However, my cooking has fallen by the wayside as many times food preparation has made me feel nauseous or I’ve simply been too worn out to deal with making a meal. This has been a really interesting experience for me as Brad has really stepped up to the plate and made much of our food. It has been very nice!

Even though the 3rd trimester fatigue is starting to descend, I think I will be able to start posting from time to time again. So please hang in there with me and we’ll get back to fun, healthy food – The Whole Wheat style – in no time. Plus for all you moms and potential moms-to-be, I’ll definitely do some round up posts of things I’ve found helpful during pregnancy and share how I deal with a little addition to the family too.

Thanks again for sticking around! There will be more soon! Happy Holiday season everyone!

For lunch today I took a trip to San Francisco’s Civic Center to check out the Slow Food Nation Marketplace. This is a great event because its free and casual. There is a farmer’s market with wonderful vendors, a beautiful garden that volunteers helped plant in the center, and food stalls selling wonderful lunch & snack foods.

Honestly Slow Food Nation couldn’t be happening at a more beautiful time in San Francisco – its sunny & warm – very unusual for us but enjoyable and lovely! The setting for the Marketplace is the lawn in front of City Hall. Its a stunning backdrop and really just epitomizes San Francisco! (photo from iPhone on the go)

I found a few new favorite vendors while poking around the farmer’s market section. Believe me – this is just a few I stumbled on – so many are spectacular!

• Grindstone Bakery: ancient grains, all gently stone milled, then made into exquisite loafs of bread & cookies. If you live in the Bay Area please try a loaf, you will not be dissapointed!
• Beekind: honey straight from Sebastapol in Sonoma County. You wouldn’t believe the flavors and infusions! My favorite was the Chai Infused Honey – unique and delicious – would be amazing on ice cream.

I had a lovely chicken biryani from Vic’s Chaat Cafe for lunch. The yogurt sauce really just brought it all together.

And after my tour and enjoying the sunshine, I headed back to the office. If you get a chance, swing by the Marketplace this weekend. It runs 9-4p Friday thru Sunday.

First, check out the Slow Food Nation website for full details!

Next, if you will be in the Civic Center area, go check out the Marketplace where you’ll find a farmer’s market and Slow Food Providers with tasty treats to buy.  You will find me at Primavera for sure – they make some of my favorite items in the bay area – especially their Chilaquiles, my favorite Saturday morning farmer’s market treat!

Some of my other favorite vendors will be around as well. Check these wonderful folks out if you have time! Market vendors: Blue Bottle Coffee, Massa Organics (best brown rice around), Bodega & Yerba Santa (wonderful goat cheeses by someone who loves his goats – ask to see the photos!),  and Far West Fungi.  There are so many outstanding vendors I can’t pretned to list them all but these are a few of my favorites.

Now onto eating!  If you make it to the market place – be sure to check out Slow On the Go to get a bite to eat.  Some top choices (though none will be dissapointing!) are Primavera, Out the Door, and Vik’s Chaat Corner.

Friday evening, you will find me volunteering at the Fort Mason Welcome Tent.  I will be at Guest Services all evening so please stop by and say hi if you will be around!

Saturday & Sunday the events I’m most excited about are the Taste Pavilions!  One fee gets you in to taste all kinds of delectable bites!  Find me at the Taste Pavillion on Sunday afternoon.

There are so many other wonderful events all weekend.  Please peruse the Slow Food Nation site and find something you would like to try!

I will do my best to post some photos and news from the event along the way!

• What does Disqus do?  Basically it allows for threaded comments.
• Why is that cool? Because now I can reply to directly and you won’t think I ignored the awesome thoughts you shared with me!

Try it out – leave me a comment and let’s get this conversation started.

I’ve had a Vitamix for over 11 years!  It blows my mind that a single appliance I use so often has held up so well.  Recently however, I have been hearing about the Blendtec Blender (www.willitblend.com) – it has 3 horsepower (instead of 2 for the Vitamix), a different container shape, and you don’t need extra containers for grains.  All fine and well but I loved my Vitamix so why would I buy a Blendtec???  Even if they have cool videos on their website and everyone online RAVES about them?

I bought one because my Vitamix broke Saturday morning. I shed a few tears, had some serious moments of panic & anxiety (yes ask Brad who I woke up because I was so distressed).  I finally pulled myself together and called Vitamix.  They let me know:

1. I was out of warranty (7 years and mine is 11 years old)
2. They figured it was my fault it broke (hmph.)
3. It would cost $130 for the parts to repair it,
4. AND take at least 10 days for them to arrive! 

10 days was the deal breaker.  This is a machine I use multiple times a day and you are telling me I need to pay half the price of a new one (slight exaggeration) and wait for 10 days!?  No thanks.

I did some quick research and within the hour had placed an order for a brand new Blendtec.  I should have it within a day or so – much more quickly than the 10 days from Vitamix.  And yes I spent just under tripple the price to repair my Vitamix, but I will have a warranty again and if I can’t stand this machine it will return to Blendtec and I will grovel and repair the Vitamix.

I’ll report in soon on how the Blendtec fares compared to the Vitamix.

Last night I was lucky enought to be invited to a focus group of sorts to talk about Method’s dish soap.  Honestly they couldn’t have asked me to participate in a better group because I have tried and had issues with the dish soap.  The current dish soap design:

• is an awkward shape and slips with wet hands
• clogs up at the top – all kinds of gunky dish soap piles up in the spout
• is an awfully big bottle
• hard to control the amount that squirts out
• works great!
• smells great!

So it works great and that should be enough, right?  Well it was a deal breaker for me.  I had to retire the soap to under the sink and I replaced it with a lovely bottle of Seventh Generation I have no complaints about – except that quite frankly, it isn’t Method.  When Method contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would participate I was only too happy to agree!  They even let me bring a friend – how fun!

I hadn’t participated in a focus group or marketing research group before.  It was so fascinating to see what types of questions they ask about thematic words, thoughts about cleaning products, thoughts about the brand, the bottle shape, etc.  FASCINATING!  I guess its a good thing I’m in marketing afterall, huh? 

No verdict was produced but they gave us a very generous goody bag with some of my Method cleaning favorites.  I was most excited to find a bottle of their new baby body & hair wash!  I don’t have any kids but I have another friend who couldn’t join the focus group who will be more than happy to test it out with his munchkins!

Why am I posting about this here?  Well I want to promote one of my favorite brands.  I love their eco-consciousness and their goal to be a different company with fresh perspective.  And I LOVE that they listen to their customers and what we think.   So give Method a try!  You can find them at Target and many specialty shops.  Or order online.  And let me know what you think.

Some of my favorties are:

• the counter sprays (I love the holiday scents even though it is almost June!)
• the Mint window spray
• Little Bowl Blu’ – toilet bowl cleaner that makes cleaning a toilet *almost* fun
• the new bathroom cleaner – even comes with a sponge – super strong on grime and soft on my body.

1. I added a VIDEO page where you can find all the videos I’ve made.  It will stay up to date as I add more, so check back often!
2. Look over on the left hand side.  I’ve added a Twitter spot so you can follow what I’m up to!  If you are on Twitter let me know!  (Not sure what Twitter is or why I would add a spot?  Well Twitter is a way to keep up with what your friends are doing, where they might be heading, or any thoughts if interest that cross your mind.  Try it – its fun!  )
3. By now I’m sure you’ve noticed the Food Buzz banners on the right.  What an amazing community! Full of food blogger and people with food opinions.  Come on over and play!
4. And if you are into RSS feeds, don’t forget that its easy to add The Whole Wheat to your RSS reader!  Just click the “RSS” tab in the navigation area up top!  Yes, its *that* easy.

Hope that you enjoy some of these new toys.  Send any thoughts or new ideas my way!

First up, farmer’s markets! There are so many in the Bay Area, and all are special for different reasons, but my favorite – the one I am called back to nearly weekly – the farmer’s market that takes place every Saturday morning at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. The Ferry Building is a unique and special place everyday: full of restaurants – The Slanted Door, Taylor’s, too many to list! & food shopping stalls – Far West Fungi, Cowgirl Creamery, & San Francisco Fish Company to name a very few. These are open everyday and always have specialty items ripe for discovery.

Are you wondering why I titled this section the farmer’s market when I’m still talking about the everyday sites? That is because every Saturday – rain or shine – the entire outdoor plazas surrounding the Ferry Building transform into an intricate network of stalls from 8am to 2pm. By now I have my favorites – meat from Marin Sun Farms (more on them later), eggs from Petaluma Farms, cheese from Bodega & Yerba Santa Goat Cheese, fruits& vegetables from too many stalls to list, beans from Rancho Gordo (more on this later too!), rice from Massa Organics, and breakfast chilaquiles to top it all off. Honestly I can’t even begin to limit the stalls I love to this list – there are so many amazing farmers here that every where you look you find a new favorite!

If you visit San Francisco, you owe it to yourself to visit the Ferry Building on a Saturday morning for breakfast and wonderful tour of our local produce. It is amazing to see the variety and quality of the produce we are lucky enough to have access to year round. And if you wonder what is in season – then visit – you will find out in abundance!

One of my guaranteed weekly treats is my community supported agriculture (CSA) box from Two Small Farms. Each Wednesday I pick up a box (well technically a bag) full of the freshest, seasonal veggies, fruits, and flowers! AS the name implies, Two Small Farms *is* two farms. The box is built on the freshest produce from both farms, enabling one farm to add more when their crops are plentiful and vice versa. Its a system they seem to have perfected because my box is a treat each week!

I have posted previously about CSA programs, but visit Local Harvest for more information or to try and find a CSA in your area. When you participate in a CSA program, you support farmers in your region and you support their methods of farming!

Expanding on the CSA framework of sharing a local & sustainable product with a subscriber on a regular basis, two new CSA-esque programs have emerged from places that I love. One of them is Boccalone, who I cannot describe better than they do themselves: “Boccalone artisan meats combine sustainably raised, heritage-breed pork, Italian sea salt, and the freshest spices with the rarest ingredient of all: time.”

I have been incredibly impressed by the quality of products I receive from Boccalone every other week. The sausage was delightful, the mortadella like nothing I had ever tasted, and the pepper infused salumi (salame pepato) hits a note my pepper-loving senses have only dreamed of. The exciting news here is you can order these cured meats from anywhere in the US – so don’t hesitate!

Next in the CSA-esque lineup is Marin Sun Farm‘s newest method of distribution. Meat is 100% grass fed, no chemicals, no hormones, no corn! For the meat CSA I pick up our box once a month. Everything has been frozen and defrosts beautifully. The bone-in rib eye is amazing – worth eating meat for I assure you! The ground beef has been fascinating because the flavor and quality *is* different! I can’t wait for more each month.

Finally – I could not do this post without a nod towards Rancho Gordo. Heirloom varietals of beans, handgrown with attention and care. This multitude of bean-goodness has changed my perspective on the humble bean forever. Rancho Gordo also ships, so be sure to give them a try – or even email me to ask questions if you are curious – I’ve tried many of their varieties!

There are so many more wonderful places I want to discuss and share, but I suppose they will need to wait for the next edition of my favorites! Until then – share some of your favorites with me!

Living in an urban environment means we don’t have a lot of extra square feet. Luckily, we do have a small balcony with a lovely view of downtown San Francisco. This year I knew I wanted to start a little garden, and a few weeks ago I finally got down to it!

There are a few limitation with the balcony:

• space – it is a balcony so space is limited
• sun – we do not get direct sunlight on the balcony, we get a nice amount of reflected light though
• wind – small baby plants may not be able to handle the sharp San Francisco wind
• temperature – let’s face it, San Francisco is not warm! While it will never hit freezing, plants living here need to like a bit of chill in the air
• fog – will fog affect the plants? I don’t know!

After a fair amount of research I decided to plant a lot of herbs & several types of lettuce plants. Lettuce apparently does best when it is partially, or mostly shaded, so my hope was it would be very happy on my balcony. With a general game plan in place, I headed down to Flowercraft – a great garden center located right in San Francisco – it actually has parking too!

I spent most of a Saturday and some of a Sunday finishing up the planting. During the week I had to find additional hardware to mount the brackets for the flower boxes on the balcony railings. But in the end – I think I have a great start for a balcony garden!

Most of the plants transplanted, chaos on the balcony still – but nothing will deter Norway the Cat from checking it out:

One week later, the boxes are finally mounted and the balcony straightened up:

Catnip for Norway and the most amazing smelling chocolate mint:

Trio of herbs: tarragon, thyme, and oregano followed by rosemary, and a pot of chives that were started from seed:

The lettuce is starting to really take hold:

And arugula, basil (from seed) and parsley are starting to perk up a bit as well:

Hopefully I’ll have good news to share along the way in this balcony garden project! So far things are thriving and there have been a few tips of green breaking the soil in the chive container!