Farmer Foundation tickets are still available for this Sunday, June 10.  Click  here to make your reservations.

 

At a recent photo shoot for the upcoming margarita and guacamole book, Rick demonstrates the ideal way to pit an avocado for photographer Paul Elledge.

After eight seasons, Rick has brought home a Daytime Emmy nomination for Mexico One Plate at a Time.  Awards will be announced in Los Angeles on June 23.

Team Bayless had a blast shooting the first segment for Panna, an upcoming cooking app for the iPad, in the Bayless home kitchen. Check it out.

One of my current Topolobampo dessert favorites from award-winning pastry chef Jennifer Jones, Torta de Chocolate, Fresas con Crema. Tender chocolate cake layered with crema buttercream, first-of-the-season Klug Farms strawberries, Bayless garden mint, herbs and flowers.  The taste of summer.

As Chicagoans, we’re teased and taunted by the slow-approaching warm weather of spring and summer.  Get hot, already!  Fortunately, when the peaches and tomatoes arrive at the back door, I know the hot weather is here to stay.

 

We are currently busy writing and testing all the recipes for the new cocktail and snacks book, scheduled to be released this fall, so this is going to be a short newsletter.  I did want to share my favorite cilantro-green chile "chimichurri/pesto" recipe and mention a few fun uses for the green herb bounty that is early summertime.  You can use it to add incredible flavor to many quick meals—added to entree salad dressings, slathered on grilled bread, as a quick pizza sauce or drizzled on your favorite grilled meat or seafood. And for that recipe, click here.

 

Now, on to gardening...

 

The production garden at Rick’s house provides our restaurants with dozens of different items including salad greens, herbs, edible flowers, squash blossoms and many varieties of mint—all tended to by the capable and brilliant head gardener, Bill Shores.  But how can you enjoy homegrown herbs and vegetables if you don’t have an extra couple hundred square feet of space to install a raised bed?   You should try low-maintainence container gardening. 

 

Some parts of the country are fortunate enough to have long growing seasons but Chicago would not be one of them.  We have to get our seeds started early—inside—and containers make it easy to transition between the chilly spring to the warm summer months.

 

Gardening guru Bill Shores has a few pointers:

• Terra cotta and wood are great materials, but consider weatherproof resin containers from Crescent. They’re lightweight, durable and look elegant on your patio or balcony.
• For soil, you’ll need a potting mix that can easily circulate air and provide proper drainage for moisture.  Mixes made with peat moss or coconut fiber (also called “coir”) work well in planter boxes.
• Potting mix needs nutrients.  If you can’t get your hands on homemade compost, try mixes from Happy Frog.
• Finally, the fun part—picking out your seeds.  Burpee’s is great for commonly used veggies and herbs, but Bill also likes Johnny’s Seeds for interesting specialty items.  Exotic salad greens and herbs are a fun addition to your gardening box.

 

 

Happy birthday to us.  Alliance Bakery provided us with a stunning cake to celebrate.  A little champagne, a few tears and we're set for another twenty five years.  Saludos!

Food for thought... what were you doing twenty five years ago??

• In music, Aretha Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and U2 released Joshua Tree
• In entertainment, The Simpsons make their first appearance as a feature on the Tracey Ullman Show.
• In politics, Ronald Reagan addresses the public directly about his involvement in the Iran Contra Affair, and Margaret Thatcher was re-elected prime minister of United Kingdom.

Rick Bayless named to The Order of the Aztec Eagle by Mexican government

 

On Wednesday evening in Mexico City, President Felipe Calderon announced the inclusion of Rick Bayless in the prestigious Order of the Aztec Eagle for the Mexican government. Bayless was honored for his "important work in the promotion and dissemination of cultural expressions of our country internationally recognized, as is the national cuisine in general and Mexican cuisine in particular."

 

The Order of the Aztec Eagle is the highest distinction awarded by the Mexican government to foreigners.  Past recipients have included former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill and Melinda Gates, Diana Kennedy and Placido Domingo. For the official announcment, click here.