About Us

Location: In Southern California suburbia (30 minutes south of Los Angeles), we’re blessed with sunshine, breeze and a little breathing room. Away from the hustle and bustle that is L.A., we live in the hills with the birds and the bees. On a really clear day, we’ve got a distant view of the Pacific Ocean. 

Garden: With a tiny house on a third of an acre, there’s plenty of green space. Barry keeps it up with a lot of sweat and many dedicated weekends. Kim provides support in the way of afternoon snacks. We’re proud to boast that we (mostly Barry) do all the work ourselves. For now…

Lifestyle: With 11 months and 3 weeks’ worth of mild weather a year, we’re able to take advantage of the climate and dine in our garden almost exclusively. Nothing beats a glass of sancerre and a citrus salad on a warm afternoon in the garden.

Cooking Skills: We’re just average-joe home cooks. Kim would like to a formal culinary education, but now isn’t the right time. Barry is still using the knives his mom gifted him for college. We do what we can with what we know. And we think we do ok.

Food Philosophy: Kim’s a special kind of frugal, so we buy the best-quality ingredients we can find, then do everything possible to make the most out of them. Have a recipe that only uses egg whites? We’ll save the yolks for mayo. Roasting a chicken? We’ll save the carcass for stock. Fat skimmed off the stock? We’ll use it to make dog biscuits. You get the point.

Food Philosophy, continued: We’re firm believers that plants and animals are better when handled with care. Most of the time, that means buying peaches and plums from people (farmers) who know how to grow ‘em, when to pick ‘em, and when to eat ‘em. And buying animal products that have been blessed with a free-range life. This may be obvious, but we’re not fans of the artificial stuff. To paraphrase Michael Pollen, “if it’s made from a plant, eat it; if it’s made in a plant, leave it.”

His and Hers Hobbies: While Barry is slaving away in the garden (weeding, fertilizing, trimming, pulling and planting), Kim is playing in the kitchen. Weekend itineraries currently include a morning trip to the farmers’ market, a cruise through the local nursery, a pit stop for lunch, then afternoons in the garden (for Barry) and kitchen (for Kim). Summer 2010 has been an exercise in making foods from scratch – mayonnaise, tomato sauce, hand-cut pasta, French bread, etc. and creating food with harvested goods – tomato soup, citrus salad and herb-compound butter.

Goals: To reiterate, we’re home cooks. But with Barry’s experience in running a business and Kim’s Type-A gusto, we’re hoping to someday operate a Community Bistro.

Thanks for visiting, and hope to see you soon!

[K] & |b|

Orange County, California

~

We’ll leave you with some recent snapshots around the Rustic Garden Bistro…

Garden archway to the citrus.

This is a winter salad with apples and lettuce from the garden. The lemon and herbs for the baked chicken were also from the garden.

A winter rose bud in the garden.

Leftover brie from a holiday party, spare leeks from another recipe and sweet garden peppers make a nice breakfast omelet.

 A cloudy winter afternoon.

Rainy morning at the RGB. Here’s a winter pot of arugula and red lettuce.

Our herbs grow where they want. This one likes the edge of the pathway.

A lot of garden, a lot of green.

Website launched: 11/9/2009

About Us Last updated: 8/24/2010