The year was 1996. I had just moved to San Francisco from Chicago,
finally ridding myself of those long midwest winters and trading them
in for even colder summers in the Bay Area. All joking aside, it was an
eye-opening experience for me and one that I embraced fully. I absorbed
the California experience on every level and tasted my way through the
City, spending Saturday mornings at the old farmers’ market before it
moved to the Ferry Building and familiarizing myself with local foods
and personalities.
I grew to love Peet’s coffee (trust me, it took some doing), developed a huge crush on Albert Strauss, became obsessed with Tu Lan and all its horrors and discovered what eating fresh and local was all about. Somewhere in there I discovered meyer lemons and instantly became obsessed with them. I started buying them whenever I could find them, matching them up with just about anything I could and realizing that while I may suffer from high cholesterol I will never ever develop a case of scurvy. Hallelujah!