Westlake Village Real Estate Blog

My first misshapen loaf of knead-less bread - neither boule nor baguette

I know this is supposed to be a real estate and community blog, not a cooking blog. But once in awhile a recipe that is too good to be true comes along, and I must share it. The last time I got carried away like this was with a scone recipe. If you missed it, click here.

Now comes a recipe for French bread that is so amazing it must be tried and enjoyed by many. When we first moved to Thousand Oaks from Los Angeles, in the Dark Ages of 1987, I couldn’t find a loaf of good bread in this community. That has now changed, with the likes of Stoneground Bakery and the presence of loaves from La Brea Bakery and various farmers’ markets.  Still, for the best French bread – the kind that is lighter than air and so crusty it cuts the top of your mouth, I ‘ve found myself buying warm loaves from The Grill on the Alley (yes, for $5 The Grill will hand over a toasty boule).

Then, without warning, my friend Kym, another “foodie,” posted a recipe first published in the New York Times several years ago. The credit goes to writer Mark Bittner and baker Jim Lahey, of the Sullivan Street Bakery. What is really amazing, however, is that this bread – yes, it’s lighter than air and the crust cuts the roof of your mouth – requires no kneading! It’ so simple a child could make it.

What it does require is timing, about 23 hours of it, as I learned with my first batch, when I had to work at home to attend to my bread’s need for flipping, flopping and baking – and, of course, savoring just out of the oven. While its shape defied geometry, its taste was divine!

Welcome, staff of life, goodbye, low-carb diet! Mange, mange – and enjoy!

Gentlemen, it’s February and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. What to do? Remember the old adage, Diamonds are a girl’s best friend? Or, in the current economy, let’s say, Jewelry is a girl’s best friend. So here’s an idea for you: Stella & Dot.

Enter Jessica Dreyfus, Stella & Dot stylist in Thousand Oaks. Stella & Dot is sold primarily through in-home parties – groups of friends enjoying a glass of wine, munchies and, of course, jewelry.  You can also purtchase it directly from Dreyfus (see contact info below). According to Dreyfus, more than half the line sells for less than $50 – a great price point for the quality. For the little Valentine princess in your life, a little girls’ line debuted last year.

Says Dreyfus, “I love the versatility of Stella & Dot.  I can find one piece that works at the park with my son, out with the girls, and at a spring wedding .”

So, gentlemen, perhaps you can get by this Valentine’s Day with only one purchase for less than $50! Contact Jessica Dreyfus (310.351.9652) to make your selection!

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It began as an epiphany, became a passion and is now a multi-faceted business. Six years ago Thousand Oaks resident Stephanie Jaffe experienced a meal at Planet Raw Organic Restaurant, a Santa Monica raw foods vegan restaurant.  Already a long-term vegan and used to buying foods in bulk directly from a distributor, Jaffe wondered if she could use her purchasing power and palate to re-create delicious organic raw-food vegan raw meals. The task became her raison d-être.

Today Jaffe has a vertically integrated company:  She grows some of the food in her own yard, where she cultivates 65 fruit trees and a dozen herb plants. She develops recipes, prepares food and sells it from her home and online; she teaches classes and caters parties.  She also sells smaller quantities of her bulk purchases (25 pounds of nuts, for example, can go a long way, even when used in a lot of preparations). Jaffe prepares all of her recipes herself in her state-of-the-art kitchen, which, coincidentally, she designed.  She will even make deliveries to her local customers.

At first blush, a human diet of raw food sounds frankly, ridiculous, if not impossible. So sampling is in order. At a recent pot-luck dinner Jaffe contributed her marinara pea and green-bean pasta. “Delicious” is an understatement!  To be honest, some of the foods, such as this dish, require light cooking or steaming, no more than a minute in 110-degree water for this delicate Asian pasta. Other preparations – such as the “breads,” which look like Triscuits of different colors and shapes – consist mainly of dried seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables.

In the works, Jaffe reveals, is a new offering: the Weekly Box, which will likely be prepared foods for a family of four, for example, consisting of four complete meals for that week, at the reasonable price of about $70.

Jaffe is exuberant as she talks about her company. Frequently she refers to her product as “my food.” Now, however, her food can also be your food at www.rawliciousliving.com. Bon appétit!

Pictured below: granola, marinara pea pasta, hemp heart cookie, Jaffe teaching a class, untuna, veggie sun bread

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