16 minute read
Radicchio Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
Courtesy Ben Spungin, chef-partner, Alta Bakery + Cafe in Monterey Alta Bakery + Cafe in Monterey has a radicchio salad on the menu that showcases its bitter flavor by pairing it with apples, candied walnuts and lots of shaved Parmigiana-Reggiano. Spungin says he loves the bitterness of radicchio and is excited to be able use it more— blanched, grilled and roasted—once his upcoming restaurant, Cella, opens across the courtyard in the charming Cooper Molera Adobe.
Chioggia radicchio Castelfranco radicchio Candied walnuts Apples, sliced Parsley, chopped Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated Citrus vinaigrette
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Tear radicchio into bite-sized pieces and toss with walnuts, apples, parsley and vinaigrette. Top with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
For the vinaigrette 2 cups orange juice ¾ cup apple cider vinegar ¾ cup golden balsamic vinegar 1½ tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon shallots, minced 1½ teaspoons garlic, minced 1¾ cups olive oil Salt and pepper, to taste
Put all ingredients together in blender, except the olive oil, and mix. Add olive oil in a stream to emulsify. Add salt and pepper to taste. It’s always best to taste vinaigrettes with the lettuce or, in this case radicchio, that it will be used with. Makes 1 quart.
LOCAL FOODS IN SEASON
MARCH, APRIL AND MAY
FRUITS
Apricots* • Avocados • Blackberries* • Cactus Pears* • Grapefruit** Kumquats** • Lemons • Limes** • Mandarins** • Oranges • Pomelos** Rhubarb** • Strawberries
Vegetables
Artichokes • Arugula • Asparagus • Beets • Bok Choy • Broccoli • Broccoli Raab • Brussels Sprouts • Burdock • Cabbage • Cardoons • Carrots Caulifl ower • Celeriac*** • Celery*** • Chard • Chicory • Collards • Cress Dandelion • Endive • Fava Beans and Greens • Fennel • Garlic Horseradish • Kale • Kohlrabi • Leeks • Mushrooms • Mustard Greens Nettles • Onions • Orach • Parsnips • Peas** • Pea Shoots • Potatoes Radishes • Rutabagas** • Shallots • Spinach • Sprouts • Squash Sunchokes • Turnips
Seafood
Abalone • Crab, Dungeness • Grenadier, Pacifi c • Halibut, California* Lingcod, Pacifi c • Rock Cod, aka Snapper or Rockfi sh • Sablefi sh, aka Black Cod • Salmon, King • Sanddabs, Pacifi c • Seabass, White Sole (Dover and Petrale) • Spot Prawns • Squid
* May only ** March and April only ***April and May only All fi sh listed are rated “Best Choice” or “Good Alternative” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program and are found in abundance in local waters. See www.seafoodwatch.org for more information.
EDIBLE PROVISIONS get nutty
PHOTO AND STYLING BY THE CURATED FEAST
Healthful and universally loved by children, locally-ground nut and seed butters are plentiful around the Monterey Bay, including some sophisticated flavors. Top row: Positively Nutz Sunday Morning Cinnamon Mixed Nut Butter, Positively Nutz Touch of Vanilla. Row 2: Alma Superfoods Yellow Aji Pepper & Cashew Butter, Positively Nutz Chocolate Mixed Nut Butter. Row 3: The Philosopher’s Stoneground Ostara Cocotella, Ostara Stone Ground Coconut Butter. Row 4: The Philosopher’s Stoneground Sprouted Almond Butter, Wise Goat Organics Lion’s Mane Almond Butter, Wise Goat Organics Hazelnut Chocolate. Row 5: The Pistachio Factory Pistachio Butter, Nutty Foodz Choccolata Sunflower Spread. Bottom row: Nutty Foodz Choccolata Almond Spread.
DREAMING OF RETIRING EARLY? HERE’S YOUR PLAYBOOK
Currently trending in the media is the concept of an incredibly early retirement, called the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement. News outlets are printing stories of people successfully retiring in their 50s, 40s and even 30s. If you are intrigued by the idea of retiring early, you are probably wondering if moving your retirement date forward is something within your reach.
As a financial advisor, I have seen firsthand how much work and dedication it takes to accomplish. But I can confirm that it is possible to retire early – it all comes down to what your dreams are for today, tomorrow and in retirement. Read on for some suggestions for how to assess if an early retirement is in the cards for you.
1. Define your dream retirement. A realistic early retirement plan doesn’t happen by chance. It takes careful planning and deliberate action. Before you can figure out how to make early retirement a viable option, take time to envision the kind of life you want to lead when you leave your primary career. Where will you live? What kind of activities do you plan to pursue? These are the types of questions that will help you define what you want your retirement to be like. 2. Quantify your goal. Many retirees find they spend more money in the early years of retirement because they have more time to travel and pursue hobbies. If this aligns with your retirement vision, be conservative in your estimate of how much money you need each year. Once you have an estimate of how much it will cost, you will be in a better position to map the steps you need to take to save for your future.
3. Decide which income source to tap into first. Once you know how much your early retirement will cost, you’ll want to line up the order in which you tap into your investments. How much income you need, the tax treatment of your investments, and the timing of when you’ll take Social Security are all factors to consider as you map out how you will create a paycheck in retirement. 4. Adjust your saving and spending today. Once you have a clear idea of how much your dream retirement will cost, you can evaluate the potential tradeoffs and sacrifices necessary to make it happen. This will likely require reducing spending while maximizing the amount you are saving. 5. Continue investing for growth. It’s common for retirees to adjust their investment allocation to be more conservative to protect their principal from potential market downturns or increased volatility. While this may make sense for some, it’s important for your portfolio to at least keep on pace with inflation. After all, retirement can easily last several decades. Even modest inflation can make a meaningful impact over that time frame. Factoring inflation into your projections can help you maintain your purchasing power throughout retirement.
6. Don’t overlook health care expenses. Many retirees are surprised by how much of their budget goes toward medical expenses. Don’t be one of them. Make finding health insurance a top priority. And, consider the pros and cons of purchasing long-term care insurance. 7. Be flexible. In life and investing, there are no guarantees. Unexpected events can happen any time, and many have financial implications. Think about what your options are if your savings come up short, such as adjusting your retirement date, spending or perhaps picking up a part-time job, and make sure you have the right insurance in place to cover your various assets.
Retiring early is a big dream. If you want help deciding if or how moving your retirement date forward is realistic for you, meet with a financial advisor. Together you can review your goals, investments, risk tolerance and other factors to help you make retirement decisions with confidence.
Erik Cormier is a Financial Advisor with Cormier Financial Partners, a private wealth advisory practice with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has 13 years of experience in the financial services industry. To contact him, email Erik.Cormier@ampf. com or call 408-472-0757. Registered office address is 522 Ramona St, Palo Alto, CA 94301.
Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. and its affiliates do not offer tax or legal advice. Consumers should consult with their tax advisor or attorney regarding their specific situation.
Investment advisory products and services are made available through Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., a registered investment adviser.
Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.
© 2020 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.
File # 2692564: (Approved until 09/2021)
SPRING FORAGING ACCESSING ANOTHER LEVEL
Fin + Forage aims to change perceptions of spearfishing and takes our intrepid reporter on a freediving adventure in Big Sur
BY MARK C. ANDERSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY GLEN MCDOWELL AND JOE PLATKO
The “catch” involves pre-dawn driving, satellite maps, a drone, pro photographers, a rappel down 250 feet of cliff, nearly two miles of openocean swimming and a dozen spearfishing descents.
The “cook” has its own nuances. Lunch entails swimming ashore for a socially distant, pop-up, chef-driven situation on the sand, made possible by the morning harvest, and schlepping of burners, pots, pans, wine, spirits and a wet bar down a switchback so goodies like brown-butter limpet and a Gray Whale Gin martini can materialize.
In other words, “catch-and-cook” sounds simple enough. Not so much.
So it goes with the startup behind this adventure, Monterey Baybased Fin + Forage, which has a penchant for going “full send,” to borrow from founder and professional spearfisherman Eric Keener’s technical terminology. Full send is also his default setting, and has been since he was an orphaned San Jose biker with a gift for stunts and extralegal business dealings.
Today’s expedition fits into Fin + Forage’s larger goal of spotlighting the best of the booming sport of spearfishing, while educating audiences on sustainable harvesting and cheffing. “Spearo” culture provides sizzle, but it’s the food that provides sustenance.
“Few things in life have more power to unite than food,” reads Fin + Forage’s mission. “Yet for those of us privileged with food security, the act of obtaining, preparing, and eating food too often becomes an afterthought.”
Not today.
BREATHING UNEASY
Before any repels or swells, I must fit into a specialized snugger-thanspandex wetsuit at Bamboo Reef Dive Center. I duck into the human flytrap, claustrophobia activated, and it’s immediately clear there’s no way I’ll fit. A Bamboo staffer promptly makes it rain cold lube on the interior. Now my head and arms squirt through with a satisfying plorrrp.
On to safety prep. Giray Armağan, a Turkish engineer who can dive 163 feet deep into the cold, murky, dark depths of the Pacific on a single breath, is familiar with freedive beginners after years as an instructor. He covers how he’ll communicate underwater (with a guttural “grouper call” named after the big fish) and where to point a spear gun (away from divers).
He is most intense about one rule: Don’t look where you’re going. That would be natural on a descent, he acknowledges, but it risks hyperextending one’s throat and spitting blood at the surface. Keep it tucked.
“Like you’re holding a grapefruit under your chin,” he says, emphasizing vertical peripheral vision. “You’ll know when you get to the bottom just fine.”
He adds this: “We’ll be offshore in deep Big Sur, miles from any cell reception.”
Don’t look where you’re going rings ironic because Fin + Forage is very intentional about where it’s heading. With the help of a facilitator friend, Keener and partners Andrew Miller and Ryan Gentry conducted several hours-long design sprints, generating scores of pages on branding, voice and visions for a king tide of Fin + Forage content, policy work and collaborations extending over a 20-year timeline.
The author searches for sea urchins in the depths off
Big Sur’s South Coast.
“That planning seemed like a good thing to do,” Keener says. “The social media reputation of spearfishing is big fish or bikinis and booty. We wanted to combat that.”
Priorities include elevating awareness about overfishing (and overall ocean health) and lowering waste with head-to-tail cooking techniques that maximize bones, heads and organs.
“You fillet enough fish and you realize so much is going to trash,” says Miller, an environmental scientist who studied at Hopkins Marine Station, “and it really seemed like a lot of the talk in the spearfishing community was about three main species when there was a lot out there that was edible and no one seemed to be exploring.”
The planning sessions began in May 2020. As of today F + F has assembled an Avengers-like lineup of divers, photographers, videographers and journalists to contribute to its online platform. Published content includes videos, product reviews, spearfishing tales, original marine biology content, rich imagery and tutorials on things from paring your fresh catch to ranking top dive lights. Dozens of recipes like sweet salt and pepper calamari and coastal foraged cioppino proliferate, along with live chef Q&As, international spearfishermen profiles and a podcast.
“It should be community, adventure and what you do with the fish,” Keener says. “If you’re not focused on that, you’re missing out on a huge portion of the sport.”
So the plan is in place. But to borrow from an old adage, you can’t really know where you’re going until you know where you have been.
BACK TO THE BEGINNING
To reach a remote clutch of refugees hiding from genocidal troops in the jungles of Southeast Asia, Keener and his roommate Rev. Charles Meyers had to do some things.
Recruited to help the Free Burma Rangers by their minister as single, fit and adventurous, they were ultimately smuggled across international borders and rivers, under blankets and ballast, risking long foreign jail time to trek 100 miles with packs loaded with 70 pounds of food and medical supplies. Four days of walking—for which they trained months—led to a camp where they ate vines, beetles and frogs while teaching English and other skills to help the persecuted ethnic minority document wrongdoing and escape hiding to find jobs. (They’re legally bound to shield more details about whom they protected.)
There are other head-spinning parts to Keener’s story: how a broken home pushed him to a nomadic life by 12. How an unfulfilled existence of motorcycles, heroin, sex and street crime (“After my childhood, I was constantly seeking to belong,” he says) moved him to one of faith and service (“a different type of belonging, real belonging”). How his kindasorta first date with his now-wife led them to build a raft out of plastic 55-gallon drums and lumber, and sail it down Utah’s Green River.
In each place adventure did good. The Free Burma Rangers, who committed their lives to death-defying rescues, taught him respect for— and perspective on—personal agency. The rafting trip raised money for a young girl fighting rare bone cancer.
When his freediving hobby blossomed into a semi-pro obsession— and his skill set and social media following grew—Keener got to thinking: How can I leverage my platform?
TAKING THE PLUNGE
“Most of the spearfishing videos are kill kill kill,” Keener says. “It may be a beautiful dive, but it’s a kill video. We want to focus on other things.”
He rattles off what he calls the stages of hunting: Kill something. Kill a lot of somethings. Kill the biggest something. Kill what you need. Kill only what you need, mindfully, with the least impact possible.
The day’s catch and cook expedition fits into the fifth category. After we meet on a turnout along the deep South Coast, we lube down, suit up and assemble spearguns and catch bags on modified boogie board backpacks. Then the four of us descend one by one over stubborn brush and shifting soil to the pocket beach below, on a line tied to a highway reflector. Photographer Glen McDowell tracks our progress with his
drone, taking photos and alerting us when the line is free. Once we’ve poked around for some jade in the sand, we’re kicking our long fins through a sizable set of waves. The morning light on the turquoise water seems summoned by fairy mermaids, and more magic awaits below. Visibility unlocks 40 feet of clarity, a rarity, and through it a bloom of pink pyrosomes—little free-floating, tube-shaped colonial tunicates— drifts before our facemasks.
My rentals perform a fraction as well as the squad’s gorgeous custom fins sponsored by DIVR, but mine make for more exercise. Partnerships, it turns out, are an F + F strongsuit, and include industry titans like O.M.E.R. and Ocean Guardian. Our underwater photog, Joe Platko, is both a volunteer partner and a magnet for more collaborations, furnishing stunning images that sponsors love.
The swim south takes us through swaying kelp groves and over remote reefs abundant with a Dr. Seussian assortment of sealife—blue rockfish, olive rockfish, black-and-yellow rockfish, several types of perch and an occasional California sheephead. Huge scallops, as stubborn as
(Clockwise from top right) Eric they are meaty, succumb to Armağan’s crowbar-like scallop knife. Keener "drops" to 45 feet in pur- Keener, Armağan and Platko all find a meditative resting breath at suit of a meaty rockfish; seafood the surface and then drop as far as 45 feet to scout out low-lying crevices. stock set to simmer; a kick out through the surf launches the long Fishing in earnest will wait until we’re closer to coming ashore, to preswim south; Keener and Anderson vent the fish drag from slowing our swim or turbo-aging in the sun on secure a rock crab on an impro- top of the boards. I simulate their moves, duck dive and keep my chin vised gear float; chef Colin Moody tucked until I reach the ocean floor. My senses are unanimous: A mere greets the returning freedive team. 25 feet deep feels a world away. Keener says a good freediver takes what’s coming and goes with it. “You’re not in control, but you can still be effective,” he says. “I love the surge. I don’t try to fight it. I know what’s behind me, I let the surge come and line up the shot in front of me. That might be hard for people who want to be in control.” We surface and keep kicking. After another hour and a mile, the wait-to-hunt plan has grown dubious. Visibility is trending toward milky. Swells are rising, enough that when I swim ahead, the team loses track, and Keener thinks I might be subletting Davy Jones’ locker. We do have a rock crab that was nice enough to appear unsheltered atop a shelf of reef, plus the collection of scallops. While I gather seaweed and search for sea urchins—Platko’s advice to descend along a strand of bull kelp helps me conserve air spent kicking—Keener worries we might come back to shore fish free.
