Make a date with a friend to meet at a Monday Dinner, or come by yourself and make new friends! Either way, you'll get a great meal and a lot more--everyone wins!

Help publicize the Monday Dinners! An easy way to spread the word about our weekly community gathering is to click on the Tell-A-Friend link in the upper left of this page. Just fill out the form with the email addresses of up to two friends, along with any personal comments you'd like to add, and click Submit--this emails your comments along with pre-written details of the Dinners and a link to this website!

Another way to help is to post a copy of our Dinner Menus in public locations. For a pdf file suitable for printing, click here.

Nature's power was in evidence at the French Meadows Summer Camp this year, with much more water in the streams due to higher snowmelt, and colder weather than usual. The waterfall hike through the high country, with treacherous stream crossings, was judged too hazardous to attempt this year. Otherwise, macrobiotic classes and cooking went on as usual, with no dampening of the fun, camaraderie, and love that are so much a part of the camp experience. As has become tradition, a large contingent of campers, some from as far away as Germany, prolonged their camp high by reuniting at the Monday Dinner prepared by camp cooks Susanne Jensen and Francine Harper.

Monthly Vegan Potlucks! The Peninsula Veggie Potluck People, a spinoff of the Monday Dinners, sponsor monthly vegan potlucks; for details, visit http://pvpp.org. For information or to host a potluck, call John Cabrera at 650 799-7186.

Chef Gary Alinder has started a blog at http://macrochef.wordpress.com. Tune into Gary's views on a variety of subjects including food and health, and leave your comments! He has also posted a recipe archive which includes soups; main dishes; sauces, gravies, and dressings; and desserts and snacks.

The North Bay Macrobiotic Potluck Group usually meets the first Sunday of each month in Santa Rosa, contact Stephen Starkweather ( ), 707 542-9739, http://www.northbaymacro.org.  

James Holloway, frequent Guest Chef at the Monday Dinners, does personal home cooking in Palo Alto, in macrobiotic and classical styles, call 650 852-9182.

Marin-based cookbook author, lecturer, and macrobiotic food coach Meredith McCarty teaches a cooking class, Autumn Harvest Dinner Party, on Tuesday, September 27, 6:30-8:30 PM, $50; and lectures on Healthy Eating for Healthy Aging, Thursday, September 29, 6:30-8:00 PM, $25. To register or get location and other information, call 415 945-3730, or visit http://www.marinlearn.com. For other activities by Meredith in Marin, visit http://healingcuisine.com or call 415 272-5525.

For information on macrobiotic activities in the East Bay, contact Macrobiotic Health Counselor Michelle Nemer in El Cerrito, 510 527-4367 or

Macrobiotic Counselor Julie Ong teaches macrobiotic cooking classes and does macrobiotic consultations in San Francisco; visit http://www.everythingmacrobiotics.com or call 415 312-0241.

Speakers receive a gratuity from the audience; please show your support and appreciation with a donation ($5-10 suggested).

On August 22, Michael Bauce will speak on Seven Tips to Improve Your Health, offering practical suggestions that may improve your health, appearance, behavior and emotions. The modern world often offers quick fixes in the forms of pills, powders and surgery while more traditional approaches focus on individual responsibility in establishing health and well-being. Planetary health and peaceful societies begin with you... in your kitchen. Come and be inspired!

Michael Bauce has studied macrobiotics since 1988. He was a main chef at both the Macrobiotic Grocery and Learning Center (1990-1995) and Manzanita Restaurant (2006-2009) in Oakland, CA. He has conducted private and group cooking classes at youth centers, schools, senior centers, summer camps, hospitals, and Farmers' Markets. Michael has been a cooking teacher for the California Nutrition Network since 1999 and is currently teaching at Thousand Oaks Elementary School in Berkeley. He has two sons who were raised macrobiotically, 25 and 21. Michael is available for consultations; contact him at

On September 12, Barbara Johnston Brown and Michael Brown will speak on and show slides from A Macrobiotic Study Tour of Japan. From Barbara and Michael: "The tour took place in May of this year, and was organized by Goldmine Natural Foods, California's leading importer of top quality, macrobiotic foods, and Muso International, a worldwide distributor of traditionally prepared Japanese foods. The purpose of the tour was to learn about the traditional Japanese foods that are central to macrobiotic cooking--shoyu, tamari, miso, sea vegetables, umeboshi plums, etc. We visited small, family producers, many of which had been making these foods as their ancestors had, for hundreds of years, some dating back as far as the thirteenth century."

"We also visited the Kushi Institute of Japan and the Osaka Macrobiotic Center cooking schools, restaurant and stores. We got to experience the beauty and flavor of traditionally prepared Japanese cuisine. We also had the opportunity to experience much of the unique Japanese culture including sleeping on the floor in small country inns, praying at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, visiting hot springs, traveling on the bullet train, and singing karaoke while sampling locally made sake. Additionally, the presentation will provide insight into the impact of the recent tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster."

Barbara Johnston Brown and Michael Brown are founders of Our Healing House (OHH) in Walnut Creek. OHH offers classes, workshops, and seminars in macrobiotic cooking and theory. This fall in Berkeley, Barbara and Michael are scheduled to open their new macrobiotic restaurant, the Green Earth Café and Bakery.  

The Community Connection feature appears when an author is inspired enough to produce an interview or profile for publication.

Enjoy these past features on community members by Denise Huajardo Springer, Sky Ann McGrath, and Gerard Lum:

• Simply Paul Schmitt
• Life Really Does Begin at 40! An Interview with Diane Wohler
• Eating Mother's Chicken: Making Choices in Life, An Interview with Gary Alinder
• Plain Miklane? An Interview with Miklane Janner
• Ken Becker on Macrobiotics, Part One
• Ken Becker on Macrobiotics, Part Two
• Passionate About Growing Healthy Food, An Interview with Patricia Becker
• By Having Hope, What Are You Going to Lose? An Interview with Geneva Page and Baron
• You Can Really Fly with It, An Interview with Gerard Lum
• An Evolving Vision of Community, An Interview with Miklane Janner
• Making a Difference Through Cooking, An Interview with Susanne Jensen 

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Mailing List Policy: To get a printed copy of the Newsletter and Dinner Menus delivered by postal mail, or call the phone number below. To offset the expense of producing the Newsletter and Menus, we suggest a contribution of $10/year or more. The date and amount of your last newsletter contribution appears on your mailing label. Write checks to "Peninsula Macrobiotic Community", and mail to Gerard Lum, 101 E. Middlefield Road #9, Mountain View, CA 94043, 650 903-0447.

We periodically review our mailing list. Those who have not made a recent contribution are subject to removal.

Tax-Deductible Contributions: We welcome and can use additional contributions to the Peninsula Macrobiotic Community, as income from the Dinners does not pay all of our expenses. We are a nonprofit organization, so additional contributions are fully tax-deductible. Send contributions to the address in Mailing List Policy above.

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