d cutdown the trees, destroy-ing the rich and complexecosystem here. You’d tillthe soil and have to wa-ter, weed, and kill thepests — often with nastychemicals. Then you’dhave to gather, threshand grind the flour. Ev-ery year, you’d do thesame thing over and over
again.”By contrast, native
oaks require only occa-sional pruning and weed-ing, and they keep localflora and fauna thriving.
“It’s better for the landand way easier just topick acorns off theground.”
E-mail comments [email protected].
Photos by David Butow / Special to The Chronicle
A young participant of the Hidden Villa farm workshop holds a handful of acorns, which the group will pound with stone mortar and pestle.
‘Original California cuisine’
Jolie Lonner Egert, with acorn cookies, says when people tell her acorns taketoo much work, she asks, “What would you have to do to grow wheat?”
Acorns from page E1
E8 | Wednesday, September 28, 2011 | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com GWB
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