I work out of my house, love to cook, and am fine with rented movies, so to say that I don’t get out much is a real understatement. In fact, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to occasionally leave my house. I have a friend who is helping me on this quest. Stacy is the East Bay socialite and she knows every good restaurant on both sides of the tunnel.

When we made arrangements to have lunch together last Saturday, of course I let Stacy choose the restaurant. She got all excited as she told me about this little Chinese restaurant in Moraga that is the only organic Chinese restaurant in the US. Given my feelings about happy food, I was at once intrigued.

Stacy let me order, which was a little scary. My husband is Chinese, so by default, he orders for us when we eat at Asian restaurants. I ordered my favorite standbys: orange chicken, broccoli chicken, and sizzling rice soup (the latter being so fun that if you have never had it, you  must!).

RESTAURANT: Asia Palace (Moraga, CA)

FOOD: The food here was incredible. The vegetables are fresh! The sauces are amazing. I think this is the best Chinese food I’ve yet to eat.

PRICE: $$ ($10+ per dish); our bill for two chicken platters, sizzling rice soup, one cup of tea, and a side of brown rice was $40 with tax and tip

SERVICE: C- We had to ask our server twice for things because he forgot the first time (including plates!). He also didn’t refill our glasses until we specifically asked him to. Not a big deal for me, but a deal breaker for others.

KID FRIENDLY: Yes, if they eat Chinese food!

EXTRAS: Here’s where this restaurant really shines. The owner was there when we were there, and while his English is limited, his enthusiasm for his restaurant is not. He kept exclaiming, “Organic! All organic!” and then insisted we take home some organic veggies from a box that he had opened on the table in front of him. I came home with two yellow peppers and Stacy took home two apples and a tomato. (Organic, yes. Local, no.) His enthusiasm was so endearing that I asked him let to let Stacy take a picture of him and I holding some of the produce. She snapped it so quickly that he couldn’t refuse!

I just finished the book Omnivore’s Dilemma and believe me, you’ll be hearing about that over the next couple of months. It’s forever changed the way I eat. And drink.

I started drinking organic milk a couple of years ago when a friend suggested it might help improve my digestion. Going from $3.29 a gallon to $3.29 for a half gallon was a huge financial jump for me, and not one that I was excited to make. However, I was so glad that I made the jump knowing that my dairy cows were happily providing me with the best milk there was to buy.

Or were they?

I have since learned that “organic”  has little meaning in the way of buying meat and dairy products. I have always envisioned that cute little farm where my dairy cows were out milling around, munching on grass, enjoying their lives. It turns out that sometimes that isn’t the case. While most organic dairy producers do give their animals access to pasture and a better quality life, the surge in demand for organic dairy products has attracted the eyes of agribusiness – those companies that would love to take a good thing and turn it into a factory. This has resulted in diminished quality and compromised standards in nearly 20% of the organic milk that is currently on supermarket shelves.

Enter Strauss Family Creamery.

If you live in the East Bay area of California, you have access to Strauss Family Creamery milk. Strauss is a small farm and unique in that it allows tours of their facility. Transparency leads to integrity, especially in the commercial food business, so this says a lot about their practices.

Strauss Family Creamery milk is available at Harvest House and select other locations in the East Bay Area. (Harvest House is located across from Costco – you can shop there for spices, rice, oatmeal, flour, sugars, nutritional supplements, and, of course, this milk. If you are a Costco member, show them your card on Thursdays and you get 10% off your entire bill!).

If you subscribe to the Contra Costa Times, on the first Tuesday of the month Harvest House has a coupon for 15% off your entire grocery bill. If you use that, your milk will be $3.40, only 11 cents more than the cost of Trader Joe’s organic milk.

Cheers to happy cows with that are allowed to graze on pasture and other organic goodies.